Tryp Península Varadero *****

Anónimo, CA, 2007-06-20  
My husband (39) and I (31) stayed at the Tryp from May 5th to the 12th.
We left Mtl on the 5th at 9am and by 3pm I was in the ocean!
Our flight w/ Westjet was great! No delays and great service!
We got our 2 suitcases no problem.
Upon our arrival our room was ready, in block 19 on the 3rd floor, 1 king bed, just as we had requested.

Room:
Large suite, large bathroom w/ a bath and shower.
There is a functional safe in the closet.
The TV only has 2-3 English channels, but who goes to Cuba to watch TV??

Food:
Buffet: you'll always find something good, in our case it was the bread, butter, cheeses, cold cuts and seafood (fish, shrimp, muscles), fruit.
A la carte (2): nice location, good food.
Beach grill: AMAZING grilled snapper!!!
Pool resto: hot dogs.

I had a craving for fries for 4 days but all the restos were out... not a big deal... a bit less weight gain, no??

Beach: in case you don't know, Varadero is rated the 2nd nicest beach in the world.

Pool: there is an adult pool w/ a swim up bar... not much drink selection... the water in the pool was rather fresh.

Bars:
Lobby bar: mohitos and strawberry daiquiris... + great espresso and cappuccino.
Beach bar: mohitos and cuba libres...

The site is wonderful! Full of trees, flowers, plants... There are many birds (small black crows and other birds) that fly in the main entrance and around the bar... what do you expect?? everything is open...

This hotel is rated as a 5 star.. for Cuba standards, it's correct, but for North American or European it's a 3.5 - 4 star.
For those of you who go to Cuba expecting you're on the French Riviera, you'll be disappointed.
Just hope you get great weather like we did (27 - 31 every day!!) and you'll have a great holiday.

I don't recommend this hotel for a romantic getaway... but for families and for children it's great.

The staff is very friendly and helpful, you just need to know how to talk to them w/ a smile.

Anónimo, CA, 2005-07-07
We stayed at the TRYP from May 14-28, with 14 guests for our wedding. It started off wonderful with welcome cocktails and an express check in.
Our rooms were always cleaned and towels arranged nicely, it didn't seem to matter if we left a tio that day or not. We ate mostly at the buffet restaurant but loved the international and italian restaurants. At the buffet we sat in the same section most evenings and had Elizabeth as our server.....they work very long hours but she was always smiling and going the extra mile. No one complained about the food, there was always something in the buffet to eat, lots of sea food.
The grounds of the hotel were beautifully kept and the pool was amazing!
Overall i would go back in a heart beat. Loved it. Snorkelling and the cateraman trip are a must if you are going. So much fun, had fish eating bread out of our hands.
Susana was our wedding coordinator, had everythign under control, the only thing my husband and i had to do was pick a location, dinner menu and music. It was very stress free and relaxing. We weren't shown any options to get marreid on the beach but they said it could be arranged if we like.....however it was generally very busy and didn't seem private enough for us...very beautiful beaches though

Nadine, CA, 2005-04-24
My Wife, Daugter and I just returnrd fromt the Tryp Penisula last night (April 23). I would give the look and layout of the hotel 5 stars. The food is what you make it, the buffet does have alot to choose from, we ate there more often than not. We managed to get 3 al a carte resevations but only made it to one of them because we were out doing somthing else away from the resort. We ate at the pool bar in the afternoons, it was okay. We never went to cuba expecting fine dining anyways so we never let the food destroy our holiday and niether should you. The remarks made about the blenders is true, so premade pina colada is what you get. If you go to Havana (and you should) you stop at a bar on the side of the road that makes ONLY pina coladas. They are fantastic!!!!!! The catamaran day trip was awsome, the island you go to is paradise, the boat was a party, only bummer part was the snorkling. Both my wife and I had masks that leaked, and that seamed to be the general conses there. Yet again dont let the little things destroy your holiday. The varedero market was alot better than the havana market I think. However if its great looking art work you want then Havana is the spot. Day trips are expensive, the 3 things we did (Havana, catamaran, swimming with dolphins) cost us almost $600. We had to use the Visa which then added 11 % fee on top because I really thought $900 canadian in converted cash would be suffice us. But I have to tell you I will never forget anyone of those days as they were all just so fantastic. Lots of people put down the resort in these forums, to me a holiday is what you make it, learn some basic spanish words, be friendly, remember why you went away in the first place. It could always be worse, you could be from Cuba making 8 pesos a month waiting on your ration of 5 eggs a month. Have fun, but take it from us, all those drinks in the sun will catch up to you when the sun goes down.
James, Nadine, and Alida
Calgary Canada

