Beautiful resort, wonderful people

Had a great trip second time at the resort, rooms beautiful and clean, 6 swimming pools, restaurants and buffet good. A very friendly atmosphere. And a beautiful beach. Good shows. Many activities on our resort

Beautiful resort, terrible food.

The resort was beautiful. Rooms were clean. The staff were very friendly and helpful. But the food wasn’t awful. This is not much first time to Cuba before, not even my second. I’m not a picky eater but the food on their resort was bad. The only good food was the all la carte Japanese restaurant which was fantastic and fun. I was severely let down by the Cuban a la carte as I usually enjoy that food the most when on resorts. There was also not enough shady areas available. The beach was grea [... read more]t though. Beautiful sand and blue water. And going into town was easy and safe. I highly recommend the Beatles bar in varadero. It was amazing.

Good resort

hotel was in good shape, clean, great staff, quick check in... Only disappointment was the 7 hour delay from sun wing coming home.. weather was average but that can be expected in January... Good trip

Good Resort

Nice Place , Pool was nice , service was good . The rooms were clean .The Only complaint was the washroom lighting was poor . The fixtures were designed for two bulbs and one was removed from each fixture in the bathroom and the bed lamps. The food was ok .

Cold varadero

Hotel was good in general. No compliants. I stayed in this hotel 6 years ago and at that time had some wow factor but this time was simply good but fine with me. Mature crowd so doesn’t seem a party place for singles. Maybe better work can be done about safety. There were multiple dead jellyfish at the beach and no signs warning about it which may have caused a stinging time to someone. Keep up the good all!

Excellent vacation

The staff provides excellent service, fast and courteous. When we arrived we had a 1st floor room that smelled musty, they changed us to a 3rd floor and we were very happy, it had nothing to do with cleanness it was the ground, the food was very tasty and great variety I have never seen my husband eat so much and enjoy, we recommend Iberostar Laguna Azul. thanks

Smokers paradise.

The rooms need some love especially the rock hard mattresses that you can feel the springs on. The grounds are beautiful and so is the beach. Even if there are cigarette butts everywhere. Which brings me to my biggest problem. You can smoke EVERYWHERE both cigarettes and cigars. The lobby was always smoke filled. Very disappointing. With a place of this size it should be easy to have smoking and non smoking areas. Food was not great but if your a fish eater you should be fine. Bring your o [... read more]wn ketchup. The gym was filthy!! We mention 3x and they did give it a sweep but that place needs a deep clean. The pools were freezing so no one could go in and in "winter" all three hot tubs are closed?!?! People were beyond friendly. And the show every night was worth going to see.

Very good resort

This is the second time we go to laguna azul beach,grounds,restaurants,the food is to repetitive on the buffet restaurant the shows are pretty good the washrooms are always clean the people working at the resort are very freely

Smokers paradise.

The rooms need some love especially the rock hard mattresses that you can feel the springs on. The grounds are beautiful and so is the beach. Even if there are cigarette butts everywhere. Which brings me to my biggest problem. You can smoke EVERYWHERE both cigarettes and cigars. The lobby was always smoke filled. Very disappointing. With a place of this size it should be easy to have smoking and non smoking areas. Food was not great but if your a fish eater you should be fine. Bring your o [... read more]wn ketchup. The gym was filthy!! We mention 3x and they did give it a sweep but that place needs a deep clean. The pools were freezing so no one could go in and in "winter" all three hot tubs are closed?!?! People were beyond friendly. And the show every night was worth going to see.

Amazing resort.

The grounds were beautiful, great rooms, friendly & helpful staff. Lots of activities to participate in if you choose. Evening shows were amazing. Great selection of food & very well presented. Beautiful beaches.

