And here it is again, Viva la Cuba!
Arrived, Havana, bus, road (out of the predicted 2.5 hours, almost 4, so I advise private transfer), Varadero (this is all usual).
I had a great desire to write a review about this hotel during its operation (staying).
I'll start from the beginning.
Check-in is standard. With a smart face they say that there are rooms only on the first floor (although perhaps this will be convenient for someone), but within 15 minutes of communication rooms appear on the second floor. The “Sea View” option for 15 cookies per person per day was requested, and this can only be felt in the 11th and 12th blocks, second and third floor. The first floor on this side has rooms of the “thicket view” or “hill view” type, whichever you prefer. Well, and for a couple of cookies of gratitude, the suitcases were delivered to the room on the 12th block overlooking the pool, second floor.
The room is bright, large, moderately clean (this refers to the fact that they are reluctant to wash the floors), the bathroom is a little shabby, but this is not critical, after all, I didn’t come to live in a bathroom. There is a safe and ironing board. . TV - only the Cuban music channel was on it. The beer and cola in the refrigerator were free. The room size really corresponds to 5*, but only that.
The hotel area is unremarkable, probably taking into account the fact that most of it is under renovation and at the end of Blau Privilage Cayo Libertad they built a dam with a road to neighboring island, which completely killed the beach in that area. The smell of rotting algae and some small living creatures is depressing. Really....is it really difficult to take and remove these rubbles? But apparently the hotel owners have different views on this. There are practically no people in this area. And yet you can take a walk. And if you’re lucky, you can catch lobsters near the dam.
Beach - ....what is the beach. Normal beach. just normal, because it would be possible to clean the discarded algae here more often. Sun loungers can be found free without any problems. YES and the sand is not as white as on Playa Varadero closer to the city.
Food, canteen-“restaurant” - I don’t want to pay much attention to this topic. Don't stop hungry. There is fish and meat (pork, beef), chicken, rabbit, squid, octopus, spaghetti, all kinds of rice, cakes, rolls, fruit. Red wine, white, beer. For “lovers” of the aristocratic morning badun, you can even improve your health with cold champagne. BUT all this, like variety, will get boring in three to five days. Every day it will be the same.
Lighthouse - Observation deck For good photos, although in theory they should make spaghetti, pizza and burgers. I make them, they make them, they don’t cook them.....they just take them and make them with “crooked” hands. It would be better not to do it. Although, no, they can still cook the pizza according to your order with your favorite toppings, but first you have to get the cookies, only then will they want to talk to you. And you will get delicious pizza.
Animation - of course the guys are great here. On the beach they will teach you how to dance and entice you to play volleyball. And there will be entertainment near the pool (although it’s time to repair the equipment). Every day there are evening programs and dancing, and magic tricks, and live music, and live singing (Cuban tunes with wind instruments, it was something).
WIFI (Internet) - well, Cubans don’t know how to make comfortable use of this service (and that’s not what I came there for... although how could it be without the benefits of civilization... photos on Instagram, calling your family via Viber, and someone... then you need to work). So...an hour is 1.5 cookies, just like everywhere else in Cuba, the same price (according to ETECSA provider cards). Cards are sold in a separate communications department, on the left side behind the reception))) (which is often simply closed). For new arrivals, they manage to sell 2 cookies per card, although in reality you just sell them at the reception and don’t torture people. I always bought at 10k so as not to bother. The range of the Internet in the hotel is the lobby (almost under the router, there is also a sign with the inscription - “A place for hitting your head,” WIFI, just kidding). You can also use these cards to connect throughout Cuba where there is WIFI coverage. During peak hours there is nowhere to sit with a laptop, but this is nonsense, you can’t even connect due to apparently a limitation on the number of connected devices. When asked to reboot the router, they always answer that it is in Havana))). Those. Having connected and entered the card number, the data is accepted, but the Internet does not work and it turns out that you pay for air. Plus, if you are lucky enough to connect and you have done all your work in less than an hour, you can end the Internet session and time will not pass (don’t just turn off WIFI, but by typing http://1.1.1.1 in the browser, click “Exit” (on English or Spanish)). My wish and request to the management is to give people the opportunity to relax and be in touch wherever it is convenient for them, and don’t keep them on a “leash” in the lobby. Place one router on the beach so that you can enjoy the beautiful sea, girls can take selfies with Piña colada and instantly send it to instafram..... so that a person sits on a sun lounger, works on a laptop while drinking rum, it’s so simple, but it costs a lot. The second one, logically, is near the pool for the same purposes.
