Resonance Blu Varadero: 10 star resport in my books

We stayed at Memories Varadero and have had amazing time. Here is my and my families experience with this resort for the week that we stayed in Jan.2020. Resort: Overall it is a bit older resort, but everything in it was functional and good and clean. If you are expecting a 5 star Hollywood royalty kind of resort, then you shouldn’t come to Cuba, as they are not that rich. They do the best that they can with little that they have. My family and I absolutely loved our time and in Cuba and in M [... read more]emories Varadero Resort and would gladly go back any day. Rooms: As I mentioned above, it is an older resort, and it is humid climate, so the rooms are a bit older, but very comfortable and the housekeeping staff does amazing job at keeping it clean. Our housekeeper Sandra was absolutely priceless. She cleaned our room daily, and had changed our towels and always left something fun made out of towels or covers as a surprise for our 7 year old son. Food: The food was amazing. You had every meat and fish imaginable. Had over 15 different types of deserts. Ala Cart was super delicious. People say that it lacks taste and seasoning. Well, you always have additional salt and pepper on the table so have at it. If you are a picky eater at home you will for sure be picky here too. My compliments to the chef’s at this resort as they sure do out do them self every day and every meal. My family and I enjoyed the food very much. Staff: There is no words just how amazing the staff at this resort are. Starting with the check in counter. The ladies there are amazing and are willing to, and have for my family as well as other guests, go above and beyond to make your stay unforgettable one. Then the Sunwing ladies Martha and Evelyn. You have a friend in my son Aidin for life. Then the buffet staff especially Rani and Juan Carlos. You two have made our family feel special, and like a million bucks. You are by far the best wait staff I have ever had the pleasure of being served by. Then the housekeepers. Sandra you are our queen of cleaning and towel puppets. Then the massage therapy guys, Andres and his staff. You guys have no idea how magical your hands are. Best massage I have ever had in my life, and I am speaking for my husband and his mum too. Then the grounds keepers. You guys work so hard every day no matter the temperature outside to make the resort look amazing. They made a cricket out of palm leaf and gave it to my son who couldn’t wait to get it home to show off at his class show and tell. And all the other staff that are for entertainment, and snack bar and kids club, and so many more. You guys and ladies are true customer service professionals. I can’t thank you enough for making our family vacation the best one yet.

