Wonderful Resort

We loved our stay here during our first trip to Cuba. The staff were very friendly and eager to help. Amazing beach and we never had trouble finding a chair. The pool was very quiet possibly because the beach conditions we so good during our visit. The food was decent despite the horror stories some people might tell you but I think they might have exaggerated a little. Some choices were limited such as fruits and vegetables. There was tons of guava and pineapple but nothing else fruit w [... read more]ise. There were lots of vegetables were limited to canned corn, cabbage, canned peas, canned baby corn and a few other choices that came and went. Pork and fish were plentiful and there was chicken legs one day. No beef. There's always food available even if the buffet is closed, just go to the sit down restaurant/bar off the lobby and you can order a sandwich or hamburger. There was plenty to drink especially if you like rum. I recommend Havana Especial, pineapple juice and a splash of coconut rum. Don't expect a large variety of pop, they only had Cuban cola (no sugar free options) and a lemon pop that was like lemon concentrate mixed with sugar and carbonated water. We were in a basic room which was great. AC was loud but didn't bother us. The only complaint about the room was that it seemed damp but the room may have been unoccupied for with no AC for days before we got there in that humid climate. The room was the first in the hall which meant the furthest from the end/ocean/view. If you have the option when checking in ask for a room at the end of the hall if you want a nicer view. There is a open top, hop on/hop off double decker bus that stops and the neighbouring Plaza de Americas. For $5USD you can use it for the day to get to Varadero or do a loop of the whole peninsula. It comes about every 40 minutes. Please tip the staff, the Cubans are wonderful people in a tough situation.

Very Impressed!

This resort exceeded our expectations. The grounds and superstructure are beautifully manintained. The room was renovated, clean and quiet. The mattress was new and very comfortable resulting in excellent sleep quality. We were on the 4th floor and had an ocean view even though we paid for a standard room. The way the resort is constructed and situated, I believe all rooms that were high enough had such a view. Staff were engaging, very friendly and hard working. The beach and pool were h [... read more]ighlights with plenty of loungers available at any time of the day and zero beach vendors. The week we were there (11-18 Dec) mosquitos were a non-issue and the weather was perfect ... 25-27 degrees during the day and 20-22 at night with no humidity. We didn't even need the a/c at night! There were absolutely NO SHORTAGES. Lots of food including fresh vegtables and proteins, no electricity issues whatsoever, and the beer, wine, and spirits were readily available. There is room for improvement, however, as the food is somewhat repetitive and food temperature at the buffet was inconsistent. The gym also needs to be updated as the equipment is old and lacking. I can't recommended this resort enough, especially given the price point. Star ratings are highly subjective but this is one of the nicest resorts we have been to in the 4 star range in the Caribbean, including Mexico and the Dominican Republic.

Amazing

My daughter and I spent a week at this hotel from Nov 30 to Dec 8. This hotel is beautiful and clean. Our room was definitely was well used as we spread out. We slept well in comfortable beds with feather pillows. The food was so good. We tried a few different restaurants including Japanese which we decided was our thing. The buffet definitely has something for everyone. Everything was fresh and the bread selection omgosh! Our favourite place to be was at the 24hr cafe. We had breakfast and c [... read more]offee most mornings here. Best hotdogs and ham and cheese sandwiches. Beach is amazing. It is kept very clean and there are plenty of activities going on all the time. The best part are the cuban people, friendly and fun and very hard working people. Overall this place deserves all the 5 stars ratings it gets.

Melia Varadero

One of the better hotels in Varadero. Staff was for the most part friendly and accomodating. The grounds are clean and attractive and one of the reasons I choose this resort. No problems with my room--- the plumbing worked fine, lots of hot water. There were no power outages or water shortages while I was there (Dec 4th to 9th). The cafeteria served typical resort buffet food that grows repetitive after a few days but there's something for most tastes. I liked that there was always lots o [... read more]f cutlery on all the tables (unlike many Cuban resorts) and there was always available seating. The waiters were quite attentive. Overall my stay was pleasant.

