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Barcelo Solymar 08/13/02
Reviewers Rating:  Good
I stayed at the Solymar between July 26-Aug.2. Read all the reviews and everything on the forum and kept an open mind about the resort. I travelled with family and friends. Adults mid-30's kids-3mths, 1yr, 5 & 7 yrs. If I had to choose a word to describe this hotel, it would be INCONSISTANT and UNEQUAL in it's aspects. I would have to agree with other reviewers about the rating of this hotel. I would rate it a 3* at best. We arrived late on the Friday night. We requested a bungalow but got a hotel room instead. We were told to check with them the next morning for availability. Check-in went pretty quick. Our room was clean and pretty much as shown in the brochure. The a/c from the room above us wasn't working properly and thus had flooded our bathroom. We were told that someone would come to clean up the mess, but no one did. The next afternoon we were moved to the bungalows. We requested that our luggage be moved and that took over 1 hour. It seemed that the bell hop was waiting for another co-worker to help him. We found him sitting in the lobby just waiting. We then had to move most of our luggage ourselves. ACCOMODATIONS We stayed at the two-level bungalows in front of the shallow pool (rms 2903-2904). The location was ideal. The main hotel wasn't too far, we were facing the poolside restaurant and the beach was also quite close. The lower level of the bungalow had a sitting area with a TV, a dining table with chairs, a sink area with mini fridge and a powder room. The upper level had two seperate rooms identical to the hotel rooms (perhaps a little large in size)with a tv, full bathroom and large fridge (extra room helps when travelling with kids). I did notice that there wasn't enough drawer space, but we managed. The fridge was stocked with water, coke and beer and was replenished almost daily. One day the hotel ran out of bottled water so they couldn't restock. The bungalows are ideal when traveling with kids or a group of friends. It's like having your own vacation home. THE GROUNDS: The grounds were very well kept and groomed. The pool areas were quite nice. I'm note sure, though, of the upkeeping of the pools. My daughter brought home a collection of pool tiles that were floating in the water. She wore swim socks to not get cut from the tiles. THE BEACH: By far, undoubtably the beach was beautiful and the best part of the resort. It was crystal clear, shallow and georgeous in colour. There was plenty of huts for shade. You had to get up early to place your towel to ensure a spot under the huts. We met a worker from the hotel who's job was to stack the beach chairs every morning and night. We tipped him $1 every day, gave him 2 our of towels and every morning he would have the same hut reserved with our towels and chairs waiting for us after breakfast. This avoided getting up at the crack of dawn to find a spot on the beach. I was a little dissapointed in the cleansiness of the beach. We were told that the beach was cleaned every morning but there were days that the sand was quite dirty. There were beer cans and cups left from the night before, and I personally found a sanitary napkin floating in the water one day. I also experienced locals in the water attempting to sell & trade almost anything. As I understood it, locals were not allowed on the resorts but since the beaches in Cuba are public, they could not stop them from bothering the tourists. I was approached for articles of clothing, money and beach toys my children were playing with. I speak spanish and was able to understand what they wanted. They would approach the guys with cigars, weed and girls. It didn't bother us too much we pretty much stayed away, but by the end of the week it got to be quite annoying. The entertainment on the beach was a lot of fun. The staffed worked really hard to getting the guest involved in the daily activities (bocce ball, volleyball, aqua aerobics, dancing.....). THE FOOD By far, the biggest dissapointment was the food. I am not a picky eater and neither were our friends. My husband ate whatever he wanted, albeit not always a good idea, and nothing bothered him. Unfortunately, I was sick when I ate the shrimp at he international restaurant and I wasn't the only one either. I spoke to quite a few people who were sick after eating the shrimp there. On the other hand, I had shrimp at the buffet and seafood restaurant and it was very good. They seem to have all the ingredients but somehow don't know what to do with them. For the most part the food was quite bland. The kids stuck to hotdogs,french fries and pizza and seemed to enjoy it.(what a surprise) . The breakfast buffet was good. The staff would cook eggs any way you like and there was a variety of items to choose from. The baked goods and pastries were tasteless. It didn't matter what you ate it always tasted the same or no taste at all. By far the best restaurant was the seafood. During the day it served lunch which was quite good. They served fish, pork chops and veal. The beach side restaurant offered a variety as well but not as good. They served pasta with a choice of sauce and parmasean cheese was not always available. Our last supper was the best we had all week. Surprisingly it was at the buffet. They were serving huge lobster tails with garlic butter and was quite good. So really it was hit and miss. When we thought that the food couldn't get any worse or better we were sometimes pleasently surprised. We managed to find something to eat every day.After all it was only one week. As long as you don't expect gourmet you'll be fine. SERVICE The service was for the most part good. The Cubans by far were very accomodating and eager to please and genuinly nice. Yes, we tipped, but regardless the service in most of the restaurants was very good and very accomodating towards children and families. The daily maid service on the other hand was never consistant. Our rooms were cleaned, but towels always came later in the day as was the same for water and any other request. Our room was never cleaned at the same time every day. One day, it was cleaned only at 8PM. We must have called the front desk a dozen times. We were promised that someone would be there in 10 minutes every time we called. All in all we had a great time in Cuba despite some inconveniences. The resort itself is beautifull and has the potential of a 4+ resort. I believe it's management that has to get their act together, in order to provide a consistant level of service and improve the quality of the food. I'll gladly answer any questions, you may have, especially those traveling with kiddies.
susiea
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