Disappointing

My friend and I travelled for a 4 day girl's trip in February 2018. This was my 1st tropical vacation, and I was unsure what to expect, but I was sadly disappointed. Customer service was poor; I found many of the staff to be unhelpful, either due to limited language skills or limited interest. The staff member that showed us to our room was friendly, until he demanded a higher tip than what was offered, then he became very rude when his demand was not met. We booked an excursion while the [... read more]re. We showed up early for the bus (they were late by more than 10 minutes). When we could not produce our sales receipt (staff never told us we needed it upon booking) my friend went back to the office to obtain the receipt, while I remained at the bus. The tour guide would not wait, even 1 second beyond the last passenger boarding the bus, despite our having paid approx $270 Cdn for the outing. Neither the vendor nor the tour office would assist us, even though they failed to provide us with the proper info in the first place. They simply blame-shifted and told us to rebook. We rebooked for the next day, our last day, and were promised access to shower rooms at the resort in order to be ready for the flight home, as we were required to check out of our room before the excursion. When we returned, the woman who booked us the shower room denied us access, as the room was now in use, despite our having booked it. She arranged for another room, 20 minutes later, but made the inconvenience to her very well-known. The new room was across the resort, and we asked to be driven out, as they had returned our luggage to us, and we were not able to walk that distance and back, on time, with all our luggage. They agreed, but then never sent anyone. The person we stopped promised to return, but didn't. We got no showers, and almost missed our airport bus, after having to change in the busy public washroom at the resort. We found only ONE service staff to be friendly and accomodating, and she was well tipped for taking care of us. The food was terrible. The drinks were plentiful but mediocre and they were often out of ice or mix, especially at the beach bar. We paid extra for a superior room; and even at the extra cost, the keys never worked on the first 4-5 attempts, the track for the sliding door to the balcony was broken and it did not lock. The mirror had been removed from the wall and not replaced, but the supporting hooks remained. The bathroom doorlock and the hairdryer were broken. The beds were uncomfortable and the bedding was old. There was never warm water for showering. That being said, we tipped the housekeeping staff well and they gave us extra pillows and folded the towels into shapes. The beach was beautiful, but it was difficult to get a lounger or shade. We never used the pool, as it was always at full capacity. The massages we booked at the spa were very relaxing and enjoyable. Despite the above, we did enjoy ourselves, but I won't return. If you are just looking to lounge on a beautiful beach and drink unlimited alcohol on the cheap, and you don't care about the food, service or accommodations, this place might be for you. If you're looking for even a little luxury or pampering from your vacay, journey elsewhere.

Not good

It's far from beach. Poorly maintained. All door locks have loose connection. Needs to use key multiple times. Bathroom door lock is damaged. Bathtub is too high with no steps. Need to ask for clean towel, toilet papers and drinking water everyday. Only good thing is they have kids swimming pool and a kids show in the night.

Okay resort!

Would probably rate this resort a 6/10. While we had no hot water to shower all week, the room was very clean and the maid was a sweetheart. the people we met were amazing. Definitely a populated resort... always something going on! The Cuban bar is where we spent most of our evenings- the entertainment was awesome! Food was 5/10. Overall, not a bad resort but definitely not a 4.5 star! Also, never enough pool/beach chairs.... definitely s shortage which was annoying.

Don't waste your Money!

