Grand Muthu Cayo Guillermo: Nice Stay

We stayed at the Grand Muthu this past week and found it enjoyable. The resort is a nice size and not to big. The rooms clean and comfortable (building and rooms cleaned daily). We were in building 8 and had a beautiful ocean view. This resort has a buffet, 24 hour snack bar, along with Italian, Cuban and Indian themed restaurants all of which were decent. Some days the food was exceptional and others it was just ok. Nightly entertainment was lacking. However I would imagine this was due to Covi [... read more]d. Pools were nice however we found the water to be a bit cold although refreshing once you get used to the temperature! The beach and ocean is quite nice if your a beach person. The ocean water was nice and a great temperature for swimming. When the tide is out the water is shallow and you can walk out from shore quite a bit and during high tide the water gets deep a little quickly. There are some reefs near the shore if you snorkel and water activities available at the beach and pool. The beach does have a bar and small restaurant which was open from 1-3 pm daily for lunch so you weren’t obligated to go to the buffet from the beach. The staff was exceptional. They were attentive to all guests. Many of them fluent in 3-4 languages. So communication was not an issue. Overall nice resort for couples and families would definitely recommend.

Blau Varadero: Amazing resort

Hotel is clean, the room had new mattresses . Food was OK as always. The staff is #1, even through these Covid times all stuff was helpful, and understanding. Hotel seemed only quarter full, mostly Cubans but Canadians were started to build in numbers. Didn't meet any Europeans yet. We had an other good vacation in Blau.

Dhawa Cayo Santa Maria: Very nice resort

Loved the resort, grounds and especially the beach with clean white sand. Hotel staff in general very obliging and friendly especially Carlos, Richar, Andalay who served us in the dining room. The mosquitos and sand fleas? were a real nuisance around 5:00 - 7:00 in the evening and 7:00 - 8:00 in the morning when we tried to go for a walk. All in all it was a pleasant experience at the Dhawa.

Melia Costa Rey: Loved it.

Beach and sand was stunning! Resort was great. People were friendly. The shows were great, som DJ and dancing outdoors every other night, but left the crowd craving dancing on nights music and dancing didn’t happen. Pool is large, but oddly shaped. Excellent covid protocols, we weren’t worried at all. Testing in advance of flight home was done at the resort and made SUPER easy and exceptionally organized. Everything was spotless. Great food, even greater bars and drinks! Food was served  [... read more]by staff rather than people sharing scoop utensils which was appreciated. Room was comfortable, the washroom doors didn’t close probably but I mean these are all minor things, and didn’t matter to us since we only ever went to the room to sleep! Didn’t matter which building you were at in the resort, there was entrance to the beach only steps away. I’ll certainly return :)

Blau Varadero: My second home!

It was my 11th time at the Blau and 7th for my boyfriend. It was amazing same it was my first time. The staff recognizes you and knows your name. It’s like my second family. This time we were at the reopening on Dec 3rd. The hotel was pretty empty but we had good time and met amazing people. The food was good. The staff takes seriously the COVID sanitary rules. Our luggages was disinfected when we arrived. Same thing with the tables, chair and lounge chairs. All the staff were the mask and  [... read more]face shield. We were feeling secured. They are doing the PCR tests at the hotel and get the result in 24 hours. The beach was cleaned and they enlarged it. I also want to thank Walter, the new manager of the hotel. He’s humble because he told me that it’s not him who makes the Blau appreciate by the client but it’s the amazing staff! Et Walter parle français! I am a big fan of the Blau and encourage people to book their next vacations at this fabulous resort.

