Resort needs some TLC & Repair

Hotel staff where wonderful, friendly & helpful! The Resort itself needs some improvements. Bar pool was emptied on day 3 which was not a big deal for us however it was in need of repair due to tiles missing. The pool will be at least a month down for repair. While the main pool was under repair the secondary pool was then the main pool. It has missing tiles and most ladders where also in need of repair. You just have to be careful where to walk and to watch where you get out of the pool to mak [... read more]e sure the ladder is safe. There was a shortage of white wine in most places on the resort. I believe there was a shortage of things to Cuba as food was limited. Ala Carte's were better than the buffet. We changed rooms after the first night due to safe not working, no remote, toilet not working properly, and phone not working and no towels. Our second room was suitable. The maid staff did a wonderful job of cleaning our room and always helpful and friendly. For a beach towel you will need to use your credit card for $10 USA & when you return the beach towel you will be re-imbursed the money. (This is a first for me) The beach area in the water has rocks which can hurt or cut you if the waves take you. You had to be very careful. I am not sure if the hotel was short staffed as there are very few servers, however the staff that did come around where again friendly and helpful. This is not a hotel that I would recommend, but we did have a good time regardless.

Good

Fair ,but it can be good if the food is improved. There was a lack of types of food even for basic foods. Very good reception staff. Good artistic activities and good staff Good beach place Good housekeeping staff and rooms were also good

Would not go back

The flight with Sunwing was probably the best of the vacation...the resort is run down, pools in bad shape, tiles missing everywhere, not clean water. But the worst is food..its not my first time in Cuba, but this was bad..no eggs, no juice, no meat, the odd piece of fish here and there..pasta for breakfast, lunch, supper for 7 days..and the bar system at the lobby is the worst..plus absolutely no mix..no juice, no pop, so no mohitos, no Pina Colada , nothing..just awful, The weather was [... read more] beautiful, the beach nice..thats about it. All in all not a good vacation..too much missing

Fair

Food was terrible. There was literally nothing to eat. Had to feed on papaya and bread for 4 days straight. Rooms are ok. Pools and beach sea amazing. This is my second time in this resort. It was definetly much better in 2019. Looks like covid break ruined this place.

The good, the bad and the ugly.

Damaged hotel unrepaired. A la carte not worth it. Bad food indigestion for 4 days and closes down 2 days after. Privilege section without supervision. We pay (300$ extra approx.) but anyone went there. Room was ok. and we were lucky ones because we heard of horror stories. No more Cuba for a while, until they get their things together. Beaches need some taken care of before they disappear

Iberostar Laguna Azul June 9 - 12, 2023

Hotel was great. Read a lot of reviews and already had my expectations for the food to be subpar. I was more than impressed. Hotel and grounds are beautiful. Workers are working everyday keeping it up. The furniture is dated but everything worked. Food was better than I expected. Not a ton of variety but always something there. Egg station in the morning, pasta station lunch and dinner. Was scared to drink the water at first but after a couple days, realized it was good. They give you [... read more] 2 liters in your room each day. And I am sure you can ask for more if needed. We never got sick from anything. Even ate the ice cream and the alfredo pasta. We did the Italian and Japanese a la carte . Both were great. The Japanese was fun to watch and delicious to eat. I recommend both. But you have to book in early, 9am - 3pm is when the booking office is open. We slept in the first morning and never got to book the romantic one. But we still got 3 al a carte booked for our 4 days stay. Resort had good whiskey and liquors. Great fruit juices as well. Staff were super friendly and always smiling. We bought the Cuban money which was not needed. They prefer USD money. which we brought with us as well. Everything in the Cuban airport was also in USD currency. Beach was amazing. Clean clear water. We got a couple of buns from the buffet and took them into the ocean. just about 20 feet out (still standing) and there were a ton of tropical fish that came and swam around us. The resort offers free snorkel masks, but we never used them. Didn't need them as the water was so clear, you could see the fish no problem. I had never been to Cuba before, and I would go back. We are planning on going back next year and we are going to be book this resort.

