Amazing Resort with Outstanding Service!

Our family of nine, parents, children and grandchildren enjoyed our week long stay at the Melia Marina Varadero! The resort is beautiful with all the latest upgrades, situated on the water for spectacular views of the harbour. It is a 15 min. walk or short electric cart ride to the beach. The food was outstanding at the buffet and specialty restaurants...as was the service! The staff were always ready to help us or the children, with a smile. We solved our problem of shade at the main pool by re [... read more]nting a cabana that came with staff to bring us refreshments! Even more shade options at the beach and pool would be helpful, especially for little ones. We all had a great time!!

Great resort-

The resort was great -our room was beautiful -2 bedroom -living room -washer dryer -full fridge and stove -microwave -2 showers and all at no extra cost . The hotel staff were very friendly and courteous . The food was good all they need to do is to expand the main dining room area . The alcarte dinners were great . All in all we had no complaints . and yes I would return to this resort.

Fantasic Holiday

We stayed in the Melia Marina in March.We stayed in Cuba a couple of years ago. And were unimpresed. The Melia was a pleasent surprise. The rooms were great , Exelent views from either the marina side or pool side.The food was really good for cuba, staff were always helpful. When all the amenities are open it will be awsome. The only reason I didnt give it a 5* was because the entertainment day and night was just ok. The only stand out preformance was Micheal Jackson nite he was fantastic. I wou [... read more]ld definately return.

Disappointment

We had such high hopes for the Melia Marina Varadero. It was the first return trip to Cuba after several disappointing vacations. We were so excited to get away after a very difficult winter. We arrived late in the evening so we didn't check into our rooms until around 11 pm. We were very hungry. The only place to get food was at the outdoor pool restaurant. The food selection at that time of night was very limited. Between the pregnant cat begging and the mosquitos, we could not finish our food [... read more]. We had difficulty finding our way to our room, as the resort staff at that time of night, didn't seem to understand English. Our first room was in the basement, we requested a change the following day. The room was the same but we had a view of pool area. The hotel was very accommodating to the request. The resort was recently built so the grounds and gardens were still a work in progress. Pool area was very nice although it lacked shade. The covered cabana areas around the pool area were extra so they were empty most of the time. Guess you had to pay for shade. The beach was beautiful and we did not have any problem finding seats and shade. Water was amazing turquoise, warm and refreshing...loved it. Transportation to beach was a problem as we had wait 1 hr. until trolley came by. We have difficulty walking so trolley was the only way for us to go. There was only one trolley in operation at that time. I did report this to staff. The lobby bar and outdoor balcony was very nice and we spent most evenings there, although floor service seemed for a select few. Many times we were passed by and had to get our own drinks. We had 2 a la carte restaurants available to us. The Japanese and French. Both were excellent, unfortunately the buffet which we had to eat, at every meal was terrible. The hot food on tables was cold, the cold food was warm. We were concerned with safety issues. If they could cook such amazing meals at the restaurants; why couldn't the buffet be at least edible? The beach bar had a menu, but rarely had anything available. We and others were interviewed, in the buffet area by a hotel representative We expressed our concerns with the food and resort. The insect bites, from the first night we arrived, became quite severe and painful as the week progressed.The bites lasted several weeks after we got home and I have scars from them. I talked to the hotel staff and was told it would cost $150 for a Benadryl shot. I did report the disappearance of my Guess watch, but nothing came of that ... We did have great Waitresses in the dining room. They were always friendly and reliable. We will not return to Cuba after our last vacation to the Melia Marina Varadero that had a 5 star rating. There are many other places to visit, with excellent quality food, accommodations and service. Thank you

Excellent Vacation Destination

Well maintened grounds & public areas, Rooms were kept very clean and the dining was very good with excellent varitity Bar facilities & transportation were first rate. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Best place to stay in Cuba!

Went here for a girls trip and we had an amazing time! Everyone at the resort was very kind and went out of their way to make sure we had everything we neeed. The beach is gorgeous and you can walk forever along it. It's also very easy and safe to go into Varadero.

Melia marina

Very beautiful. Great service. Food was ok. If you wanted to go to the local cities, it would be around 10-20 pesos. Also, when you change canadian currency to pesos you get less then what you exchanged for.

