Beautiful resort & beach, but....

- bus ride was comfortable, guide was good, and brought us directly to the resort - although a 2nd floor unit was requested, they had reserved a 3rd floor room, which we did not accept (of course no elevators), fortunately they got us a ground floor room (although with 2 double beds, a unit with king was not available. - the room was vey modern and spacious - the welcome presentation by the Nolitours rep was good - the resort itself, the facilities, the pool and the beach were excellent, worthy  [... read more]of a 5 star rating - the entertainment was OK, but somewhat similar every nite - for the buffets, although there were numerous choices, most dishes were not labelled or incorrectly labelled, most dishes were recognizable but there were dishes that weren't; on the 3rd day, we saw a box full of new food labels, but only a few were ultimately put out. - in general, the food quality at the buffet and speciality restaurants was not very good (meats were always overcooked!), perhaps this is not unusual for Cuba but we did expect better at a new 5 star resort. Fruits (many of them canned not fresh) and vegetables were disappointing. A few dishes were good. - most of the food and beverage servers had difficulty understanding English, but we managed fine. - we explained my wife's allergies to the staff/dining rm. manager, but weren't exactly convinced that they always knew themselves what ingredients were used in the dishes. Fortunately she has no adverse reactions. - I did get a lot of insect bites (not sure if it was sand mites or something else), but managed OK (although should have brought repellent). - wi-fi internet was very unreliable, only worked for a short time (perhaps that's why it was offered for free!) - cleaning of the rooms was inconsistent, for ex. bed linens & towel changes, floor/carpets (which appeared to never have been cleaned) - in general, the staff were very friendly and helpful - luckily for us, the weather was absolutely perfect! All in all, we enjoyed our time, and certainly got the relaxation we needed.

Happy Valentine! and Happy Valentin

My fiance and I searched all resort in Cuba for two weeks and found out this resort as the best comparing the same (value)range of resort. Brand-new and modern images captured us and we started to search all review for this resort tripadvisor, sunwings, tripcentral, etc. All reviews are "5" with atmosphere, food, staff kindness, etc. We were so excited to see this resort and worried dissapointment as we expected too much. However, the our early concern was really foolish. Valentin Perla Blanca i [... read more]tself it is awesome. It's the end of the Cuba, so takes one and half hours to get to this resort. You don't have to worry to get to the resort. The travel agent is at the airport with the bus. They will explain all about Cuba, resort, and activities. When we got the resort, it was about 11 pm. However, it was bright and vivid. All food and drinks are free. Resort is really nice and staff are super kind and friendly. The resort is huge, but you can take a car (like a golf resort) to get to your room. The special thing is dinner. This resort has 3 meals providing all you can eat. Moreover, 3 free-night dinner theme upon your request among Italian, Spanish, French, and Cuban. It's first come, first serve based. All you need to is line up for 3 free night them dinner. The space is limited, but worth to line up, because the food is so tasty! Beach also right back at the resort. You can have free drink and get a massage (30 mins for 20 Cuc I believe). Pool in the resort also has daily event such as acrobatic show or daily exercise. The resort is all white with orage and green theme. It's very peaceful, clean, modern, and cheerful. I will definitely want to go this resort if I get a chance and I surely want to book them through Tripcentral.ca., which provides customer-oriented and professional services. I was hesitating to miss the timing to book this resort, Wendy (@Tripcentral) supported us to get the right price as well as change the bed type to hotel(from two queen beds to one king bed). Everything was perfect and unforgettable memories. It's like Valnetine Day! Valentin Perla Blanca give us love, love, love! :)

Beautiful new resort

Beach amazing, but hard to access. Grounds and gardens well established for a new resort. Rooms nice and modern. Food and restaurants just ok. Service ssslllooowww, but ok for us, not in a hurry on vacation. Book privilege, worth it for the lounge. Got tired of listening to guests complaing.

