Sweet Resort

I flew out with my daughter on her 18th birthday to enjoy 10 days on a magnificent beach getaway. And that’s what we had! The hotel, room & grounds are well kept. The staff is so sweet, always smiling & helpful. Plenty of food for the non picky eaters & quite flavourful in some instances Thank you to Jose at the Japanese a la carte, Enrique at the lobby bar & so many more for making are trip sweet ;)

Good resort

The room was spacious and clean Variety of food Some workers were nice Clean pool Not enough light at night to find your room Some of the servers at the restaurant could be more attentive Public washroom in the lobby were out of use several time

To bad they only good that came out of this was the weather and a great flight !

After we had arrived we waited almost 2hrs before we even headed towards the resorts selling the beer seemed important not having a clue of how many and names who were to be on the bus lack . Two on the desk with a full bus long waits to get booked in long day as it was, I have some health issues taking to our around 11pm or so after which I didn't last long the mold smell caused me to stat throwing up. So back to the desk to explain which hear we go again waiting finally a manager and bell boy  [... read more]who spoke good English of we go to check another room mold smell again we ended going into 5 rooms that night were we finally ended over by the ocean area on the third floor. only room I didn't throw up in but the stairs were hard with my disability. Ended up with no phone locked out of our room 4 times and had to leave door open to get back with a safe not working also. Manager stated that rides to the dinning room would not be a problem for the wk by the bell boys which was a long way from us. With no phone we would have to walk to the snack shop two times a day for a ride for meals. Sad part one night we waited over an hr and every day going for meals was a living hell, no one spoke English it was all Spanish the rooms I would say were very clean , grounds, friendly though none of us understood . Bottom line I would never come back to Melia first bad trip.

Beach is awesome!

The layout of the hotel was great. We had some issues with our specific room - AC was not properly working for the first 2 days but they did change the thermostat and it was great after that. We lost our hot water for the last 2 days and it was reported but it wasn't repaired by the time we left. Some staff were awesome and very friendly and working hard. Others seemed to be putting in time and a little crabby at times. Front desk reception was hit and miss. The main restaurant staff [... read more] were very good for us, main bar itself was really slow but the waitresses were running around and trying hard to keep us hydrated.

Wonderful Family Vacation!

We travelled as a family group of 12. We loved the plantation style accommodations and beautiful grounds (those gardeners work so hard). The only drawback was that the hotel separated our family into 2 different buildings. Pick 25, 27, 29 for close to the beach/pool. We were in building 12 which was close to the lobby and main buffet restaurant. Walking in this beautiful environment is part of our resort enjoyment so we didn't mind it too much. We participated in the free activities like:  [... read more]catamaran, tennis, beach and pool volleyball, and dance lessons. Ping pong paddles were hard to get so bring your own if you'd like to play. We loved the Japanese restaurant. It was delicious and entertaining, as they cook right in front of you. All of the staff were so friendly. The little market displays were the same as in Varadero so save yourself the $20 cab ride for souvenirs, unless you want to see the town. The nighttime entertainment was super. We were impressed with the water ballet.

Good resort

The hotel was still undergoing renovations. There were a number of bungalows not available during our stay, which on the plus side meant that the resort was only about half full meaning no line ups and always a chair at either the beach or the pool. The beach is beautiful! The bungalow we stayed in was a great location close to both the beach and the pool. The hotel was clean, but showed signs of deferred maintenance, most likely due to the focus being on getting the other bungalows ready for gu [... read more]ests. Food was fine, not a lot of variety at the buffet but always something for everyone. The Japanese restaurant was amazing. Great food and the chefs were awesome. Shout out to Roberto! The gentlemen at the beach were always quick to get chairs and remembered where we liked to be each day and had our chairs ready first thing in the morning. The lady making the coffees and Spanish coffees in the lobby bar was amazing and works very hard. We had the pleasure of having Elyani serving us each evening in the lobby bar and she was awesome. We had no air conditioning for the first couple of days and the Air Transat reps were great at following up with customer service to have the issue resolved. There was no hot water the last couple of days. So a few things for the hotel to work on. All in all the good outweighed the bad. The staff at the resort are all hard working and go out of their way to do whatever they can to make your stay enjoyable.

