Worth & Affordable hotel

Its a fantastic trip for my family. Rooms are clean and cozy. Staff and services are friendly and did not feel much pushy for tips. Swimming pools are good sizes with well maintenance. Shows are professionally presented and neatly organized. Shortfalls are: swimming pools maintenance hours should be adjusted to make them more accessible (currently before 9am and after 6pm). Buffet restaurant food is repetitive. The Italian a la carte restaurant has no air conditioning that make it not enjoyable [... read more]. Front desk check in/out processes are tedious that could be shortened!

Not bad

The room maintenance is worst. Everything else is okay. The food and the service is good. The pool maintenance can be improved. The beaches are good. The hotel maintenance is okay. The best part is evening dance performance both on the ground and in the water.

Good Value

Grounds - well kept & clean / pools - nice/clean Food - great variety at each meal (except in the snack bar) Venue - old/needs some repair but all in all clean Staff - friendly and helpful Security - felt save / security at front door Front Desk - check-in very slow - never received a smile To reach the beach you have to cross the road and walk for about 7-10 minutes- not handy for anyone with walking challenges, but well worth it when you arrive on the nice white, soft sand and beautiful clear  [... read more]water. The beach bar is in a unique older Spanish-style building (very nice/clean) Location - easy access from airport - 25 minute drive / located within walking distance to downtown restaurants/shops/craft vendors/parks I work in the hospitality business and would say improvement is required but found value for the price we paid.

Dirty and Unsafe!

I will never go back to this resort. This was my fifth time in Cuba and first time at this resort. We went for my friend's Bachelorette party! The check-in process was a nightmare. It took us a full 2 hours AFTER 4pm (which is said to be the check in time) to get our room keys as our "rooms weren't ready". When we finally got into our rooms we discovered that our shower head was broken, we didn't have any clean towels and didn't have any water. Lastly my roommates bed sheets had spots of blood o [... read more]n the bottom of them. We asked several times quite politely to tend to our needs we were constantly ignored. Aside from all of the above - this resort is UNSAFE. On our first night a large wooden window fixture fell on my friends (The Bride's) head. It had to have weighed a good 30 pounds. After reporting the incident to management - they seemed more concerned with fixing the wooden framing instead of my roommates booming headache. After simply placing the fixture back above the window (no tools necessary) - they refused to call an ambulance, saying it "wasn't an emergency". Believing the bride to have a concussion we luckily ended up getting her to a clinic and it didn't completely ruin her bachelorette party! I would NEVER recommend this resort.

Worst resort

Many of us got sick because of the disgusting food and mold on the food. My friend got severely injured on her head because the hotel failed to secure a heavy wooden rail type of thing on the wall properly and they refused to pay for a doctor. They scanned our passports and kept them for hours I don't know why. It took us two hours to check in and there was no one helping out with our luggage. We requested to have things in our rooms that were missing when we first came in like water bottle and  [... read more]they said they would give it the day after but they never did. Basically anything you complained about or requested they ignored. Awful resort

Think twice...

Coming from someone that travels on a bi-monthly bases, this was by far the worst resort/hotel. Staff: Right off the bat we were receiving attitude. Giving them the benefit of the doubt that it may have been a stressful afternoon our group let it slide. However, it became progressively worse throughout the week. Check-in: took 3 hours, they made us wait in the lobby without offering us anything in the heat. Might I add our group consisted of a 11 individuals. Rooms: in total we had 6 rooms. 2 [... read more] groups of 2 had to change rooms twice due to the ridculous amounts of mold all over the walls and bathroom walls. It was unbearable; very sickening to say the least. To top it all off only 1 room had functional air conditioning. We'd call the front desk for assistance, yet no one would show up. It came down to the point where reception would hang up on us mid conversation. Resort/hotel: decent resort, definitely not a 4 star. More like a 2 star. Be cautious of the roach's running around.

2nd time here!

Great for singles or people who like to party. We made a ton of friends and had a blast. A minute walk to the beach. Downtown market and nightlife is in walking distance. Food was good, rooms were clean:)

Not a four stars

rooms need an up date,not much of hot water for showers, actually it was cold, is good cold but not that cold, service not friendly at all, no bottles of water in the rooms, (only first day)we had a fridge but no water, we had to buy water everyday, in a weather over 30 degrees, u kidding me?, reception, when we arrived, they did not even tell us where the room was, not a map of the resort, they did not explain anything to us, did not tell us that we had the right to a two reservations to any re [... read more]staurants a la carte, because the hotel is near the city, we asked for a varadero map, they did not have one, exchange in the hotel was not a very good deal, etc., etc., etc.

