My husband and I just returned from our 3rd visit to Sandals Hicacos. We were there from April 18th to 25th – and third time really is a charm. I was worried that my expectations would be too high, since the previous two stays here were fabulous. Can we really have a third week and it gets better? Yes! Sure, this place has its quirks and deficiencies, but for the money, you get quite a bang for the buck!

Our arrival at the Juan Gomez Airport was smooth and quick – 20 minutes from landing to being on the road to the resort. Marcello was there to greet us and he remembered me from the last visit. My husband even had time to go to the departures side to change Canadian money into Convertible Pesos. We arrived at the resort too early to check in so we deposited the luggage in the lobby and headed to the buffet for lunch. I noticed that the a la carte reservation desk was open and I booked the next two nights at the Beach Grill and El Caribe – even before I set foot in my room! Once again, I was recognized and was informed my returning guest dinner invitation was waiting for me. How do they remember so many people?

I won’t go into the details of the room as all of the suites are identical in décor and layout. However, this time we were in block 14, 3rd floor and could see the ocean from our balcony. We were overlooking the very lush gardens and we were five minutes from the El Mirador or the beach, whichever took our fancy. The beach, of course, is perfect and we spent many hours there, forgetting all about work, winter and all the other stresses of life. Having to go to the beach early in the morning to reserve a palapa and two chairs is not ideal but if you want one you have to play the game. I don’t have a problem at all with people doing this, providing they are using them by 10am. It annoys me to no end when people reserve the palapa and all day it remains empty.

After reading many of the reviews I have come to the conclusion that it is the food that disappoints people the most. I’m not sure why so many people seem to think they will be fed gourmet meals. Cuba does not have access to the same supply chains as other Caribbean countries due to the US embargo. If you want gourmet meals, open your wallet a lot wider and go to Jamaica or St. Lucia. I never had any problem finding something good to eat; in fact, I usually had a hard time deciding because there were so many choices, particularly in the buffet. My husband is a basic meat-and-potatoes eater and he had no complaints. His favourite was the pork chops at the Beach Grill. I’m not crazy about the lobster, but that’s because I live in the Maritimes and I prefer the cold water lobster. I loved the chicken and pizza for lunch in the Grill, the pasta in the buffet and the jerk chicken in El Caribe. Try the black bean soup in El Caribe – delicious! Every morning Osvany made the perfect omelet. All meals complimented with fresh fruit, cold cuts and cheeses, and a lovely cappuccino. Sure, my tenderloin steak was over-cooked one evening in the Grill but we had no meals that were inedible. I’ve had worse at restaurants at home and usually paid over $20 for it. Kudos to Osvany (Buffet) and Leoni & Ivette (El Mirador) - outstanding!

I think by far the reason that Sandals Hicacos is special is because of its employees. Our maid, Lien, cleaned our room spotlessly and left towel art everyday. Gardeners were always handing flowers to “Pretty Lady”. Wherever you go, you are greeted with a smile and “Hola!”. The bartenders do not skimp on the liquor in your drinks. Sometimes they run out of mint for the mojitos but so what? The drink becomes a Ron Collins and is just as refreshing. The cerveza on tap is always icy cold and goes down well after a hot day on the beach. I noticed some people complaining on this site about the “greedy” Canadians bringing their huge drinking cups. I’m not sure if this comment was made because these folks were worried they wouldn’t get their share of liquor or if they were jealous they hadn’t thought of it themselves. But I would like to say that it isn’t just for convenience – we are leaving a greener footprint that the people who are using multiple plastic cups in the course of their stay. And these insulated cups we bring with us make excellent gifts for your new Cuban friends. Tipping is absolutely not required; however, we automatically tip the Tim Horton’s servers at home so how can we begrudge a few pesos for people who treat us with respect and give us a great holiday. We have so much in comparison to Cubans and yet so many people who visit have the mindset that they’ve paid for an all-inclusive so why should tipping be necessary. My service did not get better just because I tipped; I tipped to say thank you. I am embarrassed sometimes by the rude behaviour and disrespect that my fellow Canadians show to people who work long and hard for the pittance they actually get paid. I remember a time that we saw ourselves as a kind and considerate nation.