Enjoyable Resort

Our stay was most enjoyable. Friendly staff. Good service. Good entertainment and a wide variety of food. The served meals in the International Room and Tex-Mex room were beautifully presented and very tasty. We plan to return!

Great Family Vacation

The beaches, the service from the concierges and others, and the views are amazing. The Cuban people are awesome! When you get a chance to meet the locals, take it. They are incredibly friendly, resilient and resourceful. Be prepared to travel off the resort for incredible dining opportunities!

To go again

I will go back to this resort again.............................................................................................................................................................................

Great hotel

Staff are very friendly, large hotel with many areas to eat, order a drink, relax and rarely felt overcrowded. A bus outside the hotel brings you to downtown Varadero where there's lots to do and a great nightlife with a mix of locals and tourists. Extremely safe to walk around Varadero and there's a fantastic public beach there as well. Highly recommend.

4 out of 10

The worst food in all the resorts I have been. Very low quantity of food and don’t taste good I had to fight every day for bottles of water. The beach was amazing. I loved it. The people were nice.

Super great resort

The hotel was great, food, booze, entertainment beaches staff number one. 10 plus. Third time staying. Great resort will return Highly recommend !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Amazing Resort

Beach - This was the best part. Cuba has one of the best beaches in the world, White sand and crystal-clear water. Beach was a 7 mins walk from the hotel. They have a buggy service too for pick up and drop off Rooms - I had got the room on the 2nd floor where the main lobby is. Room was fully functional, comfortable and spacious, it had the marina view. The only issue was hot water, sometimes it's hot or else bath with cold water. I had slow wifi connection in the room, enough to run my whats [... read more]app. Service - Cleaning staff, bar tenders, buffet chefs and waiters all of them were smiling, friendly and happy to help. You tip them and will give you top notch service. Food - Being a Vegetarian, things were different for me. We would always get fruits, salads, live counters for pizza, pastas and fried rice with vegetable. You would never go hungry. But the food becomes monotonous after 3-4 days. Sp Thanks to Chef Elisio Reis who made good vegetarian dishes for us. Excursions - I would recommend taking the Catamaran tour with dolphins, it was amazing. You could touch and hug the dolphin. Dolphin also takes you for a ride with an extra tip. Definitely worth it. For the cost, it was really worth it. I would definitely visit again.

Not as presented

Hotel is struggling! Shortage of food and what was there was limited. Same food everyday. Asked for butter for toast, advised none left. It was 9 a.m. no syrup for pancakes. No salad fixings. No toilet paper. Needed to ask for clean towels. Dark hallways where the hotel is not being used. Definitely not a five star! Not many guests either.

We haven’t missed anything

Before we booked, we were not recommend to go to Cuba and also not to this hotel. Our expectations were little. But we were surprised to not experienced what we heard. We had food, coffee, nice pastry selection and good bread in the morning. And the beach is awesome. This hotel isn’t a new one. It is big but not many clients for the size. I felt sorry we always missed the best music that played during supper time ( acoustic ) at 9:30 pm or at the pool or the beach , the music was too loud f [... read more]or me. After a week of hearing it is too much.but I guess it is the same elsewhere. Cuban are having a difficult economic time and we can feel it on the employees even if they don’t talk about it. So when we show kindness to them their face changes . All included doesn’t mean no sense to me. When we see people striving to live we just cannot be passive. They live on tips.all included doesn’t include tips in my opinion.

Very Bad !!!!

No choices of food,coffee was only twice while stay 10 Days ,No toilet papier /need to give Tips to get toilet paper.Not enough towels /only one towel per person,not hand towel,face clothes/ Everywhere were bugs we have some bites.Never ever again go to this resort.Staff don’t speak English.Our representative was late ,No info at resort about departure .This resort doesn’t meet Our needs. Never again go to CUBA

We got by!

We had a few deficiencies to deal with upon arrival. We had "The Level" privilege package but with elevators being out it was 6 flights of stairs for every meal with a bum leg. The resort was nice, needed more attention though. Learned that this was last resort to reopen post covid so all the other resorts hired the best people. Melia Marina got what was left but they tried hard. A couple stood out, Joanna and Vladimir, our concierges. upon checkout, our bus ride to the airport was a no show and [... read more] cost us USD $50 for a cab to the airport. Who is going to reimburse us for that? All in all we made the best of our time at Maria Melina but it was a bit of a let down.

