I returned on Monday from Holguin and the Playa Pesquero Resort. The news reports this week are full of people returning from Holguin unwell, two were even hospitalized I believe. Richard and I returned healthy.
When you arrive in Cuba with a tour operator, your representative will invite you to attend a meeting to go over the local information that you should know. Our meeting with Pablo, our WestJet representative included information about the local food and water. The hotels provide bottled water in rooms for a reason; the Cuban tap water, though generally safe, is different from what you are used to and may cause problems if it is ingested. Likewise any food washed in local water and ice cubes; care must be taken. Do not miss the orientation meeting.
Last Tuesday, Richard and I took our first excursion, Cuba Inside visiting Holguin City and surrounding area. When our bus picked up passengers from other hotels a couple of those tourists let me know that they had been ill as were others at their hotel. I am not entirely sure of the source, but the hotel authorities suspect that it was a virus. Those passengers should not have been on the tour if they felt unwell so I suspect that it is easy for a virus to spread in a resort area when tourists from various hotels mix on excursion buses as they do.
The hotels did not make any announcments or advise guests to take any precautions and some say this was wrong. Cuba has different rules and standards than we do at home. When you travel to any foreign country you must take that into account. The standards for hotels in Cuba are not like ours. If you are at a 3-star resort in Cuba, it is lower than at home here in Canada. Cuba’s 3-star is more like our 2-star.
As a cruise specialist, I have been dealing with this virus problem on ships for years and the cruise lines have taken the brunt of this issue. It is a fact that where ever people gather, cruise ships, hotels and resorts, hospitals, restaurants, theatres, buses and airplanes, viruses can jump and cause distress.
I don’t want to sound like your mother but if you wash your hands frequently using soap and follow good hygiene practice when you travel you should be able to reduce the possibility of infection. Also, be careful about the local food and beverages; beer and wine are safe, mixed drinks with ice are suspect. Make sure ice is from a reliable source. Staying at a higher class of resort is not a guarantee that you will avoid these issues but certainly the standards are more stringent.
The hotels in Cuba now offer Global TV from Toronto on television in the rooms. I was pleased to be able to have Canadian news from home while travelling and this was a first for me. This allowed us to know that our family and friends at home were aware of the situation. In some cases it was the first information local tourists had of the issue.
Watch for my upcoming Kathryn’s Kapers that will have a full report of our trip to Cuba.
