Aston Costa Verde Beach Resort: Nice clean resort

We were at the plus side of the resort, the room was a bit small but very clean, always stocked, we were in building 16 and that location was the best, right beside the new pool which was awesome, quiet, always a chair under shade, the beach was nice, a little pebbly, you may want to wear water shoes, I didn't and it was fine, the sand was nice and soft and white, again you could always get a chair under shade, there was plenty but take in mind it was the quiet season, May 8th is when we went. T [... read more]he buffet was good, lots of variety, the restaurants were ok, the Italian was our favorite, good thin crust pizza and different kinds of pasta, you have to ask for the other menu, it has more food but for some reason they do not give it to you, you have to ask. The grounds were nice a bit dry and they are still growing and planting on the new side but it is coming along nicely. The washrooms were always clean. The disco was a lot of fun, the shows were ok. For the price I would recommend.

Blau Varadero: Blau Varadero Cuba Review:

HOTEL PROS • Rated 4 star (Tripadvisor rating 4.2/5) • 10 min from town of Varadero • 30 min from Airport (if direct) • lobby is large allows good seating when waiting for transfers/pickups • lot’s to do day and night throughout hotel. Lot’s of activities for guests. Even have two tennis courts and a general court. Good energetic shows at night even though stage is small. There were also some good Aquatic shows at the pool. • lot’s of Bar’s with ample seating and musical ente [... read more]rtainment. • an amazing musical show (standing ovcation) at the piano bar one night with a group of talented ladies playing classical music CONS • It actually took us over 45 min after drop-off at hotels with Air Transat transfers. • Nolitour advertises separate check-in, did not appear to be the case as we had long line-up to check-in. • Trip did not start off so great, as Air Transat trxfrs got us in around 2:30pm and the room was not ready. (Yes they state room check-in is 4pm however I’m a seasoned traveler and I’ve always been checked in earlier.) They told us to try again in an hour The lunch buffet closes at 3pm so we left all our luggage with bellman, ate quickly, came back around 3:20pm still not ready. After a few more inquiries finally ready by 3:55pm! • Nolitour advertises snacks and bottle of rum in room on check-in. This was not the case. I had to report to Nolitour rep who indicated that it should come by 2nd day. It did not. I had to follow-up several times with hotel customer service myself before it finally came after the 3rd day. Disappointed that the rum was a small 350ml whereas other resorts I have attended gave 700ml. • Elevators were very slow as documented by others. They are small and poor narrow design and can really hold about 6 adults. HOTEL ROOM PROS • large clean room, lot’s of seating • large clean balcony, with retracting drying rack was very handy/useful • include, 2 shampoo, 1 bar soap, body gel, 2 small rolls of toilet paper, hairdryer, 1 shower cap all week. • fridge nice and cold as my bottle water was often icing up even at the lowest setting • lots of hot water all day, never encountered shortage like another Cuban hotel I stayed at last year • safe in the room, but my safe had been previously drilled out where English instructions were so had to call front desk. Turns out they need to enter code with the room key inserted first, not a personal magnetic card (ie credit card) • toilet was dual flush and worked well which is important! • has a bidet • Majority of outlets are 220V but do allow 2 prong North American plugs. Make sure your appliance has dual voltage. In the washroom and adapter is useful for your own curling iron. CONS • Was given 1 bar of soap all week even though tipped maid daily • Tipping the bar fridge guy did not gain more than the normal 1 bottle of water , 2 cans of beer and 2 cola • no body lotion so bring your own • no hair conditioner • no iron available • no clocks in the room, but can phone for wake up call • closet doors were the sliding type and were always getting stuck, very frustrating when trying to get to your clothes daily. Reported to front desk and they tried to fix by shaving the doors tracks, but not very effective. • not