Fishing at Paradisus Princesa Del Mar, Cuba

[OldTimer]

Had to share this one. A heads up if you plan to go to this country.

   


The tripadvisor post:

https://www.tripadvisor.ca/ShowUserRevie..._Cuba.html

here's the text version:

My lovely lady and I spent a week at Paradisus Princesa del Mar in Cuba recently (late March 2019). We stayed on the “Royal Service” side. Lovely resort, nice room, spotless everywhere, absolutely amazing beach, great ++ pool, bar and restaurant staff, high quality live music nightly, almost average food, (but anglers should stay clear of this resort – see below). This quieter side of this resort is IMO good for mature adults (less action and few loud parties). We did enjoy our stay, but we shall not return for several reasons. This side of the resort makes use of a “butler system” where each guest group is assigned a butler who will supposedly manage your happiness and arrange all of your needs and whims. In our case the system repeatedly failed. We arrived after midnight and had no face to face contact with our butler for 2 days. This resulted in disappointment, frustration and confusion as we were not properly advised what the “rules” were during this time, and beyond. We could not make dinner reservations ourselves at the a la carte restaurants. When we did finally speak with our butler – not one service request was specifically matched (alternate arrangements, times, or locations were booked, one important request was put off - twice- then never answered and clearly ignored). As I have mentioned the food was what we deemed as a low average – nothing bad, but little was exceptional (except the vanilla ice cream). One morning the breakfast buffet ran out of eggs, two mornings later they ran out of sliced bread for toast. The CUC currency available here on the resort is limited to 50 cent and down coins, or bills $3 and up. There are no 1 or 2 dollar denominations, in either coin or bills available at this resort’s exchange service desk – seems strange and did serve to be an effective way to drive up tip values. This side of the resort is now apparently 8 years old – we did see a number of examples of wear and tear beginning to show: our toilet stopped flushing (1/2 day to get it fixed), the resident 110v adapter system in a friend’s room blew his CPAP sleeping unit when first used for a recharge, several new acquaintances reported their whirlpool tubs never working. Lastly I must share that anglers looking to try the fishing off the beach should look elsewhere – my first morning out was fine (caught nothing but had fun), That day the beach security guard on duty said I could fish - no problem - and offered angling tips and advice – however my second morning ended with another older “security” man confronting me and telling me (while he strangely grinned) that I could fish no more as “permission denied”…. And then went on to tell me that he knew what I looked like and that he’d be watching for me as he works “all the time” (my wife witnessed this clear threat, his aggressive tone, and very confrontational behaviour). I explained that I only fished when no one was swimming well before 8:00 am – nope, no go – he said come back at night after dark. Wow. I am not new to fishing at foreign resorts and always plan my outings when no one is on the beach swimming – never had a problem elsewhere in this world. But this – no guest needs threats from misguided power tripping resort watch staff.

Cheers,

OldTimer

[BongKong]

Hey OldTimer - I see that the manager of the resort has replied to your review on Tripadvisor, confirming that fishing is not allowed there.

Thanks for the heads up - we were considering going here later this year. Won't be now.

George

[GailBait]

Hi,

Nice to see you post something, been a year.

We stayed there last year in the front section.

And like you say the beach was special, but the food - not so good.

Never tried to fish- didn't take rods. Never will - as we like other locations much more.

Hope to see you out on the Grand this summer like last year.