Iberostar Origin Playa Alameda: Wonderfull Resort

Nice rooms, good size beach and pools, great food and service. Clean and well organized. Nice shows and entertainment. Bartenders amaizing and knolegeable. Would highly recommend it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Barcelo Solymar: Lacking something

Ok this hotel is getting run down. The cards for rooms werent working. No beach towels or bath towels. The food is not great. Really nice beaches but hotel service is not good. Ppl at front desk very disorganized. They need to shape up the place. They actually ran out of beer. Not very good and I go there twice a year.

Resonance Blu Varadero: Hotel needs upgrade.

I am disappointed in the Sunwing service. I received an email alert the day before my departure letting me know the quiet pool was out of service. Departure date November 17, email notice November 16. the pool had actually been closed for two weeks. It did not reopen on the Tuesday November 20 as noted in email and was still a week away from opening after I came back November 24. I would of made other arrangements knowing this. The Sunwing Rep. was not helpful at all with checkout information,  [... read more]actually was lying or totally misinformed, she did not offer extended check out or shower options for early check out, I found out more info from passengers than the actual Rep. The room did not have garden view as promised and the hotel had to change the mattress and fix the toilet. The rooms was very old and in need of repair. I am a repeat Sunwing and Memories customer (6 times at Memories) and was totally turned off by the Rep at the hotel. My duty free pre-order on the plane was not available on the plane on my return trip and am now trying to make arrangements for refund, another time consuming task. I will need to seriously question Sunwing's ability for future trips. I travel about 5 months of the year and this is my first direct complaint to an airline or hotel.

Paradisus Princesa Del Mar: Very nice resort!

The ground were nice, rooms were okay but no air conditioning only a fan. The mens washroom at the pool was out of order all week. Beach was awesome but the men running the catamarans would not take anyone out unless you paid for the 2 hour 20 dollar trip even though it included 20 minutes per day. We bugged and bugged and finally the last day we got 20 minutes. The food was okay resterants were nice. Hated that everyone had their hands out for money. Spa was awesome had a great massage. At nigh [... read more]t most of the lights did not work so it was hard to find your way around. Fan in bathroom did not work asked several times at the front desk but never fixed or even looked at once. Entertainment was lacking most nights just a band or DJ. Would rate it a 7 out of 10. 4 to 4.5 stars definately not a 5. Resort Playa Cayo Santa Maria blew this resort away.

Iberostar Origin Laguna Azul: Fantastic all round

This property is definitely a must stay at place. The only issue we had was the first room had a few things wrong. We went straight to our sunwing rep Janel and he had it all sorted out within an hour and had us moved to another room. The staff and grounds were fantastic. I have absolutely nothing bad to say. We didnt do any of the ala carte restaurants but everyone that went had no complaints. I definitely give this a 5star rating. This was our first vacation in 5 years and Natalie our agent a [... read more]t tripcentral made it very easy.

Playa Vista Azul: Cubans are looking ONLY after tips

I asked a room in a quite area and not at first level. I received a room at the first level and facing swimming pool. Second day I tipped the person and I've got a good room. Guys at the beach give sheers only for tips. I'm fed up with this.

Brisas Del Caribe: 2 part vacation

We stayed at Brisas for 3 nights then we decided to move to another hotel. The rooms and food had changed drastically from when i was going there 16 yrs. ago so we expressed our concerns to the Sunwing Rep ( Maria) and she upgraded us for a very minimal fee to "Grande Memories" and it was a huge difference and we were very happy with that resort.

Paradisus Princesa Del Mar: Loved it!

Very much enjoyed our 7 night stay. Our room 6117 was close to everything. The pools are amazing. Improvement to the way the restaurants are booked are needed. Waited in line for over an hour. Very friendly staff! Thank you for a great vacation!

