Melia Jardines del Rey: Worst holiday ever in Cuba!

The physical surroundings are new..but that is it. Hostile aggressive and atmosphere .. beach is rocky -- boulders ...never quiet .. techno music constantly , Cuba army on beach drinking, smoking throwing butts on beach & water, Cuban families take over the beach and water drinking .. etc. imposing.. be prepared to take hrs for food , tourists pushy , greedy with food ,, rude .. I am very positive, resilient traveler, but his place does not give any Cuba hospitality .. rather go to a tired resor [... read more]t that respect their workers and tourists .. advertises as 4 star.. only in buildings.. service, atmosphere is hostile , aggressive , disrespectful -- unlike any resort I have been to in Cuba ..owned by Spain .. management must be awful to work for to create such a hostile place .. will never return there or recommend to anyone

Melia Las Antillas: PERFECT Beach!

I'll just start by saying this was my first tropical vacation. The beach was incredible. Any pictures or videos you see of the beach will not do it justice. It was truly perfect. The hotel itself was OK. We had a junior suite on the very first floor and didn't like it at all. Didn't smell too fresh and just looked a little dirty. We ended up upgrading to the VIP package and the new room was ocean view on the 5th floor. Same room layout just much cleaner and nicer. Staff was very nice and friend [... read more]ly. The grounds were nice as well. The pond that extends throughout the grounds didn't smell that great at certain times but for the most part was OK. The pool was fantastic. Night life was also OK. They had a different show every night on the resort around 9:30 and it lasted an hour. After the show we usually sat on the patio and had a few drinks. There was a small "club/disco/bar" on the resort that we usually went to because that's pretty much the only thing going on after 11PM. Excursions. We did the Havana "Special" and Catamaran with Dolphins. The Havana Special was good but LONG. 8AM pickup and didn't get back to the hotel until 3AM. We were actually misinformed about the timing of this trip (we were told 8AM to about 7 PM) but that's another story in itself. We got to see old and new Havana and a bunch of other cool things. Worth it I'd say. Now, Catamaran with Dolphins. YOU. NEED. TO. DO. IT. It was literally like living a dream. If you need to do one, do this one. I'm not even going to get into it. Just go. I promise you'll love it. Lastly, the food. Ugh.. it really wasn't that good in my opinion. They have three restaurants on the resort and none of them were really better than the buffet itself. My girlfriend and I both had upset stomachs for a few days we were there. We met another couple that had similar problems. The food at the resort was the ONLY reason why I was looking forward to finally heading home. I didn't eat anything by day 7.

Melia Las Antillas: Good

Good- we were disappointed in the drinks and food. There were a lot of ants in the room. The service wasn't great but we were fortunate enough to find a few servers that we really liked, tipped them well and they took good care of us during our stay.

Paradisus Princesa Del Mar: Beautiful Beach!

The water was blue, clear and warm! The grounds were well kept and the facilities were gorgeous. The food was the low point of the resort even at the Royal Service restaurant where we stayed. Safe and friendly.

Melia Marina Varadero: Great Resort

We arrived around midnight and our check-in was painfully slow because there was only one lady working at the counter at the time. This resort is beautiful and the room is average as we did not take the upgrade to level. We were given 6 rooms and some were facing the marina and some were facing the pool. Both have nice views and the property is clean. The marina is nice however there are too many garbage (empty plastic cups and bags) floating around. It would be nice if the managements have some [... read more]one to pick up the waste disposal in the marina. Our maid went an extra miles to make sure our room was comfortable and clean however the water boys only allowed one bottle of water daily and will not give extra even with a note asking for an extra one. We went as a group of 12 people, our ages are from 12 to 60 yr old. We wouldn't rate it as five stars but for sure 4.5 stars. We find the food salty however the fresh juices were excellent. Breakfast buffet was okay, food quality was average. There were only three À la carte restaurants opened at the time of our visit (July 11 to July 18/15). There were Casa Burguete, Bana and Don Ernesto. Snacks bar (Habana) opens 24 hours per day and they serve burgers, fries, sandwiches etc. If you like ketchup it is recommended that you bring your own (we did) as the ketchup over there taste very different. On the other hand our server Yesmany, he was excellent and friendly. He remembers our drinks and we enjoyed chatting with him. There were times we found it was very hard to communicate with hotel staffs due to language barrier. The only problem we had was one of the bartender in the 24 hours lounge. I would say he is Cuban and he will not serve you if you don't have any money in your hand. The others bartenders were friendly. The 24 hours lounge do have live music at every night before the entertaining shows. We did enjoy the entertaining shows and music. We would rate five stars for their entertainment programs. The only downfall was one of the older bartender in the 24 hours lounge will not serve you if you do not have money in your hand. He also told the younger bartender not to serve people without money in their hand in front of other customers. Overall, we had a good time. This resort is clean, safe and friendly (except the older bartender).

