Disappointing Experience

The Paradisus resort in and of itself was a disappointment. The pool was out of order for most of our stay due to maintenance/ algae issues. The pool towels were shabby and had holes in them. They ran out of pool towels the second day. Resort for the most part was dated and in disrepair. Although I was not expecting high food quality in Cuba I did not expect them to run out of certain staples either such as orange juice. There were long waits on the buffet for food especially at breakfast as th [... read more]ey simply were not prepared. For example, we waited 15 minutes for pancakes and they simply were never brought out. I watched a bartender in the lobby leave and go get espresso for an employee instead of serving the 8 paying cunstomers at the bar. It seemed as though if you asked for anything it was made to seem as though it was a huge inconvenience. The a la carte restaraunts ran out of certain food items which limited your dining experience. I found the Cuban people who were at the resort as guests were pushy and rude. This trip was way over priced for what you received. This resort is listed as a five star. In any other country it would be a 2.5-3 star. We will likely not return to Cuba as a result of this experience. I will say our Sunwimg Rep Arianna was amazing to deal with and she did her Best to make things right for us.

Beautiful!!

Beautiful Beach! Beautiful Room! Beautiful Pool! Beautiful People! Absolutely loved our trip to ParadisusvVaradaro. The people were friendly, the accommodations were clean and very pretty. The food was average but everything else was A+

Frustrating Vacation

This place is a disappointment in many levels. I will never book with a MELIA again. List of complaints: 1-Service. No such thing. Asked to speak with manager, never heard back. Called 3 times for golf cart ride..never came. Called 4 times for one missing bed sheet at 9...got it at midnight, after asserting myself. Tipping was not the issue, tipped well throughout the week. I think if I had I walked through the lobby throwing pesos in the air everyday I might have gotten more attention, bu [... read more]t be prepared to give 5 dollar tips every hour. At which point, you ask yourself is it worth what you're getting? 2-Food.... in Family Concierge...Raw hamburger meat, chicken, pork sausage. Cut into your food before you bite, especially check your child's food. Bland food. No labels most of the time. Pasta lady was like Seinfeld's Soup Nazi. Felt like prison food lineup. Serving utensils, a mess, forks instead of tongs. Shortage of food, etc... Ugh. 3-Rooms - Sour smelling pillows, probably from humidity. Lack of bath towels. Face cloths don't exist (not kidding). 4-Front desk, way understaffed, no queues. People just cut in. 5-Beach - At times when I was looking for peace and tranquility there instead was loud club thumping music on the beach. Yes, that's right, when you fly thousands of miles to get away from the urban noise to listen to the ocean waves, light Cuban background music, and ambience, instead they bury it with noise. Beach was frequently littered with plastic and cigarette butts. Which brings us back to lack of staff to keep the beach cleaner, even if tourists are slobs. 6-Kidzone. Anyone could come get your kid. They're clueless. No sign-in and sign-out sheet. They've never heard of one. All you do is fill out a permission waiver. I asked lady as I was picking up my kid what his name was...no idea. There were only 2 kids there. Clueless. This place is a potential gem. It's too bad. Prepare yourself for a rough time, especially as far as service goes. Been to 2 Iberostars. Never a Melia. Both Iberostars were better. Family Concierge is at best, a 3 star. I'm done. Good Luck.

Great Family Resort!