Well kept on the outside- great views and beach

You need to know Cuba, always choose 4-5 star and don’t expect it to be like Canada, it is Cuba…it is that simple. Go for the beach, water, people, fresh fruit and don’t expect gourmet. I read various reviews …all worried as I was travelling with a toddler, so I brought what I needed for him and so my expectations were met. (Diapers, formula some snacks- all was good.) Hotel was decent, they probably just repainted the outside and the inside could do with a better clean and revamp, but  [... read more]it was all livable for our stay. Coffee was good as usual, sugar was not available( but I brought honey) sugar came in three days later… no big deal. Sweeter they had was actually better than what we have. I bring loads of stuff to give away and people are always happy with that. Things are more expensive after Covid especially at the airport. Buy at the hotel or at local places. I would suggest this hotel… it meet my expectations. No shortages or issues. .

Decent hotel

I had a bit better expectations, but the hotel was decent. The location is really good but the rooms needs work. The waterflow in the washroom shower is extremely slow and there is no actual shower just the shower head. Also, the bedsheets were not clean. Food area was in the open and there were flies, and birds eating from it. We got food poisoning. However, they did open the indoor buffet area a couple of days before we were leaving and that was much cleaner and nicer. The staff was extremely  [... read more]friendly and I cannot say enough good things about them. The shows at night were spectacular and there were several activities that kept us entertained. Overall, except for the food and average rooms everything else was quite decent. For a 5 star resort I had a bit better expectations but our stay was still fun. If I go back it will be only for the staff.

Great Resort

The staff was very friendly and always helpful The food was amazing, lots of selection at the buffet There were daily activities we enjoyed as well as day and evening entertainment Clean grounds and pool

Amazing resort!

Beautiful and clean hotel. Amazing clean and hot sea. Clean beach and no stealing beach towels, on surveillance all the time. So many clean pools. Delicious buffet. Did not try 3 restaurants because the buffet was so good. Best wifi on the lobby. Slow in the room. Live music every evening and show at 9:30 p.m. Very nice staff.

A huge disappointment. Save your time and money; go elsewhere!

