Don Lino Hotel: Relaxing vacation

We were worried about going to a 2 star hotel, but we were pleasantly surprised. We enjoyed the relaxing atmosphere and the friendly staff. The beach playa Blaca was beautiful (2 km from the hotel). We stayed in the bungalows and we loved our room. It was very peaceful sitting on our balcony and we had a partial view of the ocean. Food was ok, except that the birds are all over the food and bread.

Aston Costa Verde Beach Resort: needs more staff.

The grounds are beautiful and very well kept, the garden staff work tirelessly. The hotel is understaffed, it was not at full capacity but what staff there are, are over worked and it shows they are stressed.

Sol Turquesa Beach: Decent and Family Oriented

The best comment of this hotel is the amazing staff. The dining staff, the entertainment staff, room service staff, lifeguards, gardeners, mini club staff, most bar staff, most bellboy/golf cart transport staff and most front desk staff were helpful and genuinely friendly and accommodating. The second best are the number of pools and easy access to pool and beach chairs. Easy access to bars however the buffet reastauarnt is a bit far from some rooms as it's located by the front lobby. Third best [... read more] was the selection of restaurants and buffet options, even though the food itself was mediocre, the selection was good for both veg and non-veg eaters. The not so good was the large grounds of the resort that made it a bit of walk to get around plus the many stairs all over the resort. Not a problem for most, but if you have mobility issues or have small children you may find yourself relying on the golf cart transport but they are not that frequent especially when a new group of travellers arrive. As a parent with a young child that was most frustrating in the evenings and after the entertainment shows. Best room area is the 400 and 500 series as they are closest to the main things you want (beach, pool, dining, bars). The main dining room seemed to run out of juice and coffee which was odd and no straws available on the entire resort...not a big deal, but it was odd. The rooms were spacious and clean, but the washrooms need an update as they are quite run down. The beach was fine and you could walk out into ocean pretty far as it was shallow. I have been to Cuba twice before and other resorts prep the sand and clear the seaweed a little more often; if the beach maintainance was improved it would much better. I think other parts of Holguin may have better beaches. Overall, for the cheap price we paid it was a decent resort. I would not necessarily return though until they undertake some renovations and improve resort transportation logistics. Shout out to our beach bar runner/server ... So amazing and always tried to get fresh fruit to eat by the beach! I recommend the hotel if you get a very low price.

Club Amigo Atlantico Guardalavaca: nice vacation

the room was ok, the food so and so. I ate fresh chicken or pork every day...but the people were great. I like going back to Cuba every year. You feel alive. Nice beach..the water excellent ... if the weather is on your side.. the dream vacation.

Club Amigo Atlantico Guardalavaca: Love this resort

Although the resort was busy, we always have a great time at Club Amigo we are fans of the resort and will not go anywhere else. The more you return to this resort the better you feel one week is just not enough time.

Playa Pesquero: The resort is fantastic!!

No complaints. Could do with more variety of chicken and shrimp items for meals. Resort was recommended by co-companions who have been to resort over 8 times. They found that service and standard had deteriorated to a certain extent. While they had no major complaints, they experienced a change of standard int he resort since takeover by new management. They had no complaints with standard and service when they visited the resort prior to this when it was run by previous management. This time th [... read more]e changes were noticeable. Considering the raving comments made by family members on their previous trips, I feel we did not get fair value for what we paid. Especially since they had paid less on their past trips.

Playa Costa Verde: Very nice vacation

Well kept, clean and comfortable public areas including pools, bars and gardens. Very attentive bar and buffet restaurant staff. Excellent service and food in the a la carte restaurants. Overall stay was a very pleasant experience.

Sol Rio de Luna y Mares: Great time in Cuba

After a lovely trip to Cayo Santa Maria a few years ago we decided to try Holguin and were not disappointed! We loved the location of this resort- the beach was amazing! The resort had everything we needed including wifi (for a fee). Would definite return!

