Clean hotel, friendly staff

Pros: my room was spotless, very clean, new beds. Never saw one bug and never got any bites, after spending every day at the beach. Staff were excellent, always friendly and smiling. Cons: the sound system is too loud! If you weren’t deaf when you arrived, you will be when you leave. The sound bounces off the walls of the buildings and you can’t try to sleep until 11:00, when they shut it down. Not great for young families, or older people who want to sleep around 9:00.

Cheap & great for families!

For a family of 4, we saved thousands by choosing this resort over resorts in other countries. We went into this vacation with realistic expectations. We could easily afford this vacation. We weren't sure what to expect, but our club room was flawless, the staff was lovely, the beach was on-par with Bahamas (maybe nicer) We didn't even exhaust the drink choices-- the bartender at the beach had a large, constantly changing variety of concoctions. We loved the hundreds of Canadian flags, the sn [... read more]eaky crabs, the gardeners, and the gardens. We didn't use the kids club because our kids were happy tagging along with us, and it didn't seem active. Mini disco was fun, but was repetetive, except for the foam party night, which was an epic blast! We ate pork belly and eggs every morning (it helps to tip, we may have received some special treatment) naked coleslaw, grilled fish, tough chicken, grilled cheese, hot dogs, lovely soup and plenty of fruit and fresh veg. They had lovely smoothies and excellent coffee. It was enough! You can purchase pizza off resort, but nothing is like Canada. Nothing...and that's the best part. Bottom line. Bring a bag of snacks to eat, and if you don't need them, share them! M9st packaged foods can easily be brought in your checked bag.vBring useful items, we all have things laying around that would be SO APPRECIATED by a Cuban. Happy Vacay!

Beautiful resort

The room was perfect with little touches like an umbrella in case of rain. The beach is amazing and the staff is wonderful. The workers have smiles for everyone. The snorkeling is interesting. The pools are big enough to swim in. We will return next year.

Great staff

Really impressed with resort. Very clean and well maintained Staff constantly cleaning. Friendly service and helpful staff. Interesting games and shows. Wifi could be improved. Given the fact that this amazing country has very little food etc. The menu is always plentiful and fresh.

Peaceful & Good Value for the Money

Just returned from two weeks at the Aston Costa Verde as a solo traveller. The Aston is good value for the money and I would return. However, it is not for everyone. The resort is very spread out but I enjoyed the walking necessary to get around the resort. The grounds are well kept and the walkways are in good shape but you might want to have a small flashlight for safety at night as they are not well lit. I was there for two weeks and thought the food was very good. I ate terrific ome [... read more]lettes every morning and lots of fish, pasta, fresh fruit & vegetables at other meals. Yes, it was somewhat repetitious but plentiful until the last two days when supplies seemed to get short. The shortages are unpredictable and may account for the wide variety of opinions expressed about the food in other reviews. I recommend the Club option. I enjoyed the newer building away from the noise of the activities and also the quiet, air conditioned Cigar Bar most evenings before dinner. I ate at the Club restaurant a few time. It has a nice relaxing atmosphere and great service. However, the menu doesn’t change and I found more selection and variety at the buffet.  The only disappointed people I met seemed to have very unreal expectations. They had purchased a Chevy and seemed to expect a Cadillac.

Horrible

This hotel was absolutely disgusting. The first day upon my arrival nothing in my room worked including the safe TV phone and lights. I never had my phone working the entire week and the Wi-Fi was not working the entire week at all. In addition I came back home with bugs so if you want a vacation where you're not going to be bitten and carry bugs back home don't go to this Resort! I definitely give it zero Stars

