Reviews

Amazing country, but Exodus were a shambles

Cuba is amazing, fantastic country and people. But Exodus were poor from start to finish.
Before we left – most staff were great. One asked us for same info 3 times!
On arrival, we had booked an extension in Varadero. We weren’t told that Exodus can’t guarantee your hotel for this part of trip. We found out at airport we couldn’t stay at hotel we booked. Disappointing, but the substitute hotel was lovely too.

Havana – hotel so far out of town hotel we couldn’t do sightseeing as planned. Took an hour to check in! Room was dirty and badly maintained. On a road so noisy the windows shook as big trucks drove past constantly. I asked to move and was given a quieter room, but with no hot water!

Vinales – beautiful place, but more issues with room. It was cramped, grim and noisy. Could have coped with that, but also had swarms of mosquitoes in my room. I killed dozens. Told tour leader, who chided me for not telling her immediately, although I had no way to contact her! My phone wouldn’t allow me to make outgoing calls in Cuba. Owners sprayed my room, but I still killed another couple of dozen mosquitoes later that evening. This room is available for $20/night on airbnb. Massive mark up charged by Exodus.

Cienfuegos- decent, quiet room, although windowless. Air con broken and leaked all over bed. No one to report this to. Told tour leader in morning and she looked at me blankly and said nothing! Breakfast was bread and jam. Pot of coffee to share that allowed only half a small cup each. If we wanted more coffee we had to pay! In this hotel, my iPad was stolen. It was charging and never left my room. In morning, I checked the room was clear. As soon as i sat on bus (at 7.45am), I realised I hadn’t packed ipad. Told tour leader immediately, hoping she would call hotel. She didn’t call them until we reached Trinidad and she told me my iPad wasn’t in the room. Only explanation, it was stolen by hotel staff, either before or after I left. I told Exodus hoping they could use influence to pressure maid into returning stolen item. Exodus did nothing for THREE DAYS! After a lot of hassling, they called me, but still did nothing to try to get the iPad back. I believe they still use this hotel, so beware!

Trinidad – decent room, but didn’t get any breakfast one day. We think they mistook the time we requested food, due to language barrier. Girl was barely listening to us when we booked breakfast. Tour leader arranged breakfast for us elsewhere.

Havana – finally a decent hotel! And trip home was fine.

A Taste of Cuba

A fantastic glimpse of Cuba with an excellent mix of sightseeing, music, free-time to further explore, and fun activities.

Does exactly what it says on the tin!

The title of this trip is exactly what it suggests. It offers a real taste of Cuba and the itinerary, although packed, is perfect. Not rushing from place to place and plenty of free time to explore by yourself.

Coach with a window tour......

After seeing so many great reviews for this trip I decided to book it to travel over Christmas 2016. Basically it is a view of Cuba from a coach! Long, drives – quick stops 2-3 times during the day for a 45mins-1hr max – really no time to appreciate anywhere are you are always on the go! A few pointless places where we stopped were also thrown in. Accomodation was average – first night hotel was below poor quality however the homestays (all be them basic) were clean and adequate, and the families could not do enough to please you. Food is basic – you get the same breakfast, lunch and dinner choices daily. In summary Cuba the island is green and lush with white sandy beaches, fab old cars everywhere and Havana is a great city to mooch around, top that up with the friendly welcoming people then its a great place to visit, however this weeks tour really packs too much in – but saying that I certainly could not do the two week tour either as I am sure it will be much of the same just over a longer time period!

A taste of Cuba

A good week. Being on a tour sliced through the hassle of organisation and was a great queuebuster when visiting museums and events. Great variety of things to see and do in a very colourful varied interesting country

taste of cuba

superb tour with what must be the best ‘guide’ we have ever had Rayselis, her knowledge, sense of commitment and humour made the tour more wonderful than it was.

A Taste of Cuba

An apt name for the trip, it gave a taster of several parts of Cuba

Taste of Cuba

Not a holiday, more of an education, as expected. Cuba is gradually coming out of sanctions but the scars are still everywhere. The country is not ready for the growing number of western tourists starting to come.

Most Inspirational Moment

Departures at Havana international airport, when the luggage handlers couldn't keep up, the toilets ran out of water, the air con stopped, the 'cafe' had no food and the Exchange desk ran out of stirling, I realised just how much we take for granted in the west.

Thoughts on Group Leader

Our guide was excellent, especially as there were 20 (!) in our group. She coped with problems such as casas that were not as described - some had shared bathrooms, poor plumbing etc. She was happy to change the itinerary when the group didn't want another cigar factory or wanted longer at one stop than planned. She helped some of us to find an ATM and a 1-hour internet card although we had to wait for her help as there were so many of us.

Advice for Potential Travellers

Arrival at your first hotel/casa will be 4hrs+ after landing due to slooow baggage reclaim and queues for currency. Take 2 rolls of toilet paper, plenty of snack bars, an umbrella or large hat, anti-histamines and paracetemol. Brace yourself for lack of internet! The shops are often almost empty but you can usually find bottled water - check the seal. Cafe/hotel food is very simple and plain but nourishing

Reply from Exodus

We would like to thank Jaqueline for her feedback, although we regret that the number of clients in her group exceeded the usual group size. Instances of this nature are rare, however we would like to explain that towards the end of 2015 Exodus changed computer reservation systems and during the changeover process, all our bookings were migrated from our old reservations system to the new system. For the most part this has been a smooth process, but on this occasion bookings were taken in the cross over period before all the clients who had been booked on our previous system had been migrated across; as a result our new system did not show that the trip had reached full capacity so the group size was slightly larger than usual, for which we would like to apologise. We would like to confirm that this only impacted a handful of departures and we do hope that despite the group size Jaqueline enjoyed the trip overall.

Customer Services

A Taste of Cuba

This holiday included a variety of activities and locations which gave a flavour of the country. Given the pressure on the island as tourist numbers increase, without the accompanying infrastructure, the accommodation was better than I had anticipated. The range of trips was good with potential to choose other options. Plenty of advice was given regarding the best places to eat and visit in free time.

Taste of Cuba

Very enjoyable holiday. I loved all the history of Cuba and understanding current affairs.