Top 5 Hotels In Havana, Cuba

Havana, Cuba offers many great, luxurious Cuban hotels - here are just a few that come highly recommended:

1 - The Hotel Saratoga

The Hotel Saratoga in picturesque Old Havana. Overlooking the intersection at Paseo del Prado and Dragones Street, it faces the Capitolio building with an astonishing view of the world renowned Partagas Cigar Factory and the Gran Teatro de La Habana. Each room is equipped with a minibar, security box, private bathroom, telephone, and satellite television. While perhaps standard in American hotels, these are rare conveniences in Cuba. The hotel itself provides a laundry service, car rentals, cyber cafe, room service, a swimming pool, a bar, and an in-house babysitter. The Saratoga has recently been refurbished in the neo-classical style, with a mezzanine bar and a spectacular rooftop pool that allows views of the old town and port.

2 - Melia Habana Hotel

Business visitors will enjoy accommodations at the Melia Habana hotel in the heart of Miramar, the center of Havana's business trade. In-house food facilities are extensive, offering a Miramar restaurant buffet, as well as a la carte restaurants featuring Cuban, Italian, and Barbeque cuisine. Hotel features include a fitness room, tennis court, beauty salon, medical services, events hall, sauna, swimming pool and internet access.

3 - Parque Central

Hailed as the most luxurious international hotel in the city, Parque Central offers modern facilities in the heart of historic Old Havana. The terrace holds a tropical bar with a swimming pool.

4 - Hotel Nacional de Cuba

Hotel Nacional de Cuba is situated atop a prominent promontory overlooking the pristine coastline. Amenities include restaurants, convention halls, car rentals, currency exchanges, fitness rooms, massages, laundry services, medical services, a pool, a cigar shop, and virtually every convenience a visitor could ask for.

5 - Santa Isabel

Santa Isabel holds its traditional, historic charm and features, despite being recently renovated and reopened in the 1990s. Features include an in-house babysitter, cyber café, bar, car rental, restaurant and art gallery.

Brought to you by Floridita Travel

My trip to Varadero, Cuba

We just got back from a week-long trip to Varadero, Cuba with Signature Vacations.

We flew from Vancouver to Varadero on Skyservice Airlines and we were booked into Star Class both ways. My overall experience traveling in Star Class was that I found it well worth the upgrade charge to take Star Class. This is still 3 and 3 seating, so it's not a wider seat, but the leg room is much more than the regular seating. Also, there are so many extras that come along when booking Star Class - advance seat selection, priority check in and priority luggage, 30KG luggage allowance, headsets and bar service on board complimentary. The meal service was the same for all of the passengers, and our morning flight was served a Western baked egg omelet with cheddar cheese on an English muffin, orange juice and Yoplait yogurt. It made for a comfortable journey traveling in Star Class. We did have the luggage come off first both in Cuba and back in Vancouver, so the priority luggage tags that are put in when checking in do work and bags came out on the carousel first!

My last trip to Cuba was about 5 years ago and I did notice a few things that have improved/changed, and that is the quality of food and variety certainly is better to what was available on the previous trip. Cuba is rich in culture and I found the people very friendly. A trip to Havana even just for the day is a must. To see Old Havana is quite incredible and very interesting rich in history of the country. Currency is the CUC (Convertible Cuban Peso) which is on par or higher than the US dollar so this does make Cuba a bit more expensive for Canadians when there, however there is not a lot of shopping to be had so one will not spend a lot of money. Of course Rum and Cigars are good deals and if you make the trip into Havana check out the Rum factory you will get some great rates on Rum and cigars. Hotels will exchange Canadian Money to the CUC but be sure to only change small amounts as you need it, for you will lose again when you have to convert it back to Canadian money. You cannot convert CUC outside of Cuba so you must do this before you leave the country. The airport does have a currency exchange however if you had an early flight it would not be open.

Tipping is quite the norm now and one will find they will tip small amounts even in the all inclusive resorts. We did find service a bit better if we had tipped and I still brought some small gifts for the maids and I left a small amount of money at the end for the maid. They really appreciate this and I had the maid leave me a nice note to thank me for the gifts. Any excursions taken you should expect to take some money to tip the tour guides etc at the end of the trip. Guideline would be the same as tipping in Canada for tour guides etc. They really do just appreciate any amount and they are very friendly and helpful one does not mind tipping for the great customer service.

