Huge Resort - the price is right

The grounds are huge. Expect to do a lot of walking. That's good exercise, but it takes time to get between your room and the beach and the dinning room. Most of the pathway lights are out of order, so walking a night is tricky. Bar service is walk up. There are no bar stools, and there is no table service. Supplies run short. You need to be versatile and enjoy what ever Beveridge is in stock. The rooms are big and spacious and clean. There was no phone in the room, just a sign that read call 77 [... read more]7 for service, but no phone. The closet doors jammed. The toilet ran. The lighting was very dim at night. The AC worked well and was adjustable. There is no coffee machine in the room. You need to walk about 500 M to get a cup of coffee. The snack bar often ran out of buns for hotdogs or hamburgers. Bring your own packets of ketchup, mustard, and relish. The price was right. You get what you pay for.

Poor service

The resort itself was nice. Grounds And rooms nice as well. We did however experience poor service… The bathroom sinks & counter tops never cleaned. Our request for toilet paper was ignored. Finally had to find it myself. Short toilet paper 2 days. & our beds not made /cleaning missed one day… completely ignored. They tell you they are going to send someone but no one shows up. Shortages of beverages No eggs or potatoes which I could live with but a short of napkins at buffet ridic [... read more]ulous. Also spotted dirty plates in the clean pile…disgusting! Entertainment was poor most nights. Lots of dancing with audience. We also experienced sleepless nights. Too much noice outside as we were facing front of hotel. And the fumes from the buses & cabs were creeping into our room. I usually look forward to the Cuban coffee but this time it was horrible. This is my 8th time to Cuba & I don’t except perfection & except some food shortages but this time was different. Too many strikes! The food was the same everyday. No beach towels for 4 days. Short buffet staff. Tables dirty & some plates dirty in clean pile. I will definitely not be back to this resort.

Beautiful resort with very poor service

The hotel grounds were absolutely amazing. The service was brutal from front desk, cleaning staff, servers and management. We addressed concerns with front desk, although they agreed, they never came thru with it. Cleaning staff only cleaned the room if there was a tip and we had to tell them to replace towels. Servers looked lost as we ordered drinks and they came back when we were ready to leave. The management don’t realize they have a real big issue as people will NOT want to go back to [... read more] this resort.

Our 7 days at Grand Aston

This resort is first stop from the airport about 20 minutes drive. It’s new and quite big. We got a room with 2 double beds and beautiful view of the pool and beach. Our rooms were cleaned daily and towels were changed once during our stay. Some kitchen staff were not attending to our table to ask if we needed water or coffee/tea. They were not prepared for the crowd that showed up that week. Some tourists were super loud especially at night when people were trying to sleep. What I found worse [... read more] were that people would go at 4 am to put their towels on the lounge chairs by the pool and by 8 am we couldn’t find any empty chairs to lie down and tan. The beach area was the same. WiFi was a hit and miss. I was disappointed with the lack of fresh seasonal fruits. Drinks weren’t available all the time… as they would run out of rum. I only had pina colada once and each time I asked for a margarita they didn’t have any tequila. I will not go back to this resort again. Weather was perfect and the wind made it bareable.

Absolutely Phenomenal

So this was my very first trip to Cuba... And based on this hotel, I'd go back again and again. Hotel is brand new, staff were great and the food was good as well. I know there were some issues while I was there but nothing that wasn't 100% manageable. The staff are new and getting their groove.

5/10

1. Looks modern 2. Because the staff barely spoke English , whenever you called reception for something they hang up the phone on you 3. We were their for 4 days and kept asking reception and calling down for someone to come and program the tv 4. This resort is more for an older crowd I’d say 55 years old and up 5. Dirty dishes, and dirty blankets

Beautiful resort but

I think it was a beautiful resort but I think it is geared towards more older crowd, 60+. Service was not the greatest but food was amazing fresh cooked every day. Cleaning ladies barely came but had no towels for 3 days. Entertainment was minimal. Not a lot of loungers for the pool or beach. But over all it was more just to relax and chill. We had couples massage it was soo nice relaxing.

Grand Aston Varadero

The reviews weren’t great but we took a chance. It’s a brand new hotel and the rooms, beach and hotel are beautiful. It took almost 6 hrs to get a room and front staff seemed very confused with multiple vacationers coming in. There were a lot of issues with food supplies running out daily like coffee certain liquor as well they always ran out of wine. Housekeeping not great we didn’t get clean towels, floors not swept and bathroom not cleaned daily. elevator, hallways and stairwell very dirty a [... read more]nd rarely done. Less than half the staff spoke English and didn’t understand what was asked most of the time but staff always had smiles and were polite. So to sum it up if you are going for some sun great please understand you will not starve or not have booze just not what you want a lot of times price is good so you choose

Relaxing vacation at Grand Aston!

