Holguin

Another great stay at the Paradisus resort. Great food and awesome service.

Following a forced stay home for almost a year we decided to take a family vacation and spend 2 weeks at the Playa Pesquero one of the resorts that we frequently visit given the friendly overall atmosphere, the beauty of the beach and the diversity of the food and beverages offered at it's outlets. However, this year's vacation was quiet a surprise as although we were expecting shortages due to the COVID-19 pandemic but what we experienced was not very pleasant . Aside from the shortages in staff and food , we were overwhelmed by the high number of local clients who were at the resort during that period of time . Nevertheless, the hotel did not adjust the number of employees to match the surge of clients and the situation turned extremely chaotic. Constant shortage of supplies at the buffet ( ended up serving canned vegetables) clients bypassing people waiting in line so sometimes had to wait for 15 minutes to get a plate of food. What made it worse is that the chefs and employees who were serving were not even trying to tell those clients that there was a line to respect as if such a behaviour was normal rendering a lot of clients extremely frustrated and angry. Even on the last day when waiting in line to do our check-out flocks of local clients were bypassing the line of people waiting to do theirs and again reception employees were. It addressing the issue . Finally , we hope that what we went through was an exceptional circumstantial situation not to be repeated as if it does it will definitely negatively impact our decision to go back to the resort again .

Second time visiting this resort. Very relaxing....no vendors walking the beach trying to get you to purchase excursions or merchandise. Secure feeling walking about the property. Little souvenir market across the street. Other than the couple weak points, one can muddle along quite well. All in all a wonderful comfortable resort!

We went to Fiesta Americana on Wed February 11th - Wed February 18th in 2019 and had an amazing time and decided to go back the exact same week in 2020. We were disappointed this year. Here were the pros from last year: -weather (only rained one evening for about an hour) -food was excellent (for Cuba's standards) with fresh fruit everyday, a person available to make fresh smoothies, even options such as brie cheese were available -not crowded, don't have to get up early to save a chair by the pool/beach Cons from last year: -broken chairs (almost all of them have broken bases which make very uncomfortable for lounging) -very slow service at the snack bar -ran out of all bread throughout the hotel most days -we were in the main block which was really loud This year's pros: -weather - above 30 everyday, didn't see one drop of rain -got invited to a 'special dinner' one night with 8 others (4 couples) where we were served surf and turf in exchange for a review... -great spot -we were in block 17 which was (in our opinion), second best block. If we could choose, we'd request 16. closest block that is not right in the centre of the action. We don't like being a mile away but don't want to be right in the centre of the action kept up late from disco music, etc. This year's cons: -they brought in over 1,000 local cubans for Valentine's day (Friday) and Saturday. It was awful because that resort cannot handle that many guests. Not enough restaurants, not enough food, not enough toilet paper, not enough currency. Just plain awful. Every food lineup was hours long. They ran out of most of the food at every restaurant (imagine going to an italian restaurant and being offered penne noodles with white sauce and no meat as the ONLY thing left on the menu). Many of the Cubans were rude and would quite literally push you out of the way and butt right in front of you in lines. Huge disaster. -currency was always out at the hotel. they wouldn't break large bills into smaller ones so we tipped a few times and then stopped tipping until they'd break our bills (tried 3 days in a row before they finally had smaller money) -the above mentioned problem trickled into everything else.... toilet paper was always out, food was always out, etc -almost every lounger is broken and uncomfortable. we got up super early to reserve 2 of the 5 good ones around the main pool Still a cheap trip with great weather if you can let go of the anger you face trying to line up for a simple drink or coffee. And if you're ok for a couple days standing in line for an hour before getting seated at a restaurant.

The resort's staffs are very friendly and greatly. The room is clean and AC and hot water are perfect. But there are a lots of tiny bugs and bite you and cause itchy. My arms and legs are bitten allover. It was nightmare. The beach is ok. But the sea is very shallow and not for swimming. The room electric voltage is low. My cellphone is difficult to charge unless sometimes in the morning and shutdown your room AC then can charge it. WIFI is very bad.

Nous voyageons back pack habituellement mais avec une petite cocotte de 2 ans j'étais contente de ne pas avoir la bouffe à gérer. Il n'y a pas gros d'Activités mais pour nous c'était parfait nous avons surtout faire du snorkeling parce qu'il y a quand même des jolies petites spots de poissons et c'était un bon début pour une petite de 10 ans qui ne s'est pas du tout ennuyé. Les bons plans : - La petite plage moins de corail juste à gauche en sortant de l'hôtel à 2 minutes à pied. - Playa Bianca accessible à vélo en 10 minutes (avec les vélos de l'hôtel en état moyen, ça se fait très bien) pas de vent, pas de corail, très calme. - Le lobster pour 5cuc à côté de Playa Bianca en arrivant à la plage, tu tourne à gauche et il y a un petit container bleu avec un petit set up de tables et chaises - Prendre le taxi avec Ruben (serveur au bar de la plage) pour 30cuc AR, se rendre à playa paquet, pas du tout de corail, pleins de poissons, sable fin, mer très calme, ça vaut la peine de sortir, catamaran... le petit resto à la plaza est bon et pas trop chère. - Le massage sur le chemin qui mène à l'hôtel, pour 20cuc, 1 heure, massage très doux. Pas de moustique quand nous y étions. La 2 ans a dormi sur le petit matelas terme rest que nous avions apporté mais elle s'est faites pas mal piquer. Il y a du cheval aussi, la balade dure moins de une heure et c'est sympathique, surement encore plus sympathique si tu parle espagnole plus que moi :) Il n'y a pas une immense piscine mais nous ne recherchions pas nécessairement ça, nous voulions profiter de la plage et de la mer, ce n'était pas un critère pour nous. Je recommande donc, pour ceux qui ne veulent pas être envahie par les Québécois, il y en a mais ce sont essentiellement des habitués de la place, il y aussi les famille cubaine qui viennent pour une nuit, en famille.

Though it is a 2 hour drive from the airport. It is well worth it. Unfortunately the local women that were visiting the resort on the weekend of my trip were very unfriendly, tried to obstuct my paths, pretended to spit at my feet and called me "Puta". This brought me to tears. And I spent the remainder of my vacation at the bar near the beach, where I was treated like a member of the family. Other than that the staff is wonderful, so friendly and so very accommodating. The beaches are amazing and the staff certainly makes you feel like family. I am definitely going back! I will just avoid the local women that take over the main stage on the weekends! I suggest the same or it will ruin your experience!