Special resort

We stayed here shortly after it opened in dec2013 ... Resort is beautiful, very modern , lots of shops, friendly staff, great food, nightly entertainment and beach is so amazing overall can not wait to go back

Great Resort

Great Hotel very relaxing staff very nice and very helpful. Beaches are nice and the entertainment shows at night are excellent. You can go for a walk or literally just dance the nice away. You will definately enjoy your stay.

Nice Resort

In Cuba, this hotel is considered clean. Staff are friendly. Buffet is good, but should serve different food during lunch and dinner. Buffet will get boring after eating there a few times (almost the same thing every day). Live performances were amazing. Will come back to this hotel again.

Wonderful staff! Great location

Carlos and Mabel in the cigar lounge were absolutely wonderful and made our trip incredible! Lovely resort, great food. Staff were attentive. Managers were all over the place helping the staff. Yania was so sweet and took great care of us.

Excellent, staff was so accomodating

Grounds were really clean, beach was great, food was excellent at buffet al a carte restaurant was not as good, we would reccomend this resort, and we plan to attend this resort again, We stayed in the marina apartments, but they were too far from pool and buffet

Relaxing holiday

We recently stayed at the Melia Marina Varadero. The hotel is still fairly new (less than a year old) so it was quite nice. It had a nautical theme through out. Our room was located on the 4th floor and overlooked the marina....which was nice. I also thought the view from the pool side was very nice. The rooms were clean and spacious and had a very large separate shower! Because the hotel was new, the grounds weren't quite as lush as most places we have visited...but they were working on them. I [... read more]'m sure in a couple of years the vegetation will have grown quite a bit. The pool was very large with a kiddie (shallow) area at one end and the swim up bar on the other side. We actually stayed at the beach most of the day. The beach was absolutely stunning!! Loved the calm, crystal clear warm water. We always found a palapa to sit under...but the hotel was not full to capacity during our stay. I have to say the food was my biggest negative....and at the buffet it was never hot. We did try a couple of a la carte restaurants which were definitely better than the buffet. Overall I thought the hotel was nice and would probably recommend it to people if they improved on the food.

Best Resort in Cuba

The resort was very beautiful, large, bright, fresh flowers and very clean. The grounds were well kept, the pool was good size and the hot tub. The staff was very helpful and friendly. The food at the buffet had a great selection and was very tasteful.

Terrific resort

New resort so it was not totally completed which didn't bother me or any of the people I travelled with. It will be amazing once it has been completed. Entertainment was mediocre. Resort was really nice.....staff were very friendly....decorated nicely

Beautiful resort

Everything was excellent except not enough beach chairs which was rectified the last day of our vacation. We had a one bedroom apartment which is worth the extra$ as we had access to a private pool and lounge area.

Great place

The food was ok, some days better than others. The staff is extremely friendly and socialable. The outdoor bar was the best! We couldn't have asked for better bartenders!! I would go again just for them, they made our trip amazing! The layout is different but it's nice you feel like your in a little village, and the snack bar had great pizza and rice. The beach was great, with another snack bar located there. We had a great time.

Not a 5* resort

Was not impressed from the beginning no early check in and the room was 2hrs late getting ready for us. Wasn't impressed and the front desk didn't seem to care. Didn't see the 5* quality I was expecting

A new resort with some up and downs

We have been in Cuba for four times in Holguin and wanted to check out this new resort. Positives: New Hotel, good rooms and beautiful view, foods are good (even with comparing to the other countries) and very helpful employees. Negatives: Entertainment was not that much impressive. Even there is no place for the entertainers to perform (They do it in the hotel Lobby) There are a lot of facilities (Like Bowling , Billiard or specialty bars or restaurants) that you need to pay in order to use th [... read more]em. The pay is even more than the usual standards in North America. When we settled down in our room, we noticed that they are offering a sofabed for the third person in the room , this really frustrated us and we complained to the management (management is from Melia Spain and I was not that much impressed with the way they were handling issues. I was much better with the Cuban hotel managers in Holguin resorts) any way after wasting sometime with the hotel management for the extra bed issue for the third person, those guys agreed to put an extra bed in the room (at the beginning they didn't want to put the extra bed in the room) The hotel employees are generally very polite and friendly.

Fantastic resort & staff!!

Reading other reviews of various Cuban resorts made us a bit apprehensive, however the Melina Marina proved that no worries were happening there! The place, the people and the food were all fantastic!! Loved everything from the room to the tours & the pools & the beach! Can't say one negative thing about our 8 day stay except that we had to leave. :)