Camaguey, Brisas Santa Lucia Hotel Review

Overall Rating

Brisas Santa-Lucia was for my boyfriend & I, an economical choice. The low-priced package (about 1500$ tx inc) for the week is what made us choose the hotel/flight carrier. And you get what you pay for! We stayed at the Brisas Santa Lucia from March 13th to March 20th.
- About the flight We arrived at the airport around 3:30 am Thursday morning (for our 6:00 flight, we hadn't pre-booked our seats). So we thought there would be no one at the air transat check-in. We were cruelly wrong Our flight was leaving an hour later (7:00am), and there was a mega line up at the air transat counters. There were 5-6 flights leaving around the same time, and we were all in the same line. When we finally got to the counter we were lucky to get a seat together (the window seats were all already taken, please note that 4 days before the flight I checked the online seats availability and half the seats were still available). It was 6:12 am by the time we finally got to the gates.
The takeoff & flight was very smooth, the landing was shakier because of all the wind. On the way back, the ride was a bit bumpier (mostly in the beginning), again because of the wind. The food was okay, they gave us a bagel some philly, and an orange juice. On the way back we had a cheese pizza.
- About the airport-hotel transfer, It's a 1h30 bus ride. Passes by rather quickly. Funny anecdote; our bus after making a stop, lost its 2nd and 3rd gear, the driver had to push it in 1st to then get it into 4th.
Other than that you just get disoriented by the scenery =)
- Regarding the overall aspect of the Hotel, It is undergoing renovations. Probably to try to regain its ancient glory (this used to be a very beautiful 4 star resort), and to satisfy to the myriad of four stars signs all over the resort.
Nonetheless, the public/general areas are surprisingly gorgeous and well-kept. Though you should not expect it to be the Garden of Eden (since the grass was more yellow and dried out than green) it still was a nice walk from the lobby to the room. The pool was very clean except for the last few days because of the wind. The resort has 3 bars; the lobby bar (4 Vientos), the pool bar, and the beach bar (El Caribe). They all offer very good service and pretty much the same drinks. However; the lobby bar has a blender and offers better drinks. In my opinion the Pina Colada (crushed ice, pina colada mix) of the lobby was amazing compared to the juice you get at the pool/beach bar. The Mojito seemed to be a difficult drink to get, the excuse we were given, the herb is not good enough to make a decent mojito. So if you want a Mojito, get it early because there will be no more good herbs come night time guaranteed (unless things have changed in the last few weeks).
Overall; it's not quite yet a 4 star hotel. But, from what we have seen of the other hotels (we saw the Gran Club, the Caracol, the Mayanabo), it looks like our hotel was the nicest, cleanest, and the generally well maintained one. At some point during our stay we met an intriguing personage who previously stayed at the Gran club. Apparently it used to have the nicest rooms, but when he came back this march he changed hotels, it seems Brisas now has the nicest rooms. Who knows we all have different tastes, expectations, and experiences.

- About the Room: Unfortunately we did not have the chance to get a newly renovated room, we had asked for a king bed in our package, instead we got an air-condition lacking two beds small room. It really does get small when you have two suitcases on the floor. Even though the building was old, and the furniture had signs of wear (it was screaming to get replaced, especially for a 4 star hotel want-to-be), the room was kept very clean by the maid. As far as the beds go, they were not comfortable at all; it seemed as tough the mattress was non existent. On top of that there was no mini-bar, and the safe in the room was not functional (the box was on the wall, but it had no lock). So we had to get a safe next to the reception, no problems there.
At first it didnt really bother us because we were just so happy to be in Cuba, we basically threw our stuff in the room and ran to the beach!
It was later in the day that we went at the reception desk and we asked for a room change, alas they said it was not possible, but they would send a staff member to fix our air conditioning problem. From what the manager at the reception told us there are only 11 rooms with a king bed. Don't know if it is true but anyways they don't seem to have caught the drift about king beds yet as the intriguing personage we met during our stay pointed out, to which we all (us + a couple we met) seemed to agree. Anyways, to come back to the air conditioning it effectively got fixed; except it was fixed in reverse! The low flow was high flow and vice-versa. Well at least we had air conditioning!
The next day, we saw people leaving so we decided to try our luck again and ask for a room change. Finally! Success!! We moved from block 12 (1215) to block 11 (1113)! Big change? Right. Well the room was more spacious, we had a huge bed (which consisted basically of 2 single bed mattresses stacked together), a mini fridge (old, but working), a safe (it was too late we had already paid for the one near the reception), air conditioning (functioning with the same strange problem as the previous one with everything in reverse).
The bathroom was the same from a room to another; there was one small sink (practically no counter space), a small & narrow bathtub, and a toilet. By the way if you want to take a bath, bring a bath plug!
