Muthu Playa Varadero: Horrible Resort Even by Cuban Standards!

I have been to many resorts in many countries, and to Cuba 3 times. This resort was the worst. Pros: - Food was okay.. But I still got sick.. So maybe not so good.. - An okay deal if you pay less than $500/week.. and don't mind coming home disappointed.. I paid $1100.. My friend paid $474 but had problems as well. Cons: - Staff were generally unhappy - Staff several times unhelpful on simple requests.. A glass of water, money exchange, a clean towel.. - Rooms electrical system faulty.. Fried m [... read more]y adapter - Several services stopped due to problems: credit card machines, internet, cash exchange.. - Their SINGLE computer with internet was unreliable and super slow.. - NO WIFI NO ATMs - Main buffet restaurant not ventilated and very hot to sit in.. Horrible!

Melia Peninsula Varadero: Amazing Resort! Great experience!

The resort was great! People are very friendly! There was a small mishap with my clothes, but that was a misunderstanding and was handled very quickly. The Italian restaurant is not very good though, so I would not recommend going to that one and wasting your dinner. The Beach Buffet at lunch is amazing. Overall, it was an excellent time!

Royalton Hicacos Resort and Spa: Amazing honeymoon

The hotel was absolutely gorgeous and the staff went above and beyond for us. The extra money for the diamond club is worth it, especially for the private beach. There was a private honeymoon dinner, we were a little disappointed with especially since it wasn't very private and just an average dinner. There was a problem with our room (folding, missing blinds in the bathroom) and they had us in a new room by 4 pm. But it was an absolutely perfect honeymoon!

Iberostar Origin Playa Alameda: Good resort

Everything was good only the beach was not to nice and clean, and I think is better to go there in another season it was very windy. The room conditioners are old. If you live tips they will clean you very well the room, the service is good. The beach bar is not situated very well it is not on the beach but beside.

Melia Peninsula Varadero: Nice Resort

Resort landscape and architecture are great. open areas are comfortable. Room is clean but it is close the sea and need well maintainanance. Dining is good, too many choose, especially restaurants available. Too many funs there. Very enjoyable.

Paradisus Varadero: What to Expect

The hotel was beautiful, the staff friendly and smiling, the beach wonderful. You would simply pick your spot on the beach and a hotel employee would set up your chairs. The water was warm, food was acceptable, booze was plentiful. The reason I rated as average is that the rooms were not vere comfortable. Our ocean view room was actually ocean front but it smelled terrible and I had to take allergy pills just to walk in. The bed was essentially two box springs. But all-in-all, it was a great 4 d [... read more]ay trip. Not sure I would stay longer.

Paradisus Varadero: Superb resort!

Superb grounds and pools...and the most beautiful beach I have ever been on. The staff are fantastic -- the only problem is the front desk people are usually grunpy and not very helpful. But if you accept this, it's a wonderful place. The food is incredible (especially for Cuba) although the buffet is in many instances better than the restaurants that require reservations. In the buffet there are some wonderful and excellent servers -- check out LLeinis, Yanelquis and Eugenio. They will take won [... read more]derful care of you. All in all a superb experience.

