Marazul Hotel

Very relaxing & happy people… [Details]

Just spent a week at Marazul. Third time there. The amenities in the hotel are not great but I had no complaints about the food. This place is not resort like you will find in Varadero or Cayo Coco. Good place to stay if you want to make day trips to Havana. There is a bus every 40 minutes and its inexpensive. Regarding money, bring US dollars small bills are good. No need to buy much local currency if any. [Details]

i personnaly spent a good time as i don't really care about the hotel it self,i usually spend my ttime outside the hotel in the beach or exploring little town surronding the area.
the only thing i care about in the hotel is food and room where to leave your valuable and sleep.
generaly speeking the hotel isn't too bad ,but you should remenber that this is a 3 stars hotel,so don't expect the best when you pay less.
you get what you pay for lol. [Details]

Music was too loud and until too late. Guest on the lower floors could not sleep till 11.300 pm. [Details]

Our worst ever stay at any hotel [Details]

I am an experienced Resort traveller having been to Cuba before and Mexico and Belize. I had low expectations for this resort having researched it before going. It was worse that I could have imagined. It was filthy and in disrepair. None of the Canadian Holiday providers should be sending customers there. I needs much improvements before it is ready to accept any guests. [Details]

Very poor place poor food
Bad services
Bed bugs
Broken rooms
No Ac
No hot water [Details]

Location was great!! Beach was gorgeous, room was plain but completely fine for the time we spent in it. Room was clean and had a wonderful view of the carribean ocean of everybody's dreams! The staff were accommodating in every aspect. We had nice bartenders and waiters, our room service girls greeted us graciously everyday. The food was different but what we liked we loved! A tip of 1 or 3 cuc goes a long way!!! The pool was very clean. We met several life long friends there. There is a restaurant just down the street that serves up a super shrimp deal meal! All in all I'd recommend this place to everyone! The renovations going on are looking real nice. You have the best of three worlds! The hotel feeds you and serves up drinks all day( inclusive deals) the beach if so beautiful, and you are twenty minutes from the most beautiful city in the carribean. Big plus... Is you are safe! And I mean safe! Cheers! I hope you go! [Details]

Once I step into the room and the restaurant on my first day arrival, I regret it so much and really want to leave right away! Terrible dirty place. Lots of bugs in room on the wall, overall is not too dirty in the room but looks so old, even the bathroom is been slightly upgraded compare to the doors and other area. After shower, I find there are water leaking from the edge of the bathroom in my room. Smells like pee everywhere in the corridor, in the room.
The elevator is not working a few times a day and the electricity also.
Food is terrible, with no choice and taste is not good either. There are maybe 8 main dishes for you to choose with 3 different rice. Table cloth is dirty as hell and you can see they only change the table cloth every 2-3 days.
Stay away of the place or if you can stay in a place that is like the Motel 8 or something like that for a week, feel free to do so.
I am regret even if I'm paying so little
The beach is across a road and out there but the chair area is so small and not available for almost half of the time during my stay. The ocean is not safe to swim because too many jellyfish.
A good thing about the resort is that you can take the free shuttle bus to Havana at 10 and back at 5 for free. You have to get a ticket from the reception (no one will tell you that unless other is telling you in the resort)
The bus is always full and make sure you book it early
The pool... water is so dirty that I don't see anyone is going in. [Details]

Staying at Tropicoco allowed me to be close to nice beach and close to old Havana. The hotel itself shows its age but most people are not here for the comfort. I found most people are there to explore a little. It's a great place to meet people and exchange information about places. The food and bar service is hit and miss but I expected that. [Details]

