TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

Lovely resort. Booked because of swim up bar and it’s terrific!! We arrived a day late and I thought our rooms should have been ready but we had to wait until 5:30. When I went to Service Desk they gave room keys to my other two friends that’s the only negative I can say about our experience here

Was wonderful. Staff morale is great, nice to see familiar faces in more senior roles. Some even remembered me from last year - especially Rachel in the lobby bar who recognised me before I even got my room. I was in Allegance this year, 41xx block, and my housekeeper was excellent. Room was always clean and replenished by the time I returned from the beach. Plenty of water, Crystal beer and real toilet paper. Allegance upgrade is definitely worth it. A noticeable upgrade compared to basic rooms and access to good whiskey was much appreciated. Smiles and respect will get you a long way with the staff. The guy running the snack bar overnight, whose name escapes me, was especially great once he knew us. One night a companion drank the last glass of sparkling wine and twenty minutes later he drops off an entire bottle, still chilled, for our table. He has a great sense of humour too. Even the food during his shifts was noticeably better and prepared with pride. Gym is clean and cooled. I avoid the pool in favour of the beach which was not as nice as last year. Given the fuel shortage it's obvious the tractor doesn't come by to rake away the seaweed and some areas weren't tended to manually. This is a government responsibility as I understand, not a reflection on the hotel. Overall this year was even better than last. Much more social crowd, more organized staff and management, any maintenance issues I observed were handled swiftly and if a fix wasn't possible a new room was offered as soon as available. Some reviewers will certainly have legitimate negatives but this was not MY experience at all and I will definitely be back again next year!

People are friendly, location was good, food was alright, you can get eggs and bacon almost everyday if you are at the alegance section/ priveledge. Stuff at the buffet are a little disorganize, they need more experience. Some of the bar tender need to smile.

First impressions are important, yes this is Cuba. I won’t be complaining about food as we were never hungry, and of course it was repetitive but we knew this. BUT…that doesn’t mean customer service should be lacking, the workers have full control over themselves.. in our experience besides, the ladies in Mike”s, the groundskeepers, 1 buffet staff, and Roxy in concierge who were absolutely wonderful, the rest need some real training as they were either rude, dismissive, and eye rolling. We arrived at 11 am and were told our room (allegance) wasn't available until 4, which we were fine with. However when we returned just after 4 it wasn’t ready and we wouldn’t be in the allegance for the night as they were sold out. Again, we were fine with that, we just wanted a room. We were then told they had no linens… hmm.. ok.. again trying to remain calm but we were not the only ones experiencing the same problem, the rest of the ppl who were on our bus were in the same boat. The manager is excellent at deflection, that they are highly skilled in. The women at the front desk I felt for bc they were left holding the bag. As we waited and blantenly ignored us another group arrived. We all thought, oh no!!! But they had a seamless experience and received 3 ALLEGANCE ROOMS!! (They told us they were sold out) which of course made the rest of us very upset… eventually we were put in a room.. it was a room.. not cleaned properly, but we had a room.. we were told to see Roxy in the morning to be transferred to Allegance. We did that.. we got a very nice room that faced the pool.. this we were happy with. Roxy was amazing, she listened to our concerns along with the others that were in the same situation the day before and was empathetic, apologized and did her best to make it right. Would’ve been nice if we had that same experience the day before. Besides 1 waitress in the buffet, the rest looked like they were inconvenienced to get you a drink, we were at breakfast and not offered water at all, the wait staff were chatting at laughing at thier booth. not even a smile. Just unwelcoming, same experience at the lobby bar. A smile and a simple hello goes a long way, and it’s so easy. We spoke with others who had a great experience, but many more that didn’t and all our stores were almost identical. We won’t be returning, we wouldn’t recommend, based on our experience.

The only thjng that saved our vacation was the Alegance upgrade. The room was disappointing - housekeeping was poor. Towels were not replaced for the two week duration. The bedding was not changed for the two week duration. The walls had bug splatters, hand prints, and scum marks everywhere. Did not have hot water for the first week. Alegance pool - bar tender Roberto was great. Pool was dirty, not cleaned. Never any chairs or lounges available after 8:00 am. People would put towels there and not show up all day. Alegance restaurant was the saving grace for meals and service. Meals were very tasty and the staff were polite, entertaining and fun to be around. Main lobby was infested with bugs at night. Couldn't enjoy the evening without constantly swatting mosquitoes/bugs. Mike's coffee bar was outstanding. Beach was disappointing due to coral at shore line. Not even comparable to the other Varadero beaches. Again no lounge chairs available after early morning. There are better resorts to visit.