Rating:
"Our first All inclusive holiday and we both loved it. The food was excellent, the weather was perfect, the hospitality was outstanding and the entertainment was non-stop. The rooms were not luxurious, but you never stayed in them very long to care....Beds were really hard!! Two things we very disappointed in was the wi-fi and internet services were very poor and expensive...and the cushions on the lounge chairs were well worn and for comfort one often used two on one chair since you spent most of the day on them."
Reviewer: reviewer884
Date: Feb. 06, 2012

Rating:
"Travelled week of October 10-17, 2011. Glad we went with a 5 star resort in Cuba as their ratings are different than Mexico. The resort was great, probably a 4 star on a Mexican scale. From the moment we entered the hotel, we received great service. We arrived at the resort at 7:00 am and they gave us a temporary room until ours was ready which was a nice touch. Food was pretty good all around. We ate at two of the three alacartes and they both were good. The one item we missed was the lack of fruit at the buffets compared to other countries. The beach was beautiful; some areas were rocky but you just need to walk a few metres and you will find sandy areas. All in all a nice resort. Not sure if we'd return to this resort again as we would prefer to be closer to Varadero."
Reviewer: reviewer1989
Date: Oct. 25, 2011

Rating:
"The hotel, the people, the beach - all of it, was perfect! This was my 3rd trip back to the same hotel and I love it more than the first trip. The staff of the hotel seem to know they are #1 and are very proud."
Reviewer: reviewer197
Date: May. 17, 2011

Rating:
"This was our first visit to Cuba and it exceeded our expectations. The hotel was perfect as was the service, the people and the food. The entertainment was better than others we have seen in Mexico. Would certainly go back!!"
Reviewer: reviewer2611
Date: Nov. 17, 2010

Rating:
"We just came back from a week at the Iberostar Varadero and I can't say enough great things about it!! This was our first family all-inclusive (kids are 20, 19, and 17) and wasn't sure how it would go but I needn't have worried. Right from the booking stage with Nancy at Escapes.ca, who made everything easy despite my crazy complications, it was awesome! The resort is on the small side which made it easy to get everywhere. The rooms were very spacious and clean. The food was much better than expected (having read reviews about Cuban food) and very plentiful. The best part was the staff; I have never met more friendly and warm people before! The animation staff were terrific, coming around to include anyone who wanted to get involved in activities, and remembering everyone's names, which was quite impressive. My kids had a blast! Even the evening shows were good - I loved the way they involved the little kids, and other guests in their routines. And our housekeeper, Dayannis, was so sweet!! The towel art was incredible and she even left me a gift on our departure day (I had left gifts for her) - I was really surprised!! Do the Havana tour, snorkelling, and rent scooters for a couple of hours - too fun! All in all, it was a very memorable vacation, and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend the Ibersotar Varadero to anyone."
Reviewer: reviewer5418
Date: Apr. 14, 2010

Rating:
"This resort was excellent. This was my third time to Varadero, and this is the best hotel i've stayed in. The food isn't the best in Cuba, but the food was actually good at this hotel. Lots of variety to choose from. The A La Carte's were excellent. Japanese, Mediteranean, and Cuban. They had fried rice, good salads, lobster, beef tenderloin, shrimp, chicken, calamari (fried squid rings) and really good desserts too. The rooms were gorgeous. The washroom is very spacious, and the beds were comfortable...no bed bugs for me this time around. That's why it's worth staying in a 5 star resort. Their is also a mini fridge that gets stocked daily with beer, pops, and water. The grounds of the hotel are very clean and well kept. The beach is a bit narrow, but it's still beautiful...especially when the water is calm and the sun is shining. The pool was very nice, especially because it had a swim up bar. The service was excellent. The staff were always asking if we would like another drink and if everything was ok. The entertainment team was also very friendly, and the nightly entertainment was good too. The lobby bar was a good place to relax and socialize in the evening incase you don't feel like watching the shows...and their is also a disco just around the corner from the lobby. This resort is a mixture of families with small children, couples, and a few singles. Overall, best hotel I've been to in Varadero. I would return again. "
Reviewer: Mel
Date: Mar. 31, 2010

Rating:
"Our 2 week trip to Cuba to stay at the Iberostar Varadero was amazing! We had superb service from Sean at Escapes.ca and also from our Signature Vacation representative, Frank, from Iberostar Varadero. Frank was very helpful with getting our overnight tour set up to Havana (fantastic trip to Havana and the Tropicana and Ballet at the Grand Teatro ) Frank is such an interesting person and he gave us tons of information about Cuba. I can't say enough about the Iberstar Varadero -- it was wonderful -- my husband and I were so impressed with high level of customer service and the friendly, professional staff. We had a fantastic stay! The beach was amazing, the food was wonderful -- we had heard that the food may not be good in Cuba but it was excellent. The architecture, the lobby setting and bar and rooms were all first class. Thank you for making our trip filled with great memories!