During our stay we meet a bunch of people; the resort seemed to be running at full capacity. We met another couple who changed rooms from block 25 to block 2! Apparently the room they got was renovated, nice, comfortable, and had 2 sinks ;)! Maybe you'll get lucky!
Anyways we were trying to spend the least time possible in our rooms there was not much to do except to sleep. Plus we were having a blast at the beach & at the pool. With time we even got used to our room =)
Yes, there was the TV but there wasn't much to see I think there was one French channel (TV5Monde Amrique Latine), HBO (in English, with Spanish subtitles, it was quite distracting to read the subtitles when you speak Spanish), CNN (in English, and a Spanish version), another Spanish news channel, and some other educational channels in Spanish (one with an English course!).
- Regarding the restaurants :
They are 3 a la carte, the Italian (The Venetian), The Sea Food (Bohio Del Mar), The Cuban, a Buffet (Tubaquey), and a Snack Bar.
The Buffet; average, eatable and I think there is an effort to vary the menu (lunch & dinner time). The breakfast buffet is open from 8:00 am to 10 am (except some days when people leave early thus opening at 7:00am). It's always the same thing, eggs, pancakes, cereals
Lunch time; from 12:00 to 2:00 pm, Dinner; from 6:00 to never found out ! The snack bar is next to the pool, and the beach bar (Caribe). Even tough people say its 24hours, its not true !! It closes at 5pm. From 5pm to 11:00pm it becomes the sea food restaurant (Bohio del mar). We never had the munchies after dinner so I don't know if it re-opens after being the sea food restaurant. The Italian seems to be the one easiest to get reservation to. We got reservation to ours on the same night. The Food is average, but it's okay. Note : Side dishes all come together, and what is written is what you get. The Sea food; the pineapple/shrimp skewer was delicious!!! The rest was not that great, but at least they have chicken in their menu (which was average) for those who do not wish to take a chance.
The Cuban; we had the lamb; it was also delicious, very tender. The side dishes not that great. By the way; the Reservation desk for the restaurants is open from 10:00 am to 12:00, and is located in the lobby in front of the reception desk, right where you can see the red/white stained-glass windows. In our case, at 9:30 there was already a line up and at 10:00 it was even worse. Be sure to make reservations rapidly; the sooner the better. Especially if you wish to try the 3 restaurants as places are limited (funny thing is when you go, you'll find that half the restaurant are empty, shortage of staff maybe ?).
- Concerning the Beach :
Playa Santa Lucia is very beautiful, even with the sea weeds. The water is rather shallow, you will have to walk quite a bit to get to deeper waters (but this seems to be the case with all the beaches in Cuba). The sand is not as fine as you would want it to be mainly because of all the branches and shells (especially after seeing the fine sand of playa Bonita, see below), but it is overall a 4/5 in my opinion.
- About the Activities : The entertainment Staff was awesome; there was a variety of activities near the beach or near the pool such as; water football, volleyball on the beach, to water polo, to bingo, to dance lessons near the pool.
We only saw one night show; it was pleasant; most of it was dancing. The dancers were talented, the choreography was interesting, and the music was enjoyable. You should also snorkel near the beach, What excursions you should do while there? Here is my top 3;
- PLAYA BONITA (a catamaran excursion), a full day excursion costing 55 CUC / person. It's totally worth it. The excursion includes a one hour snorkeling experience near the coral reef. The variety of sea species and corals you can see is amazing! It was a unique experience. By the way they provide everything; including a brand new, never used snorkel it's a basic one but if you don't want to buy/bring one, it works just fine ! After the snorkeling the catamaran drops you to Playa Bonita one of the 3 beaches of the Cayo Sabinal (a cay, on the eastern coast of Cuba, a natural habitat, apparently protected). Bonita beach is a breath taking, pristine stretch of beach. A must to see! Most of all the only people you will see there are the people you took the catamaran with and a few locals (at the bar playing cards), so you will have the beach nearly to yourself! You can take a long walk alongside the water, it's very romantic! Differing with the water of Playa Santa Lucia the water of Bonita beach is not shallow, thus a few meters in and the water is already belly high. A few meters further and the water is up to your shoulders while it still remains crystal clear, you can see still see your toes! The sand is so white & fine, the water is so crystal clear, it's as if you were looking at one of those post-card perfect beach pictures!
- The CORAL TOUR (another catamaran excursion). It's basically the same as the first part of the Playa Bonita excursion; you have the opportunity to snorkel for an hour at the coral reef. It's a 3hr ride (1hr to get there, 1 to snorkel, 1 to come back). Since we were with Nolitours (Cameleon Club), it was included in our package. You know if it's included might as well do it. If not included it was 25CUC/person. Unfortunately, the catamaran (for the coral tour, which is not the same one used for the playa Bonita excursion) was broken in the beginning of our stay, and the wind of the last 3 days made it impossible for us to do it.