Melia Las Antillas: Nice resort

The hotel was okay. My room was fine, clean and my maid Yuvie was great. Too many stairs to climb every day and walking to reach the pools and beach. Although there were elevators to go from my floor to the lobby floor, the elevator to go to the buffet and restaurants was under maintenance. Therefore, the spiral staircase had to be used at least 10 times a day. The pool was at least 5 city blocks from the lobby and the beach at least 10 to 15. When one has a chronic condition such as RA ,  [... read more]bad knees or back that is a lot of walking or climbing for one day x at least 7 days. Staff was friendly and tried to be accommodating, food was fair, a la carte restaurants were good. I went to relax and I accomplished that to a point.

Hotel Villa Cuba: Unsatisfied and Disappointed with this resort

First off when we reached the hotel the rooms that we saw online were nothing like this room. Hotel was run down room was run down hotel falling apart. Water stopped running and electricity stopped working at least 3-4times in the section we were staying around supper time when you really want to take a shower and it’s getting Dark outside, like we were rejects cause half of the hotel is Renovated and half isn’t they placed us on the side that was not renovated. I woke up to bugs crawling on [... read more] me while I slept. Spoke to the receptionist who said he couldn’t do anything to speak with “public relations”. Claiming the whole hotel is booked which was impossible. We finally changed rooms the day before we had to leave and even that room had ants crawling every where on the tables the walls and the ground!!! Customer service and management is a big zero. Food wise most items were cold and under temperature. Animation and pool activities boring. No I wouldnt recommend this hotel to anyone. If I had of known I wouldn’t have booked there not how I wanted to spend my birthday week :(

Hotel Los Cactus: Good and Bad

This hotel had some strong and weak points. We had a good time regardless, as we always do in Varadero. Here are the pros: Almost all of the staff at this resort were incredible. They went above and beyond with no expectation of tips. We tip anyway, but did not feel pressured to do so. Mabelle at the coffee bar and Theresa at the beach bar were particularly amazing. Thank you so much to all of the staff who work so hard and do a fabulous job. You truly make a positive impact on all of the guest [... read more]s. The grounds are mature and therefore very beautiful. So many palm trees and lush gardens :) The resort is small and everything is easy to get to. There are no long walks to anything, which was great. The beach is gorgeous. There is some garbage closer to the beach chairs (I picked up and threw out so many straws that had been left on the ground) but overall it was an absolutely beautiful beach. These pros made the trip for us. The cons: When we arrived at 11pm having never been to this resort, someone pointed and said that our room was that way. We had to haul our luggage in the dark, over grass and up uneven stairs to find our room. As it is an older resort the room we had was very musty and everything fabric (curtains, bed skirt, shower curtain, chairs, etc) had mould on it. We had a tropical suite in the larger building. The view was gorgeous but it was almost unbearable to sleep surrounded by so much mould. We asked to change rooms the first night but were told we had the best room. We were concerned that we would be moved to a room with a less ideal location that would be just as musty. All in all it was a very bad first impression. Our room cleaner, Nancy, who we met the next day, was so very sweet and did her very best to keep everything clean and smelling better. The only solution to this issue is a complete renovation, so I really felt for the cleaners. The pool was also not in good condition but we were there for the beach, so it was not an issue for us. The other con was the food. We met several people who got sick from the buffet, so we chose to avoid it completely. The a la Carte restaurants were better (again, amazing staff), but we did end up going into Varadero twice for dinner so that we could fill up. The other major con was the lack of supplies that the staff had to work with. They frequently ran out of various alcohols, mint, juices and so on. I witnessed one bartender get screamed at by a guest because she had run out of dark rum. This is clearly a management issue and put the staff in difficult situations. We were told by visitors who have been going to this resort for years that it had changed owners recently and the quality of everything had declined since. It is a shame because this resort has the potential to be excellent (and apparently was for many years) but it seemed to us the current objective is cost savings. With a bit of effort, it could once again be a gem.

Club Karey: This resort sould never have been offered by Trip Central.

