The Staff at Laguna Azul is fantastic. Friendly, caring, beautiful people. The food is getting even better with beautiful presentation. And no lack of food, water or electricity. Selection of alcohol seems to have gotten wider. Lots of variety with more recognizable brands. Some rooms are dated but renos are in progress. 1 pool still out of commission but actively being worked on. Relax pool is open, with a few tiles missing, but seems to be getting worked at. Main pool is good to go. Wifi in the Lobby and most days available in the room. The Management is always looking to offer special entertainment such as the Super Bowl party, Valentines Day Dinners, bringing in the bikes and the classic 50s cars, etc Shoutout to Jose and Yarianny who were both on holidays our latest visit. 2 really great Staff members. Always a pleasure to see Maria, Pavel, Yosniel, Dania, Mady, Andy, Ari, Dido, Leodan, Umberto, Tatianna, and many of the others we have met. For a quieter holiday, upgrade to the relax. This gets access to the Relax pool and Relax lunch, which is more of an a la carte. The pool view is just plain beautiful and definitely go up to the Spa or Gym area for great views. Oceanview walk on the treadmill if its your thing.

From the moment we booked with Jairus, we were kept up to date and informed of all the details and options available to us. EXCELLENT service! The hotel was fully staffed with friendly, happy, helpful people. The room was clean and the resort was well laid out and clean. The food was delicious, the pools were perfect, and the entertainment was super good! There was always a cabana available at both the beach and pool; bonus!!!

The resort was pretty solid altogether. Service was above average, and the staff were quite friendly. The beach was nice, and so was the pool. We spent a lot of time in the loby and it was a great place to relax. The food was better than I've had so far in cuba, but it's still not anything to write home about. The buffet was pretty similar every day, with either pork and chicken or pork and fish as the main attraction. Lots of rice, bread beans and vegetables to fill your plate. Fresh fruit was usually available, but the quality wasn't great. The deserts, however, were exceptional, as was the coffee at breakfast. The resort had a few issues; some of the washrooms were in a state of mild disrepair, and our room had its eccentricities. But we had hot water throughout and no power issues. Entertainment wasn't always our thing, but you have to respect that they made a solid effort. There was always something going on. There was a special Canadian cocktail hour... this was a little silly, I'd probably skip it if I were you, and the gala dinner at the buffet just ended up being the buffet with more pageantry. The lobby bar isn't super well designed, as it's difficult to queue up and often devolves into confusion. But if you hang out in the lobby long enough, someone will come and take your order. The cigar lounge was a bit expensive (15 USD for a basic cigar), but they poured you a nice glass of rum, and the guy who ran it was friendly. Overall we had a good time and if you're easy-going, you will too.

We liked pools and beaches, hotel is great, the staff are slow but very positive people. The biggest problem was food, they do their best with the food, but I'm sure it would be problem for some people. And if you have dietery restriction, it very hard to know what food is made of, next time I would love to see name and ingredients of each food. Thanks

First of all I’ve been in Cuba ten times and I never had complain until now. First complain, we lost two days of our vacation due to cancelled flight by Westjet. Second complain, when we arrived in Varadero our luggage was not on the plane. Basically all passenger's luggage was left in Montreal. No explanation on the part of Westjet. I believed it was intentional since the Captain never told us about this. We received our luggage after three days and we have to pay a taxi to pick up at the airport. Third complain, when we arrived at the hotel our book rooms were already given to somebody else. Just imagine five oceanview rooms in the same floor gone. We were given temporary rooms until available rooms come up. I told the hotel reception that they should not given the rooms to somebody else however, their reason was we did not arrive on the agreed date. So blame it to Westjet. Now we lost two days of our vacation and we were not able to get the rooms next to each other. For my entire family’s first trip to Cuba, it was a nightmare. The inconvenience and stress that we endure is not worth to have this vacation. Lastly Westjet is not handicapped friendly airline. My wife, mother and brother was in the wheelchair but we are the last group to board the plane. The humiliation as if we are not welcome was hard to take. This happened in Montreal and so to those Westjet counter personnel I forgot to ask the specific persons names you will become senior too one day you will know how we feel.

we had a great time at the hotel. We enjoys the beach, the pool, and the staff were all very nice and attentive to their clients especially the one at the lobby serving and asking whatever we wants. we also loved watching the shows.

I really needed a relaxing holiday and Laguna Azul went above and beyond to make it happen. Many thanks to all the staff they made me really feel like apart of the family A spacial thank you yo Dania Alonzo for everything you do and the special lady you are We will definitely be returning

The hotel beach was beautiful, and the staff were very friendly. One of the waitresses at the restaurant seemed to have limited English and wasn't very patient. Every activity was wonderful. Thank you to everyone! It would have been even more perfect if the menu had been changed for the 8-day stay.

The star rating for this hotel needs to be updated to a 1 or less. We had to put a $15 deposit on our credit card for each pool towel, and when we went to get them, there wasn’t a single towel available. No hot water to shower, no 24 hr snack bar available, water is filtered and refilled into dirty glass bottles. There were cockroaches on the pizza/bread station table. The only good part of this trip was Heidi the Sunwing rep. She helped us to switch hotels the day after we arrived. Otherwise we would have been on a flight home.

I don’t think I can even describe in words how awful this hotel was and the experience we had. Upon arrival to the hotel we checked in and started heading to our room, to find our entire hallway leading to the room was completely flooded and the power was out. It was pitch black as it was around 9:30pm, so clearly walking through a flooded pitch black hallway was a safety hazard. We turn right around and went back to the desk to inform them of the hazard, because there’s no way they would’ve known about the flood and power being out, especially since there were no wet floor signs. When we informed them, they were completely aware, and were taking no precautions to rectify the hazard. What’s more, we asked to switch rooms as of course we didn’t want to drag all of our luggage through the flood and get ourselves and our belongings wet AND risk slipping and falling all the way down the hallway. To which the resorts staff said there were no more rooms available. This was insanely shocking as the resort was basically empty. For a resort with over 800 rooms, it was absolutely physically impossible for the resort to be full. There was no one there. No one at the bars. No one walking around. We literally saw a total of 10 people the whole time we were there. Not over 800 people. At this point, we’re already livid. Nothing is being done to accommodate us, nothing being done to protect us and provide us safety, the only thing they managed was to get SOME of the power on. Not even all of it, dark and flooded hallways were all over the place with no warning signs anywhere. So thinking it couldn’t get any worse, we went back to our room, went in, and couldn’t believe our eyes. KEEP IN MIND, this is supposed to be a 4.5 star resort. This room was the definition of disgusting and scary. The immediate feeling I had was “I need to go home right now, I can’t be here another second”. Every piece of furniture was torn and completely covered in disgusting, mysterious stains. The curtains were torn, stains on the pillows, surfaces covered in dirt and grime. The AC didn’t work. The sink was cracked, filthy and MOLDY. There were no bathroom amenities (which the TripCentral listing said there would be) besides one bar of soap - no shampoo or conditioner, and the bottles were broken and falling off the wall. There were HAIRBALLS. HAIRBALLS, plastered to the bathroom door and the floor. I literally cried. I couldn’t believe I had just spent a 2 thousand dollars on this atrocious terrifying horror movie-esque room and resort. FURTHERMORE, this room was listed as an UPGRADED ROOM in the TripCentral ad, as we booked the Star Relax room. Nothing about this room was even CLOSE to an upgrade. Another lie on the listing. We immediately started to try to contact Sunwing. No phone numbers worked so I submitted an online request for a king room to see how fast it would take for them to respond. We finally gave up and realized we would have to stay in that disgusting room for one night before we can get the heck out of Cuba. It was so sad to know that this was my first experience in Cuba, and it’s already being ruined. We decide to go get some food as we were starving after a full day of traveling. We ask reception where the 24 hour snack bar is, to which they said “No food until 11pm”. I couldn’t believe it. The TripCentral and SunWing ads both listed a 24 hour snack bar, which was ANOTHER complete lie. We specifically chose a resort with a 24 hour snack bar so we could have access at any time to food, and it didn’t even exist. It was one of our requirements while trying to choose a resort. We then sat in our room, starving, until 11pm. Finally the time came and we went to find the snack bar. They sent us down to the buffet, and it still makes me sick to my stomach the scent of the food they had. Just 2 trays of gloopy, sloppy, smelly pasta, and a bun with what appeared to be a variety of mystery slop meats, and a small amount of sushi. It smelt disgusting, was insanely appalling, just straight up gross. I know the food in Cuba is bad. I’m not completely unaware of the situation there. But to list yourself as a 4.5 star resort, and provide THAT, to your guests???? Absolutely unacceptable. We forced ourselves to go to bed in hopes of getting out of there as soon as we could in the morning. Next morning we went down to the sunwing rep, who was expecting us because of the online request I put in for a room change. After everything we experienced from the lack of any customer service (no option to switch rooms and no concern to clear or block off the flooded hallway which was an insane safety hazard), we immediately requested to get switched from Iberostar Laguna Azul to a different resort, any other resort but there. Tatiana was very helpful. We explained everything I just did above, and she said it was unacceptable and was very sorry for our experience thus far. She also confirmed that the hotel was NOT booked up, and they absolutely could have switched us to a different room. She asked for 2 hours for a gentleman named Andy to attempt to complete the resort switch. So we came back after 2 hours and were able to be transferred to Bella Vista. Out of this whole experience, it is factual that the TripCentral listing is a lie. We booked what you said would be an upgraded room, it wasn’t. You said the hotel had a 24 hour snack bar, it didn’t. You said it was a 4.5 star hotel, it was FAR from it. Everything was a lie, even the staff lying to us about having no rooms available. I can’t believe you can even list a hotel like that where the rooms are so so so dirty and uninhabitable, and MOLDY. Someone needs to go to these resorts, check the rooms and the food periodically, and ENSURE the listings you put up are accurate, and ensure the star rating they have is still accurate. I’m unbelievably disappointed in TripCentral, in SunWing (as their listing also lied although they helped us switch resorts so I am thankful for that), and the resort itself and its miserable unhelpful staff. From this experience, I would never recommend people go to that resort, or use TripCentral due to its lies, and will never recommend Cuba for vacation. Could not be more disappointed in a vacation that was supposed to be restful and relaxing, and ended up being a stressful, gross, and miserable experience. Only thing I’m happy about is being home.