The pool is beautiful, looks clean, but very smelly (I mean chlorine). There are sufficient sun loungers and umbrellas. There is a pretty decent slide, Children's swimming pool(I don’t recommend swimming for children; water getting into the mouth will, to put it mildly, lead to frustration and all the ensuing consequences.) Further, when describing the bar, it will be clear why the pool could not be hooked.
Bars are a separate issue (they got me to write this review.
The beach one is a booth, you won’t be able to sit down, and there’s nowhere to stand. He took the pour and left. Well, that’s not it, but what about communication, and even interethnic one?
Near the pool there is a ghost bar. he is completely lifeless. and this can be said to be the center of the hotel territory. Bartenders are screwed!!! You still need to look for such sour faces. If the bartender doesn’t love his bar, then he doesn’t love the visitors, and the visitors are us, those who paid for this vacation, and he also doesn’t love us. Yes, he doesn’t have to love, but I don’t really want to see sour faces. Even a couple of cookies for tea didn't change the situation. There is a very meager selection of alcohol, there is not even normal rum, they throw in some white shmurdyak (rum for cocktails) and that’s it, juice is generally something complicated.
Theater bar - in the format while the performance is on, everything is fine and the guys are polite and the cocktails are good. But the serving in plastic cups was annoying, and then it started to infuriate me (there can’t be plastic in the ALYA 5* hotel, except that there are not the same beakers at the pool)
Lobby bar - this is where the most interesting things happen. Everything looks decorous and noble. A huge selection of alcohol (rum, and more rum, and whiskey, and tequila, and vodka), cocktails, good coffee, there are cigars, but for a fee.
Sitting down at the counter, I looked for Mulata rum, which was always of excellent quality, but it wasn’t there......and my eye caught sight of Havana Club 7, I asked the bartender to pour it for me (but this was after a 7-minute wait, because I’m not Canadian , not a German, not a Spaniard and everyone else, and who didn’t give a tip yet, that is, at the end of the line, but more on that later). And now I have a seven in my glass. I closed my eyes, took a sip... and then I realized that my throat was burning, my breathing was out of breath. ...... Real cane moonshine. I think... how can this be? I asked for another Havana Club Reserva rum...... they poured it, but the color and smell were the same as the previous bottle..... then Santiago de Cuba, and the same result. It is simply unrealistic for all three varieties and types of rum to have the same taste and color. I ask the bartender to give me a bottle of Seven in my hands, like reading it. And oooh my surprise.....the plastic dispenser has broken stoppers through which you can pour anything into the bottle. In Rezerevo, with a slight movement of the finger, the dispenser fell inward. Having asked the bartender for a closed bottle of Seven or Reserve or Santiago, he received the answer that all their bottles were open))))) Do they bottle rum in a five-star hotel? What is this for? Drink it in at least one place. ....
Noticing that it smells fried.....the bartender takes out a bottle from under the bar, an unopened bottle of Cubay Anego. He pours it, nodding confidently that I’ll like everything......and I get real pleasure in addition to buying a cigar from their bar. This is how I became acquainted with Cuban bottling activities. But after that, when they came to the bar, they always opened a new bottle for me and put it so that I could see it and poured from it only for me and my friends. Of course, there was an excellent Piña colada, not in plastic, but in a good glass. And everything became soft and pleasantly foggy and I practically forgot about all the minor inconveniences, but this fact struck a chord with me and I decided to write this review.
In general, I will say that Cuba has become different, the Cubans have become different. The approach is this...you pay, and then we will do good for you (and this applies to all cleaning, bar, medical care, sailing catamaran), i.e. This is no longer a tip, but a tribute. I understand that everyone wants to earn money, but this is too much.
I hope everything will improve, and if not, then hotel holidays in Cuba will be closed to me, only as a savage in private Casa.
We wish the owners and management of the hotel to delve deeper into the obvious problems.
The location of the five-star hotel Blau Marina Varadero 5* is Varadero, Cuba. The hotel was built in 2005. The hotel is located 40 kilometers from Varadero Airport, and 120 km from the capital's airport complex in Havana. The nearest city from the hotel will have to travel 12 kilometers. In 2010, the hotel was completely reconstructed; all 548 rooms were completely renovated and technically re-equipped.
Hotel rooms
Each room at Blau Marina Varadero 5* is decorated brightly, colorfully and seems to reflect the exuberant and cheerful Cuban character. The area of the room is 35 square meters. m, the room can accommodate two adults and one child, and if desired, the staff will supply an extra bed.
The rooms have access to a balcony or terrace; from the windows guests can see a wonderful garden of greenery and flowers and the hotel grounds, and from some rooms you can admire the ocean.
