Pleasantly surprised!

We travelled here, January 27 to February 3. Check-in was a slow process, but nothing out of the ordinary everyone at the front desk was very pleasant. We were booked in a super saver room, but we were offered an ocean view in the main hotel part for $10 US a night, which we gratefully accepted the room itself was gorgeous! The view and the cleanliness was impressive. At first, I thought our patio door did not lock, turns out it was user error. Unfortunately, the week of our stay it was very col [... read more]d, windy, rainy, and I think we only saw six hours of Sun the whole week, but wasn’t Cubas fault lol. There is a lot of stairs at this resort, and none of the elevators worked the whole time we were there. It didn’t matter to us. We were OK with the stairs, but for those with mobility issues, I would definitely take into consideration it sounds like these elevators haven’t worked for a long time. The beach looked nice however with the massive winds we had it was in rough shape with lots of seaweed everywhere and a terrible smell because the beach was covered in rotting seaweed. I have been to this stretch of beach before and it is generally gorgeous! The water was still very clear and pretty turquoise. The staff at this resort are outstanding! The whole week everyone was so welcoming and accommodating for everything. We were pleasantly surprised with the food options available as we travel to Cuba many times we know what to expect, with the recent announcements and changes we brought extra snacks and food items just in case however we never went hungry. We did stick to the buffet only because it was so cold outside. We wanted to be away from the elements as quick as possible lol. The resort is older, it does show however they take very good care of the grounds and the building. It was very clean and impressive. The entertainment team was good, it’s not fair for me to judge them because the week we were there it was between 8°and 11° so they were doing their best trying to keep people engaged, but a lot of people didn’t stick around outside. I should mention, we brought Mr. noodles that you just had to add hot water too and we were grateful we did. On those chilly nights instead of going to the 24 hour snack bar outside we were able to eat some warm soup in our room. I would hands down return to this resort when I can enjoy the pool, beach, and ocean another time.

Extremely Surprised!

I have been to Cuba more times than I care to count! I love Cuba...The people, the beach, how safe it is, everything! I went this time for a Cuban friends daughters Bday and was looking for somewhere cheap to stay. Villa Cuba was the option at the time. I was by myself and thought "how bad could it be?" Well, I was pleasantly surprised! Yes, it's an older hotel, so there is some wear & tear...But I bet half of who's reading this own home's have wear & tear lol! The place was very clean, g [... read more]rounds beautiful, staff were extremely friendly and always ready to help! rooms were old but clean and maintained. Food...well, its Cuba and dealing with the times we are in. But to be honest wasnt that bad. Always fresh eggs & bread at breakfast, Lunch in the restaurant by the beach was good. Dinner was hit or miss, usually I just went to town and had either a pizza or a steak & lobster for dinner. even the Snack bar was good, make the best sandwiches! I do have to mention "YAZ" he works the front desk and speaks ENGLISH!!! actually he speaks a few languages. But man! If you have an issue, or a concern he will take care of it. I watched him talk to some guests that came to the desk to complain. He listens, he feels you, and than he gets to work to fix the problem,....the whole time calming you down and making you feel special!! This guy shouldn't be at the front desk! He should be in charge of Guest relations! Any guest has a problem...CALL YAZ!!! Bottom line is, this hotel deserves more credit than it gets. Pool is stunning and well looked after, and the beach of course is beautiful! Its the same beach as all the hotels lol!! I would definitely go Back!