My family of four (two young adults, plus my husband and I) just returned from our 1-week vacation at the Iberostar Laguna Azul. While this was our first time staying at this resort, this trip marked our 2nd trip to Varadero and our 4th trip overall to Cuba (our first trip post-pandemic too!). We were all super excited to come back to Cuba because of the positive experiences we've had before on past vacations, but we would be lying if we said we didn't leave disappointed by the end of our trip.  [... read more] Admittedly, yes, the pandemic has caused an economic crisis in Cuba and life has gotten a lot harder for the locals there. This has also caused many food and supply shortages throughout the country, which affects the resorts as well. All of these factors are understandable and they’re out of the locals' hands. But at the same time, the purpose of a vacation is to relax and not worry about anything. If you want a vacation that's hassle-free with an ACTUAL 5-star resort that lives up to its expectations, don't stay at this resort and travel to other countries instead. 1. BEACH/POOLS: The beach is perhaps the only upside to this resort, unfortunately. It is very beautiful (think soft white sands and turquoise waters) and the water isn't rocky in the least. There's also a coral reef a bit further out, which is really interesting to explore! Watch out for sand fleas though; as long as you wash them off with soap and water, you should be golden. We didn't really go into the pools at all because there are some broken tiles that remain unfixed (lots of reviews online were commenting about this) and it could be a safety hazard. 2. FOOD: Yes, one doesn't go to Cuba for delicious food. However, my family have never been picky eaters and we've still thoroughly enjoyed our vacations to Cuba, regardless of the food. Despite this, the food at this resort was absolutely unbearable; always bland, undercooked, SALTY and/or oily. It was always the worst at the buffets because they would keep putting out the leftover meals from the day before (most likely due to the food shortage), which lead to a lot of food going bad that we would try to avoid. The a-la-cartes were a LOT better and our family enjoyed them (the romantic restaurant is the best, followed by the japanese one and then the italian). Those restaurants were also SO much cleaner in comparison to the buffet/snack bar, which always had flies swarming on your plates, cups, cutlery, napkins, etc, plus on the actual food at the buffet. Not to mention that there are always birds that sneak in and eat the food at the buffet selection and empty tables. The staff don't seem to really clean off the tables or chairs at the buffet/snack bar too, so we're not completely sure how sanitary the resort is. Staff also don't use any hairnets or gloves whenever they cook food, which was an interesting observation. The resort also doesn't provide bottled water and the only option is "purified water", which is served at restaurants, bars and in your rooms through reusable bottles. My entire family started getting stomach aches towards the end of our vacation and are still recovering right now back home here in Canada. We're not sure if this is due to food/water poisoning or the difference in the Cuban vs Canadian water system/food preparation process, but we would definitely say that this resort is not the most sanitary. There also isn’t much selection with regards to food wherever you go, whether that’s at the buffet or a-la-cartes. The 24 hour snack bar only serves basic sandwiches and half-baked pizzas most of the time, topped with a side of cockroaches (which you will find all-throughout the resort. I know it’s a tropical country, but not sure how sanitary it is to have insects in the kitchen and on countertops, which we saw). 3. ROOMS: Their rooms are pretty decent, but from what we heard from other guests, your room experience will be very hit or miss. Unfortunately, our family fell on the 'miss' side and we had a lot of problems with our adjoining rooms (same building as the main buffet and on the same floor as the lobby) right off the bat: - the toilet in one of the rooms wasn't working at all (couldn’t flush) - the lock for the balcony in one of the rooms completely dislodged from the door-frame, which is a safety concern - neither of the telephones work in both rooms - the sinks were semi-clogged - no soap/shampoo/body gel in any of the washrooms - both of the rooms were VERY dirty and we had to request for deep-cleaning We brought up these problems with customer service and to be honest, it took quite awhile for them to be resolved. They eventually called in a technician to fix the toilet/balcony and a maid to do deep cleaning, but they couldn't give us new rooms because this resort has limited adjoining rooms for families (families, take note of this!). You also have to kick to open one of the washroom doors because it was broken, which is hilarious. 4. SERVICE: This was between poor and fair (2-3 stars). There was a TripAdvisor review that I had previously read saying that the “spirit of the Cubans had changed”, which is an accurate way to describe it. Cuban people are usually known to be extremely hospitable and friendly individuals, but there seems to have been a shift after the pandemic due to their current economic crisis. While this is understandable, don’t expect to get outstanding service without giving a tip first. They will still tell you that tipping is optional, but most of the staff won’t acknowledge you or serve you efficiently or effectively without a tip first. It’s 100% not the same hospitable atmosphere that Cuba was known for. 5. LOCATION: The location is another upside, but just a minor one. The resort is pretty safe as a whole and it’s located about 2.5 hours away from Havana, which could be a really great excursion outside of the hotel (please note that you will absolutely be aggressively swarmed by locals trying to sell you services, products and excursions while in Havana. Don’t buy anything in the streets and stick to inside shops!! Don’t openly display that you bought anything too or else this will put a huge target on your back and you will be swarmed). 6. VALUE: This is most definitely NOT a 5-star resort and it fails to meet the expectations that are in place for hotels of this caliber. Our family was left feeling disappointed not even halfway through the vacation, despite trying to make the best of it. Their entertainment and nightly shows are sub-par as well, plus the disco is always DEAD (might be due to off-season, but the DJ didn’t really play great songs either). We read many reviews of this resort and saw quite a few bad ones, but we didn’t really believe them until we started experiencing it ourselves. Not quite sure how there are so many 5-star reviews of this resort online as of recent when we’ve talked to so many fellow guests during our vacation who also agree with us! "Don't sweat the small stuff," some reviews have said, but a lot of these factors WILL drastically impact your vacation! This has been a real disappointment and a wake-up call that Cuba is not the same travel destination as it once was. While this is of no fault to the Cuban people, this will 100% affect your vacation… and not in a good way.

Amazing resort

This was my second visit to this hotel in the past month the resort is one of my favourite places I’ve been in Cuba being there 30 plus times and by far had the best time the grounds are kept beautifully staff are amazing food was good la carts are beautiful I have nothing to say bad about this resort cannot wait to return in April

NEVER AGAIN

I went to this resort in 2014 and thought the quality of the stay would be the same boy was i wrong. Absolute joke for a "5 star" hotel, Food was mediocre at best. There were days in our stay that they had no milk for breakfest, no cheese, no sugar. Wait 30+ min in line to get an Omelett or any kind off eggs. There were times the bars at the beach had no ice, drinks were pathetic. Ask for a drink at any bar and get different mixed drinks, how can you mess up drinks? So much more to say but i al [... read more]ready wasted my time attending a horrible hotel, not going to spend more time on this. Save yourself from this "hotel" and for me NEVER again Cuba.

