Iberostar Selection Esmeralda: Wouldn’t Stay Again

My friends and I stayed here for a girls trip. We enjoyed the beach and pools, and the resort itself was beautiful. However, the food was atrocious. We were not expecting anything great as we knew going into it that the food in Cuba is subpar. The issue was that the buffet actually didn’t have a lot to offer, forget about taste. Some days there wasn’t even bread, or rice. They often ran out of fish too, so a member of our group who was vegetarian had a really hard time. We had two rooms betw [... read more]een us, one room on the first floor and one on the third floor. The room on the first floor didn’t lock properly and the room on the third floor was a mess. The AC didn’t work properly, the balcony door didn’t close and there was an infestation of ants. By the last nights there were ants in the beds. The staff were lovely and tried their best, but the service was lacking. Ultimately, we had a great time but we wouldn’t come back to this resort again.

Iberostar Origin Playa Alameda: Perfect beach

The resort layout and exterior appearance were very nice. . Rooms were very clean, but just needed a bit of updating. Especially the door locks, safes, and bathroom fixtures needed updating. Staff were friendly, but were very busy and it seemed like they needed a bit more training. The beach was the best part of being at this resort.

Iberostar Origin Tainos: Gone downhill

The staff on the beach, at bars, and in restaurants and buffet were awesome. I was disappointed in cleaning services and the lack of variety of food choices. The rooms looked tired. I have stayed here a few times. Might need to look elsewhere for next year.

Iberostar Selection Holguin: Enjoyed our stay

We enjoyed our stay, it was our first time in Cuba and didn't know what to expect, the food was average as they do have issues with supplies and it's their winter so the fruit selection wasn't the best. But there was always something to have, really enjoyed the buffet in the morning with freshly made omelets a wonderful array of breads, they even had fresh donuts being prepared. The staff at the buffet were the most attentive, one person stood out and made our stay that much more enjoyable h [... read more]er name was Katrina ( I believe her last name was Jenkins), her customer service was over and beyond. Highly recommend taking a horse and buggy ride, going to the market in an old 1950's car and taking gifts as the people highly appreciated this. Especially the children in the areas outside of the resort. If we returned to this resort, we would upgrade to the coral ( the upgrade was recommended from other guests) as we tried to during our stay but unfortunately were not able to.

Iberostar Selection Ensenachos: Beautiful Beaches

Hotel is good overall. Grounds including pools are well maintained. Staff are very polite and hospitable. General maintenance of accommodation structures and interior of rooms can be improved- for example painting of exterior doors, door handle and patio door stick and hard to open. Lobby beautiful and presents well but public toilets need to be better maintaining. Clean dining facilities for buffet meals good core food availability but limited variety.

Iberostar Waves Paraiso Beach: Absolutely PERFECT!

This is our 4th time returning to the Iberostar Paraiso Beach. It is in a great location and only 30 mins from CANCUN airport and only another 30 mins to Playa Del Carmen, so of resort excursions are easily accessible. Every time we have been so very pleased with the whole resort. From the staff, to the food, the rooms, the gym, the shopping mall, the pools and especially the beach! Everything is perfect. The staff are very friendly and helpful and the resort is exceptionally maintained and [... read more] very well thought out as all the rooms and restaurants are easy to find and labeled on a very detailed map. We will definitely be returning for another visit!

Iberostar Origin Laguna Azul: 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.

Iberostar Waves Dominicana: Great resort

This was our second time at this resort we went just before COVID. The resort is beautiful and the grounds are very well kept. The staff is super friendly. We noticed that this time around that there is less staff who speak English but we just used a translator app, especially if you want decaf coffee in the buffet, lol. The food in the buffet was wonderful with lots of options and we preferred it to the a la carte. We did go to the French restaurant which we thought was the best, the Smokehou [... read more]se was good , the Mexican restaurant we were not a fan of. The beach is beautiful and very little seaweed as they clean the beach twice a day. The rooms are ok, the bed and pillows were extremely comfortable. We will return, love this resort.

Iberostar Waves Paraiso del Mar: Great Experience - again!