3 star that should be a 2 star

I’ve visited Cuba several times, my second stay at this resort. Very run down. Elevators don’t work. My senior parents had to endure a lot of stairs. They broke their toilet seat first day, was replaced last day. Although sunwing rep got involved still took two more days to get a room toilet seat. Their room door only opened half way due to floor budging. My kids had to change rooms twice, once for shower leaking all over floor, hole in shower stall wall. Second time for bugs. The vent full of b [... read more]ugs and every time a/c came on the bugs filled the main room. Third room had no shower head holder, had to hold head to shower. My room was in working order but very dirty. There are no daily towels, maid just says “none today”. Out of the three rooms we had spread out over resort nobody’s toilets cleaned or beds changed. Coffee bar cleans cups in sink with old rag and no soap, just rinse and reuse. Pool bar same. Main buffet same food everyday. Chinese a la carte good. La Bistro is Buffett food. Staff unfriendly. Reception not helpful. Manager doesn’t speak English. Pool so gross, not cleaned. Beach bar and beach snack shack never open as per posted sign hours. Beach lovely but 3-4 staff there won’t get lounge chairs for anyone. They just sit in the back doing nothing. I offered one of them 5$ to get me chairs, he refused. Overall staff lazy and resort dirty. Sewer smell lower floors.no entertainment squad, no sport’s equipment, no dancing or beach aerobics, no music until later in evening. No Cuban atmosphere.

Potiential is there

Whats the right thing go do here. People/service are nice and beach is nice. It ends there. Building is rough, food just edible. I made the best of a bad situation. Ya get what u pay for. I dont like to talk badly, but its not good for a week vacay.

A decent resort

Our travel agent asked us if we were ok with a more budget friendly resort. We have been to Cuba many times so we weren’t really worried about a budget resort. Yes the hotel is on the older side but it wasnt too bad. We were warned about all the shortages but we didn’t find to many issues with that. Food was great. The normal options fish shrimp chicken pork rice and pasta. Staff was very friendly. Beach was great, much better than how cold the pool was. Resort was more on the quiet side so we w [... read more]alked into town and went to the local clubs. Remember this time in Cuba you can have a few cooler days so pack a few warmer items. But over all it was good.

Unfortunate

I love the cuban people, And it's such a beautiful country, So I wouldn't want to leave a review that makes things worse. Unfortunately things have changed since the pandemic, it's bad! This was my 2nd time at this resort, the last time was 5 years ago, things have changed significantly. The food is much worse, way less options. Only 1 Ala Cart, and a snack bar with almost NO options at all. The rooms and property have fallen apart. These things are all to be expected. The cuban dictatorship a [... read more]lways had a strong hold on the people, but they have recently taken over full control of ALL resort business. All I can say, it seems as if the wonderful soul of the Cuban people has been completely trampled. Not a smile, not even 1 happy person. I feel horrible slamming them, but this was by far the worst vacation I've ever had. I have very realistic expectations for Cuba, but they took away all the go to items. No fries, or hot dogs or pizza, no burgers, just an incredibly sad buffet. The room was in horrible disrepair smelled of raw poop, and had mild everywhere. Until the Cunban government allows the Cuban people to shine their spirits again, I'd avoid Cuba all together. I spoke to people staying at much nicer resorts that spoke of the exact same issues on my bus. There is no difference from the most expensive place to the cheapest place except for slightly nicer property, The government has literally ruined destination and worse, Ruined the beautiful spirits of its people. I was almost moved to tears, seeing a resort I stayed at only 5 years ago, in such a state. It was dark and raining whe I checked in, I was told a room number and pointed in a general direction. It took me 3 trips back to the lobby soaking wet, and 40 minutes to find my room. The signs were all blank from the name change, and it was not a great start. SUNWING has also declined alot, no food service anymore. And the flight times horrible, arrive passed dinnertime and no food on plane, almost a whole day no food, and then departure is so early u miss breakfast b4 your shuttle, and snow food on plane. Basically 2 days of ur trip you're expected not to eat. My maid was amazing, her name was Milady, she was the only person who seemed to hold onto what used to be. I spent some time talking to some cuban locals and they confirmed everything I am saying. That things were never great in cuba, But they've never been this bad. It's a cuban Doesn't start doing trade and opening up the market so that the cuban people Can sustain themselves, I fear the absolute worst for its people. I have been to cuba nine times, And sadly I would not return even if it was free. The mold in my room caused me to develop a very bad respiratory illness on my last day, I've been home 2 days and coughing non stop, doctor says I have Atypical pneumonia, from either mold or bacteria. My legs are destroyed from sand flea on beach, big what look like burns. It was wet season so it rained an hour here or there, but they had no staff to squeegee the puddles, so there were puddles everywhere on the paths and near the rooms, causing me to get probably 100 misquoto bites, all while they have a huge Denge Fever and Zika outbreak. The food was honestly a 2/10, rooms 3/10, property 4/10, and service 2/10. Overall, a generous 3/10. It honestly pains me to say this, But spend the extra little bit of money and had to the dominican republic instead.