Hotel Los Cactus: Good but not great

I'll try to be as fair as possible because I did have a good time but there were some bad things too. I've been to Varadero before at another resort so I knew not to expect too much going into it. We had the garden view suite which was nice, spacious, the bed was huge and there was a little sitting room with a coffee maker, 2 water bottles, and 2 beers in the mini fridge (they change the water bottle when they clean the room). The AC wasn't the most powerful but good enough to keep you cool  [... read more]at night. There was also a small patio with a couple chairs where you can sit and smoke a cigars. The hotel is nicely laid out and clean, the pool is big and really nice surrounded by lounge chairs. There is a snack bar with burgers and hot dogs for when you get hungry between meals (the burgers are really good!). There are 3 bars that I saw, 1 at the lobby, 1 by the pool and 1 by the beach. The bartenders were nice and cheerful (of course they're even nicer when you tip them), and they know how to mix good drinks! I suggest bring one of those big cups with a lid and straw that you can buy at the dollar store before you go so you're not using their little disposable plastic cups every time you get a drink, they'll fill it right up for you, it'll stay cold for longer, and you can get more in one go than you would from their cups. The dining area was really nice and big. The food was decent, some really good, some pretty meh, and a couple times there were some salads that tasted like they were going bad, but overall I liked the food. There was some decent variety during every meal though a lot of it was the same every time. The servers were mostly really nice and may stop to chat with you when its not too busy. There's cats that wander into the dining area which most people seemed to think it was charming and would give them bits of food here and there, they don't pester you or try to steal your food, they mostly just hang out, my girlfriend thought it was adorable though I had to keep reminding her not to pet them because you don't know where they've been lol. The highlight for me was the beach! Lazy chairs all along with some "beds", big palm leaf umbrellas for shade, the sand is white sand and super smooth, the water has small waves that are fun to splash around in. I spent the majority of my time laying on a lazy chair sipping piña coladas or rum and cokes. The atmosphere at the resort is really chill and its nice that there's no kids running around screaming. There was some live music during meals at the dining area from time to time, really talented musicians which was really appreciated. They also play music by the beach bar during the day though I wish they would have more variety than "La vida es un carnaval" by Celia Cruz, and endless versions of Guantanamera. As for the bad, it ranged from mildly inconvenient, to annoying, to just unacceptable. Our shower curtain kept falling off because it wasn't screwed to the wall. Most of the bathroom stalls throughout the resort had broken doors (as in they either didn't close all the way or there was no latch to keep it closed). The power outlets in the rooms are the kind that only have 2 prongs, my laptop charger has 3 but we found that there was this electrical converter box (I don't know what the technical term would be) that is used to connect the mini fridge as the power cord on the fridge is 3 pronged, so I would use that to charge my laptop, though I don't know if its the same in every room. Some of the staff was really rude and I don't understand how they work in the hospitality industry. The worst experience I had though was one night when we called the lobby for a couple of towels, we had been out all day and kept the "do not disturb" sign on the door while we were out because we didn't feel like we needed the room cleaned that day. We called the lobby around 8pm to ask for a couple of clean towels. 15 minutes went by and still no towels, I called the lobby to ask what was happening and I got a really terse "ok I'll tell them again" response from the lobby. Another 15 went by, at this point we realized there was a puddle of water on the floor by the bed coming from a closet. We opened the closet and it was full of black mold and a mess of hoses, one of the hoses was dripping water so we put a towel underneath for the time being. I called the lobby again to tell them about it and they just assumed I was calling about the towels so before I even said anything she said that they would tell the maid about the towels again, I had to cut her off before she hung up to tell her about the leak. She sounded like she couldn't care less and said she would send someone. Again another 15 went by and I called them again, at this point I'm really annoyed because we just want to get on with our night but we have to wait for them to come, how hard is it to bring over a couple of towels! Finally AN HOUR after we first called for the towels they show up, I told the girl that brought them that what had taken so long and she said something along the lines of "well if you want your towels changed you shouldn't leave the "do not disturb" sign on"... which was completely irrelevant to me asking for towels now! Anyways after multiple calls and the maid radioing them about the leak, the repair man finally showed up, I'm assuming he didn't speak English because another maid came with him to translate (I speak Spanish so I spoke with them in Spanish), at no point did the repair man say hello or acknowledge i was there, and the maid looked like she was annoyed by all this, as if I was being a bother. The whole time she didn't say anything to us, she had her arms crossed and had her knee on the bed while the repair man looked at the leak. It turned out it was some kind of condensation coming from the AC which he drained and left, then the maid came back with a mop and mopped up the water and left, closing the door behind her. They had left the door to the closet open and the towel on the floor. I went outside to ask them if they were done and they said yes, I told them "well you could have at least told us!" and closed the door on them. That ruined the rest of my night because of how mad I was at the poor service and their attitude. The next day the hose was dripping again so we put a towel under it. I called the lobby to tell them and they said they would send someone, we left to go to the beach assuming they would fix it while we were out but when we came back there was no sign anyone had been there and the drip continued. At this point we just gave up and put a towel under the drip and left it. So all in all this is a nice hotel but there's things they can do to improve which shouldn't take too much effort, you would expect to be able to close a bathroom stall at a 4 star hotel when all it would take to fix would be installing a new latch. Most of all, the quality of service and attitude from staff is what put a damper on my experience. I would personally not come back here just because there are a lot of other resorts in the area to choose from, but who knows, maybe your experience will be different.

Gran Caribe Sun Beach: Sunbeach-2.5*

Basic accommodations at an unbeatable price. Not luxurious by any stretch but bug free with comfortable bed. Buffet had a terrible stench but snack bar served decent sandwiches and lots of cheap local restaurants nearby. Can't complain- so close to the beach and local activities.