The staff at the Blau Marina Varadero Hotel have taken care of all the necessary amenities for their guests. The rooms have air conditioning, satellite TV (one of the channels is Russian), and a telephone with a local line is available for a fee. Please note - the flooring is tiled throughout, be careful - it can be slippery if you come from the beach without drying yourself thoroughly.
Security requirements are also met - each guest can hide their valuables and documents in a safe, the service for its use is provided free of charge, and there are safes in every room.
The convenient minibar is regularly replenished with drinks, including beer, and the staff checks its contents daily. In the cabinet you can find things to drink tea or coffee.
The bathroom of each room has a free hairdryer and an ironing board and iron in the room.
Hotel services
Arriving at the hotel even at night, you don’t have to worry - the reception desk is open 24 hours a day, and the staff will definitely provide assistance to future guests. The hotel accepts both cash and credit cards- MasterCard and Visa.
A pleasant feature of the hotel is the fact that pets are allowed here, so you don’t have to worry about being separated from them for a long time.
Infrastructure
The extensive infrastructure of Blau Marina Varadero 5* includes a tour desk, a currency exchange office, a business center, two modern conference rooms with a capacity of two hundred people each. The halls are rented for money. Also paid services are for motorists and those who like to ride around the area in a breeze - car, motorcycle and bicycle rentals are open every day.
Everyone is recommended to visit a spa, cosmetic, medical, massage rooms with a jacuzzi and aromatherapy sessions, there is a hairdresser and laundry, and for souvenirs, go to the shops located here on the hotel premises.
A doctor will take care of the health of guests, whose services are paid separately.
There is an inexpensive internet cafe on site with a good connection.
Animation
Day sports entertainment programs are carried out by 15 animators from 10:00 to 18:00. Unfortunately, there are no Russian speakers among them, but practice shows that this is not a hindrance at all.
Tour agency
The hotel has a local travel agency. You can order here for an additional fee interesting excursions according to the attractions that it offers
Sports and sea
Those who love an active lifestyle can enjoy tennis courts, ping-pong tables, darts, fitness center services, and aerobics classes led by trainers. At the same time, instructors will conduct master classes on playing tennis for a reasonable fee. You can gather teams and play volleyball, basketball or football. There are tables for playing billiards.
Directly in front of the Blau Marina Varadero Hotel there is a two-kilometer sand beach, belonging to the hotel, with sun loungers and towels.
Anyone who loves spending time on the water will not remain indifferent to the various aquatic species sports, such as windsurfing (with a license) or canoeing. You can go diving and get to know the underwater world of Cuba. Classes are conducted under the guidance of experienced instructors. If you don’t want to go to the sea, you can stay by the pool and enjoy the cool water on a hot day right next to your room. There are three outdoor swimming pools in the hotel and they are open from 9:00 to 18:00.
For evening
In the evening, the Blau Marina Varadero Resort offers live entertainment including dancing and karaoke. The evening program also includes a visit to a nightclub with a disco.
Nutrition
The Blau Marina Varadero hotel operates on the all-inclusive system, beloved by many tourists. It includes free buffet meals, local drinks and some imported drinks - whiskey, vodka, brandy and tequila. Premium drinks can be enjoyed at an additional cost.
The six restaurants, three of which offer à la carte and the other three buffet options, offer dishes to suit all tastes. International, Cuban and will delight everyone with its variety of nuances in preparing fish, meat, side dishes or salads. Breakfast at the La Marina restaurant starts from 7:30 and ends at 10:00, lunch - from 12:30 to 15:00, dinner - from 18:30 to 22:00.
Restaurants
El Faro is fish restaurant, which serves snacks from 12:00 to 18:00 and from 23:00 to 07:00. El Arlequino offers a variety of La Zarzuela - Spanish, and Bacunayagua - spicy Tex-Mex. All those who overslept can come to this restaurant - they offer brunch from 10:30 to 12:00. Dinner is served from 18:30 to 22:00, please reserve a table in advance. A pleasant bonus for all guests is that three dinners per week are provided at the establishment’s expense.
The Hemingway Club bar and lobby are open 24 hours a day. Light snacks are available at several bars. Teatre Bar is open from 10:00 to 23:00.
The Blau Marina Varadero Hotel has two bars next to the pools, they are open from 10 am to 6 pm, the beach bar has similar opening hours. The disco bar opens its doors from 22:30 to 2:00.
You can take food with you to the beach. The chefs often delight guests with barbecue dishes.
