rated the Coralia Club Playa De Oro Hotel as follows:| Cleanliness |  | | Location | | | Staff |  | | Food | | |
| Entertainment |  |
| said: We stayed at the Coralia club playa de Oro from the 16th to 30th May. This trip was our honeymoon and we saved hard for it, so we spent a lot of time reading reviews online before deciding to book. So i know these reviews can make or break a decision!
And we're glad we went for it. I think the main thing that needs to be stated in any review is that your review is based on the amount you paid for the holiday - ie, did you get value for money. We feel we got a good deal for this hotel and formed our opinions of it accordingly - had we paid a lot more, we might have felt differently.
So - the hotel itself - a huge open air lobby-reception with a wooden roof over it - really unusual looking and a lovely warm breeze in there in the evenings to keep it fresh. The bar here was great (except the pineapple juice which wasnt sweet ...it was gorgeous from the pool bar and in the buffet!?), the band were on at 7 every night and they were FANTASTIC, can't praise them enough.
Reception staff... I’ve seen lots of complaints about staff attitudes at this hotel. I think the main thing here is that people in Cuba don't seem to have much of an incentive to work harder than they need to do their job. I guess that's political, the fact is they do their job, they may seem off with you, but they work long shifts... they also have to process not only what language you're speaking but also your regional accent as well! So they sometimes might seem to look at you funny but are probably just quickly getting their head round what you're saying! I certainly didn't let it spoil my holiday :)
You can exchange money at reception, get tickets for pool towels, get internet time, etc. There's a small shop with gifts, drinks and ice creams, cigars and so on.
Dotted round the lobby are tables with people selling tours and car hire. There’s a pool table as well which was popular. Your holiday rep meets you in the lobby. Adjoining is the gym which was basic but clean. Anyway the gym isn't my idea of a holiday so i stayed away.
Our room - was spacious, spotlessly clean, simply decorated with colourful curtains and bedspread. The air conditioning was really good, and there was a little fridge (un-stocked - but they will happily fill your water bottles for you at the bar with filtered water).
We got a king sized bed, bath and shower, loo and bidet, and a balcony with a little table and chairs and an amazing view over the garden and the sea. I'd recommend asking for a room on a higher floor - on our last day due to our flight being delayed, the hotel very kindly extended our All Inclusive stay for 3 hours, allowing us to use the pool, eat and drink, and use a courtesy bedroom for changing in - unfortunately it was on the ground floor and smelled a bit damp and musty. However we were impressed by their hospitality - it wasn't their fault that our plane was delayed.
There was also a table and chairs in the room and a small couch, and dressing table. So, adequately furnished and comfortable, but not at all fancy. We found the dressing table unit needed some repair but didn’t make a fuss - just the drawer was loose and the cupboard covering the fridge wouldn’t stay closed. Again - why let it bother you. You’re on holiday!
Here's a good tip -we simply asked for a 2nd key so we could leave the air con on - no problems. (Shut the balcony door or air con wont work - save the embarrassment of having a repair man sent up ... (blush)) the room safe is also worked by the main key card.
Every morning the maid made the bed in a different way, often decorated with fresh flowers; fanning the covers, towel models of swans, hearts, swirls... even one day she made a huge swan of the blanket! (The blanket smelled musty so we only used it once...should've asked for a clean one but were too busy chilling out!), and every day she tidied up our things, mopped the floor and changed our towels if we left them in the bath (there’s a sign up asking you to do that if you want clean towels)
My only small bugbear was we didn’t get clean sheets. I've just read a review recommending you to pop these in the bath, which we hadn't thought of! We never saw a single insect in our room.
Food- this always seems to be such an issue with reviews about Cuban hotels! Put it this way - there is no way you will go hungry! Especially good were the very very fresh bread and butter available at every meal, the freshly made omelettes (delicious!!) We stayed at the Coralia club playa de Oro from 16th to 30th May. This trip was our honeymoon and we saved hard for it, so we spent a lot of time reading reviews online before deciding to book. So i know these reviews can make or break a decision!
And we're glad we went for it. I think the main thing that needs to be stated in any review is that your review is based on the amount you paid for the holiday - ie, did you get value for money. We feel we got a good deal for this hotel and formed our opinions of it accordingly - had we paid a lot more, we might have felt differently.
