Good Resort

This was the second time that we have been to this resort. It was previously run by Riu and we found it to be an excellent resort two years ago. This time, it has changed companies and we found the grounds being the same as before. The rooms were the same. Food the selections were not as good as it was with the Riu chain of resorts. The people were friendly but found them more aggressive in asking for tips and items. Overall we found the staff very accommodating and friendly. We did enjoy our st [... read more]ay at this resort.

Average Resort

I have travelled to Cuba many times this was one of my least favourite resorts.The beach , the pool where not as nice as in other parts of Cuba. I had no hot water for a shower and I wasn't fond of the food.

Meh

The service wasn't what it should be, the food was cold for most of the meals. My room was lucky to be cleaned two days out of seven. Location was nice and tidy but need some direction from management. The ground worker where great.

Not what we paid for!

The grounds were well kept, the rest rooms not alway working, clean nor toilet paper. Room were dirty and we did not get water or clean towels on one of the days. We also had to wait until the second day to get beach towels and could not exchange them for the remainder of the trip

Tansitioning...

Overall, a nice hotel but going through changes and it showed. As expected in Cuba, the food was not that great, rather bland. The 24hr snack bar ran out of 4 of their 7 items for 3 days. Buffets are alright, but you will need to search for something edible. They are on Cuban time, to if you want "freshly cooked meats", you need to wait in line for a while. They seem to only cook per person and not grill for several at the same time. Overall, was ok, but definitely not a 4 or 4.5 star resort as  [... read more]some descriptions say. This would be 3.5. It is worth the minor upgrade to the superior area as it is closer to the beach. The Adults only/VIP section is NOT worth the extra dollars unless you really want to be alone and secluded.

Excellent Resort

My family loved our vacation. Room was good and maid was excellent! 6 of the 7 nights we went to the buffet and each night the food was getting better and better. Pool had a great atmosphere, with party games and dancing. Didn't go to the quieter pools. The beach was unbelievable. Staff were very accommodating when needed. Would highly recommend it if you haven't been there already. P.S. It is no longer known as " Riu Hotel ", it's now called the "Grand Memories". Memories hotel group purchased [... read more] it the week before we got there.

Amazing Resort

We have been 4 times at RIU Hotel in Varadero and we really like to go back. Ther food is good, the weather fantastic and the food is fine. For children is great as there are lots of activities during the day. I would strongly recommended this hotel, although lately they changed the name to Grant Memories.

Disappointing for a five star.

Every meal was a poor selection of food, the food was cold, ie potatoes, French fries, the chicken tasted like rubber and the pork was served pink. One day there were not clean plates for lunch. We had one order of fries in the snack bar that were hot, items offered on the menu were not available, ie chicken wraps and pizza. There was a lot of cups, straws and cigarettes left on the ground. The public washrooms often had no locks on the doors, some with no paper towel to dry your hands and soap  [... read more]was not always available. Our experience has been pleasant staff, but only two workers were pleasant. The staff appeared very solemn and frustrated. Our room was well kept, except for one day, we returned around 4:30 pm and our room was not refreshed. This experience should be rated at 2-3. We were at this resort three years ago and had a wonderful experience. We told the person upon our check-out how disappointed we were and he did not even respond. We spoke with lots of people at the resort and everyone had the same disappointments and frustrations as us. Several pieces of the pool guards were missing, indeed a safety issue and there was a fair amount of sand in the pools.

