Iberostar Origin Playa Alameda: Below expectations

I found most aspects of this resort to be below standard or at least below expectations. From the start, the hotel reception staff seemed indifferent and often bothered that we had arrived. Simple requests, like requesting a bottle of water, having wifi activated in the room, etc, were returned with furrowed brows and no response. No one took the time, to show the resort but pointed to the map drawing (illegible) propped on a dirty display on lobby counter. Was given a key and had to figu [... read more]re out where the building and room were. We had to wait 24hrs for the next scheduled Sunwing rep appt session in order to get some perspective on the resort. At which time he really only offered ppl info on what to do if you’re traveling outside the resort. Rooms were dated and dirty. Maintenance staff were inconsistent, walk through rooms in dirty outside shoes, didn’t always change sheets/towels and spent a lot of time yelling at each other across rooms and buildings. The resort was very noisy all day with constant 90’s dance music playing at all times. Food was mediocre and service and service same. The lady who booked dinner reservations was unhelpful, didn’t speak English and petitioned me to buy Canadian coins, twice. All went from average to worse, following the delayed flights at the end of vacay.

Melia Jardines del Rey: Resort has seen better days

Lobby is nice and open but the seating area is in desperate need of new cushions and more chairs. The fountain areas have no guard rails or lighting amd people would fall which is very dangerous. The pool chairs are old and saggy and lots of mold. The bottom of the pools tiles are broken causing bleeding feet to adults and children. Only had 1 buffet open for hundreds of people resulting in long line ups to even get in. Due to lack of staff, Public bathrooms were closed most times and when they  [... read more]were open no toilet paper. So you had to go back to your room to use the bathroom. Food was horrible but then again we expected that in Cuba. Very limited choices but the bread was fresh and great. The beach is very far from the resort and very rocky and you needed water shoes to go in. Would never go back to this resort and would not recommend it. Definitely NOT a 5-star

Hotel Mojito: Great getaway

Nice hotel, love the weather walking distance to the beach, my only complaint is the local shops in and around the hotel are overpriced. Other than that it is a great getaway from Canada's harsh winter and I would totally recommend this resort or Cayo Coco in general.

Melia Peninsula Varadero: Nice resort!

Just spent a week at this hotel and we’re very pleased with everything! Booked the vacation with uncertain expectations due to Covid and supply shortages in Cuba. The beach was exceptionally nice and clean. The hotel and grounds were well maintained and clean. The rooms could use a little upgrading ( bathroom and showers amazing). The staff were very outgoing and friendly and seemed to go the extra mile to make our vacation great. This resort had all the condiments that’s my teenagers love!

Playa Pesquero: Still good and popular!

Still well maintained and serviced! There is no green pool here as some had mentioned..sure it may not sparkle due to some shortages,but still clean and clear. Food was plentiful and awesome,as was the alcohol. Unfortunately...pop was scarce...especially cola. Staff are their usual outgoing self and make you feel warm and welcome. BUT if your cigar hunting...good luck. Even the dark market is dry..Cuba has placed a moratorium on their cigars as its the only comodity that is truly tradeab [... read more]le for them. Humidors are just more empty shelf space for the people of Cuba to store dust I'm afraid.

Playa Pesquero: Very good resort

I have stayed in the premium area that has some extra features compared with the regular one I have been before: The buildings have one or 2 levels with 2 rooms per level that have entries on opposite sites The main room is very large and besides the usual amenities has an espresso machine, like a Nespresso small size with capsules. There are 2 entries, each side of the bed, to a large bathroom that has a double sink, a jacuzzi and a shower – the washroom has its own room with a door From [... read more] bathroom through a door, you have access to an outside balcony shower with high walls. The balcony has a twin bed where you can rest. The grounds are well maintained, and the area is quiet. At both snack bar and restaurant, you order the food from a menu. The Los Almacigos restaurant has a small buffet for breakfast and from the menu you can get extras like eggs or pancakes specialties. At the dinner the long pants are required. The food presentation is outstanding. At the beach there is a reserved area for the Premium clients. You can go and use any place on the beach or go to the buffets in the other area with no restrictions. Please get some kind of bug repellent because some of you, especially ladies, will get of lot of bites from Jejen (mosquito or sand flies that you can barely see them) which the locals will pronounce Hehen. Everybody in this area is very attentive to your needs and my special thanks go to Yanet (pronounce Janet), the lady that took care of our room. Enjoy your stay!

