Barcelo Solymar: Some good and some very bad !

The resort needs more care from the management regarding some small details which make sometimes the differences between a great lace and a horrible one Because the good is already forgotten (great location and gorgeous beach) I will remember only the bad things. The smell in the kitchen, the cockroaches, the lack of food management (you should run at the first hour otherwise the risk to find only leftovers is big) the lack of towels. We need to tip hard the maid, otherwise, she just won:t chan [... read more]ge em. We are ok with tips (its Cuba) but we should tip for good service after not before. The beach towel was left from the previous guests and we did not know. After 3 day was a horrible smell on them. Nobody changes it. Very inconvenient and disgusting After the western guest left, the new wave was Russians and Latino, the overall quality drop. I guess is the lack of knowledge of what mean a 4-star hotel and people get used to being offered bad quality services. Anyhow the management stuff is super great, they will help if asked, and the general impression is ok (for the price), the nightly show is of 5-star international level - we will come back but with lower expectations.

Occidental at Xcaret Destination: Amazing experience

This resort is a great experience for anyone that loves nature and wildlife! The staff was super friendly, Valentina at building 21 and our waiter’s Carlos at the Italian a la Cart and Carlos at the beach buffet where such wonderful people. I don’t know their names but all the staff from building 18 (where my friends stayed) were truly wonderful as well. The front desk however should take note from the rest of the staff on how to treat their guests, we had multiple complaints from our group  [... read more]as well as others. The beignets were fantastic and so much better than the al a cart restaurants! We didn’t watch any of the entertainment while there, wasn’t for us. But the grounds and the scenery beat anywhere else I have ever stayed.

Barcelo Maya Grand Resort: Barcelo Maya Grand

Sunwing flight is absolutely terrible, DO NOT waste your money on their Elite Plus Package you get nothing of value for your money. Just pay for advance seating as that is virtually all that you get. We were in row 1, same skinny uncomfortable seats as the other rows except you have to put every small item purses etc., in the overhead bins but the first avaialable bin for use was in Row 6. The front ones were used by the flight staff. You end up getting off the plane last as you cannot get ba [... read more]ck to your overhead bin due to passengers in the aisles until the plane empties. Resort was clean but rooms are very run down once each of us (3 rooms) managed to get the AC fixed, plumbing working we had a nice stay. They put us up in the Barcelo Beach complex not the "Grand" we were expecting as the Grand turns out to be a catch all term for fhe entire Barcelo Resorts at this site. It is a huge complex of different resorts each of a different level of quality you won't know which resort your getting when you rent under the "Barcelo Maya Grand" title, very misleading. You can guess which price range the Beach Resort falls in. I am not sure if this was Trip Central's misleading advertising or Barcelo Resorts. This was very frustrating as we have been to the same Barcelo Maya resorts numerous times but always knew which resort you were getting. Never again.....

Palma Real: Central location downtown Veradero

The location of this place is great; walking distance to a lot of night life. It's a 3-star...so you have been warned :-) 3-4 nights max is recommended at this place. I stayed here a full week once and it was a bit much. Also... I would recommend going during peak season, as opposed to off-season, as they close down a bunch of the amenities for "renovations" in the off-season. The lobby is always a fun place to hang out at night. You never know what type of people you are going to see hah.

Occidental Arenas Blancas: Terrible

Beautiful beach beautiful pools but no activities no animation Terrible food in all the restaurants Rooms dirty and mattresses gery unconfortable Terrible smell all over the hotel Bad service people are rude Terrible drinks Only good thing is being joint with the Barcelo able to eat something at the snack bar and sometimes get a good drink at the lobby bar

Occidental at Xcaret Destination: Lovely Grounds... Room For Improvement

On an operational level, there were several bumps during our seven day All Inclusive stay. Honesty and transparency are important... The tone of our hospitality experience started from the start at check-in. Heard similar issues from other visiting guests. Perhaps the property was having a trying week? Sadly, I think Occidental at Xcaret just might be a tired resort with tired staff. Rooms are starting to fail, House-Keeping was spotty, Bartenders were inconsistent. Food is okay. Something for [... read more] everyone really. The lush grounds/animals add charm to this resort. The unique lagoon stands out as well. Having Xcaret Park next door was the highlight of this hotel.

Barcelo Bavaro Palace: Highly recommend.

