OK so we are back from our Cuban adventure. It was a great week. Anybody who is considering Cayo Coco may like this post...others not so much. Sorry for those who do not.
First, the week started off GREAT because of the warm heart of an Air Canada gate agent. Since Conquest does not reserve you seats on an Air Canada flight, you get the "left-overs". An Airbus 319 airplane has 3 seats down either side in economy, not making it the most conducive to "couples flights". Each row will undoubtedly have at least 2 "single" seats. So, when asked about sitting together, the gate agent wound up upgrading us to make sure we could sit together. She has no idea how wonderful a surprise that was and how much it was appreciated. Thank you Air Canada!!
TRYP Cayo Coco was not a 5 star resort but it was a rather enjoyable place. Most of the comments made from others staying at surrounding resorts were about how much nicer the TRYP was...take that for what it is worth. I can say that we paid extra to have a VIP package (guaranteed us ocean view, 6 a-la-carte meals plus other things) and it was well worth it. The buffet food was bland and boring but would sustain life easily without getting you sick. The “a-la-carte” restaurants.....excellent. I can say only 2 were "OK" and the rest were great. Overall the service here was great. Most people were very nice and helpful. The room was old and broken in but the ocean was visible, the bed (although hard and not too comfortable) was sleepable and the AC worked...water worked....what else do you need?
What we did do while we were there? I originally hoped to get lots of diving in however the total number of dives logged on this trip...ZERO!! The ocean was fairly choppy and the snorkeling visibility was not great so I figured I would save the money and just enjoy the vacation. We were in in the ocean and the pool every day (average of 31 degrees every day and sunny almost all the time - rained most nights), I took lots of pictures and we did two "Excursions".
The Speed Boat Adventure - awesome is all I can say. They are not huge boats or ever the best maintained but I cannot believe this is not more popular in many places. Basically, we took a bus to I believe here and got a 5 minute tutorial on driving a boat, then got to get into our own personal (2 per boat) "speed boat". We took a long winding zig/zag path from the docks to another dock at a snorkel location where we snorkeled for half an hour then took the long way back. As simple as it sounds, it was great fun. And being so simple, I cannot believe this is the only place I have ever heard of it being offered...."possible way of getting us into a warmer environment".
Next we went on the dolphin swim...exciting. The regular tours did not appeal to us because they required a 2 day commitment (HELLO....already paid to stay at the TRYP...don't want to compound that by paying to stay elsewhere too). So we paid to get a "driver" for the day and the woman from the tour agent was nice enough to offer herself up as a translator/tour guide. It was a long day - up at 5, driving by 6....from Cayo Coco to Cienfuegos is about 4 hours driving with no real stops. Actually the Dolphin swim place as depicted in the link is about 15 minutes outside of Cienfuegos. We walked around Cienfuegos, had a true Cuban lunch, watched the dolphin show, did the dolphin swim, then turned around for the drive home. We stopped in to say hi to the families of both the tour guide as well as the driver....this was exciting because we got to see how Cuban's live....and they live simply and happily is the best way to put it. Then we made it back to the TRYP for a very late dinner.
Other than that, we did very little other than relax of take life slowly. Then on the way back we had the same problems with seating on the plane so this time I offered to pay the upgrade so we could sit together. The man said there was little he could do but would see if he could help me out and would find me in the terminal. After this I expected very little but sure enough, 10 minutes later I feel the tap on my shoulder....upgrade at no cost. Once again, thank you very much Air Canada....I have always enjoyed flying you even without the upgrades...MUCH better than some of the other options. So this finished it off just right.
All in all it was an amazing vacation. Anybody thinking of going to Cuba, I hope you find this useful….we really enjoyed it but we do not expect the world when we travel...some people expect nothing but perfection and the best of everything because they are paying for it...an open mind has more fun (in all respects).
