Good Reliable Resort

This was our second time at the Royal Hicacos and the resort is an excellent resort. Food is great (by Cuba standards) and the rooms, beach and pool are all top notch. The pool is not huge, but there is plenty of space for the size of the resort. This resort has a lot of return travelers (including ourselves) which speaks volumes for the value of what you receive.

BEAUTIFUL RESORT & BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE

Our first time in Cuba. ROYALTON is a very nice resort - I found it rather small compared to other resorts I have gone to in DR, MEXICO, JAMACIA - but overall, the people are great, the food was very good and the beach was amazing. I was not impressed with my room, however, being a nice Canadian, I "sucked it up" for the week, but I will make sure my next trip, my room will be specified in more detail what I want. There is no point in going into detail about the room - its over. BACK TO WORK FOR [... read more] ME! If you are people who want a room with a nice view, pay for the DIAMOND CLUB, and maybe you will have it - other than that, you may be disappointed if you don't. I realize we all pay big $$$ to go to the ROYALTON and you would think all rooms would have an "o.k." view.(talking about the view, the room itself was definitely nice) but this is not so, very disappointing. I do recommend this resort to anyone. The entertainment was also very good. The butlers were very accommodating. Cuban people are very nice and for this reason I will go back to Cuba someday but perhaps a different location in Cuba just to see other areas of the island. One thing very disappointing with our trip but had nothing to do with the resort, was I bought a seashell on the beach from a young man selling them - beautiful - paid 12 pesos for it. Other people were buying them as well. On our way to airport, the entertainer you could say on the bus, was telling us rules, regulations for the airport, and he asked if anyone purchased any seashells. I though he wanted to maybe fill us in on the development of these shells, so I said "YES", I do, and this is when he told me it was not permitted to have these shells , and they were to stay in Cuba. I thought he was joking, and he told me, oh no, he would not joke about that. He told us if our luggage was checked it would be taken from us but if we wanted to take a change it was up to me. He scared me, so my husband and I opened up our suitcase and gave the shell to him. "Here" I said, "a gift for you." I told him if it was not allowed, I did not want it. I sure wasn't breaking any rules in somebody else's country! I would suggest to Sun wing that when your rep gives the Introduction to clients at the introduction meeting, they should mention any rules that they feel their clients should know about whichever country they are visiting. That is everything - overall - I was very happy to go on a vacation, but I was equally happy to return to my home. No place like home!

Beautiful Royalton Hicacos (Adult only..the best)

Beautiful resort. Our room in Block 9, 3rd floor was terrific. Nice, clean and spacious for the two of us. The bathroom was clean and well maintained with hot water throughout our stay. Our room backed onto the resorts back road which really was not a problem because traffic is not busy there. We normally got back to our room around 4pm after a day at the beautiful white sandy beach. Palapas were plenty and we usually were escorted by one of the resorts staff to our chaise lounge chairs right on [... read more] the beach. We usually gave a tip to the staff for doing this(they would wipe down the chaises of sand and then set up our resort provided towels on each chaise). We would exchange our towels each day at the towel hut for a new one to use the next day. They also have a book exchange at the same hut,so if you finished the book you brought along, you could exchange it for another one or just leave your book behind for someone else to read. There was always staff working in the gardens and other areas of the building. Overall, I thought the resort was well maintained. The bathroom(ladies) by the main reception area needed some tic.( Toilet out of order and a bit untidy). The staff especially Guillermo who looked after us in block 9 was always ready to help, provide direction or assistance. Always had a smile on his face. Thank you for our wonderful stay! We booked a day trip to Havana before we left Vancouver, Canada with a young man named Blexie. He had a taxi driver named Totor(?) and they took us in a 1957 Chev. Definitely worth the money. I wouldn't have gone there on one of those Bus tours, that's for sure. Took the double decker bus into Varadero for the day. lots to see, just follow the people getting off the bus in town, lots of trinket shops etc. Wonderful trip, beautiful water, beaches and very friendly people. The food at our resort was excellent! Buffet was clean and plentiful. Loved the Caribean Restaurant the most( you have to pre book the your butler for the restaurants within the resort( we forgot to attend the 1st am meeting on the card you are given when you arrive) so Guillermo booked 3 dates for us). The restaurant on the beach was also great for dinner especially on the stormy/ rainy night we were there. The storm let up just as we finished our dinner. ( you can also have breakfast and lunch ther during the day. The seafood one was not as good so unless it gets a bit of a makeover( make it more inviting,not so cold). The ice cream shop was great and the taste of it, mmmmmmmm! There is also the 24 hour little restaurant which you can get fries/hamburgers, crepes etc was also very quick and yummy. One time they didn't have anymore bananas so the gentleman serving us went upstairs to the buffet and got a few so I could have it in my banana and chocolate crepe. Great! The entertainment every night was very good and different for each of the 7 Days we were there. The pool show especially! We would go back there in a heart beat! The plane ride...not so cool, no leg room, stuffed in like sardines (took the flight thru Sunwing)