enough closet hangers, best to bring some of your own. Actually not a lot of closet space or shelves for the size of the room. • A/C too powerful and cold even on lowest fan and cold settings. Was cold the first night and did not sleep at all. Had to dig out the blanket! • Sliding door was not aligned correctly and had gap at top causing whistling/howling sounds at night. Called front desk to fix, they showed up when we were out of room for the day. They did not fix issue but left the door wide open all day (security and bug access issue!). I ended up having to use “McGivering” a solution by using my airline luggage stickers to tape up the gap so we could sleep. • Shower curtain smells really mouldy • Shower head even though fully tightened keeps dropping spraying water everywhere • last day it was humid in the morning. This seemed to have brought out ants by the sliding door which we did not see all week fortunately! • got two sheets of writing paper but no pen BEACH PROS • Amazing beach. Wide, clean no weeds, no jellyfish, calm and clear water. Calm beach during the morning. By late afternoon wind picks up and you get a few waves which is great. • 24 hr beach bar for food and drink • AI includes kayak’s paddleboats and sailboat rides • However you can actually turn right and walk to the end of the beach for about 30 minutes and snorkel by the rocks. Take bread. CONS • plastic cups for drinks too small, guess that’s ok to prevent wastage? • allow guests to bring personal mugs to be filled by bartenders. Watched bartenders put the un-rinsed lips of customer mugs against the dispensing beer spout. Also saw bartenders use muddler to crush Mojito mint right in these customer mugs then use for another customer. Not too hygienic! • beach not good for snorkeling, but beach guys will take you out in the sailboat to the reef for $20CUC pp. Entire snorkeling excursion about 1.5hr they said. • People still reserving palapas early by putting their towels on the beach chairs. If you don’t get to beach by 10ish you would be lucky to get one. FOOD PROS • variety of salads and cold cuts, never ran out • great fruit selection daily if you are into Caribbean type fruits. • fairly good variety of protein daily and was well stocked and hot. • food and service very good at Mexican restaurant • food and service and entertainment very good at Palma Real restaurant • variety of sweet buns in morning, never ran out • variety of breads daily, never ran out • had a Cuban night with delicious roast pig BBQ CONS • no oranges or apples probably due to availability • sliced potatoes for B/F always cold for some reason. • birds flying in/out of main buffet due to windows being left open as no Air conditioning was turned on. Do they even have A/C in buffet? • during the dining @ Mexican specialty restaurant, bitten while sitting inside by mosquito’s as the windows were large mesh. Also birds flying in/out via the open entrance to the restaurant. Raw cabbage was served as part of the salad, not very desirable. During dessert no coffee available. Was told coffee machine broken! • As you enter the Palma Real restaurant you start to smell something like sewage. Could be due to the stagnant pond water surrounding the building. This smell unfortunately creeps in through cracks as we sat by the window. Other patrons in our area complained about the smell. That was the only negative for that entire dining experience. It was not a pleasant smell! WEATHER • We were there April 12-19/15, the weather was fantastic (sunny and 32+) even though weather channel predicted rain all week before we left. Weather channel also said Havana would be around 26-27 C but actual we found it was also 32+. Mid April still not rainy season yet which starts in May. OTHER comments PROS • I never encountered any men’s washroom stalls w/o toilet paper that includes the pool, beach or w/r by the entertainment stage. All men’s w/r were clean. • Wife said the women’s washroom were clean and had toilet paper. • Overall service excellent from everyone we encountered except one morning for breakfast so tipped accordingly CONS • Not sure why they use toilet paper to dry hands vs. paper towels in both the men’s and women w/r’s. Perhaps paper towel n/a? Found the toilet paper falls apart and sticks to hands when your hands are wet.

