Great resort!

We just returned from a one week stay at the Royal Hicacos Resort in Varadero Cuba. Despite the not so great weather which is not something the resort can order they surpassed my expectations for service, food and accommodations. The staff was courteous and always ready to please. The entertainment was great and I really enjoyed the variety and quality of food that they had to offer. We had a real king size bed in our room and the room was spacious with a separate sitting area. Even though we di [... read more]d not choose the diamond club service we still had access to the butler service which I found very convenient not having to wait in line to reserve restaurants. I will definitely be returning to this resort.

Royal hicacos

GREAT TIME. STAFF,ROOM,GROUNDS WERE A OK. DINING WAS FINE EXCEPT FOR THE ITALIAN RESTAURANT AND BISTRO. THE ENTERTAINMENT WAS VERY GOOD. BEACH WAS TERRIFIC. OVERALL IT WAS EXCELLENT, I WILL BE BACK AND BRING FRIENDS.

Perfection!

We spend the week of Jan 21-28 here. We had upgraded to Diamond Club, which was worth every penny. The resort is gorgeous, the food great, service prefec, beach and pool were superb. The evening entertainment some of the best we have seen. Our rooms were great with a few minor issues : beds are very hard, shower was a but uncomfortable to use due to the position of the shower head. Everything else was good. The only thing i can fault at this resort is that the majority of the guests were 50+ . W [... read more]e are in our 30s. It was too quiet for us. The other thing was that the drinks were completely inconsistent, you never got the same thing twice. The bartenders seem to make them however they like. The bistro food was great, but service was very slow. Same at the beach grill. Other than that, the resort was near prefection. We would definitely recommend it

Great Place to stay!!

We stay at the Royalton Hicacos resort in Varadero From Jan 9 to the 16, 2016. We had no complaints besides the weather ( which the resort was not responsible for). All the staff was extreamly friendly no matter where you went on the resort, all the way from the front desk to the men that were cutting the grass. The food was great and lots of selection. The staff kept the resort as clean as possible and it looked neat and tidey all the time.

Excellent customer service, great food

Impressed with general butler service which provides a personal contact with any resort issues, if any. staff are very friendly and helpful. Food was great with freshly cooked meats, fish and pasta. The grounds and beach areas very well kept and serviced. Most guests were over age 35 and European which provided for a good natured fun environment.

The place to be for Christmas!

Great overall experience, treated like royalty every day of our stay. Staff and services 5 star. Grounds 5 star we used the sailboat and the took in the included snorkelling. So many choices to eat and drink. Rooms are tired although everything worked

Amazing honeymoon

The hotel was absolutely gorgeous and the staff went above and beyond for us. The extra money for the diamond club is worth it, especially for the private beach. There was a private honeymoon dinner, we were a little disappointed with especially since it wasn't very private and just an average dinner. There was a problem with our room (folding, missing blinds in the bathroom) and they had us in a new room by 4 pm. But it was an absolutely perfect honeymoon!

Wonderful Beach Destination!

Beautiful location on the best part of Varadero Beach; excellent food at the buffet, lots of salad ingredient choices, including fresh vegetables and tons of fruit; fresh seafood and fish, tons of fresh delicious bread and for those with diet restrictions, there were oat and soy milks, rice cakes and dietary bread. Resort Staff was excellent: attentive, friendly and helpful.

Awesome Resort!

Loved everything. Shows were awesome, wine was excellent, food was good and only a 3 hr. flight. A little windy when we were there but that didn't matter. The resort was just the right size. We had a party of 12 and all loved it.

Amazing week!

Everything we've ever heard about Cuba can be forgotten at this resort. The resort grounds including the beach are stunning. Every detail is attended to, the gardens, pools and leisure areas. The food was consistently excellent. From the extensive variety and quality in the buffet restaurant to the a la Carte restaurants, all was beautifully presented and delicious. I was pleasantly surprised even the beef tenderloin was to exceptionally high standards. The rooms were lovely all with soaker t [... read more]ubs and nice balconies with views with all the comforts. If you upgrade to diamond club the butler staff anticipated every need and want. Definitely worth the extra expense. We will definitely be back to this hotel and look forward to seeing the staff again.