We stayed at the Family Concierge section (relatively new area) of the resort at Paradisus Varadero at the recommendation of our Trip Central travel agent Susan Snider, who is very knowledgeable, responsive and helpful. The rooms are large and very nicely finished (there were a few minor issues with the room but nothing major), the buildings are very nice, especially the F.C. section, the resort is wonderfully landscaped and it has many, many trees which we really appreciated. The exclusive, air [... read more]-conditioned and enclosed F.C. buffet has great staff (all of them really but Eugenio and Yeni (pronounced Jenny) were simply wonderful, as were others whose names I forget. The food was good at the buffet but the a la carte restaurants, while nice, were not remarkable (Bana was very nice with great service and good food, the Mexican restaurant food was good, the service was excellent but there were a lot of flies inside, we should have sat outside I guess. The Italian restaurant beef was tough and overcooked, we probably should have ordered something else as the waiter mentioned the beef was a bit tough. We thought asking for it to be done medium rare would help but it was overcooked. We sat outside at the Italian restaurant and there were a few mosquitoes there but we rarely had to worry about insects for our stay from August 5th to the 12th, 2017. It was very nice eating outside. The snack bar is always open but it is basically fast food and it is a bit greasy but the fries are OK. Overall, we were pleasantly surprised to find that the food was fine and this makes the PV an outlier in Cuba from what we have been told by others over the years. I was told by my wife that the mojitos were excellent as I drink very rarely. The main beach is incredible as it is in Varadero and unlike what I have heard at many resorts we never had a hard time getting loungers in the shade at the beach area. The ocean was never crowded and sometimes it was almost empty (common meal times and mid-afternoon?)! Finding a lounger in the main resort pool area was often difficult but this was not a big deal for us. We prefer the beach but the kids like the pools as well. The F.C. has a splash pad area, exclusive pools in front of each building, a small section at the beach with loungers just for F.C. visitors and staff at the main beach that will get drinks and assist you if you are staying in the F.C section. We didn't sit in that area as we preferred to be right on the beach and there was always loungers available but some people did use the area. Our Family Concierge was a very nice man but unlike the other Family Concierges he was not on top of things and we often had to find things out for ourselves. Be sure to ask for a tour and to have everything explained to you ahead of time if you are not familiar with how things work at the resort. It was our first time taking our kids on a vacation and we hadn't been to an all-inclusive for eight years so we were very rusty. It probably won't shock anyone that has been to Cuba but some staff didn't or couldn't always relate information accurately or had a hard time doing so. We met a lot of nice guests from Canada and also a great couple and their daughter visiting from Germany. Almost all of the other guests were very friendly and there were guests from Spain, Canada, Great Britain, Germany, the Netherlands and probably elsewhere! At our request our Family Concierge booked a classic car taxi tour to Havana for us. I am not sure if we lucked out or if he asked for them by name but he asked for a female tour guide as we have two young girls (5 and 7). Yailen, pronounced Jailen was the lady that gave us the guided tour and Roberto was the driver who speaks much less English but who is also a fantastic person and a very good driver. They are a great pair and the '55 Chevy Bel Air we traveled in was quite nice! Ask for them if you want to be sure to get a great pair and they definitely deserved the tip we gave them as they were with us from 8 in the morning until after 6 at night! The restaurant they took us to was nice and the food was very good with much more spice and taste than the resort food but it was 19 CUCs per person (we had the kids split a meal as they are small) which was a lot more than we thought we thought the food in Havana would cost. It was air conditioned which was good because Havana is incredibly hot and it was packed with tourists so we suspect tourists are funneled here for quality reasons and perhaps others. We visited the Romeo y Julieta cigar factory (and many other places) and purchased some cigars as gifts and some rum to take home (rum prices are the same EVERYWHERE by government decree though so you can buy it anywhere apparently, wow?!). There is a little grocery store not far from the resort (right hand side of the road going to the resort) that has an excellent price for very nice Cuban honey and I think a bit lower price for the blue bag Tourquino coffee which is nice (the resort coffee is very, very strong but I guess Cuban coffee is strong in general?). The WiFi was pretty awful (welcome to Cuba and as the transfer bus tour guide noted, if you are going to Cuba for the Internet access you are going to the wrong place and for the wrong reasons. You go to Cuba for the safety, the people, the value and the incredible beaches and we would go back in a heartbeat for those reasons. The poor WiFi wasn't the end of the world for us as we rarely used our phones (I wanted to check news and some other stuff but could only connect late at night it seemed like). I stopped caring about the WiFi after a couple of days as the outside world mattered less and less to us. Visitors should bring gifts for the staff and Cubans off the resort as well and they should tip the staff that go out of their way to make their stay wonderful. I am not sure many people realize how little they are paid or how poor the average Cuban person is . . .a CUC (USD pegged local currency for tourists) is worth 25 local pesos and an employee may earn more than the official government figures but from what I have read the average Cuban is not exactly well off . . .resort workers getting tips can earn much more than the average Cuban and we wish we had brought gifts (pens, Dollar Store items, etc. etc. etc.) for people off of the resort. This has gotten much longer already than I thought it would and there is so much more to say but the TL:DR review would be: If you have kids you should strongly consider staying at the Family Concierge section at Paradisus Varadero but remember you are going to Cuba and why you are going to Cuba. If you do, I think you will be pleasantly surprised and very happy staying there!! I would rate the F.C. at Paradisus Varadero 4.5/5 for all the reasons noted. We would go back and we would recommend it to our friends and family. I am not sure why Trip Central doesn't allow reviewers to more accurately rate resorts and service etc. with more stars or half stars etc.

