Playa Pesquero

It was fun week. [Details]

This is our first time at Playa Pesquero and we really enjoyed our 14-day stay during mid-February 2024. 50% of the clientele were Quebecois, 20% Canado-Italian, 10% Slavic, and 10% Others. The average age was : 70%, 50 years and older, 20% 35 to 49 years old, and 10% 18 to 34 years old. There were few children.
There is beautiful live music every day. Some evening shows are good.
The pools are magnificent but shallow. The hotel complex is very large. Be prepared to walk a lot ! It took us 10 minutes to walk from our room to the beach. The flowers, trees, shrubs, and all the beautiful vegetation is just fabulous.
The rooms are comfortable and spacious but a bit outdated.
The beach is beautiful. The water is transparent and turquoise, with white sand and no algae.
Walking from one end of the beach to the other takes 20 to 30 minutes. Snorkeling is great, just a 10-minute walk in front of the Ashton Costa Verde hotel. Bring your own mask. You can do it in front of Playa Pesquero, but there is much less to see.
The Gondola and Romantico restaurants were the best à la carte restaurants. The other restaurants serve buffet food that is better arranged and served at your table. The wines (Spanish) are very ordinary table wines. There is a lack of various alcohols at the bar No tequila :-( and the cocktails are mostly ordinary. There are plenty of Rums. They usually has tonic.
People's #1 biggest complaint: Issues with pool chairs. You have to wake up very early in the morning to reserve your beach chair :-( because there are no chairs available after 8am. There are supply problems of all kinds, the space on the beach is limited, and tourists come to reserve the lounge chairs as early as 6am. You end up crowded, too close to each other, so forget about peace and quiet with all your close neighbors :-(
The food is plentiful and Ok. The buffet food is not varied and repetitive. There are a lot of people, so you have to wait a long time at the buffet (at the stations) to be served. It is very difficult for hotels to stock up, why?? I don't know. There is not a wide variety of fruits. The food lacks flavor (I know it's Cuba and I'm used to it, and I'm not very picky, but personally I think they could do so much better in terms of meals with the food they have. Bring salt/pepper. You can also bring peanut butter/jams, condiments, dressings. There is some freshly squeezed juice some days, but the juices served are synthetic and overly sweet. They serve generic Cola no 7ups or anything of the sort.
The water has a musty, earthy taste, so I only drank bottled water. Others didn't seem to be too bothered by the taste... some said the coffee had an aftertaste because of the water.
The free wifi was not stable at all. You had to try several times before successfully connecting, especially in the lobby, and you could lose the connection often. It's better in the rooms.
Tipping is common at this hotel, with an average cost of $1. Cubans cannot deposit loose change at their banks, only bills (in good condition with no folds). You will often be asked to change for $10 or $20 bill Canadian, and they will give you coins of $1 or $2 Canadian. The ideal tip for Cubans is $1 US bill or their Cuban CUP bill. 100 CUP = $1.10 CAD.
I hope this review helps you, if it does please leave a like / thumbs up Thank-you. Chris. [Details]

Having been to Cuba several times, we did not have high expectations, we love the beach and the price fit our budget, so we booked. We are also not picky on food. Although we've read the negative reviews before we left, we thought they were just pickier than us. WE WERE SO, SO WRONG!!!! Believe all honest negative reviews!!!!
PP used to be one of the best resorts in Cuba. We've been at this resort multiple times and enjoyed it in the past.
After 2 weeks at PP, we are now on antibiotics and other medication for FOOD POISONING.
We've met lots of people in the resort with similar symptoms, that couldn't wait to go home, to seek treatment and have a decent meal.
Huge problems:
1) Water.
Water from the tap was undrinkable, yellow in color and tasted mold or sewage. Probably this resort and all other resorts on the same beach are in the middle of ecological or technical disaster which is not reported to the public. Smell and taste is unbelievably disgusting. This poisoned water is used in every food, cocktail, coffee, drinks. It is yellow. IT SMELLS!!! It is not sanitary and does not meet minimum standards. Resort management is trying to silence the huge problem they have. They should close this resort and other resorts on the same beach and repair the water supply and then reopen. Instead of this, they operate at full capacity like nothing happen. Unbelievably how tourists do not protest and drink this water like there is nothing wrong with it.
Supply of bottled water is insufficient, 1.5 l per day per room. You cannot survive on this small quantity of normal drinking water.
2) Meals.
The buffet is dirty, just straight up dirty. The food shortage was horrendous. A lot of spoiled food on display. No potatoes. Many food items are prepared from spoiled ingredients and it look like food, but you cannot eat it without disgust and vomiting. Instead of vegetables, cut onions and fruits from the cans, which day after day is on display and expired. Many foods look so terrible you cannot approach it. Tuna from the cans is offered as a stew, never saw anything like this even in Cuba. Canned beef as a stew. Hot dogs in all shape and form are main dish. It is boiled, fried, and then boiled again, used for all dishes and soups. Juices are watered down with poisonous water and offered to public. Coke diluted with stinking water. Fanta is so full with chemicals that even stinking water cannot change its taste and smell.
3) Entertainment.
It's all by animation team. No entertaining from outside performers. The evening show was lame.

