Kidalovo in Cuba by Natalie Tours

We rested in Varadero from March 9 to March 23, 2012 at the Herradura 2 * hotel. in general, I quite liked it. If it weren't for one factor that I describe below, I would probably be able to say: wow, cuba is cool !!

Completely satisfied with the choice of the hotel. a big plus is the location on the very shore of the ocean in the center of varadero. I liked the breakfasts. (well, how you liked it ... Cuban cuisine is terrible in principle but against the general background, breakfast at the hotel is very personal). I was pleasantly surprised by the presence of fresh juices from pineapple, papaya and guava. the rooms are modest, of course, but it is 2 stars. You can have breakfast on the outdoor terrace. pelicans often fly there in the mornings. hall and balcony shared by two rooms overlooking the ocean. cleaned every day. towels are changed according to some mysterious system: in the first week 1 time, but on the second time 4 :) the maid is decent, does not steal, does not ask for clothes (it turns out that this happens in Cuba).

we often left gifts for her: nail polish, hairpins, soap, toothpaste. familiar guys left cookies, which helped the mysterious appearance of a refrigerator in the room, swans from towels and other amenities :) the beach is clean, the sand is fine and cool, the water is simply indescribable color, the waves envelop the shore with white foam with a bewitching roar .... Ah, it's worth seeing!!! sun loungers and umbrellas are free. a nice young man is on duty on the beach, who will drag a sun lounger to any desired place and bring cocktails from the bar.

completely forgot! there is one minus in the hotel, and it was discovered on the very first day - these are cockroaches ... in the first 2 days we got four cockroaches .... but there is also a plus: in the remaining 12 days there were none)))

now about that same FACTOR… about the tour operator… we went with Natalie Tours. booked three tours.

two of them were thwarted, just no one came to pick us up, and it’s simply impossible to get through to them, and it’s completely impossible to prove their guilt. they blame everyone but themselves. refuse to compensate for the damage. I'm talking about the unbearable rudeness of the employees.

but we still had one excursion, but it would be better if it was also torn off! .. in 2 days (excursion to Cayo Largo) we exhausted so many nerves that it would be enough for a year.

When buying an excursion, our guide Jennifer wrote out a separate voucher for an air ticket to Cayo Largo and a separate one for a hotel. She gave the voucher for the air ticket immediately and said that the voucher for the hotel should be given to us at the airport. At the airport they didn't give us anything and said that Jennifer had to give everything. They refused to call her in Varadero, citing the fact that long-distance communication is very expensive.

We were put on a dusty train, which usually runs along the hotel-beach route, and they said that a representative of the cubature Marty would meet us at the hotel. The train went to the hotels, and it is not known which of them is ours, since we were not met in any of them. So, having passed all the hotels, we reached the beach, where we realized that there would be no more hotels, which means that no one was going to meet us. We decided to methodically go around all the hotels and find out at the reception in each one whether it was ours. The prospect, of course, is doubtful, but at that time the only possible one. Ours turned out to be a Playa Blanca hotel, and it didn’t turn out right away. We were immediately told that no one was expected. I had to explain our situation to them for a long time and ask for help. After they realized that we were desperate and would not leave them behind, they started calling somewhere. After half an hour of proceedings, we were settled.

Later, we tried to find Marty's cubature representative ourselves (Natalie Tours cooperates with them and it was he who was supposed to meet us, according to Natalie Tours employees). He was not at the workplace and no one knew where he could be. Found it only in the evening. He said that he was not going to meet anyone and that in general such a situation with a voucher "cannot be." He said that tomorrow he would put up an announcement with the time of our flight back to Varadero and defiantly left in an unknown direction. He didn't show up for work that day. The next day, at the place where, according to him, the ad should have appeared, it was empty ... Again, the receptionists helped. I think they just felt sorry for us. And Marty didn't show up again that day. When a person works and for what he receives money is unknown.

Before leaving, the hotel staff asked us to pay 170 cookies for the stay, as natalie tours did not transfer the money. 2 hours explained to them that we paid the money in Natalie Tours and are not going to pay a second time. I was very surprised that in the end they believed us. Apparently, this is not the first time they have had such a scam with Natalie Tours. Finally, a bus came for us and took us to the airport. Two more couples were traveling with us on an excursion to Varadero and were supposed to fly on the same flight with us (as we might have guessed). At the airport, we felt relieved that everything was over and finally relaxed for the first time in 2 days .... But no such luck… our flight was still not announced, no promised guide was waiting for us. we were already nervous, decided that they had forgotten about us again, and already three couples began to look for their guide. The guide was never found, but they found a group of tourists who flew to Cayo Largo for one day. We checked the flight numbers and, lo and behold, they matched.

Our new acquaintances, two couples, admitted that if not for us, they would have been waiting for the promised guide. And the guide, as it turned out, had already left. This is such a nice guide.

When we began to tell our story to other tourists, it turned out that we were still lucky! Representatives of Natalie Tours never came to someone, even at the first meeting. And they even forgot to write someone down for a transfer to the airport, and people in a turmoil with suitcases ran looking for a taxi to get to the airport for their money. So keep in mind that traveling with Natalie Tours is completely ruined nerves and a ruined vacation.

I urge everyone who had similar situations with Natalie Tours to write about it. People should know the truth so as not to repeat our mistakes and not spoil their vacation. Better yet, write an official complaint to the Moscow office of the company so that they resolve the problem with their Cuban colleagues.

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