Ok resort, NOT a 4/5star

This is my 11th time to Cuba. I take the star rating one less than advertised. 3 star is more accurate. small dark lobby, bar staff not so friendly, couple rooms - all 2 singles, no beds for 2/overly tired rooms. 1st time the cappuccino bar coffee wasn't drinkable.

Best trip ever!

The staff were amazing! Always something to do at this resort. Beautiful spot ! Not once disappointed from check in to check out. Service was great, theater was a blast . Would highly recommend to anyone!

Not up to par

My boyfriend and I stayed at playa alameda for a week in April. As a frequent traveller to Cuba I know not have high expectations but this hotel was definitely lacking in many ways. Food was not good, no variety,was cold and the cold dishes were not cold , ala cartel were terrible. Only good thing was soup. Rooms outdated and damp had roaches as well as in the buffet crawling around the grill stations. Rooms were not properly stocked next to no toilet paper and fridge if you were lucky was f [... read more]illed every 2 days and not what they advertise. Pool is much re like a wading pool deepest part was 4.5 ft the rest was 2.5 ft. No drink service around the pools or on the beach. Pool bar ran out of beer a few times. Also ran out of fries and pizza at pool bar. The beach bar always had line ups This resort is very short staffed broken glasses all over resort did not see the pool cleaned once when we were there. The positive is the few staff they do have are pleasant and friendly. Entertainment was ok. Could use more involvement and switch up schedules also there was no volleyball or soccer that was advertised. Wifi is only available at the lobby but early in the morning before everyone got there. Public washrooms had no toilet seats or hand soap. Sprayed once the whole week for mosquitoes. Definitely would not recommend or return to this resort.

Old resort needing upgrading

Not a fancy resort but a very beautiful beach, not enough lounge chairs for beach goers, food was the same everyday, large “swamp” in middle of resort with koi fish not attractive, patio door for room broken. Will not return to this resort

Amazing resort

There is nothing bad to say about this place. It was all great. Food could be little better. Same every day. Ala carte s good. Rooms were very clean. Washrooms were very very clean. We were impressed. Very nice resort

Excellent Resort

We have stayed in 35 resorts in the Caribbean and consider this resort one the best we have enjoyed. The resort is small,the buildings are picturesque, the grounds well cared for and the staff are the best we have encountered on our vacations. The resort is older but in better condition then most of the resorts of similar age. The food is good;however, we have been to other resorts which put a little more effort into extras such as carving roasts or fowl in the buffet. We have stayed in this re [... read more]sort twice and intend to return.

Honestly-We have been to a lot of resorts in cuba and we have been to better with lower stars.

Grounds-emaculate. Food-poor variety,poor quality,not hot,same items spread out-same desserts every night of the week.lots of staff but not the Iberostar quality we expected.Dining room staff fantastic but just not the food quality. Beach-lacked care-should have been raked or something probably the worst I have seen varadero beach.But talked to several other persons and the beach closer to town was better. room-mattress springs coming through(room 1611)mattress.room very outdated including  [... read more]bedspreads,furniture etc Entertainment-went from ok to very good.We thought the lobby area had better entertainment then the actual shows at night. not over crowded,always find chairs.Lower denominations of cuba peso's hard to get for tip money. Sunwing rep.very good,good English and Honest.

Ok resort typical Cuban resort

We booked this hotel three months in advance . We requested a king size bed that we didn’t get . The room was big enough and short walk to the beach . Very standard room with a view of a road nothing special . This is my 6th visit to Cuba and I’ve stayed at six different resorts . I won’t complain about the food because we never went hungry but it is what it is . Would I visit this resort again ? No , but that goes for all the others as well . What I’ve noticed over the past twenty years [... read more] of visiting this beautiful island is , hoe much the people have changed . By that I mean the staff . The younger generation don’t pay the same attention to the guests as the older ones do . I always had to ask for more water or more wine or more of what ever I was drinking . Most don’t even make eye contact in order to avoid being asked for anything . I want expecting five star service but I was expecting a smile and some gratitude after all the whole island is dependent on the tourism dollar . Anyway we live Cuba for the most part the people are amazing considering their situation . I will visit Cuba again and again but I will try a different resort each time . Footnote , there is a great lack of beach chairs , there were many people wondering the beach up and down looking for chairs so I suggest bringing a beach blanket just in case .

Could be worst.

