Melia Marina Varadero: The worst resort ever

This resort is suck a scam. We arrived at 1pm after a long flight, been up since 8am, when we are at the hotel, they told us we had to wait til 4pm to check in to the room since they have no rooms available, food was trash, flies are everywhere, hotel management was very rude, lots of rude staff, they were trying to harassing me, just because I bought a friend with me, she came to visit me in my room, however, they refused to let her come visit me, even though I already paid for the room, they w [... read more]ant me to pay another extra 900usd to just have her staying in my room. I refused to pay that, and they harass me and my friend until she pays, they breach the hotel privacy rules, sending 3-4 guys standing in front of my door, trying to break in, one of the guy was constantly leaning on my hotel door, trying to listen to the conversations we had inside the room. After this, they pretend that there’s something wrong with the light in the room and sent two security guards inside and try to drag my friend out, We are two foreign girls who just arrived in a brand new country and they are treating us like criminals.

Resonance Blu Varadero: Memories Varadero Resort - Our Experience

This resort is gorgeous and extremely well maintained, the beach is beautiful and the staff is wonderful. Special staff I had met were Annabel at the egg station and the other women, Lisbety at the beach bar and Adrian of the diamond club who helped me with any issues I may have had. The resort during our stay was experiencing major supply issues with food and alcohol which was not the fault of the resort. The only negative things I can say about the resort is that the 24hr snack bar was n [... read more]ot open 24hr as it was not opened from 9:00pm to 9:00am daily and the al a cart restaurants were not always available. This could be because the resort occupancy rate was less then 50% during the holiday season during our stay. I would highly recommend this resort if food and alcohol choices are not your priority.

Iberostar Origin Bella Vista Varadero: Mediocre resort

This hotel was nice and big but wasn’t very clean and there was mold everywhere. The rooms were damp and the bed and everything else was always damp. And the towels always smelt bad. The food was pretty decent considering it was Cuba. And the coffee was amazing. The staff was super friendly and very good at their job, always went above and beyond to help out. The lobby bar closes very early at 10pm. Wish it was open a little later. There is a 24hr snack bar though. Other than the show there is n [... read more]o night entertainment.

Barcelo Solymar: Hotel review

We did not have a pleasant experience with the hotel, the room smelled moldy and the bed sheets were very old and stained, they provided only two towels for showers, no hand or face towels at all, this hotel is in very good location with beautiful beaches that needs renovation badly, the food also was bad, plates were not clean , low quality service, not following hygiene, no fruits or choice of drinks. as other guest said I also will not travel Cuba again. Very poor condition all over after Co [... read more]vid.

Paradisus Princesa Del Mar: Great Time

I was impressed by the amount of shows and entertainment the resort featured. On top of a nightly show, bands showed up at restaurants and at the pool, so there was always some pleasant surprises. There were some food shortages, but I was satisfied with our meals given the expectations one usually has for Cuba. Beautiful beach and very friendly staff - it truly was 10 days of Paradise.

Melia Las Americas: Absolutely amazing!

This was our first trip to Cuba, and it won't be our last. Melia las americas was absolutely beautiful. We stayed in the level bungalows with a beautiful garden view, but of course you could still see the ocean. The room was amazing, 2 floors, 2 balconies, one on each level. The staff were very friendly and the food was very good. We had no shortages of anything. They had live entertainment which was great, the band was super. We were there for one week from October 15 to the 22nd, 2023.  [... read more]We did NOT want to leave, Melia las americas is just so relaxing and paying extra for the level is so worth it. Exclusive restaurants and even 2 pools just for level guests. We had asked for extra Cafe pods for our room and never had any problem getting them. Again, the staff was amazing. We stayed in bungalow #6125, it was right beside the level pool/bar. Super easy to get anywhere on the resort from our room. Definitely going to be asking for that same bungalow again, was a perfect spot for us. This will be the only resort we will go to, yes it was that amazing!