Hotel needs alot of work

This is far from being even a 4 star. This hotel is very run down, walls dirty with paint chips, lobby washroom not clean. Actually saw a cleaner mop the floors in the lobby washroom and use the same mop to clean the counter top. Our room did not have a shower, it was a hot tub with a hand held shower head that only pointed towards the wall. Our room was not cleaned for 2 days, the room is very dated and sheets did not smell fresh. There are cockroaches in the restaurants, birds eating the food  [... read more]in the restaurants, plates are left for long periods. The grounds and beach are beautiful BUT the pool with the swim up bar is very dirty with black mold everywhere, lots of TILES missing in the bottom of the pool which can be very dangerous for cuts. The maintenance of the pool is done pretty late in the morning which is odd as people are in the pool at the same time. The snack bar that is open 24 hours limits the food you can get depending on the time (ie: can't get fries from noon to 3pm). A La Carte were good, best one was Japanese. Even the service was not the best, some of the staff seem to have attitude...and we're not the demanding type at all. A handful of staff were the absolute best. We expected some changes due to Covid like lack of certain foods or alcohol, but providing service and hotel upkeep was not one of them. I will not be returning to this resort.

Will be Back

Dates travelled: April 22-29 Family type: Family of 4 with kiddos aged 17 and 14 Rooms: Building 16, Rooms 320 and 308 Visitation History: 4thtime to Cuba, first time at this resort Overall rating: we all gave it a solid 9/10 After reading some of the reviews, we were honesty a bit hesitant about coming here. So glad we did. Honest review based on our personal experience. Rooms: Building 16 was awesome. Same floor as lobby and very close to buffet, pools, main lobby bar, etc. R [... read more]ooms were gorgeous and bright (our furniture was painted white). Everything worked, including the shower head. Hot water with good pressure. We had a king and the girls had two singles. Beds were very comfortable. Was there signs of wear and tear? Some plates outside rooms? Sure. But so minor that doesn’t warrant mention. I did hear from other guests, however, some challenges but this was not ours. Food: As everyone has said, and knows, you don’t go to Cuba for amazing resort food. That said, there were some great dishes on the buffet and a fairly wide selection. If you like added salt, which I do, I would suggest bringing some. We didn’t bring any added food with us. My girls did struggle near the end finding things they wanted to eat but they are also kind of picky. Usually always a bit of a line-up for the ‘made-to-order’ foods (pasta, omelets, etc.). There is no toaster so if you like toast in morning, just bring it to the omelet station and they’ll grill for you. The snackbar/24 hr bar also puts on lunch buffet and is only location that makes fries, starting at 1pm. Line up early if you want some or don’t want to wait in line for 30-45 minutes for a plate of fries. We ate here almost everyday. The ice cream shack was never open; we just hopped over the buffet and grabbed some there. A la Carte: We messed up on one of our reservations and missed it, so only ate at Cuban and Japanese. Both were good and a nice break. The breaded fish at Cuban are just like chicken fingers, but really good. No ketchup but they have a yummy mayo sauce you can ask for. The rose wine at Cuban was fantastic but same ‘wine’ at Japanese tasted like it was watered down 50%, as did the white and red. Order beer instead. Drinks: Everything we like (wine, beer, pina colada’s, etc.) we were able to access. The lobby bar does an amazing blended ice coffee (virgin or with shot or dark rum) and an amazing blended mango tequila (ask for the mango tequila with the orange cap, imported from Spain. So good and runs out quickly.) The lobby bar can get quite busy in the morning and evening so expect to wait a bit. The bartenders are excellent at serving folks in order they arrive, regardless of money waiving attempts. Entertainment: Just fantastic. Loved the musicians playing in lobby before nightly shows, and all the shows. They also have a wonderful little trio who perform down at the little bar a couple of nights a week by the pool to the left. They are awesome, pay them a visit. The staff doing day entertainment (pool activities, beach dancing, etc.) are amazing. The level of energy they bring despite long days and doing this every day is inspiring. Excursions: We did the jeep safari via West Jet. Was awesome, although you drive SUVs vs jeeps. Would recommend. If you do this, bring candy, crayons, goodies for kids. You drive along a portion of road where kids come along the side for goodies but you don’t actually get to stop, per se. We’ve done Havana twice before and loved it each time. We did the hop/on bus before too, so didn’t do it this time. The questionables: There were a couple of not-so-great things. First, one of our towels was taken off our chair from the main pool while we were all in the pool. All our towels were on one chair with one drying on the back. This was not a mistake but a purposeful take, which really sucked. It did not turn up in lost and found not at the towel hut. The second was returning to our room one night to find 3 full cups of tea on our table; we can only thing (hope) that it was room ordered and delivered to wrong room. Nothing else was out of order. Third, we had a full bag of sunscreen (about 5 bottles) ‘go missing’. While we like to think the maids took by accident thinking it was part of the gifts/tips we left, the bag was not in a location that would suggest it was for taking. Fortunately, we had enough (just) to last us till our last day. While we intended to leave all our left over stuff, it was quite violating that it was taken without permission. That said, overall we loved it, would recommend and would return. Future travelers, enjoy your stay, have empathy and compassion and don’t sweat the small stuff.

