Barcelo Solymar 12/05/2005
Reviewers Rating: Excellent
To begin....this was my fourth stay at Barcelo and I loved every minute of it. Flight there was with Air Transat and there was a two hour plus delay because of mechanical problems with the plane. We were glad they were fixed on land so the delay was ok with me. Uneventful flight there with no problems at the airport in Varadero and a quick ride to the hotel. I did exchange 100 dollars Canadian at the airport and received 75 Cuban pesos. Not bad same rate at the hotel. We had a bungalow suite right next to the main hotel. Everything was nice, soft bathrobes with 2 cans of beer, 2 large bottles of water and 1 each of pop. That was actually nice to have. The food was great. In fact it seems that they have improved the food situation alot at this hotel. The buffet restaurant now has air-conditioning and no smoking. I was quite impressed. One of the problems was a lot of mosquitos and birds in the buffet before. The beach was phenomenol as usual. Nice calm water the first 5 days and 1 day of waves and choppy water. Even tried the banana boat this year. (First and last for me.) We got dunked 3 or 4 times. Target shooting with the pellet guns was fun (Thanks to Stasi) and archery was really good too.
Seafood restaurant was good. Nice sized lobster tails. Italian was not too bad either. One thing that is new is that they offer lobster tails at each of the a-la-cartes for an additional 12.00 (cuc's). We had dinner at the BARBACOA restaurant nearby and had lobster which was ok. 14 cuc for a good size lobster tail.
The pools were absolutely FREEZING. I did not go swimming there. Not even once. For me that is unusual because I love the pools but this was the first time I've ever been in November - December. I'm usually there in August September.
If you're eating dinner say hello to Liset she's the blonde nice girl at the back of the buffet. Luiz is at the bar in the lobby and is great.
Love this hotel. Love the location. Yes there are aspects to this hotel that could make it better but overall for the price we paid and the amenities that are at this hotel I would recommend it and I will definitely be back!

FE

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