As you can see in the photos, grounds are beautiful and are well maintained. Hotel is a little older and renovations are ongoing. Staff is incredible. As soon as you walk in the lobby, you are met with smiles and Hola's. Food in Cuba is always a question people ask about and I always say, I have never come home weighing less than when I left home. Beach has undergone some work and as always, beautiful. One of the pools is undergoing renos and I believe once finished they will start on another? Was able to see in one of the suites this trip and it was something, basically two rooms, bedroom and living area. Great if you wanted to spend a lot of time indoors? Always lots of great entertainment. Been 4 times now and will return.

We had an awesome week at Laguna azul. The most amazing part would be the staff, always smiling and go above and beyond. We spent a lot of our time on the beautiful sand beach. We would highly recommend this resort.

The hotel didn’t have Pina colada, not many alcohol/drink options, not many food options, rooms are old and AC, safe is not working, and lots of mosquitos in early September season. Beautiful beach regardless but I will not return again.

Hotel is in bad shape .Advertises air conditioning in eating areas and main buffet,but none of them are functioning. No flat sheets on bed, only contour sheets. We could not get flat sheets and had to cover ourselves with musty bed covers.No bath towels available so they provided beach towels that did not smell fresh.There was no toaster in buffet area. Really awful service. I would not recommend. I dont understand how this ressort is advertised as a Top seller on your web site. Only nice thing is the beach.

This hotel has seen its hay day back 25 years ago. Chexk in: Check-in was unorganized and they gave us the wrong room and bracelets. (We paid for the VIP adults-only section and they did not give us that). We had to bring it up to them and that's when they looked us up on the computer again and noted we had the wrong room and bracelets. Staff and meals: The stay itself wasn't that bad. The staff was amazing Enrique, Dyron were the best (apart from the front reception staff) The a la carte restaurants were pretty yummy. The buffet was boring and the food was very repetitive (to be expected in cuba). On the weekend when the locals checked in, the buffet was definately over capacity. they ran out of alot of things so if u dont eat at regular dinner time 6-7 (busiest time at the buffet) you may not get much to eat. Snack bar was non existent. We went looking for it ine one night and we were told it was the buffet after it closed, then when we went looking for it on the weekend it was the beach bar. Not sure why it changed. Maybe more people allowed them to open the actual snack bar? Biggest Minus: The main problem is that there is no security in sight. So ADULT ONLY SECTION WAS NOT ADULT ONLY. Almost every day we had kids in the VIP area swimming in our pools (sans diaper) or in our dedicated adults only restaurant. The employees tried to get then to leave but without security to enforce it, it was a lost cause. Our rooms Our rooms were pretty spacious, but completely outdated. The room was very clean when we checked in. looked like noone had slept in that room for a while. Our pillow had mold on it when we checked in, asked for a new one right away (got it next day) The resort its self had an abandoned hotel feel to it. Like they are just waiting for everything to crumble around them. Our room keys had issues all week, I literally spent more time at the reception fixing my keys than enjoying too much else. Pools: Main pool was pretty nasty (dirty) but I spent more time at the adult only pool so it didn't bother me. It was cleaner but not sure for how much longer. Unfortunately many parents had the same idea, which was very disappointing given i paid extra for adults only section. Beach: nothing like the beaches in Cuba. Very pretty an a++. Entertainment was primarily on this beach throughout the day. They are renovating so the sitting area is a bit small which wasn't a problem until the weekend when Cubans checked in. The hotel seemed very full to above capacity. Overall: Hotel is i would say in my opinion a 3 star not a 4.5. Not sure how long ago Trip central reviewed it but maybe they should go back and look again. I will never go back to this hotel again except to say hello to all the great friends we made there. I have been to.cuba many, many times and this one was the worst I have ever experienced.

Great entertainment, food and drink selections. Just no beach towels available for the whole week. Other than that, it was a great experience overall. Staff were very friendly and always greeted us wth a smile.

We had worst experience for our first 48 hours of our trip. The water pipe was broken . There wasn’t any water to get bath or washroom for first day . In the second day, there wasn’t any water to drink . Yes, they just have soda water and no ice.the washroom was discussing and all the resort was smelled. My kids had a rough time. I understand that couple of resort had this problem but sunwing doesn’t want to clearly explain the situation and they kept saying the water will fixed. After a lot of complaints , they moved us to another resort

Staff is wonderful! The food is what it is but won't starve. Had eggs everyday for breakfast. The have fruit, cheese, pasta, pizza, fish, pork, chicken, all sorts of different salads. Rooms are good. Beautiful pools and beach.

Beautiful resort. A bit dated but clean. Staff were very engaging and friendly. Pools were great but not a lot of chairs at any of the three pools. Beach was always help clean and lots of chairs. Elevators were iffy. Only one of each set worked however the one that did work sometimes would not show up when the button was pressed. We had to walk the four flight of stairs to our room a lot. The food was terrible. No salt, pepper or ketchup same thing for lunch and supper everyday. We had to go to town to get food twice as we were tired of trying to find something to eat. Thankfully we brought snacks with us. Birds were flying all around the food and nibbling on it. This was very gross. This was my first time to Cuba so maybe all resorts are like this with food. This is the only reason I wouldn’t recommend it.

Lungana azul once again was great. The food was ok booking the vip section well worth it as you really don’t have to go to buffet. Drinks were great there was no shortage of anything Rooms were good there is a few things that should be updated but not a big deal Staff are great and always making you feel welcome Overall it was a great vacation and will be returning again next year to this resort for the fifth time Go with a open mind and you will love it

Lungana azul once again was great. The food was ok booking the vip section well worth it as you really don’t have to go to buffet. Drinks were great there was no shortage of anything Rooms were good there is a few things that should be updated but not a big deal Staff are great and always making you feel welcome Overall it was a great vacation and will be returning again next year to this resort for the fifth time Go with a open mind and you will love it

Our recent stay at Origin Laguuna Azul was an unforgettable experience filled with warmth, joy, and cultural richness. Exceptional food, The culinary team truly knows how to impress. What truly set this resort apart, however, were the people. The staff exuded genuine hospitality, going above and beyond to ensure guests felt welcome and cared for. The entertainment was incredible—lively, vibrant, and full of heart. From music and dance to interactive performances, every evening felt like a celebration. While the hotel itself could use more attention in terms of both interior and exterior maintenance, it’s clear that exciting improvements are underway. These renovations show great promise and reflect a true commitment to providing an even better experience for guests. Overall, Origin Laguuna Azul is a destination full of potential, already glowing with warmth and character. We can’t wait to return and see how this gem continues to grow.

What a dump! The place is falling apart right before your eyes. Every single night that my son and I were there, the a la carte restaurants were “fully booked”. During Easter long weekend when the price to travel was $1500 each per person, YOU WOULD THINK THAT THIS RESORT THAT WAS BARELY AT CAPACITY COULD ACCOMMODATE US ON AT LEAST ONNNNNNNE OF OUR NIGHTS WITH A PROPER MEAL!!! NOPE!!! I’m not kidding when I say I starved while we were there. My son was ok with the buffet because he’s only little. Hey, at least I’m skinny again! (Not even laughing or joking). What a disaster! Avoid avoid avoid! Go to Holguin or Cayo Coco if you’re desperate for Cuba. Everything about this trip sucked. NOBODY was having a good time. Not even the drunk man who walked through poo water in the leaky washroom then walked right through the kiddie pool! That guy was so unhappy! Ha!

The grounds were average The staff was wonderful and accommodating The rooms were below average. This is the 1st All Inclusive resort without a stocked minibar... The food was horrendous, no flavor, no hot sauces available...and the same thing was served for Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner, every day, for 7 days. There was no variety.

This was our second time to this resort. The first time being 10 years ago. Definitely not in the same condition as back then. The rooms definitely need a refresher. Pillows were terrible and our refrigerator did not work. Pool was nice, beach was nice and the food was surprisingly very good for being Cuba.

