Cuba - for the pregnant among us!

[runtus]

OK, so just back from Cuba and wanted to let anyone who is interested know the relevant things to consider, if going while PG.

• Drink bottled water and try not to have too many drinks with ice. All the reps say it is fine but counting the number of people that went down with a mysterious 'bug' while we were there......better safe than sorry

• Although the temp is not as hot as somewhere like the Dominican, the breeze is misleading and it is very easy to get over-heated and burnt if you are not careful. I made sure I was only in the sun for short spaces of time and kept going for dips in the pool/sea when I could. Had a couple of dizzy spells when I left it too long...

• Food is a bit bland. I and everyone else thought that the cuisine would be more spicy but be warned Cuban food is actually very bland......perfect for those with heartburn but not too much fun for everyone else!

• Flight is 9 hours, which was pretty uncomfortable for the pg lady. make sure you take plenty of little snacks in your flight bag as they never seemed to be feeding people at the time I was hungry! Also, extra bottled water was very handy to stop dehydration. Does mean more trips to the loo though! Make sure you have some flight socks, my ankles were like balloons even with them on, so god knows what they would have been like without them.

We had a great time, mainly stayed on the resort in Varadero but there were trips to Havana around. We didn't go as it was too far for the one day and we didn't want to stay over night...but if you are closer than us, I would try and get there for definite - supposed to be a fab place and the show at the Nacionale is excellent (so I was told by those that did go).

Overall, it was fab - not alot to dislike really!

Went about 8 years ago .. you can't easily eat outside of hotels .. there's no food around to allow for restaurants really

Havana is fab, shame you missed it .. really fascinating .. stayed there for a week at Hotel Nacional .. load

I got bored in varadero but I'm not good at beach hols tbh

There were a few mossies around at night so take some deet free spray for the evenings, not too bad though......

Tipping is totally up to you and def not expected by all the staff in my expereince. We just did the usual and tipped if we thought the service was good or we had a really nice meal. Most of the time the staff were great, so we tipped as we went along. One thing is that all the tips are shared as a group rather than dealt with individually, which personally I really liked as otherwise the backroom staff get nothing. Some of the Canadians where we were didn't seem to understand that though and wanted to tip each staff memeber.............communism doesn't work like that!

Not a great deal to do in Varadero except the usual beach stuff, but that is what we went for so no complaints here. You can go into Varadero town and have a look about I think but not sure what there is there really.......ask the Rep when you get there maybe?

Not drinking on an all in deal is a bit odd I have to admit. Didn't really miss it but did feel a bit square and boring after a while. I used to ask for a really weak alcoholic drink so I srot fo felt like I was joining in but not going over board...........it isa holiday after all!

Have a good time and let me know what you think when you get back!

We are going at easter with dd 6 and ds 4 and are really looking forward to it. Want to do the Havana trip but not sure if it will be too long for the kids and not interesting enough for them so would be really grateful to hear how you get on. Have a great time!

We ar going to the Paradisus Varadero - and I must admit the details of kids facilities are a bit sketchy but am not too worried as my two live to swim and build sandcastles. Not sure what to do about Havana - would really like to go but like you think it might be a bit much for the kids. Will see when we get there. Got our tourist cards through today so am getting really excited now!