Cockroaches and Rude Cubans

I don't know if you have ever been to this resort but your best bet is to stay away! All carriers are selling it for a 3+ STAR but it is a 2 and that is being generous! The grounds are beautiful and that was it! The food was a 2 and I know what I'm talking about because I have been there over 30 times! This resort is overrun by RUDE so called RICH CUBANS ( as the employees tell us) they even dislike like them but they get the best of everything! The Buffet has been taken over by COCKROACHES an [... read more]d into all the food . The staff would try and kills them if they seen them on the floor . I can't tell you how many we killed on the floor on our chairs and table! It was so bad that we couldn't eat there! We would take hard bread back to our room to eat .. We only had butter in the morning. No milk some days for tea or coffee . No toast! You could not take a child down there for a week because there would be not for them to eat except rice. Our bathroom in our villa the toilet ran for almost the whole 2 weeks we were there and every morning our room was soaked with water everywhere! I have pictures of the cockroaches, the toilet and other things. You need to change your rating on the and others to a 2! This place is disgusting!!!! 🤬 For what we paid I feel Air Transat should reimburse us something! I haven even told you about the Cubans and how bad it was! By the way my travel companion was sick for 4 days and couldn't get out of bed. She is still sick here at home and I betting it's due to the cockroaches and fly shit all over the food! I would appreciate any kind of email from Air Transat! By the way the Air Transat Rep was there for 2 days and when we complained to him he was the new guy . He also told us that the Cuban people have already shut down to resorts already and he thinks that Hotel Villa Cuba is next! Be Live Experience Varadero is now bankrupt so we are told .. Sorry if this is not what you are looking for but we need someone to do something! We have a lot more to tell but I'm hoping someone from Air Transit will contact Pam and myself .. Thank you

Resort has gone completely downhill

We have been going to this resort since 2003 and over the last few years it has been going down hill but this time was the worst…. the Richer Cubans are given priority in Villas, especially with pools, the beer at the pool bar was watered down with soda, the buffett was completely loaded with cockroaches…our rooms were cleaned daily but the sheets were definitely stained, our toilet leaked from the tank and we reported it… nothing was done… we had to put towels on the floor around the to [... read more]ilet to not fall or slip in the water, the re was a Canadian return patrons dinner that was put on by the public relations department … the dinner was lovely but the public relations person basically sat at 1 table all evening and didn’t even ask at the end of the evening if a good time was had… she basically ignored the rest of the patrons… the ramps to the beach are being slowly replaced but are very unsafe… many of the staff have been at this resort for years and become our friends… they also see that their resort is not good but they are not able to say or do anything about it… it is a very sad situation

Be leisure

Be live Experience was amazing, Cuba is a fantastic, safe wonderful place. We did have some confusion on our flight, our visas for cuba where not handed out properly and information shared from flight crew was misleading. After waiting for documents we got in. I blame Covid and online vaccine misinformation for this. Great time anyway Cheers.

Very disappointed

Sad to say we did not enjoy our trip. The actual resort was nice and people were great but we had many things stolen from our room. We will not be going back or recommend this resort to anyone in the future.

Disappointed

Nothing much has changed since Covid stay.We started the stay with a room with the safe door hanging off(broken),and a door that had to be slammed nearly off the hinges to lock.We found this out when the motel room door was wide open in the morning.We changed rooms the second day,after a lot of pleading.The food was the same for tthe duration of our 14 day stay.All in all,it was pretty disappointing,with the exception of not having to get the phony covid Test.