Not good experience

The first thing we have reached resort at night 10pm and dinner time was over so they said only snacks is open we said that's fine also wifi is terrible except the level room. We were 5 people with 2 year old daughter they mention it's family resort but nothing kids facilities works, kids pool kids day care were closed. Also at the reception the 2 girls who claimed they are receptionists but they don't know anything about the resort, whenever you asked for something they will straight out say no [... read more] except trying to find out what we were asking for. Food as we expected as it's Cuba they are having some issue with food. Also in rooms there were not flush working in both rooms at all we have to walk all the way to lobby to use washroom every single time. I am pregnant 6 months and I had to use washroom every hour and I had to walk to lobby. They don't do housekeeping by asking 2-3 times in a day. After requesting them to sort out as I was having hard time they have upgraded to level room service with room on lobby floor as their lift was out of services since 2 weeks. I had to go on 7th floor for breakfast, lunch and dinner 3 times in a day as pregnant women. Thanks to that lady who was manager at the level room services she have seen me I was having issue and she supported throughout our stay and also all the servents at the level room were excellent specially valdimer(putin) he was used to come from 7th floor to lobby for our services so we don't need to do up and down. Food is good for Cuban people for sure but for Indians you will get hard time to survive with there food. There is one indian restaurant in Havana food was good. Regarding resort they put 5 star but they are hardly 2 star. If you fo 2 star than you expect this kind ot service but after charging for 5 star and get this services not good at all. Also you need to give tip all the time to get basic services. At the pool they have snack bar, If you don't give them tip they will not Give you food ?. If you book please book level room services otherwise it's worst experience. I can give 5 star to level room servent and services only.

Good resort

The resort itself has some shortcomings due to age, but the staff was great and they kept the place neat and clean. The food obviously is not the best, but it is okay. The grounds, the pool and the beach are spectacular. The excursion to Habana was really well done complete with old cars and a nice lunch and dinner at the old fort and downtown. The Daiquiri bar in old Habana where Ernest Hemingway used to hang out, is a hotspot and worth the time. We had a great vacation!

Not Recommended

I have a long list of disappointments during our stay in Jan/2024: we had arrived at 10pm and on my ask for a cocktail at the bar I was offered coffee or beer, they don't make cocktails after I'm not sure what hour. The elevator didn't work all the time, no mattress protection, bedding wasn't changed, toilet tank was running, it was not properly flushing even after service was called, we had to use garbage can to flush after ourselves. No variety for food, some days it was no milk for coffee in  [... read more]the morning. I had to request bottled water every day at the reception desk, they had to place a service call for the water being delivered to the room. Once on my question when it will be delivered, the answer was "when he wants to deliver". Only two small bottles were provided for a day. I was able to change beach towel only once during my stay, they never had clean towels in the morning or close to evening hours. It was our first and last vacation in Cuba.

Great location and Great Food

The location is absolutely superb. The room are spacious and have balcony facing the sea or the pool. The food was spectacular and the staff are very friendly. The hotel is under minor renovations and elevator was not working . However overall we give this hotel a four star .

The worst resort ever

This resort is suck a scam. We arrived at 1pm after a long flight, been up since 8am, when we are at the hotel, they told us we had to wait til 4pm to check in to the room since they have no rooms available, food was trash, flies are everywhere, hotel management was very rude, lots of rude staff, they were trying to harassing me, just because I bought a friend with me, she came to visit me in my room, however, they refused to let her come visit me, even though I already paid for the room, they w [... read more]ant me to pay another extra 900usd to just have her staying in my room. I refused to pay that, and they harass me and my friend until she pays, they breach the hotel privacy rules, sending 3-4 guys standing in front of my door, trying to break in, one of the guy was constantly leaning on my hotel door, trying to listen to the conversations we had inside the room. After this, they pretend that there’s something wrong with the light in the room and sent two security guards inside and try to drag my friend out, We are two foreign girls who just arrived in a brand new country and they are treating us like criminals.