Club Kawama: Good g

Good service nice people nice entertainment Good location I will go back there.The hotel is very nice and clean ,the food is ok for this difficult time for everyone, but for myself the food isn't really important, the atmosphere around the weather the people

Iberostar Origin Laguna Azul: NEVER AGAIN

I went to this resort in 2014 and thought the quality of the stay would be the same boy was i wrong. Absolute joke for a "5 star" hotel, Food was mediocre at best. There were days in our stay that they had no milk for breakfest, no cheese, no sugar. Wait 30+ min in line to get an Omelett or any kind off eggs. There were times the bars at the beach had no ice, drinks were pathetic. Ask for a drink at any bar and get different mixed drinks, how can you mess up drinks? So much more to say but i al [... read more]ready wasted my time attending a horrible hotel, not going to spend more time on this. Save yourself from this "hotel" and for me NEVER again Cuba.

Iberostar Selection Varadero: Mediocre

The grounds and beach are simply beautiful. The rooms are outdated but clean and spacious. Our patio door would not lock and they didn’t do anything about it. The food was always fresh and plentiful but very repetitive. You will find fresh fish daily, chicken and pork occasionally. The a la carte restaurants serve the same food as buffet just prepared a different way. One thing that shocked me was the attitudes of some of the bartenders and serving staff. Some were quite rude and would hav [... read more]e conversations with friends and co workers and ignore guests. This resort is lacking the personal touch I believe because of its size. You have different servers and bartenders daily. The music was extremely loud at the pool and beach. The entertainment was good but had the same performers every night just different formats. I will not be returning.

Selectum Family Resort Varadero: Absolutely Beutiful Resort

The staff were amazing, food was great and not lacking of anything. The rooms were beautiful and cleaned everyday.. The only downfall was the beach, but if you walked a little you can find an area where there are no rocks. I was told that this would be corrected. Also, you can catch the bus for $5 for day use, and go into town to the most amazing beach. Enjoy lunch, as well as check out the markets. We would definitely visit this location again, and have been checking out the prices for la [... read more]ter this year.

Paradisus Princesa Del Mar: Disappointed 😔

Honestly, disappointed with this resort having been to Cuba many times, one being in February last year during the pandemic. I thought this was to be one of the better resorts in Varadero. The service and room was ok. Grounds could use some upkeep, beach chairs are old, beach not maintained daily or at all I believe during our stay. Buffet not sanitary or clean in my opinion. We were only offered 2 a la carts and had to fight for the advertised free round of golf. Food was definitely the worst I [... read more] have had in Cuba. Some days no bread, or cheese, no chicken or beef, pizza or fries. Burgers and hotdogs came in the last day. Mainly rice, beans, pork. No vodka, tequila, white wine or champagne. Hard to get a glass of red wine. Having been to Cuba I was not going for the food, I was going for the beach which is beautiful. For a 5 star resort not being welcomed with a cocktail upon arrival was disappointing. Will eventually go back to Cuba, but will give them time to recover from Covid and food/drink shortages.

Paradisus Princesa Del Mar: Very peaceful and relaxing resort

My wife and myself recently spend ten great days in Paradisus princess del mare, wether and beach were amazing like usually,staff very friendly and helpfully , if someone complains about food, I suggest go to Antigua (we went there in March, for seven days we had only burgers & hotdogs).Special thanks to costumer service office team Jorge,Yardley&Lily for arranging my wife’s 65 birthday celebration.

Iberostar Origin Laguna Azul: Hotel needs alot of work

This is far from being even a 4 star. This hotel is very run down, walls dirty with paint chips, lobby washroom not clean. Actually saw a cleaner mop the floors in the lobby washroom and use the same mop to clean the counter top. Our room did not have a shower, it was a hot tub with a hand held shower head that only pointed towards the wall. Our room was not cleaned for 2 days, the room is very dated and sheets did not smell fresh. There are cockroaches in the restaurants, birds eating the food  [... read more]in the restaurants, plates are left for long periods. The grounds and beach are beautiful BUT the pool with the swim up bar is very dirty with black mold everywhere, lots of TILES missing in the bottom of the pool which can be very dangerous for cuts. The maintenance of the pool is done pretty late in the morning which is odd as people are in the pool at the same time. The snack bar that is open 24 hours limits the food you can get depending on the time (ie: can't get fries from noon to 3pm). A La Carte were good, best one was Japanese. Even the service was not the best, some of the staff seem to have attitude...and we're not the demanding type at all. A handful of staff were the absolute best. We expected some changes due to Covid like lack of certain foods or alcohol, but providing service and hotel upkeep was not one of them. I will not be returning to this resort.