Brisas Guardalavaca: Cuba is Amazing

My husband and I booked the Villa VIP at Brisas Guardalavaca through TripCentral (SunWing). We arrived extremely late due to a traveler checking in 3 bags and then not showing up for his/her flight. This required us to wait a long time while they tried to locate this person at the airport - then, after no response, Sunwing spent a bunch of time locating the 3 bags to remove them from the plane. Needless to say, we arrived very late and very tired. Although we purchased VIP, most of these "ex [... read more]tras" were not there on our arrival. We made complaints to our Sunwing Rep the following day at around 2:30 pm, then, when we arrived back to our room to get ready for dinner, we found some of the things we paid extra for but not all of them - very disappointing. We did not receive everything advertised by Sunwing that we paid extra for. Never-the-less... we met some great people, staff and tourists, and had a great week in Cuba. The beach and pools were great, staff were great, but, if you are a wine drinker don't go to Cuba because they only had a little red wine at the Italian restaurant and ran out of white wine every day at multiple bars. I found out some people pre-book many bottles of red wine with the hotel directly and I assume this is why they run out of red wine for the rest of us. Food is ok at best but we knew this before booking our trip. With VIP we could book 5 ala carts where the cooks took the exact same food and made it better. Vegetables were mixed peas-potatoes-carrots and were very mushy (from a can we suspect) and potatoes from flakes... by mid-week I ordered my meals with rice and asked "please do not give me potatoes, and, please add hot-red-peppers" (from jars or cans) to the canned vegetables to make them more palatable. Salads were the same everywhere and at every meal... sliced cucumbers, pickled sliced beets, shredded cabbage, and the dreaded canned mixed vegetables. The beef and chicken breasts were mostly great. We ordered omelettes (with the works) and ham at the open air restaurant beside the pool/snack bar every day which was delicious. Breakfast fruit was all pretty under-ripe and tough so we ordered grapefruit only. Staff were always really nice. We tipped $1 to $2 US dollars usually at most meals. With the VIP we had lobster, but you could order lobster at 2 other restaurants without VIP, what the heck. What was extra special was that we ordered it at the Cuban ala carte restaurant and were served a bottle of champagne, we had a candle, and white tablecloth. Unfortunately, our friends were seated at a different table even though they loudly requested to share with us. Then, their table was pooped on by multiple birds (it was an outdoor restaurant) and so they were moved to a "clean" table. I scooped some bird poop onto the floor from our table... most people realise if you sit outdoors you're going to have birds, flies, geckos, crabs, lizards, butterflies, bees, dogs, and cats, etc., hanging about... we were totally ok with that...really enjoyed it actually. I know this all sounds bad but for the little money we paid (compared to DR and Mexico) we received a fabulous deal. The market had some great deals even though I didn't haggle... I bought 2 gorgeous oil paintings ($60 cdn.) by H. Hayain (I think that's how it's spelled). Amazing artist... I bought 2 bird paintings - one was a humming bird and one was a local colourful bird (Cuban Tody). I'm just looking into getting them framed. I also bought a beautiful pink/coral crocheted top - it is crocheted from a cotton type of yarn and stretches to whatever size you are... absolutely gorgeous and only $15 cdn (I didn't try to get a lesser price as I crochet and I know the time that goes into creating it). Regarding Covid... all staff wore masks all the time, most tourists did too but of course you always get the odd 1 or 2 who don't always follow the rules... seeing this I would ask our guides to remind them... I always felt pretty safe, especially when I looked at my phone app, Worldometer, that indicates Cuba has only had one wave of high Covid numbers and are now down way below Canada's numbers. I was told Cuba has over 82% of their population 3-dose vaccinated... way better than Canada and most countries. Getting tested was pretty easy (and we went to the market afterwards which was right beside the clinic). Internet is not always reliable in Cuba so we went to the International Clinic, a 3-minute walk from our resort, on Tuesday to pay for the test ($30 US). Confirm they write down your correct passport number as they wrote down mine wrong, then we had our test on Wednesday (again, check that they write down your correct passport number on your test tube). The doctor came to our resort's lobby at approx 4:00 pm on Thursday and wrote out our negative test result forms. Then we completed our ArriveCan app (that we had downloaded before we left Canada). Brisas gave us each 10 hours of free internet access at the main pool area, lobby area, and villa pool area. After 3 days we found out that we could get internet access at our villa on our balcony and in our bedroom... nice. All-in-all, we loved our trip. Would we go back to Brisas? Maybe... but even though we talked to many people who consider Brisas their "cottage" as they go there about 3 times per year, my husband and I like to travel all over the world so, although we will definitely go back to Cuba, we will likely try another resort (only because we love variety). P.S. since it's been so long since we've been to Cuba, although we spent a lot of tip money (Cdn & US), we didn't bring stuff that they really really need/want... children's/adults' pain medication, school supplies, foot ware, clothes, chocolate/candy, etc., etc., etc. Next time we'll do better.

