Not a 5 star resort

Resort beach is excellent. Food is horrible!! Apparently the resort was fully booked and the service was like a 3 star or lower hotel. Rooms were not that great for a 5 star hotel. so all in one we would not return to this resort.

1 week is never enough!

Our 6th time to this resort and it won't be our last. The repeat customer upgrades are awesome and all the Royal Service staff is great! William, Virginia and Mary Carmen made this another memorable week. All resort staff are very friendly and work hard to keep the customers happy. Royal pool bar has the best coffee and the Royal lobby bar has the best "iced" margaritas, and always has Buccanero. There is always a good variety of food for even "MOST" of the picky eaters. The Japanese restaur [... read more]ant is a must, and if you take a trip to Varadero and like lobster, go to El Rancho! This was our first trip in February so was more$, and first time here with Air Transat out of Saskatoon. Way better flight times than AC and Sunwing, and Options Plus made trip even better. One negative this trip was mosquitos. Tiny, painless and fast when you see them. Bites are very itchy the next day, but there is an aloe vera plant straight across the sidewalk North of "The Rockhouse Grill". It stinks but it works. They did fog every evening but can't kill 'em all!

Great Resort, good value

Resort is a little out dated, but the beach is gorgeous, food at general buffet was ok, nothing special, but al-la carte restaurants were amazing! Not much night life on the resort, but lots to do off the resort in Varadero!

Could have done better!

This was our second stay at this facility. The in-room coffeemakers have not worked in two years in four different rooms. The A/C on the West side of building 5 did not work despite requests for 4 days to fix it. Everything in our room was damp and stank of mold/mildew. We were invited to the Royal Service section for dinner. The dinner ended up overshadowed by the 1.5 inch cockroach in the washroom. Forget getting decent liquor. The Lobby Bar, Corona Bar and Piano Lounge were consistently out o [... read more]f Bailey's. Crown Royal was only available in the Royal section. The beds are hard and the pillows way too soft. The employees are really nice for the most part.

Solid performer.

Location is very good. Beach front is great for relaxing, good for water activities, good for swimming and fair for snorkeling. The ground of the hotel were excellent. Tennis courts were good. Food was God for Cuba, good selection of resteraunt and snack bars were convenient.

Fantastic resort

We arrived in Cuba to huge lines at the airport and actually spent three long hours in a line to get through only one open scanning machine! There were four or five and what seemed like enough staff to open even a couple more of the scanners but didn't happen and there was absolutely no apologies for the wait. We had a good drive to the airport and were greeted upon arrival with a nice drink and thankfully no line at our check in. The two women at the desk were very sweet and told us we were g [... read more]oing to love our rooms! They had upgraded us to the "Royal Service" which was, as it turned out, a huge turn around to our thinking about Cuba thus far! We were very impressed with our rooms and having a separate area without lines and crowding at the restaurant, the bars, and even around the pool was an added bonus for sure! We were very happy with the hotel and its amenities and the cleanliness is definitely appreciated. I wish the food was more flavourful however! There isn't any real flavour to anything. Garlic and some simple spices would go a long way in their food prep! We weren't fans of Cuba and although this hotel exceeded any hotel expectations, we likely won't hurry back as we are huge fans of Mexico and will make that destination our next one!

Fantabulous

Lovely hotel .lots of choices in hotel and enjoyed experiencing various restaurants to book for dinner in evening . We visited the Japanese themed restaurant twice . We loved it . Food fantastic . All the staff at the hotel were very friendly and helpful . Night entertainment 5 star and a wonderful experience . The hotel grounds very colourful and well kept . Rooms immaculate .

Great resort

Excellent service,very clean.Everyone friendly.Food & drinks great!The rooms were clean.The only problem we encountered was with wifi.It would be nice to have printed instructions as how to access it instead of having to bother the staff at reception.(logging on & off)

As good as it gets

It's a nice 18+ resort. Though the gender demographic is more about 50+. The beach is nice not too busy. Good restaurants. Things that needs improvement: 1. We were getting only two bath towels a day. I always had to call room service for more. The shampoos and other shower supplies never got refreshed. Luckily we had our own stuff. 2. I saw a cockroach walking on the pastries one morning at the buffet. I informed the staff but I was grossed out. 3. You can't reserve the restaurants onlin [... read more]e and once you get there have to spend an hour in line waiting only to tell you that every is booked. The irony is you walk by the restaurants at dinner time and see there is room

Was expecting more

This was our first trip to Cuba. We traveled with 10 others who have been before. The hotel in itself was nice. Rooms were large, clean and modern. We were all suppose to be in the same building, but we were spread around in 4 different buildings. The resort advertises that there is a DR on site, but the day we needed one, there was NOT! The pool was lovely, except for the fact that the bar ran OUT of beer TWICE. The lobby bar also ran out of beer of ONCE! The service in the snack bar is EXT [... read more]REMELY slow.. we ordered and waited almost 2 hours.. and nothing came so we left.. Hot tubs were NOT working! The Rock House says it is open 24 hours.. it closed between 11 and 12 pm EVERY NIGHT. No music paying at the pool. we asked. they said only on certain days.. so we brought our own. We made dinner reservations online before we left home for our party of 12.. when we got there the reservations were only for 6. had to have this corrected for all reservations. It was a great vacation with all of our friends and we met some nice people, but I am not really sure if we will come back to del Mar..

Paradisus Princesa Del Mar in Varadero Beach

The hotel was clean, the rooms were clean and the Junior Suites were a good size. Had all that we would need. The grounds were well kept. The pools were great and well maintained. I only wish I could have gone swimming at night, but that is when the put the chemicals in.. Food was average but had many selections of places to eat. Service varied from good to great. I would definitely go back.