Iberostar Origin Laguna Azul: Will be Back

Dates travelled: April 22-29 Family type: Family of 4 with kiddos aged 17 and 14 Rooms: Building 16, Rooms 320 and 308 Visitation History: 4thtime to Cuba, first time at this resort Overall rating: we all gave it a solid 9/10 After reading some of the reviews, we were honesty a bit hesitant about coming here. So glad we did. Honest review based on our personal experience. Rooms: Building 16 was awesome. Same floor as lobby and very close to buffet, pools, main lobby bar, etc. R [... read more]ooms were gorgeous and bright (our furniture was painted white). Everything worked, including the shower head. Hot water with good pressure. We had a king and the girls had two singles. Beds were very comfortable. Was there signs of wear and tear? Some plates outside rooms? Sure. But so minor that doesn’t warrant mention. I did hear from other guests, however, some challenges but this was not ours. Food: As everyone has said, and knows, you don’t go to Cuba for amazing resort food. That said, there were some great dishes on the buffet and a fairly wide selection. If you like added salt, which I do, I would suggest bringing some. We didn’t bring any added food with us. My girls did struggle near the end finding things they wanted to eat but they are also kind of picky. Usually always a bit of a line-up for the ‘made-to-order’ foods (pasta, omelets, etc.). There is no toaster so if you like toast in morning, just bring it to the omelet station and they’ll grill for you. The snackbar/24 hr bar also puts on lunch buffet and is only location that makes fries, starting at 1pm. Line up early if you want some or don’t want to wait in line for 30-45 minutes for a plate of fries. We ate here almost everyday. The ice cream shack was never open; we just hopped over the buffet and grabbed some there. A la Carte: We messed up on one of our reservations and missed it, so only ate at Cuban and Japanese. Both were good and a nice break. The breaded fish at Cuban are just like chicken fingers, but really good. No ketchup but they have a yummy mayo sauce you can ask for. The rose wine at Cuban was fantastic but same ‘wine’ at Japanese tasted like it was watered down 50%, as did the white and red. Order beer instead. Drinks: Everything we like (wine, beer, pina colada’s, etc.) we were able to access. The lobby bar does an amazing blended ice coffee (virgin or with shot or dark rum) and an amazing blended mango tequila (ask for the mango tequila with the orange cap, imported from Spain. So good and runs out quickly.) The lobby bar can get quite busy in the morning and evening so expect to wait a bit. The bartenders are excellent at serving folks in order they arrive, regardless of money waiving attempts. Entertainment: Just fantastic. Loved the musicians playing in lobby before nightly shows, and all the shows. They also have a wonderful little trio who perform down at the little bar a couple of nights a week by the pool to the left. They are awesome, pay them a visit. The staff doing day entertainment (pool activities, beach dancing, etc.) are amazing. The level of energy they bring despite long days and doing this every day is inspiring. Excursions: We did the jeep safari via West Jet. Was awesome, although you drive SUVs vs jeeps. Would recommend. If you do this, bring candy, crayons, goodies for kids. You drive along a portion of road where kids come along the side for goodies but you don’t actually get to stop, per se. We’ve done Havana twice before and loved it each time. We did the hop/on bus before too, so didn’t do it this time. The questionables: There were a couple of not-so-great things. First, one of our towels was taken off our chair from the main pool while we were all in the pool. All our towels were on one chair with one drying on the back. This was not a mistake but a purposeful take, which really sucked. It did not turn up in lost and found not at the towel hut. The second was returning to our room one night to find 3 full cups of tea on our table; we can only thing (hope) that it was room ordered and delivered to wrong room. Nothing else was out of order. Third, we had a full bag of sunscreen (about 5 bottles) ‘go missing’. While we like to think the maids took by accident thinking it was part of the gifts/tips we left, the bag was not in a location that would suggest it was for taking. Fortunately, we had enough (just) to last us till our last day. While we intended to leave all our left over stuff, it was quite violating that it was taken without permission. That said, overall we loved it, would recommend and would return. Future travelers, enjoy your stay, have empathy and compassion and don’t sweat the small stuff.