Bellevue Palma Real

Awesome resort ...pretty good food...great guests....staff could of been a bit more friendly but that didn't really matter ,just meant I got to tip less ...and maybe a new CD, got real tired of hearing latino dance music 24/7 but i guess it's like that everywhere

Value

Still cheapest resort generally in Varadero. As a result you get what you pay for. But a recent stay was with the hotel 1/4 full or less and service, of course, much better. Excellent location. It's a three block walk to the beach. But it's also only about a 3 block walk to several great restaurants and some of the best live music venues in Varadero. And the evening live entrainment at the theatre exceeds some of the much more expensive resorts down the beach.

Amazing Resort

,Enjoyed staying at Palma Real, great location near shopping etc. Great food, lots of fresh fruits variety of everything in large dining room good service at bar Jesus and Carlos dining room. very good music in lobby and dining room .Clean rooms and friendly staff,

I would go back!!

Three pools , one with a bar!! Food was good if you're not picki,,, nice and clean room!! The only thing that wasent convenient is you had to cross the road to go to the beach but it's not far, there's a bank on the other side of the road!! Just beside the other there's a club named havana and call 62!! I would go back anytime!!

Amazing resort

We have been recently to this resort and have spent a wonderful time at this place. The food was repetitive but good, the hotel needs a little refresher but the overall looks ok. Their greatest ambassadors are, without a shadow of the doubt, their amazing staffs. The service was excellent. I would recommend this place to everyone.

Loved it

This resort was amazing for the price. Had a better atmosphere then higher rated resorts I've stayed at in the past. Staff was friendly and resort was very clean. Will go again in a heartbeat. Very pleased

This should be your LAST resort.

I have traveled around the world and stayed in resorts in Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, Mexico, Malaysia, Trinidad & Tobago and Bermuda. This was by FAR the worst resort I have ever encountered. The room was spacious but the bed was damp and the pillows were disgusting. When we removed the pillow cases there were nasty yellow sweat stains covering every inch of each pillow. Our towels were never changed once. We marked the corners of the towels just to see and the same two towels were simply fol [... read more]ded up and hung back on the rack each day. The air conditioner didn't work and just made the room smell musty when we turned it on. The resort itself, was very poorly maintained and there were broken and missing tiles all over the pool areas and walk ways making it look very shabby. There were not enough lounge chairs available for the guests and it was very difficult to find an empty one. There was no security to handle unruly, drunken people, of which there were many, and they were belligerent, vulgar and very loud. There were people vomiting in the pool and cigarettes floating everywhere. There were many locals hanging around without bracelets, and while guests were lined up ten to fifteen people to get drinks at the bar, these locals would just stroll up and cut in front of the paying guests and get served. It was an all around unpleasant environment. There was absolutely no air conditioning anywhere. There was nowhere on the resort to take a break from the 35+C temperature. Even in restaurants, that had AC on, they would have all the windows open, making it completely useless. Also, the elevators barely ever worked. We were on the fourth floor. The food was terrible and downright dangerous. The buffet was swarming with flies and on a couple of occasions I saw small cockroaches around the dishes. I got a breaded chicken cutlet that was raw and frozen in the middle. When I pointed this out to the staff they apologized to me and threw it away, but didn't remove the cutlets from the buffet even after a number of other guests complained of the same problem. The beachfront, about a ten minute walk from the resort, was absolutely stunning. One of the nicest beaches I have ever seen. Crystal clear water and soft white sand. Except for the cigarette butts everywhere, the beach was fairly clean. The problem was there were FAR to few shaded areas for guests, and what shade there was available was held by security for people who had given them money. Even if they weren't there the seats in the shade had towels on them marking them as "Taken". My wife and I got to the beach at 6:30AM and all of the chairs with shade already had towels on them yet we were the first on the beach. We simply walked to a thatched umbrella and removed the towels, putting them on another chair. The security guard came over and tried to tell us the chair was reserved. We just shook our heads and sat down anyway. He gave up fairly quickly and left us alone. I wanted to leave this place by day three, that is how unhappy I was with the resort. I live in Red Deer, Alberta and just went through a long and brutal winter. I was desperate for a vacation in the sun. I was looking forward to this trip for months and in only three days, this resort had soured me on the whole thing. If I haven't properly conveyed just how awful this place was, that info alone should speak volumes on the quality of this resort. I wouldn't even give it 2 stars, let alone 3 and 1/2. Very, Very disappointing.