Not Fabulous

We were told Paridisus was the best resort in Varedero. At first I was very disappointed, but than I just got over it because the beach was so amazing. We did The a family concierge. Rooms were very nice, flat screen tv, robes, comfortable beds. Service was pathetic. You couldn't call from your room 90% of the time. Nobody would answer. We got there and our concierge barely had a minute to tell us anything about the resort and said all the reservations were full for that night and to call [... read more] in the morning. In the morning, they said it was all booked again, for that night. We finally got in, the 3rd and 4th nights, and restaurants were not even full. You could not get a fresh towel. The whole resort was out of beach towels. I had to fight to get one for each of our family members, and we held onto them like gold, because they had no replacements the whole time. The food was pretty bad. We figured out what we could eat and stuck to that. Most people at the resort all felt the same way, but the beach made it worth it. Oh...the walk from the Family Concierge section to the beach was like 10 min. It was very hard to get a shuttle. I prob would not go back to this resort, but I did feel fortunate about how nice the rooms were, so maybe it is the best option in VAredero. Hard to say.

Okay resort. Good staff.

The beach was very nice. The staff was friendly, but limited on the communications skills. Do not, Do not book the Mexican restaurant. The service was terrible and the food was marginal. I recommend the Japanese restaurant. As for food, the variety is limited based on local supply/resources. The management and staff do try their best in presenting the locally sourced food as best they can. As for excursions, we tried three. 1) {best} was the AirTransat agent arranged Jeep tour. [... read more] It was a good outing. They use new BAIC BJ40 SUV (Beijing Jeep B40). They are nice machines. They are 5 speed manuals. The one I drove was new, for the clutch was still a bit stiff, but it was responsive. The off-road trailing was basic. I expected as much given the general clientele. Definitely do the cave swim. A big thank you to our guides Pedro and Ramone. 2) {good} Personal organized taxi trip to Habana (Havana). Our guide, Yeni, tried her best to meet the expectations of all six of our party. Thank you! :) I do not recommend the "flea market" stop though. While there are many booths at the market, they are very repetitive. 3) {worst} Catamaran snorkel trip to Blanco Cayo. Waste of an expectation. We were allowed 30 minutes to snorkel (no flippers). You get 2 hours at the beach on Blanco Cayo. As it was a hot time of the year when we went, it was a waste. The lunch provided on Blanco Cayo was good. As we left port, I asked the captain of the catamaran if we would be motoring or sailing on the excursion. He told me once out of the channel, we would use the sails. Not true. Only head sail was deployed on the return trip and the motors were used on the full trip. :( I recommend more time for snorkeling and less time on the beach at Blanco Cayo. Air travel: I would not book AirTransat again. They do not keep their arranged schedule. Both our flight down and back were delayed. Also, on the flight down, insist that the flight crew give you a visa form for each of the persons in your party (family). If you do not, Cuban customs will charge you $$$ for each extra one needed. Do not take the excuse from the flight crew that they ran out. This happened to the family traveling with us. We were in the forward rowed seats on the plane and received ours; while they were further in back and were shorted. During our check in orientation with the AirTransat representative at the resort, we were told after check out (12 noon on last day, and the management was insistent) we would be able to have towels available and a place to clean up, so we may use the beach or pool during the afternoon. There were no towels or resources made available to us. We had to languish around in the heat of the resort lobby for many hours. Our airport shuttle was not originally arrange until 6:00PM for a 10:30PM flight. That changed and we ended up with a 2 1/2 hour delay. We did not leave the resort until 8:30PM. For me the trip was okay, and I might be inclined to return to Cuba during the winter months. My wife stated she does not want to go back at all. Did not care for the food or the general service.