Best I have stayed st in Cuba

Good food. Large rooms. Nice beach. Excellent entertainment. Smooth check-in. Very clean. Generally friendly staff. Unlimited access to ala cartes. Good restocking of all in room. Bring small bills for tips as very hard to obtain at resort.

Nice resort but avoid flying with Sunwing

Unfortunately Sunwing appears to be the only airline that flies to the Royalton from Toronto. If you can't find any airline besides Sunwing, find a different resort to go to. The Royalton was good. Nice property. Rooms are a little dated but roomy and clean. Nice swimming pool areas but the pools are all shallow (no deeper than 4 feet). There is a (for lack of a better word) moat running around the property. There wasn't much water in this moat and it desperately needed painting (something other [... read more] than the grimy white). It was a little disgusting. The bars are good and booze plentiful (but you get better service if you get your own drinks as opposed to waiting for someone to take your order). The a la cartes were decent with lots of food. My favourite was the seafood (though I don't eat seafood). I got the best steak here. Next best was Italian. Then the TexMex (nice atmosphere eating on the beach but cats all around your feet while you eat). Least favourite was the Carribean meal. It's a matter of taste though. If you asked someone, I'm sure you'd get a different answer. Buffet was really good. No lineups where they prepared you eggs in the morning or pasta at meal times. Restaurant and bar staff were really friendly but general maintenance staff and cleaning personnel didn't greet you when you passed. The front desk wouldn't exchange you a bigger bill (ie. 10 or 20 CUC for smaller bills like 1 or 3 CUC). They said they needed to keep this for making change. As a result I'm sure the wait staff got royally ripped off with people not tipping as I don't know many people that will tip 5 CUC for a drink. We tried to go around at the end of the week to tip the people that we our favourites but I'm sure we missed some. The entertainment was fantastic (especially the Water Ballet ... do not miss this). Amazing. The beach is really nice. Always lots of available chairs. Double decker bus is a good way to take a trip into Varadero (5 CUC for a day pass ... can't get a one way ticket at all). One way in an old fashioned car costs about 20 CUC. It's an experience (especially when your driver throws the beer he's been drinking into the trash can before you get in). We travelled in a 1927 Yellow Ford Model-T. The driver stradled the centre line on the highway all the way home but we made it. Likely not worth paying the extra for the Diamond club. Besides a pool side bbq, you don't get much else for the money. There were never any lines (checkin / checkout / buffet) and always tons of seating and alcohol so save your money. As far as my complaint with Sunwing, well just suffice to say I won't visit the Royalton again (even as nice as it was) if I have to fly Sunwing. Bottom line is they just don't care about their passengers. My travel agent warned me. She said she would book me with anybody else before Sunwing but unfortunately there was no one else and we already had our hearts set on this resort. Sunwing offers a price drop guarantee but fail to mention that it costs you a $50 administration charge EACH to take advantage of this (and you can only take the price drop once). Sunwing played the movie Creed on the way to Varadero and the newest Star Wars movie on the way home. Both times they started the movies about an hour into the flight and both times they cut the movies off with about 15 minutes left in the movie in order to prepare for landing. They tell you to check their flight book 24 hours before your flight leaves the resort for any changes (which we did and no changes). We were to leave the hotel at 7:00 am. We were up at 5:30 am , went for a quickie breakfast, and got into the lobby at 6:45 am only to find that our flight was postponed 6 hours. Not the worst thing in the world except for the fact that everything was packed up, we were tired from getting up so early, we'd spent all our Cuban money with our final tipping, we had our 80 year old father picking us up at the airport for 3:00 (and now we weren't get home until 9:00 and he doesn't see so well at night) plus the fact that we had to scramble to buy another internet care to email and the internet happened to be down all morning at the resort. We ended up having to make a phone call (cost equivalent of $8 for a 1 minute call). By this time I was so wound up, I really just wanted to get home. I heard people saying the delay was because a worker was killed at Pearson the night before (so sad .. my heart goes out to the family) however, the paper said that no delays were encountered due to this. I think it was likely that there was a plane coming from Halifax and it was cheaper to send us home on this arriving plane as opposed to sending another flight from Toronto. All I know is that Sunwing didn't give us proper notice like they said they would. If we had 24 hours advance warning, we could have prepared ourselves. They just don't care about their passengers. There were a lot of angry people (and lots of other Sunwing stories from people telling the same tale). Avoid Sunwing !!