Great place. Very comfortable rooms. Clean . Good service. The beach was always clean , beautiful palm trees and enough shade. Italian restaurant deserves a special review! Friendly staff. Very well taken care of , highly recommend!

Barcelo Solymar: Relaxing Resort

If you plan on spending a lot of time in your hotel room then..this resort is not for you. The room's are not the greatest and could use some upgrading. This resort is fun for drinking by the pool side, meeting new people, the beach and walking the strip off the resort to clubs & restaurants. Make sure to bring money to exchange for Cuban pesos for your money's worth and vacation experience. Tipping always looks good while spending your vacation in Cuba as it can give you priority service. I've  [... read more]been to Cuba more than 3 times and this resort would be my top choice.

Barcelo Gran Faro Los Cabos: Amazing Resort!!

Barcelo Gran Faros Los Cabos was perfect! The pool, the beach right at your doorsteps, the atmosphere, the food, the service, the people. What more can you ask for when going on vacation! When they say all inclusive they really do mean it, drinks and snacks in your mini fridge, 3 buffet meals in the day plus a snack bar! This resort by far is one of my favourites and I recommend it to anyone wanting to get away!

Palma Real: Worse resort in all Varadero AVOID

We arrived in Cuba at around 4:00 in the morning to discover that the whole hotel was a total scam. The pools had been emptied out, with the only one remaining having cloudy water and trash at the bottom. The rooms were infested with ants, we had 3 rooms and the AC wasn't working in 1 room, we asked for a king size bed but got two singles pressed together with the springs in the mattress making a squishing sound when we would move. The paint on the wall and cement all around the resort was [... read more] deteriorated. The breakfast buffet consisted of toasts and a rack of cold eggs. We went to the Sunwing office and explained the situation, after verifying our story, Sunwing immediately sent us to another hotel across the street, the Cuatro Palmas, covering a big part of the difference in price and offering us vouchers for the catamaran trip. Thank you to Sunwing for saving our vacation but I would recommend to anyone to avoid making a deal with TripCentral as they will scam you and send you in misrepresentative hotel. The pictures are NOT the reality. By the way Cuatro Palmas was great, would entirely recommend.

Palma Real: 1 star is too high! Worst dump ever!

Outside of hotel looks impressive till u step inside. No elevators in operation. Mold and bug infested rooms. We asked for another room that was even worse, the mold was so bad we couldn't breathe. 1 pool closed, the other is falling apart, as you swim the tiles and paint chips are in the water. Filthy and subpar. We talked to other patrons who didn't have hot water or a toilet that flushed. 1 building is closed down and building 4 should be condemned. Food was beyond disgusting, breads and [... read more] desserts hard & stale, everything else cold & tasteless. No working locks on the doors and looked like bullet holes in the walls. Glass shards in the pool water from drunk partiers. Mixed drinks were disgusting but if u only drink beer your ok. Lobby closes at 11 and next bar doesn't open till 12. If you want a snack at the side bar better go early because we were told several times nothing left. Beach is supposed to have chicken steak but is actually hard stale rice with a chicken leg. We saw an entire bus leave after 1 day to go to another hotel but this hotel couldnt care less because 2 bus loads checked in right after them. My bf had been to this hotel 4 times before and was shocked at the decline. We complained to our AC rep how bad the mold was and was told it would be at least another $700 ea to change hotels. Even the staff who worked there were embarrassed. Do yourself a favor, spend the extra $$ and don't waste your time with this dump. I wouldn't recommend this hotel to my worst enemy. I'm rating this hotel a 1 star but even that is too high.

Barcelo Bavaro Palace: Such an amazing place

The hotel staff are so outgoing and helpful. The grounds are beautifully keep and clean. The room was clean and cleaned every day. The ocean shore line and swimming area keep gorgeous. The swimming pools are pristine and alot of them. The is great and alot of choose from. A Beautiful place overall . Thanks Wendy 5 *

Occidental Punta Cana: Not what we Expected!

Grounds beautiful.beach beautiful.bars horrible no consistency.availability also terrible at the beach. Would not recommend or return to this resort. Not a 4 Star. Cannot use 200 letters to describe an overpriced and low quality experience.

Occidental Arenas Blancas: HORRIBLE RESORT!