Beautiful resort but poor service

We stayed for a week over New Years and I don't think the resort knew how to deal with so many people arriving after having a limited amount initially. It was very difficult to get waited on for a drink or food. The restaurants have a long way to go for food quality. We ran out of water twice during our stay and our towels were only changed once. There was no management around to address any issues so unfortunately the staff had to deal with some angry customers. The building itself is very nice [... read more] but the resort has a lot of growing pains to deal with first.

You get what you pay for

The resort pretends to be a 5 star but in reality they are 3.5-4 stars, comparing to Melia Buenavista and Royalton(both 5 stars resorts on this destination). Don't be fooled with the low price - You get what you pay for. Period.

Some Growing Pains

The resort was breathtakingly beautiful. the weather was amazing, the beach was perfect, the staff were great and friendly. The food far surpassed expectations. The services, however, have warranted the 3 star rating, and that's being generous. I didn't have a single towel, be it the beach towel or even the towels in my room washed or replaced the entire week. The room was not cleaned either. I had to strip the bed myself and toss the bedding in the hall to signal I wanted them changed, and even [... read more] then I had to track down the maid to put a new set on ad she had once again skipped on my room. The water kept going out, which didn't directly affect me, but still unacceptable. The beds are very firm and I would suggest bringing your own pillows if you can fit them. Lastly, alcohol was consistently running out. And they spray this aweful diesel chemical on the plants (and you!) along the grounds each night, really bad smell... This won't surprise anyone but be very watchful of your bags and purses because they will be taken. My purse disappeared after a day on the beach, even my hat! Another friend of mine also had her change purse disappear. I really don't set the standard high, but for what I paid I did expect better. I made it a fun trip, and let most fall off the shoulder. Make friends with the guests and have a good time. But I personally won't return to the Valentin chain.

Blown away at our arrival!

We travelled from Nov 24 to Dec 8. The cost for the two week hotel was a bargain. The travel time from the airport was two hours. We were blown away at our arrival. The hotel is beautiful; French designed, modern, spacious, beautifully furnished. Check in was a breeze, efficient and quick. Our rooms were in block 26, centrally located. The rooms are bright, modern, large. We had the garden view. I did not feel compelled to upgrade to oceanview for sleeping arrangements. The king size bed was ver [... read more]y firm. The pillows are flat and very hard. I would recommend bringing your own if comfort is an issue. The rooms have no clocks. The voltage is 220, bring an adaptor if you have special needs (breathing apparatus). The bathroom has dual voltage in the hair dryer plug. The A/C works very well and cools the room very fast. The shower is large. The shower head has good pressure. There is also a hand held shower wand. The beach is beautiful, with white sand. I did not find the entrance to the beach tricky as others have commented. It is not good for people with any walking disabilities. There is no wheel chair access. The water is clear blue and shallow. It is a long beach for walking. It is not a wide beach from the water to the cabanas. The hotel did not groom the beach of the seaweed. It would look so much better if it was raked daily. It would take four people, half hour in the morning. Getting a cabana in the beach is not an issue as the hotel is not operating at full capacity; not sure if this will become a problem. The chairs in the beach are hard and uncomfortable...I would recommend bringing a yoga mat or air mattress. There are two beach bars in the beach with a bartender servicing the beach. I would also recommend bringing a water bottle from home for easy refill of water or beer. I dont like drinking out of the flimsy plastic glasses. Getting clean beach towels was a big issue. In the 14 days we received clean beach towels 3 times. I mentioned this to customer service, and they were aware of this. They subcontracted the towels to an independent company...they could not or would not rectify the problem. The pools are stunning. The chairs are more comfortable than the beach. There is lots of shade and sunny areas. They need to play some good Cuban music vs the elevator music. The food was definitely better than I anticipated. I cannot justifiably compare it to a Secrets or Paradisus resort...as we did not pay the same cost. You will not go hungry...there is plenty to eat. I had some really good meals at the a la carte restaurants and some that were not as good. My favorite was the French restaurant. I do wish this resort would offer a larger variety of fish. The food was not labeled at the Buffet, making it hard to identify. There was a good selection of fresh fruit the majority of our stay as well as lots of canned stuff. My favorite was the papaya, guava and the fresh pineapple. They did have plenty of the best smoked salmon, serrano ham from Spain (prosciutto) and an excellent variety of cheeses. The pizzas were very good. Breakfast was great at the buffet, lots of choices. Yes some days they ran out of some items, like bacon. They have one food supplier in Cuba, no competition. Sometimes the hotels cannot get what they want and need. The service was really exceptional everywhere. The Cubans are very friendly and courteous. They aim to please. This is their livelyhood. They had talented performers in the main Lobby every night. The theater is large with decent shows. They do not post the performances daily. It would be good to post ahead as other resorts do. We did not upgrade to the privilige package. I dont know if it would have made any difference. As the resort was not operating at full capacity, we had no issue with getting a table, chairs or reservations. I think it really depends on the price. It may be worth to upgrade to get better wines and premium liquors. The wines served were OK and I did not feel compelled to purchase the better brands. I would definitely recommend this hotel to my family and friends.