Would we return for a fourth visit? Absolutely!

My boyfriend and I have just returned from our second stay at Sandal Royal Hicacos. This time around we brought another couple along with us. Since our first visit in February of last year, there have been several changes that have taken place at the resort, some of them are great and others are not so.

ROOMS:
Being classified as returning guests, my boyfriend and I received an unexpected room upgrade. We were more than satisfied with the basic room, but 2 minutes after our luggage were delivered to our room, the bar man came and stocked up our fridge with pop, beer and white wine and put full bottles of Vodka, Dry Gin, Havana Club Rum and Red wine in the bar.
This was a very pleasant surprise! And it made us feel good about deciding to return to Sandals as opposed to giving the other resorts a try.

We were given room 821 which is on the 3rd floor. The AC and lighting in this room worked perfectly and no musty smells can be detected. Our friends were given room 817 which is 4 doors away. The AC in this room never seemed to get cool enough, the lighting is a bit dimmer and there was a musty smell that never went away.

The resort seem to have gotten rid of their turn down service since we did not get a single visit from a night maid like we did every night on our stay last year. This didn't really bother us, but the chocolates that the maids used to leave on our bed at night time were missed.

RESORT GROUNDS:
Construction is in progress to replace the wooden stakes and ropes on the walkways with white plastic fencing. In my opinion, the stakes and ropes gave the resort a more rustic feel and had more character than the fencing, but that's just my own opinion. I will miss them when or if I return and find them all gone.

Other than that, the grounds is still beautiful. You will often see gardeners tending to the plants and flowers. On two occasions the gardeners we passed by ran up to us to offer me some fresh cut flowers. Some of the waterways have been left dry. Particularly the one right by the reception area. I am not sure why this is, but it was much better when it was fully operational.

POOL:
As always, the pool is clean and nice. The water is not heated so the coolness is a little bit of a surprise when you first jump in. We never had a hard time finding a spot by the pool but the only thing that was a disappointment was the number of the floats that were available. On our visit last year, there were enough of these floats to go around so that almost everyone kept one by their side or used them as cushion for their loungers. This year, I was surprised to see that there were only about 10 floats available for everyone in the pool. They were very high in demand and those who were lucky enough to get one watched them like a hawk and never let go of them to give other people a turn.

FOOD & RESTAURANTS
The buffet is 10x much better than last year! The food and the selection is great! On Tuesdays, they serve over 600lbs of Lobster for dinner! The buffet was our favourite restaurant this year. it used to be the Beach Grill for the Steak and Lobster. But, after getting our request turned down for 2 lobster tails and serving us a very tiny serving of both lobster and steak, the buffet was the way to go.

Hamburgers and Pizza are always fun at the Beach Grill for an afternoon snack or at the Italian restaurant for late night munching. Nothing beats the escargot at Las Morlas and everything on the menu is pretty good at El Caribe.

We were touched to find out that some of our favourite people at the restaurants remembered us from last year. Service is always on point...and everyone is always smiling and happy to cater to all of your needs.

TIPPING:
We always made a point to put a peso here and there, but not once did we feel any change to the quality of service we received whether we tipped or not.

EXCURSION:
We took the Colonial Havana day trip which is 67CUC. We made sure to take the tour on a Wednesday this year, since the market in Havana is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. The tour this year is slightly different from the one we went to last year. Not sure if this may be becuase we went on a Monday last year, hence no market.

Last year, we were taken to a rum museum and were shown the two bars that Hemingway frequented when he lived in Cuba. This year, we were not taken to the rum museum but we got to enter a museum which housed beautiful classic cars. And not once was Hemingway mentioned during the whole tour. I guess, this may also depend on the tour guide. We were glad that we decided to take another trip to Havana since almost everything that the tourguide talked about this time around were topics that our last year's tourguide did not cover and vice versa.

CONCLUSION:
We love Cuba for it's history, culture and most especially for its people. We will definitely be back, if not next year then the year after. And we will most definitely be staying at SRH again even after all of the changes. I can't imagine ever going to Varadero and not staying at Sandals.

alberta canada

My wife and i have just returned from Sandals Hicacos, we are seniors and have travelled extensively, this was our first time to Cuba and this Sandals hotel.