"
Reviewer: reviewer4544
Date: Dec. 14, 2009

Rating:
"We all had a really good time in Cuba and all of us would go back. The resort (Iberostar Varadero) was very nice not too big and not too small (under 400 rooms). I think there were 11 villa's. The resort is rated #1 on Trip Advisor.

Food:
Only 3 ala carte (Cuban - mediocre, Japanese - very entertaining and good food, and Mediterranean - excellent food). And of course the buffet - good food. The desserts and breads are excellent better than Mexico. They also have an incredible selection of cheese. The rest of the food is very good but there is not anywhere near the selection you find in Mexico. We did have lobster 3 times (Cuban, Mediterranean and Buffet). These are large Cuban lobsters very, very good. I will dream about them. I think food at other resorts without a high rating may not be as good.

Drinks:
Lots of drink selection and good wines. My favorite was vodka and pineapple juice or sangria. They had the usual selections daiquiris, mojitos, margaritas etc. Margaritas were not as good as Mexico.

Room:
The standard rooms were very large and very comfortable beds. Separate stand up tiled shower and a large bathtub also with a shower. However, there was only 1 sink. In room safes (you pick the code), irons and ironing board (who irons on holidays?). Large balconies (we had a partial pool view). I never even went on the balcony. There was beer and pop in the fridge - their brand of pops - no coke or pepsi. We had towel art with flowers every day in the bathroom and bed. Note: you only get 2 bath towels - so when you have a shower you have to remember to dismantle the towel art on the bed and bring a towel into the bathroom (Hubby never remembered).

Pools:
Gorgeous main pool (that is actually 3 pools) and another separate pool. They are all shallow (waist deep). There is a large very nice swim up bar. Lots and lots of chairs and palapas (excuse spelling) no need to save chairs and no "chair wars".

Beach:
The beach is narrow but not a problem. Unbelievable sand and water - you have to see it to believe it. Again no shortage of chairs or palapas. They have a bar at the beach and also a beach grill (burgers and hotdogs, fruit). There is also bathrooms. Sometimes there was someone to take drink orders on the beach but the bar was very close.

Havana:
We hired a van, driver and tour guide ($85 cdn p/p) for the day. Our tour guide was an angel and very very knowledgeable. Havana was about 1 hr & 45 minutes. We stopped at a road side bar for pina colodas (OMG coconut milk and fresh squeezed pineapple juice) then you add a much or little rum as you want $2.50). Again I will have dreams about those drinks.

Havana was a really interesting city to visit and well worth the time and money. We bought lots of cigars. I would highly recommend the trip.

Service:
This was interesting - many people rave on about how nice Cuban people are......Maybe we expected too much. The service was hit or miss in the lobby bar. Often we would just go to the bar and get our own drinks. But sometimes (perhaps when the men were there) we got fabulous service???

Swim up Bar - same thing sometimes the service was really good and the bartenders very friendly and sometimes you had the wait for one of the "girls" to finish flirting with one of the bartenders. You get "a look" if you interrupt.

Buffet and ala cartes the service was generally fairly good.

Towel "guy" - again do not interrupt or you will get "a look". You just need to wait until he finishes talking, counting towels or whatever.

We brought lots of "tip things" - (pocket knives for the men, lotions, make up, clothes etc for the women). They are very much appreciated. They need clothes, sun screen everything. They cannot get it and if it is available it is way too expensive.

It is weird to only meet people from Europe and Canada. We met a group from Ireland (wedding was supposed to be in Cancun) but had to be moved to Cuba. We enjoyed them very much and will keep in contact. Also met very nice people from England. It was weird not meeting anyone from the U.S. Cubans are hoping travel from the States opens up - when U.S. citizens do visit (through Canada) their passports are not stamped - so they do not have any problems when they return.

All in all it was a great trip and we loved it and all of us would return."
Reviewer: dlbconsulting8487
Date: Jun. 19, 2009