Blau Varadero: Beautiful Resort!

Completely above our expectations, this resort was clean and beautiful. Considering Cuba is not known for their food, our meals were fantastic and the chefs work so hard. Lovely people working at the resort all round, the entertainment was fantastic too with some extremely talented musicians serenading you during dinner and lunch times. Our room was lovely with good working air conditioning, the beach is soft white sand extending out for a long way in the water so great for swimming or just simp [... read more]ly floating under the sun. The drinks were fantastic too. We would go again to Blau for sure! :)

Aston Costa Verde Beach Resort: Excellent Resort

this resort was beautiful with gorgeous pools. there was plenty of different dishes of food in several restaurants. The VIP section is well worth the extra money. there are many activities you can book or just relax by the pool

Punta Peninsula Varadero: Great location

The location is great. Thee layout of the resort is good and the beach is beautiful. The pool was nice and had a water slide which was used by kids and adults. The rooms are just okay. The bathrooms and beds need to be upgraded. New linens, pillows and towels are a must. The food was typical Cuban.

Blau Varadero: Lovely Resort.

The hotel was beautiful, staff were accommodating and polite. The grounds were very well maintained and looked fabulous all the time and the beach was gorgeous . Lots of choices for food and entertainment, a little more variety would be nice, eg. Cereal, oatmeal and toast for breakfast. It would also be nice to have a shop on site to pick up snacks to take to your to your room, eg. Muffins, sandwiches etc. I was alone for a lot of meals and there were a number of times that I wanted to take a li [... read more]ght lunch or snack to my room as opposed to eating in the restaurant. I also wish that there were clocks in the rooms. All and all, a very well run resort with lots to offer.

Muthu Colonial Hotel: Amazing Resort! !!!

Myself, Sister and 3 girlfriends spent 2 glorious week at The Colonial Resort. 30 to 34 degrees everyday. The Cuba people are so warm and friendly. We hung out with the Entertainment Staff who helped us to continued fun all day everyday! !!! The food was plentiful and Drinks of course :) The resort was clean and services spot on! !! Beach, AWESOME!!!! I would recommend this place to anyone. Always entertainment going on. I shall be back!!!!!!

Punta Peninsula Varadero: Amazing Staff

I loved the staff!!!! MAMA and JIMMY at the pool bar are AMAZING. My daughter(5), boyfriend and I all went together and we have no regrets. The staff is very friendly and not tip hungry. The resort was clean and the food was alright for Cuba. There was a great mixture of young families, couples and young peoples. Make sure you book your dinner reservations right away as they fill up fast. Our check in was lengthy but this was due to us changing room, which they were very accommodating. WATCH OUT [... read more] FOR SAND FLEAS....unfortunately I was unaware of them and got bit up pretty bad. Do not miss the Michael Jackson show! This resort is very kid friendly with a kids club and the one day they had an animal show with monkeys and camels on the beach. I can't wait to go back once our dollar is more at par.

Aston Costa Verde Beach Resort: Great family trip

This hotel was one of the best my wife and I have been to in Cuba. We brought our entire family including grand children and were treated very well. The grounds are very large so a lot of walking is a must. Would definately go back as a group. VIP is a must.

Muthu Colonial Hotel: A pleasant resort.

The room was beautiful, the beds very comfortable, the beach is awesome. The staff very helpful, the drinks were very good, the bus ride to and from resort was short and pleasant and informative by our bus guide.

Punta Peninsula Varadero: Awesome Beach! Nothing else awesome

We stayed at this resort March 2014 and returned aril 2015 with our two older kids as we had really enjoyed our stay there and wanted them to experience it. The beach is fantastic! No complaints there, the kids spent more time at the pool and really enjoyed it as well. The service is poor, down hill from the previous year. The front desk staff in particular seem to go out of their way to be difficult, they always seemed to be confrontational about anything you asked of them. Food-You are unable  [... read more]to book the restaurants that are part of the all inclusive. We went on the first day, and we had no choice in what we reserved, we were only able to get two reservations. The hot buffet needs to be revamped, as the food is often unappealing. We frequented the omelette bar for breakfast and very often the pasta bar for other meals. Management needs to offer more made to order options! Rooms-average to below average, I requested coffee in the room so we could make a pot in the morning. They supplied it one morning, and then we discovered the coffee maker was broken- they replaced that.. Next morning there was no coffee again, I had to request it again, after that I received it . Just a hassle that you have to keep after them! Value was good, price was right for us, but remember you get what you pay for. Location-good, flies very bad at night especially at the late night snack bar at the lighthouse. Wear long pants or bring fly repellent. The bites made a mess of my daughters legs, not to mention the itching. Resort had an ongoing issues with there storm water sewage as they have posted on memos on the resort. The smell can be awful at times especially when walking by their market area. We had a good vacation with the kids, because it's all what you make of it. We've been to this resort twice now, but I have to say, we won't be going back, time to find a different resort which meets are needs a little better.