What a heart breaking waste of holiday time

FIRST RESORT IS BEAUTIFUL...THE ROOMS IS AMAZING....WORST FOOD EVER...LACK OF FOOD....UN SANITARY, UNSAFE FOOD CONDITIONS MILLIONS OF FLIES BIRDS POOPING O N BUFFETT...NO JUICE, NO BREAD, NO BACON, NO POP, NO SPOONS, NO ONE ASKS TO FILL YOUR DRINK...2 DAYS NO TOWELS....GOT SICK FOR 4 DAYS..HAD TO LEAVE RESORT TO EAT 3 NIGHTS...I AM WELL TRAVELLED THIS IS THE SORRIEST EXCUSE OF A 5 STAR EVER...PLEASE DO NOT PROMOTE I SPENT MOST MY VACATION UPSET AND HUNGRY...STAFF AGREED THE KITCHEN BUDGET WAS  [... read more]TOO THIN....EXAMPLE ...BREAKFAST....FRIED HOT DOGS, CARROTS. FRENCH FRIES, RUNNY EGGS, NO BREAD , NO JUICE ONLY ONE JUG OF WARM WATERMELON JUICE...I COULD GO ON AND ON...THIS RESORT WAS THE ONLY BAD EXPERIENCE I HAD IN CUBA OVER THE YEARS...FEEL TOTALLY RIPPED OFF AND LIED TOO.

Great beach and pool...but that's where it ends

I was unhappy with this resort. our room was missing a door in the bathroom, the whole week we were there there was no towel service for beach towels, and that may have ok if not for the fact that my two kids never received any towels. So the 5 of us were sharing 3 beach towels for the entire week. The 24 snack bar was under repair, and did not open up till our last day there, which is where our kids would have most preferred, and the mexican restaurant was also under repair. We did not en [... read more]joy any of the buffet food. Service was not the greatest either. I do not think i received even one smile from any workers there during my stay. the two positives were the beach was absolutely beautiful and the pool was great too. I will not go back again.

Great country, not so great resort

Cuba is a beautiful country with amazing beaches which we enjoyed very much. The resort however, is a different story. The breakfast and lunch buffet are horrible and the 24 hour snack bar was closed for most of our stay. There is a lot of construction going on everywhere. We got to our room during the night and there was no lighting leading up the stairs which made it very hard to see. The room itself was a decent size but the pillows on our bad smelled like an old wet rag. Also, the walk in sh [... read more]ower would always overflow into the rest of the washroom so we had to constantly keep towels laid out. We did really enjoy the beach and pools during the day and the Japanese and Italian restaurants were good for dinner. We made the most of our trip and still had a great time despite the poor level of service at this resort.

