Good resort

Amazing beach Staff very welcoming and helpful . Hard to have rooms close to the people you book with. Restaurants accommodating for celiac people . Air conditioning not working in our room. Buffet not a lot of seafood ( mussels only one day +fish one day ).

Great time!

I have been to Cuba several times and this was a great resort. All the staff are so friendly and accommodating and the beach is beautiful. The food is made very well despite all the restrictions. Would go again! The only thing - I wish the pools had more shade but the beach had plenty!

Excellent experience, good value for money

I was very happy with my overall stay. My room had been well maintained and there were no issues. The only thing I noticed but did not let it affect my overall experience was that the cleaning staff did not clean the room daily. It appeared as if they just made the beds. There had been hair - my hair, that was never swept for the 4 days I was there. There was some dirt in between the bed and the couch which said that they did not really clean the room. Towels were not changed for clean on [... read more]es. When you go to Cuba, you do not go with high expectation of standards and you will be happy. Food was really not that bad but for Cuban standards. The place was always happening with lots of activities/ entertainment during the day and night. Great place if you want to party and enjoy loud music. I was actually looking for something quieter but I was happy to get the sun, sea and sand! Pools were amazing, beach was heavenly, except that many of the beach beds were broken. Service was excellent !!! overall facilities were the best!

Wonderful Holiday

The hotel is dated, but you don’t go for the rooms. Everything is clean. Only issue with our room is that the patio door did not lock well. Staff is very friendly and accommodating. Not all drinks available at all bars, so what. Take what’s available you will enjoy it. The pools are great, beach is great, weather is great, people are great. The buffet is ok, some days better than others, you won’t starve. They try their best with what they have available, which changes every day. Exc [... read more]ursions were fantastic ( Havana especial, Mantanza Yumuri and Guama Especial). We will go back soon, 9th time in Cuba. You feel welcome and safe wherever you go.

Amazing Resort

As first timers this was an amazing experience. The food was not great but we always found something to eat. Everything else was exceptional including the staff. Everyone was so welcoming. I will be back

Amazing resort!!

From the moment we arrived at 2:30am, we were treated like family, the staff was phenomal. The resort was beautiful, the grounds were impressive and well taken care of. There was an abundance of food and activities by the pool during the day. I was concerned about travelling to Cuba considering all the comments that you hear about the lack of food but this resort did not disappoint, the three daily buffets were always well stocked and the 24 hour snack bar always had good food, hot dogs, fren [... read more]ch fries, chicken, etc. Their food was a little bland but we brought salt, pepper and hot sauce and that made it taste like home. There were lots of Canadians at the resort as well, which made it feel even more like home. I would definitely return to this resort. Thank you for making my first experience in Cuba memorable.

Disappointed

Although Covid had a tremendous impact on the overall situation in Cuba I was very disappointed in the lack of customer service received from the staff. The food shortage was accepted but there were cockroaches in the buffet and in my room. One day they had sugar the next day none. Just to name a few things. Staff was friendly but not eager to work. You would stand at bar with no acknowledgement. Would not go back to this resort

Beautiful resort

Beautiful grounds and beach. Very clean everywhere. And the staff is so friendly and amazing always ready to help you and with a smile. Lots of entertainment. The Japanese à la carte is the best. The weather was excellent will return for sure

