Paradisus Varadero Resort & Spa

We stayed at the Paradisus Varadero from April 9 to 16. We were 3 couples. And while we knew that we were going to Cuba and to expect some potential issues with food, what we didn't expect was to have no water several times throughout the week. The worst part is that we opted for the Royal Service side , figuring that the cost of the upgrade will make the trip more pleasant . This upgrade cost us each an additional $500.00. Four of the 7 days we had no water for several hours each day. Three of the days it was early in the mornings. Have no water in the room to start the day is not the greatest. The first morning we were so unprepared that we waited until after 9 to request a courtesy room for us to have showers and start the day, by the time it was organized and we had gotten ourselves ready to head out it was after 10 and the buffets close at 10. we were told to go to the 2 24 hour snack bars, to which we did much to our surprise to find out that they had no food at the either snack bar. so we had nothing to eat until 1:00 pm. This is extremely upsetting to not get to eat anything until 1 pm. the next morning when it occurred we were better prepared and we were able to get ourselves organized early enough to get to the buffet in time for breakfast. we were using our garbage cans to go down to get water out of the pool to flush the toilet in the rooms. This practice occurred every second morning. The fourth time it occurred was in the evening, we had went out on an excursion The jeep Safari and we returned back to the resort at roughly 7:15 pm we had reservations to an a la carte for 8:15 and no water in our section again. we once again we were rushing to get a courtesy room and hurry up and get to our reservation. Having no water several days for several hours each time makes for an unpopular vacation. with the Royal service section they state that there is 24 hour room service and that is absolutely not true. we tried several times throughout the week and the phone was hardly ever answered and if someone answered we were told no food. I even went to see the concierge about the room service issue and he informed me that they no longer have 24 hour room service since covid but they still have it listed on their webpage. that was part of the reason we booked Royal Service was the 24 room service with the exclusive beach area ( to which that is not true at all) there is an exclusive area but its on coral and you cant possibly swim there. we resort is listed as a 5 Star but the Royal Service section is totally rundown. the curtains in my room were in shreds, and hanging all lope-sided. the bathroom door didn't shut fully, the bath tub was in disrepair, you could see that once it must have been incredible but the age of this area of the resort is the oldest part. the pool in the Royal Service section has many missing tiles and the fountains don't work. they have 2 hot tubs but neither no was working. no water in them. Out of the week there we had no bread of any kind for 4 days, that means no burgers, hot dogs nor pizza, pastries, buns and no fries! if we hadn't paid for the upgrade we would have been in the regular section where they had water it would have been a much nicer vacation but paying an extra $500.00 per people to have no water for 4 days was not making for happy vacationers. I spoke several times to the Sunwing rep to which he basically said this is a resort issue and you will need to speak to them about compensation. he said he would could probably get us a free massage. to which i informed him that i wanted a refund for the upgrade that didnt feel like an upgrade at all. i spoke to out butler several times and the manager of the Royal Service area. they did offer us an $80.00 refund per room. We did not accept it, I told them we want a refund of $500.00 per person for the suppose upgrade that wasn't an upgrade. I contacted the travel agent i used with no real assistance there and Ihave contacted Sunwing and filed a complaint but they haven't answered me. I got an email stating that they are busy but they will look into the matter. It's been 3 weeks and still no answer.

Pillows were full of mold and when we requested new ones, an extra pillow case was added on to the same ones. Broken air conditioners in 3 rooms, terrible smells coming from the vents, leaky roof causing regular daily mess we had to clean up ourselves, disgusting mattresses, a cleaner 2 times in 6 days, 5 room changes in 6 days, buffet food was always cold unless you waited for 30 minutes to get cook to order items, we lost power and had no hot water for 2 days. Staff other than one young man we had to deal with on our last night, were fantastic!

Very nice location, beach is great, entertainment is very good. We staied at Reserve, rooms where clean for most part Food is modest. Water is not always available. TP in public washrooms is mostly inexistent. Tip : bring yours, Cotonelle or similar. A la carte: I recomand Bana, the rest... not worth it. Beer in the fridge was provided ony twice- reason? They dont have any :) We took a speed boat + paradise island trip- speed boat was great , however we got stuck on paradise island for 2 h becouse they are selling black market lobster and the kitchen was slow. Kitchen... a shack with no water. I do not recomand that trip. Would i go back? Yes, becouse the beach and the sea are great. Management is terrible though, they absolutly suck.