Aston Costa Verde Beach Resort: Very nice for the right price

We only paid $560 a person so to complain about the resort would be unfair. I've been to 4+/5 star resorts for double the price that weren't as good as this resort! I'm comparing to 3 other resorts in varadero and cayo Coco that I have been to. The food: no pizza which I thought was odd, it's very similar to every other resort in Cuba, not a lot of variety compared to other resorts. I ate a lot of cheeseburgers and hot dogs mainly the whole stay as I was kind of sick of the buffet.(Although you  [... read more]can have thin pizza at the Italian restaurant for lunch but the line ups are long). We only tried the Cuban restaurant and it was surprisingly very good (minus the dessert don't get the mint cake thing...) The pool: being non vip members we were only allowed at our pool, which I personally found to be very small and had dirt on the bottom and band aids floating around, I'm guessing because it was very crowded this week maybe they didn't have time to clean it ??. (I preferred the beach this time). The bars: very very nice servers, my favourite was Raul at the main pirate bar! He was very sweet. The beach bar is good too not too long of line ups either. The beach: has some rocky spots but you can walk around them. It was probably the smallest beach I have ever been to width wise. The non motorized boats took up most of the beach and you aren't allowed to swim in that area which kind of sucks cause everyone else is crowded in one spot. There was some tropical fish that I saw but not too much going on. (Way more than I've ever seen in varadero ever). The rooms: the beds were hard as rock but that's what you get in Cuba and I didn't mind at all. The only complaint I have is that the blankets they use feel worse than curtains and I'm not kidding I would honestly think they took them off the walls and put them on the beds... The rooms were clean, the maids were great. (Minus the fact that they scream talk every morning from 630 am to whatever time that got quite annoying) The wifi is 3$ for half an hour which was okay but it didn't work the entire time and my friend and I lost our money once or twice because of it. Things to do: nothing lol. Outside of the resort they have a small "market" but it's really nothing special, it has all the typical Cuban souvenirs that's about it! Overall: there were a lot of elderly people and French people or couples with babies. If you are looking to party I suggest you go somewhere else unless you are on a budget like I was:). Overall it was a very nice resort and the food was decent, the beach was nice and clear (cayo coco and varadero are a little nicer) except for some rocks and cig butts but everything you can look past at the right price!

Punta Peninsula Varadero: Pleasant stay

Found the food very good, selection and taste. Supplies such as sheets and towels in short supply. Staff friendly and helpful. Grounds were well kept. Beach lovely and no problem getting a chair. Sand fleas a problem.

Muthu Colonial Hotel: awesome resort

food was fine, beach was perfect, staff treated you very good, rooms were ok other than the water pressure and lack of at times....grounds were well taken care of....always felt comfortable at this resort no matter where you were

Aston Costa Verde Beach Resort: Great vacation

Group of us (young 20's) all had a great week! Food was by far the best we've ever had in Cuba, staff were super friendly and rooms were clean. Beach is beautiful and the pool entertainment was a lot of fun as well.

Aston Costa Verde Beach Resort: I will return....Great Resort!!!!

I just returned from my vacation on May 2, 2015. The Blau Costa Verde was a great resort and I would defiantly return. I was by myself and I felt completely safe. I stayed in block 28 and I loved my room. The food in the buffet was pretty much the same every night and there was a lot to choose from. The a la carte’s were delicious!!!! I walked the beach every day and it really is a great stretch of beach. They made fresh watermelon juice every day. I would head to restaurant by the beach and  [... read more]the two lovely ladies there would always have it waiting for me….. The only suggestion I would make to any one traveling here is don’t forget your bug spray. I did and it was a big mistake. I am not sure if it was the time of year or that fact that the resort is surrounded by trees but I was the buffet for the Cuban mosquitos.

Blau Varadero: Amazing resort

I have been to the Blau 6 times it is great the food is amazing the hotel is so clean and very well maintained and the staff and management are always helpful it just feels like home!!! We are returning in September

Blau Varadero: Great Vacation

My husband and I really enjoyed our week at the Blau Varadero. The pool is very nice as well as the beach, the only issue with both and it's not the Blau's fault is the fact that people "reserve" loungers even though the hotel has posted not to do so. The other little issue was the fact that the elevators were constantly not working for one reason or another which makes the trip up to the higher floors very challenging at times. The staff were all very nice and always greeted us with a smile and [... read more] a "Hola"! We would have liked to stay a little bit longer - maybe next time! Thank you

Aston Costa Verde Beach Resort: Great Resort

Loved this resort friendly people, staff was great, food was good, nice beach, we were on the bottom floor so did get bugs in room but didn't bother us. We are already planning our trip for next year, can't wait

Punta Peninsula Varadero: Good Spot!

Hotel was nice but needed a paint job. Food was good and staff was very friendly! My room wasn't dirty but it could have been cleaner, also there was never enough towels for bathing. Beach was beautiful and clean. Internet was faster than other resorts in Cuba.