Great

Food was good staff very frindly grounds nicely mantained.There was a little construction but not a major bother .I would recomend it would go backThe cleaning staff always kept room fresh and tidy gret vacation

Run down

The hotel was nothing like the pictures on the website, not sure of the age of the hotel but it looked in some areas are in need of being fixed up. The wait staff was great but hotel management and checking staff are less helpful. Food was normal for Cuba but could really need some help, restaurant are not great, our group of 21 walk out of the BBQ restaurant cause the food was under cooked, and management couldn’t offer anything to rectify the issue. Towels where always late to the room as t [... read more]hey had a storage everyday. We had a premium drink package but saw nothing in the way of premium drinks. Overal it was not my best Cuba experience, but it is get what you pay for. Cuba has a very big opportunity to do very well with all the issues in Mexico, but if this is how they are going to handle to opportunity then they are not in good shape

Great resort, amazing people!

The hotel and Cuba in general was 100% better than I was expecting. As a first time traveler to Cuba I heard mixed reviews about the resorts and food and I am happy to say that everything exceeded my expectations. The hotel was beautiful! The beach sand was so white and the water was crystal clear. The hotel grounds were always clean and there was always something to do. The food was great! Every breakfast lunch and dinner buffet always had a great variety of food and it tasted fantastic. Our fa [... read more]vorite A La Carte was Japanese. The cook even brought me up to cook the food with him! The most important to us was how friendly everyone at the resort and city was. We always felt safe and anytime we had questions or concerns the people from the resort were there to help. I would recommend the Melia Peninsula Varadero to anyone going to Cuba.

Amazing resort

The hotel was very clean and the staff was amazing. The food was very delicious and fresh everyday. The bar staff was very knowledgeable in making differebt drinks especially Miri who was our favourite. Omar was a pure professional in the restaurant and Paula as well at the beach restaurant. The beach was exceptionally clean and couldn’t have asked for a more relaxing vacation.

Exquisite beach, nice resort but poor service

We were surprised that the employees at this resort were not at all friendly compared to what we usually see in Cuba. Room supplies (shampoo, water, etc.) were not restocked unless you asked multiple times, same thing with fixing a small mechanical issue in our room. Bartenders were a bit slow and inefficient. That being said, the beach and resort itself were beautiful and it was in a great location for daytrips to downtown Varadero and Havana.

Good

Beach: is breathtaking, stayed most of the time at the beach. There's not enough Sun shade on the beach. Food: Not too bad, and not so good. Got tired of eating the same food. Didn't want to try raw vegetables. Servers at the buffet: Best service from Anabella & Lielet. You need to be at the buffet restaurant as soon as they open up. Always run out of butter. Room: Need to update room, especially the bathroom. The room that we first checked in, smelled like cigarette smok [... read more]es. I was all stuffed up from the smell of the smoke. We requested to move to a different room, but we can't move until the following day. You are only allowed to have one 500ml of water per day. We ended up buying at the store. Towel Service: Very rude people that works there. I'm lucky that they were not rude to me. I watched them shout at the customer... there's no need for that. The towels are so old, and they are still giving it to customers. My rugs are in a better shape than that towel that I ended up. Do I Recommend this hotel? I am not sure. The beach is super nice. We walked on the beach and watched the sunrise. Probably need to do some research if there's a better resort.

My best resort

The whole place looks amazing. I love that you have to walk to get to ur room. Knowing the food to be good to my liking...I needed to burn all the carbs. All you can drink (with friendly & loving staff) and entertainment are truly fascinating! My daughter had her 18th birthday experience to be superb...thanks to Melia Peninsula. Will choose the same when we pick our next destination!!!

A perfect sized friendly resort!

