crgravitt
Registered
Food: Some days were spectacular - homemade pasta was always perfection - and some days I found myself digging a protein bar out of my backpack and hoping the candy on the turndown would be the yummy one. Breakfast was sad - the containers that hold the cereal allow it to get stale, the same 2 or 3 fruits, toast. The cooked-to-order eggs were a savior but seriously, if I'm going to dive 4 times a day, I need fuel. The morning we left to return to Havana, the "continental breakfast" made me downright angry. Papaya, mango and a quarter of the cake left over from the night before. I took a picture and attached it. If you were unlucky enough to have the Castro Gastro Revenge, the last thing you wanted on your tender tummy was acidic fruit. I took to living off rice and breadsticks. I get that it's a foreign country. I get that the foods are different - I've been off the farm more than once. I also get that you can't provision a boat in a country that has very little in the first place. That fact, however, should be reflected in the price. I had what I consider 5 star meals on T&C Aggressor. If that's impossible, you need to make it known.
Diving: Maybe it's my fault for not reading the fine print but I was flummoxed to learn that every dive would be limited to 1 hour. We only dove with the people on our tender the entire week - never got to dive with the other half so that would have been nice. The crew puts forth their best effort, but it's honestly not up to Aggressor standards. I can't fathom someone learning to dive or doing any additional training with the group we had. The language barrier would be a non-starter. The DMs do their job - they float around and herd the cats, but they don't point out very much. Maybe there's not much to see. Maybe they think the gringos are only interested in shark feedings. Whatever the case, I worry they're putting divers as well as marine life in danger with the feedings. A grouper bit a diver's entire right hand - unprovoked - and left some pretty nasty scrapes. That kind of conditioning can lead to some very dangerous interactions down the road and should be evaluated. I didn't like that my gear sits on a tender in the blazing sun all day, all week. I remember my PADI class and leaving your hoses exposed to the sun is a no-no. Not the end of the world but it was a concern as I take great care with my own gear. My biggest concern came with analyzing the nitrox. When I removed the first stage to test my first tank, the captain told me "no" and told me to test through the regulator. Second time on the trip I was flummoxed. I'm not a newbie and had no idea what he meant. He pointed to another guest whose tank was being analyzed by holding the analyzer to the reg and purging it. That may be the easy way, and it may be the fast way, but it is NOT the correct way and PADI does NOT teach that. I told him "no" and they allowed me to test from the tank. Aside from the fact that purging the reg wastes about 200 psi every time (I verified because I wanted to know) versus 20-30 psi doing it at the tank stem, it doesn't give a consistent reading. (That could be a big difference to an air hog.). The DMs knew this because they would get a reading of 27%, then 33%, then 24% - all from the same tank and using the same analyzer through the regulator. To correct this problem and recalibrate the analyzer, they would blow into it. I kid you not.
Maybe I'm being overly critical but I don't think so. I waited a month before putting my thoughts down and I haven't posted any trip reports on Scubaboard or Undercurrent because I wanted to see if my opinion mellowed out. What I have found, though, is that I've become more disappointed. For a trip at this price-point, I expect to be able to eat every single meal, to have my dive gear treated as I would treat it, and to have knowledgeable crew who can communicate the details of the dive briefing. I can't recommend this trip to any of my dive friends and am struggling with what to tell the owner of my local shop who is taking a group in the fall. I would recommend Turks and Caicos, but at this point, it's the only other Aggressor boat I have experience with and, therefore, won't risk endorsing any others. I really wanted to love the Gardens of the Queen and expected it to be the trip of a lifetime. Sadly, it was anything but.
Sincerely,
CRG
A few tips I can give to anyone going on the trip:
Money Exchange: Get plenty of CUC at the hotel front desk before you leave for the tour of Havana and before you leave for Jucaro. You will have an opportunity to buy souvenirs, including cigars and rum, during the Havana tour. We also took up a collection for our tour guide and bus driver. The driver on the way to and from the boat will expect a tip and the hotel is your only opportunity to get money exchanged until you get back to the airport. The boat crew can only be tipped in cash so you'll need CUC for that, too. (And they will, unbelievably, ask you if you tipped before you leave the boat to go back to the airport). As an aside, I don't know how much of the tip the crew actually gets because the Aggressor has to pay their salary to the Cuban govt, who then pays them (minus a healthy haircut, I'm sure). If the average monthly salary in Cuba is $30 as we were told on the Havana tour, then how likely is it they're going to let the crew walk out with $1000 in tips?