Nice Resort

The Laguna Azul resort was clean and well maintained. The family room that we booked consisted of two large rooms with an adjoining door. Having teenagers this worked perfectly as it allowed our teenagers to sleep in their own slightly oversized twin beds while the parents had a kingsize bed in the other room. Initially upon first view the beds looked hard and uncomfortable but they turned out to be quite comfortable for a good nights sleep. The bathrooms however, are beginning to show signs  [... read more]of disrepair. Our shower head did not have a bracket to hold it to the wall and therefore needed to be held by hand to use it. The water was always warm though and we were glad for that! Something was broken with our toilet since the water continued to run 24/7 -- it took us a couple of days to ignore this sound at night but eventually we did not notice it. The air conditioning in our rooms worked very well. It was quiet and could be adjusted as needed within the room. The buffet was plentiful and there was a huge variety of foods to choose from. Our teenagers enjoyed being able to pick their preferred foods (pizza, grilled meats, and pancakes for breakfast). The adults enjoyed that there were many healthy options including fish, pork, chicken, as well as many vegetable and fruit options. The dessert buffet was also very plentiful and we enjoyed that more than we should have! On New Years Eve the hotel hosted an especially wonderful buffet which had many extra delicacies such as lobster, specialty cheeses, sushi, and cured meats. We also enjoy eating at the three a la carte restaurants. Our favourite was the Japanese restaurant as it was very fun and entertaining. We wished that there were more activities to do at the resort. Games, activities for teenagers etc. would have been nice. There was one dart board, one shuffle board area, and one bocce area for the whole resort. Three of the days during our stay were too cold for the beach or pool for any extended length, so it would have been nice if the resort could have had other things to do during these days. The main inside lounge in the central building could have been a lovely place to sit during cold weather/ evenings but it was very smokey as this is where the smokers hung out. We were surprised at the liberties that smokers were aloud to take around the resort. Sometimes this just made things unpleasant as it restricted where you could be if you wanted to avoid second hand smoke. All in all I would recommend this resort. Our family enjoyed it very much. If you go over the holidays when the weather can be unpredictable (cold and rainy) you may want to bring some cards and games etc. as it can be hard to find things to do otherwise.

5 star facility with some 3 star services.

Room was excellent, we arrived to some minor issues that were addressed immediately. Maids were friendly. Food was great but service not so much. Long lines at buffet. General manager needs people skills.

Great First Experience!

Resort: Beautiful and steps away from the nice sandy beach. Has a nice big main pool and 2 side (quiet) pools on each side of the resort. Lots of activities and performances every night. All staff were very friendly and helpful. Food: Snack Bar open 24 hours. Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner Buffets as well. There are 3 À la carte restaurants available for dinner with prior reservation with the following options: Japanese, Romantica, and Italian. To be honest, food wasn't the best but we' [... read more]ve been advised that about Cuba in general as all of the resorts are like that. It is very bland and not much flavor as we are used to but I guess that's just how it is there. Excursions: We did the Catamaran Cruise with the group which is about 7-8 hours including transfers. There are 2 options for this - with or without the dolphin experience. We did the Dolphin experience and loved it as you get to stand on a platform and have the dolphins swim by you and interact with you. This dolphinarium is built in the middle of the ocean which was pretty cool too. We were also able to snorkel and visit Cayo Blanco and have lunch there and swim on the beautiful island as a part of this excursion. We also went into the main city of Havana but we didn't do it with the group and opted to do it with a private tour guide with a classic car instead so we had more control of it and could enjoy it at our pace. This was a full day event as we left at about 9 AM and came back around 7 PM. The hotel staff can usually help you book a private tour guide. There were also sail boats on the beach that took you out to snorkel with lots of fish. This wasn't advertised but was probably my favorite part of the trip so be sure to inquire about this through the Transgaviota agents that run it on the beach. They take you to a nice spot and give you bread to feed the fish and there are hundreds of them so it was quite the experience. Notes / Things to keep in mind: As mentioned earlier, be ready for the food as it's not the best. Also, the ice and water at the hotel is spring water so you'll be okay there. Just be careful not to have ice or water out of the resort as you can get really sick. If you plan to buy Cigars when you do the trip to Havana, be careful as there are many fakes and we fell for this. Only buy them from the Airport Duty Free shop as even some of the factories sell fake cigars. My mom got pretty sick on the last day when we were scheduled to fly back home and our hotel checkout was at 12 PM but we needed the room for longer as she was really not feeling well. We had to pay 10 CUC / hour for the room until our flight at 6 PM. This was our only drawback from an otherwise amazing experience. Cuba is a very safe place otherwise so not much to worry about - enjoy your trip. Hope this review helps you with your planning.