Although the grounds of this resort were beautiful, we wondered why the lagoons near the central/main bar were empty. The map we received when registering was confusing in such that the names of the services did not seem to match the indicators on the map. In time, we figured it out. Our room, although we requested to be on the top floor, was on the 1st floor - when after 2 hours of waiting for our room to be ready, it lacked the face and hand towels. There were 2 single/double beds close to [... read more]gether when we requested a "king", and the first night, the key card did not work and had to have it repaired, which was done quickly, I must admit. But we did patiently watch while the repair person rifled through his toolbox to find enough loose batteries that would work to repair the door-lock. Which after being in the room for a couple of days found that the patio door had no "secure" locking system anyway and the room could be easily entered by anyone at anytime! We paid for the "Elegance Club" upgrade which states "Dedicated room location" but the Air Transat rep at the hotel said you get what you get when it comes to the rooms. Although the pool was inviting and very clean, we found that the pool area lacked shaded areas to sit. We found refuge in the Snack Bar near the pool. We found that the beach was lovely! Quite impressed by the ingenuity of how sunbathers found shade by flipping one lounge chair to block the sun from the occupied chair. They could have had more canopies to sit under, but definitely had enough chairs to accommodate the shade-seekers. We were aware before we booked the resort that the stage was being repaired, and the entertainment we did see, was truly entertaining, however, from night to night, we were not sure where it was to be held. Most of the time, once we found out where the entertainment was being shown, there was no chance of finding available seating to watch. We did, however, enjoy the a la cartes - the food and service was excellent. This was our fifth time at a "Melia" resort and I would definitely consider coming back to this resort as their serving, cleaning and grounds staff were a delight to meet which always makes a holiday so inviting, however I will certainly not be so quick as to request the "Elegance Club" as we found its "upgrades" totally lacking as was promised in the advert.

Very disappointing

I would not recommend this hotel to anybody. Customer service is terrible, very poor management, rooms and grounds do not look like on posted pictures, food and drinks poor quality. The only decent food we had was in the a la carte restorants. It’s not even 3 star hotel level but they don’t care because they got your money already.

Wonderful vacation

I really liked the Melia resort. Great beach, great entertainment. Food was fine. If I had to be picky, I would have liked a sit down bar on the resort, which would have made it easier to meet people in the evenings. Also, the wifi is pretty weak in Cuba, but I wasn't there to spend my time on the internet. However it does make online check in a little more challenging. Overall, I would recommend this resort, but if I were to go back to Varadero, I would try to get an adults only resort.

Great Vacation

I spent two weeks at this location. I loved it. If I had to be picky, I would have liked a sit-down bar in the resort, which would have made it easier to meet people. Also, I got dinged 15CUC because I didn't return my beach towel to the right place at the right time. And the wifi is pretty marginal. Other than that, I had a wonderful time. Great, friendly staff, clean room, beautiful beach.

Not worth the money.

Beach is good, but not enough shade. Renovations in progress, dirty and loud. Rooms that were suposed to be renovted were only covered with paint over the moulded walls. No door in shower or on the bathroom in one of the rooms. Food areas were very dirty, suff unpleasant, food lacking . Towels and sheets replaced only if requested, only big towels, no face towels and smelled very bad .theater was being renovated, shows in lobby which want lobby was always full and loud at night.

Great beach

Not that impressed. Resort is older, there is ongoing renovation. Main buffet not welcoming. Food not the best, lacking variety and taste. Ala cart restaurants good. Staff curtious. Entertainment pretty good.

Wouldn’t go back

We had regular expectations for Cuba. We are not travel snobs and have been to other places in Cuba..This resort was nice and beach is amazing however the food wasn’t great. We lived off hotdogs ice cream and French fries all week. Our rooms were not cleaned properly. The maid did not wipe down sink or countertops or clean the bathtub. She didn’t even change our sheets when we asked for it to be changed. The pirate ship playgrown that was advertised to us when we initially booked (we have tw [... read more]o small kids), was closed. It looked like it was underconstructuon for a while and no one was working on it.. this really disappointed me because my son was really excited about it when we booked our trip. Also make sure you have the correct amount of towels they give you and if security takes them off the lounging chair go report it missing because they will make you pay $15 per towel when you check out. Because we didn’t report our missing towels they made us pay. And threatened to let us not leave the resort... so overall we will not be returning to this resort.