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Barcelo Solymar Varadero 07/26/2004
Reviewers Rating:  Great
My boyfriend and I (both age 26) just returned from a fabulous week at the Barcelo Solymar (July 17-24, 2004)! This was our first all-inclusive holiday, and we would definitely recommend it! Our tour company was Air Transat Holidays, and they tour company they work with in Cuba is Cubanacan (so when you go on tours in Cuba, it’s Cubanacan that runs them)
Flight: A long 7 hours from Vancouver, including a 1 hour stop in Calgary. The flight was with WestJet, and the only problem was that there is no movie, so it’s hard to fill the time!
Arrival: Directed onto a bus, then a 20 min drive to the hotel, with a tour guide giving some information about the area. A short wait to check in as there was half a bus load of us arriving. Bell boy brought our luggage to our room.
Room: We were in the standard junior bungalow. Pretty basic room, but it was kept clean, A/C worked well, clean towels every day. There are lots of clothes hangers but no dresser. A hanger with clips to hang up skirts would be useful (bring a couple from home). There is no iron but it is so humid that none of your clothes will have wrinkles! Hot water was never a problem (and usually we wanted a cold shower anyways!). The mini-fridge has 2 pops, 2 beers, and 2-1.5L bottles of water. These were replaced if we drank them. I did leave a tip and a note for the maid on the 2nd day asking for her to replace them, but I think they would have been replaced anyways. We also left a tip on the last day.
Service: I thought it was fine. We did tip a bit (we brought a lot of $1 US bills), just at some meals, or when we had several drinks at the same bar, but I think the service would have been fine had we not tipped at all. I don’t really get these people that complain about the service. What are they expecting? The one thing to keep in mind is to not compare a 4/5 star rating in Cuba with a 4/5 star in North America. The waiters aren’t falling over each other to help you, nor are they trying to make small talk with you, but they are pleasant and they get their job done. Plates were cleared when they were empty. I was asked if I wanted another drink when my glass was empty (and for juice and coffee it was often re-filled without my asking). When standing to order at the bar, there was sometimes a short wait, but it was usually because the bartenders will fill the waiters’ orders first before taking orders at the bar (this same thing happens at home all the time). When the bartenders serve people at the bar, they tried to follow the semblance of a line that had formed. If someone was served out of turn, it was because they had budged in line! If service was slow, it was because the waiter was really busy, and was running around. I never saw a waiter standing doing nothing while we were waiting for service.
Staff: I found all the staff (front desk, waiters, entertainment, bartenders) to be pleasant and hard-working. They work long hours and I’m not sure if they get a day off as we saw the same people every day! They all spoke English well, and many also spoke French and Italian very well. Especially one of the guys at the beach activities. He literally changed languages every time he talked to a different person. They are very friendly when you make an effort to speak Spanish (I know just the bare minimum of Spanish, but they seemed amused by my efforts, and would help me with words.)
Food: OK, the food is not the greatest, but it’s not that bad, and we were certainly able to fill our stomachs at every meal. At breakfast I stuck with eggs cooked to order (omelette, fried, etc), cereal, toast, and fruit. If you are a late riser like we were several days, then the continental breakfast at the Las Dunas pool bar was pretty good (egg, bun, croissant, mini chocolate donut). Lunch at both pool bars was good (sandwiches, burgers, etc). The dinner buffet was probably the “least good”, but it is a buffet with lots of choices, so you are sure to find something. They had fish and meat cooked to order. A couple of nights they had huge prawns cooked fresh, and they give you tons of them. Yum! The only thing that had a bit of a long line was the made to order pasta. The a la cartes are pretty good. The seafood was definitely the best (great lobster). In case someone in your party doesn’t like seafood, there are chicken and beef dishes as well. The Cuban is actually a buffet, but it is a nice atmosphere on the beach, with a band playing. And it is a better buffet than the regular, with a lobster dish (big pieces of lobster in a sauce) that was good and very good black beans and rice. The Italian was OK, and would have been better had it not been ridiculously hot in there! The sign-up for the a la cartes is daily from 9-12. I went at 8:30 on our first morning, and was second in line. He started to take bookings at 8:45, so for us this was a painless process, so I would recommend going to line up before 9 or you might wait a while.