This was our sixth vacation to Cuba. Upon arrival to the resort the staff was accommodating. We were given a unit at the very end of the complex that is about a quarter of a mile distance from the pool, bar, and restaurant. If we were younger people, we would not have minded. Any one with mobility problems are in trouble. Very little and no variety of food and cold. No hot water in units. Not even warm water. No Coke for mix nor beer in any of the two bars. Cockroaches in unit that we were in.  [... read more]Something was chewing all night in the walls. We are not fussy people and have never complained about anything in any resorts we have been in. To make a long story short, if it had not been for our Sunwing rep that got us transferred to an affiliated resort, our one week vacation would have been a complete disaster.

Playa Vista Azul: I would not return

Here is what I wrote on Tripadvisor: Stayed November 19-22, 2018 I have been to Cuba over 10 times before and have always had an excellent time. I have never felt compelled to write a review about a resort until now. This resort is described as the 2nd newest resort in Varadero, at a 4+ rating. The decor is nice and most of the resort does appear to be new and clean. Upon check-in, we were told that we were being placed in a Privilege room but without any of the privileges (that wa [... read more]s fine since we did not pay for that upgrade… yet). We did not receive any additional information about the resort, Varadero or other. The only map of the resort was a tiny credit-card sized paper. The room itself did not provide any additional information either. Nothing on any services offered at the hotel, entertainment schedules, things to do at the beach/pool - nothing! Our room was within the main lobby and had a beautiful ocean view, directly above the infinity pool. As I mentioned before, the room was clean and modern looking. Within the mini bar fridge, only a cola and a sprite was included. When asked to have a couple beers added to the fridge, we were told this was not possible. We went to the buffet on our first morning to have breakfast. We were so disappointed with the lack of selection in food that we went straight to the lobby to upgrade to the Privilege package (which included access to better restaurants). A few examples of our disappointment of the buffet included the omelettes - the only ingredients available were ham, cheese and corn. The fresh fruit was not good. There also weren’t any condiments available for the toast. No croissants or other options for bread. The size of the lobby is quite small considering the size of the resort and was very crowded. At this point of the vacation, we decided to upgrade to the Privilege section. This upgrade included ‘perks’ like top-brand drinks in a Privilege bar, late checkout, priority to book a la carte restaurants among a few other things. Privilege service does not yet grant you any perks on the beach. Having upgraded to the Privilege section, we were expecting a slightly better level of service. That did not happen. We left the Privilege restaurant without food one day because our food took so long to get there (25+ mins). Apart from one server in the Privilege lounge (Dannys), the service was not great. We did not get served while sitting outside of the lounge, we had to go inside to find a server. It felt as though the Privilege program was so new that it wasn’t fully set up yet. There is no distinct ‘privileges’ when upgrading to this service yet. Having done some research about this resort, we knew that the beach was not going to be spectacular, however we were still disappointed. The layout of the resort is long and set upon a cliff. On either side of the cliffs, are the two beaches available at Vista Azul. We did not spend any time at the smaller beach since it was packed and had no room left any time we wanted to go. We spent a couple of days at the ‘large’ beach. The beach may appear ‘large’ in photos but the Vista Azul resort is only entitled to approximately â…“ of the beach. The remainder of the beach is empty but Azul occupants are crammed into their tiny section. The resort did include water sports which was nice. Activities included kayaks, hobie cats and a paddle boat. Although the resort is new, the beach chairs are not. The material sagged and most of them were covered in mould stains. It was difficult to find help in the morning to get the chairs set up. Another important thing to note was that there is no towel exchange service. We had to keep the same wet towels our entire stay there. The infinity pool is definitely one of the pros of this resort. It is stunning and provides a beautiful backdrop of the ocean. The only negative is that this pool is supposed to be ‘adults only’ however children were constantly swimming in this pool. That rule is definitely not enforced. The main lobby is aesthetically pleasing but there are bright lights well into the late evening. I would suggest getting a few dimmers to set a better mood. Also, the chairs on the outdoor balcony of the lobby look very cool and modern but are extremely uncomfortable. They are only about 6 inches off the floor so it is very difficult to get in and out of them. We went to one of the entertainment shows - Michael Jackson night. The show began 15 minutes late and was not very good. We did not return any other night. Fair warning to anyone staying above the theatre (building 8), the music is extremely loud and can be heard until late in the evening. No peace and quiet in those rooms. One last thing to note, when exchanging money, the resort did not have any $1 coins/bills for 3 days while we were there. This made tipping very difficult. Even paying for something like a wifi card, the staff could not provide you with any change. I know this review comes across as negative. I am only trying to paint an honest picture of my stay there. I love Cuba and will continue to go back every year. I will not return to this resort.

