ok, where do I start. First off my girlfriend and I were at Jibacoa mid Dec 03 and we had an amazing time. Hola to Eric, Alberto, Yankeil, Kenia, Jason, Rida and Mercedes (Jibacoa staff & Tennis pro's). Oh, and not to forget the man himself Maximo (Ent.Manager).

The Food: It's better than McDonalds, and if your wanting best food in the world, go to another planet. These cooks do their best and if you have an issue..just be nice and tell them, they are there to help you.
People! if you have kindness in your heart you will realize that they try and if you can help them perform there job better than they will really like that. Best advice on eating...go to the buffet early !!!.

The Resort will really have to improve on the TOURS to Havana. It is true you can get better deals and I was told the Resort is going to improve on them.

Staff: They give 110% and that's all you can ask of them. I say GET INVOLED !!!...you'd be surprised on how much you will learn if you talk to the staff (entertainment staff). Best advice on staff...talk to them and learn !!.

Things you should take: water bottle (empty). Ladies stuff (make-up, nilons)..they could use that. Crayons, coloring books and soaps.
pencils and paper. tampons & toothpaste. My point is this a dollar tip really means NOTHING. Bring items that are rare and that will do so much for them. Your not going to save the world when you on vacation, but helping someone who helps you is the way things should be.

Want to eat fresh coconut?....take the bike tour and ask the tour guide you want to try some fresh coconut. They will take you to an awesome place to have some coconut....and in this case, best to tip a dollar!!
;)

Activities: My girlfriend and I played tennis. Alberto, Kenia and the visiting Pro Jason were really cool. we had a blast and jason gave away free t-shirts has prizes...nice idea!!. Volleyball is a must also, Eric is a great showman. I simply say do it all (if you can)....your on vacation !!!

To sum this very long review up, Jibacoa is a place YOU must visit, it's the only Resort in Cuba with NO OTHER BUILDINGS AROUND IT. You are surrounded by a beautiful mountain. We have been to Jibacoa 3 times and we won't stop going. it's not about the weather or food, it's about the friends you make and the fun you will have.

I hope reading this has helped you decide that jibacoa is the place to go.

thanks Jeremy

Wow... all I can say. The resort, the country, the people... amazing.
My best friend Jen and I went to Breezes Jibicoa for a friend's wedding and had a better time than we could imagine. When we first arrived we walked into our room in building 16 and to our surprise saw that we got a room with one king size bed, we were just about to call front desk to change rooms as we wanted two double beds when I opened the drapes and see the ocean, beach and mountains only steps away - needless to say we shared the bed that was big enough to sleep six! The food was great and to my surprise from the reviews that I have read about Cuban resort food. After only one day we met a group of friends who were also from T.O. who we ended up partying with the whole time we were there. By the end of the vacation we had found out we knew some of the same people back home and live around the corner from each other! The wedding as well couldn't have been done any better... beautiful and simple and PERFECT (CONGRATS AGAIN TO CHERYL & KELLY!) The tours were a great price and coordinated perfectly - take the train tour! Take a tour into Havana but be prepared to be pestered for $$$. The pool, gym and jacuzzi were awesome, totally 5 star. Everyone from the front desk bartender who served cappuccino in the morning to Jesus down at the beach bar were incredibly friendly and always had a smile. The negative thing I could say about Breezes Jibacoa is that it is a bit secluded (which is nice) but means that the younger crowd could be sparse, however just look around and you'll find a crew to party with. HOLA to Genny, Smiley, Mirabel, Eddie, Michelle, Eddie and the wedding crew!
And one last thing... MOJITOS!

Just returned from Breezes Jibacoa and had a wonderful time! The scenery, landscaping and layout of this resort are what make it such a beautiful place. Having combed the previous reviews of Jibacoa on tripadvisor.com before we left, I'll only add the few tidbits we didn't know before we got there:

1) We flew down on JetsGo and I'd highly recommend it. We'd packed snack bars for the flight anticipating that there would be no meal served and were pleasantly surprised by the breakfast we received (fresh fruit, youghurt, muffin etc). The lunch on the way back was very good as well. We did not experience any delays with JetsGo unlike Skyservice which seemed to be the source of all Flight Delay notices posted at the resort.

2) Bring any cash you are going to need with you or get it at the airport in Varadero. Maybe my husband and I were the only ones dumb enough not to know this but it turned out the only place nearby to get it was one currency change counter in Havana. They will take VISA at the hotel and most places though. You will also need $25US cash per person to leave the country.

3) I can't say for certain this was the source of my upset stomach for 4 days, but I'd recommend avoiding the water at the beach bar. I think the water at the other bars is fine as we did not have a problem prior to the day we got our water bottle filled down there. My husband and I both had a stomach bug but found it pretty much cleared up once we switched to bottled water ($1 a bottle at the gift shop) and stuck to what was poured for us at the restaurants.

4) We were staying in a ground floor, gardenview room which was very nice and spacious. I'm not sure if it's the same with other rooms but the only disappointment is there wasn't a chest of drawers to put clothes in. We ended up keeping what we couldn't hang up in our suitcases and just had to iron more often which was a little annoying.
The water pressure is also pretty weak, so budget about 20 minutes to fill the tub!All in all, it's a perfect place if relaxation is on the agenda. The people are very friendly but don't force you to join in to every activity if you'd rather just snooze in your deck chair. The a la carte restaurants are good for a change of scenery from the buffet but I would say the buffet's food was much better. The a la carte restaurants' menus are quite limited and the food was pretty average.
Similar to other reviews, I'd highly recommend the walks with Eric, the trip to Havana, and taking advantage of the poolside and beachside offerings!

We visited December 8-22. In order to save you all time in reading much of the same, I will attempt to briefly summarize our emperience. First the good points, 1. staff are nice. 2 the food is very good. We preferred the daily buffet. 3 the entertainment is good. 4 the rooms are clean. The bad points are: 1 We saw a giant cockroach along the rock wall of the Mexican restaurant. 2 the chef that makes the breakfast omlets during the week ALWAYS is careless with breaking the eggs; I always got eggshells in my omlet. The weekend chef is much more carefull and makes the best omlets. 3 the bus tour to Havana was not worth it at all... make other arrangements to see the city. My wife got sick for two days from the food served to us in Havana as part of the tour. And take along your own water. We were charged $1.50 US for each glass. Quite a rip off since we were told that a complete meal was included with the price of the tour. Bottled water at the hotel is only 1.00US for 1.5 li. The driver was 1/2 hour late and the tour guide was not good with english. 4 The staff encourages visitors to partake in activities at the hotel (spanish lessons, dance, games) by offering "funny money" which you can bid to buy souveneirs during the auction every thurday. The activities are alot of fun, but the auction is very unfair. We did everything and loved it, but got nothing at the auction because the auctioneer would say something like 400 hundred (meaning 40,000 or 1000 hundred (meaning 100,000). 5 The smoking in the disco was extremely bad. The nightly entertainment is moved indoors when the weather outside is bad. We miss out a couple of nights because of this problem. 6 The biggest dissappointment was that we happened to be there after school was out for the holidays. We had a couple of drunken bone heads that made testicles of themselves embarassing the staff and other Canadian visitors. They wanted to see how tall a stack of empty liquer cups they could make. They even paid to have a plack made of their personal record. The staff were very good controlling them so they did not bother everyone. All in all I would love to go back. But go for at least 2 weeks just to be sure that you get some good weather. We had 5 days of strong cold wind and rain. Bring along a sweater.