Just got back from 15 days at the Tropicoco...(Feb 28/16).
The Hotel is what I expected, package deal. close to the beach..5 CUC return to Havana om the T3 bus..........
Here's the problem...The Cubans have no idea what to do or the level of care expected by a tourist while in Cuba....after they are injured.
I got food poisoning..(not really that big a deal...in 60 years it's the third time...the other two were in Canada)......it hit at around midnight. While on the toilet the cramps became so severe that I passed out. I awoke on the tile floor...forehead cut open for about 1 1/2" and a broken nose.
I cleaned up the mess, and myself..and stumbled down to the lobby about 12:30 am at this point.
I told them what happened......First question...was I mugged...second question...was I drunk (I haven't had a drink in 24 years!). After about 20 minutes of inaction someone finally flagged down a patrol car on the street.....the two cops were less than indifferent.....had things to do and places to go...but were talked into taking me to Guanabo..and were clearly worried about taking me to the main hospital for tourists in Havana...I soon found out why. We wandered over to Guanabo at about half their regular speed....the exhaust fumes in the back seat were unbelievable, they must have brain damage driving that car all the time, only to stop in a dark alley at an abandoned shed so they could unload a bunch of stuff from the trunk of the car...
Then they took me to the clinic, and outright refused to wait for me to be cleaned up and return me to the hotel.....
The doctor put 4 stitches into my forehead, the nurse insisted my nose was fine - as in NOT broken. And I was sent on my way.
So at 3am I'm done at the clinic, with no ride back. I finally flagged down a car and the young guy agreed to take me back for 7CUC.
For two days I continued to puke (etc) in my room.....nobody checked on me or showed any compassion except the maid.....and I'm certain I had a mild concussion...... for many days nobody from the Hotel asked how I was except the handyman (he was with the maid and two other guys that stood and watched) that was sent to fix the ceiling in my room...it had blown down the previous night in a storm!
This food poisoning happened the night of my 4th day there......and till I left I got nothing...no apology....no acknowledgement of the problem...nothing...to the point the woman that runs the Cubanacan Tours (when I asked how I could get to the doctor to get the stitches out) basically told to me to bugger off and stop bothering her!
I had to hire a cab and when I got to the clinic...the doctor looked at my head and asked if they were done at that clinic...when I said yes he shook his head and went for the tools.....
Now, I know Cuba is a third world country...but they make MANY MILLIONS per year off of Canadian tourists...don't you think there should be actual nurses and transportation in place in case of an accident?
I have been going to Cuba since 2001........but I'm second guessing that next trip south.

This was a 'One Off'......Cuba is a lovely place to visit.....Havana is changing rapidly and has been for the last two years....see it now....I think it will only get worse in the long run. [Details]

We had a very good experience at the Tropicoco. Going to a 2-star hotel, we did not have really high expectations, but we were very satisfied with our stay there. The close proximity to the beach and the convenience to travel into Havana were big pluses for us. The accommodations weren't anything to write home about, but were satisfactory for a 2-star hotel. It's an older hotel - some of the paint is peeling, the cement is cracking, some of the doors don't close properly, but the rooms were clean, the food was good, and the staff was friendly. Overall a positive experience for us. [Details]

This hotel is clean but is outdated, has terrible food , rude staff and is full of young Cuban prostitutes for old Canadian men. Disgusting! [Details]

Hotel was a place to sleep, and food was edible. Handy location to Havana and beach. Staff was usually friendly and helpful. There was no water! one day we were there. If you're looking for a resort experience, skip this place. But for a home base (a place to sleep), it worked out fine. I'd stay again. [Details]

Great place for singles to come and stay and visit Havana ... [Details]

I will wast my time and your time if I write anything else. [Details]

This hotel is perfectly situated on the beach, 20 minutes drive away from the city.

Shuttle bus goes twice a day to Havana, free of charge, for hotel guests.

Most of Cuban hotels do not excell with food choices, and Tropicoco is not an exception in that department.

Hotel employees are trying very hard to do great job, and hotel manager is doing an excellent job!

This hotel is two stars, but service is five stars! [Details]

As 2 quite independent travellers, we were extremely annoyed when allowed only 1 room key (as also with Hotel Atlantico Guardalavaca in November). While they tell us we can always leave the key at the front desk, we may be only in another part of the hotel or possibly forget to leave key at desk.
On occasion when leaving the key at the front desk and returning to ask for it, we were met with blank stares! Again this amounted to lots of frustration as we chased each other around looking for the key. Demand 2 keys if you intend to do any independent wandering!
Otherwise, the very basic Russian architecture was strange but satisfactory, and hotel management was OK, although major construction of the lobby area was noisy. [Details]

This place was great for my partner and I. We stayed for a week, and absolutely loved the architecture of the place. It's all very open, and right across from a gorgeous beach that has an amazing sunrise.

We tipped the maid 1 CUC every day and found her to be helpful and friendly, though the one day we didn't leave a tip, we didn't get clean towels even though they'd been left in the shower as they request.

Food was good, though not as good as in other places. However, for a 2-star resort and a buffet, it was good. There were only a couple of days where it wasn't great, and only one meal I had that I didn't enjoy at all. There's a different selection every day/every meal, though apparently papaya and pineapple are in season, and they were fantastic.

The bar staff don't have a great grasp of English, and I wish I'd learned how to order some drinks in Spanish as they didn't understand (or have the ingredients for) a pina colada or white russian.