- LOBSTER DINNER; be it at a locals house (cheaper and a much more authentic), or at coco beach.
You can also do the day in Camaguey excursion, which we did not do, but from what we heard it was a very interesting and inspiring experience.
-->N.B. If there are no more places for the playa Bonita activity, you can access Cayo Sabinal by car (by paying a toll of course, plus the 70 CUC for the car rental) Make sure you get the right directions (and bring your passports). There was a lot of wind the last days we were there; as a consequence all of the aquatic activities were canceled (catamarans rides, even water polo. Renting a car is an interesting solution as long as you go with more than 2 people (it splits the costs!).
Some last tips :
--> The convertible peso aka CUC is a local currency, it only has value in Cuba, and it doesn't have any value back in Canada! You can only change your Canadian dollar into CUC once in Cuba. You can change it at the Bank, the Cadecas, etc. We did not have time to change it at the airport. They are taking their sweet time even if there are only 2-3 people in front of you, you end up waiting 20mins, we experienced it when it was time to go back and we wanted to change CUC's back into Canadian dollars. Anyways there's a Cadeca at the Hotel. And by the way if you're thinking of bringing US dollars there is a 10% charge to change them into CUCs, so don't !
-->Credit cards are accepted and work as long as they are not issued by an American bank (ex: amex, etc). You can even withdraw money on your credit card even if you don't have a PIN at the Cadeca (but the 10% charge applies, since they can't charge your card in CUC they convert to US dollars). At the end our stay we wanted to take out money that way but there was no signal that day. We returned the next morning; it took the cashier 5-6 tries to get it to work! The moral is: bring cash, less hassle!
-->You can bring gifts for the maid (I went and bought a ton of stuff for less than 20$ at Dollarama, including 6 little gift bags).
-->Bring your old shorts, t-shirts, caps or any type of clothing that just stacks up in your closet and you don't want to wear anymore, a lot of vendors asked us for clothes instead of money as payment for what we wanted to buy. Staff, maids, locals also appreciate the gesture.
-->Be careful on buying cigars or rum other than from the shops. As someone there told us; the banana leaf cigar scam is quite popular. The rum may look like rum, but may not be rum when you get home or it's not the 7 year old rum you expected.
-->At the Camaguey airport there is a duty free shop + 2 gift shops + 1 refreshment stand. So if you want to buy a carton of cigarettes wait to get to the airport! They were 22.50 CUC (we had bought one from Shop Caracol for 37 CUC, we bought a 2nd one for that price!). The rum is a bit cheaper at the airport for example a 7 year old rum bottle was 11.90CUC at the shops, and was 11.75 CUC at the airport. Not that great of a saving. You will also find there some artifacts (same as some of the hotel ones) for cheaper, ex : I bought a really nice snail type of thing for 8 CUC and found the exact same thing at the duty free shop for 5 CUC . The 2 other gift shops also have interesting objects/artifacts. Chiefly one of them has huge collection of shot glasses (way better than the ones you can find at the hotel, in my opinion).
--> The day we arrived (Thursday) there was a nice collection of chokers (hematite ones, and shell ones) we did not bother to buy it thinking that we would have plenty of time during the week. Only some days there were no vendors at all, and we never saw the chokers / necklaces again after that. There were other style of necklace but no more hematite / shell ones. So gift shopping wise; you will easily find the outside market (local artifacts), the hotel shop, and the cigar shop (all near the lobby bar). You can also go to the Shop Caracol a 10 minute walk from the hotel (you can take a horse-taxi if ur lazy =P). Don't bother following the signs that indicated Centro Commercial, it closed down (I don't know if it's temporary for repairs, renovations, or for good, anyways when we were there (13-20 march 2008), it was empty, there was nothing left but the credit cards stickers on the glass doors).
Oh, one last thing ; you can either bring your own beach towels or pay a 10 CUC deposit at the Beach club that you get back at the end of your stay.
A little anecdote on the towels; we brought ours; alas we forgot both of them on one of the lounge chairs near the pool on our last night. We only remembered it the morning of our departure while packing. So as soon as we remembered we went back to the chair we had left our towels on. But no luck there. They were gone. Sadness came, rushing into our hearts. We then decided to check at the reception desk, where the lost & found is supposed to be. No luck either. The woman at the desk quite rudely told us that everything that was lost & found always ended up there, so we could kiss goodbye our towels. (That we had from a previous Las Vegas trip). Anyways, we returned to the pool to say our goodbyes, when we stumbled on a man who was doing the morning pool maintenance. We asked him if he had found 2 towels the previous night ; Yes he answered , he went down a set of steps next to the pool, disappeared for a few seconds and came back up with our towels neatly folded ! The joy! The happiness! Ah so a word of advice; if you loose something ask around!
In conclusion; we had a great time, we met some incredible people (locals & tourists).
I hope this helps & I hope you have a better knowledge of what to expect!