Cayo Coco - NH Krystal Laguna Villas & Resort - Food

One of the important component of a resort vacation is great food. NH Krystal has 5 a la carte restaurants and 2 buffets. All the restaurants are fancy but the foods are medicore. You may call me picky but I am not. My requirement is simple - just better than or at least equal to what I usually have in Toronto. Later on, I am told by a few friends that all Cuban resorts serve medicore food. (LP, traveling with you, I don't mind eating pastas every day. 鹹魚白菜也好好味.)

• Steak house. The services and the decor were really good. The steak was cooked to coal while I ordered medium. The cake dessert was good though.
• Italian. The veal was seriously overdone and the pasta was under cook. We looked at our neighbors and our neighbors looked back at us. We laughed out loud and decided to go to the buffet to have some pastas.
• Seafood. What a beautiful restaurant on the lagoon!
• Cuban. The restaurant was closed but the front desk was not even aware of that. The staffs insisted that the restaurant was open.
• Moonlight. It is the poolside grill restaurant. The view was charming. The fish and seafood soup were too fishy.
• Buffet. To me both buffet restaurants are the same. I love the pastas. However, there was always over 10 minute lineup for the cook-to-order food such as omelet and pasta, partly because of under staff and partly because of the talkative Canadians. What can we do about that!?

We were very lucky that the buffet restaurant served lobster on the day that we don't have a la carte reservation. Haven't had huge 2 lbs+ lobsters for a while. I just couldn't eat the cooked to coal steak at the steak restaurant... The seafood restaurant is a open patio on the lagoon. Both the view and the dishes were gorgeous. The Italian restaurant does not have filet mignon. All it got is pastas, Parmesan and pizza. The bread were really good. We loved it! The house wine and the Crystine beer were great and really strong! After this trip, we have decided not to drink any alcohol for a month. The coffee at the buffet was terrible. Be sure to ask for cappuccino fresh from the machine instead.

Cayo Coco - NH Krystal Laguna Villas & Resort

That is another unforgettable vacation. We had a romantic getaway in Cuba. The NH Krystal Laguna Villas & Resort, Cayo Coco is a 4-star resort. We got a great deal of $910 per person including round trip flights, 7 night deluxe accommodation, a la cart dining, buffet and unlimited beverages (both alcoholic and non-alcoholic). Be sure to check travelocity for the great deals. NH Krystal is two resorts in one, Emperrodor and Laguna. The Villas suite Laguna room is the best room available and it absolutely worths the extra dollars. We were lucky that we got upgraded to the Villa suite on the lagoon. We were both impressed by the amazing lagoon view. The room had great air-conditioning and clean. The mini-bar was stocked with bottled water and beverages almost daily. The con is that the room only had hot water certain time of the day. The beach is out of the world! White sand, blue ocean, and sunrise... The entertainment team did a great job! We liked the dance and the mini horse show. The guest games were boring - male guests performing strip dance and the resulting kids pretending to be vomiting and screaming old women.I will write about the controversy food in the resort in my next post.

Sheraton Parkway Caesar Spa

It was a romantic spa night - couple massage, in-room jacuzzi, romantic in-room movies, room services, and wine in one of the Toronto's biggest snow storms. Sheraton Parkway offers a Caesar Spa package for $209 + taxes only. Be sure to check out my Travelocity Good Buy Hotels post to see how I hunt for good hotel deals.

• Jacuzzi Suite
• 2 bottles of water daily
• 1 fruit plate
• Standard Massage for 2
• 20% off coupon for additional spa services
• Free in-door parking as usual

The hotel lobby was very impressive. Sheraton Parkway is a 3-stars hotel, but it's much better than many other 4-stars hotels. The jacuzzi suite features an impressive oversize bathroom, separate shower and bath tub with a dressing area. There are areas of improvement though. The jacuzzi tub fits one person only. The air-conditioning of the suite made an abrupt loud noise occasionally. The fruit plate was really good, fresh, beautiful, and delicious. The room service was excellent. The pizza was hot and crispy. Consider being in a snow storm, it definitely worthed the extra dollars. It's much better than the on-site restaurant, The Host fine Indian cuisine, which is no where close to fine dining both services and food. The Caesar Spa was amazing. We loved the romantic decor, the tea, and the massage. I don't see any reason going to those Chinese health centers like BI Cheng anymore, where they have kids running around and the environment is so degrading, while the prices are almost the same!