Like everybody, this hotel has goods and bads. We were upgraded to a "suite" for 100$ CAD, the room was huge. Full king, 2 sofas and T.V, dinning table fridge and best... two washrooms. Toiletries was to a minimum we had to request for toilet paper and bar fridge to be filled up which wasn't after leaving a 5 Peso tip. No bugs. Food was repetitive.....pasta, pasta and again pasta. We all know it's Cuba. Beach was good, no music after 12:30 which I though it was weird. Bar at the beach, [... read more] Maria she was perfect. Area is clean, no plastic cups or cigarettes butt. Pool great. Staff is excellent and the entertainment is GREAT. I would recommend to a friend but not a picky, snobby want to be kind of friend.

Nice Place at Playa Alameda

For a first trip in Cuba we are very satify with the value and experience that we live there. Good location beside the beach. Room are nice and good service all around the hotel. Bars and dinner are very well located throuthout the hotel.

Nice place over all

After our stay at alameda I can honestly say it wasn’t that bad our room was clean and beds were ok , the food was pretty good for Cuba anyway and the people that work there were awesome especially one waiter named Jose our only complaint really was the fact that the place is very poorly lit at night no pool lights no fountain lights makes a romantic walk very difficult , and the place shuts down early really early ! The average age of the guests seemed to be between 55-85 not a resort for you [... read more]nger couples looking to have fun . But all said we had a nice time and for the right couple I’m sure it would have been perfect .

FANTASTIC

Rooms were clean, staff were fantasitc, food was great, access to buses to go to town very easy. Highly recommend this resort!! Beach was clean and everything was easy to access. Front staff were very helpfull.

Great vacation

This resort has everything required for a fantastic holiday. Lovely grounds, comfortable rooms, stunning beach, fun pool,yummy food at the buffet and a la cartes. (My favourite was the lasagna at the Italian), hard working entertainment crew and staff who make you feel at home

Great Resort Perfect Beach

Great beach, great room, friendly staff, clean grounds, good food with lots of variety. I really liked how close we were to the airport. I had one hour free wifi (was included in my package) everyday. Lots to see and do. I would come back.

Nice resort

Playa Alameda is a really comfortable, pleasant quiet resort. Service is good. The buffet includes a wide variety of food. The rooms are clean. The beach is beautiful. Activities are available throughout the day. You can relax by the pool or on the beach and if you wish take part of activities offered both by the pool or on the beach.

Average

In general nice hotel,grounds are clean and well take care of,public and dinning areas are clean and spacious.First room we were offered stinky and not clean.The next day we got a nice,clean room in renovated building.There is something wrong with last day for people living hotel at 11:45pm. you are in title to lunch and dinner but you can stay in the room till noon only. We pay additional $ 95 to be able to stay till 6:00pm not even 5 minutes longer. I am hopping for refund!!!!! In order to k [... read more]ill last 6 hours you walk,sit on different chairs in different areas,after that you have 1 hour drive 3 hours at the airport and 6 hours on the plane .As a result all you gain in the week of holiday you lose on the last day. there are not mosquito screens towels were white in the past !!!!!!!!!!!

It was a fun time

It was what we expected by reading the reviews...we went there with an opened mind...the beach was amazing...it needs a lot of work on simple thing...food was good...the staff was good...the location was great

Disappointing Resort........

