Amazing experience

Second time at Varadero. The hotel was very good, cozy room (beach front), friendly people, specially the entertainment team. If you like to play tennis, Miguel was an excellent coach. I payed 3 times with him. Hotel was maybe at 45% capacity. So, not so many people at lunch/breakfast time. Only 1 pool was open. Amazing beach Food was ok. my preference: Seafood Recommendation: Do not change your money at the Airport. Keep your US$/CAD/EURO. You will need them

Bad experience

I have been in Cuba 7 times prior to this vacation at paradisus varadero last week of May 2022. By far the worst experience and service. Watch out for the loggage guys they want Canadian money right from the second they dropped your bags. A thank you is not enough. 1 snack bar is not enough for a big resort, runs out of supplies daily so don't be surprised if you eat a burguer without ketchup and mustard for afew days. (No kidding) Bring a book or download movies because unless you are under [... read more] 10 you will not enjoy any of the night shows in the entire week . If you have kids GOOD LUCK! apple juice, orange are no where to be found. We saw cereal in the last 2 days and the cereal was not crunchy. Food well well well. I been in Cuba 7 times I know food is never good but I never saw a shrimp on the buffet in 7 days not fresh fish only dark tuna steaks which were good surprisingly Rooms were clean but that smelled of wet never goes away. Keep toilet seat close or you will get that bad Snell all over your clothes. The gardeners and the cleaning ladies are the ones that will smile and welcome you the most without any interest. The beach is 9 out of 10 That's why I go to Cuba because of the beach. Overall I found in this trip that food supply and financial situation has changed what I love the most about the island. That free loving welcoming spirit. Now you better have money in your pocket for tips To Cuba I might return but to paradisus varadero I will not go ever again not even if the trip is free and I get paid to go.

Fantastic resort

The resort has a fantastic ocean view dinners and beautiful walks. One of the best lobby in lobby Bar that ever been to.The rooms were newly renovated comfortable beds.Lots of food options. Staff and people all very friendly and helpful. Would definitely book again and would recommend.

Good 5-star-ish Resort

Our 4th time in Cuban resorts Excellent place for families with children. Very friendly staff, excellent reception desk. Great layout of the grounds. Everything is close (except sports), incl. gym and medical clinic. No other hotel can match the views from their main cafeteria and snack bars. Washrooms very close (even to the beach) and very clean. Service + BBq on the beach: impeccable Beach: excellent, protected from the big waves, unlike other places in Varadero. Plenty of spaces, no need [... read more] to fight for shade or loungers, good quality towels. Tip: bring swimming shoes as first 5 meters into the water are rocky Swimming pool: beautifully renovated with 1 annoying defect: no shades at all (at least, not yet). What a pity! Beach bar: very average, as bartenders are not on the pool side, serving first people coming from behind. Good size rooms (but no place to sit, needs a sofa or something) and balconies. Tip: Check all equipment and toilet and get them fixed ASAP Food: poor diversity. You definitely have to go to fine dining: Japanese and Brazilian being the better ones Free 1-hour Internet every day, can be banked for next day. Very fast line. Don't forget, get your Internet card every day at the reception. Entertainment: would give it 3 stars, max. Varadero always windy in March. Too bad for snorkeling at the hotel's beach. A few mosquitoes at night, unless they spray. 1 Cuban Peso tip (plus a little extra for the housekeepers) is very well received. Plan a budget of 10 pesos per day. The waiters wil bring you change for your bills.

Paradisus Varadero Resort - 4 1/2 Stars it is NOT

Paradisus Varadero, Cuba is a nice hotel in general but it is far from being a 4 1/2 star category given to it by many sites. It's more like 4 stars and even 3 1/2 in many aspects. The location and beach with its swaying coconut palms right on the white sandy beach is a lovely sight and to be cherished. It does not get more beautiful than this. Our disappointment started upon arrival. We arrived at the hotel at 2 pm but reception did not give us our 2 rooms until past 5 pm because they were not  [... read more]ready! Granted the resort is huge and spread out but management should hire more house-keeping staff. Finally, when we got the rooms they did not have any smaller towels and we had to ask for them. The tiles were cracked and most locks in the resort did not work - especially most annoying were non-functioning locks in the public toilets around the resort. Faucets to wash sand off feet did not work. There were no more beach towels left after 12.30 pm !! Food was OK but extremely bland - there is enough variety in the buffets to satisfy almost everyone but by the same token because they have so much variety they could easily make some dishes a bit spicier. Their salt is bitter IF it came out of sprinkler in the first place. We didn't understand why they don't use iodized salt which runs freely even in humid countries. The beer is good, but liquors were terrible.The staff and all waiters were great and very friendly.. 5 stars for the beach, most waiters and housekeeping. Cashiers exchanging money were very unfriendly and rude. The dining room is new and has a great view of the beach. The resort is TOO BIG TO RUN EFFICIENTLY UNLESS MORE STAFF IS HIRED. LAST BUT NOT LEAST, THE EVENING SHOWS ON A FAIRLY BIG STAGE WERE FANTASTIC - 5 * STAR