People keep complaining about the prostitutes, but all I saw was young women conversing with older men. There was nothing overt about it, and they weren't dressed provocatively. I only noticed, really, because people kept mentioning it so I was on the look out. They never approached me or my partner during our stay.

We had no problems with the bathroom or cleanliness of the room, but it is a 2-star and I think it's only fair that I grade it based on my expectations of a 2-star and not the expectations I would have for a much more expensive 5-star resort.

We really enjoyed our stay at the Hotel Tropicoco, and though we likely won't be back as we've decided next time to stay in Central Havana next time, it was a great way to spend our first time in the country. It was far enough away from the city that we could ease ourselves into the culture, but close enough that for $15 you could get a cab into Havana directly. [Details]

Our fifth stay at the Tropicoco did not disappoint. As always, we found the food enjoyable, the staff amazing and the location perfect for anything you want to do. For a 2 Star, you really cannot get any better value for money. Looking forward to the next trip already. [Details]

This is a 2 star Cuban hotel, meaning that it's well below what we usually want. But it's a great location with a beach that's better than Varadero if you like less wind and more Cubans. There's more life and it's a more festive and fun atmosphere (for me) At the hotel you'll have to look past the older men/Cuban teenager pairs. If this plus the generally poor-by-our-standards food, room and service is too upsetting...don't go here. But if you want to go for a beach walk in the morning and be in Havana in 20 minutes it's just fine. [Details]

This hotel has many mixed reviews and I believe this is partly due to many people ending up here not realizing what they're about to get when they book!

Tropicoco is nowhere near a 3 or even a 2 star hotel. It is a tourist dive that does the job. That said, it is not horrible and is certainly not as bad as some suggest. Sure there are prostitutes hanging out with very old guys and yes at times a cockroach might be seen. The food is so-so and unless you tip, the cleaning staff won't do much with your room. A nasty smell of sewage wafted through the room from time to time probably because the plumbing and w/c venting is falling apart.

None of these things really bothered me as I already knew what I was getting myself into when booking at the Tropicoco. My wife and I have traveled throughout Asia and have stayed at many dumpy hotels - including several times at the Chungking Mansions in Kowloon. The Tropicoco was not an eye-opening experience, it was simply a decent place to stay and a just a quick ride to Havana where we spend most of our time anyway. The nearby beach was pretty good, especially down towards the Atlantico where there were less people.

For me, one of the more entertaining aspects of staying at the Tropicoco was having breakfast or dinner in the restaurant and watching the different types of people. This hotel attracts quite a diverse mix of folks.

In the end, as a basic place to stay and for the location to Havana and the beach I would recommend this hotel. [Details]

This hotel is advertised as 2 star and is exactly that. We chose it for the beach location and the free twice daily 20 minute shuttle to Old Havana. Old hotel in need of updating, but clean and friendly. Tolerable food (just barely),hot showers, nice beach, reliable shuttle. Not a family hotel. [Details]

The location of the hotel is good, just across the beach with free daily twice shuttle service to Havana. The hotel staff is friendly [Details]

First, beware of the cashiers at the airport bank, located outside the terminal. I am sure I gave the cashier $ 1000 Canadian to change and after counting she said I gave her only $ 900. She hid $ 100. The hotel was fine. The beach nearby was excellent, you could buy freash coconut with rum, or have a small but talented band play songs for a price. The room was okay, AC worked fine, did not see any bugs. Only issue was smell of sewage in the shower once you used it. Buffet was slim and not ideal for daily use. I preferred to go out to eat. [Details]

I found that hotel itself is very uninviting, dirty and poorly cared for.
Beach is next to public beach and is extremely dirty and nobody puts any effort to clean it, so all the bottles, cigarette buts, garbage just left lying everywhere.
Food was OK, but I spotted a cockroaches running along food trays, was awful.
The only benefit it is proximate distance and free shuttle to Havana.
I would advise families not to even consider this hotel, as this is a place for hookers looking for a few bucks from tourists and they bring them to cafeteria, restaurants, rooms etc, so would not be good sight for kids. [Details]

Set a clear expectation, do not expect luxury, this is an old building, subject to the Cuban budget restrictions. Almost everything will be rationed.
Dark at night as most lights are energy saver. Changes of sheet and replenishments of soap and shampoo upon request.
Nice bar service and food. [Details]

Good for sleeping at not much to do [Details]

It was pretty good ... [Details]

it was as expected. I found the front desk not helpful in booking tours.But very helpful helping me locate my lost bag. A peso goes a long way in getting service. [Details]