Iberostar Selection Varadero — Attraction in Cárdenas

I've been to this hotel 4 times now in 2011, 12, 19, and 25. And I still think my best stay here was in 2012. Many things have deteriorated even since my previous stay here in 2019.|1. Rooms. My room was very "tired". The sockets were trying to escape the walls, the conditioner was extremely loud, its protection net was covered with tons of dust, and after ten minutes of work it started dripping. The paint was peeling in places. My biggest disappointment about the room was the absence of a kettle and coffee kit. In all the previous visits I could enjoy a cup of morning tea, but this is gone now. I had to go to the lobby bar at 5 in the morning to get my tea and coffee.|The bed and towels were clean, which is a plus. I absolutely loved the pillows. The floor was wiped daily, but only in the room itself. The balcony's floor was covered in someone's droppings and had not been cleaned in years, it seems. |Also it was quite noisy around the room. For the cleaning ladies, it is absolutely normal to shout at each other from one floor to another. And an idea that guests may be trying to nap in their rooms in the afternoon never crosses their minds. Also, I had a couple of cases when some of them knocked on my door waking me up, I came to the door, opened it, and the lady would just say "never mind" and be gone. What was that, honestly? |2. The beach. As always, the beach is perfect. But it is the same along the entire peninsula, whatever the hotel. The ocean is warm, and clean, and also perfect. Although there is even less fish in there now as compared to the past years. If you are a snorkler, there is practically nothing to see.|3. The territory. Clean and nice. And the keepers are the friendliest staff, but a little more on that later.|4. The main restaurant. My greatest dissappointment this time. The assortment of food has reduced as compared to my previous visits. There is no more yogurt or fitness breads in the morning, during my entire stay I did not once eat paella, although during my previous visits it was always available during lunch and dinner. In the past, there were seafood days, now seafood is barely present. There are a lot of dishes of something brown and sluggish of unknown origin, I did not risk trying this stuff. There are no labels, so you have no idea what you are getting. Besides, the lines of people waiting for freshly fried fish or chicken block your access to the ready meals. Also, all drinks at lunch and dinner come through waiters, even water, juice, or coffee. And waiters may just ignore you. Several times I left the restaurant having already eaten and I still did not even get water. The fruit was great. The ice cream was not ice cream, but sorbet.|Quick improvement tips:|Put labels to your food. For me it is important, whether I am getting pork or beef, fried potatoes or bananas. |Make a self-serving point for guests where they can get water, juice, coffee/tea without wating for waiters. If you want to control wine and beer, fine. But water, honestly! |Use insecticides! When I see a cockroach on a cake, I cannot trust any food any more. |Separate ready meals from the cooking stations. Then those who don't want to wait can easily access the food. |Bring in some assortment back. Food is what people remember most.|5. Bars. All bars were absolutely amazing. Both the quality, and the people. That's where you could always find someone speaking English. For instance, in the restaurant some of the waiters did not understand even a phrase like "hot water".|6. Entertainment. I'd say there is none. There are no activities on the beach. Which may be a plus, really, because there is no loud music on the beach, you can relax. The evening shows are all practically the same, only the costumes change. You've seen one, you've seen them all. On the territory, there is nothing to do. In the past, I played table tennis, there were several tables outside with plenty of space to play. Now the only table is located in a tiny building with no space at all, you can only play if you are five and this is your first time. For kids, there is this water corner, but for adults there is nothing.|7. People. Your greatest treasure in the past were your people. They cared, they were friendly. Now, they are exhuasted and indifferent. Hardly anyone speaks English. |8. Money. This comment is not really about the hotel but about Cuba in general. You use dollars, but a tourist cannot change and break dollars (even in a bank). If you want small bills, you have to buy something. And if you don't need anything, you have to buy something you don't need. And the hotel doesn't inform you upfront that you can only get a towel with a credit card and pay for additional services with a credit card. I do not bring my bank cards to Cuba since they were useless in the past. So this was a surprise. Especially since I had already used 120 dollars worth of massage. The hotel had agreed to accept cash, but this still was an inconvenience. |So, my prevailing emotion during this stay was irritation. I guess I've said my goodbye to Cuba and it's time to find...