Barcelo Solymar: Needs lots of maintenance and resources

We'd been at Barceló Solymar a few times along the past ten years but decided this was the last. Even with a renovated buffet restaurant and reception desk, the rest of the hotel is screaming for repairs. So many things don't work. The hotel has five elevators but only two work. Some days the maid couldn't leave clean towels and toilet paper! At many times during the day you can't have a hot water shower. In our room the shower glass door was broken so it was hard to take a shower without soaki [... read more]ng the entire bathroom. With regards to the food, I noticed a decrease in quality from previous trips. The hotel staff are usually polite but they talk to each other loudly from one corner to the other as if they're alone.The beaches are beautiful, but I'd say if you want to enjoy them, try a better hotel.

Club Kawama: Average resort

Obviously an older resort however most everything worked. My room was clean and the grounds were tidy. The staff were friendly and helpful. At night it was difficult to get around since the lighting was not good. The food was fine and I enjoyed the Itlantian restaurant. The location was great. You were a short walk from the town.

Melia Peninsula Varadero: Not Impressed!!

The resort was beautiful and very big. The service was extremely poor. There was no greeting when we got there and when checking in the staff weren't to friendly. Our room had roaches in it so I had to request a different room. The second room we got the shower leaked thought the whole room. There was minimal entertainment and music in the resort. The disco was closed the whole time we were there. It took min. 15 min to get a drink at any bar and when you got a drink there was way too much alcoh [... read more]ol in my cup to enjoy it. The food was good and the resort was clean. I feel that they need to have more staff on to cater to people. Beaches are beautiful. I'd think twice about going to this place.

Grand Memories Varadero: We had a good time!

Second time at Grand Memories. The hotel was good. The grounds are well kept, which helps set a great atmosphere, it gives that laid back and relaxed feeling. Note: grounds staff deserve a special mention on the great job! The Staff; the room cleaners did a great job too! The kitchen staff were prompt to serve and very courteous. Try the specialty restaurants. Areas that needed focus.... toilet paper in the common use bathrooms, TP was not readily available (travel hint:BYOTP). The main ba [... read more]r: good atmosphere but seemed the bar staff was only motivated by $$$. I did tip as much as possible but it never seemed enough with them. (Travel hint: bring extra $$$ if you like faster service or once in my case.... service at all). The beach; fantastic, get there early to get a good spot. Note: The beach server was really good at helping everyone with setting up the beds. He deserves special mention too! The entertainment staff were energetic and enthusiastic! I loved how they created the feeling of inclusion. Really improved how how I felt through the fun interaction with them. The pools; there were enough pools to cater to different needs: a quiet pool, a party pool and a kids pool.

Club Kawama: Club Kawama needs to up it's meal quality/selection

The staff was friendly helpful and generally fantastic! The entertainments were OK, although I really do not like rap culture which was about 2/3rds of the nightly music programming at the stage beside the lounge. One night on the other hand, a rock band nailed the International Submarine Band / Byrds / Flying Burrito Brothers "Cosmic American Music" sound pioneered by Gram Parsons and Neil Young et al. in the late 1960's and early 1970's. Very impressive! But the buffet restaurant became ve [... read more]ry predictable and sometimes included under-cooked elements (like under-done potatoes in an egg salad from the cold table for example). The oil that all the grill chefs on site used added a taste I hated which made every meat taste the same (needless to say I didn't eat much meat). All in all a good experience - as is 27C and sunny for a Canadian in January! :)

Starfish Varadero: Amazing resort

We stayed in a bungalow. It was clean and spacious. Air conditioning worked great. Everyone was friendly and helpful. We ate at the buffet a lot, there was a wide variety of food. We had no problems with stomach irritation from the food, and this was our first visit to Cuba. The beach was beautiful and clean. Pool was nice too. Lots of chairs on beach and at pool area. There are a lot of mixed reviews on this place, but for the price, you can't beat it. We had a great time and are already  [... read more]thinking about returning

Paradisus Princesa Del Mar: Very Beautiful Resort

Overall pretty impressed with the resort. The grounds where maintained well, staff was very friendly. However the buffet was somewhat bare, stick to the a la carte restaurants if you can book them the line up was always super long.