Needs improvements...not there yet.

My review is based on my past experiences in Cuba and not my experiences in Jamaica or Mexico. This resort can definitely pass as a 5 star hotel in regards to its design and finishes. Its location is 5 star since the beach is just beautiful.The rocks give the guests a sense of privacy as if it their own private beach. This resort loses points on food but especially service. Comparing to other resorts in the area, the food quality sits somewhere in the middle. However the restaurants we tried wer [... read more]e very tasty except the portions are somewhat small.I am a petite female and even then I wanted a few more spoonfuls. We know this place has only been running for less than two months but certain things defintely impacted our stay. Wifi...don't think they ever had it or will have it anytime soon. However wish they just say that instead of maybe tom, try back later. Beach towels...we had to reuse our towels for four days because there was a problem with the towels. We never understood what the problem was with not having fresh beach towels, just told try back tom, try back later. The fridge in the rooms are smaller than seen before and is only stocked with one large bottle of water, two cans of pop and 2 beers. I dont care for the pops or beers, but water is very needed when on vacation. When we asked the staff for another bottle of water when we were heading to the beach, he asked us what room we were in. We assumed that meant that we will not get another bottle in our room...which would be a very silly concept. However when we returned to our room we had another bottle...unsure if maybe he just forgot our room number and if he had remembered we wouldnt have got one. So the next day we left a note in the fridge to pls give us two water bottles and no beer (written in spanish) but we still ended with just one bottle. The hotel bank is suppose to open at 9:30 but like other things such as 1pm lunch buffet, it too goes on a schedule that is not known to guests or many other staffs. But this is not to say that there aren't really wonderful, diligent staff at the Valentin. A handful of people really did make our stay memorable. I believe with more training and time,, this resort can become a solid five star resort.

A wonderful holiday destination

Everything about this hotel was excellent but I am giving 4 stars because the food at the Al a cart restaurants wasn't as good as the buffet when we visited them. We had the same beach towels for 2 weeks, we never found the towel exchange open. Room towels were unable to be changed unless taken from our room to be washed. Fortunately we had brought our own towels so were not without. Hopefully these things are soon rectified. Our hotel room was beautiful, 3rd floor with king bed. Mini bar filled [... read more] every day, some days twice. The lobby and Lobby bar area plus the tea and coffee shop were very eye appealing and comfortable to relax in. The pools were beautiful and the Island Sunbeds very comfy. Loungers around the pool very plentiful and lots of shade available. The tiled loungers in the water look great but I didn't find them very comfy to lay on. The beach is a little awkward to get to with the rocks and buff but once there, gorgeous white sands and crystal clear water. We used the steps from the beach bar to access the beach and had no problems. Food in the buffet, snack bar and Ranchon was always well prepared and delicious. We enjoyed the shows at the Theatre, especially the Michael Jackson show. We even enjoyed the Disco on two occasions. Staff all over the resort are very friendly and efficient. Service was excellent. Prosciutto, Smoked Salmon and Cheeses were a nice change for breakfast from Omelettes which were also good. A long 90 minute drive from the airport but nice during daylight to see the Cuban countryside. Modern buses but no bathrooms on the bus. We hope to return to this hotel.

