Cleanliness: This hotel was super clean-no issues at all with the room or the rest of the hotel. Always saw staff cleaning inside and out. I did not see any bugs during our stay.
Food: There is only one restaurant at the Las Morlas. It is open for breakfast and dinner and it is buffet. Lunch is served (buffet as well) down by the beach in the grill area. The buffets all consit of a variety of things-you can get any style of egg or great omlets for breakfast, lots of fruits bread etc. Lunch consisted of salads, fruits, great desserts, hot dogs, hamburgers, fries and then a different rice, pasta, or grilled item. Dinner also had salad fruits, pasta bar, a roast of some sort (the pork and beef were very good!) many seafood dishes, always fish and of course great desserts. The staff in the restaurant were wonderful to us. Ihosavny makes beautiful flowers from knapkins and Carey makes a great grasshopper from leaves. They treated us like royalty. Please spoil them too!!! We never went hungry and always enjoyed our meals.
Bars: There are 3 bars at the Las Morlas. The lobby bar makes excellent drinks and is open later than the rest. The beach bar is small but is great and handy for beer or mixed drinks while on the beach-not far to go at all. The pool bar is the busiest and makes great fancy drinks-pina coladas etc..
Room: The room (330) was very comfortable-2 three quarter beds put together. They were firm and I had no problem. They give you one long pillow that you can fold in half to give yourself that 2 pillow feeling. There is a bar fridge in the room that is restocked every second day- water, Cristal beer, coke and orange pop. We never ran out as we only used it when we were actually in the room. You can access water (bottled) at all of the bars. There is also a large bottle of rum in the room when you arrive-not the best but if you pour lightly and add some coke it makes a nice drink. Olga cleaned out room every day we were there and made great towel art. TV worked fine and we were always able to find a movie on somewhere. Big closet with a safe, lots of drawers. The bathroom was very nice-always clean, lots of toilet paper, fresh towels and no problems with water pressure. The room was a good size but in all honesty we were never in it other than to sleep-pack or unpack. Nice balcony too with a great view of the pool area and some ocean.
Beach: I cannot say enough about how beautiful the beach is. The sand was white and soft. The water color is too hard to describe and could never give you a clear picture of how beautiful it was. Very clear, very salty, great waves to jump in. We brought water shoes but never used them. Never had a problem getting a palapa as there was always one empty somewhere. There are the ususal hobie cats, kayaks and paddle boats there to use (included) The ocean was warm and we the beach walks were great. You can easily walk in to Varadero from the beach and it is a bit cooler walk than taking the road. One word of mention…you may wish to bring an air mattress if you are a beach dweller. My hubby found the chairs hard and not too comfy.
Pool: The pool was very nice and wound around the bar area. I swam in it the last day and it was cool but nice once you were used to it. It appeared clean all the time and I was not overwhelmed by the smell of chlorine when I was in. They have a swim up bar but I only say one person at it the whole week we were there. Lots of empty chairs around the pool all the time. The chairs are softer in the pool area. The grounds at this hotel are beautiful and well looked after. Lots of birds and little lizards-totally harmless!!
Reception: No problems with check in or out and the staff was always happy to answer questions, exchange $$ etc. Upon arrival at the airport they put you on a bus that takes you to your hotel-there are great drinks on this bus!!! $5 pesos for 2 drinks. We did split on a late check out with some people we met there -cost is $25 pesos but it was worth it to us as regular check out is at noon and we did not have to leave for the airport until 7:45pm. It was nice to be able to go and take a shower before departing. If you do not pay for late check out they put your bags in a safe room and give you access to a room for changing and showering. When you get to the airport you may wish to stay downstairs for a while before going through security. We made the mistake of going up right away and it is very hot and crowded. At least downstairs you can go outside and get some air.
Havana trip-think it cost us about 67 pesos each. 2 hour bus ride with a guide who gives you great info about Cuba. Bring a roll of toilet paper with you!! Havana is beautiful and there is so much to see that this short trip really does not give you enough time to take it all in. I wish we could have stayed for longer. Lunch is inlcuded in this trip and it was very nice. They give you time to shop a bit and take you to see some beautiful places. I would love to go back to Havana and explore sometime.
Catamaran/Cayo Blanco-$75 pesos pp. This was a very nice trip-catamaran was a blast. Drinks are all included. We stopped betwwen 2 islands and they cooked up some lobster that you could buy for $10 pesos. Nice music and atmosphere on the boat. Cayo Blanco is a nice island with a gorgeous beach where you sit and relax and then there is a large buffet lunch. We saw dolphins in the bay just off the island. Party time on the way back with great music and dancing. After the Cat trip you are bussed to a place for a dolphin show. It was short but cute and you are pretty tired by this point anyway. Big hello to Sherri and Sherri from Halifax who made our trip pretty funny!! This trip also included the Catamaran sunset tour the next evening. It was vey nice but we were not informed drinks were not included on this trip. They were only a peso each but we had not brought much money. Sunset was beautiful but watch the mosquitos when you return to the landing. This was the one and only time we saw mosquitos in Cuba. Bring some spray and put it on as you return to shore.
Animacion: There is a small animacion team at the Las Morlas and they give great effort and work very hard. They invite you to join games during the day and put on the shows at night. The dancing and music were great. This hotel has more of an older crowd and not much happens after 11pm. I would not recommend it to a youger crowd looking to party. We are in our 40’s and found it a bit too quiet.
Overall this is a great little hotel that is clean and has a super staff. The beach is wonderful and there is a lot to see and do. There is a bank right next door and Varadero is a 10 or 15 minute walk. It was hot when we were there so walking in to town in the morning is advised. You can grab a cab or carriage on the way back if it is too hot or if you are carrying too many parcels from shopping at all of the markets. The carriage ride cost 10 pesos for 4 of us. We lacked for nothing on this trip and had a great time. Big hello’s to Sharon and Kathy (Katee!!), Eric and Josee and Earl and Dawn-you all made our trip more enjoyable!! Any questions..sarmay88@yahoo.com