As before the resort is beautiful. The grounds, buildings, pools, and beach are very well maintained and clean. The seaweed issue is dealt with throughout each day to maintain access to the beach. Staff are wonderful and attentive and while there is quite a distance to some of the rooms and other amenities the ongoing shuttle service works very well.

Iberostar Coral Esmeralda: 3 star at best

The good: spacious rooms, nice swim up, pool, beautiful beach, bottled water daily, mostly wonderful staff. The bad: buffet too small, not enough food for everyone, dinner starts too late, some days no bread, milk, eggs. Mostly pork, rarely beef, too many hot dog dishes, no pasta ever, ran out of wines, sodas, beer, rums, much too often. There were dirty utensils, no stocking of room fridges, no coffee makers in rooms, minimal entertainment on select dates in lobby, but it was always during  [... read more]dinner hour which made no sense, not allowed to use the resorts kayaks or other water sports, staff indicate it’s due to resort not paying them.

Iberostar Coral Esmeralda: Amazing Staff at Coral in Buffet, Snack Bar and generally

We found the staff very cordial and friendly. On arrival in the afternoon, Yinli greeted at the buffet and explained the times for meals and the grill meals in addition to the buffet. Juan and Danny, the butlers, were generous with their times in explaining the resort and its amenities. The massage was out of this world.

Iberostar Origin Daiquiri: Very bad Hotel

This hotel has gotten very bad. It was our third trip and last trip to this resort.Definitely not a 4 star 2 at best. Needs upgrading do not consider it all inclusive when the are always running out of food drinks mix no white wine.Table were left dirty so hard to find a clean place to sit. Dishes and cutlery were not clean looked like sheets of toilet paper we’re our napkins. Rooms need to be fixed no hot water for 2 weeks had to shower by the pool as we had no water bedspread is dirty and ve [... read more]ry worn patio doors don’t work if you have a phone most don’t work they charge you for a safe but most don’t work missing a lot of light bulbs.Management is good at listening but do absolutely nothing to fix any problem. Staff is mostly very friendly. Worst thing was the second week we were over run by locals. Arrogant rude not waiting in food lines taking whole plates off the buffet for themselves sitting and used other guest towel stating I am Cuban and can do what I want when confronted. Staff at hotel were afraid not to serve them first because of repercussions later. We spoke with lots of guest who also said they would not be returning for a lot of the same reason. We did not want to be treated better but equally. Our bus to the airport for our return trip was 1 1/2 hour or more late picking us but and we could get no answers from anyone as what was going on. It is in our purchase price to have a return bus but once we checked out there was no help. The hotel should have been notified what was going on and passed on the information to the passengers waiting. Also rats and cockroaches in the restaurant which is not the most appetizing. Would definitely NOT recommend this place any more. Our first 2 visit we loved this place but will never go back.

Iberostar Origin Laguna Azul: 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.

Iberostar Coral Holguin: Amazing Resort

I have just returned from my second visit to Coral Leverl Iberostar Holgiun I will go back again. The resort is beautiful, well.looked after, very clean and the staff go above and beyond to make sure your stay is an amazing one. The advantage of Coral Level is the quiet, private pool, bar and restaurant. The food was good, there was a lack.of fresh fruit and vegetables but that is the norm right now everywhere in Cuba. The chefs did a great job with what they had. No one could say they were hu [... read more]ngry. Over all I give my stay a 9.5 out of 10. Love the place and the people!!!

Iberostar Origin Laguna Azul: 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.