Would be happy to return

VEGAN?: I managed to keep to a plant-based diet. There was always a ton of fresh fruit (guava, watermelon, papaya, pineapple, and occasional bananas), fresh and cooked vegetables (greens, tomatoes, carrots, beets, peppers, cucumber) and legumes (lentils and/or chickpeas). To be fair, I can't guarantee that there was no cross-contamination or minute quantities of dairy and animal broth in some of the cooked vegetables and legumes, but I did not see or taste it. I would normally ask for confirm [... read more]ation, but in this context (different culture, language barrier, staff too busy), it's not reasonable to expect a reliable answer. Don't expect tofu, fake meats, plant-based milks or peanut butter. FOOD IN GENERAL: I ate exclusively at the buffet. The food was bland; I expected hot sauce and savory condiments, but the condiments were limited. Regardless, I was satisfied despite some people complaining. The bread was great, and guava is amazing. It's awful to see people taking large portions only to throw it all away; they should make those people live on the street like regular Cubans for a day. DRINKS: I only had red wine (and coffee). Both were fine. CLEANLINESS: Everything looks clean on the surface and I felt comfortable eating at the buffet. I did see twice a cockroach on my table. Birds come in once in a while as the doors are wide open. BEACH: Awesome. Not quite enough chairs. The outdoor rince stations/showers don't quite work well. Tourists who litter should be immediately redirected to Guantanamo. POOLS: I never even tried the pools but I preferred the beach anyway. Not enough chairs. STAFF: I made friends I was sad to part with. ROOM: Nothing fancy but nothing scary. Not much water pressure. Clean. Comfortable. Bottles of fresh water are included. WIFI: Free. They give you a login limited to 10 hours, which you can renew freely. Speed was sufficient. GYM: Pretty small. Limited equipment. Lots of broken stuff. At least it was cool (A/C). COMPARISON: We were transferred to Melia Peninsula for a night due to a delayed flight departure. I'm grateful for this transfer because I saw how much better Laguna Azul was. Melia Peninsula is too spread out, and its buildings feel unsafe (direct access from the outside, and signs of prior forced entry). Also, Melia had the exact same food at the buffet, but in trying to appear fancy, they had forks instead of tongs for the food (yeah, great for picking up individual strands of lettuce), they had tacky lighting, the staff applauded as you entered (please), and they didn't allow you to carry your plate outside. Melia Peninsula is lipstick on a pig, while Laguna Azul is convenient and practical, and it doesn't pretend to be anything it's not. On top of that, Melia Peninsula allowed rude Russians to skip the reception line ahead of people waiting 30-45 minutes. Now I know to never book at MP.

Horrible - Would never go back

Cockroaches, bugs in the food. While we were eating our dinners, lunch, breakfast, you name it. Best yet - on the second night our group discovered we were bitten by bed bugs. What could we have done? Try to enjoy it the best we could - had a few sleepless nights because of this. Food? Not many options at the buffet or restaurants. Either chicken or pork - guess what, we are religious and couldn't eat pork. Best of it all, when we asked for chicken hot dogs we were told it was - when we asked to [... read more] see the packaging, it was chicken AND pork in the hot dog. GREAT! Water and drinks for the bars hand sand in it and if it wasn't sand then it was almost like dirt floating around the drinks, melting from the ice. DISGUSTING!! Room cleaning? We got one towel for the whole trip - only had a hand towel for TWO days after that, we never saw it back. The staff - never happy, never show you a smile and you don't feel wanted. We left the resort most of the times because it was really unbearable. I am not sure how this is a 5 star resort - should be a 2 at most. Left a really bad taste in my mouth for the Iberostar chain. Worst experience of our lives - in terms of the resort. Cuba is a very beautiful place though.

Nice resort

Hotel and ground’s are nice , room was okay except for the bathroom there was no standup shower , I ask to be moved but they wanted more money . But was.clean except for one day that no one even went there . Food wasn’t that great and the people that work there could or should be more friendly. A lot of problems with internet

Amazing Resort, Better Staff

I can’t say enough good things about this trip; but, wanted to shout out some terrific individuals. Thank you so much to King Kong, Crazy Boy, Joey, Tony and the entire entertainment staff. They brought energy and excitement every single day and made my whole group feel welcome from the second we walked in.

Excellent resort

Although slightly understaffed the resort is a wise choice. Food is always an issue in Cuba but was not the case this week. Buffet and restaurants were all good. It is a smaller resort with a good mix of younger and older crowds and still has plenty of options if you prefer a quiet area or party scene. Nightly entertainment was repetitive but ok. There are many shortages of booze throughout Cuba yet the bar tenders were always able to provide something good. Did not meet any bad staff and have i [... read more]n fact become friends with some.