Iberostar Origin Bella Vista Varadero: Great resort!

The hotel was one of the largest hotels in Varadero. It was convenient and everything was almost as expected. The stuff were very friendly. The room was clean and regularly cleaned. Drinks were abundant everywhere (in the lobby, pool, restaurant). Didn’t take towels as we already knew they are available there. Food was good and acceptable and you could find something to eat. (salad, fish, chicken, bacon, beef, pork, milk, scrambled and boiled eggs, ice cream, cakes, and other desserts) You co [... read more]uld also book for Italian or Japanese dinner but we couldn’t manage to reserve for those restaurants due to being busy with during the booking times. The recursion programs were nicely organized. We were only able to register for one of the program (dolphins and fish seeing deep in the water, although the equipment was not very convenient). There were about 7-8 recursion programs (including Trip to Havana, Jeep safari, …) Our 6-year old son was busy with playing in the beach or pool and at the end of the day was tired enough not to ask for more activities. Although we had balls and game apps that he could enjoy.

Blau Varadero: amazing services

I did really Enjoy my stay at the Resort . the water was amazing and clear . the rooms was clean but i advice you to bring some sheets with you or towels because i felt it was not clean and i felt that my body was itching from the bed cover . apart from that it was fine . Regarding the entertainment i saw better but it was good . there is no place for disco it was at the snacks bar . The food !! for breakfast i kept eating eggs for 7 days .lunch and dinner was not bad because there was  [... read more]variety, but the sweets the only thing i could eat was ice cream because the insects was flying around the cakes and sweets. the over all experiments was 7%. I also may comeback and hope this review will be helpfully and i will enjoy my stay 100% next time . Thank you

Royalton Hicacos Resort and Spa: Great resort

Our room was not very nice but they are renovating rooms so ask for a new renovated room if you book. The beach was very beautiful and the sand was soft. Food overall was good, and some of the restaurant were excellent. The staff are friendly and helpful and always have a smile Ask for Diamond club if you want to have reservation at restaurant or book a suite with a butler

Paradisus Princesa Del Mar: worst resort i ever visit

this was the worst resort i ever visited. The food was really bad, it was always recycled from the morning, afternoon and evening in the buffett. The only thing we could eat was eggs and pasta. No salad dressing was avaliable for the salad bar, so we had to have a salad dry, not very good. The room was not very clean, the maid only dumped the bathroom garage bin, did not clean the bathroon vanity or even sweep up in the room but the worst of this room was the showers, NO HOT WATER, getting a c [... read more]old shower was not very nice, how are you supposed to get a shower after being at the beach or pool all day and go to get cleaned up but no hot water and a cold shower is very hard to do because you can't stand the cold water. The king size bed was not very comfortable, very lumpy, the springs was almost coming though the mattress which result in my lower back and hip pain, the pillows were very flat, uncomfortable to sleep on, lying flat on the bed, neck pain as a result. I will not recommend this resort to anyone. it only had one small shop on the resort but it did not get any snacks like chips, bar or drinks if you were hungry during the day and believe me i needed snacks, i did not eat very much for the seven days we were there, this caused me to spend two days in the rooms feeling unwell. So as a result, this will be my last trip to Cuba for some time, bad experience with this resort.

Iberostar Origin Playa Alameda: Fabulous Staff!

The hotel is small and easy to get around. The rooms are spacious, and clean. The food was good, much better than last year. Had a nice variety of salads, always had chicken, fish, pasta,veggies. Had butter for about 1 week or so,always had lots of bread,buns,cold meats,and cheeses. Even the bars had a better selection of alcohol,great cocktails,and fabulous cappuccinos. Their entertainment this year was very good. Always something was going on either at the beach in the mornings or exercising  [... read more]in the pool in the mornings, and in the afternoon music,and bingo.Was usually live music in the evening’s up by the lobby bar around 8pm u til about 9:30 pm. Then a show on at the theatre around 9:30pm,or else they had a DJ playing outside at the theatre that went from 9:30-10pm to around midnight. Also every Friday night they had a beach party starting at 10pm until 1am.So lots to do.Like all hotels in Varadero they are getting weary looking,but they are renovating some of the buildings slowly. It’s Cuba! But a great hotel for the money.