Awesome resort!

We had a great time at Valentin Perla Blanca. The hotel looks amazing, rooms are very clean, there was a different live band playing in the lobby each night, the beach is really nice and long, good for walks.

Good but needs improvement

The hotel grounds was well kept. The beach is beautiful and different with rocks surrounding it which is the main reason why we chose the Valentin. However, there were a lit of minor things that requires improvement which is why this is not up to the standards of a 5 star resort yet.

Brand New Hotel

Brand new hotel so lots of kinks to work out!! Rooms neat & clean - nice size with a good view. Food not labelled!! No clean beach towels for 3 days. Only one access to the beach. Two a la carte restaurants.

One of The Best

Valentin Perla Blanca has to be one of the best resorts in Cuba! If you are looking for an adults only resort in which to relax and unwind this might be for you! It's quite secluded, on a magnificent beach, with great service and beautiful new facilities. The food was good. Live music every evening and the Cuban house bands are great.

New hotel with a lot of potential

Great vacation, beautiful and relaxing, a holiday is what YOU Make it. Brand new hotel, pristine, fresh, clean. A few thoughts regarding WestJet. For westerns making this trip, because the layover is longer than 4 hours it's not really a connecting flight and the layover could easily be made shorter and more pleasant with optional flight times. Either shorter ( shorter layover, there were other flights coming and going to take from Calgary ) or longer for that matter ( stay in TO a couple days  [... read more]and take the same flight back to Calgary a couple days later, as an option) As it was 23 hrs door to door. As for the resort, WestJet vacations did not state , 3 a la carte dinners?! Max. Per week. As Hotel did?! And FYI, there is NO room service in the hotel, also as stated. Front desk needs better English. As for the hotel, it is 2 hrs from the airport, great new buses. Hotel is lovely new, water is virgin natural beach with coves not like Varadero , access by boardwalks, some people did't the like this, esp. Elderly, wouldn't recommend for handicapped. Nice clean pools, most staff really try and are friendly, English could be better and would avoid problems and offer continuity. They are new, some glitches improved while others deteriorated in the 2 weeks we were there. Staff name ID and signage in general still not there, food ESP. Need identifying in the buffet. They should abandon the 3 a la carte dinner and that would eliminate the problems they were having with reservations and English language. They also had a serious beach towel situation, they hopefully can rectify or communicate better to guests. Entertainment and food excellent. Don't like their handling of their ' privilege' guest. Program, it should more transparent , rather they flaunt it in front of other guests. We have seen this done better at other locations, without insulting ' unprivileged' guests. Many favourite staff members really made our holiday enjoyable. Entertainment group were fantastic, ESP. Considering they were new... Very active., fun loving, and modern entertainment. They really made the trip!

Loved the Valentin

EVen though this resort just recently opened it's running incredibly smooth - the service was the best we've ever had in our travels throughout the Caribbean, the food was very good ,the bar drinks were excellent, lots of hot water. The gardens are all new but blooming and maintained beautifully and most of all the beaches we're gorgeous. there have been concerns about rocks please don't let this stop you just because it's Cuba.The rocks add a beautiful visual element of an untamed coast line. T [... read more]ravel to and from, and check in and check out were incredibly smooth. Very relaxing and peaceful place and we enjoyed an incredible trip. Our one recommendation to the hotel: please label the food on your buffet.

Great time!