Excellent all around . Very nice location. Very nice beaches ———————***********************************************************************************************************

I had the pleasure of spending a week of vacation time at this amazing resort. I work in a high stress field and needed a break. Iberostar Laguna Azul was all I could have hoped for and more. The incredible facility and beach combined with an amazing staff made our stay memorable for years to come. Special thanks to Dania Alonzo for going above and beyond to insure our stay was relaxing and enjoyable We will for sure return

I had the pleasure of spending a week of vacation time at this amazing resort. I work in a high stress field and needed a break. Iberostar Laguna Azul was all I could have hoped for and more. The incredible facility and beach combined with an amazing staff made our stay memorable for years to come. Special thanks to Dania Alonzo for going above and beyond to insure our stay was relaxing and enjoyable We will for sure return

Love this resort! We had an amazing week. This is my second time here. Entertainment, people, food was awesome. Beach had lots of chairs and umbrellas. Ocean was beautiful! A le carte Japanese restaurant was delicious we went twice. The International restaurant was delicious too!

For starters the flight was delayed by 28 hours. We finally arrived at the resort late, then we went to the “snack bar” which only had half cooked patties/boiled hotdogs with no buns, ketchup or mustard which was false advertising so we got sick our first night. The next day during breakfast we were hoping to replenish all the food we threw up the night prior and realized they were yet again short of everything with slim to no options. I tried getting bacon and it was raw. The fish and meat they only cook on one side and when we asked for it to be flipped they blatantly ignored us which is super disrespectful. As a non alcohol drinker they only ever had “orange Fanta” which was super watered down. during the duration of the trip we still didn’t have regular items that were advertised on the Sunwing website. My wife got a water and it had some sort of mold or gunk in it and it made her sick on our catermaran excursion. We got scammed when taking out money from the atm at the resort for Cuban pesos saying they didn’t have usd or cad. The hotel advertises that they can exchange multiple currencies. Then when we decided to go use the money it had less value then what we were told. This was supposed to be our honeymoon after recently getting married and will never be returning to Sunwing or Cuba especially. Super disappointed and disgusted. Almost all food was inedible. Not looking for a compensation voucher or travel credit. We are looking for a full refund. Thanks.

My brother and I had the pleasure of spending a week at this awesome resort. We can not say enough about how welcome the staff made us feel From check in to check out we were treated like apart of the family Beautiful beaches and pools topped of with amazing a la cartes and entertainment We will definitely be returning.

Hotel rooms were generally in good shape and cleaned on a daily basis by a friendly and pleasant staff. Resort staff were helpful and made sure we were comfortable and the food snd drinks werei good supply. Food was very good overall, the Japanese alacart was fantastic and the Canadian celebration and dinner was exceptiona.

We were very impressed by the beautiful beaches and amazing staff of this resort. We have been to Cuba many times and now have found our favourite spot to return to. The Canadian night at the disco was an amazing finish to an awesome week Thank you to all the staff

My girlfriend and I spent a week here and it was amazing From the beautiful beach to the romantic suppers We loved every minute of it and will be back If you are looking for a resort with awesome Staff and service this is the place

My brother and I had the extreme pleasure of staying a week at Iberostar Laguna Azul I cam say enough about how much we enjoyed our time there Everyone was amazing beautiful pools and beach We will definitely be baclk

Beautiful Resort. We had a postcard view of the hotel and the ocean. Staff was awesome. Hotel was pretty quiet being low season, which was nice. There was some maintenance work going on, but did not take away from the stay. Glad to see they were putting an effort into maintenance. One entire block of buildings and a secondary pool undergoing refurb.

My brother and I had the great pleasure of a week at Iberostar Laguna Azul. The staff was amazing and the beaches were world class I cant aay as much for late as always sunwing. We upgraded our seats for more room and we ending up on a Czech aircraft that was smaller so not worth the upgrade If only Canada could provide better air service to the resorts

The staff is nice but the hotel is suffering from the current reality in Cuba. Shortage of food, water, and power. Some elevators are not working. Rooms are old and bed sheets are smelly. Restaurants in the hotel do not have good food. Internet kept disconnected for days; poor signal. Do not go without cash for tips and there are no credit card machines available. The beach is perfect!

This was the worst hotel we have ever stayed at. We had a horrible time. It ruined our vacation. I actually had to pay extra USD to be transferred to a 3 start resort which had amazing service and food! I cannot believe that we paid to downgrade to a lower star hotel that offered better service than Iberostar Origin Laguna Azul, which is supposed to be a 4+ resort. We stayed at a three star Starfish Cuatro Palmas which was located right on Varadero beach, only minutes from downtown Varadero and 30 minutes from the Varadero airport. The beach was amazing the food was unbelievable! On the other hand, Iberostar Origin Laguna Azul, was terrible! I don't know where to start. I do not know who rates these hotels but this is not fair to the 4 star hotels. I wish people wrote honest reviews. We did read reviews about this resort before we booked it but nothing as alarming as what we encountered. I understand that food can be hit or miss in Cuba and to be honest, we did not go to Cuba to eat only but this was beyond that. My family and I had to survive on bread and butter for 3 days until we asked to be transferred. The food is the same every day. The eggs are powdered eggs, the pasta is over cooked spaghetti served with some kind of gravy or just butter, can be tolerated with butter only as a choice. There are not enough plates for everyone that you literally wait for them to wash and we would wait outside the kitchen for the cart to come by so we can grab plates. They were all chipped plates. There was no cream for the coffee, it's only black or with milk. No lemon. They do not have mojitos because of the lemon I was told. The rooms are dirty and dingy. The elevators only work sometimes. Our first day, we had to carry our luggage three flights down and took us 20 minutes to locate our rooms because they have very confusing numbering and the resort is not very well lit in the night and too big for no good reason. We had to go to the front desk numerus time to have them reactive the keys because they don't work each time you leave your room. The first night we stayed the AC was not working and the bathroom was so dirty that we had to keep our slides while we were taking shower. The a la carte restaurants are basically non-existent. First we were told that we're only allowed to choose three restaurants because of the number of days we stayed, which was 7 days and I have never heard of this before. Apparently, on this resort that is the rule. There was Japanese, Italian and Cuban restaurants to choose from but only the Cuban restaurant was available every day we tried to book. The Cuban restaurant served the same food as the buffet restaurant, the only difference is the cutlery and napkin with a lot less people. The toilet flush did not work and we had to wait a day to be moved to another horrible room because they needed time to clean the room. This room had big cockroaches running around the tub. They had no ice most of the time and the drinks were diluted with very limited choice. The entertainment is always the same each night. I can go on and on. There is just so much problem with this resort. I know this resort does not represent the whole Cuba but no one should pay so much money for this resort and it should not be listed as a 4+ star hotel! There are a lot better hotels in Cuba even if their food is not good, at least the accommodation is way better than this resort. A 3 start hotel was better than this hotel. It's not fair for people to pay so much money for this resort. I am so glad that the rest of our stay in Cuba was better then the beginning. I would never recommend this hotel to anyone!

This resort was so beautiful! Can't wait to go back :) My friend that I went with, it was her 3rd time at this resort. We had a beautiful week, sunny and very hot everyday! the pools and the grounds are beautiful, well kept! The water/beach was awesome, but a lot of seaweed this time of year! The staff were mostly all friendly! Our room was good. Food was a good, we had eggs five days in a row, bacon, pancakes, pizza, pork, chicken and fish. Salad bar was good. Desserts were delicious! 24 hour snack bar served hamburgers, hotdogs and fries. The Japanese a La Carte was amazing. The Italian was disappointing, which I was surprised because I was really looking forward to it. Activities by the pool were fun, the team was awesome! Thank you to Daniel Sann, Cleopatra, Genero, Joshua, King Kong, Pedro, Candy and everyone else that I might have missed, you all made our trip so much fun and memorable. Evening Entertainment were amazing! Girls and Guys fantastic dancers, Especially Dayron! DJ's were awesome, especially Genero! Like I said "can't wait to go back"!

The resort was ok. Maintenance needed on many parts of the resorts. Lights in hallways at night to see and feel safe going to your room. Staff was horrible pretty much everywhere. The odd staff 1 or 2 were nice. I Tipped them.

In a nutshell, our first to Cuba and this hotel was extremely disappointing. We are very well aware that Cuba is experiencing issues with food sourcing, among other things. Iberostar Laguna Azul resort made our stay unforgettable in a negative way. Of course, the food was terrible; some of it was even unrecognizable. I never knew that cabbage can be disguised and prepared in at least 10 different ways! Hamburgers at the ill-stocked grill were cardboard-like and anything fried in oil must have been done so in very old oil. Overall hotel service was extremely poor. The bar staff were more interested in speaking and laughing with eachother, rather than serving a 15-person lineup waiting to order. This resort has a 24-hour snack bar available to serve anyone who may be hungry. On two occasions, the snack bar closed at 13:00 (1pm) without reason and opened only the next day. To my understanding, this is not 24 hour service. On 2 out of the 10 days we were there, our room was not cleaned. We contacted reception to report this and the room was eventually attended to by the evening. Since our room was not cleaned, we did not even have fresh towels once we returned from daylong excursions into Varadero. We also noticed dirty bed linens and only a bed cover without a bedsheet. The grill person started the charcoal grill at 14:00 and a lineup was already present. Imagine how long it took to heat up the grill and cook the little bit of food which was put on. Also imagine a resort bar running out of beer, rum and cola. Yes, this did happen. As a concluding comment, upon our return home, my partner had to see her doctor because of what looked like bug bites on her body. Her physician agreed and prescribed medication to control the swelling, itchiness and discomfort. I am also sending our review of this hotel to the management of Iberostar Hotels worldwide. We travel alot worldwide and have stayed at Iberostar properties in other parts of the world. We expected something more than we received at this property. Customer service at this property needs to be addressed promptly and concretely. I personally am a Hilton Hotels Lifetime Diamond Member. I am confident you are aware of the amount of travel was required by me to achieve this status.