So - the hotel itself - a huge open air lobby-reception with a wooden roof over it - really unusual looking and a lovely warm breeze in there in the evenings to keep it fresh. The bar here was great(except the pineapple juice which wasnt sweet ...it was gorgeous from the pool bar and in the buffet!?) , the band were on at 7 every night and they were FANTASTIC, can't praise them enough.
Reception staff... I’ve seen lots of complaints about staff attitudes at this hotel. I think the main thing here is that people in Cuba don't seem to have much of an incentive to work harder than they need to do their job. I guess that's political, the fact is they do their job, they may seem off with you, but they work long shifts... they also have to process not only what language you're speaking but also your regional accent as well! So they sometimes might seem to look at you funny but are probably just quickly getting their head round what you're saying! I certainly didn't let it spoil my holiday :)
You can exchange money at reception, get tickets for pool towels, get internet time, etc. There's a small shop with gifts, drinks and ice creams, cigars and so on.
Dotted round the lobby are tables with people selling tours and car hire. There’s a pool table as well which was popular. Your holiday rep meets you in the lobby. Adjoining is the gym which was basic but clean. Anyway the gym isn't my idea of a holiday so i stayed away.
Our room - was spacious, spotlessly clean, simply decorated with colourful curtains and bedspread. The air conditioning was really good, and there was a little fridge (un-stocked - but they will happily fill your water bottles for you at the bar with filtered water).
We got a king sized bed, bath and shower, loo and bidet, and a balcony with a little table and chairs and an amazing view over the garden and the sea. I'd recommend asking for a room on a higher floor - on our last day due to our flight being delayed, the hotel very kindly extended our All Inclusive stay for 3 hours, allowing us to use the pool, eat and drink, and use a courtesy bedroom for changing in - unfortunately it was on the ground floor and smelled a bit damp and musty. However we were impressed by their hospitality - it wasn't their fault that our plane was delayed.
There was also a table and chairs in the room and a small couch, and dressing table. So, adequately furnished and comfortable, but not at all fancy. We found the dressing table unit needed some repair but didn’t make a fuss - just the drawer was loose and the cupboard covering the fridge wouldn’t stay closed. Again - why let it bother you. You’re on holiday!
Here's a good tip -we simply asked for a 2nd key so we could leave the air con on - no problems. (Shut the balcony door or air con wont work - save the embarrassment of having a repair man sent up ... (blush)) the room safe is also worked by the main key card.
Every morning the maid made the bed in a different way, often decorated with fresh flowers; fanning the covers, towel models of swans, hearts, swirls... even one day she made a huge swan of the blanket! (The blanket smelled musty so we only used it once...should've asked for a clean one but were too busy chilling out!), and every day she tidied up our things, mopped the floor and changed our towels if we left them in the bath (there’s a sign up asking you to do that if you want clean towels)
My only small bugbear was we didn’t get clean sheets. I've just read a review recommending you to pop these in the bath, which we hadn't thought of! We never saw a single insect in our room.
Food- this always seems to be such an issue with reviews about Cuban hotels! Put it this way - there is no way you will go hungry! Especially good were the very very fresh bread and butter available at every meal, the freshly made omelettes (delicious!!)and fried eggs at breakfast, also the French toast and pancakes, although some days there was no maple syrup, only vanilla or strawberry flavour.
At lunchtime you could go to the main buffet or the beach bbq. The buffet tended to have meat and chicken casserole type dishes every day, sometimes creamy, sometimes in gravy, sometimes tomatoes. Also there was always roast meat and fish, the pork and turkey were especially good. I had bread with plenty of butter with every meal – yum, but there was potatoes, rice, pasta, pizza every meal too. The cakes are good too, and the ice cream. My husband had lots of fresh melon and oranges. he also loved (to the point of being embarrassing - stowing them in his pockets to eat by the pool!) these small homemade shortbread type biscuits they provided at breakfast time by the fruit juice dispenser.
The bbq was different every day too, mostly chicken, pork, fish, sometimes burgers (nice) pasta, rice, fish dishes. Again fresh fruit, vegetables and so on.