Here is some information about the hotel where we stayed in Varadero:
Hotel Sirenis La Salina Varadero

Large hotel - 1035 rooms

New hotel and largest in Varadero - Opened in 2007

This hotel is built in a Ecological park so a lot of the area respected and protected when built

There is a relaxation pool as well as the main activity pool

7 a la carte restaurants

10 handicapped rooms located on the main floor nearest the lobby area

Centre Square, as it is called in the resort, is where the theater area is located at this resort

Piano bar- which turns into the disco later in the night

Waterslides off the main pool area with swim up bar in the main pool area

Mini club with 2 kids pools

Baby club – 0-4 years – mini club for 5-12 years

Standard rooms with either 1 king or 2 double beds

charge for safe of 2 CUC per day

Netherlands River Cruise

We took a river cruise last spring on the Viking Europe from Amsterdam to Volendam. Small river cruise ships allow you the opportunity to see much of the countryside along the canals and rivers, and they can also dock in small villages, enabling you to visit places that are not accessible with larger ships. Our Dutch Journey cruise on the Viking Europe river cruise ship spent the first day and a half in Amsterdam and then sailed northward to Noord Holland late one afternoon, just in time to have a dinner cruise on the way to Volendam, which is about 20 kilometers north of Amsterdam. Although I thoroughly enjoyed visiting Amsterdam on previous vacations, none of those trips gave me time to venture out into the Netherlands countryside.

Soon after leaving Amsterdam on the Viking Europe, we came to our first lock of the cruise. The Netherlands is covered with many rivers and canals. The locks were built to help with flood control, and ships must plan their time in the locks in advance since they can only be opened during certain stages of the tide. Ships can only use the locks when the tides are almost at a standstill. This means the locks are available only four times a day for just a few hours on either side of high and low tide.

After leaving the lock, we entered Gouwzee Bay, which is part of the Ijsselmeer (Ijssel Lake). While enjoying our dinner, we watched the other ships on the lake and small cottages scattered on the many islands in the Ijsselmeer. The Netherlands is a very flat country, and it's easy to see why flooding is such a concern. We also got a close-up look at the new 'Dolly Parton' bridge. We had driven past the bridge earlier on our way to the Floriade but we hadn't seen it up close. Its two large spans make it seem aptly named.

We reached the village of Volendam after dark. I had heard both positive and negative things about Volendam. Some friends had raved about how charming and quaint Volendam was, while others had complained that it was simply a tourist trap. Since it is close to Amsterdam it makes it an easy day trip for throngs of tourists, and its numerous sailboats and rows of wooden houses make Volendam very picturesque. Volendam was once a busy fishing port, but when the enclosure dike was completed in 1932, the subsequent change of the Zuiderzee (South Sea) from salt water to the freshwater Ijsselmeer ruined the fishing.

Early the following morning, I went outside and was amazed to see how charming the city was. Volendam was very beautiful in the early dawn. Sailboats were rocking peacefully in the water, and the sun was trying to peek through the morning clouds. It was a terrific way to start the day! We left Volendam early that morning by bus to visit Hoorn and Edam before meeting the ship again in Enkhuizen. As we walked through Volendam to meet the bus, I noticed that most of the quaint buildings were souvenir shops. Maybe there was something to the "tourist trap" label after all! I'm glad that we left Volendam early, and my memory of it will always be as it looked in the early morning: peaceful, calm, and nearly deserted.

During our first night at sea on the Viking Europe, we saw demonstrations of several Dutch folklore dances by a dance troop in traditional Dutch costume. If you're looking for glitzy Las Vegas-type entertainment on a cruise, then a small ship river cruise is NOT for you. Our river cruise ship featured local talent such as these dancers and the ship's crew.

The small dance troop were all seniors, but they had a lot of energy. You could tell that were proud of their heritage and loved the traditional dances. The women each wore 4 petticoats under their dresses, and the men were wearing heavy woolen jackets and pants, along with knitted socks. I'm sure they were sweltering hot after all of that dancing. The women wore traditional lace caps that were held in place with silver pins. Where were the cute little Dutch girl pointed caps that we always associate with Holland? We thoroughly enjoyed learning about the dances and hearing about the history of the costumes. One of the gentlemen asked me to dance, and we did the "famous" skating dance. I didn't embarrass myself, but don't think I am ready to change careers!

New Sensatori Hotel in Cancun

I just came back from Cancun last week, and had a chance to stay at the new Sensatori Hotel that just opened 2 weeks ago. This hotel is approximately 35 mins from Playa Del Carmen, and is exclusive to Signature Vacations. From my experience, I think you will find this hotel to be just great.


The Sensatori Hotel is very kid-friendly. Here are some of the amenities available for families.

Strollers are offered at no charge

They have playpens/cribs and they are offered at no charge you can either preorder or there is a check list you can fill in upon arrival and they will then have items sent to your room

Gourmet Gerber baby food and there is a kid menu that they have in each restaurant so that kids can have that if they do not want what is on the main menu for adults

Baby monitors are available at no cost

Onsite store to buy diapers and misc items for the children

There is the splash pool that has kids things to play on

Toy lending library at the kids club - just sign out what is needed to take back to the room

Staff can be hired to babysit for a cost of $15.00 per child per hour – all staff that do this service have first aid and have completed a babysitting course

Toddlers welcome package includes smoothie shake with sprinkles, and an activity book.