We visited the week of Nov 7th not knowing what to expect with a brand new resort. We were pleasantly surprised! Excellent variety of foods and very tasty. No need to bring extra condiments (HP, Franks) as they are on a table at the buffet. Rooms are great. Customer Service was excellent. Activities staff lots of fun. Don't forget mosquito repellent.

Valentin Perla Blanca

Very clean, amazing pool, nice staff and great beach. Loved the music every evening in the lobby with the shows. The service was great even though it is a new resort, but they do their best to help you with a great smile. By the end of the week they were treating me like a family. I came back five days ago and I already miss the staff. They were amazingly friendly. Thank you for making my trip so memorable.

Very good first week

We stayed at this resort the first week it opened. When we arrived there were only 49 guests and then for the next 5 days it got up to 99 guests. The management still had a full complement of staff and I think this time was used for practice for the upcoming weeks. We had great service but again there were not that many of us. There are a lot of good reviews up so I will mention the items that really stood out for us or that others have missed. Sorry for the way it reads at time. We always thoug [... read more]ht of something else to add it. We stayed in Building 58 with a pool view. Our room was very modern and nice. Beautiful balcony. Very nice bathroom with a huge shower that always had plenty of hot water. A frosted window from the bedroom into the shower gave the bathroom a lot of extra light. They had face cloths that most resorts do not have. Floor mats on each side of the bed so you have somewhere warm to stand when you get up. A mini fridge filled every day with two beers and two pops. Electronic safe. The AC was great. The bed was hard. The room was cleaned very well every day. This block was very close to everything. Pool – They had three pools which were attach to each other by walkways and waterfalls; very different from the free form pools most of the other resorts have. Very comfortable web type of loungers. Water was very cold the first day but warmed up when the sun came out. The pool beds are very comfortable. There are chairs in the sun and also there are chairs in nice shaded areas for those who don’t want sun. “Laidee” is usually around now and then to get your drink orders. Restaurants - Pool area open 24 hours a day. Hit and miss with this area. We had very good service and poor service. The first time we went to this area was the day we arrived and I think we were the first guests our server served. There seems to be a combination of new servers and experience servers from other resorts. Be careful of the hamburgers, they like cooking them rare and not well done as they should be. We had a problem one day that when we refused the first ones they gave us since they were very rare. When my wife refused the second one they gave to her because it was still red, the manager told us not to worry because it was chicken. We never ordered the hamburger again. Beach restaurant - Only four of five items you could order but they had a small but nice salad/buffet area. We always had good service. French/Spanish Restaurants - These are the only a la carte restaurants open and they were a work in progress. We ate in the French twice and the food was OK. Nothing special about this restaurant. My biggest complaint was one night every item they had on the menu had seafood in it. We met one couple who went to the buffet instead of the French restaurant since they could not eat anything there because of allergies to seafood. In the Spanish restaurant it was a set menu. The entree was lobster which was very large and very good. They also had a very good 3 piece band playing and singing in the front of the restaurant. Very good service. Buffet - Very basic, good food. They had all of the usual stations for breakfast and dinner. There is enough variety that you could get something different to eat every day. Very fast service but there were just very small crowds. Most times the service was very good. Lysee (sorry if I misspelled your name) was very attentive and very friendly. Bar This was also very hit and miss. Some of the bartenders knew what they were doing and others had no idea. One person didn’t know how to make one of their special drinks so they had to look at the menu and just put the ingredients into a glass. Mojito’s were made the correct way by some but others put a piece of mint in the glass as a decoration. We had the same drink served to us many different ways. The use of the Cuban liquor equivalent is used a lot of the time but they do have known brand names also. Look for Pedroso at the bar and main lobby. He will brighten your day. He works hard, almost never stops and has the biggest smile I have ever seen. Entertainment. They usually had some great entertainment in the Lobby/bar area from around 7 – 9:15. This was always very good. At 7 there was a lovely lady who played the piano, then afterwards there were bands that played great Latin music. The show they have every night at the theater will hopefully get better. We only stayed for a couple of them. Beach - Here is the sore point for a lot of people. We heard that a storm took out a lot of the sand at the main entrance we had to use (we have heard that since they have had complaints they opened up the other entrance). It was tricky to get to the beach but once you got there and it was low tide it was very nice. I have seen better a few miles down the road but still very nice. Very clear water. The loungers here I found very uncomfortable and too short. There is a lot of seaweed on the beach. They should give the staff who work on the beach a rake to clean it up a bit or even let the life-guards who were taking naps while working take a turn. It could be cleaned up in no time. The beach is a treasure, but needs more care and attention. Resort - Bring your bug spray. There are a lot of these tiny black bugs that attack you and leave nasty little itchy bites. If you are walking around the resort and hear a rumbling sound run to the nearest closed in room. The fog machine will be coming. This machine makes a huge smoke screen that goes everywhere. It even filled the open air bar and lobby and once we got caught in it. We hated to think of what is in that smoke. Usually they drive around 7:30 p.m. and in the morning as well. You would think they would use these smokers when there are no guests around. This is a new resort and will have its growing pains. It is starting up nicely with good quality construction that we didn’t see in some of the other resorts and people who run this operation want this resort to succeed. We talked to Mr. Pons (head of the lobby and rooms and asst. manager) a few time and they have a plan to make this resort work. They also asked questions of what we thought of a few items which shows they want to make it better. We had a very good week here. They have a very good beginning and with a little work they should get the 5 star which they are trying to achieve.