Sol Turquesa Beach: Great Stay

Attractive resort in an attractive setting. Staff is friendly, facilities are excellent. Only complaint was that the Resort failed to replace a light in the bathroom. Entertainment was enjoyable. Overall a good experience

Playa Pesquero: Great Vacation at Playa Pesquero

Sadly, we have just returned from Playa Pesquero hotel in Holguin, Cuba where we had a wonderful time. Myself, husband, mother in law and children (ages 10 and 13) visited for one week over New Years. The beach was beautiful. Everyday we took advantage of the complementary water sports and paddled off shore from the white sandy beach to snorkel. We used the paddle boats, kayaks, and catamaran. The pool complex was very large, clean and there was no problem locating sun beds. The Superior room w [... read more]as clean and simple. The food in the hotel was good. We especially enjoyed the flambé at breakfast. There were a large number of restaurant choices offered. Live music was played at a number of locations daily and there was entertainment nightly. We were impressed with Playa Pesquero. It is our second stay and we plan to return.

Club Amigo Atlantico Guardalavaca: A good 3 star resort

We stayed in the villas section, room 3216, of Club Amigo from Dec 19, 2014 to Jan 2, 2015. Our whole family joined, 11 people, from Dec 22 to Dec 29. The also were in the Villas (4 rooms - block 2) For the first week we seldom had hot water. After that we had lots of hot water every day. The rest of the family had lots of hot water every day. All the rooms were equipped with remote control air conditioning. The air conditioner was very quiet and work well once you figured out it various modes [... read more] of operation. The air conditioner in one room constantly leaked water onto the floor and was never fixed although repair men were sent several times. The beach is very nice and the kids enjoyed snorkeling on the reef which is in front of Christopher Columbus beach. They also liked going to the flea market which is right next door. At the beginning of our stay the resort was only about half full and the only buffet that was open was the one in the Atlantico hotel. The buffet in the bungalows section open on Christmas eve and stayed open after that. We often dad breakfast and lunch at the 24 hr snack bar to provide some variety in our meals.At the snack bar both breakfast and lunch are served a la carte at your table. For breakfast there was juice, coffee, eggs any style including omelets and toast. At lunch they served hot dogs, hamburgers, fish and chips, chicken and chips, pizza and spaghetti. As the resort filled up service at the snack bar was often quite slow. As the resort was not very full we were able to eat at the a la carte restaurants 6 times in our 2 week stay. The only one that we did not eat at was the Italian restaurant in the snack bar. The menus in the other 4 were quite similar. They all basically had fish, beef, pork or chicken dishes. The food in the a la cartes is only slightly different than the food in the buffet but it is nice to have table service. The younger kids preferred the buffet because they had a greater choice of foods and the did not mind eating the same food over and over again. For some reason there were no oranges or grapefruit this year except on Christmas and New Year's eves and there was seldom grated carrots or beets for salads.

Playa Pesquero: Great place, lousy food

The hotel and facilities are beautiful, the staff super nice and mostly helpful except for the reception, but the food is mostly lousy except the pizza by the beach and the restaurant by the beach. Rooms are really comfy with good quality beds.

Aston Costa Verde Beach Resort: A 3 star at best

I’ll start with the positives…the food in the buffet and a la carte restaurants was acceptable and in a few cases, really quite good. If you upgrade to the PLUS side (recommended !!!) then I think this resort can be rated 3 stars. However, if you get stuck with a room in the standard (older) section you’ll have a 2 star or worse experience. We were in one of those rooms for one night and it was pretty bad. We upgraded to PLUS the next morning and were happier. The room is still very basic [... read more], nothing luxurious - just newer. The upgrade cost is 10 CUC per person, per night. The PLUS section is only a couple of years old. It has a much nicer pool and gives you access to 2 more a la carte restaurants, and a VIP bar which serves better selections of liquor. It’s a bit quieter as well. But if you can’t upgrade, beware- rooms in the older section are badly dated and worn down, have a musty smell, old mattresses and a run down look and feel. Many of the rooms in the older section overlook the entertainment stage with its huge speakers operating at full blast- not just the music at night but also the loud entertainment around the pool area in the day. (Even on the beach it was hard to get away from the loud music) One of the worst things about this place is maintenance and general cleanliness. Things here break and they don’t bother to fix things. Even on the PLUS side, the jacuzzzi at the pool was broken (and no efforts to get it working ) and in our room, certain things were broken as well. In the health club, the shower had only cold water and no shower head, nor soap. There just seems to be no effort or interest in maintaining and keeping the place clean. The beach - the resort is on Playa Pesquero. The beach is clean, but it’s not a long beach – you can walk end to end in 15 minutes or less. There are about 3 resorts on this beach, the Blau being at the far easterly end. There are a lot of rocks in her water in front of most of the resorts, and very few places where you can walk in and avoid them. Overall, The beach is poor compared to Varadero or Cayo Santa Maria standards. So if the beach is important, go there instead. So, if you don’t set your expectations too high and if you get a really good price, and you upgrade to PLUS, this can be an OK experience.