Paradisus Princesa Del Mar: Great beach, Substandered Service

The pool and beach were amazing. The AC in our room never worked properly and the service from the front desk was substandard at best. Essentially they were not interested in their guests comfort or needs.

Sol Varadero Beach: Very Friendly Staff!

This resort was nicer than expected! We were welcomed into a large and beautiful lobby where we were served with some cold refreshments and cold face towels while checking in. A nice treat to make us feel special and welcomed. The staff from the start were very upbeat, friendly, sociable and customer service-orientated. The grounds were very well kept with lots of gardeners and painters keeping the place looking well maintained. The food was good and the Reserved Restaurants had very good foo [... read more]d especially El Rancho. The website did not include this detail but they hold a strict policy of pants for men for the evening reserved restaurants. It's an outdated rule and was bypassed by many wearing pajama bottoms which they accepted. A little silly considering the nice dress shorts that are available. The expansive pool was nice and pretty clean considering the number of bathers using it. Could it be cleaner - yes, as it's due for a good scrub down. But, we felt quite comfortable in it. The pool bars were very busy and the bartenders did an amazing job serving everyone with their varied drink orders and a big smile. We primarily booked this resort over similar ones because of the on-resort water-park. It was busy but the wait times were very short. It was a great way to break up the day. The beach had seaweed issues washing up on shore and we were told this is a time of year thing. There was a tractor that did daily cleaning of it but it seemed to be a never ending process. Nonetheless, we spent many hours at the beach. We had a junior suite which was nice to have the extra room. The beds are somewhat hard and seems to be a common complaint amongst reviewers. That would be a recommendation to the resort to upgrade their mattresses. The room was clean and well kept with a balcony. Cleaning staff did a daily sweep of the room, replaced towels, made the beds and left flowers regularly. We were impressed with the timely upkeep of food, drinks and ice. Any time something was empty it was quickly replaced. There's no shortage of getting food on the resort, whether on the beach, by the pool, at the water-park or by the lobby. The pizza and chicken is very good. We had an iPad stolen while we were waiting at the buffet. To our surprise it showed up four days later in the lost and found! Thank you Apple for making them very secure! And thank you very much to the person that returned it. All staff were very friendly! Actually pretty much all Dominicans we met on and off the resort were very friendly.

Melia Las Americas: Beautiful Beach!

We had a great time. The resort was very nice. The beach was amazing. The staff were very friendly and helpful. I do think the bar staff could have taken a little more pride when making cocktails. Worst margarita I have ever had. No umbrellas or fruit with frozen drinks. Also, I found some of the other guests to be very rude.