Children will be delighted
There is an opinion that the island of Cuba is a land of brutal men with cigars, sultry beauties, freedom of behavior, revolutionary spirit, and local entertainment Intended for adults only. But in reality you can find interesting places and for a visit with children. In the capital - Havana - the Cannon Shot Ceremony takes place every evening at 21:00 local time; there is a crocodile nursery near Varadero, and in the province of Cayo Largo there is a turtle farm. You can also visit one of the two dolphinariums, the work of which will be explained by the guide at the Blau Marina Hotel. The hotel will delight young guests with a rich program run by the tireless animation team. For younger clients there is a private pool with fast and fun big playground and a children's club for children from 5 to 12 years old, which is open daily from 10:00 to 17:00. To look after the little ones, you can hire a nanny, whose services are quite inexpensive.
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Read the law on the official website of the President of the Russian Federation Hotel 3+.And here it is again, Viva la Cuba!
We arrived, Havana, bus, road (out of the predicted 2.5 hours, almost 4, so I advise an individual transfer), Varadero (this is all usual).
I had a great desire to write a review about this hotel during its operation (staying).
I'll start from the beginning.
Check-in is standard. With a smart face they say that there are rooms only on the first floor (although perhaps this will be convenient for someone), but within 15 minutes of communication rooms appear on the second floor. The “Sea View” option for 15 cookies per person per day was requested, and this can only be felt in the 11th and 12th blocks, second and third floor. The first floor on this side has rooms of the “thicket view” or “hill view” type, whichever you prefer. Well, and for a couple of cookies of gratitude, the suitcases were delivered to the room on the 12th block overlooking the pool, second floor.
The room is bright, large, moderately clean (this refers to the fact that they are reluctant to wash the floors), the bathroom is a little shabby, but this is not critical, after all, I didn’t come to live in a bathroom. There is a safe and ironing board. . TV - only the Cuban music channel was on it. The beer and cola in the refrigerator were free. The room size really corresponds to 5*, but only that.
The hotel area is unremarkable, probably taking into account the fact that most of it is being renovated and at the end of Blau Privilage Cayo Libertad they built a dam with a road to the neighboring island, which completely killed the beach in that area. The smell of rotting algae and some small living creatures is depressing. Really....is it really difficult to take and remove these rubbles? But apparently the hotel owners have different views on this. There are practically no people in this area. And yet you can take a walk. And if you’re lucky, you can catch lobsters near the dam.
Beach - ....what is the beach. Normal beach. just normal, because it would be possible to clean the discarded algae here more often. Sun loungers can be found free without any problems. YES and the sand is not as white as on Playa Varadero closer to the city.
Food, canteen-“restaurant” - I don’t want to pay much attention to this topic. Don't stop hungry. There is fish and meat (pork, beef), chicken, rabbit, squid, octopus, spaghetti, all kinds of rice, cakes, rolls, fruit. Red wine, white, beer. For “lovers” of the aristocratic morning badun, you can even improve your health with cold champagne. BUT all this, like variety, will get boring in three to five days. Every day it will be the same.
The lighthouse is an observation deck for good photos, although in theory they should make spaghetti, pizza and burgers there. I make them, they make them, they don’t cook them.....they just take them and make them with “crooked” hands. It would be better not to do it. Although, no, they can still cook the pizza according to your order with your favorite toppings, but first you have to get the cookies, only then will they want to talk to you. And you will get delicious pizza.
Animation - of course the guys are great here. On the beach they will teach you how to dance and entice you to play volleyball. And there will be entertainment near the pool (although it’s time to repair the equipment). Every day there are evening programs and dancing, and magic tricks, and live music, and live singing (Cuban tunes with wind instruments, it was something).
WIFI (Internet) - well, Cubans don’t know how to make comfortable use of this service (and that’s not what I came there for... although how could it be without the benefits of civilization... photos on Instagram, calling your family via Viber, and someone... then you need to work). So...an hour is 1.5 cookies, just like everywhere else in Cuba, the same price (according to ETECSA provider cards). Cards are sold in a separate communications department, on the left side behind the reception))) (which is often simply closed). For new arrivals, they manage to sell 2 cookies per card, although in reality you just sell them at the reception and don’t torture people. I always bought at 10k so as not to bother. The range of the Internet in the hotel is the lobby (almost under the router, there is also a sign with the inscription - “A place for hitting your head,” WIFI, just kidding). You can also use these cards to connect throughout Cuba where there is WIFI coverage. During peak hours there is nowhere to sit with a laptop, but this is nonsense, you can’t even connect due to apparently a limitation on the number of connected devices. When asked to reboot the router, they always answer that it is in Havana))). Those. Having connected and entered the card number, the data is accepted, but the Internet does not work and it turns out that you pay for air. Plus, if you are lucky enough to connect and you have done all your work in less than an hour, you can end the Internet session and time will not pass (don’t just turn off WIFI, but by typing http://1.1.1.1 in the browser, click “Exit” (on English or Spanish)). My wish and request to the management is to give people the opportunity to relax and be in touch wherever it is convenient for them, and don’t keep them on a “leash” in the lobby. Place one router on the beach so that you can enjoy the beautiful sea, girls can take selfies with Piña colada and instantly send it to instafram..... so that a person sits on a sun lounger, works on a laptop while drinking rum, it’s so simple, but it costs a lot. The second one, logically, is near the pool for the same purposes.