Sol Palmeras: Sol Palmeras Cuba

Grounds,beach,pool area and rooms all very good. Room attendant (male) did a very good job. The woman booking specialty restaurants was useless, she kept telling us the restaurants were full but when we went to the international there were only 4 tables being used. We could not get a table at the Italian, so one night I talked to the maitre d and he gave us a table. We had the best meal there. We tried to get a booking for the Tuesday night before we left and the woman said it was closed. We wer [... read more]e sitting in the lobby having a drink and the restaurant was open and people were going in. The drinks were different every time you got one (different mixers) they were not up to par.

Paradisus Varadero: Beautiful resort

The resort is very good but the food is not great especially the alacarte restaurants..half of the time they did not have the dishes mentioned in the menu .. the service is great , people are really nice and helpful.. loved their entertainment team.. kept us busy the whole day including evening.. really liked the kids club as well.. the staff is really nice ..

Iberostar Origin Laguna Azul: Beautiful beach, terrible food!

I spent 5 nights at Laguna Azul. The staff were extremely friendly, the a/c was icy cold, and the beach was beautiful. The food however was nearly inedible. But I hear par for the course for Cuba...

Paradisus Princesa Del Mar: Good resort

Need some tlc, corridor was dark at night twice, first day without hot water. Otherwise great service, very friendly people! Very nice shows at night. Food was too salty, needs at least 30-40 minutes to book a la carte dinner

Melia Marina Varadero: Resort knew better times

To much complains, but most of them to Cuba itself. Food not tasty at all, and you need “to hunt” for it. Stuff corrupted. One time experience-is Ok. But really don’t understand why people come back here?

Valentin El Patriarca Varadero: Resort and amenities getting tired

Resort and amenities getting tired... If travelling with young kids don't expect much from kids club - it was not opened most mornings, closed completely some days, and no staff interaction with children. No activities, no sign-in/sign-out, it was almost like dropping your kids off at a park and walking away... In terms of resort and services, we had no beach towels for first two days and no hot water and the activity staff around pool was very quiet with not much going on. If you wante [... read more]d a quiet resort this may be good but if looking to play games and hear music maybe not. We also had mice in the room that nibbled through a few non-food items (as we did not have food in our room but they were probably looking for some). Other items were ok and as expected. The only pool (other is for privilege only) was nice, beach entry, pool bar, pool restaurant, etc all you'd expect. Beach was very nice with a nearby beach bar & restaurant. Access to the a-la carte restaurants was easy and we went most nights - this food was great (esp for Cuba). The nightly entertainment was pretty good especially in the lounge bar (i.e. musical guests).

Paradisus Princesa Del Mar: good resort

the beach was good and the pool area was very good and clean. The rooms were kept very clean.As to the food for cuba was not bad at the buffet. We went to the french restaurant and the food was very good. We also went to the japanese restaurant and found the food and show they put on was excellent.

Melia Las Americas: Golf Heaven

The Hotel was more modern than I had originally thought. The food was abundant and varied, and the staff were fantastic, warm and friendly. The ala carte restaurants were also a nice change away from the buffet. Ping pong volleyball, and well the golf was outstanding.

Playa Vista Azul: Very good resort

I loved the hotel and the pools. Food was ok. Customer service at lobby was very poor.Rooms are renovated and very clean, the only issue was the bed cover and cushions, they were dirty. Entertainment was very good. Music at the main pool was very loud.Ladies! Please take hair conditioner with you the hotel does not provide it.

Paradisus Princesa Del Mar: Pack food!

Two things to remember in Cuba: pack extra cash for tips or you will be ignored ...and secondly, bring your own food, I am not a picky eater and I had a hard time eating what was offered. The staff will pretend you aren’t there or take 30 mins to get you a second drink or coffee.