We arrived at the Grand Memories Resort very early Saturday morning (approx.2am). We checked into our room which was quite run down however, seemed clean. We decided to go to the 24-hr snack bar for something to eat. Upon returning to our room my boyfriend wanted to have a bath. At that time we found that our room had no hot water-not even warm water. I called the front desk who advised me that it was broken and assured me it would be fixed in the morning. Well, morning rolled around and still n [... read more]o hot water. Called the desk again they advised that it was broken and they were working on fixing it. I asked to switch rooms so they put us in another room that evening to find out that it also did not have hot water.. I was informed by other people staying at the resort that the reason there is no hot water was because it was cloudy out and the sun was not getting to the solar panels. The new room they placed us in had no Cable TV which wasn’t a huge concern for us and they ended up fixing it in about 2 days. I once again called the front desk to complain about the no hot water and received no assistance. The next morning I went to Sunwing to explain the issue. She attempted to call a bunch of areas however, they did not answer so we walked over to the front desk. She was able to secure another room for us but would need to wait until after 4:00 when the maids were done cleaning. She also asked the ladies to give us a late checkout on the Friday we were leaving. When 4:00 rolled around we went and got a new key from the front desk (they clearly were tired of hearing from everyone about the hot water and not overly friendly). That evening we were going to switch rooms once again when our maid stopped us and assured us we would have hot water in our room tonight-they were fixing the issue. We decided to stay in this room and we did end up having hot water for the rest of our stay however, no cold water-only blistering hot water! At that point I didn’t want to complain anymore as I would rather have hot than freezing cold. I called the front desk to let them know we were going to stay in current room. The next day we finally had one nice weather day and were able to sit by the pool. After breakfast, I went to go change to find out that my room key no longer worked so I had to walk all the way back to the front desk to get a new key. We were sick from the food each time we ate which was unfortunate and still suffering from the effects of the food. The specialty restaurants were very good however, they did not sit with our stomachs. We ended up only eating toast/croissants and cheese for many meals as we were constantly sick from the food. My boyfriend got extremely sick on the way home and needed to sit right beside the bathroom on the plane. Upon talking to another couple we met there they have been very sick since getting back to Canada. We were unable to sit on the beach due to weather which is of no fault to anyone, however, upon walking to check out the beach we noticed how filthy dirty it was. Garbage all over in the trees. Not a pleasant view considering the water and sand is so beautiful. Many of the public washrooms on the resort were out of toilet paper and hand soap by the afternoons/evenings and very dirty. Also, the coffee machine at the snack bar was broken the entire trip and although there was a coffee machine in the room, they did not supply coffee. The entertainment at the Cuban bar was great in the evenings we really enjoyed the live music. However, overall my entire experience of Cuba was not positive besides all the issues at the resort, I found Varadero and Havana to be extremely dirty places! Like pick up your garbage!! Also, everywhere we tried for food was terrible. I would suggest hiding your resort arm ban when leaving the resort. We were in downtown Havana and a couple approached us and said “Hey! We remember you from the resort” they “assisted” us with finding cigars which ended up being a rip off and then we had to tip them 20 paseos! We will not be returning to Cuba again. We are super disappointed that we had to pay money to visit this resort. Duration of stay: Jan.13th-20th, 2018

Very nice resort...friendly staff!

The service in the restaurants was excellent...The food was always fresh and delicious with many choices. We especially enjoyed the grilled fresh fish and vegetables and the roast turkey! We loved the Cafe located inside the lobby building! We went each evening after dinner and enjoyed a specialty coffee. We sat in the piano lounge and the piano player was awesome...Wonderful time!!!

Grand Memories Resort: the 2 star experience...

No mohitos available in the hotel...in a Cuban hotel... Cuban Restaurant closed...in a Cuban hotel... My room was closest to the Cuban bar, therefore due to the volume of the live bands I got to sleep @ 1AM each night. I had multiple centipede problems in my room probably due to the angle of the hallway to the entrance of my suite, which pooled water and attracted bugs under the door and into the room. Guests are only permitted to make 2 reservations per week in the a la carts. Never had thi [... read more]s issue in Quatros Palmas previous years. Too Many French speaking entertainment nights in Cuban Bar. Cannot understand what is being said. When it rains, there's usually only 1 place to go, the lobby which is packed with people and no where to sit. Sometimes had 1 small bath towel in the room, sometimes had 2, thin and stained at times. Filtered water not replenished daily. Mirror in bathroom has paint/stain splatter on it. House keeping sometimes cleaned the room daily, and sometimes didn't. Overall condition of room was a 1 star. Check in at front desk was good. Trying to find our rooms at 5AM in the dark was not. Older staff member who drives the golf passenger cart was not helpful in finding our room. Just pointed to the other side of the resort and drove away. Staff in lobby bar and the coffee bar were fantastic. Italian restaurant food was sub par. Food in international restaurant was better. Customers who want to buy a cigar are not permitted to enter the walk in humidor in the gift shop. Every other place in the world will let customers do this. And I buy a lot of cigars...but not from this resort. Chairs are being reserved at the beach or paid for to the staff with a few pesos, so if you arrive at the beach after 9ish, there's no more chairs available. Second buffet was only open twice in 8 days. The zombie show in front of the buffet was scaring some older people and children. Not smart...not sure who the general manager is of this hotel, but they need to wake up and start caring about their property. The issues listed above are not that difficult to fix. I used to sell products to hotels so have stayed and dealt with a lot of them. I would rate this hotel as a 1 or 2 star at best. Would I stay here again? Absolutely not...value for money? 2/10.