It is a crime to operate fully booked resort when you have no sanitary water in your water supply. Tour operators in Canada are complicit in this crime and have to be sued as a class action law suit.
This time was terrible and we will never go again to this resort. [Details]

We had a great vacation.
Beautiful resort I have been coming to this resort for 14 years absolutely love it!
Cuba is struggling with food and supply shortages.If you want a 5star experience don't go to Cuba.
If you want to relax at beautiful beaches with the friendly staff that go out of their way to make your vacation enjoyable then you will like Cuba! [Details]

Lovely grounds, well kept, friendly staff. Quickly tried to solve any problems (eg. noisy fridge, lack of umbrellas when it rained) [Details]

Just came back from PP. We had a wonderful time. Beautiful weather, beautiful beach, well kept grounds and beautiful people at PP. The food was plentiful and good. We had a superior room that was large and well maintained. The staff goes out of their way to please and accommodate you. Thank you Yadira(front desk manager) for making our stay perfect and Mabel for reserving all our a la carte restaurants. Yanelis at the beer garden, Yanetsis and all the girls at the buffet, Miralis y Niubis at Restaurant Caletones, thank you.
Please do not listen to the negative comments. You will have a great time and definitely eat well. [Details]

We have just completed one week stay.
The resort is clean and the staff is very friendly and accommodating. They do their best to please us. They know their jobs depend on resort's reputation. Overall great service, friendly, helpful and very hard working staff, but is not always enough.
Owners/managers made changes and cut down too much that it doesn't feel at all like the old Playa Pesquero.
My major complaint is the lack of water in the rooms, they don't refill. We only got a 1.5 l bottle of water when we first came. You have to take your jugs to lobby or buffet and get it refilled with filtered water, which is not drinkable, taste awful. We got sick for two days after drinking that water.
Food is getting worst and worst every time we go to this resort. It was our 5-th time and the last one if things won't improve. We are not picky eaters, and our expectations are not high, but the lack of fresh fruits, vegies, eggs….. we are talking about basic things, made us wandering how bad things will look like in 2-3 years.
A la carte restaurants have same food as in main buffet but you would have to wait for the waiter for a while to get it served to you. Take out the long pants dress code men in 30° Celsius, doesn't make sense.
Hotel staff, do you think we can't tell the bottled water from filtered tap water? Think again!
For a 4.5 stars resort, with a thousand rooms, you should have more palapas for shade and beach chairs for your customers. You should always have extra not less. Look at the resorts near your, they always have extra beach chairs. It's very frustrating to get to the beach to be told there are no more beach chairs, put your beach towel on the sand and get bitten by sand fleas.
There is something else pretty obvious I would like to point out, the buffet is overdue for table cleaning cloth replacement. They look very old, with holes in it and dirty. These cloths can harbor harmful pathogens and spread germs if not cleaned frequently and replaced when the time comes.
Even the night shows are not what they used to be. Most of the shows are done with tourist on the stage, most of them drunk. How is this possible with so much Cuban talent out there?
We work hard for the money, we know how hard is for you guys, but the management should make sure they have at least the basics before they are asking us to visit Cuba.
We love Cuba and its peoples, we always help them as much as we can, but I can't help wandering, how Cuban resorts will look like in couple years if drastic changes won't take place.
It's sad for us to say after all these years, but we are looking for better alternatives to spend winter. [Details]