Barcelo Solymar: Great Trip...Awesome Resort

It was a 4 Day, Girls Trip to Barcelo Solymar, Cuba. However, half of this resort was under renovations. We made used of its Sister Hotel, Occidental Arenas Blancs. We had everything we needed between these two hotels. This trip was very exciting, since the hotels were situated across the street from Downtown, Cuba, where, the Famous Calle 62, still is....Live Cuban Music and Dancing. The Havana Club is, still just down the street from Calle 62. There was Disco Music for Dancing, from 11 p [... read more]m to 3 am. Also, the Famous Beatles Bar, was also in this Downtown Area. It has nightly a vast selection of Live Music from 8 pm, free of charge. The location of Barcelo Solymar was perfect in every way. We stayed at the beautiful bungalows....and the food was Cuban Style. Since we had a choice of two hotels, to be entertained, to eat and to explore, I feel this is the best choice for Downtown Varadero Hotels, which met our needs in everyway.

Muthu Colonial Hotel: The hotel is ok! Looks nice from the outside but inside is old. Beautiful beach!

For the money that we spent, we were not happy. If it was under $800, I would say it was acceptable. We checked in two days late because of the flight delayed. By this time the room was not quite ready. The fridge was empty. The main door and window was hard to lock. I felt unsafe to leave our belonging unattended. Checked in was horrible. The hotel receptionist was struggling. He seemed confused. It was almost like our reservations were cancelled because of our late arrival. We had to [... read more] leave our passports with him for 2 hours for him to check us in. He said the system was down, but I believed something else went wrong…

Iberostar Coral Esmeralda: Cute Quiet Resort Except…

This hotel was fantastic until the very last day. They have lots of options for food and everything is very cleanly. The staff here are incredibly friendly and helpful. However, one particular receptionist -Dennis- should be fired and you should stay away at all cost. Very rude, disrespectful, and unprofessional. I had asked for a late checkout the night before as our bus was not leaving until 5:00 and the staff there told me that we just need to pay after we checkout. When I went up at around 2 [... read more]:00 (planned checkout at 5:00 and regularly checkout at 12:00), Dennis rudely asked “do you know what time it is?” as if I didn’t know. He then proceeded to deny us our late b/c checkout was at 12:00. When I explained to him that we were told to pay when we leave and that the staff the night before wrote this in the reception notebook, he refused to check the notes as he “doesn’t care” while also refusing to allow me to speak with his manager about this matter. The whole situation took 2 hours to settle and for them to do the simple task of allowing me to pay and activating the key card for my room. This could have been a 10/10 trip if it were not for this.

Melia Jardines del Rey: Great 1st time Caribbean all inclusive

Great value nice room. Staff were nice and helpful.Food buffet was a bit of a mess at times and one of sit down restaurants was overwhelmed and under serviced. Overall was impressed for 1st time experience

Playa Pesquero: Playa Pesquero

This is the second time we (my wife and I) have stayed in Playa Pesquero following are our review, likes and dislikes: 1. Hotel staff are good, friendly and helpful. 2. La playa is always nice 3. Food has always been one of the drawbacks but this time food quality has even deteriorated since the last time we stayed in this hotel 4. We (four of us) stayed in the hotel for 9 days and we reserved 5 a la carte, unfortunately only one of the a la carte had good decent food. 5. This is the 6 t [... read more]imes we have been to Cuba , still like the weather and the beach but I think we'll stay away from Playa Pesquero.

Vila Gale Cayo Santa Maria: Overall great resort

The hotel was great. Rooms are spacious and comfortable, grounds are beautiful and well maintained. Staff is very friendly and always eager to help. Food was also great. With all the reviews and reviews of shortages of food, we did not experience any of that while we were there. The only things that were a little off was the napkins, they were cut in half as it was probably to conserve paper. But honestly not a big deal at all. if you want to get into details but again not a big deal: Cof [... read more]fee-not great, get yourself an Americano or expresso at the bars, they were great, Spanish coffee even better if you like alcohol. Beach is beautiful and clean, nothing like cuba beaches but this one goes on for miles. BEWARE....Sand fleas, mosquitos are the worse. I was and still am covered in bites. if you go to the beach, read up on sand fleas. I would have used bug spray if I knew. take a shower immediately after coming from the beach as they will be on your clothes and or bags/towels. Most people we encountered had the same problem and they are super uncomfortable and itchy. BUG SPRAY IS A MUST, other than that it was a great stay and would highly recommend this resort to everyone.

Playa Vista Azul: Good value

The room was clean and comfortable. The food was acceptable. Often the same thing mixed with other vegetables. The grounds were well kept. The staff friendly but the service very slow at times. I often just got up to get my own fork or knife. The entertainment was great except one night where they used men from the audience as their entertainment. What they did was highly inappropriate for children. Many of the parents were leaving with their children. The MC was humping a chair, there was a man [... read more] dressed in drag doing a lap dance to some unsuspecting men, some of them with their children in the audience. Some of the men who volunteered to be on stage left the stage angrily. The whole thing was below the belt "entertainment". The pools were clean and great for swimming, unlike other resorts that basically have wading pools, never more than a metre deep.