Playa Costa Verde: Disappointed with the resort.

The tour company, Air Canada had shifted the departure times and therefore by the time we arrived at the resort it was midnight. The reception had only 2 staff members and there were 3 bus loads of vacationers arriving. When it was our turn (keeping in mind that we pre-booked and confirmed 2 months prior, our paper work was not prepared. It took us an hour to check-in ( 5 of us in the family with 3 rooms). There was no assistance and guidance to get to our rooms and to top it off, one of the bed [... read more]rooms the key card was not functional. We had to walk back to the reception area to get it sorted out. For this same room, we had to replace the key cards daily, because they would stop working. Of-course they blamed it on the cell phones, but they were never stored near any cell phones or devices. Also for this same room , the safe box stopped working twice. The provide only one large bottle of water per day in the rooms. Despite requesting 2 per day, they still delivered 1. One thing to watch out for is in the restaurants they pour the water from the bottles, but these are filled from the tap. There is a peculiar odor from the restaurant water. Always request an unopened bottle and inspect the cap for any glue residue. Unfortunately, I was a recipient of the tap water the first night at the Italian restaurant and needless to say that I did get sick. I had to be treated with antibiotics on my return. I generally found some of the staff only responsive and became more hospitable when I tipped them, though I knew a handful who were genuinely hospitable. I had complained and negotiated a free massage, however I was made to sign a statement that I cannot file any further complaints. Perhaps this is typical in Cuba. Although the resort is well kept and esthetically pleasing, the amenities and the conveniences were sparse. There were only 4 restaurants; the Buffet, Italian, Japanese and Cuban. The Italian was not as one would expect, however the Japanese and Cuban both were a surprise in terms of the service and flavour. There was a fifth restaurant, The Steak House, but you have to pay extra and it is only operational on twice a week. By the time our Tour Rep advised us about the restaurants the only times for dinner were 9 pm and this was too late, but we had no choice. If you are travelling, I suggest you contact the hotel directly and advise them to book you into the restaurants. Generally the quality of the food is average and lacked the flavour, so you should take your sauces. Watch your sauces, because our Ketchup disappeared and one guy came to my table and said he wanted the bottle of hot sauce. He was very impolite of-course, so I refused him any. The beach was quite a walk, nothing to complain about, but the beach are was very rocky, so swimming shoes should be a must. Unfortunately, despite our research, we were not aware of this and therefore did not enjoy the water than much except when going on the catamaran and basking in the sun. Also, we got bitten by the sand fleas and these bites lingered on even after we returned. We made the best of it, but was disappointed with the time shift of the flight schedule. However the flight staff and the Captain on the Air Canada Rouge flight were very courteous and friendly. I don't think we will be visiting this resort or Cuba for that matter. If we do decide to return, we try to be closer to Havana. Overall my rating is a two star and this place is definitely not a 4 or 4.5 star as it is rated on the websites.

Brisas Guardalavaca: Love this resort!

Just returned from our 3rd vacation over the past 8 years with Brisas Guardalavaca. We found the special entertainment and festivities for New Years Eve and New Years Day much improved from 2 years ago. We highly recommend the Villas and thoroughly enjoy the privacy of the villa section of the resort, while still enjoying the liveliness of the main hotel area, when we so choose. If booking the villas, make sure you check on your eticket that it states 'villa' and not 'standard', especially if yo [... read more]u request an 'oceanview' villa. Despite any gliches, the resort does its best to accommodate. Always enjoy the staff!

Paradisus Rio De Oro: Great resort

Flew with AC Rouge - not the gratest airline, no inflight movies, food can be purchased. Seating quite uncomfortable. Upgrades can be purchased but you're not getting much more legroom. Best seat when you fly Airbus and are 6'+ are 18A or 18F. Airport in Holguin is terrible, waited over an hour at customs to get in the country a bit faster on the return flight. Stayed in Royal Service (yes it is more expensive but worth it) side room 8624 - with ocean view, ideally situated between beach and res [... read more]taurant : outdoor shower, huge bathroom, butler service, free alcohol in the room, great room service, huge balcony. Peaceful and quiet, very well kept grounds and public areas. A la carte/buffet breakfast, great a la carte lunches & dinners. Fantastic infinity pool - although some grating around the pool is broken and unsafe. Private beach needs to be cleaned more often as it was full of sea weeds every day. A la carte restaurants in main resort are so, so - not really worth the trouble booking. Main resort has super buffet lot of choices. Overall great resort and worth spending some extra $$ for RS.