This was our 3rd time staying at this resort we booked the relax section this stay well worth the extra, amazing staff pabluin in the cegar bar is the best, we look forward to our visit next year . You could always find a lawn chair in the relax section main pool was quite busy but could find a place to sit once again I look forward to our next vacation in Cuba

We arrived on April 21 for a 7 night stay. We booked the Vip relax section which was well worth the extra. You have a nice large pool a bar and a sit down lunch and breakfast that you order off the menu. The hotel was clean and the staff were very kind and friendly. The main buffet was always the same and there was good shortages there but your in Cuba you have to expect that. The ala carte were great witch we booked a different one every night. The drinks were good they did not have crystal beer which I found very weird but found another beer which was similar. They also were short on different pop as well for mix. This has been our thirty time to Cuba so we no what to expect. If you are considering this hotel I would pay the extra and book the vip well worth it. Hope this hotel helps you while you are looking for a hotel in Cuba.

do never go to this hotel. Its very mouldy service is no good. Food is no good. Drinks are no good. The beach was not even clean. the bedsheets in the room are never changed. The pillowcases are never changed. Customer service don’t care for their customers. I was sick and my friend too for the whole week that we are there. I do not recommend this place at all.

Just got Back March 6th and everything was Great!! Only shortage was coka cola one afternoon and no eggs for 2 days!! There is plenty of food, beach is great and rooms were very clean!! Definitely go back !!

Had to move rooms 3 times (bloody sheets, broken faucet, balony door would not close). Bad wifi connection. Limited food selection. Elevator did work and part of pool was closed. On positive side beaches are still wonderful.

Sheets and blankets were dirty and blood stained room was dirty . Food was horrible. Staff was rude and unhelpful.shower handle broken and on the floor . Toilet seat didnt fit . Poolside view to a closed pool

I am someone who doesn't fuss much about travel and tends to take things easy. This wasn't my first rodeo there; in fact, it was my second time returning to Laguna Azul. Sure, there were some hiccups last year, but nothing I couldn't handle. However, this time around, the experience took a nosedive into the realm of the unimaginably awful. Let's start with the food – or should I say, the stomach-churning nightmare it turned out to be. Even someone like me, with a stomach seemingly made of iron, wasn't spared from the horrors of food poisoning. And it wasn't just the taste; actual cockroaches were making themselves at home in some of the dishes, particularly the sweets. It's not every day you find yourself fighting for your meal against insects, let alone having to inspect your food for unwanted guests. As if that wasn't enough, there was the issue of a malfunctioning wastewater pipe that was leaking wastewater right in the middle of the resort. Picture this: every time we ventured to our room or made our way to the pools or the beach, we had to navigate through a minefield of used toilet paper and, yes, actual human waste. Needless to say, the thought of taking a dip in the main pool, which was perilously close to this sewage leakage, was quickly dismissed. Then there was the matter of drinks – or rather, the lack thereof. Rum shortages in Cuba? really? Not having any at all on some days was beyond comprehension. And forget about a classic mojito even when rum was available because there was no mint around! Worse, no coke!! so not even a rum and coke. Even when rum was available, the staff seemed clueless about what to do with it, simply adding a bit of rum and some awful-tasting artificially flavoured liquid with water and calling it a cocktail. But that was not the only problem, even those drinks were often so diluted to the point where they might as well have been serving flavoured water. They were told not to pour more than one-third of a shot of alcohol in each drink. Even Red wines were diluted. All the stored red wines were already open and when drinking them it was as if you were drinking red water! Many people were buying a bottle of rum and a bottle of code or wine from the resort stores to drink something semi-decent. Speaking of the staff, their demeanour this year left much to be desired. Gone was the warmth and attentiveness I had come to expect; instead, there was a palpable sense of indifference. It wasn't just me noticing this shift – many of the other guests I spoke to shared similar sentiments. I am a very good tipper and even extra tips didn't help. I literally heard from another guy that he stopped tipping because it appeared it doesn't make any changes. It's hard to say what exactly was behind this change, but it certainly put a damper on the overall atmosphere of the resort. Even room service was off. For instance, they wouldn't change the towels if they seemed dry (we were seeing the same dirty towel with a certain mark on it being hung again and again!). They wouldn't even replace the filtered water bottles if they were half empty! And speaking of atmosphere, it was sorely lacking in the entertainment department. No music on the beach, no nighttime festivities on the beach – just a pervasive sense of coldness that seemed to seep into every corner of the resort. In conclusion, would I recommend this resort to anyone? No, absolutely not. Save yourself the trouble and seek out greener pastures elsewhere.

We stayed at laguna azul from feb 15th to 23 First on arrival was at 1230am , no help for luggage and 4th floor room and elevators broken . We survived that and got our exercise. First morning I was pleasantly surprized by the garden view and open air hallway staircase . Clean and very well kept. Walk to the beach was only a few minutes sunrise was one of my favorite things always greeted by "holas " good mornings from workers starting their Day either cleaning the pool beach or general kitchen staff . Grounds were very well maintained and pools 1 was down for resurfacing but the swim up one was enough for everyone plus 2 other quieter pools for relaxing we enjoyed them all . Beach was being dug up and wasn't quiet all week due to tractors trucks and dozers. But understandable needed to be done as sea wall erosion was evident . Our room was always cleaned and new towels made into animals daily . Water was never an issue. . We did upgrade to relax but really wasn't needed as any rime we were hungry did snack bar or buffet . Did enjoy the Japanese a la carte . Entertainment was nightly but same dancing got a little blah . Sadly was not impressed by animation , no real personal touch ,no kids shows no schedule followed or couldn't find where to go to look . All in all it was a great resort . Sun and fun you make yourself . Could be a bit more personal .. at end of our week new staff were on and things perked up and we felt the love .. thanks to oneysis and dania they went over and above

We stayed at the Iberostar Laguna Azul from Feb 10th to 17th. Overall we had a good experience, having come in with realistic expectations. The resort is very beautiful and must have been really something at one time. A number of areas are under construction; pool, beach, some of the buildings and rooms. A short walk on the beach and you can see the splendor of Varadero beaches. We stayed in the "relax zone" which gave us access to a very nice private pool and sit down breakfast and lunch, which we really liked. There were shortages, some days no coffee or eggs. We took a day trip to Havana that was spectacular. On our tour, we talked to vacationers from other hotel and most said their hotel had no shortages. At our hotel there were a majority of Russian guests. While most were very polite, we did have a few "bad encounters" with drunk people at the bars. For that reason, we won't be returning to Cuba any time soon.

Grounds are well kept, good selection of food. Service was terrible at the buffet, sometimes no service at all. Pools were under renovation, bulldozers at the beach, and elevators were not working. Not worth upgrading to relaxed as you really don’t get much extra. Not many activities going on, bartenders weren’t happy when you order non alcoholic drinks. No slushy drinks.

We just arrived back from this Resort last night. It is definity not a 5* more like a 2*. We love Cuba and its people. We were totally open minded regarding meals as food is rationed out amongst all the resorts with 5* getting best first and goes down the chain to lower star ratings. We stayed one week and when we checked into our room the mini fridge was empty. Went to front desk twice to have some sent to our room with no success. No pop either. For a resort this large, none of the elevators were working. If you have small children or seniors travelling its a brutal climb. For two people we had one towel all week. We never saw any maids on our 4th floor all week. Most food were weiners cooked 15 different ways. No eggs or bacon the entire week. Lots of beans, sausages and hard biskets. Some fixings to make a salad. Decent desserts and ice cream is delicious. Ran out of coffee most days not to mention it was the same for drink mixes. One bit of advice..tip the staff. We tipped between 1$ to sometimes 3$. Front desk staff give you the impression that they dont want to be there. Restaurant and beach bar staff are amazing. Beach is ok but last week we had to listen to bull dozers digging on the beach for 3 days. Swim up pool/bar was being retiled, that left one pool for every one. We loved all staff except for front desk. Sadly to say that we will not be returning.