Sorry for the long review. We stayed at Paradisus from 25 April to 2 May. We will not return to this hotel and do not recommend it either. We'd seen the comments but decided to give it a go and maybe people were just bitching! Now some of them were right! To start with, we were in low season, so the site was practically empty, perfect for those who want peace and quiet, the beach was empty, but this brings less entertainment, practically none on the beach, no great selection at the buffet, always the same thing offered, lack of bread, meat, etc., in short, there was always something missing and always the same excuse. We booked a package with Sunwing at The Reserve.... Never book in this section, at least not in low season! 3/4 of the advantages offered by The Reserve weren't present! It's not worth it for the price difference. When we arrived at the motel on Friday evening, at around 11pm, we were supposed to have a butler service, but the golf cart made a flat while transporting us and was never arranged all week! The Reserve staff were impeccable. They then allocated us our rooms 4431 & 4432, which are luxury suite rooms! First of all, the rooms were in a shabby and dirty state (see photo). We asked to have the sheets changed, by which time it was midnight, so we went to bed with our clothes on! There was no running water, which meant neither in the sink nor in the toilet. After a day of travelling, we couldn't even brush our teeth or go to the toilet. My partner took the bin in the bedroom to collect water from the pool so that we could at least do something essential before going to bed (toilet!). There was even food on the floor and lots of ants were near the food, disgusting! It goes without saying that the next day, we asked to change rooms, we were placed on the regular side of the hotel. So our Reserve package with Sunwing was way overpriced! They told us to go at 4pm the next day to change room, it was at 8pm that we were able to change, always with an excuse that the room was not ready and other. The staff in the main lobby seemed to find us annoying or demanding but it was out of the question for us to stay in the Reserve and in our dirty rooms. I want to thank the lady that was taking care of customer service for her help with this situation. In our new rooms, we did not have access to hot water throughout our stay! Washing in cold water for a week... not one of our favourites! In our two new rooms, the patio door didn't lock, hair on the blankets (caught in the blankets), but at some point, you want to see the positive and enjoy your holiday, so you try to be positive despite everything! Constant smell of sewage in one of the rooms when the air conditioning was on, so our friends closed it and we left our connecting doors open so that we could cool their room! No beach towels during our first 4 days! On our last day, our friends left their towels on a chair by the pool and we went to the snack bars for dinner, which was really minimal (hambergers, hot dogs and sandwiches with no bread, in short we ate fried bananas for the whole week!) When we came back from dinner, someone had taken the 2 towels, the hotel charged us for the towels as we couldn't return them! Unbelievable! Was this planned, no idea but really not a strong decision! We understand that Cuba has its difficulties, but cleanliness and access to essential services should be a priority for customers. The price of travelling to Cuba is ridiculous! We have travelled to Cancun, Riviera Maya, Punta Cana, Puerto Plata, Jamaique, Holguin, Cayo Coco and we have never paid so much for a trip, and this is the worst experience we have had! We will never go back to Cuba. They want more visitors but the situation and the prices mean it will only go downhill. You can't charge the same as the Republic or Mexico when you can't offer visitors the same services or basic needs. We tried 3 à la carte restaurants, but it was practically the same thing that was offered at the buffet. We visited Varadero, we recommend the Salsa Suarez restaurant, excellent service, very clean and very good, I think it's under private management. We did the jeep safari, not sure we would recommended it. Our guide was not enjoyable, this day is too long for nothing. However, if you want to see the country, this is perfect. The beach and the water were the highlights of the trip. There was one section where the seaweed was not cleaned or picked up all week. This motel has 3 sections, regular, the Reserve and Adult only. This site must have been excellent at some point in the past! But it is not taken care of. It needs some TLC. We met a couple from Quebec who were in the regular section and who also had their room changed, and put in the Adult only section, they only had hot (boiling) water for their shower, no cold water, it's hard to understand! Doesn't make any senses! We would like to thank the following employees for their excellent service: Alejandro, Samantha, Carlos and Reydel (Raydel?). Don't be fooled by the photos of the hotel, especially of the rooms! During our excursions, we saw the other hotels from the outside and thought that there were worse than us! Get your expectations down!