Three stars

The food was almost always cold. There was no system in the buffet to keep dishes even warm Potatoes, vegetables in warming trays looked nice but were cold. We found the beds so high the shorter ones in our group could hardly get in

Hotel is tired and needs work.

The food was good for Cuba, the grounds are kept clean. The rooms are very tired and need updating. We were not impressed when we got our room # 815, no air conditioning & staff did not want to move us. We were told that the hotel was sold out and there wasn't another room. We would not take no for an answer, and after a long period of time finally they found another room for us. We were not the only couple to experience this problem! Not overly Accommodating. Coffee in the morning did not exist [... read more], really for Cuba!! Three mornings in a row we were told there wasn't any & was directed to another location only to be told the same thing. The staff at the working behind lobby bar were less than friendly the same goes for the bistro. The lady that ran the bbq by the pool was fantastic!!! The food was the same! The ladies working poolside were great. The shows were good.

Great resort. Would definitely go back!

This is a great resort. Excellent service, great food, amazing beach, and nice pools. We were always able to find shaded loungers around the pool or at the beach no matter what time we went. This made for a very relaxing holiday - no rushing to get a lounger. The beach was powder soft sand and crystal clear water. The staff could not do enough for us! Our room was very clean and nicely decorated. Our Butler was very helpful and always available. The Foam Party in the pool was great fun and the S [... read more]unset Party at the beach was a nice touch. Cuba is an interesting country to visit and the Cuban people are very friendly. We took a day tour into Havana and felt very relaxed and safe. Fabulous architecture! The double decker buses pass the resort going into Varadero, and for $5 you can hop on and off at the various resorts, markets and places of interest. The food was great - lots of choice, very tasty and well presented. The Buffet had a Pasta Station, Seafood Grill, and a Meat Grill where you select your meat, etc and it is prepared in front of you to your liking. The Crepe Station had delicious dessert crepes! At dinner they have different themes each day of the week. The a la cartes were also very good. We did not go to the Mexican restaurant so do not know what it was like - we chose to go to the Buffet on Cuban Night and sample Cuban dishes. Would definitely recommend this resort!

The resort is gorgeous

Being the 8th time on this resort, however the first time since it was sold. Not a lot has changed. We were treated like a King and Queen as so many of the people were still there recognized us and we got a free bump up. Water sports have improved, breakfast outstanding, however overall food quality is not near as good as Sandals and a bit disappoining . Night entertainent not so good, except the water ballet which we love. Overall we would go back again

Great Vacation

Went with friends for a week. This is a really lovely resort and kept beautifully clean. The rooms are nice and spacious. Service was great and the staff were really helpful and friendly. Food was tasty and plentiful. Beach was terrific!

It was great!

All was great, one day no air conditioning, but the pool, ocean and bar were our destinations! Really like the Butler idea on our arrival, Mayelin from housekeeping was great. Trip central Martine was great. Thank you for all your help.

Dissapointment!!! Bad Service

This was my third time at this resort and it was a big disappointment. The previous two times were excellent, but this time the service was not as good and the resort was not as clean as the previous two times. There was sewage smell on few occasions when walking to our room and our friends had a very unpleasant experience with that smell inside their room. I will say that this resort still has the best beach property in Varadero, the beach was still excellent!

Amazing resort with only a couple of drawbacks

My stay at the Royalton Hicacos Resort and Spa was spectacular. The PROS: amazing amenities, beautiful PERFECT white sand beaches, adult only and great people (all couples around), lots of free things to do - we even got to go scuba diving at a coral reef for free (this is a secret gem that you find out when you get here), drinks are delicious, and the entertainment is amazing. The CONS: food is okay, I came back home with stomach problems for like 2 weeks after, and I got bitten by an unknown i [... read more]nsect, with 27 bites on each leg that were extremely itchy and I had to pay 12 pesos for calming cream - I don't know whether this was bed bugs, fleas or what. Overall amazing resort, would go back for sure.