Valentin El Patriarca Varadero: ******* WARNING *******

Shame on TripCentral rating this resort as a 4+, this is nowhere near a 4+. More like a 2+. First we've been down south approx. 20 times. 10 times to Varadero, I even got married there. And this is by far the worst experience we've had. I'm going to try and keep this light because I don't want to be too critical. If you are into intermediate fasting and are concerned about going to an all inclusive resort don't worry this resort has you covered. Because for breakfast don't expect eggs, bre [... read more]ad or milk. Yes what you ate the evening before is what is on the menu. Eggs and bread in the morning was a surprise some mornings until they ran out. So if you are into fasting, great for you, breakfast is not even an option. If you are into ice baths and are worried about taking a nice hot shower. Again no worries this resort has you covered. Cold showers are on the menu here. Yes no hot water. If you are watching your weight and are thinking maybe I will indulge too much sweets at an all inclusive resort. Then this is the resort for you. One evening dinner the only thing they had for sweets was apples. Yes apples. Some had chocolate syrup on them. So when you are doing your groceries and are thinking of what to get for dessert tonight and apples is the first thing that comes to mind book at this resort. If you are a heavy beer drinker and think an all inclusive resort just might be too much for your liver. Don't worry this place has got you covered. Yes most days they either didn't have any beer at all or would run out during the day. Nothing like being on a nice hot beach thinking of the nice cold beer you would love to have. Peachy. If you are allergic to chicken. This is the resort for you. Our second week they had no chicken. Pork, mince meat some fish and always pasta was on the menu. We lived on pork, white rice and potatoes for a week. If you like watching the discovery channel about animals and the survival of the fittest. This is the place for you. There are cats at the resort. For three days my wife and I stopped to watch a little kitten play by the main buffet. On the third day after watching the kitten for a minute or so we started walking away just to encounter a pack of wild dogs. I won't go into details it was pretty gruesome. Lets just say the kitten didn't make it and my wife was mortified. If you are more of a beach person. That's good because we didn't use the pool on our second week for reasons I will not write here. "I don't think they would post my review if I did" The pool needs to be sanitized. No joke. If you don't like the shade and just want to fry in the sun. Wow this is the place for you. If you want shade, a 6 am alarm is what you will need. There are not enough chairs and shade at the beach or at the pool. And to the people who reserve chairs in the shade in the morning to only show up at 3 pm...... Shame on you. Selfish. If activities are not for you. Again resort for you. Pool table but no cues or balls. Ping pong table, no pallets or balls. Tennis courts have no rackets or balls. There is a spa but no water in the spa tub. Maybe you can get a message if someone is around. There is a gym that we use every morning. Nothing great but it did the job for us. The floor of the gym got swept once in two weeks. Most of the staff are stone faced. Maybe 20% still have a smile and a little pep in their step but most of them have checked out and are just going through the motions. The most upbeat personnel are the gardeners. And they are doing a great job. Bugs are everywhere. This place needs a lot of work. The list goes on but I think that is enough for the resort. This was a two week vacation and after the third day I wanted to go home. The cherry on top was our ride back to the airport. Getting on the bus thinking we have a 30 minute drive to the airport, just to find out, with no warning, we have a 3 hour drive to Havana airport instead. To make things interesting we got a flat on our bus in the middle of nowhere. Stuck on the side of the road it finally took three other buses to get us to the airport. We are finally home and I'm sad to say, I will never return to this resort and probably not to Cuba for a long time.

Starfish Cuatro Palmas: Advocate for yourself.

I am very aware that supply is short in Cuba and you have to take it in stride. I always go with a full carry on of Canadian supplies to leave. Medical supplies, toiletries, school supplies, kids toys ect. But I have a real problem when I am not provided a basic need of life. I even brought my own toilet paper but I should not have to provide my own water. We were given two 1l bottles in our room on arrival. Then nothing. The lobby bar wouldn't even give out water. So we resorted to buying at th [... read more]e store next to the lobby. Until they stopped taking cash and would only accept credit cards. After day 2 of no water I expressed my concern to the ladies in the store and all of a sudden....they took cash! I love Cuba, have been many times. But if I cannot drink the water from the tap and I'm paying thousands of dollars to go there, I expect water to be supplied.

