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We just returned from our honeymoon at Breezes Jibacoa. We arrived late Saturday evening, and when we got to the hotel, we were given one room key and one safe key. They assured us that there was only one safe key, and the safes came from the USA, so they were secure. That evening, we were exhausted from the trip, and put our wallets, passports, my husbands'wedding band, in the safe. The next morning, assuming everything was safe, we went to the beach, and to the pool, to the buffet, and just explored the area. We arrived back to our room at about six that evening, and took our wallets out of the safe, to find both of them had been emptied of the cash that was in them. Visas, passports, even the wedding band was there, just the money was gone, except an American $1 bill. I thought that this was left, just to add insult to injury. We reported it to our tour rep, then he reported it to the hotel security. Then they asked us to report it to the police. We then spent at least four hours of the second day of our honeymoon with the police. Their first question to us, was "Where do you work, and what do you do for a living?" They then asked us where we thought the money was, and that there was only one key to the safe, and it would have been impossible for anybody else to get into it. I don't know where we were going with this, but we had nothing to gain by it. After the interrogation, our rep offered us to switch rooms, but we had paid extra to get an ocean view, and we were in prime location, so we declined. This was our first experience. We wonder if this hadn't happened to us, how we would feel about Cuba and it's people. We had brought gifts to give to the workers, as well, unfortunately they came back with us, as we found nobody went out of their way to make us comfortable, and sadly everybody was a suspect to us.
As honeymooners, we were guaranteed a reservation time at the a la carte restaurant, but unfortunately we never did get in. (We tried to book the second night we were there, so it's true, book the minute you get there!) We were told we would recieve a bottle of wine in our room...never happened. We were to have a late checkout the last day, and even this, we had to argue for. That evening when we did check out, we handed in our room key and our unsafe safe key, and then were asked if we lost our other room key. We never got this key. So, we can't help but think it they find the room key, they will find the person who took our money.
The beach was nice, I found the water to be quite full of seaweed. The adults only thing is true in the resort itself, but on the beach, there is locals, which included children. The drinks were great, the food was okay, but there was so much, I'm sure I came back "healthier" than when I left. A few people had complained of feeling ill...a 24 hour thing, not sure if it was due to water, or something they had eaten. The entertainment was good, however, a few nights it was quite repetitive.
I know we won't go back, however, if we hadn't had our money stolen on the first day, I think we probably would have taken everything else in stride and had a wonderful time. It was just an unfortunate incident that happened to us, on our honeymoon.
We were there in the rainy season, but the days were sunny, the rain would come about siesta time, and then as soon as it had come, it would be gone and sunny again. It was almost a welcome relief! The only bugs we had were mosquitos, we didn't see anything bigger than that. Careful when the tiles are wet there, as they are VERY slippery. Especially on the stairs from the pool and the hot tub! It is true, do bring toilet paper if you plan on going anywhere outside the resort. Expect to get hounded to buy cigars on the streets of Havana. Through the signature tours, we took a tour to Havana, it was very interesting, but a FULL day, we were exhausted when we got home. We also took the Adventure tour that runs daily. It was a chance to go in our own jeeps through the backroads. We didn't see anything really amazing, it was just a really nice day, almost soothing!! I would recommend this trip.
The only thing I found was that I wanted to be where it was quiet and secluded, which it was, but shopping was minimal. You have to go to Havana for that, and I think that is one thing we missed out on than if we had stayed IN Veradero itself. However, this way we weren't bothered on the beach. SO, I guess it's a catch 22. And I found a week to be enough. They had several activities, but a week was enough to do them in. I'm glad we weren't there for two weeks.
Overall, it was a nice resort, but due to our circumstances, we will not be going back there.
Thanks to Cindy for this trip report ...
July 2001
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