We came here for 11 nights over Easter 2024 and it was our first time visiting Cuba so we were very wary on what to expect. The place is perfect, so clean, the staff were fantastic and very attentive. The lady on reception from when we arrived was extremely good and nothing was a problem, she arranged everything the way you would want from a good hotel.||We were upgraded to a suite near the gym/beach as the lady said they could see it was my wife's 50th birthday, which was why we were going there as a treat. The room was a lovely size, reasonable sized balcony and fresh water supplied daily. The room also came with a fridge and safe.| |The pools were very clean and a great size, and there was some entertainment here and there, especially at 4pm when the DJ came to the pool for a party. All the parents and adults got in the pool with there rums and had a party whilst the kids were in the shallow end. There is a pool bar in the main pool and the service was excellent. Variety of drinks were very wide, good beers, lots of rum and different varieties and some cocktails. ||Down at the beach, which is miles long of white sand and clear blue sky sea, there are lots of sun beds and umbrellas, a couple of beach bars that offer the same drinks and service as the main pool bar. There is a place to get some food at lunch time by one of the bars, food is slightly limited, but still handy of you want something light without leaving the beach. At the other beach bar, there is a great chill out area, where you can sit on some nice comfy chairs and beds and be out of the sun and relax/sleep.||Lobby bar, this is the main bar in the evening, very busy but the bar tenders are very good at their job, as with all staff, they really appreciate a tip every now and then and spot a good order of people so they generally service people in the right order.|There are lots of drinks to choose form here and even some high end ones that you can pay for.||Entertainment: This was a little hit and miss, we found some nights it was high end excellent dancing and singing, and other nights not so good, a little slower and usually done by the day time DJ. The in house entertainment crew that dance and even do pool synchronised swimming, are a great bunch, always practicing during the day and putting on a great show on their nights.||Food: Yes, there are issues with a wide choice of food, due to the problem with the US, however, all the food was fresh and a nice choice each day. Bacon, eggs and fresh bread for breakfast, with fruits and juices was a great way to start the day. BBQ meats, rice and salads were the perfect lunch. Evenings were a good selection of fish and meats, however, we did on quite a few occasions have an issue with the two older chefs that were manning the large joints of meat stations. They would have large pieces of Pork or Turkey, but most evenings the meat was raw, you could see the blood coming out as they were carving it and it was such a shame as the meat looked great but I couldn't believe they were happy to serve raw pork, chicken and other meats to the guests. Obviously it just meant we ate something else, but if that meat was cooked properly, then we would have eaten a great evening meal each night. The special restaurants, were not so special. I think these could have been a lot better. The food was fresh and staff excellent, but they could have done a lot more for it to be called Ala Carte. || For staff, everyone was very nice and friendly, and very professional. Everything was spotless and they were all smiling. We did have a lady that was the concierge, she was working by the suites on the ground floor, as well as the main concierge on reception. She was excellent and so helpful, it's people like her that make a great hotel.||There are many other things I've since forgotten to mention, like the sugar cane press machine they brought into the hotel a couple of times at lunch time. An old fashioned machine crushing sugar cane for you to drink on the beach, with or without rum :)||We will be coming...

This is a bit long, I apologize in advance for being long winded...

We were here at Iberostar Selection, Varadero for a week in February 2024. Had a great stay! The food, for Cuba, was excellent, especially the ala carte's, and it was plentiful. We didn't experience many of the shortages that other resorts in Cuba are having. A few things like ripe bananas and citrus was in short supply (the Cuban citrus crop was pretty much wiped out this year according to a member of hotel management.) But I feel that we sort of hit the jackpot here, especially when comparing notes with other travelers at the airport on the way home. We even had a pig roast over an open fire our last day there. The food was very good and in good supply.

A couple special mentions... . the Vino Blanco here served in the ala cartes and the buffet was very good. It's a Chilean white, I'm sorry, I don't know the grape, the bottle didn't say, it's just a house label and the server I asked one time didn't know either, but it's the best white wine I've had in my 4 trips to Cuba. . The cheeses & cold cuts are very good. The blue cheese especially was excellent. . The coffee. Excellent, as always, especially served at the bar opposite the reception desk.

The grounds are very beautiful & immaculate. The gardeners are out everyday innthe heat, keeping the grounds looking so nice. If you tip them they'll find you fresh coconuts and open them for you and make little grass figurines with flowers, for the ladies. We had a garden view room towards the end of the resort where it was very quiet. We're slightly older travelers, in our mid 60s, so appreciate some peace & quiet at times. We had a hedge around the outside of our room's patio that had little red flowers in it, which attracted Hummingbirds. I enjoyed seeing them. I know it's a small thing seeing Hummingbirds hovering around, yet it's a peaceful, relaxing sight, especially considering it's the dead of winter back home. The Palms and other tropical vegetation scattered around the resort is beautiful.

The shows in the evening were pretty good, perhaps not cruise ship quality, but still very good. The dancers are very talented and the costumes were interesting.

Ok, time to mention something a bit gross, sorry, but in a good way. This was the first time we didn't have any bowel issues travelling to Cuba, which was a nice surprise. The water here may be treated? I don't know but no one we spoke to on the resort had any Cuban version of "Montezuma's Revenge". And the subject did come up, lol. Just thought I'd mention it.

A couple things to keep in mind. Not specific to the resort, but reality for Cuba... If on the bus ride into your hotel from the airport the "tour guide" tries to talk you into exchanging your western currency into Cuban Pesos, don't do it. The workers here do not want pesos, you will get better service and wider smiles tipping in US singles. Western currencies, including Canadian dollars are accepted pretty much everywhere in Cuba now. Skip the peso exchange. Also, the hop on-hop off bus, they prefer US$, but prices vary too, it seems. $5 at our hotel, pp, we saw others paying only $3. If u only have Canadian, the price varies. So be aware. The economy is hard here now, so everything is negotiable.

The only annoyance I had with our stay here was the internet. It's a bit spotty. Everytime you go to use it, you have to sign back in. Loading the sign-in page can sometimes take forever. Other times, it's quick. Generally speaking, the closer you are to the lobby, the better the internet works, as that's where the router is located. But even that isn't a hard & fast rule. The theatre is right next to the lobby and has a strong signal but there were nights it was impossible to sign in. Customer services say they are aware and are working on the problem with the ISP.

All things considered, I'd definitely go back to this resort again. We had a great experience, the staff were all very friendly and polite and it was the best stay I've had in Cuba. I hope we make...