Barcelo Marina Palace Hotel

great holiday day.. made by friendly staff and service. Also the guest were nice and down to earth. The food was very good, in particular the dinners. all in all a great holiday.

If your (and Thomas Cook's) idea of a quiet relaxing holiday is to share it with about 300 obnoxious, grossly overweight, tattooed, rude, foul-mouthed, ill-mannered, uncouth and habitually drunken Canadians, then this is the place for you. If not, stay well clear.

First thing: MOSQUITOES. Every night, after the sun begins to set. Clouds of them everywhere, inside the entire resort, in the bars, restaurants, everywhere.
Dirty, smelly public washrooms (some toilets without seats). General air of mustiness and other unpleasant odors in some areas.
Rooms poorly maintained: smelly, dirty, often missing things (no coffeemaker in one room, no TV remote in another, no deck screen in another, no iron in another, etc., etc.).
Language barrier: most staff unable to answer or understand simple questions. (Took us two full days to get a TV remote, after speaking to nine people -- the first eight people didn't understand what we were asking.)
Inhospitable hospitality staff: bartenders refuse to stir drinks, tossing ingredients into a glass and handing it to you unstirred or unmixed. When we asked them to stir the drinks, to mix the ingredients together, most of them didn't understand what we meant until we made stirring movements with our hands. And even then they shook their heads.

We were very disappointed with our stay at the Barceló Marina Palace Resort which Air Canada rated as 4.5 Star in their planner it was more like a 2.5 Star rating. So the one Air Canada gave could not possibly have been correct in our opinion. Resort appeared to be poorly managed. There was considerable mould in our room and hallways of various buildings. More chaise lounges for the number of guests (633 rooms). There was the smell of raw sewage at various locations throughout the resort. Paint was needed on the inside walls of buildings where it was worn to the bare cement. The staff was not friendly unless you tipped them a lot, which we did. It appeared they expected it and made it obvious that if you did not, there would be poor service. Food was not good and extremely repetitive. They had not only the same food overall every day, but also a lot of the same food items for all three meals each day. They had an indoor lobster BBQ in the main buffet dining room on Wednesday which filled the entire room with foul smelling thick smoke and there was no ventilation. When complaining to the waitress she said it was that way every Wednesday. Unless we left money in the mini fridge in our room we did not get bottled water and had to go to the bar in the main lobby and pick it up. Though the resort stated formal dress in the a la carte restaurants people with shorts and a t-shirt were allowed in.The computer/internet service was a waste of money as it was so slow we were able to only send one E-Mail in an hour. An hour’s worth of time cost 10 CUC pesos which is way too expensive and there were only three computers to use for a resort of 633 rooms. There were bird droppings over a lot of the chairs and tables throughout the resort. This is expected in a tropical open air concept resort, but what is not expected is that these chairs and tables were not cleaned, at least while we were there. There were very few staff going around asking you if you wanted a drink, you had to go to the various bars yourself. Red and White wine was not available all week in the buffet restaurant. The swimming pools were not clean, nor did we see anyone cleaning them during the week we were there. The grates around the edges of the pool were in disrepair and broken, even absent in some locations. There was a constant shortage of plates and flatware when at the main buffet dining room. We often had to wait for clean plates to be brought out. There was a general uncleanness all over the resort: dishes, flatware, mirrors, and windows, tables and chairs. One had to be constantly thinking of this when sitting and eating, especially in the main building and the Cuban Grill Restaurant. The entertainment was repetitive each night, different costumes but the same music and performers.

1 reader found this review helpful

Just got back from 2 weeks at this resort and wish we had read all the crappy reviews beforehand!! We expected bland food -- but this was way beyond bland -- everything was cold, most of it we couldn't identify, fish, chicken beef for breakfas?? come on. The room was so smelly and moldy we had to finally ask to be moved. The sewer backed up over the sidewalk so had to jump it to get to our 'cell' block. The high water line down the hallways was a dead giveaway that the rooms would be musty and full of mold. The noise around the pool was so bad everyone was complaining. The staff were just there to entertain themselves. Not one person could speak english and we thought someone in charge should at least be able to answer questions and complaints. Felt very sorry for the people (at least 50%) that were so bitten and infected bu bug bites. The hotel told them to catch a bus to varadaro and see a doctor. With the problems they have there they should be handing out cream for free. STAY CLEAR OF THIS PLACE. We will never return to Cuba!!!!!!!!!

This hotel was infested with Bed Bugs,.
Do not stay at this terrible hotel unless you want a bad rash all over your body.

More Photos...

5 readers found this review helpful

This was our first time in cuba . the resort was great- clean -fun -friendly.
Hotel staff were great, especially the maids & the buffet staff.
Pools were great, met a lot of Canadians .
FOOD
This was what I expected from what I read.
Bland /tough/not properly cooked .
We got by in the mornings with crossants/ choc. dohnuts & Beer.
Stumbled across a BBQ at the pool ( Hot Dogs ? Hamburgers ) Tasty.
Exchange your money at the airport - the hotel charges a 10% comission.
Mosquitos were not a problem except at night but I guess us Canadians must be
tough - they landed & flew away with out biting .
The sand flies were another issue - you don't feel them bite but they leave
red marks - use a repellent and you should be fine.
We are going back next Jan. for 2 weeks

We stayed here for one night in transit (another story).
If you like cold mushy veg, cheap chewy meat and an oxo cube in water described as beef soup, then this place is for you. We all expect lower food standards whilst on an all inclusve holiday, so we all know how to make allowances, but this place is truely awfull. AVOID.

I would not recommend this hotel to anyone who is prone to mosquito bites as there was an infestation of them during our whole 14 night holiday especially on an evening - as we later found that the hotel is built on a mosquito field. About 80% of the holiday makers were treated by the onsite medic at a cost of around £50 (80 pesos)which includes an injection,cream and tablets and after all this, i myself still managed to be eaten alive for the duration of the holiday!!. We were very disappointed with the food here, as having been all inclusive on previous holidays were expecting a much better standard and variety. This included the speciality restaurants as they offered much the same as the buffet restaurant and dishes were a minimum. Do not expect the free mini bar to be well stocked up or filled back up every day when items are used as it seems to be stocked at their convenience.

Arrived at this hotel in July 2008. First comment we received from guests - "do not go to the entertainment as you will be eaten alive by mosquitos". We stayed one day and two nights out of a fourteen night holiday before demanding a move. Hotel is filthy, food disgusting and always cold. Ants on tables in the restaurant, tablecloths dirty and stained. Staff lazy and not friendly. Very poor beach - dead fish, seaweed and broken bottles litter it. Reception area chairs not fit to sit on, birds nesting above your head in reception - you can play dodge the bird droppings! My wife received over 68 mosquito bites in one night, even though she wore insect repellent, which became infected and resulted in her having to have injections, antibiotic cream and tablets. We were woken in the night by cockroaches in the bed. We killed a cockroach, put it in a bag for the manager but he was not interested. Moved to the Melia Las Americas and found no fault with it. Please take our advice and do not go to the Barcelo Marina Palace as you will regret it. Would not stay at this hotel again if it was for free!