I wish we did not select this hotel. I believe that Tripcentral or Sunwing should send an independent inspector there to check it out. Until this many, many issues are resolved - please exclude this hotel from the options and please do not send people over there. This is a total shame to Ibersotar network reputation and to Cuba overall. 1. Elevators do not work in any of the buildings. We paid extra for the ocean view room and were placed on the 5th floor. We were with a 10-month old baby and a stroller. We needed to walk the stairs multiple times per day with the baby and the stroller. We also witnessed how hard it was for people with disabilities to move between the levels. Lobby is on the 3rd floor and the buffet is on the 1st floor. Even if you do not go to your room, you are still required to move the levels. We were carrying the stroller on the stairs multiple times per day. We did not receive any warning in advance. We did not get any apologies from the hotel. We were not offered a different room. 2. Drinks quality and availability. Coffee was not available at all bar locations for days, except the lobby bar. I believe that the milk used in the coffee was powdered as multiple times we were tasting powder lumps in the milk. There was no pop, except tonic. No soda or bottled water. Coca-cola was available for 3 days out of 11 and it wasn't an original Coke/Pepsi. All the alcoholic cocktails were limited to the options alcohol + tonic. Wine selection was only red, white or rose - with no name (e.g. merlot, it was just red wine), the wine quality was poor. Many alcoholic drinks were not available - e.g. vermouth. All the juices were powdered and of a very poor quality. There were very limited options for non-alcoholic drinks - just tonic or powdered juice. Having at least lemonade would have been nice. 3. Food quality and variety. There was mostly processed meat - sausages, ham etc. and very rarely pork, beef or chicken. Not every day and only for one meal per day there was grilled fish or meat, however, guests were required to stand in the line for 15-20 minutes. Eggs were not available for half of our stay for breakfast. Vegetables were very limited - salad bar (cabbage, tomatoes, cucumbers, green peppers) or steamed pumpkin, eggplants, green peppers, tomatoes tasting all very plain. Rice and beans were always there. Pasta was always available, however, it was always overcooked. Cheese variety was good. The food presentation was not appealing. There were no potatoes, except French fries in a snack bar 3 days out of 11. A-la carte restaurants were a bit better, except Cuban restaurant which served the same buffet food on nicer plates. 4. The big pool didn't work, the hot tubs didn't work. We received an email about the main pool being repaired 2 days before our trip but no word about the hot tubs. The working pools had damaged tiles and were unpleasant to walk in, especially for the baby. 5. Room cleaning did not happen every day, despite the fact we put a sign on our door. One day we had to go out to throw away the garbage ourselves (there were diapers). The cleaning lady works 9 to 5 and on some days she was not able to find 15 minutes to clean the room, unless you begged her. We always went to the beach 8am to 12pm and put the sign on the door but most of the days when we were comin back the room wasn't cleaned. Our baby was going for a nap 12pm to 2pm and we put the "do not disturb" sign on the door. On some days the cleaning lady would barge in during that time, despite the sign. We were refusing the cleaning during our baby naptime and she would assume we wouldn't need it that day, due to the language barrier. I feel like I paid twice more than I supposed to. I feel robbed, tired and disappointed. When I was leaving this hotel I was thinking maybe all Cuba is like this and that I would never come back to this country. But after talking to other tourists, I realized this was the hotel problem. Tripcentral - please don't send people there. If you are considering going this hotel - please don't go, it doesn't worth your money, time and mental health.

The food was not good (some meat had jagged pieces of bone hidden inside), I cut my foot when I stepped on a piece of broken glass next to the pool, which was only half open (the swim-up bar half was closed for maintenance. On top that, one of the employees at the currency exchange lied to my friend about the exchange rate, costing her over $200 dollars Canadian more she she was told. Many places on the resort seemed to open only when they felt like opening and not the advertised times and the employee in charge of taking reservations for dinner was annoyed by having to book reservations and mixed up every reservation we made. Do yourself a favour and go somewhere else

Well, this is a nice family resort: 5 pools. Unfortunately the part of the main pool with a bar was closed during our stay. But We were able to use other pools. Due to strong wind and waves the beach was deformed to unveil the rocks and some metal structures, as such it was not safety to go to the sea. We had to step aside from the resort to swim. The room service was good: water each day, towels are not changed for the stay, cleaning was excellent. The food: as we are seafood lovers we found it super good, as we had calamari, fish, octopus, mussels, scallops... Options for veggies and fruits. Entertainment team did their best and it was always funny and great. In general: even though this resort needs some repair done, It's a nice one.

Was a fun time. missing items like eggs and meat. It’s an island. Cockroach in room. The atmosphere was nice. The staff were amazing. The pool with the bar was closed due to fixing it. Overall not bad

The hotel has a nice layout but has shortfall in upkeep and basic stocking of rooms. The door wouldn't lock and maintenence was informed but was still not working properly. The food was horrendous barely palatable and I'm not a picky person. The beach is amazing so only points for location. The staff are friendly but minimalistic in response . Currently there is a food shortage so the omelets station was cooking up the stuff to go in the omelets but no eggs were added and plating it for lined up clientele. I got food poisoning quite badly during stay here and heard another whole family on the airplane coming home had food poisoning as well. Wouldn't stay here again and has actually left a bad mark to not want to come to cuba again in the future . Will stick to Mexico instead.

We started with one room that smelt so bad like must and mold we had them move us to another room. Also the safe in the first room had no batteries in it. Second room there is mold all over the bathroom tub and sink. But we stayed in there rather than having to move once again. Our second night here we went to the front desk because we had a couple minor issues with the room and we were told maintenance would be up in 20 minutes. Well 3 days later and we still have not seen a maintenance guy. Breakfast at the buffet we have seen eggs only twice but you have to line up for them for 20 minutes or more. They have shrivelled up pancakes but no syrup for them. There is next to no selection for breakfast at all. The servers bring you coffee or juice but don’t come back to see if you are ok or need a top up. Lunch has been ok not a lot of selection but we did find something. Dinners have been a mess next to nothing in selection and the food is cold even when they bring it freshly from the back. Also want to point out absolutely nothing is labeled with what it is so you have no idea what you are taking whether or not you will like it. We did the Italian alacarte the one night. We ordered chicken. The chicken was extremely dry and rubbery to the point we had a hard time cutting it with the knives. The cheese soup tasted like kraft dinner sauce and the chocolate cake tasted like the box it come in. The Japanese restaurant was amazing we did enjoy that. And the show that goes with it was on point. WiFi has been horrible on one minute off the next. No WiFi at the pool or beach either. Booted off and can’t get back on for some time. It was even very weak when on the balcony. Housekeeping the room was cleaned daily but not once all week were the towels changed just folded and put back on the shower rail. Our shower was only a wand which we had to tuck into a pole to have a shower. Otherwise hold the wand the whole time. The weather this week wasn’t as friendly as Cuba weather should be so we spent a lot of time in the lobby. We waited hours and had to flag the server down to even get anything in there. The bar was always lined up so that also took a lot of time just trying to get a drink. The entertainment team is awesome they keep the crowd going and the evening shows have been great. Also not once has the elevator in building 16 worked. Overall this wasn’t a great experience and we will not be returning here. Definitely not a 4.5 star. I would give it maybe a 2.5 to a 3. I do understand that there are shortages in Cuba but service isn’t great either and in my opinion that makes or breaks a resort. Unfortunately this one is a break for me.

The food was surprisingly good. Excellent service. No shortage on liquor there, Lots of beer, wine ,rum, vodka, and tequila. Lots of entertainment and music in the evening. We would return again as a repeat customer.

Hotel staff where wonderful, friendly & helpful! The Resort itself needs some improvements. Bar pool was emptied on day 3 which was not a big deal for us however it was in need of repair due to tiles missing. The pool will be at least a month down for repair. While the main pool was under repair the secondary pool was then the main pool. It has missing tiles and most ladders where also in need of repair. You just have to be careful where to walk and to watch where you get out of the pool to make sure the ladder is safe. There was a shortage of white wine in most places on the resort. I believe there was a shortage of things to Cuba as food was limited. Ala Carte's were better than the buffet. We changed rooms after the first night due to safe not working, no remote, toilet not working properly, and phone not working and no towels. Our second room was suitable. The maid staff did a wonderful job of cleaning our room and always helpful and friendly. For a beach towel you will need to use your credit card for $10 USA & when you return the beach towel you will be re-imbursed the money. (This is a first for me) The beach area in the water has rocks which can hurt or cut you if the waves take you. You had to be very careful. I am not sure if the hotel was short staffed as there are very few servers, however the staff that did come around where again friendly and helpful. This is not a hotel that I would recommend, but we did have a good time regardless.

Fair ,but it can be good if the food is improved. There was a lack of types of food even for basic foods. Very good reception staff. Good artistic activities and good staff Good beach place Good housekeeping staff and rooms were also good

The flight with Sunwing was probably the best of the vacation...the resort is run down, pools in bad shape, tiles missing everywhere, not clean water. But the worst is food..its not my first time in Cuba, but this was bad..no eggs, no juice, no meat, the odd piece of fish here and there..pasta for breakfast, lunch, supper for 7 days..and the bar system at the lobby is the worst..plus absolutely no mix..no juice, no pop, so no mohitos, no Pina Colada , nothing..just awful, The weather was beautiful, the beach nice..thats about it. All in all not a good vacation..too much missing

Food was terrible. There was literally nothing to eat. Had to feed on papaya and bread for 4 days straight. Rooms are ok. Pools and beach sea amazing. This is my second time in this resort. It was definetly much better in 2019. Looks like covid break ruined this place.