Playa Pesquero: Playa Pesquero resort

Just returned December22nd, 2022. I have been to this resort 5 times over the last 10 years. There have been many improvements to this resort, improved night lighting, updated rooms (at least in our area) and updated furniture. The grounds are well maintained, pools clean, and of course the beach is heavenly, lots of chairs and shady areas. The staff have always been most pleasant, making sure the tourist are happy and well cared for. I must say that the food quality has gone down. Most a-la [... read more]-cartes have the same menu, except for the Gondola and the Romantica which are enjoyable. The buffets are good, again lack of choice, breakfasts are the best. By the way, the Duty free shop at the airport does accept Canadian and U.S. currency. Suggestion, when going to Cuba, bring $10-$20 bills and exchange them with the workers for 10-20 $1 . You'll have lots of tip money and the workers can deposit the bills at their bank. Banks in Cuba do not accept Canadian $1 & $2 dollar coins.

Memories Paraiso: Terrible

Paid for Diamond Club. Don’t bother. I’ll start at the beginning. No welcome drink upon arrival. No special treatment with regard to check in line ups, no ocean view room available. Stuck us in a horrible old room. Told us to come back in the morning for an ocean view room. Returned in the morning to be told still no room. Asked to come back in the afternoon. Keep in mind we’ve now spent a whole day trying to get the room we paid for. Went back in the afternoon. Still no room. Went to the  [... read more]Sunwing Rep and refused to accept the room they put us in. She did her best and managed to move us to Sanctuary Resort. A nicer and adult only resort within the Memories complex of hotels. Finally happy with a new room, still not ocean view that we paid for but better than the other one… then we discover that they’ve put us in a room neighbouring a couple physically fighting and screaming and yelling (I think this was done purposefully) allllll night long. Security etc involved every single night. Didn’t sleep for 3 nights. Spoke to reception… they were “working on it”… amidst all this, for food poisoning and we were in bed for 2 days straight. The food: horrible. Worst I’ve ever seen in all my travels to Cuba. And trust me, I don’t go there for the food. I even brought my own bread, peanut butter etc. Thank God for that. I understand the country is struggling. I just wish I had know how bad it was. I wouldn’t have wasted my money. No premium liquor for our diamond club either. No vodka at all. No gin. Only cheap rum and beer to be had. Toilet paper was hard to come by as that is also what they used for napkins in all the restaurants… Bugs: I have over a hundred bites. They spray the whole resort twice a day with big trucks but it doesn’t help. Mosquitoes there are absolutely horrendous. Everyone was covered in red swollen bites. All said, worst trip ever and not worth a penny of what we spent. Deal or no deal. I will never be back. I’ll spend more and head to Mexico or Jamaica. WAY better money spent.

Grand Memories Santa Maria: Diamond Club worth it? Oh yes :)

We had a very nice time at the Grand Memories hotel. Everyone was working so hard to make the stay enjoyable for everyone. We learned that the hotel was operational this year after 2 years of closing during covid but all in all it was a nice experience and definitely worth the Diamond Club. Andy and the Diamond Club team took care of our needs which were few but being able to book the A La Carte every night was worth it alone. We really really lucked out with an Ocean view as well. The view and  [... read more]location of the building (55) was just amazing. The water was calm on several days and anyone who has been to several Carribean islands knows Cuba boasts some of the best beaches and the Grand did not disappoint with the white sand and crystal clear waters. You can see 40 feet down easily. Watersports were free and taking the Hobie 15 with the beach was free as well..just tips :) The snack buildings on the beach were great (burgers and great pizza) and the coffee and drinks were fantastic. As we were leaving, new dining locations were opening up as well. Most surprising is that the food was not what I was expecting. It was pretty darn good and has come a long long way from what it was before. Cuba has a rustic beauty which I always loved and I return to Canada with a great sense of appreciation for what I have. I recommend the resort, booking through Trip Central and Sunwing as well. Communications were great and the air travel was enjoyable as well.

Royalton Hicacos Resort and Spa: Lovely resort

We stayed at the Royalton and found it to be exceptional in all ways . People who know Cuba can take a good message from this description of an all around great place . It excels in every way right down to the mojitos and yes mint !!!

Barcelo Solymar: Very bad

The main Hotel it's closed the other room they were given to us are worse the footage worse the food is bad p a process the ticket because of the main Hotel renovated but that was close ,?????????????¿

Roc Arenas Doradas: 3* resort

Beautiful beach. Friendly staff. Outdated rooms in building B11. Stains on bathroom towels and beddings. Very limited variety in food. No milk and cereals in the morning. Well maintained landscaping. Lots of smokers. Great coffee bar. I would not recommend this hotel for families with babies.

Gran Muthu Almirante Beach Resort: Great place!

Great place to stay with family or friends! Clean and spacious amenities, easy accessible beach, friendly service. Foods OK for non picky guests. Wish the owners will provide more bottled water at the territory.