Club Amigo Atlantico Guardalavaca: Detailed Personal Review of my 7-day trip

This review is about my entire holiday experience (hotel, plane, excursions, etc) - Party of 2 - Flight was delayed a few hours - Air Transat was great inflight, it was the first time I get in a plane that looks like a disco, and it surely got me hyped (lots if interesting lights here and there, I travel a ton, so it was the first I have ever seen such an ambiance of lights changing on takeoff, in-flight, and landing) - Arrived and as expected, had to walk to the arrival halls, which was fun  [... read more]walking on the tarmac as opposed to the normal building destinations (part of the experience? lack of funding? who cares! It was fun!) - So we arrived quite late, got on the bus and headed to Club Amigo, took us about an hour, with the bus dude giving a little brief of Holguin city, but he went off topic when he began talking about politics, which gave a serious vibe, like dude...Now one thing which annoyed me off was that he was speaking in French the whole time, no offense to the awesome language, but when I paid, they said French + English guides, and I am not about to raise my hand for translation) - Got to the hotel, packed and had to wait about an hour for my turn to check in which sucked, but again, whatever, it was still enjoyable talking to those on the same bus - Got our room, disappointed with the "Tropical Room", it was facing the main entrance of the hotel, not so tropic with lots of noise of buses and tourists (did not change room, as long as the room was clean) - The beach, had a walk along the entire beach early morning, the sand is super fine and beautiful indeed, the view is superb, as far as the eye can see of clear blue. One downside, was that the beach had some garbage, plastic cups, and other packs of this and that, it was minimal and did not affect much, but it was still there - Food, according to what I read here, I was preparing myself for terrible food, as most comments explained it in that way, I am quite pleased I read the reviews, as my expectations were low. So, our first meal at the buffet on the 2nd floor, actually had quite a large selection of food, and INDEED they are not spiced or anything, but food is better than I thought which was great. It was still excellent food compared to what the entire trip cost. I would say there is at least 20 different types of food you could eat, and probably a MAX of 5 that were enjoyable (whether its breakfast, lunch or dinner) - Weather, it was FAN-TAS-TIC, just what I wanted, clear blue skies and sun that burns skin to a 3rd-degree (whoa, a bit too exaggerated). It was about 28-33 Celsius the entire trip. - Free stuff on site, were the pedal boats, kayaks, snorkel gear, life-vest and the similar. All in great condition besides the worn-out snorkel gear (I would advise bringing in your own gear) - Snorkel sites, there are a few red-blobs floating around the ocean that I guess are there to signal nice sites to dive into, not much sea-life to see, but worthwhile nonetheless, if you venture about 50-200 feet north of the shore, it intensifies greatly! However, be wary, as there are some sea-life that can be dangerous, one of which was a black colored orb looking thing with spikes, STAY AWAY, one of us got to close and paid the price, punctured palms, thankfully nothing to serious but required medical attention. Went to the local in-hotel clinic, the nurse was extremely *EHEM* in dealing with it and annoyed me as I could of had done what she did way better. It cost 45 Pesos (ridiculous price, but bargained down to 20 Pesos for terrible service). So I would highly advise bringing in your own first-aid kid for such incidents. - The Al-A-Carte Restaurants, we booked two, they were the Cuban and the Grill. Lets start off with the Cuban, whoever established the place needs to be striped of their title, it was a FAIL, in every conceivable way. It was utterly terrible, ambiance was fail, everything there was. The only upside was possibly the utensils that looked like what grandma keeps for guests *ehem ehem* The Grill, was somewhat better because it was basically bbqed food, and you really cant go wrong with anything bbqed, it was some lobster (actually it was another type of lobster-looking thing), and shrimp. I would comparatively say its heaven compared to the Cuban one, but a fail compared to the buffet. - Excursion-wise, we booked the Deep Sea Fishing one. Quite a price, but we really wanted to do it, so we headed out for about 4 hours. Sadly for me, I got sea-sick, so I would advise bringing in medication for such an event, we caught some lovely looking fish, 4 actually, and to our surprise we could not take them off the boat for a bbq or something (not that we even knew what to do with the fish if they actually gave it to us, no place to bbq it anyhows, so whatever, but principle-wise was not making