The pool is beautiful, looks clean, but very smelly (I mean chlorine). There are sufficient sun loungers and umbrellas. There is a pretty decent slide, a children's pool (I don't recommend swimming for children, water getting into the mouth will, to put it mildly, lead to frustration and all the ensuing consequences.) Further, when describing the bar, it will be clear why the pool could not be hooked.
Bars are a separate issue (they got me to write this review.
The beach one is a booth, you won’t be able to sit down, and there’s nowhere to stand. He took the pour and left. Well, that’s not it, but what about communication, and even interethnic one?
Near the pool there is a ghost bar. he is completely lifeless. and this can be said to be the center of the hotel territory. Bartenders are screwed!!! You still need to look for such sour faces. If the bartender doesn’t love his bar, then he doesn’t love the visitors, and the visitors are us, those who paid for this vacation, and he also doesn’t love us. Yes, he doesn’t have to love, but I don’t really want to see sour faces. Even a couple of cookies for tea didn't change the situation. There is a very meager selection of alcohol, there is not even normal rum, they throw in some white shmurdyak (rum for cocktails) and that’s it, juice is generally something complicated.
Theater bar - in the format while the performance is on, everything is fine and the guys are polite and the cocktails are good. But the serving in plastic cups was annoying, and then it started to infuriate me (there can’t be plastic in the ALYA 5* hotel, except that there are not the same beakers at the pool)
Lobby bar - this is where the most interesting things happen. Everything looks decorous and noble. A huge selection of alcohol (rum, and more rum, and whiskey, and tequila, and vodka), cocktails, good coffee, there are cigars, but for a fee.
Sitting down at the counter, I looked for Mulata rum, which was always of excellent quality, but it wasn’t there......and my eye caught sight of Havana Club 7, I asked the bartender to pour it for me (but this was after a 7-minute wait, because I’m not Canadian , not a German, not a Spaniard and everyone else, and who didn’t give a tip yet, that is, at the end of the line, but more on that later). And now I have a seven in my glass. I closed my eyes, took a sip... and then I realized that my throat was burning, my breathing was out of breath. ...... Real cane moonshine. I think... how can this be? I asked for another Havana Club Reserva rum...... they poured it, but the color and smell were the same as the previous bottle..... then Santiago de Cuba, and the same result. It is simply unrealistic for all three varieties and types of rum to have the same taste and color. I ask the bartender to give me a bottle of Seven in my hands, like reading it. And oooh my surprise.....the plastic dispenser has broken stoppers through which you can pour anything into the bottle. In Rezerevo, with a slight movement of the finger, the dispenser fell inward. Having asked the bartender for a closed bottle of Seven or Reserve or Santiago, he received the answer that all their bottles were open))))) Do they bottle rum in a five-star hotel? What is this for? Drink it in at least one place. ....
Noticing that it smells fried.....the bartender takes out a bottle from under the bar, an unopened bottle of Cubay Anego. He pours it, nodding confidently that I’ll like everything......and I get real pleasure in addition to buying a cigar from their bar. This is how I became acquainted with Cuban bottling activities. But after that, when they came to the bar, they always opened a new bottle for me and put it so that I could see it and poured from it only for me and my friends. Of course, there was an excellent Piña colada, not in plastic, but in a good glass. And everything became soft and pleasantly foggy and I practically forgot about all the minor inconveniences, but this fact struck a chord with me and I decided to write this review.
In general, I will say that Cuba has become different, the Cubans have become different. The approach is this...you pay, and then we will do good for you (and this applies to all cleaning, bar, medical care, sailing catamaran), i.e. This is no longer a tip, but a tribute. I understand that everyone wants to earn money, but this is too much.
I hope everything will improve, and if not, then hotel holidays in Cuba will be closed to me, only as a savage in private Casa.
We wish the owners and management of the hotel to delve deeper into the obvious problems.