Scam: Mentioning this because it happened to TWO different people on our boat who were not together at the time. A man in the square across from the hotel lobby tells you he needs milk for his baby. The milk costs $30 a gallon and he takes you to the store the locals use where someone confirms that's the price. One person gave him the $30, the other gave him $5 and walked out. They described the guy to a "t" and it was obviously the same person, running the same scam in the same location on the tourists.
Power: Take a power converter, I don't care what the website says or what they tell you if you call. The hotel is European only and they have very few converters to loan out.
Food & Water: You can buy water for the Havana tour - and you should buy plenty - at the bar on the 2nd floor of the hotel. THis will save you running back to your room and waiting on the sometimes very slow elevators. Take protein bars or something to snack on during the bus ride or if a meal just isn't what you're looking for. The boat doesn't provide a lot of options.
TAKE A FIRST AID KIT. If you don't need the stomach meds, chances are someone else will and you can be a hero. I'll NEVER travel without my newly assembled kit again.
Diving: This was disappointing. Yes, the reefs are in great shape. Healthy corals, enormous schools of fish and the species were abundant! I found little trash and picked up what I did, mostly plastic wrappers. What we were not expecting was that every dive is just like the last. The first shelf is at about 20 feet, the second is 60-70 feet deep, and then the abyss. The look of the reef never changes. Lots of sharks, lots of groupers. I just never had that moment where I gasp because I'm seeing something so incredible that I can't believe it's real. Visibility was about 50-60 feet most days as it had stormed the prior week and things weren't settled down again.
In Jucaro, don't expect to leave the boat once you return. There's a gate and it's basically to keep you inside. Not sure if the locals know that the gringos aren't supposed to see the "real" Cuba but they will avoid you at all costs. One guest pressed until the captain had the guards open the gate and he was clearly not welcome in the town.
You DO have some free time depending on what time you arrive in Havana the first day, and after dinner in the evenings. If you want to go out and walk around, no one is going to stop you so feel free if you're not too exhausted. I think the rooftop pool closed at 9pm or something strange like that so there wasn't much else to do.
Would I do it again? I'm glad to say we went before the Kardashians ruin it, and I would definitely think abou going to Havana again, but the diving is simply a bucket list item for me at this point. No interest in ever going back for diving. It's too expensive, waaaay too much trouble to get there, and the food and service are much better in Mexico and other parts of the Caribbean. Been there, done that, lesson learned.
Diving: Maybe it's my fault for not reading the fine print but I was flummoxed to learn that every dive would be limited to 1 hour. We only dove with the people on our tender the entire week - never got to dive with the other half so that would have been nice. The crew puts forth their best effort, but it's honestly not up to Aggressor standards. I can't fathom someone learning to dive or doing any additional training with the group we had. The language barrier would be a non-starter. The DMs do their job - they float around and herd the cats, but they don't point out very much. Maybe there's not much to see. Maybe they think the gringos are only interested in shark feedings. Whatever the case, I worry they're putting divers as well as marine life in danger with the feedings. A grouper bit a diver's entire right hand - unprovoked - and left some pretty nasty scrapes. That kind of conditioning can lead to some very dangerous interactions down the road and should be evaluated. I didn't like that my gear sits on a tender in the blazing sun all day, all week. I remember my PADI class and leaving your hoses exposed to the sun is a no-no. Not the end of the world but it was a concern as I take great care with my own gear. My biggest concern came with analyzing the nitrox. When I removed the first stage to test my first tank, the captain told me "no" and told me to test through the regulator. Second time on the trip I was flummoxed. I'm not a newbie and had no idea what he meant. He pointed to another guest whose tank was being analyzed by holding the analyzer to the reg and purging it. That may be the easy way, and it may be the fast way, but it is NOT the correct way and PADI does NOT teach that. I told him "no" and they allowed me to test from the tank. Aside from the fact that purging the reg wastes about 200 psi every time (I verified because I wanted to know) versus 20-30 psi doing it at the tank stem, it doesn't give a consistent reading. (That could be a big difference to an air hog.). The DMs knew this because they would get a reading of 27%, then 33%, then 24% - all from the same tank and using the same analyzer through the regulator. To correct this problem and recalibrate the analyzer, they would blow into it. I kid you not.