Iberostar Selection Varadero: Awesome Resort

In my opinion this is the best resort in Cuba, the beach is absolutely breath taking it is just gorgeous. The resort it beautiful very clean the people working there are always nice and respectful, (the guests should remember themselves to be as respectful to them as they are to us) Food was good I am not food driven so I found plenty to eat all the time. I am 100% going back to Iberostar Selection Varadero that is my place now. It will be hard to beat that beach!! See you next time :)

Starfish Jibacoa: Peaceful and quiet resort

Before my trip I have red some reviews and was a bit skeptical, but this resort has exceeded my expectations. also I learned that there were some recent changes in the resort and things improved. The trips between airport and resort is already planed, one less thing to worry about. The beach is big and beautiful. Great place for snorkeling (just wear extra clothes so you do not burn while snorkeling). There is plenty of room on the beach if you want privacy, sun loungers always available.  [... read more] The whole resort is a few min walk between bungalows, lobby area, eating restaurant and pool area with another restaurant and mini bar. There is always plenty and good quality food to choose from. Vegetables and fruits available for every meal, eggs, salami, breads, rice, potato, fish, chicken, beef, pork...you can have some food already prepared or you can choose the piece of meat and have it bbq right there in front of you. Meal times are scheduled and there is enough time to have every meal if you want. As in breakfast is from 7am to 10am. Good enough for early risers and late sleepers. It's buffet food, but at every station there is resort employee that will put on your plate what you choose. I liked that, especially now after covid; Lots of drinks available at all times. There was shortage of draft beer for a few hours, but people survived. Weather you want early morning coffee and watch sunrise or stay late and have drinks with your friends, bar in the lobby is always open. The hiking trail is good thing to explore, there is organized guide, If you want trip to Havana (one hour drive) or some neighborhood place you may arrange it in the lobby. My room was very decent, cleaned every day, The washrooms in the lobby or pool area may be out of toilet paper or soap at times. But there is a person at each cleaning constantly and replenishing. The thing I liked the most in this resort is that I as solo traveler was never alone or lonely. Stuff is very friendly, and the other guests as well. Most of them are repeaters and have become a little family which I was proud to be a part of. Please tip stuff.

Palma Real: Great location

Cuba has always been my favorite place to visit, but after this trip I think in done. Cuba's food was never the best but always a great selection. Not this time. Always same food day in and day out. Everything else was amazing no complaints.

Iberostar Selection Varadero: Amazing

Very clean food was good, beach beautiful, room clean staff amazing, would go again, families welcome, entertainment very good, grounds clean, pool small, beach staff, bar tenders, maid service, dated property but clean

Iberostar Selection Varadero: Great time at this resort

Extended family of 7 stayed the first week of April at Iberostar Selection Varadero, then just my wife and I for a second week. I'm an experienced traveler, I've been to 20 different resorts in Mexico and the Caribbean, but this was the first time in Cuba.The beach was probably the best I've ever seen, just wonderful to swim in, and it was calm enough in the mornings for my grandchildren 5 and 7 to splash around and swim. Later in the day it usually got a little rougher but not so rough that I w [... read more]ouldn't still go in but maybe not young children. The pool was fine, the small water park was great fun for the grandkids.The kids club had nightly entertainment and would put on a little show, my grandkids loved participating in this. The rooms were nice and clean. The staff and their service was probably the best I've ever encountered. Everyone who worked there was nice, pleasant, helpful, I can't say enough good things about the staff. For trips, I would recommend the double decker bus to Varadero. Also my wife and I had a fantastic trip to Havana in a 51 Chevy.with a driver and English speaking guide.We booked it through the hotel for $190. for 10 hr. worth every cent. Our driver Miguel and guide George made the trip fun and informative, they were the best. I highly, highly recommend this trip. Now for the food, the a la carte's were quite good. It pains me to say this because the buffet staff were all so nice and would go above and beyond to make you feel welcome, but the food was average. I'm a bit of a picky eater and I could always fine something I liked but the buffet was just not as good as ones I've enjoyed in Mexico or other Caribbean Islands. The nightly entertainment was top notch, much better than most resorts. Overall I would recommend this resort especially for families.