Arrival: April 11-18, 09 We arrived around 10:00pm. A little slow but staff was friendly. We were on vacation so we relaxed and chatted with the other tourists who were in line with us.
Rooms:
Our room was fine. It was fairly big. Two twin beds, a couple of night stands, two chairs and a desk/table. We had ample room to move around. The sink and closet were in a little alcove with a separate bathroom bathroom with roomy shower. Both the air conditioner and room safe were in working order and looked fairly new. We had a little balcony which I liked as I’m a smoker and my husband is not. The room was very, very clean. The first day our maid, Biorkes, left behind a welcome note in English, a one litre bottle of water and a vase of dried flowers. Everyday I left her a little note in my broken Spanish with a peso or two and some treats. Starting the second day not only did she clean our room, she hung and folded our clothes, towels etc and organized our footwear. Even though bottled water apparently was not included, she left a fresh bottle of water every day. It was the best maid service we have received in 20 years of travelling. We felt like we had hired a personal maid. Most days we had hot water but some it was lukewarm bordering on cold. We had a few ants behind out bathroom door; I just sprayed the area with Off every second day; problem solved. This kind of stuff doesn’t bother us. After all, we are in a developing country. If we expected to get what we have at home, we’d stay at home. And to be quite frank, I wish some of the whiny, complaining people we’ve met had done just that. Basically, go with the flow and chill out.
Restaurants and Bars:
This was our eight time to Cuba, our first to Varadero and compared to other places we’ve been in Cuba, especially Cienfuegos and Trinidad, we did not have a problem with the food or the service. My husband is a very good cook and is fussy. Typically, he loses weight when we travel down South. Well, this time he didn’t. We found the flavour of the food was more European vs. Cuban. Don’t get me wrong, it was not 5 star but there was definitely something available every meal we liked. I personally loved the eggs. I have never had eggs so fresh or flavourable. I had fried or boiled eggs for breakfast and any salad available with eggs for lunch and dinner. We didn’t really eat at the pool bar so we can’t say what it was like. For the most part we found the bartenders friendly and helpful. As my husband is a beer drinker and I only drank alcohol in the evenings, we had no problem. When on vacation I always tell the bartender to surprise me. Also all the bartenders we had spoke several languages – Spanish, Italian, French and English. We had no problem with communication.
Beach/Pools/Grounds: Didn’t use the pool. The beach was excellent. The water was glorious. One of the best we’ve been on. Even though it was public, nobody bothered us. We spent every waking hour during the day on the beach. Lots of chairs; no need to go down early in the morning and stake your claim like other resorts we’ve been on. No problem getting shade either; more than enough palapas to go around. Also, as the resort is small, everything was at hand.
Activities on and off the Resort/Hotel:
Other than volleyball, didn’t really notice if any other activities available as we spend all our time on the beach. Nightly entertainment wasn’t the best but we met some lovely people and we made our own fun. A few of us did the Varadero double decker bus which is open on the top and stops at all the resorts and the market. You purchase a day pass and you can ride all day from 9:00am til 8:00pm. This was lovely and gave us a chance to see the "strip".
Other Comments:
Found that tips actually counted at this resort. We’ve been to many others where it didn’t seem to matter whether you tipped or not. Here at least if you tipped, it appeared they went that extra mile for you. We found out from one the bartenders that for 16 years this resort was exclusive to tourists from Italy. I think the reason our tips counted was that one bartender told us he had made more tips from the Canadians in 4 months than 16 years with the Italians. He said they loved the Canadians.
We had a great time and without a doubt we will go back again next April. For this time two weeks. Believe me, if you have never travelled to what I call the "real" Cuba, Varadero is luxury & modern in comparison.
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