Wonderfully situated resort - the good and the bad

Hotel is pretty typical for the caribbean, concrete and bright colors. Not necessarily a bad thing, or a good thing, it is just common in the area and works well. The biggest pool is very shallow so not sure what use it is, the deeper pool that actually comes up to your chest is elsewhere on the grounds but really nice on hot days. The food. ok, so we all know, nobody goes to cuba for the food. Before arriving we had read about food shortages and travellers with no access to lunch or so [... read more]metimes even rum. I've been to varadero twice but never holguin, so i was prepared! brought tabasco, a spice wheel, ketchup and soy sauce. Much to my surprise it was rarely needed :o I'm not sure what magic this resort has but the food was the best in any cuban resort i've had before. Rooms are pretty typical, well laid out, the AC i think is on a timer on/off of some sort to conserve energy, it was a real pain to figure out. hot water in shower was great, pressure sucked but it did the job. cleaning staff were amazing. so friendly and grateful, wonderful to interact with. Language barriers. Holguin is not Veradero, i would classify it as more authentic cuba, and i actually really enjoyed it a lot more. That being said, i had been preparing for the trip using a Babbel+ app on my phone for 6 months, and boy am i glad i did. Very few people i met were fluent in english, even at the resort. It was a struggle most of the time to get my point or question across, but knowing the spanish i did helped 1000% being able to ask questions Who What When Where, know hours and time on a clock, count to 10, know cuanto cuesta (how much does that cost?), etc. basic stuff but it helped a lot at the resort and when we travelled to Holguin in a private taxi ($100 for the entire day for a group of 4), we found almost nobody spoke any engish at all, so even ordering a couple beers ($1 cristal) or lunch in my terrible spanish seemed to work. The times when we had internet access using google translate helped a ton. money down there, don't bring loonies and toonies, don't be 'those people'. cubans can't exchange them for money, they're worthless. tip in bills. go to the bank, get USD, bring at least $60 in $1 bills, and maybe $300 in 20's or something. that's all you'll need, everything we booked took credit card at the hotel. bringing back rum. i was disappointed that i couldn't find any of the rum i wanted to buy. everywhere i looked they only had havana club varieties. here's a tip though, bring back as many bottles as you want, just claim it at customs when you return to your country, you'll pay $20 and be on your way, it's no big deal, just don't lie or it's a huge fine, and yes, they know, they've seen the xray of your bag the beaches! amazing, of the 3 resorts in the area, this one had the best beach and water. However, that being said, my wife broke her toe in the ocean and i got pretty cut up, there is coral and stone in the shallow parts of the water that you might not see, bring WATER SHOES and be careful not to fall if there are waves. if you make it out to about waist high water you'll be pleased by all the fish swimming around you. crumble a couple ritz crackers in the water and 100 will appear out of nowhere, it's insane hahaha but fun

Honest Review

Here’s the good, the bad, and the ugly… The good: beach is stunning and some of the best snorkeling right off the beach I’ve seen! So many fish and was amazing! Beach is clean, beach bar was the highlight for beverages and service! Chairs are all plastic (not the ones with any blue fabric on them) so bring an inflatable to lay on for better comfort. We just grabbed some cheapies from Dollarama and they were perfect. The bad: No one goes to Cuba for food but their shortages are worse then ever. B [... read more]ring lots and lots of snacks and condiments. No bread, chicken served once, the a la cart restaurants were equally terrible. But the soups were good, if you eat soup when it’s 40 out lol. Occasionally we would randomly have no water in the room to shower, flush toilet, or anything and never had warning. We stayed in the main building but some club members were days with no water and told to use the gym to shower. The wifi was free and better than I expected but still spotty in lobby and general areas. I had no issues with it in the room. The beds were comfortable, cleaning didn’t happen till after 4pm or later and that was a pain by then it’s rest and shower for dinner but the cleaners would show up. We ended up only getting a cleaning twice because of their timing but they gave us fresh towels and such when we asked. Beach towels they say you can exchange them, they only had towels one day of 7 to exchange. I have seen so many people return many many times to this resort and I’m not sure why to be honest. It was nice, staff were ok but not typical Cuban friendly in my experience. Seems like many were newer and I have experienced better service in other Cuban resorts. The pool bar was open twice only during our stay, and they ran out of many alcoholic drinks and it was only rum, beer, and some wine but not always. Glad we went, we have some locals we have got to know over the years but we won’t return to this resort. The main pool layout was nice, beach entrance and I enjoyed that. The man working the pool area worked so hard to keep it clean!

Beautiful place

It was my fourth visit to this resort within one year.It’s a nice place and staff is friendly,good service.Special thanks to Mr.Andreas the food manager for arranging a birthday party for our two friends.

I would go back again

Resort has some shortcoming but I would go back there , staff are friendly in general, front desk needs some improvement, food actually got better every day passed, there were some ladies doing a great job with pasta, fried fish lunch and dinner, omelet in the mornings interval young substitute not as much but overall I was totally fine with food. Rooms need real update, some had water issues during our stay. The selection of drinks were limited. The best bar is the one next to lobby, great S [... read more]panish coffee. The guy attending the bar at the beach is rude and unprofessional.

Not so great

Definitely do not recommend this resort. Rooms are terrible food is 2 out of 10 and if you are coming with kids make sure to bring lots of snacks. Understand that the economy is currently bad in Cuba but I've seen less rating resorts with better service and food than this 4+ star resort. Do some research before booking.

Good experience

Staff is its best asset. The grounds were kept very clean. Beach amazing. As in all resorts in Cuba, not a lot of food choices. No fresh eggs in 2 weeks we were there. Menu in buffet varied depending on what was available. At times beef,pork or chicken. Pasta every day. Deserts were amazing. We were told by people in club not to pay the extra as there was not any difference in food or other amenities. Check in could improve. They know you are coming , so why do they have to “find”(?) you a roo [... read more]m on their computer. This was our second 2 week trip to the resort and would definitely recommend it.