We went for 2 weeks this year. 5 years ago we earned free week from the hotel after spending 56 days total so we booked both paid and free week this time. We love Playa Pesquero, this was our 14th time there. Cuba, in general, is going through hard time but they are doing everything they can to make your stay memorable and I mean EVERYTHING. As a returning guests we got a bottle of rum and invitation for gala dinner which was great. We had 4 dinners a la cart per week. We also earned second free week again because we spent another 56 days after the first one. People working for the hotel are always smiling and happy, which makes you feel the same. Beaches are great, we love the smaller one on the left hand side because of the snorkeling that we like. There is a restaurant at the beach so there is no need to go to the restaurants close to the lobby, food there is great. Towel exchange can be done at the pool or the beach. Junnis at the beach will take care of you and we loved to talk to her. Resort is mature and clean, very well maintained. There are tennis courts but we decided not to play because it was 36 degrees C. Electric golf vehicles are available and these are going to get you either to the restaurant, to the beach or the pool. We also had a great weather all 14 days which was great, no rainy day, just a few rain drops one night. If you need and want to relax and have quiet vacation and great memories, Playa Pesquero is the place. We will come back again next year. This is a great opportunity to thank all the stuff for another great vacation.
Best Regards, Gordana and Nenad. [Details]

The hotel is huge and well maintained. People are very kind and always ready to help. Food is good. Beach is the best. [Details]

Stayed at PP for a week in May 2023. Travelled as a family with children aged 7 & 9 yrs. If travelling with children any older, it would be recommended to have adjoining rooms as sleeping arrangements would not otherwise be ideal. The resort does not have family friendly rooms and offer two twin beds pushed together to become one large bed a single cot bed - not perfect for a family but we made due. Bathtub is very deep, curvy & slippery. We would have benefited from a non-slip mat for the tub. Anyone on the short side or unsteady on their feet would find the bathtub difficult and scary! While there are grab bars, ours were loose.
Overall the resort is extremely clean and the staff are very friendly and accomodating. We did not have any issues with the service and/or amenities at any level. Rooms are cleaned and linens changed daily. A/C worked very well in our unit as did the electronic access. The resort is large but we did not find the walking to be daunting, even in the high heat & humidity!
Wide variety of food options offered daily. Yes many repetitive options but how many ways can chicken, pork & fish be offered?!? Burgers, hotdogs, pizza, french fries, pasta, cold cuts, chicken, pork, fish, eggs, fruits & veggies daily. We did not go hungry!
Wi-fi throughout the resort but we found it best within the room. No issues charging devices (iphones, android tablets, wireless headphones) using the 220V outlets. Be sure to bring your charging blocks for USB cables as these are not otherwise offered. Do not plan to use the TV to charge anything as it simply is not strong enough to do so. Charging times are slow compared to what we are used to. [Details]

We just arrived from 2 weeks at playa is our best resort in Cuba went we can have a deal we spent our time at playa presqueroIs our 4 time and want be the last a big thanks to all managers and staff for a excellent time we spent staff are super nice and resort are super clean. Food excellent not one complaint in 2 weeks a little problem with shower head talk to front desk within 1 hrs everything was fixed.well organized,great banker,4 supper la carte super good, beach excellent,all staff excellent specialty front desk excellent thanks again for a very good holiday we was with 6 couples not one complaint we will be loi for our next deal for our next trip thanks again from a happy customer [Details]

My wife and I spent a week at this awesome resort. Everything was excellent; from the food to the room and the spectacular Cuban scenery.

All the people at the resort were very friendly and very attentive. We want to give special mention to our room maid and the lady that was exchanging our beach towels at the beach white house. The room was lovely and spacious. Plenty of water bottles, sodas and beer brought to room each day. The entire resort is incredibly clean and well maintained. The beach is one of the best in Cuba. White sand, plenty of loungers and lots of shade. Paddle boats and catamarans available.

Food at resort is good and varied. Far exceeded my expectations. Chefs do a wonderful job at creatively displaying the food. Lots of fresh fish, pork and chicken. The buffet is well stocked. The selection of cheeses was sometimes exceptional, as well as cold cuts, including prosciutto. All deserts were excellent, best we have ever tasted on our trips to Cuba.