Grand Memories Varadero: 4 star hotel — 5 star experience

We stayed at Grand Memories Veradero Dec 31 to Jan 7 2024 and overall our experience was great. We read many negative reviews so had low expectations upon arrival and packed absolutely anything we would need. Arrival was bad and Check in was horrible and so slow. We arrived at midnight and everything was chaos and when we finally got to our room it was bad! We immediately went back to reception and was told we can change in the morning. We moved to a new room the next day and it was perfect. We  [... read more]were 4 travellers and had 1 king and 1 double bed, fresh towels, stocked waters in the fridge, tv and clean. From there everything else was great. Beautiful beach, large pools, friendly staff and family friendly activities. Food was not the best but we were able to find something plus we packed a lot of snacks from home. Overall great experience especially for the price. We will be going back to Veradero and open to going to Grand Memories again although we typically like to try new places.

Blau Varadero: Excellent resort!

The hotel Blau is cozy with big spaces of restful areas, lobby and atrium. Rooms are clean, spacious with wide balconies. Room service was very good. There are several bars and restaurants with great service. Beach is excellent with amazing entertainment and animation team.

Playa Vista Azul: very clean--excellent staff--friendly

Grounds and public areas nice. Stayed in Premium room and area---well worth extra fee. Also ate all meals in a la carte---Coral and staff are excellent. Premium bartenders were very good. 1 oclock parties were fun.

Hotel Tuxpan: Good resort

The hotel is good according to Cuban conditions. Service is really good, food is pretty good, clean beach and pool. The problem is location - you have to pay $10 for a taxi to go downtown, no shuttle from or to the hotel from the city.

Iberostar Origin Playa Alameda: Iberostar Playa Alameda- somewhat ok feedback

The overall experience at this resort was ok with a few hiccups and inefficiencies as explain below : ( the restaurant associates, all the workers were amazingly friendly who provided great service though). 1. The internet service was horrible and they must do something about that to have repeat customers to this location 2. My wife only eats vege and fish but most of their vege dishes had bacon or pork bits in them that was not pleasant. They call talepia fish a seafood , That was a [... read more] joke yet the location was so close to Atlantic Ocean . They did not have any shrimp dishes during our 4 days stay. They must keep appropriate seafood and condiments to go with fish dishes . We packed some spices but can’t just pack the whole kitchen with us! 3. The drinks look elegant but seemed really off and the taste was misleading ( only wine was close enough and some beer Bev), I used to work as a bartender and they couldn’t fool me with this. Although we heavily tipped the associates we were not too impressed. 4. They need to rotate the food choices / dishes at buffet, and not present the same items everyday. 5. Taking cold shower was not impressive . 6. At the beach they did not have any change room 7. Couldn’t try any processed meat dishes ( burger, hotdog, cold cut meat) due to all having mixed meant in them ( pork/beef), can you not have just one 100% beef item ? Positive feedback: As I have mentioned, each of their associates were amazingly pleasant and friendly. They tried hard to entertain their guests . Live internet meant, the person who gives dance lessons at the beach each day. The accompanied dancer senior Juniato was very nice and helpful. The room service was very good. Beds could have been more comfy . Tv service can be improved with more choices and not just local channels . The resort is well planned , we liked the ambiance it offered. My special request to management is . Please charge more for drinks , or put a limit as to how many drinks per day a guest can be offered, but please don’t bluff anyone with water down drinks ! Or any fake drinks not appreciated. Overall, the experience was good because of the resorts friendly associates abd good entertainments. We will only revisit or recommend this place to to anyone if the above improves. We will research deeper before returning to Cuba again.

Occidental Arenas Blancas: Resort is Ok but definitely not a 4 star rating by "world" standards

Beautiful beaches, wonderful people, majority were very congenial, one exception at the front, check in perhaps it was an "off" day for him. Food, considering the difficulties as expressed by the locals, it's difficult to be objective about the food but you do not get good value at the buffets or a la carte! Excelent fresh bread! Hard to get beach towels and bottled water in the room was very scarce! Wine is not available (looked like a few guests had taken their own) frequently run out of b [... read more]eer even ron (rum) seemed to be in short supply! At one of the a la carte restaurants, the head waiter was very clear there was no wine or beer but he would gladly provide us with the beer glasses for us to go get beer at the bar by the pool (he was not allowed to do it), definititly not getting what we thought we paid for! The day trip to Habana was paid separate, the airline rep. re-iterared lunch and drinks were included, at lunch we were allowed one small glass of beer each and paid for drinks at the stop on way there and mid afternoon downtown Habana! Please keep going to Cuba, these amazing people need our support and you will enjoy the beaches...