Iberostar Origin Playa Alameda: Good Resort

Arrived at the Varadero Airport, located our shuttle bus. After waiting on the bus for over 1hr and only 5 passengers on the bus at this time. I confirmed the number of passenger that we were waiting for, which was 49. I then asked " are we waiting for other planes to land to fill this bus ? The representative confirmed that this was correct. I told her that " I will take a cab and remove my luggage at this time. The other passengers standing outside also wanted to hitch a ride, however t [... read more]hey were not staying at the same location. Arriving at the resort was less than welcoming as they were not expecting us until 4pm, The guard did not want to allow the cab driver through the gate to the resort, they exchanged some words in Spanish and we were allowed entry. We arrived shortly after 12pm. The woman at the front test proceeded to explain that us ladies were trouble makers and we were extremely early and they were not expecting us at that time. She did however allow us use of the resort, we did not receive instruction where anything was located in the resort. This was not an issue as the resort is small and you can find everything you need on your own. The entertainment was great and the staff work really hard to show you a good time. We always found something to eat on the resort and we had no complaints, The woman that made our omelette every morning was fantastic, and the servers are very friendly. The beach was amazing. The Cleaning service was overall good, take face clothes because they do not provide. They always provided fresh towels and water everyday. Overall! We had a blast and would recommend this hotel, and would come back again.

Iberostar Origin Tainos: Many problems resort

Never in my 83 years of life have I stayed at a hotel that purposely did not have hot water to shower or bathe . Management answer was we know we have a on going problem with low water pressure and a 50' f maximum hot water. But were to busy fixing other things like outdoor fountains to bother with guest problems. Another problem is loundges at the pool or beach ,guest go early to claim their chair by leaving a towel or book on it then leave for hours before they use it. Meanwhile other guest  [... read more]have no where to sit. A new rule like if you are not present at the site you cannot claim a chair would solve the problem. So you see the hotel really does not care about there guest comfort.

Iberostar Waves Dominicana: Iberostar revisited

We were last in this resort 21 years ago. The lobby and restaurants have been renovated and I think the pool as well. It all looks good. The food and service were excellent and we plan to bring our whole family here. What impressed me most was the enivornmental changes made. We were last in the DR 5 years ago and things have come a long way. Water stations on each floor and in bars. Refillable water bottles provided in the rooms. Very little disposable take out dishes. Paper straws and only on [... read more] request. Garbage is sorted. Shampoo and soap dispensers in the bathroom. Electronic hand dryers in the public restrooms. Digital communications. All very impressive.

Iberostar Selection Esmeralda: NOT THE BEST

THIS WAS NOT THE BEST RESORT i HAVE EVER BEEN TO. tHEY RAN OUT OF BEER, THEN THE RAN OUT OF MILK, THEY NEVER HAD ANY CREAM FOR THE COFFEE. AND YOU HAD TO REALLY LIKE PORK, AND TOLAPIA, BEEF WAS NONEXISTANT, THEY WERE BBQing PORK SLICESAND PUTTING THEN IN HAMBURGER BUNS. WE RAN OUT OF HOT WATER FOR THREE DAYS , THEN WE RAN OUT OF WATER. ON THE SECOND LAST DAY FOR THE DAY. THE BARTENDER WE GOT TO KNOW WAS GREAT, I FELT SORRY FOR ALL THE PEOPLE THAT WORKED THERE, LONG LONG HOURS, THEY SURE DO DEP [... read more]END ON THE TIPS THEY GET. I HAD A HARD TIME BUYING A CUBAN CIGAR, THE SAND ON THE BEACH WAS DIRTY, I DON'T THINK THEY EVER RAKE IT. OTHER THAN THAT WE HAD A GOOD TIME , THIS PLACE IS HUGE, THEY ARE SITTING ON A GOLDMINE THEY JUST PROBABLY NEED MONEY TO GET IT GOING MOST OF THE PEOPLE I TALED TO SAID THEY WOULD NOT GO BACK, WHICH ISA SHAME LYNNE RICHARDS.

Iberostar Selection Holguin: Beautiful resort!

This was our second time at the Iberostar Selection in Holguin. The beach is stunning, and the pools are large and spacious. You can find a quiet corner, or a more lively vibe near the bar, whatever suits you best. The playground and water park are amazing for kids! My 2 year old had a blast. The staff is wonderful and helpful, they truly care about making your stay enjoyable. We loved hanging out at the lobby bar after dinner. Also, the rooms are impeccably clean. One big change since our firs [... read more]t trip is the variety of foods available. There is not as much variety, but I have heard that this is something being experienced across Cuba right now, not specific to this resort. There is still an abundance of foods available, and it is all delicious. I would definitely go back again!