Maybe I'm being overly critical but I don't think so. I waited a month before putting my thoughts down and I haven't posted any trip reports on Scubaboard or Undercurrent because I wanted to see if my opinion mellowed out. What I have found, though, is that I've become more disappointed. For a trip at this price-point, I expect to be able to eat every single meal, to have my dive gear treated as I would treat it, and to have knowledgeable crew who can communicate the details of the dive briefing. I can't recommend this trip to any of my dive friends and am struggling with what to tell the owner of my local shop who is taking a group in the fall. I would recommend Turks and Caicos, but at this point, it's the only other Aggressor boat I have experience with and, therefore, won't risk endorsing any others. I really wanted to love the Gardens of the Queen and expected it to be the trip of a lifetime. Sadly, it was anything but.
Sincerely,
CRG
A few tips I can give to anyone going on the trip:
Money Exchange: Get plenty of CUC at the hotel front desk before you leave for the tour of Havana and before you leave for Jucaro. You will have an opportunity to buy souvenirs, including cigars and rum, during the Havana tour. We also took up a collection for our tour guide and bus driver. The driver on the way to and from the boat will expect a tip and the hotel is your only opportunity to get money exchanged until you get back to the airport. The boat crew can only be tipped in cash so you'll need CUC for that, too. (And they will, unbelievably, ask you if you tipped before you leave the boat to go back to the airport). As an aside, I don't know how much of the tip the crew actually gets because the Aggressor has to pay their salary to the Cuban govt, who then pays them (minus a healthy haircut, I'm sure). If the average monthly salary in Cuba is $30 as we were told on the Havana tour, then how likely is it they're going to let the crew walk out with $1000 in tips?
Scam: Mentioning this because it happened to TWO different people on our boat who were not together at the time. A man in the square across from the hotel lobby tells you he needs milk for his baby. The milk costs $30 a gallon and he takes you to the store the locals use where someone confirms that's the price. One person gave him the $30, the other gave him $5 and walked out. They described the guy to a "t" and it was obviously the same person, running the same scam in the same location on the tourists.
Power: Take a power converter, I don't care what the website says or what they tell you if you call. The hotel is European only and they have very few converters to loan out.
Food & Water: You can buy water for the Havana tour - and you should buy plenty - at the bar on the 2nd floor of the hotel. THis will save you running back to your room and waiting on the sometimes very slow elevators. Take protein bars or something to snack on during the bus ride or if a meal just isn't what you're looking for. The boat doesn't provide a lot of options.
TAKE A FIRST AID KIT. If you don't need the stomach meds, chances are someone else will and you can be a hero. I'll NEVER travel without my newly assembled kit again.
Diving: This was disappointing. Yes, the reefs are in great shape. Healthy corals, enormous schools of fish and the species were abundant! I found little trash and picked up what I did, mostly plastic wrappers. What we were not expecting was that every dive is just like the last. The first shelf is at about 20 feet, the second is 60-70 feet deep, and then the abyss. The look of the reef never changes. Lots of sharks, lots of groupers. I just never had that moment where I gasp because I'm seeing something so incredible that I can't believe it's real. Visibility was about 50-60 feet most days as it had stormed the prior week and things weren't settled down again.
In Jucaro, don't expect to leave the boat once you return. There's a gate and it's basically to keep you inside. Not sure if the locals know that the gringos aren't supposed to see the "real" Cuba but they will avoid you at all costs. One guest pressed until the captain had the guards open the gate and he was clearly not welcome in the town.
You DO have some free time depending on what time you arrive in Havana the first day, and after dinner in the evenings. If you want to go out and walk around, no one is going to stop you so feel free if you're not too exhausted. I think the rooftop pool closed at 9pm or something strange like that so there wasn't much else to do.
Would I do it again? I'm glad to say we went before the Kardashians ruin it, and I would definitely think abou going to Havana again, but the diving is simply a bucket list item for me at this point. No interest in ever going back for diving. It's too expensive, waaaay too much trouble to get there, and the food and service are much better in Mexico and other parts of the Caribbean. Been there, done that, lesson learned.
