Sandals Royal Hicacos Cuba

As promised here is my review of the resort we stayed at in Cuba for our honeymoon:

This resort was amazing! I had such a great time. We were there from May 14th to May 21st. We couldn't have picked a better place for our honeymoon. The staff was friendly and went out of their way to make the experience that much better for you. The facilities were in great shape and the beach was amazing. Cuban beaches are top notch. The best part was there were no kids!!! It’s a couples only resort, and many people were there on their honeymoon.

To make things easier to read, I'll lay it out in topics.

Flight:
We flew with SkyService. As this was my first time flying, I was just excited to take off and fly in the air. After the novelty wore off, I realized the plane was too small for me. But you can't complain too much about budget airplanes. And the fact that it was only a 4 hour flight. Much to my amazement, we received dinner on the flight.

Cuban Airport:
Our flight landed about 9:45pm or so. Since it was the last flight of the day I thought the wait at customs would have been short. In fact, it was a 2 hour wait. I'm not sure why they took so long. It would make more sense if we were leaving Cuba. One tip to mention at the airport is to hold on to your luggage when you walk outside the airport. Not that anyone is going to steal it, but people are going to want to help you to take it to the bus, which is only about 50 feet away. Some people got scammed into giving them $20 CND for a tip, since they demanded $20. I just gave them a few dollars. The bus ride to the resort was about 1/2 hour.

First impression of the resort:
We arrived at the resort about 12:30am. The staff was friendly, and they served us wine while we waited to check in. After checking into our room, (we were in block 15), we walked the beach. It was a nice warm breeze and the sand was like butter. At 1:15am we decided to go get some pizza from the Italian restaurant. Never being at an all expense paid resort before, it was weird not paying for the food. But I eventually got used to the idea.

Hotel:
The hotel was very nice. (Pictures of it and the rest of the trip can be found on the side bar, entitled "Honeymoon Photos") Since we were honeymooners, we expected to have our fridge stocked with drinks, but it wasn't. It took 4 days before we actually got our honeymoon package. But we didn't care too much. My wife and I were just happy to be together. One thing we thought was odd was that the blinds to the windows were on the outside of the building, not the inside. It was controlled and locked from the inside, however. Each room had a really big bath tub and nice size balcony. Satellite TV was supposed to be hooked up, but there were mostly Cuban stations. There was 1 sports channel, but I was not able to watch 24 on Fox. I'm not bitter.

Security Issue:
Late on our 3rd night, we were in our room and as I looked at the window, I noticed one blind was turned open. As soon as I looked at it, it shut quickly and I heard someone run away. Since we were on the ground level, it could have been anyone. Since there is not much activity at that night, I expected it to be security, but cannot be certain. Either way I went to the front desk and demanded a new room. One that was not on the ground level, and one that did not have a blind broken were it could easily be turned. The next day we were moved to the 3rd floor. This was a much better location, since we now had a view of the ocean!!!

Beach:
As previously mentioned, the beach was perfect! The sand was white and felt like butter. Sandals had a lot of little huts for 2 or so people on the beach to provide shade. Depending on the location on the strip there was a lot of room to play frisbee. They also provided water activities such as Catamarans, windsurfing, kayaking, pedal boats, water trampoline, snorkeling, waterskiing, and banana boat rides. However, these were dependent on the weather conditions. If it was windy, as it often was, the activities were closed. I believe in the 7 days that we were there, for only 2 days the wind was subsided enough so we could play with them. Since we were there from May 14th to May21st, the windy conditions may have been in season. Either way, it didn't bother us too much.
My wife went for a walk along the beach strip to the tip of the peninsula. She said that Sandals had the best beach along the strip because it was groomed the best. Other resorts had some twigs and rocks along theirs.

Pool:
The pool was great!! The water temperature was perfect. Although we did notice that the temperature of the main pool was warmer than the pool at the swim-up bar. The pools were not connected, even though they were right beside each other. The month of May seems to be a perfect time to go to this resort. No matter what time of day it was easy to find a chair and go swimming. There really weren’t a lot of people at the resort. The swim-up bar was really good. The bartender would often make a ton of drinks and walk around the main pool and hand them out to people. Some guest would often do that as well. It was a great atmosphere.

The Grounds:
The quality of the grounds was good, but not perfect. There was construction going on in one area of the resort. I believe they were working on a tennis court. It didn't bother us at all since our hotel was on the other side of the resort. The walkway from our resort to the main lobby (which we often used as a short cut to get to the main area of the resort), was covered overhead by bush. In order to get through you would have to duck. By day 5, they eventually trimmed it. The rest of the grounds were well kept. One of the ground workers would stop us as we would walk by him and ask us if we wanted a coconut. He would then proceed to cut down one from a tree and clobber it with a knife so we could drink from it. It was a really cool experience.

