Amazing Resort!

Had no regrets booking our vacation at Barcelo Solymar! We had booked a superior bungalow. Our place looks like a new renovated one, with a new bathroom. We had a king size bed and nothing to complain about as I had my good nice sleeps. Yes, the place is noisy, but lets admit the fact that we are there to enjoy. Teenagers are having fun and so are we! Our room was kept clean and always got new towels everyday! Thanks to our room cleaner , Elizabeth, as she has given us the best service ever [... read more]! There are night events that we had been attending during our stay! What was so good was having access between two hotel facilities. Pools, bars, and buffet restaurants, each one offering different meals! One cooks fresh shrimps, meats right in front of you, and the other offers variety of food as well! Service was good! Further, we had the chance for the ala carte, we went to three, italian, seafood and chinese and I can't complain! The beach is wonderful! Even the swimming pool was beautiful! Internet service in the lobby is good! You just buy a prepaid card for an hour (1cuc) and you are good! Security in the hotel was also excellent! Nothing to worry for your children's safety! Only thing is to make sure your flight is not delayed before checking out! That's what happened to us as we found out of the fight delay so we had no room to stay after noon, and our bus pick up was from 4 pm, pushed to 2 am next day! Hotel did their part as they had given us a courtesy room where we were allowed to take a shower and rest for an hour at least! Problem was not with the hotel, but problem was with sunwing services! Aside from flight delays, the bus service was so bad that the driver didnt help the passengers to remove the luggages! We had to remove them ourselves! I would definitely come back to this hotel!

Great resort

The food was good and there was plenty of things to do every day around the resort. Would definitely return and recommend checking it out to others. The room was very good and the AC worked great so it was nice to return to a cool room after being out during the day. They give out water every morning that should last you the day which was also a plus. The buffet has a large selection of food and is open three times a day. There are also restaurants that you can make reservations at. I wouldn't s [... read more]ay that it's for everyone though as there was mostly younger people and a lot of partying at night but if that's what you're into then it's a good place to be.

The best food in Cuba so far.

We go to Cuba every year, but different resort. This is the first time that we experienced waitresses ganging up against us for not tipping. It wasn't a good feeling. We usually leave a tip from time to time, but not for every meal or every drink. Two mail waitress at the dinner time were very nice no matter if we left a tip or not, but the ladies for the breakfast and lunch didn't even notice us next day if we previously didn't leave them a tip. We had to get our own water, coffee, wine or beer [... read more] if we wanted some. We blame Canadians who spoiled them believing they are poor and need the tips to survive or to get a better service. Another disappointment were some young male Canadians who were behaving like obnoxious hooligans. There were tourists from all over the world, including Europe, Russia, China and South America, but no one else were embarrassing to their country. Shame! Other than that, the resort was very clean and nicely maintained, food was great and plentiful, beach beautiful and Cubans always accommodating and doing their best. Resort is just 15 min. walking distance to Varadero which is full of restaurants and small shops, street markets and tourists from near by resorts walking on the streets of Varadero which is very safe. We very much enjoyed our walks to Varadero every night after dinner.

Friendly Resort

The grounds were very nice, always being looked after and cleaned by the gardeners. The lobby area and dining area clean. The entrance to the main dining area is a rather narrow corridor with no windows, very stuffy and all food ordors seem to hang in the air. The food in the buffet was sparse, I usually had the rotisseriere chicken, salad and bread every day. Bread, cheese and fruit excellent. Could not get any "hot" pasta dishes and no individual plates of pasta cooked in flying pan to y [... read more]our taste. The beach is lovely, clean, and well served by the bar staff. There didn't seem to be anywhere on/near the beach to get food at lunch. We would walk up to the main buffet every day. I did see a large number of people who don't consider it their responsibility to clean up the mess they make. Rooms: I had upgraded to a "superior" renovated bunglow but it was very disappointing when I checked in. The corner ceiling of the bedroom was covered in black mold and the room was very smelly. Did not want to use the air conditioner as I did not want this mold blowing around. (I have a compromised immune system from cancer treatments). There was a slight water leak from the bathroom ceiling . By the time I came back to the room with my sister who was delayed on her flight, there was a large puddle on the tiled floor. My sister went to the lobby to report it and they sent someone to check it out. It is now 1:00 am. When the technician opened the ceiling a floor of water came down. This would most likely be the reason for the mold and smell in the room. He indicated someone would come to mop it up but after an hour we gave up and went to sleep. The next morning all that dirty moldy water had evaporated into the room. We spoke to the Sunwing rep the next morning and he felt we should be moved. When my sister approached the desk she was told that was not going to happen. We went off for lunch, came back and explained the situation again, and again the next day. Finally on Tuesday we were given a new room after 3 nights in moldy one. Aside from one lady at the lobby reception all the rest were courteous and patient and understanding of the situation. Myself and the party I was travelling with found all the staff to be super friendly, helpful and polite at all times. The resort was very busy because a lot of students were there after finishing their year but they tended to stay at the pool bar nearest the lobby. My sister's return flight was delayed from 9:00 at night to being picked up at 00:20 for airport, that was changed again and again. She had to sit in the lobby from 5:25 pm on Sat. to finally getting into Montreal about 10:30 Sunday morning.