Amazing resort

Bellevue Palma Real is very clean, food was good, staff was very friendly. Pools were clean ocean is beautiful . Would definitely go back to this resort. Walking distance to the markets and the local bars ex. Beatles Bar , Callie 62 Spanish bar

Good and bad Palma Real

Good points: - cheap $769 7-days all inclusive package - room is clean and cleaned everyday - entertainment night shows are excellent - location very close to varadero city and so to restaurants and entertainment - beach is beautiful and 3 min walk from the hotel - juice is good - Piazza restaurant is excellent Bad points: - 95% of the staff is rude - Buffet is bad - even if you pay a 6 pesos internet card you can not connect by wifi you have to use the hotel's machines - people in Cuba always l [... read more]et you know that they are waiting for your tips whether they did a good job or not and so is the staff of the hotel

A decent choice for families

Did all those people that gave this hotel horrible reviews actually go to this hotel? Based on some of the reviews I read, I went to the Palma Real with very low expectations. I was travelling with my wife and two teenage kids. Upon arriving, I noticed that the exterior of the building is in need of painting and the buildings are showing their age. The water level in the quiet pool was consistently below the skimmer, rendering the pumps and filtration system useless. The tiled steps leading to m [... read more]y unit had some chunks missing from the ceramic tile. The grass was yellow and there was no sign of an irrigation system although I later found out it hadn't rained for almost 9 months in Varadero. I could go on with the deficiencies but I think you get the idea that a lot of money needs to be spent to upgrade this property. Having said that, I didn't go there to purchase the hotel so the deficiencies didn't affect the enjoyment of my stay at the Palma Real. Our room was very clean and everything was functional. The A/C worked very well and we had to turn it down at night or it was too cold. The toilet, shower and sink worked properly and we were never without hot water. All doors and windows were lockable, which was important to me since we were on the ground floor of building 2 (Siboney). The walls were painted an ugly green, but again, I'm not looking to purchase the property. We had two single beds pushed together to make a king size bed although my wife and I ended up sleeping together on one of the single beds which are actually about the size of a double bed by Canadian standards. The mattresses were firm and they were wrapped with a plastic liner underneath the fitted sheet. Our family had no problems sleeping in our beds. The TV worked but had only 3 English channels to watch. The electric receptacles look the same as those in Canada, except the voltage is 220 volts. If your chargers or electric devices are designed for both 110 & 220 volts, then you will not need a power transformer or adapters. I plugged my iPad charger directly into the wall receptacle. The staff work very hard and I made sure to tip them whenever they provided services. As the week progressed, the service got better and they made me feel like a VIP. We never gave more than a 1 CUC tip to anybody but they really work hard for their tips. A fellow traveller I met joked that the word "tips" stands for " To Insure Prompt Service". My wife also left some costume jewelry to our maid and she loved it. The food was ok and there was always something there for everyone. My advice would be to go for meals early to get the freshest, hottest and best choices. Popular foods sometimes run out and they may or may not replenish the supply. Breakfast was good and I especially enjoyed watching the "egg man chef" cook up any kind of egg dish you asked for on the hot plate. Lunch and dinner were also good and I usually waited for the grill chef to give me a piece of whatever meat or fish he was grilling. If you only eat beef, then you will be disappointed because the beef they served was either tough, fatty, or full of nerves and tendons. The chicken, pork and seafood dishes were quite good. There was usually a good selection of side dishes although don't expect gourmet foods. I enjoyed the desert table. The fresh tropical fruits, pineapple,guava, mango as well as watermelon were great. There was usually 4 flavours of ice cream and I really enjoyed the coconut ice cream. We only saw two of the nightly shows but they were both very good. The first show we saw was synchronized swimmers in the pool and the second show we saw was a choreographed dancing performance at the outdoor theatre. There are also plenty of places nearby to go out at night within walking distance such as Havana Club, The Beatles Bar and Calle 62 just to name a few. The noisy pool was where most of the younger, single people hung out during the day. This pool has a swim up bar on one end and a volleyball net across the other end for playing pool volleyball. A DJ plays loud music there until 5pm. There are plenty of lounging chairs surrounding both pools. Towel service is available although I didn't use it. It looked like a great place for single people to chill. I did not use any of the pools because I go to Cuba for the beach and the ocean. The beach is a 3 to 4 minute walk from the hotel depending on where your room is on the property. The beach is beautiful white sand with turquoise water. The beach looks like something you would see in a postcard or a travel brochure. The Ocean water is lukewarm and very inviting. I miss the beach already. A DJ plays Cuban and American music on the beach, as well as conducting salsa lessons, and morning stretching. The beach bar is very convenient and serves snacks between noon and 5pm. The selection at the beach snack bar is limited to ham and cheese sandwiches, hot dogs, hamburgers and French fries. Our kids enjoyed these snacks at the beach. There is also a bathroom next to the beach snack bar. Overall, it was an enjoyable experience and I would recommend this hotel to anyone on a tight budget. You will get your money's worth at Palma Real.

Very good

V. Good location , close to good live music , good kitesurfing spot,to many guest, not enough people to serve, you,same times short of food ,glades , you need to tips , if you want to get good service.

Very good value

Very good hotel with friendly staff and excellent beach within Varadero city limits. This was our second stay here and the hotel got actually better since our last visit three years ago. And our kids did enjoy the stay as well.