Great pre-Christmas vacation

The resort was very well laid out...beautiful resort with everything easily accessible. The pools were all great, as was the beach. Our bedroom was nice and big, although the bed was very uncomfortable and not good for my back. The food was very average, but the staff was excellent.

Beautiful Resort

The resort was beautiful. Very well laid out. The food was below average. A la carte dinners were amazing. The beach was beautiful. Very friendly staff. Rooms were clean. Pools were fantastic. Could have some more entertainment.

Stunning View

I really enjoyed my time at the resort, the service was outstanding. The restaurants available had a wonderful selection of food however the buffet was lacking. The 24 hour snack bar was very convenient. I would definitely recommend this place for the amazing amenities and service but be careful what you eat.

Very Nice Resport... However

Staff was very friendly. Drinks were cold. Water was beautiful and beach well maintained. Food was ok. I ended up getting stomach sickness on my 3rd day and did not eat much afterwards. Beds were hard which is not a bad thing but my fridge was super loud and would make a huge noise every 45 min all night long. I would suggest unplugging it during the night. A few friends were eaten alive by sand fleas or no seeums when on the beach. Bug spray would have been a good idea. Nice place a [... read more]nd I would return to give it another shot. Keep in mind they are still dealing with the aftermath of the hurricane that hit the area a few months before so bugs could have been an additional environmental hazard that they were dealing with.

It is not good

I have a Cuban girlfriend and they checked us in and was fine. The next day they called the police and they came right in to the hotel and arrested here. She had to stay in a shitty Cuban jail till the next day. Ruined our whole holiday. Normally we stay in Havana but I thought we could try Veradero. What a mistake. I went to customer service about what they did and got to talk to Yuleisy Elfonso and she did not care in the least and the manager would not come and explain. Apart from this fias [... read more]co which ruined the week for both of us the food was awful. Basically I would certainly not advise anyone to go to the Laguna Azul.

Laguna Azul Hotel in Cuba Varadero

Unfortunately very upset lots of deficiencies, patio door didn't lock jammed water stains in the bedroom, bugs crawling, the upkeep of the hotel was very neglected, from the 6 months we had already visited this year in April 2017 seems they are letting the facility run down, probably the storm didn't help requested 3 times on 3 different occasions, always had to fight to get a decent room, Mattresses need major change basically sleeping on a box spring, very hard and sore back, Entertainment w [... read more]as Awesome, food was Awesome, great choices, water was very choppy, lots of poor palm trees cut, I really think the Iberostar is letting this facility run down to the grounds, lots of things from our last visit haven't been fixed, handles missing Poor beds, needs major renovations, tables wabbling, paint missing, sad itws a great place, Awesome location, I really think in April 2017 going to visit another Island instead of Cuba

Food just OK but pool and staff were pretty good

I'll mention the bad first. We had some trouble getting used to the food, we were expecting better but we found some things that were OK each day and we ate those but also the serving staff were not really very attentive. Don't come here for the food. Three of the 4 elevators werent working but the buildings are only 5 stories high and the lobby is at floor 3 so its not a big problem. Many of the staff especially the young ones were very helpfull and enthusiastic, some of the older ones not so [... read more] much. As for the drinks they sometimes used flat pop so I only got pop based drinks from the places with the machines but that includes the beach bar so that was good. Now the good, The pool and swim up bar are great and they have a nice beach. we played beach volleyball everyday and the animation groups was very nice. Ping pong was also fun but dont count on beating the attendant, he's very good. The standard rooms are nice and comfy but the suites are great, and they are not too expensive , they are a few hundred more per week Overall we enjoyed the stay and the price was right But this doesnt really compare to a four star in mexico or dominican republic or really anywhere else.