Damaged hotel unrepaired. A la carte not worth it. Bad food indigestion for 4 days and closes down 2 days after. Privilege section without supervision. We pay (300$ extra approx.) but anyone went there. Room was ok. and we were lucky ones because we heard of horror stories. No more Cuba for a while, until they get their things together. Beaches need some taken care of before they disappear

Hotel was great. Read a lot of reviews and already had my expectations for the food to be subpar. I was more than impressed. Hotel and grounds are beautiful. Workers are working everyday keeping it up. The furniture is dated but everything worked. Food was better than I expected. Not a ton of variety but always something there. Egg station in the morning, pasta station lunch and dinner. Was scared to drink the water at first but after a couple days, realized it was good. They give you 2 liters in your room each day. And I am sure you can ask for more if needed. We never got sick from anything. Even ate the ice cream and the alfredo pasta. We did the Italian and Japanese a la carte . Both were great. The Japanese was fun to watch and delicious to eat. I recommend both. But you have to book in early, 9am - 3pm is when the booking office is open. We slept in the first morning and never got to book the romantic one. But we still got 3 al a carte booked for our 4 days stay. Resort had good whiskey and liquors. Great fruit juices as well. Staff were super friendly and always smiling. We bought the Cuban money which was not needed. They prefer USD money. which we brought with us as well. Everything in the Cuban airport was also in USD currency. Beach was amazing. Clean clear water. We got a couple of buns from the buffet and took them into the ocean. just about 20 feet out (still standing) and there were a ton of tropical fish that came and swam around us. The resort offers free snorkel masks, but we never used them. Didn't need them as the water was so clear, you could see the fish no problem. I had never been to Cuba before, and I would go back. We are planning on going back next year and we are going to be book this resort.

You need to know Cuba, always choose 4-5 star and don’t expect it to be like Canada, it is Cuba…it is that simple. Go for the beach, water, people, fresh fruit and don’t expect gourmet. I read various reviews …all worried as I was travelling with a toddler, so I brought what I needed for him and so my expectations were met. (Diapers, formula some snacks- all was good.) Hotel was decent, they probably just repainted the outside and the inside could do with a better clean and revamp, but it was all livable for our stay. Coffee was good as usual, sugar was not available( but I brought honey) sugar came in three days later… no big deal. Sweeter they had was actually better than what we have. I bring loads of stuff to give away and people are always happy with that. Things are more expensive after Covid especially at the airport. Buy at the hotel or at local places. I would suggest this hotel… it meet my expectations. No shortages or issues. .

I had a bit better expectations, but the hotel was decent. The location is really good but the rooms needs work. The waterflow in the washroom shower is extremely slow and there is no actual shower just the shower head. Also, the bedsheets were not clean. Food area was in the open and there were flies, and birds eating from it. We got food poisoning. However, they did open the indoor buffet area a couple of days before we were leaving and that was much cleaner and nicer. The staff was extremely friendly and I cannot say enough good things about them. The shows at night were spectacular and there were several activities that kept us entertained. Overall, except for the food and average rooms everything else was quite decent. For a 5 star resort I had a bit better expectations but our stay was still fun. If I go back it will be only for the staff.

The staff was very friendly and always helpful The food was amazing, lots of selection at the buffet There were daily activities we enjoyed as well as day and evening entertainment Clean grounds and pool

Beautiful and clean hotel. Amazing clean and hot sea. Clean beach and no stealing beach towels, on surveillance all the time. So many clean pools. Delicious buffet. Did not try 3 restaurants because the buffet was so good. Best wifi on the lobby. Slow in the room. Live music every evening and show at 9:30 p.m. Very nice staff.

My family of four (two young adults, plus my husband and I) just returned from our 1-week vacation at the Iberostar Laguna Azul. While this was our first time staying at this resort, this trip marked our 2nd trip to Varadero and our 4th trip overall to Cuba (our first trip post-pandemic too!). We were all super excited to come back to Cuba because of the positive experiences we've had before on past vacations, but we would be lying if we said we didn't leave disappointed by the end of our trip. Admittedly, yes, the pandemic has caused an economic crisis in Cuba and life has gotten a lot harder for the locals there. This has also caused many food and supply shortages throughout the country, which affects the resorts as well. All of these factors are understandable and they’re out of the locals' hands. But at the same time, the purpose of a vacation is to relax and not worry about anything. If you want a vacation that's hassle-free with an ACTUAL 5-star resort that lives up to its expectations, don't stay at this resort and travel to other countries instead. 1. BEACH/POOLS: The beach is perhaps the only upside to this resort, unfortunately. It is very beautiful (think soft white sands and turquoise waters) and the water isn't rocky in the least. There's also a coral reef a bit further out, which is really interesting to explore! Watch out for sand fleas though; as long as you wash them off with soap and water, you should be golden. We didn't really go into the pools at all because there are some broken tiles that remain unfixed (lots of reviews online were commenting about this) and it could be a safety hazard. 2. FOOD: Yes, one doesn't go to Cuba for delicious food. However, my family have never been picky eaters and we've still thoroughly enjoyed our vacations to Cuba, regardless of the food. Despite this, the food at this resort was absolutely unbearable; always bland, undercooked, SALTY and/or oily. It was always the worst at the buffets because they would keep putting out the leftover meals from the day before (most likely due to the food shortage), which lead to a lot of food going bad that we would try to avoid. The a-la-cartes were a LOT better and our family enjoyed them (the romantic restaurant is the best, followed by the japanese one and then the italian). Those restaurants were also SO much cleaner in comparison to the buffet/snack bar, which always had flies swarming on your plates, cups, cutlery, napkins, etc, plus on the actual food at the buffet. Not to mention that there are always birds that sneak in and eat the food at the buffet selection and empty tables. The staff don't seem to really clean off the tables or chairs at the buffet/snack bar too, so we're not completely sure how sanitary the resort is. Staff also don't use any hairnets or gloves whenever they cook food, which was an interesting observation. The resort also doesn't provide bottled water and the only option is "purified water", which is served at restaurants, bars and in your rooms through reusable bottles. My entire family started getting stomach aches towards the end of our vacation and are still recovering right now back home here in Canada. We're not sure if this is due to food/water poisoning or the difference in the Cuban vs Canadian water system/food preparation process, but we would definitely say that this resort is not the most sanitary. There also isn’t much selection with regards to food wherever you go, whether that’s at the buffet or a-la-cartes. The 24 hour snack bar only serves basic sandwiches and half-baked pizzas most of the time, topped with a side of cockroaches (which you will find all-throughout the resort. I know it’s a tropical country, but not sure how sanitary it is to have insects in the kitchen and on countertops, which we saw). 3. ROOMS: Their rooms are pretty decent, but from what we heard from other guests, your room experience will be very hit or miss. Unfortunately, our family fell on the 'miss' side and we had a lot of problems with our adjoining rooms (same building as the main buffet and on the same floor as the lobby) right off the bat: - the toilet in one of the rooms wasn't working at all (couldn’t flush) - the lock for the balcony in one of the rooms completely dislodged from the door-frame, which is a safety concern - neither of the telephones work in both rooms - the sinks were semi-clogged - no soap/shampoo/body gel in any of the washrooms - both of the rooms were VERY dirty and we had to request for deep-cleaning We brought up these problems with customer service and to be honest, it took quite awhile for them to be resolved. They eventually called in a technician to fix the toilet/balcony and a maid to do deep cleaning, but they couldn't give us new rooms because this resort has limited adjoining rooms for families (families, take note of this!). You also have to kick to open one of the washroom doors because it was broken, which is hilarious. 4. SERVICE: This was between poor and fair (2-3 stars). There was a TripAdvisor review that I had previously read saying that the “spirit of the Cubans had changed”, which is an accurate way to describe it. Cuban people are usually known to be extremely hospitable and friendly individuals, but there seems to have been a shift after the pandemic due to their current economic crisis. While this is understandable, don’t expect to get outstanding service without giving a tip first. They will still tell you that tipping is optional, but most of the staff won’t acknowledge you or serve you efficiently or effectively without a tip first. It’s 100% not the same hospitable atmosphere that Cuba was known for. 5. LOCATION: The location is another upside, but just a minor one. The resort is pretty safe as a whole and it’s located about 2.5 hours away from Havana, which could be a really great excursion outside of the hotel (please note that you will absolutely be aggressively swarmed by locals trying to sell you services, products and excursions while in Havana. Don’t buy anything in the streets and stick to inside shops!! Don’t openly display that you bought anything too or else this will put a huge target on your back and you will be swarmed). 6. VALUE: This is most definitely NOT a 5-star resort and it fails to meet the expectations that are in place for hotels of this caliber. Our family was left feeling disappointed not even halfway through the vacation, despite trying to make the best of it. Their entertainment and nightly shows are sub-par as well, plus the disco is always DEAD (might be due to off-season, but the DJ didn’t really play great songs either). We read many reviews of this resort and saw quite a few bad ones, but we didn’t really believe them until we started experiencing it ourselves. Not quite sure how there are so many 5-star reviews of this resort online as of recent when we’ve talked to so many fellow guests during our vacation who also agree with us! "Don't sweat the small stuff," some reviews have said, but a lot of these factors WILL drastically impact your vacation! This has been a real disappointment and a wake-up call that Cuba is not the same travel destination as it once was. While this is of no fault to the Cuban people, this will 100% affect your vacation… and not in a good way.