No accountability with change in owners

Unfortunately we stayed at the Riu Varadero from March 26, 2015 to April 2, 2015. This was the last week before it was sold to Memories on April 1st. We were warned upon our arrival by other visitors that there were a lot of problems with the hotel. Here is a run down of what we encountered. - Check in at 4:00 p.m. and not 3:00 p.m. that was printed on our documents (late check in on both counts) - no towels - given stained used towel that was the best of 5 that was shown to me - no plates in di [... read more]ning room, chipped and cracked plates - no cups (coffee in glasses) - dirty table cloths - dirt on the buffet walls - poor service - not enough staff working - hot food was not kept hot at the buffet - beach towel exchange impossible - kept same towels all week - no water for 12 hours (husband all soaped up, had to use bottled cold water to rinse - power out - air conditioning had to be reset - getting up by 7:00 a.m. to reserve chairs for the two of us - too few chairs and very crowded - heard 3 different fights over towels and chairs - people from the upgrade section could take our chairs - the grounds were dirty with cups, cigarette buts and gum - grass not maintained - no one to listen to your complaints - staff made promises that were not kept We have travelled to Cuba 4 times, Dominican 8 times, Jamaica 3 times and Mexico 3 times. This had to be the worst hotel we have ever stayed at. We normally travel with two other couples. They were sorry to hear about our problems with the hotel but were glad that they had not booked with us. I realize the hotel was changing hands but a warning would have been appreciated since I had direct contact with a Trip Central person about the trip. This was definitely not a 5 star hotel. THE BEACH AND WEATHER WERE SPECTACULAR and the hotel itself was quite nice but needs major improvements beginning with managers that are accountable for the day to day operation of the hotel. Looking out the window from our room that was suppose to be at least a pool view, was a building with scaffolding set up. I had a few concerns before I booked this trip, but felt that with the Riu name, there would be no problems. Please consider this review from a person that is not difficult to please. Hopefully things will change for the better in the future. Not sure about the Riu name anymore. Regards, Margaret Piccolo

Beautiful resort but under staffed

The hotel is only 4 years old but management has allowed it to get run down. We arrived in April 1 St and Memories took over th resort that day. this was our third trip to Cuba and have always enjoyed the safety of Varadero. We had a nice room and maid but towels were not plentiful at this resort and was told on more than one occasion that there was no clean ones left. The resort is very large and the staff cannot keep up to the amount of people that are booked. By day 5 we noticed more staff ar [... read more]ound and more management. I think k the experience at this resort 6 months from now will be different with the memories chain.

RIU Varadero Adult section

my husband I just spent 10 beautiful day as the RIU. I will say I am glad that we updated to the adult Deluxe Suite from our original booking of a standard room. we were in building 32 facing the pool on ground floor which was amazing you just had to walk out patio. don't think we ever used our front door key. our maid Judy was amazing and Roxanna and staff at the pool ar were great, As for food it was okay. lobster in our International restaurant was great had it three times. we ate most of our [... read more] meals breakfast lunch and dinner in the adult section. and if we were still hunger after dinner we ordered room service which was also good. the BBQ/wood over Pizza was always great from 12;30 TO 3;30. being in the Adult section we were a short walk to the beach which was very nice to play in and take very long walks. we rented an old car one day and went for a tour of Havana. my only regret was we did not have enough time in Old Havana. we should have spent 7 days in Varadero and our last 3 days in Havana so we could explore more of the Old city. I enjoyed Cuba alot and will go back but stay closer to Havana and on the Carribean side. go and enjoy and you will be surprised.

Beautiful beach, mediocre resort

the resort was too large for my taste which made the experience very impersonal and the buffet was far from the beach. I knew the resort was going through a change of management so I wasnt surprised. the rooms were mediocre (i stayed at a 3+star which seemed newer and cleaner and bigger). I went to cuba primarily for the beach and predictable beautiful weather and I was not disappointed.

Beautiful resort;everything else just "okay"

We waited for over five hours for our room. The check in staff should have more people working. Everyday I went to the "telephone" person to get my password, so I could check that all wa alright at home. The girl that worked there was rude at times. When it got to be my turn, she would, for example start chatting it up with a friend or talk on the phone, not even acknowledging that people were there. The room was fairly clean. The same two dead flies were on a ledge in the bathroom for 6 days. W [... read more]e had little to no water for 3 days; the toilet never completely flushed and the water from the tap was a bare trickle until the third day when there was none. We were banned from sitting in a certain section(deluxe) on the beach even though here were so many empty cabanas, but we were just in the pink arm band section, so had to lay on the beach, which was ok, because we were there for sunshine anyway. The buffet food was always cold, they had no way of keeping it warm. We enjoyed our two excursions! One to Havana and the other on the catamaran. Simply two beautiful days. Would we go back? No....not a chance.