Friendly Resort

We just spent two weeks at he Aston Costa Verde Resort and had an amazing vacation. The grounds were so well kept and the staff worked continually to have all the gardens in immaculate condition we stayed in the older rooms, and even though they needed to be updated everything was kept clean and in working order. When we arrived in the early am we were assigned a room that had a strong smell of smoke. After speaking to the reception, we agreed to stay there over night and the next day we were  [... read more]given a choice of two different rooms We absolutely love the beach and with snorkeling just off shore its perfect for us. We only went to one A La cart and found that the food wasn't any different than the buffet We knew there were shortages in Cuba for food before we left Canada but a few changes would have made our stay more pleasant . There was at each meal pasta stations and We found that the only way to get hot food was to have it prepared at the pasta stations The warming buffets had different choices but we found that the food was always cold. there wasn't enough staff at the buffet and service was sometimes slow. Looking forward to returning another time.

Beautiful Resort, Amazing staff

The resort is very nice...3rd time there in 14 months...a bit of a hiccup with our rooms at the beginning...the front desk seems confused and different people tell you different things...once we were sorted out we had a terrific time...Grounds, pools, beach very nice...shortages, yes....but not just this resort, it is all of Cuba so be prepared and take extra stuff with you...I cant say enough about the staff, never in all my years of travelling have i met such wonderful people...so friendly and [... read more] they remember the repeat customers. This resort has a lot of repeat customers for a reason...also, i found the tourists are all very nice too....it was a great trip and I will return again

Great resort on amazing beach

The beach is perfect for swimming and snorkeling. Bring water shoes as there are rocky areas. Pools are nice but were a little chilly. I recommend the Club for the extra pool area and restaurant. Rooms are clean with a comfy bed and good shower. Staff are friendly and helpful. The food is good with some food shortages as in all of Cuba now, but not as bad as expected. The filtered water throughout the resort has a very bad taste, but they do their best to provide you with bottled water. I woul [... read more]d recommend this resort if they fixed the filtered water situation, since I couldn't drink it.

Great time

We went here in last week of feb 2024 with my family, 2 adults and 3 kids(9,7,2). We had a wonderful time, kids loved it here. Everything is very close, beach, pool, buffet. Food was on healthy side which i loved, lots of veggies, fruits, they had chicken, beef, fish. Zero complaints, its an excellent place. There were no cockroaches which was the biggest thing for me. Hotel rooms were clean and everything was working. They had air hockey, pool table and ping pong table to play. Will definitely  [... read more]go back.

Amazing resort

The hotel was very nice 1st class, clean. The food was delicious and was not short. The beach was breathtaking. I cannot say enough about the staff they were incredibly helpful and so friendly. I recommend this resort

Good time

The good …… the hotel staff were very friendly , and helpful for the most part …… the food was ok , for Cuba ….. I would however stick with the club restaurant ( if red banded ) or the buffet ….. I don’t find the ala carts to be very good ….. the beach is nice …. good snorkelling on the rocky side …… my room was basic , but clean , and everything worked without incident ….. even hot water everyday ( which can be a rarity in Cuba at times ) …… drinks were good ….. very surprised to see Johnny Wal [... read more]ker black in the bar …… I must compliment Lilian , the lady in the lobby responsible for bookings …. she is an amazing woman , thank you for your help ……. overall , I had a real nice 11 nights here

Simple solutions

We enjoyed our stay. The variety of food was always available. Staff friendliness from waiters, to kitchen and cleaning staff along with the gardeners and delivery personnel was always evident. We found that signage was missing as far as the hours of the big buffet, no pamphlet to indicate the ground plans of the resort. It was difficult to find the schedule for nightly entertainment. Also when the A la Carte Restaurant would close due to technical reasons, we were not notified or their wa [... read more]s no signage giving that it had to close. Our room was wonderful with an ocean view. We did encounter a few issues and staff came right away to fix it. Having a tag in the room saying: "Do not disturb" or "Please Clean" would be a great asset. Their was issues with currency as to what was accepted which is American money or credit card. Pools were beautifully kept and grounds as well. We'd recommend this resort to others but simple solutions would improve this place greatly.

2 star resort at best

Was told the main pool would be open before my date of arrival and did not open until the day I was leaving. Other pool was jam packed and no where's near enough chairs for even a quarter of the guests. One bartender more often than not. A la carts were pathetic. Service was slower than ever. No programs or activities for guests at all. No eggs for half my stay. Pop was either flat or way too syrupy. Vegetables and fruit were pretty much nonexistent. Bacon 1 day and gone in 20 minutes. S [... read more]ame with hamburgers at the snack bar. Wifi was hit and miss the whole time. Had to reup time every day. I paid extra when booking to make sure I was in club section only to be put in rundown old and noisy hotel section anyways. Then charger an extra $16.50 USD per night to upgrade to club section. Had the same problems last time I was there hoping it was better now but now it's even worse. Will not go to this resort again.