There is the area by the Italian restaurant where the teens club is, so they can hang out with other teens on their own, and have things to do there that would be more what teens are looking to do. This area is always supervised so parents can let the teens go on their own, as there will always be adult supervision.


All rooms come with the mini fridge. Tipping is included, however, like at any resort if you wish to tip for service above and beyond that is fine. The beach was good, swimmable and was the powder white sand.

Although the hotel is not promoted as wheelchair accessible, the property seems fairly flat with ramps around. As with other Mexican hotels I've stayed at, the rooms are not equipped with the full bathroom for handicapped but the wheelchair will go through the door. Actually, as we were there a gentleman did arrive who was in a wheelchair, so that was good to see to know that one could get around in a wheelchair.

Airline Baggage Allowance

Many airlines have recently changed their policies for free checked baggage allowance. Check out each airline's web page below for the most up-to-date baggage allowance for your flight.

Aeroflot

Air Berlin

Air Canada

Air France

Air India

Air Jamaica

Air New Zealand

Air Pacific

Air Transat

Alaska Airlines

Alitalia

American Airlines

Asiana Airlines

Austrian Airlines

British Airways

British Midland - BMI

Brussels Airlines

CanJet

Cape Air

Cathay Pacific

Cebu Pacific Air

Continental Airlines

Czech Airlines

Delta Airlines

EgyptAir

Emirates

Ethiopian Airlines

Eva Air

Finnair

flyglobespan

Gulf Air

Iberia

Icelandair

Japan Airlines

Jet Airways (India)

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines

Korean Air

LAN Airlines (previously LAN Chile)

LTU International (Air Berlin)

Lufthansa German Airlines

Martinair

Mexicana

Northwest Airlines

Olympic Airlines

Pacific Coastal

Philippine Airlines

Qantas

Scandinavian Airlines

SkyService

South African Airways

Sunwing Airlines

Swiss International Air Lines

TAP Air Portugal

Thai Airways

Transaero

United Airlines

US Airways

Vietnam Airlines

Virgin Atlantic

WestJet

Walt Disney World Vacation - Orlando, Florida

My family and I just returned from DisneyWorld in Orlando, Florida. We had one of the best vacations ever and look forward to visiting again. DisneyWorld is for all ages, and is truly magical for all who visit. We visited during Halloween, and we actually dressed up and went "trick or treating" throughout The Magic Kingdom. Epcot was fantastic, their new ride Soarin' is the best by far and is great for everyone!

DisneyWorld's Animal Kingdom Park was amazing. The Safari Ride was just like a real Safari, and we were able to see many animals in their natural habitat. No two Safari's are alike, so you need to take this at least twice. The park was amazing and beyond my expectations.


Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort was lovely and actually had that Caribbean theme and feel. The complimentary transportation was very efficient to all Disney parks we and never a long wait. Our hotel room was a good size for all 4 of us and was decorated with Finding Nemo and Caribbean themes. The staff at the Caribbean Beach Resort were very friendly and helpful.


Our SunWing Airlines flights were extremely comfortable. SunWing staff were all very courteous and efficient. The flights were always on time and, in fact, we arrived early on the return. They did offer complimentary meals and headphones on each flight, which was a nice surprise.

New York Times Square Hotel Mela

The Hotel Mela in New York City is ideally located less than one block off Times Square. This boutique hotel features small rooms, as with most hotels in central Manhattan. The following photo of a standard room with a queen bed shows the WHOLE ROOM (except for the bathroom).

However, if you arrive at the Hotel Mela with this expectation, then you won't be disappointed. The price is great for the location. Times Square and the Broadway Theaters are all within easy walking distance. The front desk staff were always courteous, and offered directions and maps. I highly recommend this New York hotel for those seeking a central location at a smaller, boutique property.

There are essentially 4 ways to get transportation from New York Airports to downtown Manhattan.

a) the infamous yellow cab - approx $50 from JFK, $30 from La Guardia, and $55 from Newark.

b) Super Shuttle van service - approx $21 per person from JFK, $16 from La Guardia, and $21 from Newark. While this is door-to-door service directly to your hotel, the route depends on the destinations of everybody onboard, and it could be a while before you reach your hotel.

c) bus service - New York Airport Service - $15 from JFK, $12 from La Guardia - bus service with direct service to Grand Central Station and Port Authority. Other destinations require transfers, and additional fares. One negative about NY Airport Service, it first makes a loop through all of the airport terminals before departing, so you can easily spend 45 minutes on the bus before leaving the airport property. From Newark, Olympia Bus to Port Authority is $15.

d) Public transportation - from JFK take the AirTrain ($5) and connect to the subway ($2), from La Guardia take the M60 or Q33 bus ($2).