We had the concierge service which worked fantasticly for us, and would highly recommend this service to anyone. I will not bore our readers with some of the things that have been repeated many times on these reviews, only to say our room was cleaned daily, the air condition worked with no problems and we always had hot water, the only small hicup was on two days the hotel was short of face clothes and they were not replaced, this also happened to other suites as well but to us it was no big deal.

Our bar was stocked daily and any requests were replenished with quick, prompt service with a smile.

The food we found to be a little lacking in taste but as reported on here many times there was always something to satisfy our palate.

The grounds and gardens are well cared for by pleasant people who could always find time to say hi and chat a while.

Bar and resturant services we found to be excellent even if we tipped or not.

And of course the beaches are just out of this world with the sparkling two blue colour ocean in the background, the hotel is starting to show some wear and tear but nothing that a maintenance upkeep couldnt change, we ate all kinds of different foods and never once had any ill effects from it.

Finally to us, the lasting impression that will always be etched in our minds was the genuine and sincere friendliness of the Cuban people

Will we recommend this hotel, absolutely, will we be going back again, absolutely yes

Just returned from April 17-24 from the Sandals Royal Hicacos where we had stayed 2 years ago. One main thing to say about this hotel is that under the new management, the service has improved a lot and the staff looks happier.
This was my 6th trip to Cuba, my husband's 10th. Had a nice trip overall.

Food: as anywhere else in Cuba, depending on personal preference, was good (liked the caribbean and seafood restaurants). Food and service at the BBQ were not great.

Beach: as always...beautiful, despite the outrageous number of cigar and cigarette butts left in the sand; not to mention the broken beer bottles and empty water bottles. They clean up the beach very early in the morning but there is no way they can keep up with the mess the guests make every day.

Big part of the problem this year regards the palapas. There are tons of chairs around the pool and on the beach. My husband got up every day at 6.30 am to get a palapa; after 9.00 am everything is taken... keeping it was a different story. Hotel was full and everyone wanted to be on the beach. One day we went kayaking for 30mn and came back to find our palapa totally surrended by other chairs. We simply couldn't move. Hotel definitely needs to add more palapas since there is so much more room on the beach.

Flight: Skyservice is always our favourite airline. Plane left on time one way, and early than expected on the way back. Crew is very friendly and efficient.

Air Transat Holidays: not our favourite right now. Originally, booked our trip 2 months and a half earlier at another hotel and were told one week before departure that they overbooked and that we had to go to another hotel of their choice or else!! Of course, their choice was not even comparable to the hotel of our choice. Thankfully our travel agent worked his magic and since we knew the Royal Hicacos hotel we managed to book there. Since we booked in January it made no sense to bump us off. Anyway we got no explanation nor apology from Air Transat Holidays. Won't be doing business with them for a while.

Night entertainment: very bad. Oddly enough, the hotel is obsessed with fashion shows this year, both during the day and at night. There is a band also playing before and after the show; it's a good band but it played the same tunes every night, too bad.

Reception: Reinel welcomed us very warmly. He is the most hospitable reception worker. Rest of staff is not friendly. As our plane was leaving at 9.40pm we asked 3 times if we could have a late checkout. Eventually, we were told to check on the day of our departure with reception, which is what we did. What a surprise to hear that a late checkout would cost us 50 pesos! So we had no room for 6 hours. Fortunately we were able to use the courtesy room to shower in the afternoon, which was great.

Gardens: absolutely beautiful. Lots of animals especially a very large and gorgeous iguana.

Room: beautiful large room. Our housekeeper did a fabulous job. Fridge replenished with bottles of water every day. Barman came once on the first day. If you want more drinks you have to call him.

Star system: a 5-star hotel in Cuba is equivalent to a 2-star hotel in Europe. Don't be fooled by the number.

As repeat customers, we received special treatment; the staff recognized us and was happy to see us. Also, since it was our anniversary, we received an additional dinner reservation. As mentioned before service has greatly improved but there is still some room for improvement. Unfortunately the night entertainment was better 2 years ago. Anyway, we like Cuba and the Cubans. Will wait a couple more years before going back to the Royal Hicacos.