Worse resort/vacation ever

Paradisus Varadero: The worst vacation in 30 years. The resort is sub standard, in every way. The rooms look super cheap, terrible workmanship, etc, etc. Service is way below average. The workers (most, not all) look completely disinterested. Food is sub par, at best. No, it gets worse. There was a theft of my daughter's expensive cosmetics bag. We turned the room up-side down. Nothing. It took approx. 1 hour to complete an official security report. The next day, we leave our room at 9 [... read more]am, for the day. When we return (5pm), the cosmetics bag is sitting on the book shelf... 100%! it was not there in the morning. Clearly, it was returned by the thief. No, it gets worse. The next morning, 8:30am, a young group of people living below us, started blaring their sound speaker...as loud as you would typically hear at a night club. I called reception and we asked to be moved. No, it gets worse. Back at our room, we pack our bags and proceed to reception...but, we were told our new room is not ready. We had to wait 2 hours in the lobby for our new room. We go to dinner and then to our new room. But, they never transferred our bags to the new room (as promised). At 9pm we finally! get our bags. This resort is rated 5 stars. You've got to be kidding me. I would give it 1 1/2 stars, l'm being generous because the beach is very nice. If some one were to offer me a "free" 1 week trip to this resort...100% l would turn it down. Just terrible!

NOT A FIVE STAR RESORT!

The grounds were clean, the staff friendly, however, the rooms were not renovated as indicated on the website--we changed rooms three times. The beach area was full of stones. The food was okay--not amazing. Not what we expected according to their website.

Beautiful Resort BUT lots of issues

We went for the week of February 10-17.... We got there and loved the resort! It was beautiful! Not busy at all even. Found out that they were not even at 50% capacity. Unfortunately, it was nothing but issues after that. The beach was dirty and rocky, not cleaned. Lots of bugs (I was eaten alive even with bug spray). They ran out of beer, certain booze and even pop by the 19th! That was no beer for the rooms. Booze ran out at the bar along with some mixes and certain pops! Coke and Fanta were o [... read more]ut by the 15th. The fridge in our room didn't cool. Other than that, no real issues with our room. Running out of certain meats as well. We went to an a la carte on the 14th and it took 1hr and 28mins for food to come. Our friend's steak ordered well done and it was still mooing, sent it back and nothing for 10mins. We ended up getting up and leaving and going to eat at the snack bar which is where the food was actually decent but they were even running out of items. Many other people complaining to management, but they were not helpful. Very slow service in the lobby for drinks at the beginning of the week when they had a stock. Just went downhill from there. We were pretty disappointed since this cost almost $3000 for 2 people. Would not recommend unfortunately

Great location

Very nice resort; some things need improvement, but their staff is willing to do whatever they can to make our stay enjoyable. I would mention Jonathan from customer service and Dennis from the main restaurant.

Overall pretty good

This resort was generally really nice though did have some short falls. Beach: really lovely white sand, plenty of chairs and shade, no need to go early to reserve. Pools: really nice, seemingly recently renovated, nice and clean. They were renovating the snack bar bathrooms nearest to the pools, so you kind of have to plan your bathroom trips ahead. Room: we stayed in 1122 which had terrific central location but was pretty dated and in need of updating. Poor air conditioning and ki [... read more]nd of musty smell, beds and mattresses were clean though. Lots of storage for your things. Shower had hot water but didn't drain well so it flooded the bathroom. Buffet: overall not the best, repetitive and didn't have standard foods (no bacon at all for the week), but we didn't starve and aren't super picky. Snack bar and beach grill: great food and service at both. A la cartes: Mediterranean and Japanese were both good, the fusion restaurant Bana was so so. Service: was excellent, concierge, bartenders, gardeners, servers across the board were great, attentive and positive. Sometimes they ran out of things but always tried to make it work. Tips were appreciated but we still got great service when we didn't have any money on us. Bugs: lots and lots of mosquitos, bring bug repellant and then pack more. Money: we brought Canadian and exchanged it for CUC. There is a little bank kiosk near the entrance of the hotel and had essentially the same rates as the airport, maybe 1-2 CUC less. Very convenient though. Internet: only available in the lobby. You have to connect with a card that has a username and password. Each card is 1 hour of internet, and they were giving these out for free. Everyday you can get 2 cards per person per room (4 total). But you have to go back to get more everyday. This hotel was very good value for money, so it was an enjoyable stay for us. Certainly it could be improved by some room and food upgrades, but it was still overall pretty good. A little bit on the quiet side, there wasn't much nightlife, but we were after relaxation so that was just fine.