We stayed at Iberostar Playa Alameda, Varadero, Cuba, March 1 thru March 8, 2019, booking through Transat. We have been fortunate to travel to many resorts in Mexico, Jamaica, and Dominican Republic. We have actually stayed at this same resort several years back. Lets just say that it has gone downhill since then. Even for Cuba its not a 5 star, rundown and tired would be a better description. Started with the bus ride from the airport. On the bus ride in we were told that we are rich and Cub [... read more]ans are so poor, so that to us $5 is nothing and we should give them $5 CUC when we tip and that tipping was expected. “You don’t have to tip, but it is expected” Uhm… you do the math. And typically, you have to do something to earn a tip. What prompted me to write a review was meeting an elderly couple (83 & 87). They had been to this resort 16 times already. They had called ahead and asked for a room on the main floor as their knees are not very good. On arrival, they were put into the second floor. The next day they came back to reception and had to wait the entire day until they were finally moved to a first floor room. This is completely unacceptable as they had called ahead and the resort was nowhere close to being full. All kinds of rooms on the main floor were empty. Reception staff was simply too lazy to help them out. The room: Mould in the room and even on my pillow. Air conditioning did not work properly, it lowered the temp but everything was always damp. So now we had a cooler and very damp room. The musty smell everywhere you went including our room was disgusting. I’m interested in the positive reviews those few people must have lucked out with their room because the consensus the week we were there everyone had room issues that made for a along week. The safe didn’t even work at first, then they had someone come and change batteries and it worked. However, it is not even bolted down so not sure how much of a deterrent that would be. The maids did not clean much – instead they twisted towels into swans and were satisfied. They never cleaned our balcony. The bathroom sink is plugged and smells of sewage. The towels and thread bare sheets smell like a sweaty locker room. Talking to other guests, they reported similar problems. Bottled water was missing, we told the maid and even called front desk. They finally showed up the next day to replace the water. Beach area was never cleaned properly. Chairs were not cleaned up, cups and straws, cigarette butts everywhere. I understand that the guest should clean up their mess, but if that doesn’t happen, the resort could do a cleaning. It was rather disgusting to walk on cigarette butts everywhere. The gardening staff were very pleasant. We remembered some from our last time there. Raul was very pleasant and helpful. The public washrooms often have no toilet paper – or toilet seats. It was disgusting to watch employees in the bathroom do not wash her hands and then serve a clients in the bar or in restaurant. The food: it was interesting to see an eggs served for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Some of the food under the heat lamps was always cold, guess they were just lamps, not heat lamps. The pork and beef were a bit chewy, but that’s pretty standard for Cuba. Most of the food was not bad, bread was fantastic. Seafood was actually pretty good, just have to watch that they cooked it enough, often had to bring it back to get cooked a bit more. The Paella was very good. The fruits are not quite ripe or going bad. Ice cream was excellent. Overall, remember is Cuba, we always found something to eat. Serving staff – big Disappointment. They don’t work too hard. I had to ask two different servers for coffee before I got one. Lazy, unmotivated, indifferent for the most part. Looking more for the tips rather than customer service. It was very unpleasant experience to watch as servants in the restaurant watching for the some clients who gave them tips previously and run toward them with smile hugs and coffee… And you are waiting for this show to end and hope that they will come and help you with a simple cup of coffee. Embarrassing and extremely unpleasant to watch. There were some exceptions, Zulie on the outside tables was great. The tall elderly gentleman serving inside was also most pleasant. Some of the people at the piano bar were great. Remembered your drinks and were helpful. The actual bartender (Yudi)needs some lessons in customer service. Not only unpleasant but actually a very nasty person. Nasty to clients and to the other staff. When we described to her how to make a particular drink, she refused and said that’s not how we make it here in Cuba. Interesting as the other bartenders all made it the way it should be made without us having to even describe it to them. She was simply too lazy to take the effort to make it properly. Front desk, completely unhelpful (as mentioned above). Bought 2 wifi cards, neither of which worked. First it was, “no more money on the cards” but I had just bought them. Then, the cards are good it was my phone, asked them to use their phone with my cards, still didn’t work. A Wifi issue, however the person next to us was logging on as we spoke. Then they just chased me away and said to try again in 5 minutes. Tried again for half an hour, still nothing. Didn’t bother anymore as I simply didn’t need more aggravation. If your not a smoker, might not be a good place to go. There are no non-smoking areas. Lots of smokers here. I don’t particularly care if people want to smoke as long as there are areas for non-smokers. There is a nice covered area by the lobby and bar but it’s filled with cigar and cigarette smoke. The beach area full of smoke buds everywhere. Our Transat rep was promised to e-mail to the manager of the hotel to ask for an extension on our room for medical reasons, when we later asked her she told us that she did not email the manager as she had promised us she would. When we later went to go talk to the manager, the manager didn’t even come out to talk to us, instead sent out a young kid to tell us that they had not received a request and that we would need to pay 10 CUC an hour for any extension. The place was no where near full but they could not help you out. What an experience of the customer service even for Cuba. I was very disappointed. Been to Cuba a number of times so I knew what to expect in general. I simply don’t accept when people are too lazy to do their job. This was unpleasant experience, I will forward this to Iberostar and I do expect compensation for misrepresentation. Stayed at a few Iberostar & this Resort Iberostar should be ashamed!

Outstanding

Wonderful staff in every area. Clean, well laid out. Show on Monday night best I've ever seen in a resort. Good variety of food. Pool clean, lots of chairs all day. Beach is beautiful. Downside is lounge saver at beach. Have to be out by 700 a.m. to guarantee a spot. Waiters in patio bar are great entertainers, very funny and fast with drinks.

A wonderful resort

The check-in was fast, our room was what we asked for. Never had to wait in line for anything. Beach is beautiful. The pool was great. Water in room was always hot, toilet flushed, room was clean...we had overlooking pool was great. Now the food....it's Cuba....same on the buffet everyday. Same at the snack bar, same good everyday. All in all it wasn't crowded and we had a great time. Staff were wonderful.