Новый год на Кубе New Year in Cuba

Rested together with his wife in the period 26/12/11 - 05/01/12. International Hotel 4.
The flight from St. Petersburg took a little over 12 hours. Meeting at Varadero airport by Tez tour guide, perfect for a Cuban who speaks Russian. I met in the building, walked to the bus and returned back for other tourists. Immediately to the left of the exit from the airport there is a currency exchange. The dollar exchange rate is fixed throughout the country and in all points, is 0.87CUC per 1USD. The euro exchange rate changes every day, you will laugh, it is more profitable on Wednesday and Thursday, on other days it is lower. On the day of arrival it was 1.25CUC for 1EUR, then fell to 1.19.
The road to the hotel is 30-40 minutes. He spoke in general terms about the country.

We arrived around 16-00 local time, check-in was within 3 minutes. We filled out a short questionnaire, received cards from the number. The room is about 25 sq. m. Two single beds, quite comfortable, pillows, as always - "pancakes". Small balcony. Non-sea view rooms have larger balconies. Renovated around the 80s, if not earlier (3rd floor). Were with the guys on the 5th, everything is much fresher there. In general, the rooms are in the spirit of the USSR. Hairdryer didn't work. Repaired on the 4th day after the 12th request. All the staff except some of the maids speaks English. For a solid four. Everyone at the front desk is very friendly and willing to help.
Cleaning is daily, change of towels is the same. But with bed linen, according to our feelings, it was only re-made once in 10 days. There is very little light in the room. The mains voltage is 110V and the sockets are appropriate (narrow). To charge all the electronics, you could give it to the reception. They took everything without further ado. Nothing is missing. After a long search, we bought an adapter, a rarity and a shortage in Cuba. (If suddenly anyone is interested, it is sold in Varadero on the main avenue between 42nd and 43rd streets in a hardware store. Cost 3 CUC). It helped charge everything in the room.
The swimming pool is very dangerous. It has a high concentration of chlorine. Several tourists had skin irritations. A local doctor prescribes an ointment for everyone for 80CUC, and then reveals the secret that you don’t need to swim in the pool)
Food: main restaurant - breakfast, lunch, dinner. Bar - open around the clock, with two breaks - 05-06 and 17-18 hours. Cafeteria Panorama (among vacationers - Hamburger) is open from 10 am. There are two menus - the first from 10 to 12 and from 18 to the morning - these are sandwiches and scrambled eggs. From 12 to 18 you can enjoy a hot dog, hamburger and french fries. Potatoes are in short supply, they eat them by 15 o'clock). There is also a grill bar by the pool, open during main lunch hours, located by the pool - for the lazy. They didn't eat there.
The main disadvantage in nutrition is that 80% of everything is already cold even when opened. The set of dishes does not change from day to day!! ! It got really boring in a week.

The hotel also has an a-la-carte restaurant (according to Nashensky - choose from the menu). "Universal" is called. Once a week you can go there for dinner for free. More often - for money. The hotel building is the largest cabaret in Varadero "Continental". Once per stay, you can similarly go there for free. From 20-00 a 3-course dinner is served, dessert, wine 2 glasses per nose. 0.25 liters of rum per person and a can of local Coca-Cola. We want to drink more, we pay for drinks. At 21-00, a local singer Borya Moiseev, aged 70, comes to warm up. The show itself starts at 22:00. They dance sooo beautifully, we recommend it, especially for free). Then at 23-30 disco until 5 am.
Bartenders in the hotel is better to feed. Give a couple of times some coin. Service is much faster, friendlier and in glassware (in standard mode - in plastic glasses). Local alcohol is tolerable, 10 times better than Turkish or Egyptian. Bartenders carefully sell rum and coffee (about 30% cheaper than stores).
Every evening a mini-performance on the terrace. Pleasant enough. Terrace smoothly into the beach. From the door to the ocean 80 meters maximum! Sunbeds are free. Umbrellas stationary from palm leaves. Merchants of all sorts of nonsense are constantly walking along the beach, they don’t really bother! The most "original" proposal was COCAINE) did not try!
In general, the hotel is nice and clean.
Guests: Canadians, Russians and some Mexicans.