Horrible experience

I'll start with the only 2 redeeming things about this resort: 1) Variety of delicious drinks 2) The coffee The food was absolutely horrendous. I spent one night eating french friends for dinner that were not even good. Shocked at the horrendous quality of the food. After having been in Cuba a year prior I thought I knew what to expect, but was blown away. Ants all over our room and in our bed. Room washroom seemed like it hadn't been cleaned in years. Black on the floor and sides. Pool se [... read more]emed 95% pee with some questionable black areas. Staff unhelpful, was directed to use a public washroom with no running water. I don't blame them though, with all the obnoxious guests. Paid quite a bit compared to another party down the street at Los Cactus, ended up having to pay even more to transfer there. Lasted 2 nights. Never again, Solymar.

Disappointing

I'm sorry to say but left this resort very disappointed. My room consisted of dirty bed sheets, blanket and mold surrounding the air condition vents and roof. Battling with cockroaches on daily basis was truly annoying.

For Singles and omnivores. Not vegetarian friendly

Grounds were good, rooms were great but food was not vegetarian friendly so we ended up leaving to Los Cactus. The beans had traces of pork, chicken or beef in it and we could only eat very few items. Was expecting not much of a selection but was strictly rice and bread for vegetarians. Also the tomatoes were only green. Its a great party place but too much adolescent behaviour from young adults being too drunk and loud. Its great for singles and party goers kind of like a frat house was the ene [... read more]rgy of the hotel. Also because of the mass amount of drinking the pool looked yellow for obvious reasons. Staff were not as friendly here compared to Los Cactus probably due to the obnoxious behaviour of the vacationers and their incessant asinine attitude but they are on vacation and wanted to spend their time there like that which is fibe for others but not myself or my girlfriend.

Resort for Young People

The housekeeping staff were extremely nice. The front desk staff, not so nice. There is no system as to who gets a nice room; I paid for a superior room but I had to fight to get a room. Our first room had water pouring out of the bathroom ceiling, it took two days to get a new room. First room had mould on the ceiling. Food was the same every day, nothing changed. They cater to a young crowd, that are too drunk to know what they are eating. I will never go back to that hotel and I will never fl [... read more]y Sunwing again.

Horrible! No electricity, bad service, bad food, hospitalized for over a month when returned to Canada

First night checked in room had no electricity or lights, they sent workers for hours trying to fix it before giving us a new room. The new room had electricity but no bedding at all. We requested bedding multipul times, eventual received it 4 hours later. A day later house keeping gave us the rest of the bedding (sheets ect). Food was horrible and became sick the entire vacation. Head, stomach hurting and diarrhea for days.My companion was hospitalized once we returned to Canada for almost an e [... read more]ntire month. Since he was quarinteend and not allowed to leave the hospital he missed work for that entire month taking a significant financial blow.Once released from hospital he had an IV attached to his arm which he had to go to a clinic daily to fill. resort is close to the main strip of varadero you can walk to shops and bars. Would have liked to enjoy this more but the stomach pain and diarrhea hindered that. All inclusive alcohol and food great idea but again could not indulge due to stomach and head pain as well as diarrhea. Access to the adjacent resort was nice as the had a snack shack open long hours. Beach always nice. Over all this is my second trip to Cuba. First trip back around 2012 at a different resort and it was great. The experience made me want to return back to Cuba. This trip at Barcelo solymar was horrible on so many levels I would never recommend this resort . No electricity in the room upon admission and instead of giving us a new room they waisted our time sending workers to try and fix it while we sat and watched. Also half way threw the vacation our room keys stopped working locking us out of the room. Companion became so sick he was hospitalized for almost an entire month taking a substantial financial blow. We particularly picked this resort at the advise of the travelle agent knowing it was more expensive then other ones we could have chosen but promised a better experience. We got a horrible experience all around.

Nice beach

This was definitely a party resort, if that is what you are looking for, then you won't be disappointed. It was very noisy all hours of the day and night. People walked around with stereos and it was a bit too much. I found the resort rooms to be outdated and short on supplies. There were 2 of us in one room, and we were each given 1 bath towel that was so small it couldn't wrap around our body. The food was better than I expected, and if you love seafood, there was always lots of options at [... read more] the buffet.