Melia Las Dunas: First time in Cayo Santa Maria

I've been to Varadero a few times but first time in Cayo Santa Maria. While it does take longer to get there the drive didn't seem as long as I anticipated. The room was good, and I was pleasantly surprised that it had a balcony as it stated on our booking that it didn't. Couple of downsides with the room was that the bed was very hard and some of the sheets/towels had stains on them. Food was pretty good, I'm not a picky eater so it's hard for me to really judge how good it was. My partner is  [... read more]a chef and he was worried about how the food would be but he was able to eat just fine while there. The only thing he didn't like was the seafood lunch buffet outdoors as it lacked flavour, and the calamari at the sports bar as it was chewy and salty. Make sure you bring long pants for the a la carte restaurants, we weren't able to go to Romantico as my partner didn't have any. Perhaps they could keep a couple of long pants on hand just in case? Drinks-no complaints. Entertainment- the best night was the beach party. Beach- of course it was great I've always felt that Cuba has the most beautiful beaches. Very glad at the amount of lounge chairs and shade available, where I've been before you'd have to get up very early to save a seat. None of that here you can saunter on at any time and still get chair Staff were great, friendly as always in Cuba no complaints. Buses were a bit delayed but as one of the staff mentioned "there's your time, then there's cuban time"-how do you even argue with that?? ;)

Memories Cayo Largo: Resort was acceptable.

The resort was clean and well maintained. The service was excellent. The beds were very UNcomfortable. The food was fine and the restaurants were excellent as well as the service at the restaurants. I would never fly Cubana Air again. There was very little room in the seats, thank goodness the flight was less than 4 hours. Service on the plane was good.

Hotel Camino del Mar: Nice one

We were in room 1311 and I loved it. Resort was small so everything was close by - the beach, dining area, pool, bar. This resort is close to Pilar beach and it is a must see. Everyone was friendly and place was clean. My favourite food was lamb, roasted pig, and beef goulash with rice. International drinks are included in the price so you don't have to drink local baverages. Fridge in the room always contained bottled water, pop, and beer. One day my daughter was sick, doctor was amazing! Staff [... read more] from the dining allowed me to take food to the room for my daughter. Overall, we all loved it! Oh yeh, entertainment was awsam! Thank you all for this great time in Cayo Guillermo, Melia Cayo Guillermo resort!

Tryp Cayo Coco: Great resort

Great resort for the price, large open grounds for nice walks. Check out all the cool birds in the one pond and all the flamingos, take bread to feed them. Staff is very attentive. Pools are very nice, beach water is super, sand all the way out no rocks to walk on. A la carte restaurants were great, oriental was our favourite.

Paradisus Princesa Del Mar: Luxury at its best!

We arrived at night and could not fully appreciate the beauty of the grounds. We woke up the next day to see the beautiful pool on one side of us and the ocean on the other side. We had the Royal Service upgrade...Wow was it worth it. We had our private area. The pool , the beach and since we are foodies, the private restaurant for the Royal Service guest was Amazing. The place was clean, nicely decorated with everything you could want. The Butler service took us by surprise. They took care of a [... read more]ny reservations and concerns we had. The people were absolutely beautiful and caring. The water was the nicest and clearest I have ever seen. It was 30 minutes from the airport, which was nice not having to drive too long or far.

Melia Marina Varadero: Clean & pleasant - Can't complain!

Jiovanni and jasmela in the main buffet gave excellent service (with their serving partners). We stayed in the apartments which was a nice amount of space for my family of 5. My parents stayed in the main hotel which was also a nice room - but possibly a mold smell from the dampness of the A/C. Service was nice in most places we went to on the resort. Latin and French a la carte restaurants were decent. The night shows were entertaining but run until 10:30 or 11pm each evening (late for the kids [... read more]). We would go back if given the chance.

Melia Las Americas: Fabulous resort

This was our first time to Varadero and 5th time in Cuba. Love the weather and love the people. We have decided that we will be back to Varadero and back to this resort in the future. The resort was very clean, staff were very friendly, rooms were very clean, beach was amazing!!! Pools were very clean although they could have used a painting. Food was great. We had never experienced having the general manager greet people in the morning, afternoon and evening. Loved the warm way he treated the s [... read more]taff as well. Bernard is a very personable individual. Truly enjoyed staying at this resort. We really couldn't find any fault with our whole experience at this resort.