Playa Costa Verde: Senior Center, Dirt Water & Excessive Forse by Covid Nurse...

First about the covid test: The young curly long haired male nurse / doctor in Playa Costa Verde, should be fired. I watched in horror lined up to get my 72 hour pcr test, as many Canadians walked out with major tears in their eyes, covering their noses with hands, some not being able to walk straight. As I sat down for mine he yelled twice "RELAX! RELAX!" then shoved my head back and stuck the swab so far up, the immense pain caused me to scream! And he then the other nostril even harder! An [... read more]d I'm not a wuss by any means. I could barely walk out of there as I was so disturbed by what just happened and in pain. The swab was about 6 inches long, and went WAYYY too far. I tried to "shake it off", and went to the beach, tried to calm down but ended up walking to my room and spending 2 hours crying because I was in shock over the ordeal. I was literally shaking! I kept tasting blood going down the back of my throat. I couldn't breathe through my nose. The next day there was dried blood in my nose! I spoke with many people after that, and ALL said it was beyond excessive! Even the staff knew the next day that something was wrong! Attitudes went somber. If this happened to you, speak up and fill out a complaint form, google your airline and complaint form. If someone was on blood thinners, this could have ended up very bad! Another thing, many people weren't wearing masks in the buffet, and the soap in the washrooms was out lots, the hand sanitizer was either cholorine or bleach. The random PCR test upon arrival back in Toronto, was a breeze, just barely up your nostril (fiance got selected). As for a review of the resort, let me start of by saying I am a seasoned Cuba traveller. Never going to the same resort twice, so I have a lot to compare to...over 15 3 and 4 star hotels within the last few years. I can give a real review, vs those that go there over and over and see nothing wrong since they are "friends" with resort workers. No rose colored glasses here. The food was 1/10, let me tell you why: Everything was bland. The chicken, pork, beef all tasted the same. No seasonings anywhere other than salt. No garlic, nothing. No pepper even on the tables and when you asked, they handed you an empty one. No butter! Never seen that! No salad dressings, not even the old school home made ones, where you have no clue what it is. No mustard! Not even mustard in a bowl with a spoon like some resorts had. No vodka, no tomatoe juice (unless you went to the store and purchased it...why can't they do that and provide to the guests??). I've had maybe over 30 a la carte meals in Cuba and the italian wins for the worst. Pasta with "alfredo" sauce, no chicken, no veg...just hard dried out pasta with sauce that tasted like milk. The water in the buffet was beyond gross, you could smell dirt and taste it. No wonder so many people were sick! IF you had great food in the past here, it's no longer. 70% of guests were over 50 years old. They played celeine dions candle in the wind, in the lobby at night. No night shows. Day entertainment was Boci Ball. Why did I give 2 stars instead of 1? The room, although 1980's style, had good AC and hot water. And the staff here were amazing. The reason I picked this resort is because I've been to Playa Cayo Santa Maria before, and it was amazing. Had high hopes for this one. If you're reading this and haven't booked yet, let me recommend my top three: Playa Cayo Santa Maria, Melia Jardines Del Ray, and for lots of fun, Tryp Cayo Coco. They are the faves amongst the other 15 I've been to. Cliffs notes: If you are over 50 and want to relax, don't care about food, then this is the resort for you.