Great place but could be so much better

I spent four nights there in late August and booked the trip only a week or so before. Here's a summary of the good stuff and stuff that could be better. Good Stuff -- I want to praise the Trip Central agent I dealt with: Judy Donaldson. The tripcentral.ca website was very user friendly and I was able to do a lot of research (including users' reviews) myself, but I wanted to talk to a real person before booking. I saw Judy's name and number on the website and called her (late in the day, I shou [... read more]ld add). She was extremely helpful then and ever time I spoke or emailed with her from then on because I had many, many questions after booking the trip that she answered promptly -- even when I was in line at the airport! A great rep and a nice person. -- The beaches at the resort are magnificent. I'm not normally a person who likes to sit on a beach all day, but taking it easy on a lounge chair under one of the resort's palm umbrellas was fantastic. The water was clear and so warm. -- The main bar in the centre of the resort is a nice place to relax in the evening. It featured live music a few times that was entertaining but not intrusive. -- The room was much nicer than I had expected. Clean and relatively modern. The bathroom was especially spacious. -- The butlers at the resort were very helpful. I'd read a lot about the butlers before booking and wasn't exactly sure what they did. Everyone wrote about how they will book you into an a-la-carte restaurant and that was helpful, but our butlers (they work 12-hour shifts every other day, so you end up dealing with more than one) were helpful with things like recommending a tour of Havana with a private car (more on that below) to getting us into a restaurant the night we left but after we had checked out. Stuff that Could be Better -- Everyone who goes to Cuban resorts knows this, but the food was for the most part unremarkable -- or worse. There is plenty of selection at the main restaurant, but their inability to do simple things like eggs and pasta are perplexing. -- The whole "a-la-carte" restaurant thing was new to me. I first thought that "a-la-carte" meant you had to pay extra; you don't. They have four at the resort. I ate in three and only the Caribbean-themed one was OK. The Tex-Mex place, which is also the one on the beach where you can get food during the day, was not great for dinner. Avoid that one. -- I visited Cuba on business in the 1990s and one of the things I remember most was how good the coffee was in Havana. I didn't have a decent cup of coffee at the resort because it's all done through machines. -- Service at the resort was mediocre. The front desk staff were helpful; the restaurant staff were hit and miss and the bar staff often look uninterested and distracted. Other things to know -- One of the biggest surprises happened at Pearson. I had specifically packed light to avoid checking a bag but at the counter I was told that Sunwing restricts the carry-on weight to 5 kilograms. So even though my bag was regulation carry-on size, it was too heavy and checking it was the only option. This is something that should be spelled out clearly. I saw others in line who were caught in the same predicament. (And strangely, it appeared that Sunwing didn't enforce this on the trip back because people were coming on with huge carry-on bags that they could barely lift to the overhead compartment.) -- One of the best parts of the trip was when I booked a private tour of Havana, with the help of one of the butlers. They make a big deal out of getting you a vintage U.S. car (in my case a 1957 Ford) and there is a driver and a tour guide who speaks perfect English. I had specific things I wanted to see in Havana (having been there 20 years earlier for business) and the tour can be customized to whatever you want. Our guide was very personable and gave us an honest assessment about life in Cuba. He also took us to a "real" Cuban restaurant (a private enterprise, not a government-run operation) where the food was absolutely brilliant. Cost of the meal for four people was over $120 Canadian. The tour itself is 75 Cuban pesos per person. We tipped the driver and guide a further 50 pesos because it was a great experience.

Lots of issues. But beach is amazing

The resort is an ex sandals that has not been maintained properly and there are several issues with cleanliness, air conditioning, behaviour of staff and insects in rooms. However, the beach is truly paradise and that's what makes it worth it to go see for yourself.