Melia Marina Varadero: Great beach, Good resort and Food gets better

Took us about an hour from the airport because of pick ups and drop offs at other resorts, which is still reasonable. Good: The beach that is a 5 minute walk is awesome. We spent everyday there. If you don't want to walk, they do take you on the golf cart from the pool area to the beach. The buffet has some misses but a good amount of hits to keep you fed during all meals. The best of the buffet would be the freshly grilled food they have which includes Lobster, Shrimps, Fish, Calamari and oth [... read more]er options. The line can be a bit long at times but it's worth it. To get the best food for you taste, try out a small portion before fulling your plate. The lobby area is a nice place to hang out, it's also where the bar is. It's designed to let in air flow from the marina and is nice to sit and enjoy some drinks at night. The gym is sufficient, the marina in the back is a beauty to see and walk about. The resort is large enough for evening strolls. We liked the "Casa Burguete" a la carte, the food was delicious. Bad: The snack bar near the pool is awful. The sandwiches they offer were just gross. The fries were ok but not good enough to make us visit twice. Also, do not eat the ketchup, it does not taste anything like ketchup. The beds are a bit hard and you can wake up feeling a bit sore. The pool is ok but I spent all my time at the beach because it's gorgeous. If you like swimming in the pool, you might not like that they shut it down quite early in the evening, around 8pm. The bank in the hotel was not helpful in giving 1s which we wanted to help with tipping because not everyone deserves 3s or 5s. "Don Ernesto" and "Bana" a la cartes were gross and we ended up going to the buffet after. Overall The hotel is a good place to stay as the food is not as bad as you hear about in Cuba. The accommodations are pretty with some hick ups and having the beach 5 minutes away is a big bonus if you're going to Cuba for the beach. If you want perfection, this would not suit your needs.

Hotel Camino del Mar: Lovely Resort

We had an okay stay, however the food this year was not as good as in previous years. No softdrinks available in rooms after 2nd day, apparently a problem with the supplier. The beach was beautiful and a trip to Pillar Beach was wonderful. The rooms are tired, but understand major renovations are taking place. Recommend more chairs at the beach and shaded spots.

Melia Cayo Santa Maria: Great value - beautiful beach

Had a great stay at the Melia Cayo Santa Maria. Was blown away by the beach - perfect sand and water. Would definitely go back and would recommend to a friend. The resort is a bit older, but it's well maintained and clean. Food was nothing special but there was variety and was overall just fine. Great value!

Paradisus Rio De Oro: Great resort

Just visited the beautiful Paradisus in Holguin. Loved the design/layout of this resort. Very classy. Lobby bar staff in the daytime especially excellent. Warning though, this is a smoking resort!!!!!!!

Melia Las Dunas: Nice Experience

Beach was wonderful, food was ok,grounds were kept clean,bring you own towels!!! Service was acceptable but nothing spectacular. All in all not bad value for the money. Weather for the week of Mar 23-30 was fantastic!

Tryp Cayo Coco: Amazing Trip!

The beach was beautiful and you could walk both ways a great distance. I loved the quiet pool also. The food was good, especially the pizza, omelet stations. They also had fresh meat that you could choose to cook on the grill. My only complaint was that we had no hot water, but we didn't complain about it.

Melia Las Dunas: Fun times

The grounds and lobby were excellent. The decor was elegant and tasteful. The lobby area was a wonderful gathering spot. The beach was phenomenal. The only compliant regarding the beach was that you had to go up to the main lobby to use washroom facility. As well there needs to be consistency with the amount of alcohol in drinks especially for the younger adults. The food was not that good but it was well presented. There were certain spots that did have food that was ok such as the breakfast at [... read more] the pool restaurant, the snack shack at the beach and the oriental restaurant. Overall a great vacation spot.

Melia Las Dunas: Average Resort

The hotel and rooms were clean. Pool and beach, absolutely beautiful. Communication/Language was a barrier,but the employees were very friendly. Restaurants and buffet were average. Service was subpar. Grounds were well maintained.

Melia Jardines del Rey: Great Resort...but...

Grounds are sparse in vegetation hotel was big and well laid out for getting around. Food was never tiring and variety was good, proximity to airport and support staff excellent. Beach towels was a big issue never enough. Front desk could have better training in receiving guests

Melia Jardines del Rey: Great week

We had a great week. The food was good. The a la cartes were good too. The beach was rocky, but if you walk to the right it is much better. Thankfully we brought our own beach towels as they were out a lot. The workers were very friendly. Overall, it was a great week with lots of memories made.

Melia Las Dunas: Unfortunate trip experience

The resort was rather nice in general, although the rooms themselves did not seem that clean and the sheets gave me a bodily rash. My large group that booked the trip together was dispersed across the resort in different buildings which made it difficult to contact them and it took a long time to get to their rooms. It was also difficult finding my room and other facilities because there was little assistance offered for help. I also found it very difficult to communicate with the workers becaus [... read more]e the majority of them spoke very little english and did not understand my requests. Also, despite me being careful to drink only bottled water and foods that would be safe, I got very ill for about four days of my trip due to some of the bacteria in the food/water and had to pay to be taken to a clinic off the resort where I also had to pay for medication and needle injections. Overall my experience was not a good one although I did try hard despite me being Ill to make the best of the trip as I had looked forward to it for so long and saved up for the trip myself.

Melia Las Dunas: Lived up to expectations...which weren't high.

Service in lobby, bar and restaurants was adequate but service in rooms was lacking. Difficult to get towels and water replaced in rooms. Cleanliness was poor to fair. Friendliness of staff was inconsistent.