Paradisus Punta Cana: Great Resort

Resort is very clean and most of the staff extremely friendly. Rooms are somewhat dated but very clean and functional. If you're going on a trip to stay in your room you're wasting your time. Only place on the strip that used bulldozers to clean up the beach of the unusually high level of seaweed. Most other places used manual labour and took 3 days to get it done. All the restaurants we visited had great food but some of the reservation restaurants could offer a little more variety and bigger p [... read more]lates. Some of the staff at the NAOS restaurant were more than willing to make you food even at 3 am and one time prepared 5 pizzas for my son and his friends. A big shout out to Anthony Contraras who made things lively and fun even after 13 straight hours of work.

Melia Jardines del Rey: Amazing resort!

We just came back from a wonderful week at Melia Jarnines del Ray! The resort is still being built but that didn't stop us from enjoying one bit! Exceptional service, friendly, welcoming staff. They always went out of there way to welcome you! Rooms were excellent and clean! Pools were superb and always had loungers available no need to wake up early in order to get one. The beach is a little rocky at the shore but beautiful shallow sandbars were enjoyed by all! Great couples resort and family r [... read more]esort!! We are planning our next trip to Melia Jardines del Ray and brining the kids this time : )

Melia Las Americas: Location and service

The hotel location was perfect, beach and food awesome! The staff very friendly. 3rd time in Cuba and first time at the Melia Las America and for sure not our last. The price for July was too high and was disappointed with the room (2 single beds) with not quit an ocean view even though we paid extra for it. That was the only point I would improve on.

Memories Cayo Largo: Not impress at all :(

Sol Cayo Largo was not a good place to vacation :( we had to change 3 times our room ! 1 st room we had a big water damage coming down from the shower upstairs all a big water fall all over the room :( room 2 patio door didnt close was broken so all the mosquitoes could come in and the 3 rd room after trying to fix the air conditioner no luck it was barely working imagine in this july heat with the humidity how we felt ... Horrible !! the resort have GIANT crabs walking all over the resort EVERY [... read more]WERE !! the buffet is infested with millions of flies ! on 7 days the little train that takes you to the beach was broken 3 times ...at the a la carte that says air condioner its not working its broken ... all week it was :( we have to wait 1 day and 1/2 for our room towels each day calling reception to have bathroom towels for the shower .... the staff was nice trying its best but this resort needs to renovate and get rid of the crabs :s they have 2 private beaches further that we enjoyed very much with the taxi back and forth but beware one of them has noone to call you a taxi to come back we waited 1h and 10 mins in the heat on the side of the road !! so no will never go back and we will not tell others to go to this resort or island : s ive been to Cuba before in varadero mexico bahamas dominican republic Aruba and this has been my worst trip !!

Sol Palmeras: Fabulous Resort Amazing Staff

Arriving at the hotel check in was a breeze, we had requested 2 bungalows side by side in a central area as we were traveling with kids 8, 15 and 19 we were very happy to have exactly that! The bungalows were spotless and kept clean our whole stay. Fresh towels and supplies daily, thank you Dasey! We did have a problem with the air conditioner in one of the bungalows which was fixed within 2 hours. Over all the food was excellent. Certain people expect things to be the same everywhere but you ha [... read more]ve to remember it isn't Canada. Fresh fish, chicken, pork and beef grilled right for you. Omelettes made exactly the way you want! The staff at the hotel were pleasant and very helpful with information we needed they never made us wait for anything. From the ones who drove the train, Jimmy to the guys at the lounge bar Carlos, Rene, Alain, Fernando and Francisco in the snack kitchen. The grounds were always being maintained and cleaned. (amazing how disrespectful people are when it's not their own?) The lounges at the pool and beach were in great condition. Yuneil and Orlando who looked after the pool and beach were amazing, always had the perfect amount of shade and sun for the lounge! The beach towels were in excellent condition and Alexis always had a smile. The activities were endless, dancing with Yamile by the pool to volleyball on the beach, basketball on the court or playing ping-pong or darts! Madeline served the best ice cream! And of course the front desk, the guys who drove the carts and the ones in the kitchen, the staff at Sol Palmeras did a fabulous job! Our family had an amazing time and I highly recommend going.