Melia Paradisus... I expected more from your chain.

After having had a great experience at Paradisus Del Mar a few years back, I expected better from this Pardisus. So here it is from best to worst: BEST: The location of this hotel is its best asset. The views are incredible and the fully mature palm trees on the property are awesome. The resort is slowly but surely being maintained and improved. No big noisy renos going on. GOOD: The room cleaning service was TOP notch (we were in room 2226). The snack bar staff, service, ambiance an [... read more]d food were our BEST experience. Friendly and happy, they delighted us repeatedly! They kept running out of white wine though. NOT OKAY: The buffet - Understaffed(it seemed) and running out of basics like salt & coffee. Service... what service? The staff walked around like they had weights on their heels and the famous phrase 'one moment' meant: forget about getting whatever you asked for. And, we were asking for coffee at breakfast! Until, until, until... the supervising managers showed up :)! Then we got everything. The pace picked up and 'voila!' all was as it should be. Although the staff was unhappy and it showed. The food varied (egg shells in their scrambled eggs seemed to be part of the recipe). The worst was the custom omelets. The women there had a bad attitide and her omelets not good. Twice we got her replacement and she was really pleasant and nice and her omelets were very good. The best was the fish grill and the pasta station. Both delicious with friendly staff. HORRIBLE: The cuban & Sakura asian restaurants were the WORST. Food was horrible at both. No show at Sakura, the girl cooking was an amateur at best. Miso soup was a simili onion soup. The waitress... OMG... We arrived on time and she told us to wait. I was trying to ask for a glass of wine while we waited but she cut me off and told me, again, to wait (with an upset face). I finally finished my sentence to ask for the wine and she again told me to wait. She was definitely the boss and I was definitely bothering her :(. Unfortunately, I cannot recommend. Sorry to all the nice people there, but you are outnumbered by your unhappy colleagues.

Amazing Resort

Hotel was amazing. Rooms were large and kept very clean. All the staff were extremely friendly and would go out of their way to help. The beach is one of the most beautiful I have seen. You are never bored at the hotel always something going on

Beautiful resort

The resort is very good but the food is not great especially the alacarte restaurants..half of the time they did not have the dishes mentioned in the menu .. the service is great , people are really nice and helpful.. loved their entertainment team.. kept us busy the whole day including evening.. really liked the kids club as well.. the staff is really nice ..

Beautiful and Scenic Resort

Upon arriving the resort was very clean and inviting. The gardens and scenery very beautifully maintained. The beach is breathtaking. The service was a little slow. Our consigliere reserved all of our dinner reservations which was nice. The push for excursions to Havana was pretty aggressive... I was told it was an hour to get there it was 2 hours. I was told a cheaper lunch place would be provided it was $20 cuc per person which is about 28 CAD. The restaurant servers were basically  [... read more]dressing in as little clothes as possible and I was with my 13 and 12 year old daughters.. The excursion wasn't appropriate to our family whatsoever. It wasn't considered so please chose wisely and consider they are just pushing for most expensive excursions and do not consider anything else when recommending.

Great, calm and peaceful, large resort

Perfect for dowtime, quiet, couple visit. Beach is incredibly beautiful, private and large. One of the best in Cuba. Downside, is the hotel is doing renovations, painting, drilling, building, very noisy and not pleasant for a peaceful atmoshpere. Once it will be completed, will return but not during contstruction. Great staff! Food was great too, buffet had good options. Overall great location and stay just not renovations.