Sanctuary at Grand Memories Varadero: Great place Sanctuary

This is our second visit to Grand Memories Sanctuary. The pool, restaurants, bars and beach are all nice and close. We enjoy being able to eat in the restaurants for all meals. The staff is very helpful and courteous. We enjoyed our stay immensely. We plan to go again.

Roc Barlovento: Two wonderful weeks in a very pleasant hotel!

It was our 14th trip to Cuba in 10 years and our first to Varadero (November 4-18, 2018). We picked the Roc Barlovento mainly because of numerous glowing reviews posted on TripAdvisor—and certainly we were not disappointed. The hotel is located very close to the bridge over the Kawama navigation channel, at the very beginning of the Hicacos Peninsula. This turned out to be an EXCELLENT location, enabling us to make a number of strolls directly from the hotel. We often walked on Varadero’s [... read more] main street (Avenida 1ra) for several kilometers and explored various restaurants, shops, parks, hotels, private homes and other landmarks—there was even a Canadian Consulate a stone’s throw from our hotel! We also walked along the channel in the evening, where plenty of Cubans were fishing, and saw Al Capone’s mansion, the Casa de Al. Yet the best walking excursions were to the town of Santa Marta, located just past the bridge. On the other hand, the hotels located more-less east of Calle 64, in the east part of Varadero, might be much more luxurious, bigger and offer a much higher standard, yet they are ‘in the middle of nowhere’ and unless you take a taxi or a bus, there is not much else to see or explore. GENERAL • The hotel is well designed in a Spanish style and quite cozy, no much walking is required to get around. Plenty of nice palm trees & gardens. And it is for adults only—no disruptive and screaming kids! • Approximately 60% of tourists were Canadians (English & French speaking), 30% Germans and some from Spain, Italy and other countries. • There were 3 pools; the very shallow one had no water. There was a Jacuzzi in the center of the pool closer to the beach, but it was not hot. • There is a tienda (shop), with various beverages, rums, vodkas, souvenirs, shampoos, shirts, hats, toiletries, etc. Another stand near the lobby sells books, postcards and stamps—the mail box is at the lobby. On a couple of occasions I saw an artist painting and selling his works. • The exchange rate at the hotel was very poor—just 68 CUC for $100 CAN, whereas the bank offered about 73.50 CUC. Not fair! • A number of very friendly (and chubby) cats roamed the property, especially the outdoor dining area during meal service—and they even had their own ‘cat café’. Unsurprisingly, they were picky eaters! • At 10 am there was half hour yoga/stretching on the stage of the entertainment area, conducted by Zahilys, a very friendly & outgoing woman, who worked at animation and conducted other activities as well. Bring our own towel! Yet there were not too many guests interested in doing the exercises, and quite often we were the only participants. • There was a gym, but we never used it, preferring our morning workouts and swimming in the ocean. • Towels can be obtained from ‘the clubhouse’ near the main square. The club house also has a small library of books in English, French and German. We donated 4 of our books. • Every evening there is entertainment, but the only one we attended was the aquatic show (Thursdays) and it was impressive! The Elvis Show sounded great from our room on Saturdays. • Scuba diving excursions/lessons are available, there is an information stand set up every day in the main square. • Various tours are offered in the lobby area. At the end of our stay there was information about a very cheap bus to Havana—I think it was 40 CUC both ways, or 25 CUC one way per person. OUR ROOM # 333 We had sent an email to the hotel two weeks before arrival, asking for a quiet room on the top floor and indeed, our request was granted—we got room number 333. From our window we could see part of the tennis court—otherwise there was plenty of foliage that made the view quite pleasant. We could hear the traffic from the main street and occasionally caught a whiff of oil/petrol—about 1 km from our hotel, in Santa Marta, we saw two oil derricks. The balcony was very small, but it was possible to sit there and enjoy the sun. There was a small bathtub—later the maid brought a plug. The room was quite contemporary, with 2 double beds, HD TV with about 25 channels. There was the CNN channel (devoting 95%+ of its air time to Trump—boring!) and CTV in English, albeit from Montreal. We had to pay for the safe (2 CUC per day, 28 CUC for 2 weeks). We always had hot and cold water, the air conditioner worked perfectly and it was easy to remotely change the air flow or temperature. The small fridge was really cold and the hair dryer worked. We had some minor problems on 3 occasions (with the safe and falling curtains rod)—within 10 minutes of reporting them a technician came and fixed them. On a few occasions our magnetic cards stopped working and we had to go to the lobby to have them re-programmed. The maid, Norian, was great, always keeping our room spotlessly clean and creative. THE BEACH Large, with white sand. Lots of palapas and chairs, so there was no need to ‘reserve’ them in the morning, some were always available. We could also observe nice