Anónimo, CA, 2005-04-20
My husband and I along with 9 other friends just returned from this resort. I agree with the comments from Chester dated April 17, 2005. The resort runs out of all the necessities to make a vacation complete. (Beer at noon, straws, ice, juice, warm bottled water at meals, no facecloths, no irons available). It is obvious the management do everything to discourage you from wanting drinks or food. It's the first vacation I did not gain weight. One friend actually lost weight. Every other patron was complaining for all the same reasons. Note: as soon as you get of your bus run and make dinner reservations, many people were unable to get even one reservation. The International Restaurant was very good--if you go highly recommend this one. The late night snack restaurant forget it, sat for 15 minutes, finally my husband went back into the kitchen and asked if they were open, they said yes, but still didnt come take our order. Another way of discouraging you to want to go there.

We travel lots but had never been to Cuba. Never had the desire. Our thoughts are now validated. The weather was cloudy, extremely windy, not the warmth and blue skies of Dominican or Jamaica. Towels used to reserve our beach chairs were taken leaving us to scramble for chairs several days.

The trip to Havanna was a highlight and was thrilled to find a blender that made pina coladas on the side of the road. Imagine that; a bar hut on the side of the road with a blender and proper ingredients. A 600 room resort with one blender at the lobby bar. Not exactly the trek you want to make from the beach for a blended drink. If you are going take repellent. Several members of our group were peppered with fly bites.

The resort is in need of some TLC. It has great potential to be a nice place to visit.

I wld also like to mention that the cuban exchange took everyone for a surprise. 1.40 on our dollar. Be aware.

After two days of complaining we decided to enjoy the company of our group, and with that said; had lots of laughs, many of them at the expense of the resort.

I will say the staff overall were helpful and friendly- especially Rodney at the Buffet.

Anónimo, CA, 2005-04-17
My wife and I just returned from a week in Veradaro Cuba at the Tryp Peninsula Resort. This resort is beautiful the staff is friendly and the rooms are large clean and comfortable.
There does seem to be a management problem though. The service sucks! The buffet is poorly laid out and the three restaurants are insufficient to handle the volume of guests that are fed up with the buffet.
The Bars run out of beer, mint ( for the mojitoes ) and ice every day, can you imagine an all inclusive beach resort the doesn't have ice at the beach bar and runs out of beer? and no blender at any bar other than the lobby bar. Whats with that? The closest bar to the beach is about a block away and the pool is too small for a resort of this size.
The small bands that play at different times around the resort are great but I didn't like being hustled to buy their CD after they played a couple of songs.
We took the day trip into Havana for lunch and cigar factory tour $85.00 each. Havana is a must see, fantastic and wish we had more time (next trip I rent a car and do it without the escort ).
We went on the snorkeling /catamaran trip to Playa Blanco again we had a great time. I wish we had taken more cash with us as we didn't have enough money for the lobster that they caught fresh and cooked up on board. $10.00 each we had only $10.00 with us and had to share. I must say that we new one another on the return trip much better than on the way as the free flow of rum made everyone, well lets just say friendly (lol).
We also rented scooters for a few hours $9.00 for the first hour and $3.00 every extra hour or $25.00 for the day. This is the best way to get around Veradero if you are able to ride scooters.
All in all we had a great trip. I think though if we were to return we would try another resort. I would give this resort 4 stars for the beauty and 2 stars for service

Marriottscove Nova Scotia