The Occidental Arenas Blanca is the absolute worst resort I've ever stayed at in Cuba and I've been to Cuba 12 times! There were tiny red ants in everything in the rooms. My entire body was covered in bites when I woke up the first night. The sheets were stained and disgusting. There were cockroaches in the room and the buffet! We had no bath towels or pool towels for 4 days! There were rats in the lobby! The pool is nothing but a hazard, broken/missing tiles, no grates or broken grates around [... read more] the entire pool. Our cups in room were not washed, floor not swept or mopped. Tub not cleaned! WORST EXPERIENCE OF MY LIFE! THE PLACE NEEDS TO BE CONDEMNED!

Barcelo Maya Colonial: Great vacation!

This was our first time in Mexico and our first all-Inclusive resort in years. The grounds and facilities were immaculate and very clean. The majority of the staff were excellent and took very good care of us. There were a couple of points about the resort that I had issue with however. First of all, I did not care for the Dolphinarium onsite. I was very surprised that in this day and age that they continue to have dolphins in captivity in a very small pool. This is something that I do not supp [... read more]ort and do not understand why the resort would continue this practice. Please end this. My other issue is that the activities are not available after 5pm. While we were there it felt like 41 degrees in the daytime so it was not cool enough to play games until later in the day. It would be nice to have access to the table tennis, bocce ball etc in the evening hours. The mini putt is free during the day but after 7pm it is available for $15 US per person to “pay for the lights”. Seriously? I can play mini putt here at home for $7 CAD per person. All of the activities in the 24 hour sports bar had a cost and were quite expensive. I would have expected that there would have been some activities there that were included. The buffet was fairly good however I would have liked more of a selection of Mexican food. The buffet heavily catered to the American palate. The restaurant food was excellent, especially the teppenaki, Italian and seafood restaurant. We took a half day fishing trip and had an amazing time and caught some really big fish including a barracuda and two large mahi mahi. Overall we had a very good experience at this resort and would recommend it to others.

Occidental Tucancun: To an intimate hotel, thanking for hospitality.

We should like Occidental Hotel to know how immensely we enjoyed our travel in Mexico couple days ago. Apart from the good food and entertainment that you so good provided, it was your hotel that gave me a satisfaction that is to last a very long time. Many thanks to you Occidental Hotel for your hospitality.

Occidental at Xcaret Destination: Already wanna go back!

The resort was beautiful and had a more authentic feel. You really feel like you’re in the rainforest with the surrounding lush trees and wild animals roaming the grounds. Staff were extremely friendly, although beware of them trying to convince you to opt into a timeshare. The food was delicious, some of which I would pay to eat back home! Bartenders would you make you special drinks, I asked for something fruity and they would surprise me with something different every time. The pools are cl [... read more]ean and beautiful but the beach is even better. I was worried about it being a fake beach as it is private but it connects to the ocean so there are beautiful fish and clear waters. I went with my boyfriend and it was the ultimate couple’s retreat but I could also see it as a great place for families.

Barcelo Bavaro Palace: Amazing Resort

We've been to DR at least 8+ times, and by far this was the best resort. We did spoil ourselves with the Ocean Front Premium Level room, which had many perks associated with it, and well worth the extra few $$. The room location was as described - an actual ocean front room, very clean and modern looking. The beach was beautiful and very clean. The restaurants were fantastic, service, menu options and quality of meal. The staff was great pleasant and helpful. The kids loved the splash par [... read more]k, Pirate Island and the pools. And of course, the golfing was amazing! This resort is a 5 star +, and definitely one we will return to in the future.

Occidental Caribe: Great value

Rooms are good Ocean view beautiful. Food was fantastic although at nicer restaurants could wait up to 45 min between courses. Beach and pool areas beautiful and most staff were lovely. Wish there had been some variety of music by pool. Same stuff over and over. All boom boom boom Alcohol not very high standards but I suppose that is the same for most all Inclisives. Grounds very clean. On the whole a good resort for the price!

Occidental at Xcaret Destination: very kid friendly resort

this resort is very kid friendly.. you can see lots of animals around the resort.. food is amazing.. and the all the staff is very very friendly and accomodating.. the resort is very clean.. i never saw a single garbage lying around.. will definitely go back to this resort.. thank you to nephilene for the recommendation and making our first all inclusive trip easy breezy.. till our next trip! 😍