sense to me). I enjoyed it for about 30 minutes till I got seasick, what a bummer! We then had the Catamaran ride, which was offered free of charge within our trip, that was very enjoyable, went out to sea for about 2 hours, not much to say but it was quite fun. We met a taxi driver, and negotiated a price of 45 Pesos for a downtown Holguin trip, included the driver showing us cool spots for pictures, and cost was to go and come back to the hotel. Not much to do downtown, lots of walking, good places to buy souvenirs from, liqueur, and smokes. We had lunch at a local Cuban place called El Torre (highly advise you to go there, its near the Central Park, about a block away) *lost the card so cannot give you details, sorry* Another trip we took, was one with horses! There is dude called Freddy, stands near the bicycle rental place in front of the hotel entrance, offered a trip for 15 Pesos per person, for a 2 hour trip up the mountains to a cave entrance. I would highly recommended this, it was one of the greatest parts of the trip, lots to see, passed by local villages, unpaved roads, awesome scenery and the like. Worth every penny. - On the way back to the airport, upon arrival, airport was packed like a refugee camp, took us at least 2 hours to get into the departure area, maybe even longer than 2 hours, but it was quite hectic, people cutting lines, and if your in a bad mood it is easy to freak out so make sure you prepare yourself mentally for chaos. In conclusion, we loved the trip because we got what we paid for, if your looking for something better in terms of food and accommodation, pay more and you will get it! What would we do differently? - Book earlier, as we booked last minute, so we could of had an even better deal than what we had for the exact same experience - Bring own snorkeling equipment - Bring own bottles for the bartenders to fill up (as they give you a small plastic cup for the drinks, does not fit well with the ambiance) - Internet is a problem, there is NO wifi, they have an internet room with maybe 5 computers, only 2 work properly, and are quite slow, so prepare mentally for that. More importantly, change your email passwords to not include any symbols as the keyboards do not have them, weird I know. Its 3 Pesos for 30 minutes of usage. - Bring a first-aid kit for any unexpected stuff - Always buy water from the shops, do not drink from the faucets. Actually even the water served at the bars were tap water, and any coffee was made using tap water. - The 24 hour snack bar has mainly cheeseburgers and fries, usually no ketchup left, and can be uncooked, so make sure you tell the chef to make it well done (sign language can be difficult to express here, haha!). Some of the utensils used across the hotel are not cleaned properly, so make sure you carefully check them and change when needed. This is all what comes to mind, so there you go! We both enjoyed the trip to its max, met some great people on the way, found the people extremely welcoming and kind and easy to talk to (sometimes the hotel employees were a pain but I cant really blame them dealing with hundreds of people on a daily basis, so just let things slide and do not ruin your day). Have fun on your trips and safe travels everyone! Hope you enjoyed the review and found it useful! Stayed December 2014

Club Amigo Atlantico Guardalavaca: Great time at club amigo

This was our first trip to club amigo and our second trip to Cuba. We preferred the more natural area over the more commercial Varradero. The resort was well maintained and good service. We enjoyed our stay and would return. The staff were friendly and helpful.

Sol Turquesa Beach: Great Value - all aspects above expectations

The setting with eclectic gardens along with natural vegetation, much of which was above the two story height limit of the accommodation made one feel as if staying in a tropical village. There was a wide variety of interesting entertainment, reasonable food in the main buffet, The salad bar and desert table were first rate. Coffee in the 24 hour bar/snack bar and in the lobby was great for those who like a robust dark roast. The staff was very pleasant and helpful with a sufficient command of E [... read more]nglish and French. They actually seemed to enjoy working with tourists. There is one downside that the management should be aware of. One day in the main restaurant the drinking water tasted and smelled like the water we had in our shower. My wife drank a bit before she realized the difference and this was the probable cause of a couple days not feeling well that commenced shortly afterward. This was clearly not resort policy but a slip up by staff.

Brisas Covarrubias: Just resort

We spend 7 nights in this hotel. The room was nice but no hot water. After 3 days of our trip we got it. The meal was poor, but service was nice. All these disadvantages was covered by perfect diving!