Blau Varadero

Check in Fast – no bellboy which made life easier meaning we didn’t have to wait for the cases to come up. Lifts Always breaking down and not enough for the hotel size so slow going. Room 802 overlooking the courts, pool and sea. Big room, great views, beds like sleeping on brick though. We were in agony the whole holiday from the beds. There is an iron and ironing board in the room, hairdryer and safe. The cleaners Very clean hotel and rooms. Can’t fault the cleanliness at all and ours was lovely. Theatre Quiz every night my highlight. A really good laugh although I don’t think the main quiz guy liked me very much. He made it abundantly clear he didn’t want me answering the questions. Shows very good. Animation team If not for the theatre, I wouldn’t have known who they were. At the beach they were rarely seen. The beach Awesome beach. Great windsurfing, pedalows, kayaks etc all-inclusive use. Sand is white powder and there are plenty of beds on the beach. There are canopy beds with curtains for use for 10CUCs a day and with that comes waiter service and they even get you food from the beach bar. We never did that because the normal beds were fine with plenty of shade if you wanted it, and we wanted to choose our own food by going to the beach bar if we wanted any and got our own drinks. The pool / Pool restaurant. I can’t say too much here. We only ate a the restaurants a couple of times and like all foody all-inclusive places nothing is hot and all recycled so we didn’t go too often. Plus we’re fussy eaters so I wouldn’t want to sway any readers. They also had live music on a lunchtime. The pool has plenty of beds at the side and in the grass and the pool was never overly busy and colder than the sea. The bars Piano bar – nice music, sedate and good service and waitress/waiter service. Lobby Bar - Very friendly, plenty of seating. Fast service and waitress/waiter service. Chill out bar – chilled out. Able to play own music in each pod using the Bluetooth facility offered. Just connect your phone. You can sit inside as well but there is also waitress/waiter service. The beach bar - What can I say about the beach bar. The staff were amazing, Raidel and Dunia are the best. Super friendly and helpful. Like to have a laugh with you. The pizzas and toasties were the best. We stopped going to breakfast and just went straight to the beach on a morning getting toasties for breakfast then pizzas and salad for lunch. They mixed your cocktails and knew when your times when you were ready for a beer which was for us about lunchtime when we were ready for alcohol. Raidel and Dunia have a smile for everyone and make you feel really special. They both deserve a mention and credit for all they do. There is entertainment in the beach bar with musicians at lunch and at night, a DJ twice a week on a Saturday and Wednesday, and just music the other nights. It’s a really good night but I suppose that depends on who you’re with and make friends with. You can make it what you want it to be. Al-a-Carte Italian – Avoid, avoid, AVOID. The “Italian Buffet” is recycled bread sticks and salad from lunch. Nothing italian about it and tastes as old as it is. We both got the chicken in marinara. We ate what we could hack and it was awful, rock hard and un-chewable. There was little or no marinara. There was something breaded on the plate that I’m assuming was a breaded shrimp but I can’t actually tell you because we couldn’t hack into it. It would be better used as a weapon. We didn’t stay for dessert and asked for our second al a carte for the Italian to be changed to the international restaurant and explained why. The concierge wasn’t interested why, just changed it. This isn’t just because we’re fussy, it was genuinely inedible food and everyone was complaining about it. It’s the first time we have ever left an al a carte and not left a tip. International – very professional, great service and great food. On one of the visits there was an incident but it was handled in an exceptionally professional way. On mums 70th. The violin player played her happy birthday and they brought her a cake. Thoroughly recommended. Check out – should have been a quick hand over of the towel card and room card but they told me to join the huge “to pay for services” queue. When I asked why I was told laundry. I refused to go to the back of the queue because I had nothing to pay and ended up having to stand there for 20 minutes while they checked if I was telling the truth……when it turned out I was I was just told “it is our error you can check out”. No apology, quite rude. WIFI – 1 CUC / 1 HR. Patchy. Better in a morning around 7-9 am. On a night it’s really hard work. All Staff – all are friendly, smiley and lovely. Can’t fault any of them except front desk who are cold and rude. Varadero – The buses at the end are super regular and cost CUC 5 each all day. There is a tractor / train that comes to the hotel once an hour at quarter to the hour and costs CUC 2 each or CUC 4 for return or hop on and off as often as you like in a day. Let it drop you at the last flea market at Calle 15 and walk back. There is a Beatles bar with live bands on an evening on Calle 60 and the start of Varadero as you first come in and a steak house at the end of Calle 60 down the street from the main road. Once you’ve seen one flea market you’ve seen them all because they all sell the same. Change money in Varadero. Exchange rate is better than the hotel.

About 2.5 hours from airport and set on a lovely beach. Quite a big hotel but never felt busy. The lobby is spectacular and lots of WiFi areas in the bars. Amazing pool, great drinks and staff are very friendly. Multiple bars so if you want entertainment it’s on, if you want music there is a piano bar and a 24 hour beach bar! Rooms are clean, nice balconies and spacious. You can walk straight onto the beach and it’s beautiful! Beach bar, sun beds and some limited water sports - scuba, kayaks etc Food is good but it’s nothing special and not a lot going on outside of the hotel. Marina is pretty and nice walk but not lots of choice + it’s expensive. Biggest thing this hotel has to change...so much plastic! Plastic cups, plates and straws! Be so easy to change and so good for the environment. Beautiful sea they have is becoming ruined because of all the plastic! It’s crazy and biggest thing that would put me off on returning. Overall fantastic but need to sort the plastic. No good changing towels only once every few days if you use 1 ton of plastic every day!