Blau Varadero: One of the best resorts in Varadero

Excellent beach area which is cleaned and raked each morning. Lots of huts for shade. Staff will set up and brush sand off loungers for you. Fairly calm waters unless there is a storm passing. We came after a storm, so there were waves the first day, then calm green flag waters the rest of the week. Free catamaran rides. You can pay to go snorkeling. We found 100s of beautiful shells in waist deep water near shore. Rooms clean, but basic. Make sure you shut your balcony door and put your room ca [... read more]rd in the slot near the door to turn the air con on. We put an old Starbucks card in the slot to keep the air on when we were at dinner so the room would be cool for sleeping when we returned. I felt our AC was weak but my sister's room was good. Beds are hard. Food is plentiful. Some stuff delicious, some not to our taste, but we ate well. You can pay for better wine than house if you want. Top notch musicians every night! Classically trained opera singers, violinists, cellists, etc. I have never experienced this level of excellence without paying top prices to attend the opera in Toronto before. It was a nice surprise. A few locals on the beach asked us if we could leave our clothes and toiletries for them when we leave. They never asked for money and insisted on giving us shells to thank us when we did. Service from staff was excellent when tipped or not. Elevators are small and slow when they have to stop at every floor but we were lucky to get the 4th floor so we walked up and down. We went for dinner at 6:30pm so never had to line up during the Christmas break. We ate delicious lobster on Christmas Eve at the buffet. Unusually weak coffee. The currency exchange is brutal. We got 13 CUC for $20 Canadian and 17CUC for $20 US. The hotel was not able to give me 1CUC notes for tipping. They gave me 3CUC notes which add up to a lot of money quickly. Staff obviously accepted Canadian or American notes. High effort from staff. You see management monitoring everything constantly. Ocean view rooms cost extra. We had lots of hot water in the shower. We asked for a light to be fixed in the bathroom but they were unable to for some reason. Returning guests told us this was one of the best resorts they had been to in Varadero and we believe it. They fumigate but I came back with lots of bites, hoping they are sand fleas as opposed to bed bugs, which is probably more common in Toronto than at the Blau. My room mate did not get bitten at all. Lots of entertainment for the kids near the pool-animal shows, dancing, games. Clean and beautiful pool area. Hammocks available in an area between the pool and the beach.

Memories Jibacoa: Great vacation

Fantastic rep (Marina onsite). Main restaurant not good about knowing which items were Glutenfree. Al a Carter restaurants fantastic! Terrible Aquafina classes - staff should be trained; guests should be taken out first time in reef to show them what to do and more importantly, what not to do (or the reef will continue to be destroyed in that area). Nice to see couples walking around hand in hand. Fantastic service from trip central rep who booked my trip

Roc Barlovento: Excellent Resort

We had a very good time, dining was clean - food was fresh and very good. The grounds were very well kept. Rooms were spacious and maid service was very good. Lobby bar was excellent congrats to the bartenders for mixing excellent tasty drinks. The coffee bar in lobby area made very good coffee the best I've tasted so far. The reception area staff spoke good english and tried their very best to please everyone. The beach was well kept and the chair guy managed to keep everyone happy even when so [... read more]meone tried to steal someone else chair he handled it very nicely and he waited for us every morning with our chairs (way to go) thanks again.

Barcelo Solymar: You get what you pay for

All in all this was a good trip. Would I go back to the Solymar side probably not, but maybe the Arenas Blancas side.... Pros: - great beach with lots of chairs and shade umbrellas - if you're interested in partying this is the place to be, there was a party by the pool every night - walking distance to the town - the lobby with the hanging vines is beautiful - able to go between the 2 resorts Cons: - the food was as to be expected but we found things to eat - the resort needs maintenance (ext [... read more]erior needs a paint job, shower door fell off in my bathroom, the lobby bathrooms need updating, only 1 jacuzzi was working) If you want to get away for cheap it's a good option.

Memories Jibacoa: good

Best location. Nice service. Food always fresh. Ocean view amazing. Rooms are in good condition . Cuban people are the best. Cac currency is expensive. Not enough table to eat outside always line up. Massage is expensive. Fresh fish every day. Milk products good.

Palma Real: Let's say the hotel is a little tired

The hotel needs some maintenance. The grounds are well kept and the pools are clean. Everything in our room worked, and we lacked hot water only one day. Not a big deal for us. Food was quite good and comparable to other three star hotels in Cuba. Lots of fruit and vegetables each day. Service was slow in the dining room and staff did not seem to happy with their work. Sadly this hotel was overrun by many Canadians from Quebec who behaved very badly, including fighting and arguing loudly in the  [... read more]hallway till 4:00 and 5:00 in the morning after partying all night. They would also urinate in the gardens at night, both men and the women!!!!!! During the day these poorly behaving quests would take over all seating in the lounge and bar areas and smoke so much we could not make use of these areas. Groups of these French Canadians also set up tables and chairs on the sidewalks outside the lounge areas and block traffic forcing others to walk through the grass to get by. We met some other tourists from Quebec who were embarrassed because of the bad manners of their countrymen.