Melia Marina Varadero: Great Location well planned Hotel Complex

April 1st,2016 We want to thank Eliana for making the arrangements for our Cuban trip a great vacation. Our weather was mostly sunny and hot....even at nights when we watching the entertainment out side beside the marina side of the complex. It was beautiful at night with all the lights around the harbour and the building lights changing colours. Just to let you know the Melia Marina Varadero hotel complex was in a great location and we highly recommend this resort. The six story building that [... read more] we stayed in was fairly new about three years old with a great layout and was super clean with friendly hard working staff. Remember we wanted a harbour view but we were glad we didn't get one. We had two great location pool view rooms and we were also able to see the ocean in the back ground. We were on the third floor rooms #1302 and #1303. Our rooms were ready when we arrived at 11:00 am . The rooms were large attractively layed out with a large bathroom with a bathtub, toilet room and large walk-in shower and a good size balcony. Our room thank goodness was in the shade most of the hot days. The marina view rooms were mostly in the hot sun most of the day and that was where the entertainment played late at night. The hotel entertainment was different each night and was very professional and entertaining. Our attractive buffet dining room was on the second floor over looking the marina and most of the time we ate out on the balcony. We found the food good with plenty of variety ...our only complaint was the beef was a bit tough ...plenty of different types of fish selection and seafood dishes ...cooked on the grills, also breakfast grills and pasta grills and a variety of meats grills. There were five restaurants but we could only go to three and the food and service was great. There is also a bowling alley on the site and many stores along the marina board walks. There is plenty of a variety of places to walk The beach was super with a beach bar and plenty of beach lounging chairs. There was a beach lunch restaurant on a small hill with a beachy view .The pool area and pool bar are well planned out ...however could use more shaded areas. It was only a short walk over a walking bridge to the beach from the swimming pool area. There was also shuttle to take people to the beach if they did not want to walk over the walking/ shuttle bridge or because it was too hot . We highly recommend this resort

Sol Varadero Beach: Needs a face lift

The resort itself is falling apart, very little maintenance over the years it seems. It is a more rustic feel to say the least. However, the pools and bars were great, very close to the beach, and staff were friendly and professional. For the price, definetly worth the stay.

Paradisus Varadero: Amazing Resort

From the staff, to the beach to the experience they deliver combined - I would highly recommend this resort.The beach is directly connected to the resort, has several beach bars and can quickly be back in your room and back without any time spent. The rooms were really nice and gave us a feel of authenticity and were done up every day with fresh towels, bottles of water, beer and soda. Overall a great experience and we're already looking at returning. I heard so many poor things about the foo [... read more]d in Cuba but this resort really impressed me with the quality and options it has. They BBQ on the beach and provide chicken, burgers, etc and inside the food buffet has Pizza, Pasta (cooked to order) and additional meat for dinner. Breakfast and fresh made omelettes were by far my go to in the morning!

Melia Cayo Santa Maria: More Good Than Bad

Overall a nice experience, grounds very clean and nicely groomed, grounds crew always visible. Some minor eyesores such as walking path lights and garbage containers which had exposed wiring and were broken. The service was excellent, typical of the Cubans, genuine smiles for everyone and always wanting to please. Food was acceptable, but repetitive. Room was clean, a few upgrades would go a long way, newer showers and sink faucets. First day, the fridge was empty, I needed to call to have wa [... read more]ter, pops, beer and a coffee machine. Once that was completed, the service was flawless the rest of week. I walked long distance along both sides of the resort, I would say that this resort has one of the nicest ocean front, with plenty of shelter and seating, not unlike any other resorts, you still have to get up early for those prime spots, but still plenty available later in the morning. The pool is nice, im not a pool lounger, but did spend a few hours in and around the pool. I would recommend to some of my friends. We rarely go to the same resorts more than once, no exception here.

Melia Las Dunas: Amazing Beach

Nicest beach you can find. Resort could be cleaner in general. Public bathrooms were quite dirty. Room was far from clean which was a surprise since it wasn't the case in December. Great food. Amazing service. Resort was filled with a large conference and a group of 90 high school students. These kids were disrespectful to the staff and other guests. Should not be drinking that much at 16! This will make me rethink when booking again this fall.

Melia Jardines del Rey: Big resort.

Nice family resort, but not the nicest I've been to. Be prepared to get exercise walking as it is a large resort. My husband and I didn't mind as we know walking is great for our health. The grounds are pretty, more so on the side first completed as it has developed more. Public areas are nice with plenty of seats. The entertainment was just ok. We were very disappointed they cancelled the Michael Jackson show they used to have each week. The buffet was so so, selection could be better. 2 of the [... read more] 3 a la carte dinners were very delicious! Enjoyed the Oriental and Bistro a la carte, but food and service was lacking at the International a la carte. Upon arrival at our room on the resort we discovered it was not ready. The room hadn't been cleaned since the previous guests left. We were moved to another bungalow. We're we not as keen on the fact that we were to walk to our room after check in and wait for our luggage to be brought to us. There was a bit of a wait for the luggage. During our stay our mini bar was stocked only once and only because we called customer service to report this wasn't being looked after. The beach is rather rocky and you really need to were water socks. Most of the staff were very friendly, very nice people! Really made our stay a pretty positive one.

Melia Cayo Santa Maria: AWSEMEN RESORT COULDN,T ASK FOR ANYTHING BETTER

ENJOYED EVERY THING ABOUT MY WEEK ,ALL STAFF, RESORT, FOOD GROUNDS ETC.POOLS , BEACH,DRINKS,RESTERANTS I AM HOPING CUBA STAYS THE WAY THAT IS BEST FOR CUBA I ALSO ENJOYED THE ENTER TAIMENT THANKS AGAIN

Melia Jardines del Rey: Good resort

The bad thing was no towals to many mosquitos in the room, hard pillows, too much walking to go anywhere in the resort, no too much selection on food, service was ok, night shows was ok too, no too much selection in alcohol just beer available