Very nice resort

We enjoyed our stat here. The staff were very friendly and accommodating. The pools and the grounds of the resort were lovely. The beach was great, not to far if you book the buildings/rooms down closer to the beach. The food was good, nothing to write home about but Cuba's not about the food. There was a nice variety even though and the hours of the meals were well laid out. The nightly entertainment was really nice as well. Definitely would go again.

Memories I will definitely remember

Worst resort I have been in. This is my second time to Cuba and I have been to numerous all inclusive resorts. Resort was dirty, buffet served the same food everyday and a lack of beach chairs. When I checked in at 6:00 am after a 7 hour flight, there were no towels in my room and the toilet was not flushing. The room had a musky smell. Also the room was situated right across the Cuban Bar which played until 1 am. You are in Cuba thinking that Mojitos will be readily available...not here.  [... read more] No Mojitos. Not only that, the specialty Cuban Restaurant was closed the entire time we were there. There is second buffet area but was always closed. So the first buffet area was a nightmare with no clean tables available. Stay away from this resort.

Resort was ok

Room was clean Showers were always cold Public bathrooms had no locks Buffet was very crowded Beach was very crowded Not enough beach/pool chairs Had no towels on last day as we had to leave them in the room for noon checkout Night entertainment was enjoyable Food was alright

Excellent hotel

Service was excellent Food was quite good at grand memories but we upgrade our stay for two days at Sanctuary of this hotel. That was super, food, service, bar and activities. The swimming pool at Sanctuary was a dream and bar service around the pool as well. Marvellous beach and animations (volley ball, zumba) were good

Amazing resort

Really nice resort with great service, friendly staffs and a very well maintained rooms. 24 hour snack bar, cafe and the the bar is absolutely fantastic. Lots of fun for kids with kids club, virtual Game Center and much more. Absolutely enjoyed my vacation here.

Ok memories

I have been on many trips to all inclusive resorts. I always stay in 4-5 star resorts. This was my second time in Cuba so I knew what I was getting into. All of that said here is my review. The food was the worst I have had on vacation, I expected the food to be bland but they barely cooked it or burned it. I spent most of the week eating a ham and cheese sandwich and I don't even like ham! The grounds were ok, they could be so much better but they just don't really take care of it. The pools we [... read more]re ok however after closer inspection they had green algae in every pool. The ladders were covered in it! Now for the good, the staff were amazing, I had an absolute blast with them. Welcoming, warm, always willing to go the extra mile. The shows were ok, beach was nice. All in all, I got a pretty good deal for 1 week in Cuba and I got what I paid for.

Exellent resort

We very much enjoyed our stay. The food was great, the rooms were kept very clean, staff was fantastic, service was great, the grounds were kept clean and neat. I think the only thing I was a little disappointed with was the beach. Having been to Varadero several times and have always enjoyed the beach area, this beach has a lot of 'wash up' from the ocean (weeds). Other than that our holiday was fantastic.

Great Resort!

We stayed at the Grand Memories Varadero Nov 2017 and thoroughly enjoyed our time there. The grounds were lovely and the beach pristine. Osmary, the bartender at the pool bar near the waterfall, was outstanding!! Very attentive, we didn't have to order a drink once, they kept flowing! Only had a chance to eat at the Oriental a la carte, the food was great. The buffets were fine, nothing to write home about but we could always find something to satisfy us. I would definitely recommend this hotel  [... read more]to others and will definitely be coming back!

Wonderful Vacation!

Great hotel, amazing staff (especially the cleaners and buffet staff), great entertainment, wide variety of food and drinks, well maintained beach/gardens and grounds... Overall wonderful experience! we stayed for 8 days and I wish we never had to leave!!

Great Resort and Well Maintained

Grand Memories is a very large and well maintained resort. The pools are clean and chlorinated and the beach is beautiful. The smaller pool with the waterfall is really nice if you just want to relax peacefully. The larger pool is where the activities are done and music is played. The beach has lots of beach activities like kayacking, catamaran, and paddle-boat which are lots of fun and the resort is close to the beach. The rooms are very clean and the bathrooms have modern faucets and the toile [... read more]ts flush fine. This resort has the potential to be an amazing vacation resort, but the main problem is the bland buffet food. Cubans like their food with very little spices or pepper, so you have to bring your own pepper sauce if you like spicy food. The freshly made omelettes are the best part of the breakfast buffet. A fly swatter is a good idea, because there are lots of flies flying around. There are many helpful staff that make sure you're well taken care of, but there are also staff that couldn't give a damn. We tipped the helpful staff. Also, its very hot so make sure to stay hydrated while enjoying drinks by the pool or beach. Going into the town was best part of the vacation. We rented scooters and rode them into Varadero and went to Calle 62 and the Beatles club were both awesome. We also took a taxi to Havana and saw the historical buildings. Overall, it was an enjoyable vacation and well worth the money.