Drinks: You can have just about any drink imaginable that contains rum. But you can also have vodka, tequila, gin, or whisky as well. They have a cocktail menu, and I highly recommend trying each one at least once! Many of them are quite sweet, so I often drank just rum and pineapple juice, and I also liked the cubanito (a bloody mary with rum). The Cristal beer is pretty good too. The wine is not great, so if you are a connoisseur, you will be disappointed. The best bar was the piano bar (across from the theatre where the nightly shows are). It was usually very quiet (it’s kind of hidden), and the bartender is great.
Entertainment: The dance shows at night were quite good, and the dancers are very talented, as is the band. I wouldn’t say the shows are a “must-see”, but nevertheless, they were fun to watch. The disco isn’t really a disco, it just the theatre with music playing, and you can get up and dance on the stage (there’s a bar in there as well). We never went in, and when we did stick our heads in, there were not many people in there. A couple of the guys from the entertainment (animacion) staff organize trips out to other clubs. We went twice, but I think they go every night. For the clubs that are far away, they get a shuttle bus to take everyone there and back which is $5/person, and then it’s $10 for the clubs (all you can drink). For the close by ones, we just walked. And when you roll in from the clubs slightly (or highly) intoxicated later on, I recommend getting at late night/early morning snack at the Horizontes pool bar.
The beach: It is fabulous. White sand, blue water, lots of sun. The beaches are public, but for all intents and purposes, it is private. The only thing that was annoying is that it is quite hard to get an umbrella. Although they are plentiful, people come down early and reserve chairs under an umbrella by putting a t-shirt or towel on it, and then disappear for half the day. I mean a half and hour or so to get lunch or go in the water is one thing, but seriously, there were “reserved” umbrellas left for hours! This is very annoying!! The same thing happens at the pool. Perhaps the hotel could do something to discourage this? We did always end up getting one, but it took several trips walking up and down the beach, and stalking people who looked like they were leaving. The guys who run the beach activities are great. They were always super busy, but very helpful. Included is: banana boat, paddle boat, kayak, windsurfing, and sailing. There is also water skiing but I’m not sure if it’s included cause I didn’t ask about it. Snorkelling was $15 for an hour trip. We did this and really enjoyed it. Better than the snorkeling in Mexico. The only thing they could improve is to maybe have a sign or something with all the information about how to sign-up. I would recommend going down on your first day, and asking them about everything you want to do, and how to sign up for it. Getting clean beach towels daily was never a problem and the girl in the club house was very friendly.
Havana trip: We did the Colonial Havana trip, which was $67 (it’s $85 to include the cigar factory, but we did stop at a cigar/rum/coffee shop, where you can watch a guy roll cigars who is supposedly one of the best cigar rollers in Cuba). Our guide was great, gave us lots of info about Havana, and took us on a short tour of Old Havana (although half the city was under construction, so it was hard to hear him with all the noise). We had an hour of free time in Old Havana (I would recommend getting a guide book or the like to make good use of your hour), a nice lunch and drive around new Havana, went to Plaza de la Revolucion where they were setting up for the anniversary celebration July 26, to a market (but the market in Varadero is better) and to a cemetery (kind of weird but there are interesting stories to go along with the visit). You can just pay for the bus ($30) and self-tour all day, but it is so hot and the only escape is the air-conditioned bus that you are hopping on and off all day. I would not have wanted to walk around all day. The only down point about the trip is the gong show of getting your bus in the morning. There are about 10 different trips all leaving around 8AM, and it’s a pain to figure out which one is yours (signs would be helpful).
General: Bring bug spray and after-bite (I got eaten alive walking on the beach at night), travel mugs for drinks at the beach and pool (we forgot these, necessitating frequent trips to the bar). I much preferred Cuba to Mexico. The locals in the markets are very friendly and do not hassle you like in Mexico. You don’t even need to bargain at the markets as they are already so cheap. The main market in Varadero is huge, and about a 15 min walk from the hotel (Solymar is one of the closest hotels to the town). There are hairdryers in the rooms, but they’re not very powerful, so bring your own (don’t forget a voltage converter). Our tour rep said the hotel was just about full, which gives me an even higher opinion of the hotel, as there were rarely waits for anything, and plenty of staff.
Have a wonderful trip to Solymar!!
Laura
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