Royalton Hicacos Resort and Spa: Beautiful Resort

Beautiful Resort. Plus side, Clean hotel, beautiful beaches, friendly people nightly entertainment was good, Negative, No control for A/C in the room (room very cold). No Butler service (requests unanswered) Food shortages, occasionally ran out of Preserves, Butter .Fries, Canned beer (for the room). Food not 5 star restaurant and a la carte no better than buffet. But overall good value for what we paid.

Paradisus Rio De Oro: Beautiful Resort Dec, 2021

Just returned from a 5 day stay. Nice hotel, nice grounds, good food and very nice and helpful Staff. They have a good gym, the beach was beautiful and good snorkeling to the right of the resort. The mattress was the best I’ve had in the 20 or more stays in Cuba

Melia Peninsula Varadero: Don't get the beach towel

We very much enjoyed the resort until checkout when we had suddenly to pay for a beach towel that was stolen from my son when he went to the pool for 5 minutes. His glasses were even on the towel. We were wondering who would steal the towel within the resort. It was very upsetting as we were not even told how much we had to pay before accepting the towels and that they seem to get stolen frequently. I would have given a good rating, but the way I was treated at the end nearly ruined my vacation.

Gran Muthu Imperial: Spoiled at Rainbow!

6 seniors Nov. 23-30/21 Booked Muthu Imperial- reopening delayed so offered credit, refund, or move to new LGBTQ next door which we accepted. Great decision. Low occupancy meant we were totally spoiled by 100% of the staff and no crowds or lineups. Seriously, and fellow guests a blast! Quick easy checkin after 45 minute ride from airport. Crystal Beer available onboard - $10.00 Cdn cash for 3 cans. Room - clean, spacious, love having screen door to balcony, faithfully restock of frig (beer, wa [... read more]ter, pop) locks, digital safe, AC, all worked perfectly. Good sized shampoo, b. wash & lotion provided but bring facecloth and creamer from home. Direct dial phone for room# to room#. Pools/beach - pool large and clean. Hard-working gardeners keep things lovely. Suggestion … too late now for me but they could sure all use some work gloves😁 Outstanding service at both swim up and snack bars. Pizza, fries, cheeseburgers, ham & cheese from panini press all very good. They appreciate guests using the seating provided there and not pool loungers to eat. Small coral (need shoes) beach great for shelling. If you’re lucky there are 2 local gentlemen who collect them and will give you some beauties. Hope you will tip and/or gift them. Beautiful swimming/walking beach further down. Magdiel at beach bar will make you a cold tasty beverage just before you reach the sand. Can’t get snorkel from Nautica so bring your own. 4 of us waded out near buoys one calm day into field of jumbo conchs. They were all still inhabited by the animals so please just have a look and put them back. Food - weren’t able to get A la Cartes but found buffet and snack bar more than enough. Again, the servers and cooks were fabulous and treated us so well even in this covid situation. Staff must plate each item for you and I can see difficulty when number of guests increase. Fresh cheese omelette made to order my favourite. Very enjoyable Cuba Day outdoor bbq lunch one afternoon. Coffee in buffet just ok. It was best in lobby, coffee and pool bars. Try ‘special’ cappuccinos with coffee liqueur, or Spanish! Entertainment - had the most fun at karaoke night. Wish it were more often than just Tuesday. Song trivia was fun but way too young for most of us seniors. How ‘bout a 60’s, 70’s - 80’s night? We’d rock!! Good games poolside each afternoon. Sometimes caught between music from both pool and snack bars.😒 More music selection would be great as it would get a little repetitive after a week. Friend & I took hopon/hopoff bus to the market and it’s still $5 pp but credit card only. It was Friday and quite a few less vendors - apparently more on Saturdays. Little bar there near bus stop makes really good pina coladas -$2.50 glass or $6.25 in a pineapple. Again, credit card only, same as the shops. You can also get beer, rum, etc. Seamless check out. Covid test was done Sun. am for Tues. departure at $30. US pp on credit card at check out. Actually got our negative certificates on Monday. Don’t forget to complete the ArriveCAN sometime during the last couple days of your stay. Out of room by noon and no airport bus till 4 but luggage well looked after and we kept valuable stuff with us and still used all amenities. CUCs aren’t used anymore. (actually, we had about 24 old peso coins which we were told could be turned into bank by local Cubans -minimum 20? at a time) Not sure but passed the coins & info on. Make sure you have a credit card, you can buy peso notes for tipping eg. 20 peso equals 1 cdn. dollar, 100 peso equals $5 cdn. etc. Loonies & toonies can’t be exchanged in Cuba so I also suggest Cdn. $5 & $10s whereby tip more, less often. No exchange and you’re not always digging for tip money. Obviously we were thrilled with our stay, know and love the people and area very well. Hope this info helps people. Most of you can skip this but I have to mention some above and beyond staff - Luibel & Andy, Magdiel, Carlos, Dani, Taimy, Bebe, Kitty Nova, and each and every server in the buffet.👍🏼💕