This was my second visit to this hotel in the past month the resort is one of my favourite places I’ve been in Cuba being there 30 plus times and by far had the best time the grounds are kept beautifully staff are amazing food was good la carts are beautiful I have nothing to say bad about this resort cannot wait to return in April

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 already 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.

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 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.

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. Rooms 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.

I love Cuba. I had a good week. This is not to dump on that beautiful country. They do have challenges. Those challenges must have been exacerbated by COVID and the chain of supplies issues. The food (meat especially) is sparce. There is no bottled water. We received filtrated water all week long. Some drink options were not always available. Despite all that, I know that they did their best. They gave us more than they have for themselves. This is why I will recommend this destination and this resort. If you know what to expect beforehand, you will not be disappointed. You will not go at the front desk to complain that there was no chicken at the buffet. Don’t be that Karen, please. Cuban staff don’t deserve that aggravation. They have enough on their plates. Some things that there were no shortage of during my trip: sun, sand, fun and toilet paper (in my room, it was always available, thank you god; you may want to bring some when you go far from your room). I can’t say it often enough, Cuban people will give you more than they have. They are kind and will try to help. Bring some stuff and some money to thank them for their good service. Bring your smile and try to learn some Spanish before you go. You will have a good time. This does not seem to be the place to complain about the airline so I will not. That would be another chapter.

Overall the resort was very nice. room was a bit dated but its only a place to sleep so no big deal. food at main buffet was a bit of hit and miss but never went hungry. enjoyed the meals at all of the the Cuban , Romantico(lobster) , Italian and the Japanese. managed to get fries a few times at the 24 hour snack bar . shows we attended were great. never stayed up late enough to try disco. Cigar bar was usually quiet, good place to smoke a nice Cuban Cigar and enjoy a Mojito. drinks were plentiful and served in a timely fashion at most locations. animation crew did a great job daily. snorkeling right of the beach was great with many fish to be seen. paddle boats , kayaks and free sailing out to the reef were avail for all but we did not partake as we just enjoyed the sun, the surf and the sand. would go back to this resort again for the same price point as we paid this time.

We had a room with double bed and it was big. We were only 2 but big enough to fit 4. Very clean everywhere. Nice staff. The food was good. The main pool very big never too crowded and has other pools on the side . The beach also clean. We enjoyed a lot our week there. We do recommend the hotel.

I stayed at Iberostar Laguna Azul for April 6-13. The weather was amazing. The hotel staff were very friendly and accommodating to any request. The country is doing their best recovering, so keep this in mind when it comes to food choices. I had fish, chicken and pork available. There was a variety of cheese, cold meats, vegetable, local fruit with dessert/ice cream. Canadians are their number one tourists. I am so glad that we are now able to enjoy their beautiful shores again.

The resort grounds are very nice… The pools, the beach, the gardens…. The rooms show their age…. Poorly maintained… Patio doors very difficult to impossible to open! Maid service is terrible! Rooms were not cleaned daily! Pillows were moldy smelling sand they were reluctant to change them! Had to ask for bottled water pretty much everyday! They spent more time on creating their towel and bedspread swans than they did cleaning the room it seemed!

Amazing beach Staff very welcoming and helpful . Hard to have rooms close to the people you book with. Restaurants accommodating for celiac people . Air conditioning not working in our room. Buffet not a lot of seafood ( mussels only one day +fish one day ).

I have been to Cuba several times and this was a great resort. All the staff are so friendly and accommodating and the beach is beautiful. The food is made very well despite all the restrictions. Would go again! The only thing - I wish the pools had more shade but the beach had plenty!

I was very happy with my overall stay. My room had been well maintained and there were no issues. The only thing I noticed but did not let it affect my overall experience was that the cleaning staff did not clean the room daily. It appeared as if they just made the beds. There had been hair - my hair, that was never swept for the 4 days I was there. There was some dirt in between the bed and the couch which said that they did not really clean the room. Towels were not changed for clean ones. When you go to Cuba, you do not go with high expectation of standards and you will be happy. Food was really not that bad but for Cuban standards. The place was always happening with lots of activities/ entertainment during the day and night. Great place if you want to party and enjoy loud music. I was actually looking for something quieter but I was happy to get the sun, sea and sand! Pools were amazing, beach was heavenly, except that many of the beach beds were broken. Service was excellent !!! overall facilities were the best!

The hotel is dated, but you don’t go for the rooms. Everything is clean. Only issue with our room is that the patio door did not lock well. Staff is very friendly and accommodating. Not all drinks available at all bars, so what. Take what’s available you will enjoy it. The pools are great, beach is great, weather is great, people are great. The buffet is ok, some days better than others, you won’t starve. They try their best with what they have available, which changes every day. Excursions were fantastic ( Havana especial, Mantanza Yumuri and Guama Especial). We will go back soon, 9th time in Cuba. You feel welcome and safe wherever you go.

As first timers this was an amazing experience. The food was not great but we always found something to eat. Everything else was exceptional including the staff. Everyone was so welcoming. I will be back

From the moment we arrived at 2:30am, we were treated like family, the staff was phenomal. The resort was beautiful, the grounds were impressive and well taken care of. There was an abundance of food and activities by the pool during the day. I was concerned about travelling to Cuba considering all the comments that you hear about the lack of food but this resort did not disappoint, the three daily buffets were always well stocked and the 24 hour snack bar always had good food, hot dogs, french fries, chicken, etc. Their food was a little bland but we brought salt, pepper and hot sauce and that made it taste like home. There were lots of Canadians at the resort as well, which made it feel even more like home. I would definitely return to this resort. Thank you for making my first experience in Cuba memorable.

Although Covid had a tremendous impact on the overall situation in Cuba I was very disappointed in the lack of customer service received from the staff. The food shortage was accepted but there were cockroaches in the buffet and in my room. One day they had sugar the next day none. Just to name a few things. Staff was friendly but not eager to work. You would stand at bar with no acknowledgement. Would not go back to this resort

Beautiful grounds and beach. Very clean everywhere. And the staff is so friendly and amazing always ready to help you and with a smile. Lots of entertainment. The Japanese à la carte is the best. The weather was excellent will return for sure

VEGAN?: I managed to keep to a plant-based diet. There was always a ton of fresh fruit (guava, watermelon, papaya, pineapple, and occasional bananas), fresh and cooked vegetables (greens, tomatoes, carrots, beets, peppers, cucumber) and legumes (lentils and/or chickpeas). To be fair, I can't guarantee that there was no cross-contamination or minute quantities of dairy and animal broth in some of the cooked vegetables and legumes, but I did not see or taste it. I would normally ask for confirmation, but in this context (different culture, language barrier, staff too busy), it's not reasonable to expect a reliable answer. Don't expect tofu, fake meats, plant-based milks or peanut butter. FOOD IN GENERAL: I ate exclusively at the buffet. The food was bland; I expected hot sauce and savory condiments, but the condiments were limited. Regardless, I was satisfied despite some people complaining. The bread was great, and guava is amazing. It's awful to see people taking large portions only to throw it all away; they should make those people live on the street like regular Cubans for a day. DRINKS: I only had red wine (and coffee). Both were fine. CLEANLINESS: Everything looks clean on the surface and I felt comfortable eating at the buffet. I did see twice a cockroach on my table. Birds come in once in a while as the doors are wide open. BEACH: Awesome. Not quite enough chairs. The outdoor rince stations/showers don't quite work well. Tourists who litter should be immediately redirected to Guantanamo. POOLS: I never even tried the pools but I preferred the beach anyway. Not enough chairs. STAFF: I made friends I was sad to part with. ROOM: Nothing fancy but nothing scary. Not much water pressure. Clean. Comfortable. Bottles of fresh water are included. WIFI: Free. They give you a login limited to 10 hours, which you can renew freely. Speed was sufficient. GYM: Pretty small. Limited equipment. Lots of broken stuff. At least it was cool (A/C). COMPARISON: We were transferred to Melia Peninsula for a night due to a delayed flight departure. I'm grateful for this transfer because I saw how much better Laguna Azul was. Melia Peninsula is too spread out, and its buildings feel unsafe (direct access from the outside, and signs of prior forced entry). Also, Melia had the exact same food at the buffet, but in trying to appear fancy, they had forks instead of tongs for the food (yeah, great for picking up individual strands of lettuce), they had tacky lighting, the staff applauded as you entered (please), and they didn't allow you to carry your plate outside. Melia Peninsula is lipstick on a pig, while Laguna Azul is convenient and practical, and it doesn't pretend to be anything it's not. On top of that, Melia Peninsula allowed rude Russians to skip the reception line ahead of people waiting 30-45 minutes. Now I know to never book at MP.