Disappointing

This resort was not the resort people said it was hence why the name got changed part ways while we were there. It did not live up to the Riu standards at all. No plates and glasses in morning for breakfast, tables not cleaned off, no water many times and so forth

Wonderful Place...Thank you Trip Central for your

The whole experience was wonderful. The beach was great, had an ocean view room. Pleasure to wake up to the view of the ocean. The hotel staff was very helpful. And the Sunwing representative was great. Thank you for your help Karol and Helen.

Fun in the Sun

RIU Varadero is a beautiful resort with an amazing beach. We loved the swimming and the cleanliness of the resort. The food was good, we loved the seafood! The entertainment was fun and local. The weather was great for most of the week we stayed.

Not impressed

have stayed at a lot of all inclusives and heard good things about the RIU resorts,this was in no way a 4-5 star resort,we even paid extra for the deluxe section,this was at best a 3 star,the beds were of poor quality,unfriendly staff, cold food all the time at the buffet,had to ask 2 days in a row for water for our room , the maid would clean our room and re hang and fld the same wet towels for days instead of replaceing them with new ones,i could go on and on,not worth the money at all.

Very disappointing

The Riu was understaffed and rundown. We did not receive what Sunwing advertised. This hotel is changing ownership the end of March. It was not even close to Riu standards, not even close to 5* in Cuba. We were well aware that it would not be a 5* standard in North America. We do not go to Cuba for the food...but we have been to 5 other 4 stars and a 3-1/2 star in Cuba and the food, service, etc. was much better at the other resorts we have been to. They needed much more staff. They ran out of  [... read more]ice frequently (in the whole resort) 4 days during our stay. They ran out of Crown Royal for 3 days, plus limes, mint, etc. We paid $300 dollars extra for the Adult only deluxe section. We had to drink beer, wine or slushy lime drink with rum for 2 days. TOTALLY, TOTALLY unacceptable to run out of ice at an all inclusive resort!! Management was hard to find. They were always in meetings. The bed was very hard, sagged and sunk down on one side of the king size bed. Some of the staff in the lobby bar and buffet were not very happy or friendly. Very difficult to even get a glass of water in the buffet from a server. The buffet was not very clean; some dishes/plates were dirty. Had to go through them to get a clean one. There were lots of flies in the buffet and on the food as well. There was no beach towel exchange all week. They never had any clean towels. We had to get the electronic access cards (to get into our room) reprogrammed the first 3 days…still did not work after this unless you swiped 15 – 20 times to get into room. Most doors in the lobby bathrooms did not lock and some had no seats. The internet cards were very scarce. They kept saying "they are being delivered". I finally got one on day 4. The leg broke on the plastic chair on our patio while my husband was sitting on this. He fell down on the cement patio outside our room. I reported this and it took them 2 days to replace the chair. No one followed up to see if he was okay or anything. In the Adult only deluxe section, there was a toilet seat missing in the handicap bathroom by the Cigar Bar and International Restaurant. There was only one bar on beach for 1000 + rooms and no bathroom on beach. I have never complained about a resort we have been too but this was such a disappointment. How can Sunwing rate this resort a 5*?? Since they are being sold or taken over, they just did not care about many details. This was totally unacceptable.

Amazing Vacation!

This is my favourite resort in Varadero! The staff at the pool bar, Disney & Norge, were friendly and courteous. The beach was beautiful and relaxing. I could not have asked for a better vacation! We will be back for our next anniversary.

This resort needs some work done

The grounds were beautiful, too bad the same effort was not put into maintaining the rooms and facilities. The staff were friendly and did the best they could with what the had. The dining rooms needed a proper cleaning, broken chair should be removed and tables should be cleared to allow other guests to sit and eat. On the last day they ran out of clean coffee cups so we had our coffee in glasses. If you want a spot by the beach prepare to wake up a 5am to do so. I made three attempts, at one p [... read more]oint waking up at 6am to get a spot only to be told that I would have to get there earlier. The beach is beautiful but I was only able to be there for a short time as it was too hot to not be in some form of shade. Convert as much money as you can at the airport because the bank at the resort ran out of money. We heard through the grape vine that the resort was being bought over effective at the beginning of the month. That may explain things. Thank God for wonderful weather as it made up for what the resort lacked.