Don Lino Hotel: 10th time

As usual the staff made the experience. Difficult times for cuba but the people keep smiling. This is what makes the trips worth while. The real experience here. Not a tourist trap. Just about anything you want to do is here or nearby. The staff will try to accommodate any request. I know things are in short supply but they will put an effort in to help

Playa Costa Verde: Amazing Resort!

The hotel staff did everything they could to make our stay enjoyable. The only down side is the Cuban's that were guests at the resort were extremely rude and wasteful,leaving mounds of food uneaten on their plates and stealing essentials like butter. This was out of the staff's control, not sure what can be done about that. Overall, we had a great time and will definitely be returning to Playa Costa Verde!

Dhawa Cayo Santa Maria: Amazing time!

The hotel was very clean, the workers were nothing short of amazing! Particularly Osmel and Ernesto (entertainment staff). The food was fantastic. I have absolutely zero complaints. I have been to Cuba many times and this was one of my favourite stays!

Barcelo Solymar: good resort

I had booked the Barcelo Solymar and to my surprise, when I arrived, the hotel was closed so I stayed at the Arenas Blancas next door. The Arenas was clean, very spatious, excellent beach, great pool size but no swim up bar like the Barcelo had. The food was ok as the selection in Cuba was not a choice. the staff were really nice as well. The animation didn't have there usual games and stuff which I found boring but great evening shows as usual. because was 98% cuban families, the screa [... read more]ming children, especially on the beach was getting too much...

Royalton Cayo Santa Maria: Great Resort

We stayed at Royalton, Cayo Santa Maria, first week of December 2021. From the get go, this place worked hard to make sure our stay was perfect. This is a smaller adults only resort. Check-in was quick and hassle free. Welcome, give us your passport, here's some champagne. No paperwork. 10 minutes later we were being led to our room. The person doing this is called a butler. They will look after your needs and issues throughout your stay. Staying in the background, but there when needed. Every  [... read more]morning you are greeted by your butler, outside near your room. How was your night, any issues, have a great day. All employees at this resort were extremely polite and helpful. The resort was just open for 2 weeks when we arrived. It was very clean and very well looked after. Everyone from the gardener, cleaners, wait staff, and management, all wore masks properly, without exception. Beach, long, walkable, powder white sand. Note that as the winter season starts there is an abundance of seaweed washed up daily for the first couple of weeks in December. It is cleaned up daily. Turquoise waters and shallow sandbar. You can walk out quite a ways and still only be 3-4 feet deep. Resort has 2 pools, an upper quiet pool and lower busier pool, but remember no kids. Pools were not heated so were a bit cool. However given some time and warm weather, they should not be an issue. Bars at both pools, beach and lobby, all well served. Some inconsistencies in recipes, but totally palatable. Maid service was excellent. They cleaned up very well, making sure we had lots of everything we needed. Rooms cleaned early in the day, fridge filled, and of course a great display of characters and flowers on the bed, curtains, tub and sink area. We had swans, scorpions, teddy bears, frogs to name a few. They paid attention to the details. We had 2 issues with our room that were corrected immediately. There was a squeal in the air condition fan and we had no face cloths the first night. A quick mention to our Butler and all was looked after immediately. A quick shout out to our butlers Mario and Lester. The manager, who introduced himself our first night Alejandro, was constantly seen around the resort making sure all was running well. He introduced himself individually to all new arrivals at either dinner or breakfast. He put in very long days There at 7am when we went for breakfast and still there when we finished our last drink at 11pm. The next person who influenced our stay very much was head chef Jesus. He was also there the same long hours. He took personal interest in all meals being cooked and served. I am a fussy traveler when it comes to food. When we go to all inclusive resorts, one of the saving graces for me is the buffet. I do not do well with all prepared meals. With Covid, there was no buffet. Meal selection, while it would do most any normal person well, did not always agree with what I was able to eat. Jesus came out and we discussed what I could handle and he had the chefs prepare me a special meal. He was present at all my other meals and made sure I was looked after. In a busy place like this at mealtime the last thing they needed was to go out of their way for an individual, but they did. Give them full marks for everything they did. We would definitely do this resort again.