Amazing Hotel, Amazing People, Amazing Vacation!

Wow, what a wonderful week! We honestly could not have asked for more. The resort was absolutely beautiful! For now only one side of the resort was open but there weren't many guests so that makes sense. The other side of the resort will be opening in February. They had 2 a la carte restaurants open, the French and Spanish, but within the two restaurants they are alternating the menus each night to include the ones that were still closed on the other side. The buffet was open for breakfast and d [... read more]inner, not lunch. But the beach restaurant and pool restaurant were both open for lunch so there was never a lack of something to eat. The buffet has made to order pasta, pizza, meat station and fish station so we could always find something to make us happy. The staff were incredible! As the hotel just opened and flights are limited there weren't many guests the first week. There was probably 10 staff for every guest, some people may not enjoy how quiet it was but we sure did. We were never without a drink in our hands. Despite the small numbers there was still great entertainment every evening, in the lobby and in the show lounge. The staff went out of their way to make us feel special and we left there having made special connections with a few of the staff. It was definitely an older crowd there but I suspect the crowd will be more diverse once it gets busier. The winds were strong when we arrived. For the first two days so the beach was a bit of a disappointment, however once the winds died, it was a whole new world out there. BEAUTIFUL. There was no internet or long distance service at the resort while we were there, some were upset about this but we loved disconnecting for the first time in a long time. Nice to enjoy enjoy where you are and who you're with without the distractions of home :) For those who are concerned, I believe they now have their wireless internet working. You can follow the hotel on Facebook for updates. The grounds were beautiful and the rooms were exactly as pictured on the website, beautiful and clean. We found the beds a little hard but they probably just need to be worked in a bit. We were in building 25 which had close access to both the pool and beach. The Lobby is in the center of the resort but not too far of a walk, maybe about 5 minutes. However, there always seemed to be people driving around the resort in their little carts offering you a ride if wanted. We had NO COMPLAINTS. I'm sure some will have a differing opinion about the beach, internet, food etc., but we left the Valentin with a truly heavy heart. To the complainers I say, sit back, relax and enjoy the incredible staff and surroundings! Life's too short to sweat the small stuff. Those like us, will love this resort. Nothing's perfect, but for us, this was pretty close. We absolutely plan on returning here some day. :)

Great Resort

Very nice resort for first week open. A few glitches with access to beach and wifi but otherwise well run and beautiful resort. Everyone was so kind and helpful!! Chef did a great job in a la carte restaurants.