Nice Resort

The resort is large and is well maintained. They keep the grounds clean and manage to quickly clear any garbage or debris that may end up on the ground inadvertently or on purpose. The room we had was spacious and clean. The beds were uncomfortable. The room was cleaned and the supplies were stocked daily except for one day when it appeared that someone came in to the room and made the bed and did nothing more. Several calls to the front desk did not result in having our water supply restocked.  [... read more]Other than that one day the rest of our stay was satisfactory. The beach was excellent. We were in the Diamond Club area and we were looked after very well. We had help setting up on the beach and received drinks as often as we wanted. The restaurants were ok, the food was a little bland. It was not bad just mediocre. We had excellent service in the Diamond Club for the breakfast Buffet. Our omelets were great every day. The a la carte restaurants were ok. They also were not bad just mediocre. The Gourmet restaurant was very good and we had the steak there that was cooked to order and the service was very good. We had no complaints for this resort other than the beds. It is great value for money The staff are very friendly and helpful and go out of their way to be of service. They appreciated our attempts at speaking their language but they were fluent in English. Our waiter at the breakfast buffet even taught us a few catch phrases in Spanish. He was great.

7 days at Memories in Varadero, Cuba

My wife and I travelled to Memories Varadero with our 2 young boys for 7 days (April 17-24). While we enjoyed ourselves overall, here is the feedback for this hotel. The room was very dated and unkept. They still have old tube tvs. Our room was very dirty: the shower curtain was black with dirt and mold, the pillows were filthy, the toilet didn't flush well, the patio door was held closed by a simple chain, the sink drain was backed-up so the water stayed in the sink after we washed our hands or [... read more] brushed our teeth. The grounds were generally well kept. There were always workers either planting or weeding. The activity pool however was very dirty. There was a lot of dirt and dust as well as lots of cups floating inside. We booked through Sunwing and was also very dissappointed with the Sunwing rep in Cuba as she never had time to talk and always walked away during mid conversation. We selected this hotel because we got a good deal however I would not go back to this hotel.

Beautiful beach😀

Our stay at grand memories in varadaro Cuba was a mixture of good and bad, the beaches and pools were great, there was never any toilet paper in the bathroom and the service at the bar was very poor always pushing you from place to place to get drinks, the reason in going to this resort was because my mom stayed at the sacuary part 6 weeks prior to taking us and had a wonderful trip, the rooms and service were awesome. However the grand memories was not so great, the food was good if you could g [... read more]et a server at the buffet to get your drinks to go along with your food, we also seen sercuity guards stealing towels off the chairs on the beach that people had put there to save there seats and people would have to pay $20 to replace the towels that there staff were taking. We wanted to take the double decker bus into town one day and a worker told us to wait here, the bus stops here, he reached into his pocket and gave us all a bracelet that his "wife" makes so we all gave him a tip and we waited for the bus, only to miss it because the bus did not stop there. 2 days later he tried to pull the same stunt on us and we just kept walking to where we were told to wait for the bus and he mumbled something in Spanish. It is a very large resort I think around 960 rooms and they did not have enough staff to keep it running properly. We went to complain to the lady in the customer service room and she even told us she has been there for 18 years and she was planing on quitting herself, that's how bad it was 😐

Big time== mixed feelings

I visited Grand Memories from the 08 Apr to the 15th Apr'17. After we got through all the congestion in the main Lobby we checked in at the Diamond club desk. Rooms were not ready as our flight was early. We did a tour around then went for lunch in the main dining area. This area was also very crowded and noisy with people trying to get their meal. This is a large as well as and old resort. The facility is in bad need of a face lift, repairs and a good cleaning. When we got our rooms later in t [... read more]he pm part of our party had to request a different room as theirs smelt like sewer. My room did not smell bad but the dresser doors were damaged, the toilet was not secure to the floor and the door was just plain dirty. The swimming pools were not maintained very well and the standing water in the decorative water ways around the grounds were very dirty. I feel that I payed the Diamond Club price but I did not see what the advantage was for this. I payed ($1565.00) for my week which was far too much. On a positive note we had a great little maid that looked after us and we fresh linens to use each day, the la a carte meals were good, the entertainment was fair and the weather was beautiful.