Cockroaches, bugs in the food. While we were eating our dinners, lunch, breakfast, you name it. Best yet - on the second night our group discovered we were bitten by bed bugs. What could we have done? Try to enjoy it the best we could - had a few sleepless nights because of this. Food? Not many options at the buffet or restaurants. Either chicken or pork - guess what, we are religious and couldn't eat pork. Best of it all, when we asked for chicken hot dogs we were told it was - when we asked to see the packaging, it was chicken AND pork in the hot dog. GREAT! Water and drinks for the bars hand sand in it and if it wasn't sand then it was almost like dirt floating around the drinks, melting from the ice. DISGUSTING!! Room cleaning? We got one towel for the whole trip - only had a hand towel for TWO days after that, we never saw it back. The staff - never happy, never show you a smile and you don't feel wanted. We left the resort most of the times because it was really unbearable. I am not sure how this is a 5 star resort - should be a 2 at most. Left a really bad taste in my mouth for the Iberostar chain. Worst experience of our lives - in terms of the resort. Cuba is a very beautiful place though.

Hotel and ground’s are nice , room was okay except for the bathroom there was no standup shower , I ask to be moved but they wanted more money . But was.clean except for one day that no one even went there . Food wasn’t that great and the people that work there could or should be more friendly. A lot of problems with internet

I can’t say enough good things about this trip; but, wanted to shout out some terrific individuals. Thank you so much to King Kong, Crazy Boy, Joey, Tony and the entire entertainment staff. They brought energy and excitement every single day and made my whole group feel welcome from the second we walked in.

Although slightly understaffed the resort is a wise choice. Food is always an issue in Cuba but was not the case this week. Buffet and restaurants were all good. It is a smaller resort with a good mix of younger and older crowds and still has plenty of options if you prefer a quiet area or party scene. Nightly entertainment was repetitive but ok. There are many shortages of booze throughout Cuba yet the bar tenders were always able to provide something good. Did not meet any bad staff and have in fact become friends with some.

Booking a trip to Cuba, we all know we don't go there for the food, this trip was no exception. Cuba has been greatly impacted by Covid, and to make matters worse, the government changing their currancy. We heard time and again how difficult it is for the citizens of Cuba to get the meer staples of life. Things like vegetables, fruit, meats, bread, juice, toothpaste, shampoo, feminine hygiene products - and the list goes on and on - are hard to come by for them, and also for the resorts in the area. Our resort had real juice one morning out of the 13 days we were there (the rest of the time was a syrup based juice, and most of the time only peach juice) - alcohol available on the resort was limited to some rums, whiskey, wine and beer, and because there was no juice, your options were pop (no diet available either for those of us who are diabetics) or water. Meat was never consistant, though chicken, pork and fish were always available at meal time, cooked in some fashion or another. Once lobster was at the buffet, and twice turkey. This resort was one of the better for meals when we compared notes with other travellers at the airport on our way home. Many had only chicken, fish and rice dishes - and an even smaller selection of alcohol than we had. The Iberostar Laguna Azul's best meal of the day was always breakfast, provided you got there early, and weren't looking for a nice glass of juice or milk - powdered milk was usually available. Getting a glass of water with your meal seemed to be endlessly difficult, especially if you needed a refill throughout your meal. This improved slightly the last few days, because some of the guests complained to customer services, us included. The resort boasts that they are improving safety by reducing the numbers allowed at a la carts - however, the buffet at supper is packed tight. Not sure why another restaurant or two was not opened as a supper buffet to alleviate the congestion. Staff seemed to be quite busy, even though there didn't seem to be a shortage of staff. I especially noticed in this hotel, how many of the staff would cut you off and walk right in front of you - whereas at other resorts we've gone to over the years, they would stop, and allow the guest to go through first. On three separate occasions, we witnessed someone fall - looking around, there was staff there who seen the fall, but did not come to offer assistance or to see if the person who fell was injured. The staff watched from afar, but never approached. A word of caution - this resort has many areas where the floors change heights, one spot will be an 1/2 - 1 inch difference from the other floor - and most of them are not marked in any way - mostly where one building is connected to another - a recipe for someone not paying attention, to take a nasty fall. Changing money to their currency - change over only a minimal amount. Don't change it at the airport or any bank, ask a worker on the resort. Most of the Cuban people prefer the canadian dollar over their CUP (Cuban Peso). At the airport - when we were there, $1 canadian was equivalent to 78 Peso, the travel agency reps were offering it at $1 canadian to 90 Peso, and some of the workers were willing to trade it for $1 canadian to 100 Peso. The pools at this resort - the main pools in the middle of the resort were cleaned every morning - be careful using these pools, several tile are missing throughout the two main pools and some of those areas have sharp spots. There are two quieter pools, one in the Relax zone, and one on the complete opposite side of the hotel grounds - these pools are quieter, but not cleaned in I don't know how long - very dirty each time we went there. Minimal lounge chairs (and portable umbrellas) were set out all around the pools - but when tipped, staff would bring out additional ones. Many of the lounge chairs on the beach were broken, this resort really needs to purchase new loungers if/when they are available. There was a small fridge in the rooms, however, they are not stocked with anything- bottles of filtered water were left on the dresser, but no pop, or beer were in the fridge. When we inquired about getting the fridge stocked we were told Iberostar resorts no longer do this in their new "waves of change" campaign to lessen waste.Cuba has no recycling plan, though in some areas there are recycling bins - we were told everything goes into one garbage.However, the resort stores we're selling plastic bottles of water, and all the bars were using pop from plastic bottles - so not sure how much waste it is actually preventing . Kudos for them to try to lessen waste, but really?br /> Would I recommend this resort - until things improve, I would not recommend Cuba, period, but if you really want to go to Cuba - according to our fellow travellers, this is one of the better ones to stay at currently. The beachs are beautiful, this resort was clean, the gardeners do an excellent job of looking after things on the grounds, and some staff are awesome (we ran into about 4 staff we thought were exceptional). One plus -clean beach towels were always available, but you had to give a credit card for a hold of $15 per beach towel to get them at the beginning of your stay (on the last day you are given a ticket by the towel guy to hand into reception at checkout so you're not charged on your credit card) - the staff working in the towel hut were super friendly. The kitchen staff did well with what they had, but as it wasn't alot, the meals were extremely repetitive. For the amount of money we paid to go here, we were extremely disappointed in this resort - so many simple things could easily be made better. Security could always be seen on the beach and throughout the resort.

It was a flashback to what was running away from in my youth. Everything is there, but nothing is working as it should. the problems are small, but they are everywhere. The balcony door that doesn't close properly, the tap you have to hold with one hand while opening it with the other; the meet that is not properly cooked, the broken lawn furniture, the god-awful painting (they did not discover yet the miracle of the masking tape and I could go on. You can live with it all, but the less you expect the better.

We had a great week at Laguna Azul! Facilities, food and service was below what we have experienced in Cuba pre COVID Rooms need upgrades, service was hard to come by, mostly we went to get our own drinks Food variety and quality was limited Snack bar 24 hours was severely understaffed( only 1 person for a huge line up) and the hygiene standards would never pass, the food handlers never used gloves , no hand washing after handling tips and on occasional the food from the grill was still undercooked. We upgraded to “the Relax zone” and it was the best decision as we got an extra restaurant were we could pick from a small menu of maybe 5 dishes but were served at the table and the coffee on that side was delicious. We also got 4 a La carte for the upgrade what helped avoiding the buffet Bar staff mostly ignored you even though we were tipping often so we just started getting our own drinks Resort is beautiful and the beach area always had plenty of beach chairs available and the sand was mostly free of rocks, the beach is what we went for

We were very disappointed in so many things. The only hot meals offered at the buffet both lunch and dinner every day and night were limited selections of pasta and pizza. Drinks, especially wine, were watered down. No vodka, no orange juice, no blended drinks. No entertainment, including music, poolside until 4pm. Constantly had to ask for dirty glasses in room to be replaced. Air conditioning was so loud. Elevators never worked, buttons were holes that we were not going to stick our fingers in so had to use the stairs all the time. We tipped everywhere but didn't make a difference in bar service or housekeeping. The only good thing was the weather.

The hotel was old and empty. The had only had what they call cola and fanta in the main bar. Rum and rum are your only drinking options the had no vodka tequila whisky anything just rum. First day we got there the ran out of hamburgers we paid no attention cause we thought there would be more options. Nope. Hot dogs and French fries at the snack bar when the have and if you don't mind the roaches climbing all over the bar. Secondly the have a hot wings station that wasn't hot enough to fully cook the wings that were poured out of a bag over the grill along side/ on top of cooking chicken. No options at breakfast on only two cooking surfaces for the whole resort If u just want a beach and pool this is the place. Bring cup of noodles condiments snacks and pepto. Only way I would ever do this trip again if the 12 friends I went with were all sent back with me for free. Don't try any of the restaurants they all share the same roach infested kitchen the people in the hotel are amazing.

Very easy layout, food was very good for Cuba resort was well maintained. The staff seemed distanced but efficient. the rooms where kept sort of clean except I would of liked the floor swept at least once during our stay. Over all not a bad resort and I would recommend this resort to my friends

Great weather friendly staff we choose this resort based on the price point and we haven’t been disappointed reach our expectation completely. taking in consideration of the hardship that country is going through we are very happy, abundance of food and drinks even important drinks have been available