Covid's impact on Cuba

Booking a trip to Cuba, we all know we don't go there for the food, this trip was no exception. Cuba has been greatly impacted by Covid, and to make matters worse, the government changing their currancy. We heard time and again how difficult it is for the citizens of Cuba to get the meer staples of life. Things like vegetables, fruit, meats, bread, juice, toothpaste, shampoo, feminine hygiene products - and the list goes on and on - are hard to come by for them, and also for the resorts in the a [... read more]rea. Our resort had real juice one morning out of the 13 days we were there (the rest of the time was a syrup based juice, and most of the time only peach juice) - alcohol available on the resort was limited to some rums, whiskey, wine and beer, and because there was no juice, your options were pop (no diet available either for those of us who are diabetics) or water. Meat was never consistant, though chicken, pork and fish were always available at meal time, cooked in some fashion or another. Once lobster was at the buffet, and twice turkey. This resort was one of the better for meals when we compared notes with other travellers at the airport on our way home. Many had only chicken, fish and rice dishes - and an even smaller selection of alcohol than we had. The Iberostar Laguna Azul's best meal of the day was always breakfast, provided you got there early, and weren't looking for a nice glass of juice or milk - powdered milk was usually available. Getting a glass of water with your meal seemed to be endlessly difficult, especially if you needed a refill throughout your meal. This improved slightly the last few days, because some of the guests complained to customer services, us included. The resort boasts that they are improving safety by reducing the numbers allowed at a la carts - however, the buffet at supper is packed tight. Not sure why another restaurant or two was not opened as a supper buffet to alleviate the congestion. Staff seemed to be quite busy, even though there didn't seem to be a shortage of staff. I especially noticed in this hotel, how many of the staff would cut you off and walk right in front of you - whereas at other resorts we've gone to over the years, they would stop, and allow the guest to go through first. On three separate occasions, we witnessed someone fall - looking around, there was staff there who seen the fall, but did not come to offer assistance or to see if the person who fell was injured. The staff watched from afar, but never approached. A word of caution - this resort has many areas where the floors change heights, one spot will be an 1/2 - 1 inch difference from the other floor - and most of them are not marked in any way - mostly where one building is connected to another - a recipe for someone not paying attention, to take a nasty fall. Changing money to their currency - change over only a minimal amount. Don't change it at the airport or any bank, ask a worker on the resort. Most of the Cuban people prefer the canadian dollar over their CUP (Cuban Peso). At the airport - when we were there, $1 canadian was equivalent to 78 Peso, the travel agency reps were offering it at $1 canadian to 90 Peso, and some of the workers were willing to trade it for $1 canadian to 100 Peso. The pools at this resort - the main pools in the middle of the resort were cleaned every morning - be careful using these pools, several tile are missing throughout the two main pools and some of those areas have sharp spots. There are two quieter pools, one in the Relax zone, and one on the complete opposite side of the hotel grounds - these pools are quieter, but not cleaned in I don't know how long - very dirty each time we went there. Minimal lounge chairs (and portable umbrellas) were set out all around the pools - but when tipped, staff would bring out additional ones. Many of the lounge chairs on the beach were broken, this resort really needs to purchase new loungers if/when they are available. There was a small fridge in the rooms, however, they are not stocked with anything- bottles of filtered water were left on the dresser, but no pop, or beer were in the fridge. When we inquired about getting the fridge stocked we were told Iberostar resorts no longer do this in their new "waves of change" campaign to lessen waste.Cuba has no recycling plan, though in some areas there are recycling bins - we were told everything goes into one garbage.However, the resort stores we're selling plastic bottles of water, and all the bars were using pop from plastic bottles - so not sure how much waste it is actually preventing . Kudos for them to try to lessen waste, but really?br /> Would I recommend this resort - until things improve, I would not recommend Cuba, period, but if you really want to go to Cuba - according to our fellow travellers, this is one of the better ones to stay at currently. The beachs are beautiful, this resort was clean, the gardeners do an excellent job of looking after things on the grounds, and some staff are awesome (we ran into about 4 staff we thought were exceptional). One plus -clean beach towels were always available, but you had to give a credit card for a hold of $15 per beach towel to get them at the beginning of your stay (on the last day you are given a ticket by the towel guy to hand into reception at checkout so you're not charged on your credit card) - the staff working in the towel hut were super friendly. The kitchen staff did well with what they had, but as it wasn't alot, the meals were extremely repetitive. For the amount of money we paid to go here, we were extremely disappointed in this resort - so many simple things could easily be made better. Security could always be seen on the beach and throughout the resort.