Playa Pesquero: very nice resort .mean management

all over very good but no snack bars .according to resort snack bar open 24 hours .which was only one there was opening only for three and half hours a day .one thing was good beer bar was open 24 hours

Melia Cayo Coco: A lovely resort

The Melia Cayo Coco, Cuba is one of the older resorts in the area and it is starting to show its age. However, everything was clean and well taken care of. The staff were exceptional in their care and kindness to all of the guests. The food was very good at the buffet and it was exceptionally good at the 'a la carte' restaurants. A lovely beach and plenty of sun chairs and awnings. The animation team were energetic and worked very hard at getting everyone involved. There was a snaffoo o [... read more]n the final 'check-out' day. Many of us were not notified that the flight had been delayed 4 hours. Sunwing, the front desk at check-out or the Sunwing information board nor the Sunwing representatives at the hotel and airport did not give us the information which lead to a lot of confusion and missed time on the beach.

Iberostar Selection Varadero: A magical week at a wonderful resort!

Our recent week at Iberostar Selection Varadero was wonderful. It was our fourth time visiting and our friend's first time. They said they would come back for sure. Since we had been there in 2019 the hotel has had many improvements. Clearly they have used the down time due to the pandemic to spruce things up. Everything is freshened up in terms of paint and furnishings. There is an additional beach side bar with a second level, great for sunset drinks. The whole resort is in excellent shape.  [... read more]The staff were excellent and food the best we've had of the many times we have been to Cuba. The shows were all great but a few were outstanding, one night the show was of Cirque du Soleil level talent! We all look forward to going back and doing the overnight excursion to Havana that includes a night at the Havana Iberostar hotel. Special thanks for making our week so special goes to the dining room staff led by Yohani Torres.

Playa Pesquero: One of the best

On arrival the occupancy rate was about 40% due to opening up the resort to Cubans until end of November. By departure once they left it was perhaps 20%. Overall a great experience Partly due to the hotel staff being very friendly and welcoming It’s always nice to be appreciated We asked one waitress how she was doing and she replied “great now that you are here I have a job” Food was good as long as you keep your expectations inline with the issues that Cuba is facing A  [... read more]la carte restaurants are very nice. Top marks for presentation When we arrived we booked our restaurant reservations and were offered an upgrade to the Bistro restaurant for about $40 pp We thought we would treat ourselves to a good meal. It was terrible!!! Absolutely the worst meal of the trip. Undrinkable wine from Spain. Steak that you couldn’t cut. Lobster was fine. It was closed after that night (only two tables reserved) so I guess everyone else was warned. Snorkelling is mediocre. Certainly not a driver for this area Beach is one of best we have been to. Water clean and warm. Catamarans windsurfer paddle boats all good condition and readily available Pool is huge and unpopulated access to bars and quality of drinks is excellent One thing that I cannot understand is the numerous room upgrades very expensive and little value We had standard rooms a very satisfied If you think an upgraded room appeals to you, book in Canada much cheaper If you do visit Cuba please bring whatever you can. They need anything; school supplies, clothing, etc.