Tryp Peninsula Varadero Hotel

5 readers found this review helpful

Myself and my boyfriend have just returned from two weeks in Cuba. The first 3 days spent in the Parc Central, Havana and the following 11 in the Tryp, Varadero.
Our first 3 days were absolutely superb; if you want to see the real Cuba then you must go to Havana. The old American cars, the architecture, atmosphere and markets are excellent and unlike many places we felt very safe and at ease whilst walking round the city. But to get a real idea of what Cuban life is like, Thomson arranged a guide to show us and two other couples around. She was brilliant.
The Tryp was really like many other all inclusive resorts. The staff were particularly attentive and friendly and the cocktails were to die for! I lived on the Mojhitos, a must try. The beach was beautiful, watch out for the crabs. The restaurants met our needs although after 11 days the lack of variety began to show.
One big downside for us was that we were not told that you could not use credit cards, associated with US Banks or Switch/mastro. We were unaware that our high street bank was, it therefore meant we had to last on the £ we had brought out, no souvenirs, no trips for us.

3 readers found this review helpful

Having recently returned from this holiday, unfortunately I’m afraid I must complain.
I would stress at this point though, not about The Holiday Place, their service, and the outstanding representatives and tour guides.
Probably the best I have encountered in my many travels.
Lobby Bar: Too small for the size of the Hotel, after 5.30 this is the only bar open in a complex for over 1000 people. The lobby & bar area have only seating for around 300 people and this is serviced by just 3 bar staff and 2-3 waiters. With just 1 beer pump queues were massive.
The bar frequently ran out of glasses, this resulted in us not being served unless we already had a glass, both by the waiters and bar staff. Beer would be served in any glass that could be found, brandy, plastic, wine.
On numerous occasions the bars actually ran out of beer as well, it would take hours to restock and in the case of the ‘overspill’ bar on 2 occasions, 24 hours. (An ‘overspill’ bar was set up outside – with just 1 member of staff.) It was suggested by management we use the Disco bar but there beer was from cans, served in small plastic cups!
Lobby/Bar Toilets: A tiny main block serving lobby, bar & restaurant areas. Rarely clean and tidy. 1 paper towel roll, which when it actually had paper in it didn’t work. More than once sewerage backing up and spilling over from the toilet pans, and taking ages to be cleaned up. We were forever reporting this.
General: The hotel was jam packed; One British group of 4 we spoke to had been placed in a twin room with 4 double beds instead of 2 rooms. This resulted in queues for the restaurants with staff letting people in only as others came out.
Huge queues for food and tables meant food was cold before it could be eaten, dinner could take 3 hours. Our package was supposed to include use of the pre-book specialist restaurants.
There was no mention on our booking that these were limited to 2 per week. Not that it mattered, as the hotel was so full they cut this down to 1 per party (not room) per week, if you were lucky. 2 rooms – 2 weeks should have given us 8 bookings not 2.
Our rep did manage to get us 1 extra booking in the Cuban restaurant, after waiting an hour for the starter, a further hour for the main course we gave up and left.
Rooms: Disabled Room, this is a single room ideally designed for a wheelchair user – except we had been allocated it as a twin and a 2nd double size bed had been added.
This made using a wheelchair in the room very difficult. The TV didn’t work and although reported on many occasions it was never fixed. Cleaning was almost nonexistent – beds were made and pretty towel arrangements left, but the shower/toilet area was not cleaned the whole 2 weeks we were there, the spilled shower gel on the floor proved it!
Sports facilities:
Archery – just 1 bow & arrow available.
Shooting – 4 ranges but 1 rifle which only worked occasionally. We were told by the operator that had been the case for 3 years.
Basket Ball – No balls, given football to use instead.
Tennis – Loose a ball – pay for replacement.
Gym – Far too small and could only hold 15 people.
Jacuzzi – Holds 4 people with no time limit – never could get in it.
Table Tennis & Pool Table – 1 of each and always a queue. Packed away at 5.30 every evening, never got to use it.
This Hotel is supposed to cater for 1000+ people! We picked it as it supposedly had facilities for our teenage kids.
Return Trip: Airport transfer took over 3 hours and made us late for check in. With a disabled passenger, we had pre-booked our seats via your rep at the hotel, and had a printout from Cubana confirming the seat numbers (extra legroom).
This all went out the window at the airport. We were allocated the last 5 seats on a grossly overbooked flight. Those behind us, more than a dozen people, were told they couldn’t fly until the next day – we were very lucky.
According to the very rude Cubana book in clerk, seat allocations do not stand on overbooked flights. Uncomfortable as it was I did manage in a standard seat with an unbending leg jammed under the seat in front, this following a walk the full length of the aircraft to the back, not easy for a wheelchair user.
Rep at the airport made every effort to rectify this but was on a no-hoper from the start.
Aircraft: I have never travelled on such a wreck of an aircraft – ever!
Seat padding was nonexistent and pillows supplied did nothing to help. Tables were missing fixings and askew. The worst though is that mine and a number of seats would not lock in the upright position.
On takeoff/landing the seats would recline on their own and you couldn’t sit upright to eat, the passenger behind was not amused and had to hold the seat up to eat. My husband is a professional in building aircraft seats, and in his opinion the seats were unfit for service and downright dangerous.
The crew commented they would report it – yet again, they apparently were always like that! With no support, (I also have back disc problems), it took me over a week to recover from the discomfort caused by the flight.
No way is this a 5 star hotel, I have stayed in far superior 2 star properties.
In its defence the staff were all extremely pleasant and helpful, right down to the gardeners – without them the holiday would have been a total disaster.
Food, very good and plentiful, plus the location and grounds, superb.
I would return to Cuba, but no way to a Sol Melia hotel or fly by Cubana.