Evening meal was either in the buffet (similar to lunch, but with much more choice, bigger cold section of salad (no lettuce - no problem to use since we don't like it) and cooked meats)
Or you could book each of the 2 a la carte restaurants once a week. We only went to each one once in the fortnight. The Ranchon (where they have the bbq at lunch) wasn't too great. We preferred to go the buffet for the same food... more of it! Only difference was waiter service, and the band. (Great!)
The Varadero restaurant... I beg to differ with some reviews, we loved it! The steak with peppers was great, and my husband had the fish with mustard and leeks, again, lovely. we couldn’t get another booking :( service was fine, wine was topped up, the piano guy was great, nice atmosphere, very romantic :)
In the buffet the waiters are very attentive, refreshing your glass with icy cold beer, or in my case, white or rose wine which was very good.
All afternoon the pool bar serves toasties (bad.... processed cheese and they didn’t toast them for long enough so the ham and cheese were cold and not melted!) and hot dogs - not too bad at all. The fries were hit and miss :) also a late breakfast of cake and fruit was served by the pool bar for people who've overslept.
As regards drinks - the beer, crystal, was delicious, icy cold and refreshing. The cocktails were fun, just ask the barmen for something sweet, or something strong, or something with pineapple, for example, and he'll invent one for you with a smile! The coffee was delicious; the mojitos at the lobby bar were mind-blowing strong! but some days they had no fresh mint to put in.
Entertainment - the animation team were tireless and friendly. It took us a while because we're a bit embarrassed about things like that! but my hubby loved the water polo, and one day we did a dancing lesson. They also did aqua gym, stretching class, Spanish lessons, and stuff on the beach. You don't have to join in but do give some of the things a go, you'll have a laugh!
to be honest we only went to one 'Showtime' at night and it really wasn’t our thing... lots of singing and dancing etc. wear mossy repellent, it's outdoors:)
and we never went near the club after hearing it was empty lol.
The pool was great, very clean, warm, and big. There were scuba lessons in the deep part. The shallow part was ideal for kids as it started off at 0 gradients.
The gardens were gorgeous, the gardeners work very hard. Little lizards scuttle about everywhere and the gardeners love to say hola or have a little chat, one gave Tony a big pink flower for him to give to me ;) when we left Tony offered him his football shirt (an old England one) and he was very pleased!
No, these people aren't just nice to you for tips. We tipped our waiter a few times, the maid a few times, and the bar staff a few times. Probably spent all of about £15 on tips the whole 2 weeks including the bands we saw etc. and were treated very nicely tip or no tip. We also left the maid gifts of scented soap, pens and so on, and she left us little notes in return.
The beach is lovely BUT ... I don't think it's quite as fab as it's cracked up to be, there's more shingle than you'd expect and it's really busy. But the pedaloes etc are fun, and free, so have a go :) we tended to chill out by the pool a lot. At the time we went the hotel wasn’t all that busy so no problems getting parasols and loungers. I’d definitely say May was a good time to go.
We went on 2 excursions, the catamaran trip, which was my holiday highlight, absolutely great day, sailing, sunbathing, dancing, music, laughs, snorkelling, a beautiful paradise island... and lunch :) what more could you want... oh, a dolphin show at the marina! Great value trip. Remember sunscreen though, I got badly burnt :(
we also went on the Varadero swimming with dolphins trip. Again this was great, nice photos to be bought afterwards, much cheaper than friends have done this for in Jamaica and USA. Importantly for me, the dolphins were well cared for - at rest a lot of the time, they 'work' on rotation. They are in lovely condition, the water is natural sea water and it's a natural lagoon they live in.
To sum up, we both agree we had a great holiday here, lots of fun, very relaxing... the only thing to spoil the relaxing atmosphere was a group of teens who stayed a week (they didn’t do anything wrong really just were very noisy lol)
more tips, don't go expecting top notch gourmet food - they do amazing food with the limited ingredients they have and you won't go hungry... take some 'real' chocolate with you because Cuban is the pits lol
most of all, remember you're on holiday, relax, if you find fault, ask for something to be done about it then forget it and move on. You'll love it, we can't wait to go back to Cuba.
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Alison & Tom from Sheffield travelled to Coralia Club Playa De Oro Hotel with
First Choice
on a couples holiday.