Grand Memories Varadero: Good staff, poor management.

The grounds, pools and restaurants were all well maintained. The buffets were your typical random Cuban food (think hot dogs in tomato sauce), but there was always something you could find to fill your belly. Most of the food and soup in the buffet was cold which was strange. Interestingly it was brought out cold (cold, not room temp) and didn't get cold at the buffet. Do people really want to eat cold fish from the buffet? Plates and bowls were always dirty (old food, dirt, grease) so be carefu [... read more]l when selecting your vessels. Breakfast was the toughest meal of the day to find good food (unless you can sustain off fruit and bread). 3 out of our 7 days, there were omelets available at the grill, and everyday there were pancakes. Given the struggles at the buffet, the lines for omelets and pancakes were ungodly as people just wanted some warm tasty food. To make matters worse, the person making the pancakes was essentially incompetent, and she was on that station everyday. You'd figure any one of the other people on the resort could have done a better job if given an opportunity, but it didn't happen. Do NOT order coffee at the buffet. Trust me. The coffee at the bars is better, but not great. The rooms are a mixed bag. Everything worked in our room except for the hair dryer, tv and phone. Our travel mate's first room did not have a toilet seat or working A/C and was full of mold. Her second room had working AC and toilet seat, but the door lock was finnicky and the safe did not work. The water in either room was not hot, but at least slightly warmer than room temperature so you could have a quick shower. The drinks are very hit and miss. There's about 5 different bars on the resort, and if you order a rum punch at all of them, you would get 5 vastly different tasting and coloured drinks. The juices are watered down probably to extend them and save some costs. The only thing you can count on being consistent is a glass of rum or beer. The beer is always cold and refreshing. The snack bar and lobby bar have coffee machines there, but the coffee is still not GREAT. I think it's a problem with the milk being too watery. We went to Santa Marta one day and had AMAZING coffee, so it's certainly an issue with the resort specifically. The pool is great and the beach is wonderful. The pool bar is good too and always has slushy drinks. Lots of shallow areas in the pool for younger kids to play in. Note: the kids club is NOT supervised so you cannot drop your kids off and leave them. Tipping in Pesos or CAD is okay. A number of times we exchanged canadian coins for canadian bills from bartenders since Cubans cannot bring them to the bank. You can buy cuban pesos to tip which is what we did. The resort gives you about 88 Pesos for CAD, but in Santa Marta we were able to get 155 Pesos for CAD so we stocked up there. If you are bringing rum home, buy it in Pesos. We bought a 1L 7 year Havana club for 2000 pesos (about $14.50 CAD). At the store the same bottle was $28 USD. In Varadero we saw the same bottle for 2500 pesos which is still much cheaper (not at the stores, you need to go to the small stands selling food/drinks). Overall the trip was great, despite the deficiencies of the resort. We are not fancy or complaining type of people and have been to Cuba about 10 times, staying at resorts between 3 and 4 stars. Unfortunately, this was the worst resort experience we have had in Cuba and we will not return to Grand Memories in the future.

Starfish Jibacoa: Cuban vacation

The hotel where I stayed last November the 14th of the 28th was very nice the grounds were very nice the food was very good and the people that worked at the hotel and resort were excellent that's a beautiful Resort it's a three star but for a three-star you think it would be staying at a Forester but it was a good day and I'm hoping to go back again this April and the only way to acknowledge what I had you have to go there to find out for yourself I'd recommend it for a three-star anyway that's [... read more] my thought

Grand Aston Varadero Beach Resort: Amazing resort

The hotel is new and food is excellent per Cuban standard! Most staff are polite and the rooms are kept clean! You just have to wait a bit for drinks at night and most of the cocktails a not that great!