We had a great vacation at Grand Aston! The hotel is very nice and we enjoyed lounging by the pool. It is true that you must be up early to reserve a chair but it was worth it! The beach was not as nice as other places in Cuba and not a beach suitable for long walks but still lovely to be by the ocean. Animation team was good and we appreciated their efforts trying to get guests engaged, we enjoyed the nightly shows with the synchronized swimming being our favourite! Jorge the housekeeper was wo [... read more]nderful and we got water daily and our towels and sheets were replaced when requested. We did the hop-on-hop-off bus to Varadero from the hotel, I wouldn’t waste a sunny day for this but it was a good way to spend a cloudy afternoon. The food was good, we always found something we enjoyed however it is repetitive. We did not get good service at the buffet, rarely would even get served water but I think this is due to a lack of staff. We did not have issue booking al-a cartes and enjoyed the Cuban and Japanese restaurants. Sports bar was great! It might not be “exceptional” however it provided us a relaxing and enjoyable vacation!

New resort with it’s issues

It’s a brand new resort that looks really nice until you start to notice all the problems. They run out of supplies and lack attention to cleanliness. With time and training I’m sure it will get better but until then I will be going to other resorts.

Fantastic, fun vacation

Beautiful hotel the staff were absolutely fantastic. There is nothing you could ask them to do for you that they wouldn’t do with a big smile. The food was good nobody would ever stir to death. It’s certainly not a five star Canadian restaurant but there’s nothing wrong with the food, my favourite was the chicken Caesar salad we had fresh omelets every day. There was always a pasta bar lots of bread and sweet to eat. Cuba economically is struggling but hopefully with the return of a lot of Canad [... read more]ians they’ll be able to get back on their feet vodka, however, is nonexistent in Cuba at the moment , if you’re a rum drinker or a beer drinker, you’ll be just fine

Nice Resort!

The resort looks new and the grounds are nicely laid out and well maintained. The staff is generally pleasant and eager to please, although mostly young and somewhat inexperienced, especially in the housekeeping area. Several basic things were missed, like making sure soap and bottled water were replenished when the room was cleaned. These items were provided upon request but it shouldn't have to be requested, in my view. Overall, it was still a pleasant and memorable experience.

Had a Great Time!

Recently opened, the resort is super clean and in great shape. Food was typical Cuba fare. Nothing fancy but you certainly won't go hungry. Some things missing from time to time such as eggs, but this is not necessarily specific to this resort given the severe supply issues Cuba is facing right now. The staff are lovely and hard working. After opening just 2 months ago, the resort is already running at capacity so a few growing pains to iron out. Otherwise, it is a great place to visit with no r [... read more]eal complaints.

Great vacation

Enjoyed our stay. Check in wasn't great but after we finally got into our room everything was good. Our maid did an amazing job. Nice newly opened resort. Ran fairly well considering only been open 2 months and from what I seen will only get better as improved daily.

Amazing resort

The hotel is good, new. The food was the same as everywhere else, we weren’t hungry. The beach is good, the sand is clean. Only there were few sunbeds. We were never able to sunbathe on it. The staff is attentive.

Amazing resort

Beautiful place..bad weather but can’t blame it on the resort…more experience people needed..the staff didn’t have any supervision or guidance… Someone needs to take control and check out the staff duty’s..wine had rum out at 7.00 pm in the main buffet…control needed because they had wine at the bars.. From this experience I don’t want to return to Cuba in the near future…

Grand Aston Varadero Resort

The hotel is new, nice, spacious and clean throughout. However there’s some ocasional shortage: eg. napkins, cereals, butter, pina colada, martini, Jin-tonic. Food seems to repeat the same very often. But overall they are trying their hardest considering they are new, with not sufficient employees.

Great potential

Nice new resort, beautiful design. Staff not very attentive and couldn't understand English very well. Food tasted very good but very boring as same food selections served at every meal, every day. A'la carte food was good but extremely small portions. Rooms were cleaned well, but elevator & hallways were not cleaned well at all. The shower took very long to get hot water and it would often turn cold during the shower. The beach & pool were beautiful. Mixed drinks/Slushy drinks not the greatest  [... read more]as they seem to make them different each time you order them. Lobby bar very long waits for service. Cuban restaurant was extremely poor service. We ordered a drink 3 times and waited over an hour to get it, it was an hour and half to get food served to us. Overall I think the resort has great potential but things need to be more efficient, and staff needs to be more friendly and knowledgeable.

Nice new resort with lots to improve

The rooms nice and comfortable. Typical food and beverage shortages, lots of cross contamination at buffet and vegetarian section full of meat dishes. Check in was a disaster front desk doesn't speak English well. Was told to check in at 4, absolute chaos, staff would show room keys one by one to each guest, a patron decided to take the stack and call names. Our room was not ready till 5:30 and noone explained where the room was or offered to help. Go figure room 3518 is on the 5th floor. Bu [... read more]ffet tables never cleaned, had to clean our own tables and find staff to bring cutlery and clean glasses. Dine early to avoid the chaos. Could not make reservations at the a la cartes as they were full for the next 2 days and it was only a 4 day trip so missed that.

Not for us

hotel was very noisy, understaffed, not one of the nicest beaches in Cuba. Food was mediocre, often low end foods. However the rooms were lovely, new, everything worked. Not nearly enough loungers or shade by the pool or beach. Not five star at all.