Very nice resort

the grounds are good except the water ways around and about the resort, they could use a coat of paint, would improve them a lot. Service was good, and the best beach that I have ever seen. Can't complain about the food, as some do, there was always something good to eat. The butlers are a nice touch.

Great Resort

First time traveling to Cuba. Great resort. Butler service was a nice bonus. People are wonderful in Cuba. Beach was the best I have seen. Night shows were ok but have seen better at other resorts. Would stay there again for sure!

Good resort

good resort, Food is good and a good variety, rooms could use a little up date, best beach along that strip, most of staff very friendly. Have been here twice before and found the night shows have improved a lot, one negative is they need to clean up those water ways around resort, look dirty

2nd Excellent visit to Royalton Hicacos

Beautiful beach always a place to sit. Pool area very nice tropical feel because of the trees etc. Lots of enertainment, music everywhere. Food was good staff were friendly. After two trips to this resort not one complaint. Would go back again.

Beautiful resort

Royalton Hicacos is a true 4 star resort. Very clean and well laid out. Our room was in the Diamond Club section. As you entered there was an upper level with upholstered bench seating around 2 walls and 2 steps down to the bedroom area with a balcony overlooking the gardens. We needed 2 beds, instead of replacing the king size bed, they put a single bed on the upper level where the seating area was. This worked out fine for us. The bathroom was spacious with a separate w/c. On the grounds, all  [... read more]building were connected with elevated walkways that cross crossed a series of cement canals that were no longer used. These may have been left from when this was a Sandals resort, but now are mostly empty. Unfortunately they detract a bit from the otherwise inviting local. They should either be filled in or filled with water as they used to be. The main pool is large and clean and has a swim up bar. Lots of places to lounge around both in sun and shade. There are 2 smaller pools at the opposite end of the resort. The beach is beautiful, very clean and quite long. Divided into 3 parts with water sports at one end, restaurant and bar area in the middle and Diamond Club access at the far end. Lots of loungers and sunshades available. The resort staff are very good and anxious to please, be it cleaning, restaurant or front desk. The food in every restaurant was good, lots of choice no matter what you were looking for. I recommend going diamond club if you can as you get options like restaurant reservations, premium drinks and seating areas in the buffet along with a butler to look after you and seperate beach access with its own bar. The only negative was the lack of Internet access. You had to buy a card good for 1 hour for 3 pesos. You could only use it in the lounge and reception was better in some parts than others. If you can get along with out it fine, but if you need to check your email and such it was a pain. We heard other lesser resorts had wifi for free so I think this is an area that needs to improve. Other than that, highly recommend Royalton Hicacos.

Great time at Royalton Hicacos

The resort is a perfect size. The staff are great, always happy, smiling, and attentive. Tips now and then go a long way! The rooms and some areas of the resort need some updating. The beach was great, clean. The pools are well maintained but shallow. Always available chairs at the pool. Some people rate the food as bland in the buffet, but we found it actually too salty at times. The buffet during our stay satisfied us. Overall a great time. Would go back again.

Amazing Resort,

We found the pool area a little different than most places that we have been to but other than that a wonderful place. Some nice ala carte restaurants and a beautiful lobby bar with bird cage type lounge chairs. Wonderful place to lounge around.