Los Delfines: LOS DELFINES

Wonderful helpful staff; home feeling, friendly tourists; food not bad and good variety; lots of imagination with preparation of meals, given the lack of products; the grounds were always well maintained and there was never a shortage of fun and entertainment;

Starfish Cuatro Palmas: not sure what all the hype was about

was really impressed by all the raving reviews, but not sure what all the fuss was about, we are used to staying at low budget resorts in cuba, so this was a step up for us. we splurged on ocean view. first room, first night was very very loud (from nightly show), in the morning they changed us, second room wasn't much better...we just dealt with it. Food was ok, always choices, but usually the same every day. Dec 24th dinner was very good, included lobster at buffet. was probably a little bette [... read more]r then what we are used to.Rooms were not cleaned very well, hair on bathroom floor when we checked it, and it remained that way all week. i'm able to overlook this sort of stuff, but i guess i just expected better. we were never able to get small peso's from the front desk, it's hard to tip when all you have is big bills, it's too bad for the workers. we love varadero, we had the greatest weather. Not sure i would return to this resort for the price we paid, certainly didn't feel like we got our money's worth.

Hotel Tuxpan: Friendly Staff

Arriving to the hotel was great experience. The only concern was the cleanliness of the rooms and the lack of Internet wifi service. But good for the price we paid. Loved the beach location. Loved it.

Melia Marina Varadero: Excellent resort for the price

We enjoyed this resort very much. All the staff were GREAT! We found the hotel very clean especially our room. Our maid was amazing! The entertainment was second to none. The bartenders were all fabulous, especially the staff at the swim up bar.

Occidental Arenas Blancas: Location, location, location... and more

It was my 6th time at this particular hotel. And I can see another visit coming... First of all the location is just perfect - so close to some of the main Varadero attractions: Calle62, Josone Park, Beatles Bar... also some good restaurants /Barbacoa, The Fondue, etc/. Also you have the use of two hotels: Arenas Blancas and Barceló Solymar, so here you go - double the entertainment, dining choices, double the fun. Arenas Blancas is the quieter of those two, Solymar being the party place with s [... read more]omewhat younger crowd. The beach is magnificent with plenty of shade and loungers available. Same with pools. Arenas pool is more interesting and bigger, I would say. People are very friendly and if treated with friendliness and respect they reciprocate in kind. Hotel rooms are... well, Cuban hotel rooms, so don't expect luxury and everything functioning properly. But I suggest you forget fixing that balcony door that doesn't close all the way - saves you time and aggravation at the front desk. Well, you might be lucky, but... you might be not... Based on my previous experience with trying to fix things - the less you try to make your room "proper" /or "perfect"/ the better. Don't sweat the small stuff and just enjoy what Cuba and Arenas Blancas has to offer. And there is plenty of that... My opinion might be subjective but this is really how I feel about my stay at Arenas Blancas. And every time I am very satisfied with my vacation there. I know what to expect and I don't push for unnecessary repairs or towel change every day. This makes for a great vacation every time... Wish you the same great experience with Arenas Blancas!

Palma Real: Terrible Resort

Rooms at hotel had visible mold in them and they would not change them, received one bottle of water and if you wanted more you had to pay for it. Not sure when you book what "All Inclusive" means. Hotel was run down. Would not recommend this hotel to my worst enemy.

Melia Varadero: Good Stay But Needs a Facelift

Good News - Staff/Service - Shows - Alcohol selection (nice surprise on red and sparkling wine....not so much on white wine) - Beach and amenities - location - TV Content Selection (nice surprise!) Bad News - Food (best food was at the outdoor Trinidad restaurant) - Room issues (water pressure/temp....air conditioning) - Overall outside appearance (needs a major face lift) Overall we had a good time