Good resort

Some things repair in the rooms. Room we stayed at had no door knob in the balcony. No shower door in the washroom. Front dest services are quit slow. Bellboy was usually not around when people were waiting to get there luggages.

Great resort

Hotel and the grounds were very clean, close to the beach great location minutes from town food was ok lots of things to choose from, Shows at the hotel at night we’re very good , friendly staff lots to do

Beautiful resort

the beach was beautiful and clean, pools were nice, food was ok the tables were not always clean or sat up, nice 5 min walk to town, bedrooms were clean and always gave us fresh bottled water and beer and pop..

Don’t book this resort

I'm a season traveller with over 25 trips to Cuba and surrounding islands -- this is NOT a resort to go to. It may have once been good -- but that was 10-15 years ago at best. We experienced cockroaches, cold buffet food, dirty towels, stained sheets, raining down water from bathroom ceilings, key cards that continually didn't open doors or the safe and the apathetic hotel staff could not have cared a single iota!! There was a constant stream of irritated guest reporting room issues, changing [... read more] rooms and simply complaining at the front desk and all they did was tell us they would "log the complaint" -- nothing was done! It's Cuba, you get what you get and we know this full well, but this hotel is just not a good experience. It's few redeaming factors are the location close to town, good coffee and the bartending staff at the pool. If you want to party, drink bad alcohol, hook up and you just don't care where you stay for 7 days -- this is the place for you. Otherwise take your hard earned dollars and go elesewhere.

Gong Show

We arrived to be told at 2am that they had no room for us and had no offer of alternate accomodations. Then they came up with one room and a king bed to two male occupants which was not acceptable. After providing some alternate options that staff put us in the adjacent hotel in a handicap room for the first night. The next day we were moved but it took away time from our holidays to move. After this the room service was missed on one day and required follow up each day after for the room to  [... read more]be made up. The hotel also had laundry service problems and did not have full linens for the room so we had no change of sheets and a small towel for the bathroom which were not changed until the last few days of the trip. The hotel had no beach towels for the week until the second last day so what we had had to be used regardless of the condition at the end of the week. We have been at this hotel last May and service is definitely declined in many areas. There was of course staff that were exemplary but they were overshadowed by the issues we dealt with. Food was limited in options compared to our last visit but acceptable for Cuba.

It was okay!

We stayed at Barcelona Solymar. The hotel was pretty clean for the most part. The rooms were pretty standard for Cuba. The people working there were fairly friendly. One thing I find is you do not go to Cuba for the food, the food isn’t very good. The food at our resort was the best food I’ve had in Cuba this time around! The beach was a fair walk from the resort, 2-3 mins! The beaches are clean and absolutely beautiful. The one problem I had was the bars that served liqour were all closed b [... read more]y 12am... so if you didn’t drink beer you were kind of out of luck! The distance from the airport to the resort we were at wasn’t that long, 45 mins or so! Going into town was the best part, The Beatles Club is ALWAYS a good time, and the drinks are cheap. I also love the old cars that they have for Taxis, a nice touch. The Water pressure in the rooms are very poor, and the tv didn’t work when we got to our resort, the sliding door was also in need of repair, it was very hard to open and close. We also had a room Overlooking a new resort that they were doing construction on, so we got woken up to pounding and shouting every morning we were there, when we asked for another room they had said the resort was COMPLETELY booked, which didn’t make sense because there wasn’t that many people there... Other than that, id definitely go back to Cuba.

4 starts room ???

The room was old, few constructions inside, door cracked, lamps doesn’t work etc... For a 4 starts room, I had more expectations. It’s probably an old 4 stars room but not anymore. Need few renovations

Barcelo solymar

Enjoyed stay in separate suites away from main part of hotel. Clean and maid service good. Would attend there again. Enjoyed sharing other hotel close to it and being walking distance downtown veradaro. Enjoyed stay would stay in same type of suite a little farther from maid service area though.

Nice resort. Seen better but seen much worse.

Location is a walk in to Varadero. Service was great, rooms were large and we had a great ocean view. Beach was great. Not enough shade around pools or outdoor restaurants or bars. The hotel staff were all pleasant and very helpful. The rooms were clean and freshly done every day but could not get a fresh beach towel for a week. Otherwise all was good.

Had a great time!

The hotel was clean and as two women travelling alone, we felt very safe both on and off the resort. The common bathrooms were always very clean and well stocked. The a la carte restaurants that we went to (Spanish and seafood) were both excellent. We were pleasantly surprised to receive an extra a la carte dinner as repeat guests of the hotel (this was our second year). We met lots of the other guests and all of the staff were lovely. Our only disappointment was that the beach bar has not [... read more] yet been rebuilt after it was destroyed in last year’s hurricane. I would definitely stay at this resort again.