Lovely Resort

We really liked this resort. We had set our expectations lower knowing that things are a bit different in Cuba. The resort had a nice layout and everything was close at hand. The beach was huge and easy to walk on. I thought wit ould be a bit whiter, but it was still powdery and very clean. There were a few jelly fish washed up a couple days due to high winds. The resort is a bit dated and some of the winding rivers needed a new paint job, but the workers were always busy cleaning and restoring  [... read more]things. The rooms are a good size, a bit dated, but always clean and the maids do a great job and we were treated with cute towel animals each day on the bed. The food was really good. The buffet offered many stations and lots of variety. The salad bar was amazing. Only complaint was the beef in the buffet, it was terrible, but on the other hand it was amazing in the Italian restaurant. The specialty restaurants were really nice and food was always excellent. We loved the beach restaurant for lunches. The workers were all nice and appreciated any tips. The hotel has a double decker bus going by and you can hop and hop off and go to Varedero to the local markets. If I go to Cuba again, I would definitely stay here. I would rate this as a 4 to 4.5. I loved the resort best at night time...very romantic setting. Entertainment program provided good to excellent varieties of shows. There was just enough activity in the day....not too much and they played different music each day which was nice. Also, there was never a problem to find a lounger or bed by the pool. The beach tended to be a bit busier. You get a butler who really only books your restaurants, but they are there if you need any assistance, so that is nice. All in all, a great value. Tip, go later in the year to get warmer weather. Avoid Jan/Feb.

Great beach

The resort and rooms were somewhat dated (and different from the website pictures); the beach was fabulous; there was no free internet and a converter was needed for plug in's; staff were extremely friendly and the hotel was kept clean; food was okay and variety was more than we expected.

Fantastic Stay!

We stayed 5 days at this fabulous resort. Diamond Club privileges were certainly worth the Premium, namely the friendly and extremely helpful Butlers. Shout outs to Illiana and Isaac and Carlos for their efforts and charm. All staff were approachable and knowledgeable. The Beach was second to none. Night time shows and activities were easy to come by, and the food was quite tasty with a good variety. Would definitely return.

Great Cuban resort!

Great food (a lot of choices at the buffet, and delicious seafood but not great grilled meats). Fantastic beach with lots of tiki huts for shade - never a problem to get a chair. Nice main bar with excellent bartenders. Rooms were spacious but the mattress cover and blanket could have been cleaner (sheets were fine and room was clean). Very friendly, helpful staff.

Nice place, room for improvement

Great Beach-we had Diamond Service and they have Bali beds on the beach and beverage service. The beach restaurant had good food but it was inconsistent-some people got lots of fries and some sandwiches had filling while others had scant filling. The poutine they served was fantastic! One of our rooms did not have hot water for a day and a half which is inexcusable. Our room had intermittent phone ringing at night-which was never resolved. The Mexican restaurant was not good-the meat roll ups ca [... read more]me with a mixture that was a chinese stir fry-not at all Mexican. The food at the El Caribe was very good and the waiter Pavel is truly wonderful. The crepes with Maple syrup offered at the main Buffet were great and the buffet had excellent parmesan cheese from Italy as well as a selection of cold cuts, the roast pork was great. We loved the beach and enjoyed our trip despite a few glitches.

Great Property Great Beach

Great rooms - maximum of 3 levels. Quiet, well maintained, attentative staff. Easy exchange of currency at front desk. Wi-Fi accessible in several locations and reasonably priced (2 CUC per hour). Great evening entertainment every night. Diamond club worth extra cost. Food was not the best, although good variety at buffet and in a-la-carte restaurants.

Average resort that could be better

It appeared that this resort had not been taken care as well as it should have been in the past few years. There was however, a lot of effort being put into repairs and maintenance when we were there. Customer service in some locations on this resort fell short of our expectations. Some staff obviously need additional training. As we expected, for the most part the food was okay. We were very pleased with the breads, cheeses and wines. We would have loved to see more fresh fruit. Overall this [... read more] resort met our expectations, we would consider returning at some time.

Great resort

Beautiful resort. Amazing beach. Wonderful staff. Clean, comfortable room. Disappointing food especially at the specialty restaurants. This is where there is real need for improvement. We would return if we knew that there had been changes made to the food quality.