Know before you go

I love Cuba. I had a good week. This is not to dump on that beautiful country. They do have challenges. Those challenges must have been exacerbated by COVID and the chain of supplies issues. The food (meat especially) is sparce. There is no bottled water. We received filtrated water all week long. Some drink options were not always available. Despite all that, I know that they did their best. They gave us more than they have for themselves. This is why I will recommend this destinat [... read more]ion and this resort. If you know what to expect beforehand, you will not be disappointed. You will not go at the front desk to complain that there was no chicken at the buffet. Don’t be that Karen, please. Cuban staff don’t deserve that aggravation. They have enough on their plates. Some things that there were no shortage of during my trip: sun, sand, fun and toilet paper (in my room, it was always available, thank you god; you may want to bring some when you go far from your room). I can’t say it often enough, Cuban people will give you more than they have. They are kind and will try to help. Bring some stuff and some money to thank them for their good service. Bring your smile and try to learn some Spanish before you go. You will have a good time. This does not seem to be the place to complain about the airline so I will not. That would be another chapter.

DATED BUT WONDERFUL!!

Overall the resort was very nice. room was a bit dated but its only a place to sleep so no big deal. food at main buffet was a bit of hit and miss but never went hungry. enjoyed the meals at all of the the Cuban , Romantico(lobster) , Italian and the Japanese. managed to get fries a few times at the 24 hour snack bar . shows we attended were great. never stayed up late enough to try disco. Cigar bar was usually quiet, good place to smoke a nice Cuban Cigar and enjoy a Mojito. drinks were plentif [... read more]ul and served in a timely fashion at most locations. animation crew did a great job daily. snorkeling right of the beach was great with many fish to be seen. paddle boats , kayaks and free sailing out to the reef were avail for all but we did not partake as we just enjoyed the sun, the surf and the sand. would go back to this resort again for the same price point as we paid this time.

Very nice and clean place

We had a room with double bed and it was big. We were only 2 but big enough to fit 4. Very clean everywhere. Nice staff. The food was good. The main pool very big never too crowded and has other pools on the side . The beach also clean. We enjoyed a lot our week there. We do recommend the hotel.

Relax, Fun in the Sun

I stayed at Iberostar Laguna Azul for April 6-13. The weather was amazing. The hotel staff were very friendly and accommodating to any request. The country is doing their best recovering, so keep this in mind when it comes to food choices. I had fish, chicken and pork available. There was a variety of cheese, cold meats, vegetable, local fruit with dessert/ice cream. Canadians are their number one tourists. I am so glad that we are now able to enjoy their beautiful shores again.

Poorly managed resort

The resort grounds are very nice… The pools, the beach, the gardens…. The rooms show their age…. Poorly maintained… Patio doors very difficult to impossible to open! Maid service is terrible! Rooms were not cleaned daily! Pillows were moldy smelling sand they were reluctant to change them! Had to ask for bottled water pretty much everyday! They spent more time on creating their towel and bedspread swans than they did cleaning the room it seemed!