Travellers with kids be aware

I stayed at this resort with my husband, sister in law and travelled with 6 kids ranging from 2-19 years old. I want to start off by saying the good things. The resort grounds, beach, pool and people are wonderful. As many of you have heard that Cuba has a terrible rep for having disgusting food on the resort. This is sad but true even at this 5 star hotel. I don't want to get into the food too much but just know even if u go to 5 star don't expect good food. The first night I arrived to [... read more] the hotel by 9:30pm. The first hiccup was they had my family (9 of us) in different parts of the resort. They had one room in the new side of the resort and the other two rooms in the old side of the resort. I requested in advance from my travel agent and even emailed the hotel requesting to please make sure we were all very close to each other (all 3 rooms). I never received an email back from the resort about my request. Please note that all the pictures people post and the way the hotel advertise the hotel rooms all up u see is this beautiful brand new hotel rooms. This may not be exactly what you get. Two of the kids 2 I travelled with have asthma. The rooms in the old resort have a high sense of mold smell in the room it triggered my daughter asthma and she got so bad that I had to see the doctor at the hotel so that she could be treated. We had move 3 different rooms until I lost it on these people and finally they moved us to the newer side of the resort. The new side is so beautiful but what cause my trip to come to an end is that one of my kids medication that I had stored in a money pouch went missing from the room. We are so careful with her medication as it's a medication she can't miss a dose and we spent a total of 4 hours searching high and low moving every piece of furniture in the hotel room looking for her meds. My daughter had a Nike hat go missing and one of my daughters googles went missing as well. I did lock a lot of things up in the safe but something's I left out because the safe was so full. I spent a day and a half struggling to figure out how to get my daughter medication in Cuba. In the end we found out through hotel doctor that it's not a medication that they have in Cuba. I argued with the hotel and ask them to get me on the next flight back home in which they were able to get me and my entire family. The resort staff was attentive to my emergencies but I spend everyday in stress because of everything I had to sort out from changing rooms 3 times, fighting to get a cleaner room and figuring out how to get my daughters medication to changing my flight last minute. I was relieved to be back home as this trip was a disaster. If food is not an issue for u then I do recommend this resort because beach and grounds are beautiful but make sure u lock up anything valuable even medication. Also make sure you stay in the family concierge side as this is the newer side of the resort. I believe who ever stoled the medication thought they were stealing money as it was in a money pouch and the wallet felt thick as if there was bills in it. Lesson to be learned for me.

Great Resort, plenty of pools and restaurants - Family concierge a must

This hotel is suitable for everyone specially for families with kids. 9-5 Kids club and babysitting for $10/hour after 5.Family Concierge Package is a must, you get access to the private area and very good service. You get a personalized assistant to help you with all your needs. Our baby had his puree delivered to the room for lunch and dinner so we did not have to worry about baby at all. Plenty of pools everywhere, in the standard area and more in the family area, splash pools for kids and al [... read more]so swim up pools around the family concierge bungalows. They have so any pools but they should have at least one of two with some shades for babies. All pools were totally exposed to the sun, with no shaed whatsoever, we had to search a little corner near the pool bar for some shade. They should at least put more shade on the kids pool/splash area. Same with the beach, the beach was amazing, clear sand and clear water. Only complaint would be the shade again. We were first hesitant about travelling with baby to a resort but after we arrived we saw no problem. Just make sure you bring baby sunscreen and repellent for mosquitos. In terms of food, this resort has 7 ala carte restaurants which were pretty good. Reservations were done by our buttler so was very easy. There are 2 buffets for lunch, not much variety but ok for Cuba. the only bad thing was that there were cockroaches in the buffet and restaurants. My wife spotted a couple on the buffet wall and in the restaurant bathrooms, cant imagine how the kitchen are since the heat is more intense in there. Also birds eating the buffet since one of them is in the open. Other than that, resort was great and definitely would return with my kids. I recommend this resort especially for families with kids and babies.

A week in paradise with a 7 year old

This is a link to a long and detailed review that I wrote on Tripadvisor: https://www.tripadvisor.ca/ShowUserReviews-g147275-d262760-r486263490-Paradisus_Varadero_Resort_Spa-Varadero_Matanzas_Province_Cuba.html

Amazing Hotel

We stayed at Family Concierge and the environment is really good. Everyone is so nice and helpful.The hotel has more than 8 restaurants giving great choices every night. Awesome beach and great swimming pools. A very nice place to relax with family.