My family and I were there from April 24-May 1st. We arrived a couple of hours later than expected as the bus we were on ran out of gas and had to wait for another bus to come get us. Check in was smooth. We stayed on the reserve side. Room - We stayed on the top floor in building #41. (32,33, and 36). The rooms are absolutely gorgeous! The king size bed was very firm and comfortable enough to sleep on without waking up throughout the night. The safe worked in our rooms. The dressers/walls could use some painting/maintenance. Though there are phones in the room, they did not work. FYI - We were not aware that the balcony doors locks from the outside. Please be mindful of this in case you’re out there and shut the door in hopes that you don’t let any bugs in! Read story below under “services”. Plumbing - First day staying there, we had luke warm water, and most days hot water. A couple of times we did occur not having water at all. This lasted a couple of hours at a time. Maid - I don’t remember who the maid was, but she had done an excellent job in keeping the room spotless. I had brought extra TP as I wasn’t sure if this resort was experiencing shortages with it, but the maid took them away. There were a couple of times that we had to ask for a roll of TP, a bottle of water and towels as we didn’t have any after the room was cleaned. Pools - We practically had the whole reserve pool to ourselves most times. There are pools in front of our buildings as well — though we had not seen anybody use them. The reserve pool was very clean. Most times the bartenders would be serving drinks on the other side of the bar and not in the actual poor bar itself. We did not experience the main pool. The temperature of the pool was a little bit chilly, but easy to get use to. Beach - Absolutely gorgeous! You may come across some seaweed in certain areas, but the sand is white and soft. The beach water was warmer than the pools were. We found most vacationers would stay at the beach instead of the pools. We came across a few fishies in the ocean, but nothing crazy. Chairs - We were always use to waking up early enough to claim a chair whether it be by the pool or beach, but with this resort, we didn’t have to. There were lots available. There were a lot of umbrellas and cabanas free as well. Beach/pool towels - Tbh, we were unable to get any towels until day 5 of our trip. Luckily, I brought some in case if we came across any issues getting some. Buffets - The reserve side was only available for breakfast and lunch, and we had to use the main buffet for dinner. Though the food was repetitive, there were plenty to choose from. I lived off of the “sausage croquettes” as they were delicious! For breakfast, they had crepes, hashbrowns, omelettes, sausages, smoothies, toast (with condiments such as butter and jam), and cereal. They had other food that you typically wouldn’t eat for breakfast. I was surprised that they didn’t have bacon. Near the end of our trip unfortunately there was a cockroach near the bread station, but wasn’t on the food directly. For lunch and dinner was basically the same thing - pasta, meats, corn, carrots, sweet potato’s, pumpkin, soup, beans, sliced cheese, etc. Some of the desserts were delicious. Snackbar - There are two that we went to, and both didn’t have a variety of food. Most days hotdogs or burgers (though at times no bread to go with them), tuna, sardine or chicken sandwiches. Plantain chips. I was shocked that they had no fries. Al la cartes - We went to Oriental, Italian and Japanese. Oriental was okay. The paper spring roll was good. The main chicken dish wasn’t the greatest. Italian was alright. I had an Alfredo-like pasta and it was good. Japanese I found was the best one. The soup and stir fry was delicious. Drinks - There wasn’t really much to choose from which we expected, so we drank Rum punch most times, and lime daiquiris. They didn’t have grenadine for Miami vices but instead used a mint syrup, and it was very good! They iced coffees are delicious as well!! Entertainment - Surprisingly, we never came across any activities or dancers around the pool. We just noticed something going on at the main on our last day, but maybe because we were on the reserve side there was next to nobody there and was very quiet. We went to a couple of night shows, and both shows were amazing! Be sure not to miss the thriller show or magic! Disco - I promised myself to go to at least one of them, but it wasn’t a vibe sadly :( it was just odd because they had the entertainment crew at the disco — and it wasn’t the typical vibe where you had a DJ play songs and people dancing whether they’re dancing alone or with their person/ group. Wifi - Was a hit or miss :/ worked most times if late at night or super early in the day. Didn’t seem to work for most of us near the beach, but everywhere else yes. Wildlife - We saw a lot of curly tailed lizards, a few TURTLES, a dog, and a cat with a litter of kittens. I brought some food for the cats. There were a couple of cool looking birds, but that was it. Bugs - Please bring bug spray as they are BAD at night time! I brought some but despite of that, I was covered in welts and had to take Benadryl and anti-histamines everyday I was there. Service - Maid - Did a great job cleaning our rooms. We may have been face to face a couple of times. I hope she appreciated the gifts we left for her service. Gardeners - There was a guy named London and there’s someone else, but they were absolutely sweet! They like to pick us coconuts, bananas, mangoes and flowers. We made a big bag full of goodies as they deserve something great for their service as well. Bartenders - Most were nice. Drinks were made perfectly, and some times too strong.. Waitresses - Most were so so kind! They were providing us top service! We tipped them very well! **Hotel lobby receptionist - Please be aware of an incident that occurred in our group. The first night we got here, my brother and his friend were out drinking and when they came back to their room, they went out on the balcony and shut the door behind them to not let the bugs in. Little did they (or any one of us) know that the doors lock from the outside. This was at 2am. They called reception and were told that there’s nothing that could be done for them and will need to stay there until someone can let them back in the morning.. which is absolutely terrifying. I’m sure that they must have some sort of night staff that could’ve used a master key to let themselves into any room for instances like this. Especially with the bugs out, if any of them were severely allergic to them like I am and went into an anaphylactic shock..? My brother’s girlfriend was awake and while speaking to her (as she wasn’t with us), called the place herself and was hung up on after explaining the situation. My brother then got in contact with the Sunwing rep, and after 2 and a half hours of back and forth as there was not much communication with the rep, they told him the same thing, AND that they were going to “terminate this conversation”. “Please stay safe”. Like WHAT?!?! The boys haven’t stopped screaming for help. I guess he tried contacting me and my other brother, but the wifi wasn’t working for both of us, and I’m placed on the opposite side of the building and didn’t hear anything. At 5:15am, my older brother did wake up and he was able to get inside of their room and let them back in. They were bitten to pieces by the bugs, and of course were restless. What a crazy experience! Our last day at the resort, we had a later checkout as that’s part of our upgrade. However, we were unable to keep our rooms as there was no water anymore.. so we were moved to the “royal” side, and moved to this 1 suite for the 6 of us. Unfortunately, it was not cleaned before we got there, as someone’s feces was left in the toilet, a large dead cockroach beside it, and the tub was left filled with water that was used to bathe in. I’m glad they could accommodate us another spot so we didn’t lose our time overall. The royal side was very nice. Very quiet. Environment - The resort alone is very huge, but is absolutely breath-taking. We may come back here once the shortages become better.