Ok

Service was slow they were constantly running out of things their entertainment was half ass and everything seemed to be a cash grab and they never seem to have change for bigger bills always looking for tips even though service was mediocre

Good resort

The good: Stayed Feb 4-11 2017 traveled with a group of 12 overall it was a good experience, pool was amazing beach is fantastic, Piano bar was a ton of fun the staff there at night are great. Nightly shows in the square. The À la carte restaurants were all really good Personally I likes the Japanese and Italian best, the buffet was decent with lots of selection for you to find things you enjoy. the 24 hour snack bar was busy as night life comes to an early end and everyone seems to go there,  [... read more] day time is very relaxing, Overall we had a really fun time. The not so great: Service: in my experience it was kind of slow at most bars/snack bar (with exception to the Piano bar and Pool bar) Alcohol Supply: We found that Kegs and bottles were constantly out Kahlua, Beer, Vodka etc, ran out everyday, Bottles didn't seem to get replaced until the following day and Beer kegs would have to be moved over from other areas, it was like every bar had one keg when it ran out it was a good 45 mins before another could be found defiantly a downer when your at dinner etc and cant get a beer till your leaving. Poolside Entertainment: VERY lacking, little to no music only 1 day was pool side music set up, most people had to use phones or portable speakers to have any music poolside. Nightlife:As I stated Piano bar was a lot of fun, However it doesn't start till 9:30-10pm it closes down at midnight on most nights. Disco again Very lacking in this area it is random at best some days in the hallway, sometimes in the piano bar after it ends,night life is over at 1 am, except on Saturdays it goes till 2am. Recommendations: 1) A dedicated disco would be Ideal that stays open later for all the dancers on vacation, 2) Having a few kegs on had per bar would be a good start instead of just one we encountered this at every bar through the week. 3) Pool side Music should be a Daily thing. In closing we did really enjoy our stay, had no issues with rooms they were clean. staff were friendly as said before some really great people work at this resort. I do recommend the hotel but look off resort for nightlife, Hopefully they make some adjustments.

Beautiful surroundings

Lovely rooms, beautifully kept grounds, friendly service, adequate food, fantastic beach, large clean pools, WI-FI access-reasonable cost per hour, entertainment was good to excellent, specialty restaurants varied in quality from fair to very good. Although this is a five star hotel in Cuba it is not equivalent to a five star hotel in Canada and if you visit Cuba you have to keep in mind that there will be differences. The hospitality is wonderful!

Great hotel

The hotel is very nice. I found the food good and loved the idea that I could book all the a la cart on line This saved me from lining up and waiting to book a restaurant. Alot of people complained that it took forever to book at the hotel. Some of the staff was not the friendliness I found and slow. The rooms were very clean and we had no problem with the housekeeping. The mattress was not the best and the rooms could use a face lift. The entertainment was very good but could use more music an [... read more]d stuff around the pool during the day. I found the resort very quiet doing the day a little more music and more staff involvement with the guest would have been great. Beaches were great and plenty of room to relaxes. We had no problem getting a lounger by the pool or the beach. All and all the resort is good but could use an update and the staff could use more training on guest relations. Also it was very hard to tip we could never get dollars at the hotel bank. Every time I went they said the smallest bill is 3 cuc. Your question if I would recommend this hotel can go either way depends on the person if your looking for alot of stuff to do and activity during the day then I would so no.

Fabulous service,food and rooms

Went with 3 girl friends for a fun week. The food was fantastic, the service exemplary (special shout out to Javier in the lobby bar). One of the group had a seafood allergy and all the restaurant staff absolutely assured her that there would be no cross contamination. The vibe was very chill and it was definitely an older crowd than I was expecting but a fabulous week at a beautiful resort. Would definitely go back.

Awesome Resort

This Hotel is amazing, the staff are incredible, the food was fantastic and the beach and pools were perfect. We had an amazing time here and will definitely return in a heartbeat. The rooms are very nice and everything worked well.

Disappointments

DO NOT TAKE ROOM 3111 and the room beside. Although we were upgraded to a suite at our request (we were celebrating our 45th wedding anniversary), we provide you with our disappointments and concerns. The first is that our suite smelled of sewage and not musty.. We initially reported to the maid and she would put a spray. Towards the end of our stay my wife couldn't stand any longer and reported again by going to the front desk and they did not do anything after promising us that it would get f [... read more]ix. The resort was purchased by (Melia). Before this time all international drinks were inclusive. No we had to pay 6 pesos (8:40dollars Canadian per drinks). The Bamboo restaurant was our favorite the first time we were there and now it was the worst. The shower head in the bathroom was broken. Luckily there was a second small shower we were able to use. I used the gym every morning at 7:00 am and noticed that a tread mill was not functioning with a sign on it that said "Out of order. The same machine of 7 years ago. This was a 5 star resort but now is lot less. Staff was nice, room was clean but utensils were sometime dirty and plate greasy Really too bad...... Not returning.

Beautiful Resort

Fairly quick check in. Requested building close to the beach which we received. (Bldg 1). Definitely closer to beach but a bit of a hike to lobby and pool area. Nice room, large bath, great water pressure and lots of hot water. Booked 2 alacarte restaurants prior to our trip and both were accommodated. Highly recommend as guests complain reservations were difficult to make after their arrival. Food at alacarte restaurants was amazing - so so at buffet. Spent most of our time on the beautif [... read more]ul beach. Beach bar was cute but if you are looking for something other than a cerveza or rum and coke, I would recommend the lobby bar. Enjoyed coffee and cappuccino in the lobby prior to going for breakfast (much better than at the buffet). The rock house is also a great option for lunch or dinner.

Beautiful resort and beach

Excellent resort. Well maintained grounds, good entertainment and pleasant courteous staff Royal Service was especially good. Enjoyed the room, the pools and the restaurants.****************************************