Exactly what we paid for

This hotel was good, the reserve rooms were nice, clean and the balcony was nice. The kids zone is old and needs to be updated the slash pad is also old and needs some work but it is fine for the little ones. Love the big pool on the main side of the hotel overlooking the ocean it is large and you can walk into it great for our little one. The beach was nice a little rocky but it was still beautiful. The lobby and entertainment and staff were also very nice and enjoyable however the food was  [... read more]awful and we were all hungry. The snack bar food was hot and prepared to order the buffet was somehow cold all the time with very minimal selection. However, for $1200 each for 7 days I’m not complaining :)

The new area of the resort is nice.

We were disappointed in the service at the resort, saying that we have to point out some of the positive areas ... the concierge were absolutely wonderful, they were helpful in every way. ( thanks to Lilly and Hanset). The bar in the family reception (new area) was also very good, the two bartenders went above and beyond for our family, both adults and children. The beach is lovely, could of been cleaner but we enjoyed the water. The two shows that our family attended were first class entertainm [... read more]ent. Now as for the service in other areas .... we were given a room in the older part of the resort with a partial view of the ocean and the kids were in the family area. We requested to be moved closer to the kids rooms, it took two days for them to move us (something we didn’t understand because the resort was really not busy) but they did finally move us in the same building as the kids on a flour with no hallway lights which was a little scary in the dark, we did ask them a number of times to get a light in the hallway but it went to deaf ears. The room was nice but we didn’t have towels or fridge supplies or drinking water for the first day we were in the room after calling a number of times we borrowed towels from the kids room and went down to the bar to get drinking water. Now the food !!!! We were prepared for the food not being the best but this food was awe full. The a la carte restaurants were also terrible, they never had their complete menu .... and it was the same food that was at the buffet just presented differently. The waiters spoke very little English and seemed confused serving a table of nine (we never could get our food at the same time). The concierge would book our restaurants and three times we got to the restaurant and it was closed and it was moved to another restaurant. (Frustrating with a group of nine). We would only give the Japanese restaurant an ok recommendation the others no.

Did not meet any of our expectations

We got a call the day before our flight to tell us that the part of the hotel we were initially booked with is being renovated and we were being moved to another part of the hotel. We arrived late on Thursday night and a buggy cart took us to our room from the lobby. We had requested a crib upon booking the holiday but none was provided, no water and the mini bar (which is included) was empty. We tried to call from our room to guest services but the phone didn't work. My 2.5yr old was hungry an [... read more]d thirsty so my husband headed out and arrived back an hour later. We were not told which direction was the lobby from our room and there are barely any lights in the building blocks. The renovation of the hotel looked amazing but where they they moved us was very small. Service at the snack bar was terrible every day. Hot water only worked for the first day, food was really bad - me and my husband lived off bread rolls, cold cuts and cheese. Food items kept running out. I was told no bread for my hot dog and 10 minutes later someone gets served with bread. Both my husband and I booked for a massage on separate days. With the massage we were told we can us the jacuzzi, sauna and pool. The sauna and steam room both didn't work, the jacuzzi tubs were cold, dirty and no bubbles. The showers had no hot water. On Christmas Eve, we all had reservations booked for a special dinner. We lost the paper and the manager of the restaurant was ready to kick us out as soon as we heard we didn't have the paper. Luckily for us the woman at the door was nice enough to check her clipboard and found our names and table. They have breakfast cards hanging on your door offering a number of different breakfast items. The card wasn't collected from our room and when i called down to let guest services know, I told her I had ticked for all of the items. When room service arrived, they gave two plates of chopped fruit and a plate of stale mini pastries. When I called to ask why i was given this instead of what I had asked for, they couldn't explain it. Definitely a hotel that is faking it to make it. Nothing is as it seems. Everything behind the prettiness is broken, everything being the professional courtesy fails every time. This was our first trip to Cuba, our first family holiday as 4. So disappointing...

Resort was great

Overall food was good base on Cuba’s standards. Except the chicken they overlook Entertainment, Butler services and stuff where excellent The beach was very clean and amazing For 5 star resort the Building overall needs renovation specially little items in the bedrooms

Our Hotel was changed to Royalton Hicacos

Thank you Monica for changing our hotel. Royalton was just amazing from food, to beach, to entertainment. The only downside was we were without hot water to shower on 2 days. When we walked on the beach to Paradisus, we were glad that we changed to Royalton! the amount of noise in Paradisus (due to construction) was not good. Thank you Monica so much for the recommendation and taking care of us