Be live experience

The resort and the room were very clean and I had a nice trip. Personnel was friendly and entertainment every night. The music or sound was loud which we already told the reception. The fact that we could go and eat at the other hotel Los Mortas was good too.

Amazing staff resort still ok after 5th time

I was surprised the resort had the food a d drinks they did considering the hardship in cuba to find items off resort. the staff continues to be the best it was our 5th time to the resort I would like to see more food variety here it seems to be the same everytime

Not the best

For a resort called “Be Live Experience” it wasn’t quite the live experience... The description on the websites withhold useful information such as the fact that the disco on the resort isn’t open most days. Also, the entertainment is random and often missed, besides the evening. The only way this resort could be semi enjoyable is if you book your trip for the weekend there, as weekdays are a waste. Also, hold onto your beach towels because the staff will secretly take it then make y [... read more]ou pay 20$ CAN. when you check out of the hotel. The key cards to get into your room don’t work sometimes so you have to constantly go to the front desk for another one, just be prepared for the unfriendly hospitality. Overall, the beach is the main attraction as well as the mini beach bar that is open from 11pm-7am. You’re gonna need a lot of alcohol in order to enjoy it.

Very bad resort

We went there last year and it was much better and cleaner, the food was much better with a lot of variety. This year the food was very bad and hygiene wise all the plates not clean properly, beds in the room all the sheats are dirty and itchy you feel something is bitting you all over your body like bed bugs we came back home and all our bodies were itching like crazy. We're very disappointed we will never go back there again. all our body is full of red marks an itching from the bed bugs [... read more] and from the food and from dirty dishes.

Not disappointed

I did not have any expectations when we booked this hotel, it was New years and we booked on price. It was clean and staff helpful and friendly. There was always something to eat and my husband and I enjoyed the 2 a la carte restaurants. There is a local bus that runs downtown from the hotel for a few dollars - that was convenient. Would I stay here again- only if the price was right. I know Be Live has recently taken over this hotel so maybe improvements are in the works. We took a day trip in [... read more]to Havana ( booked thru Sunwing on the plane) they delivered what they promised, however I wish we had more free time so keep that in mind when you are book a day trip. The guide kept us moving for the whole day and there is very little time to go off by yourself. I do love CUBA- the beach is wonderful, it's safe, people are friendly.

The resort offered a lot for the price we paid.

We loved the Resort because it's clean and with in walking distence of Varadero. They are constantly cleaning day and night. The landscapers are at work daily. Always plenty to eat at the Buffet and don't forget to book your special dinner nights. We also enjoyed the nightly entertainment and that fact they occasionally include the audience.

Great Time at Be Live Varadero

Hotel was fun. Typical day, get up late around 7 to 8 go to the coffee bar, buffet, lather up and head to the beach. After enjoying the most beautiful beach in the world, shower, buffet, pool bar, entertainment, visit with new friends, people watch, bed and repeat. All days were not typical as there was the hop on and off bus days with Varadero town restaurants, more people watching and the list goes on and on, just try it and you will see.

Good Value Vacation

Good value for the money we paid. Rooms were clean and comfortable. Beach is nice. Food a bit repetitive but you can get buy. Lots of French Canadian and Russians. Smoking is allowed in public areas. Overall a nice vacation.

Never again

This trip was a second one this year to the same resort . First one we have delay of 6 h for the departure and we lost a lot of precious time but the resort was nice so we decide to go again after 8 months. Second trip was very disappointing since there was no towels in the rooms , food was less variety and always something missing. On top of that the hola sun representatives should book our paid trip to caves Matanzas for Wednesday, we waked up early and when bus stop our name wasn’t on the l [... read more]ist. After that repetitive was nowhere to find all the way until we left . I will never go to the same resort again. One more thing, this resort is listed as a family resort but group of 60 people from Quebec was naked on the beach doing improper things for kids view.