sunsets. It was quite shallow for about 30 meters. At the end of our stay it became windy, the waves got quite big and there was a yellow-and then red flag (no swimming). Once an unexpectedly big wave swept the first row of palapas, catching many relaxing vacationers (and their belongings) by surprise. I saw some people snorkel, but there was nothing to see—just some small fish. Kayaks, pedal watercraft and sail boats were available for hotel guests. Beach assistants was great, he quickly brought us loungers. FOOD Another reason that we picked the hotel was the outdoor dining, which surprisingly was hardly used. Not even once did we dine inside! The food was slightly repetitive, but varied and good—often even delicious. For breakfast I always had eggs & bacon—the egg station cooks were very efficient and quick—as well as plenty of fruits, juice and yogurt. Usually we skipped lunch, but when we had it (twice), it was excellent—in addition to the regular fare inside the restaurant, there was a big grill outside, serving delicious steaks, hamburgers, hot dogs and other grilled food. At dinner I always went to the cooking station offering sumptuous grilled pork and beef as well as several kinds of fish, shrimps, calamari, squids and mussels. Another cooking station served spaghetti and pizza. There were also scrumptious stews, chicken, prosciutto, cheese and salads. I did not see any tomatoes, however, which I like very much. I never had to line up for more than a few minutes at the cooking stations and the food was plentiful. Our servers were Leonardo & Janet (breakfast) and Raul (dinner). They always brought us plenty of coffee, juice, wine or beer to our outdoors dining table. There was a snack bar near the beach, serving basic food—hamburgers (very good), hot dogs, ham & cheese sandwiches, fruits and lettuce. Next to it was a bar serving cold beer and drinks and most of the time it was manned by the always smiling Pedro. There were also bathrooms in the back of the bar. The small Bar El Traguis near the wooden ramp to the beach was nice, but the seating area was limited and the beer cost 1 CUC. Mixed drinks were free. The lobby bar was OK, but there were frequently buses or taxis pulling up, so it was noisy and smelled of exhaust fumes. It was almost always crowded. In the evening there was often live music—I loved the violin & guitar players, they were fantastic (they played only on Mondays and Tuesdays, from 7 to 9 pm). The bar in the square (adjacent to the Mexican Restaurant) was great, lots of tables & chairs and never any lineups—we often spent some time there on our way from the beach. We never had an a ’la carte dinner. Once we wanted to go to the sushi bar, yet we were told that it did not server any sushi anyway and it opened at 11:00 pm. The gardeners often bring coconuts to a stand between the beach and lunch area and can cut them for you. THE WEATHER/BUGS Out of the 15 days, 12 or 13 were quite sunny and it was hot (over +30 C). It rained a few times, but it was still very warm & humid and it was not a big deal. Since we often kept the room’s balcony door open, we did see several mosquitos in our room, but otherwise I did not encounter any insects anywhere else. OTHER INFORMATION • On 3 occasions we walked to Santa Marta from our hotel—it is a very nice town, with plenty of restaurants, cafes and casas particulares. Most restaurant offer very varied menu at reasonable prices. Some parts of this town have impressive homes. Following a very valuable recommendation of TripAdvisor’s poster, SWNova, on Sunday morning we went to the Farmers’ Market—what a fascinating experience! • We went to a bank in Varadero (on Avenida 1ra) to exchange money, there were over 10 tourists inside and we had to wait for almost one hour. Passport is required. • We took a taxi to Matanzas (30 CUC one way) and spent one day there, exploring it by foot. Very scenic city, highly recommended! It is also possible to purchase a trip to Matanzas at the hotel, 29 CUC per person, including a stop at the Crystal Caves. • The hop-on-hop-off bus has its last stop just a minute away from the hotel (near the La Sangria Restaurant), it runs every 20 minutes (less frequently in the evening), costs 5 CUC per person and takes you to the very end of the Hicacos Peninsula. If you are planning to return late, last bus finishes at 8:00 pm. Confirm the schedule with the driver to make sure you can still catch it—apparently some tourist had to take a cab back to their hotel. • There are plenty of taxis, coco taxis and horse-drawn carriages in Varadero, offering rides. Beware: once a horse-drawn carriage driver quoted us the price of 5 CUC—but later said it was… per person! CONCLUSION For many years I had been very reluctant to go to Varadero, thinking that I would be surrounded by only other resorts and hotels. I was wrong—the location of the Roc Barlovento allowed us to explore many nearby areas and we never felt we were in a tourist enclave. We absolutely loved the hotel & its pleasant staff and had a wonderful time there. On the last day of our vacation, while on the bus to the airport, we spoke to many tourists about their vacation. Remarkably, we got an impression that we had a much better time at the Roc Barlovento than most of them in their often more superior hotels. The hotel deserves very strong 4 stars and we would certainly consider returning!