2 readers found this review helpful

This hotel is amazing. It was like a dream come true for us... I can not put anything negative about this place at all. The food was amazing and was truly all inclusive, including in the hotel room mini bar. The staff were amazing, the rooms were spotless, spacious and luxurious. The beach was onsite an amazing... Everything was above and beyond my expectation. I can not wait to be able to return again!!!

We just returned this morning. Absolutely loved it & had a wonderful time. Pleasant staff, great food, fantastic evening entertainment with kiddies disco, shows with amazing dancers & separate adult disco.
As a single parent traveling for the first time long haul with 3 children 11, 10 & 16 months I was a tad nervous, but we all had a great time. Including me!
The kids club & baby club were invaluable. Staff are wonderful with the children & my older boys went on trips, kayaking, sailing etc. Things I could not do with them & baby. I even tried baby in baby club a few times & had an hour or 2 to myself too! The staff were great
The only draw back was that we simply could not book a reservation in the a la carte restaurants. Wach day we went to book we were unlucky.
TIPS
Do tip the staff - they work very long hours, are always friendly and do a great job. Also, many items we take for granted in our lives simply cannot be found easily in Cuba and/or cost a lot (there are many poor people). We left clothes, shoes, toiletries & medicines... all is gratefully & genuinely accepted
A wonderful holiday which I would recommend to anyone.

Tryp Peninsula is a lovely hotel, it's set in gorgeous grounds that are well looked after - the gardeners are out working first thing every morning. The beach is perfect with white sand and crystal clear aqua marine water, just what you expect from the Caribbean.
The hotel staff are friendly and attentive and i can recommend the Italian restaurant for late night/early morning pizzas! The cocktails are pretty good too and there is plenty of fresh fruit on offer - the mango in particular is simply delicious. I can thoroughly recommend the hotel to anyone, it really is lovely.
Varadero is a wonderful place for diving as there is so much to sea - wrecks, moray eels, turtles, dolphins and loads of colourful fish.
The only downside to the holiday was Thomson. They changed our booking at the last minute and then forgot about us. Thomson failed to collect us from the hotel and take us to the welcome meeting and then they forgot to pick us up and take us to the airport on departure day! Considering we didn't ask much of our rep I think it was an appalling service.

We went to this resort in Dec 2005. After reading some bad reviews about accommodation in Cuba we definitely made the right choice.
We flew with virgin I would recommend that you travel economy plus, which is quite comfortable.
On arrival at the resort the staff are very friendly.
The rooms are quite spacious and clean with regular maid service.
The resort is massive and is probably one of the best all-inclusive resorts we have been to. I mean everything is included even room service. The restaurants are open for most of the day with a good variety of food. There is a good snack bar by the pool.
The beach restaurant is excellent with a daily BBQ.
I loved the beach it was very clean and safe.
An excellent holiday. Would definitely go back.