Muthu Playa Varadero: Lovely resort

We were three people (3 beds) in one room 1419 on the fifth floor. The view of the pool and the ocean was amazing! The room is very pleasant, quite A/C, and a nice bathroom. Free internet worked in the room and on the beach. We were prepared for limited choice of food, but everything that we needed was there: eggs, fruit, veggies, rice. The entertainment was fun. The staff was helpful. The elevator didn't work for many days, but we took it as a wonderful opportunity to exercise. Nice pool, sna [... read more]ck bar at the pool, amazing beach. We even enjoyed rainy days. Feeling grateful for this vacation!♥️

Hotel Villa Cuba: A decent resort

Our travel agent asked us if we were ok with a more budget friendly resort. We have been to Cuba many times so we weren’t really worried about a budget resort. Yes the hotel is on the older side but it wasnt too bad. We were warned about all the shortages but we didn’t find to many issues with that. Food was great. The normal options fish shrimp chicken pork rice and pasta. Staff was very friendly. Beach was great, much better than how cold the pool was. Resort was more on the quiet side so we w [... read more]alked into town and went to the local clubs. Remember this time in Cuba you can have a few cooler days so pack a few warmer items. But over all it was good.

Melia Peninsula Varadero: Tired looking resort

We stayed here five years ago and had a good experience so we thought we would go again. Unfortunately the resort was rundown. Rooms didn’t lock. Mattress very old and lumpy. Food is just okay but we didn’t expect too much in that area. Definitely book the restaurants if you go for fresher food. After 3 when lunch closes at main buffet you only have the pool bar for limited fried foods. Pool was lovely and beach as always amazing.

Occidental Arenas Blancas: I'd Never ever go again. In fact Occidental I think it turned me off Cuba for good.

The Good - the beach, the pool, some (just a few) of the staff. The Bad - No coffee in the room. I brought my own but the coffee pot won't work and several trips to the desk with no results. The stage is right at the pool and right in front of the rooms, way to loud all the time so you can't relax at the bar or the pool. Yes it's Cuba a Spanish Colony but 90% of the games, entertainment and announcements in Spanish so no-one has a clue what they are saying. The Hotel is old. The rooms are [... read more] OK and Lobby areas OK but our 3rd floor hallways were VERY much in need of repair. 2 Elevators at our end of the building out of order 2 weeks we were there. 1 of the 2 main Elevators in the center core also down for 2 weeks. Most of the coffee I got was Luke warm and usually full of coffee grounds in the cup. No Coke for 10 out of 14 days. Butter only 2 out of 14. Ran out of many things. No orange juice or pop at any meals. TV remote broken and no results from attempts to get one. No face cloths or shower mat and same 2 towels for 2 weeks. You do tramp sand and dirt into the rooms but never cleaned the floors for 2 weeks. Food, not too bad but we both lost weight after 2 weeks of Buffets so go figure. Actually there were 2 or 3 days of pretty good food. Entertainment started at 10 and after a day in the sun we wanted to sit on our balcony and rest but way to loud to relax. They offer free Hobie Cat sail boats yes, but can't take them out yourself without a Captain who wants $$$ to go. They use flimsy plastic cups for beer and drinks and garbage 1000,s a day. Should switch to washable hard plastic glasses. Yes more washing to do but very bad for the environment with what they have. The Sister resort, Barcelo Solymar, that we could use was much better and the 3rd resort we could use was shut down. No spoons at counters or tables! If you get soup or Ice Cream etc. good luck getting one. We got a couple and kept them and washed them and used for most of the trip. You could wave down a waiter and they go find one for you. Why not have spoons where the soup is?

Muthu Playa Varadero: i dont recommend this resort

I don't recommend this resort for now as it's very outdated (feels 1990's in most places with minor exceptions) and for now they are in full slow reconstruction/repairs.. so you would have no sleep at night at all (balconies doesn't close well and no noise isolation at all).. rooms are closing almost all very loudly and because of long corridors the echo sounds like explosions, bangs, etc... if you are less lucky you'll have disrespectful people screaming (even if they speak quite the interior p [... read more]art of the resort is like an arena, so echo is amplifying the sound) for the whole nights and you need to be "drunk" or on pills not to hear that as isolation is so bad... luckily my experience wasn't a mess but not because of the resort ... - (resort experience 2/5 stars, rooms 1/5 stars, buffet 4/5, this resort shouldn't be marketed as 4 stars even 3 stars overall would be very generous)