Valentin El Patriarca Varadero: Amazing Resort

2nd time at this resort I got the room I wanted but had to wait till they cleaned it ! The employees all remember me ! Bell boys all the same ones remembered me ! Telephones worked ! Food was good /Buffet perfect service nice new chairs ! House keeper good service clean ! Beach Entertainment perfect would go back again if the $ would be less

Iberostar Origin Playa Alameda: Loved this resort.

Iberostar was a pleasant surprise for me. 1st time at this place been to cuba 11 times, I would have to say it is now my favorite. The lead man for entertainment Charlie help make the vacation experience unnerving for me because it was my first time being alone. He organized a breakfast and helped the single people interacting that helped meet so many wonderful people. I never felted scared or intimated just great clean fun..

Starfish Varadero: Regular resort

The resort is big but it is missing some cleaning and some of the resto there is closed. However, the resort is to reste and for the family, not too much party there. There are great people working there.

Playa Vista Azul: Beautiful resort

We stayed in one of the bungalows #1109 it was very clean and spacious. We had the privilege and the bartenders were amazing. Lala, Ruben the main bartender I forgot his name and the other young guy went far and beyond expectations. Always making sure that we were ok. The A la Carte were really good. The resort was very well kept. I would definitely recommend this resort to anyone. I would also like to thank Julia Tollis for always making sure everything is good on my end upon booking my trips.  [... read more]This trip would make it my second time booking with her. Thanks

Starfish Jibacoa: Amazing Vacation!

Travelled with my wife for a second time to Villas Jibacoa and so glad we did! Everything from the service, food and location was excellent! Cant wait until our next visit to our home away from home! p.s this is a great place for snorkelling!