A communist hotel in a communist country

It was a flashback to what was running away from in my youth. Everything is there, but nothing is working as it should. the problems are small, but they are everywhere. The balcony door that doesn't close properly, the tap you have to hold with one hand while opening it with the other; the meet that is not properly cooked, the broken lawn furniture, the god-awful painting (they did not discover yet the miracle of the masking tape and I could go on. You can live with it all, but the less you ex [... read more]pect the better.

Amazing beach, resort needs work

We had a great week at Laguna Azul! Facilities, food and service was below what we have experienced in Cuba pre COVID Rooms need upgrades, service was hard to come by, mostly we went to get our own drinks Food variety and quality was limited Snack bar 24 hours was severely understaffed( only 1 person for a huge line up) and the hygiene standards would never pass, the food handlers never used gloves , no hand washing after handling tips and on occasional the food from the grill was still un [... read more]dercooked. We upgraded to “the Relax zone” and it was the best decision as we got an extra restaurant were we could pick from a small menu of maybe 5 dishes but were served at the table and the coffee on that side was delicious. We also got 4 a La carte for the upgrade what helped avoiding the buffet Bar staff mostly ignored you even though we were tipping often so we just started getting our own drinks Resort is beautiful and the beach area always had plenty of beach chairs available and the sand was mostly free of rocks, the beach is what we went for

Never again!

We were very disappointed in so many things. The only hot meals offered at the buffet both lunch and dinner every day and night were limited selections of pasta and pizza. Drinks, especially wine, were watered down. No vodka, no orange juice, no blended drinks. No entertainment, including music, poolside until 4pm. Constantly had to ask for dirty glasses in room to be replaced. Air conditioning was so loud. Elevators never worked, buttons were holes that we were not going to stick our fingers [... read more] in so had to use the stairs all the time. We tipped everywhere but didn't make a difference in bar service or housekeeping. The only good thing was the weather.

Worst trip ever.

The hotel was old and empty. The had only had what they call cola and fanta in the main bar. Rum and rum are your only drinking options the had no vodka tequila whisky anything just rum. First day we got there the ran out of hamburgers we paid no attention cause we thought there would be more options. Nope. Hot dogs and French fries at the snack bar when the have and if you don't mind the roaches climbing all over the bar. Secondly the have a hot wings station that wasn't hot enough to fully coo [... read more]k the wings that were poured out of a bag over the grill along side/ on top of cooking chicken. No options at breakfast on only two cooking surfaces for the whole resort If u just want a beach and pool this is the place. Bring cup of noodles condiments snacks and pepto. Only way I would ever do this trip again if the 12 friends I went with were all sent back with me for free. Don't try any of the restaurants they all share the same roach infested kitchen the people in the hotel are amazing.

Excellent resort

Very easy layout, food was very good for Cuba resort was well maintained. The staff seemed distanced but efficient. the rooms where kept sort of clean except I would of liked the floor swept at least once during our stay. Over all not a bad resort and I would recommend this resort to my friends

Great weather friendly staff

Great weather friendly staff we choose this resort based on the price point and we haven’t been disappointed reach our expectation completely. taking in consideration of the hardship that country is going through we are very happy, abundance of food and drinks even important drinks have been available