Food:
Much to my surprise, the food was amazing. At the resort you would register to go to a restaurant for dinner, if you chose to. If not, the buffet was open. The buffet had lots of options, but the food was just good, not great. The A la carte restaurants were awesome, however. They had Italian, Seafood, Caribbean, and the Beach grill. The Italian was my favourite. By the second course you were stuffed, still a long way from the main course. We found that booking the restaurant for later in the evening (around 7:00pm) was best since it wouldn't interrupt your daily activities at the pool or beach.

Service:
I would rank the service 10 out of 10 at the resort. The workers really want you to have the time of your life while you are there. Only once during the whole week did I need to ask for a refill of a drink. Most often it would be filled without you even realizing it. The staff was friendly, and if you took the time to talk to them, they would tell you their life story. Some of these workers come from far distances, and travel over 2 hours to get to work. A few of them actually stay in homes that the resort provides, since they live too far away. Even more, some of the workers would only see their wife and kids 4 days out of a month. The service that you would get did not depend on giving tips. I really think that they are grateful for being able to work at a resort and in the tourism industry. As I was told, they would make more money than doctors and lawyers since they often receive tips. We brought items, such as soaps, deodorants, sandals, tooth-brushes, and toothpaste to give to them. They seemed really appreciative to get these since it cost them a lot to buy in Cuba. I know they also like to receive hats, shirts and shoes. You couldn't help but tipping the waiters and waitresses a few pesos or so at the A la Carte restaurants since they served you so well.

Trips:
Signature vacations had a variety of different trips that they offered. There was a trip to Havana that if I was staying at the resort longer, I would have taken. We did, however, go snorkeling off a catamaran on the south side of the peninsula, destination Caso Blanco Island. I was kind of disappointed with the time we were allowed to go snorkeling. We were only given 10-15 minutes. The wind picked up, so it wasn't perfect conditions, however. The crew of the catamaran were really entertaining and friendly. The island was really tropical; a little too tropical in fact. I went into the ocean off the beach and got stung by a jelly fish. I took some cool pictures of the bite. It wasn't jelly fish season, but it was suggested that since the heavy rain we had the day before, some of them could have been washed up. Either way it felt like a thousand bees attacked my arm. But I now have a really cool scar to show people! After getting bit by the jelly fish, I had a crab run over my foot. I took many pictures of that too. They run sideways!! It’s funny to watch. To end the day trip, they took us to a dolphin show. It was entertaining, but I wouldn't just go see that if it wasn't included in the day trip.

Cuban life:
I didn't get to see much of the country, pertaining to living conditions. Just traveling to and from the airport we were able to see the housing. It looked pretty ghetto. The houses didn't look very accommodating. Many of the people would be sitting outside since they didn't have air conditioning. Varadero is a poor city, as I was told. So, perhaps other parts of Cuba are nicer. I wouldn't mind going back one day and seeing the rest of Cuba, and learning more about the culture. Staying at the resorts, you wouldn't get a feel for the culture.

Entertainment:
One thing about this resort was the entertainment was lacking. Often activities were scheduled, but when you would show up to it, no one would be there. I think this had to do with the lack of interest from the guests. The nightlife was dull. You could count the people in the night club on 2 hands. Again, this may have been like this due to the May season. Not a lot of people at the resort compared to other times of the year. The nightly shows were really boring. But I find that stuff boring anyway. I know of people there that really enjoyed it. The resort next to Sandals, the Iberostar, had much better entertainment. At least by first impression. The only time I saw people playing volleyball was at the Iberostar. So I joined them. They didn't seem to care that I wasn't from their resort. They would have known since every other resort has to wear a different coloured wrist band. The Sandals resort we were at didn't have wrist bands.

Leaving the Resort and flying home:
Signature Vacations offered VIP service. For $25 Pesos you could get to wait in an air-conditioned room with free drinks at the airport. We didn't purchase it, but in my opinion it is not worth it anyway. The airport is air conditioned anyway. At least in the area that everyone waits. One thing to be aware of at the airport is the guy trying to convince you to go up stairs to the sitting area to wait. He told us that it’s better than going through customs and waiting on the other side. This was crap. He worked for the place upstairs and just wanted you to spend your money at ridiculous prices. After doing that and going through customs to wait on the other side, we felt cheated. But it did make us laugh after seeing the prices were cheaper for food once you were on the other side of customs near the gates.

Tips:
* Bring plenty of sunscreen. The prices at the resort are ridiculous. $20 pesos for a small bottle, which works out to around $25 CND.
* If traveling with a group of people, the Iberostar would probably be more entertaining.
* If traveling with a spouse, Sandals Royal Hicacos rocks!!!
* Bring plenty of items to tip. See the "Service" heading for possible items to bring.
* Book your A la Carte restaurants the day you arrive if possible to get a good time. Later in the evening is the best time to eat in my opinion.
* You can purchase Cuban cigars on both sides of customs at the Cuban Airport (Varadero). Probably best to first go through customs. Although I know some of the people that bought the cigars wouldn't get receipts, even after asking for them.