Upgrade to Family Service

There are two distinct parts to this hotel - the original side, which has beautiful beach front and quick access from the 2 story buildings located there, and the new side where the Family Service and Royal Service buildings are located, which are closer to a rocky area of coastline. You are never more than a ~500 meter walk from the beach however even at the furthest point. We booked in the original side of the hotel, but were not happy with our room and were given a $400 voucher to apply to an [... read more] upgrade, which we took, but had to pay an additional sum of money over and above the voucher. The upgrade was worth it, and I would recommend paying the extra to be comfortable in the Family Service section of the resort. The entertainment was outstanding, but there wasn't a great deal of nightlife. Food was good by Cuban standards and it was mango and guava season, which was a treat. Staff was very friendly and helpful.

Meh

If you are looking for a breathtakingly beautiful ocean and gorgeous beach, then..This is the place! If you are looking for anything else? Like quick service, good food, ..not the place. The room was nice. We stayed in family concierge. But, we were eaten alive by mosquitos. The food was pretty bad. Thank goodness we brought our own peanut butter, granola bars and other snacks! We basically lived off of it and bread. The people were very friendly, but, seemed to expect tips or gifts. We [... read more] brought many gifts like toothpaste, toothbrush, toys, books, nail polish etc.. But, it was received kind of entitled. We waited and waited for the golf cart to pick us up meant times to take us to another part of the resort. Don't bother! Just walk. Jamaica time? That's speedy compared to Cuba time. Not impressed. Will go back to DR next year.

Great resort !

Hotel was very nice, service and housekeepers need some help, pools were clean, chairs were organized. Only complaint would be the bar fridge was never refilled, never any clean towels. Necessities you require for a weeks stay weren't focused on by the hotel. Overall the stay was Good!

Interesting Experience

The hotel itself was absolutely beautiful; however, upon closer inspection, you could see that time and care really had not been attended to in the presentation of this place. 2/8 days we didn't have running water, and there were cockroaches in the a la carte restaurants and their bathrooms. Those things aside - the beaches and grounds were nice, just not 5 star nice. The staff were inconsistent in their attentiveness. The resort is advertised as having 24/7 room service. 9/10 times they d [... read more]id not show up. The WiFi is terrible, and you have to pay for it (even though it is terrible). If you're looking to lay out on the beach and unplug from all technology, then this is the place to stay. If you're looking for a little more out of your experience - I would recommend staying somewhere more consistent with what is advertised in relation to what is actually at the resort.

Awesome beachfront

We had a little trouble at the beginning,the room was dirty,the bed inadequate,etc. The hôtel management then switched us to an ocean view room and everything went well from there. I suggest sakura and fuego for the a la carte restaurant.

Royal service - a little disappointing.

As this was our second trip to Paradisus, royal service, our expectations were that it would be similar to our previous trip 6 years ago. We were transported by bus and dropped at the family concierge building where there was no one to help or advise us where to go. Eventually someone took us to the royal service area, they took our passports and left us just sit there for almost an hour. When I enquired about a room they said come back a couple of hours later but it still was not ready and t [... read more]hey didn't seem helpful at all. When paying for royal service I would expect a room to be ready. There were no premium drinks in the room, just 2 cans of beer and very limited premium beer or wine in the bars. Beautifully built place but no maintenance, tiles missing from the bottom of the pool, jacuzzis not working, overall a little run down. As always, the staff were the saviour of this hotel. Amazing dining and bar staff in the royal service area. Could not have been happier with their service. Beautiful beach, amazing water, perfect temperature. Enjoyed the vacation, but feel we didn't get what we paid for.

Absolutely amazing

This Resort is like being in Paradise. The pool and Beach are absolutely beautiful. The food in the restaurants are very good. I would definitely go back to this Resort again. We have been to several resorts in Cuba and this one beats them all.