Every guest gets 28 hours of free WiFi, more than enough for anyone on vacation. The coverage and speed was good throughout the resort. [Details]

We had a great time at Playa Pesquero. Both my parents and children enjoyed it very much. The hotel and the grounds are well kept. Our room was in a perfect location, clean and welll equipped. The staff accommodated our requests regarding the room prior to coming. The beach is amazing, sand and water beautiful, you can do snorkeling right near the shore and see fishes and corals. The pool is very nice and big as well. Food was good, many restaurants and buffets on the site, you can always find something you enjoy eating, kids loved it. Staff is amazing, very nice people all around, always with a smile and willing to help out. We did not want to leave. Will be back for sure :) [Details]

First time in Cuba. [Details]

Based on our experience at PP, will not be returning to Cuba for the next while. Have been to Cuba over 20X, understand Cuba, so decided to book PP based on all the great reviews and upgraded to superior, wanted to ensure a great vacation.
At Holguin airport, boarded the bus, drove slowly for about 10 minutes, pulled over, tour guide said bus was broken, we were asked get out since no air-conditioning, sat at the side of the road for over 1 hr. in 30 degree weather, still wearing our travelling clothes, no water, beer or washrooms. Bus driver had 27 yrs experience, so obviously he knew bus had issues when driving it to the airport. The next day meeting with our tour rep, apparently she knew nothing about the breakdown, really??? When we got to the resort, had power/computer issues, so could not get our WiFi password (you need to stand in line at the WiFi office to set up account & get password, this went on for 2 days they had intermittent power outages, even had to eat supper in the dark with phone lights) WiFi very spotty and unreliable, except in the lobby.
Resort overall very clean, gardens well maintained, very attractive but very big with lots of walking. We got a map of the place at check in, but all explanations were in German or French, nothing in English, and this was a very huge resort, many places, but no idea what each represented. Their solution if you wanted any info, call the front desk.
Beach is amazing, like many in Cuba, calm colourful water, white sand and great snorkelling right off the beach, with lots of lounge chairs, palapas and very efficient chair service.
Overall great service, friendly, helpful and very hard working staff.
Food- Breakfast was for the most part very good, did run out of things like peppers and onions for omelettes and were unavailable for most of our stay.If you wanted salt & pepper on the table, had to go chase it from other tables, only very few in the whole buffet. All the bread was sweet, which personally I disliked. Fruit limited to papaya daily, bananas only one day, pineapple and watermelons frequently. The first day thought food at the buffet was acceptable and tasted decent, but after that, same thing every lunch and supper, pork, chicken, rice and beans and cabbage for salad, and same desserts. They had pasta first week, but very long lines, one night counted 30 people in line, and 2nd week ran out, never seen pasta for rest of our stay. No fish ever except canned fish. Never had hamburgers and fries, had banana chips 2x and then ran out since no bananas. They even ran out of hot dogs at the beach restaurant. Wine they had red one day and a few times some white sparkly wine, and then only Rose, and the last day NO wine at all at an all inclusive 41/2* resort.The specialty restaurants, except the Romantica and Italian, had buffet tasting food but was served to you. The Romantica & Italian we enjoyed, even though they also only had pork & chicken.
Bars-no mojito except if you walked to the boulevard, had it once there and then ran out, no Pina colada until towards end of our stay, it tasted terrible, was watery over ice, no margarita-they served mangorita with mango juice, disgusting! The coffee bar served amazing coffee, but no ingredients for Spanish coffee, first time this happened to us with over 20x in Cuba. The beach bar service was exceptional, but same drink issues.
What is puzzling to us is that while on excursions with tourists from other resorts in Holguin area, found it interesting that some had same issues as us, and 2 resorts did not, they had fish, shrimp, and lobster.
Also, you need your credit card for booking all tours and at the duty free, even the $5. double decker bus ride (this DD bus is worth taking, a great ride and takes you to a craft market). We could not buy any cigars in the duty free shops, not even at the airport. We have always loved going to Cuba for many of our vacations, but sadly after our experience at PP, sad to say we will not be coming back to Cuba for the foreseeable future until things improve. [Details]

The Playa Pesquero is a beautiful resort. It is very big but laid out well so you are in close proximity to everything. The lobby is very large and never had any issues finding places for our party of upwards of 11 to sit. It's bright and you can always feel a beautiful breeze. There are always taxis and horse and buggies at your disposal when needed. It was my third time there but we will be back. [Details]

The resort is just okay.
Granted, the country is experience drought conditions so everything was pretty brown but still, the grounds are average. The rooms are nice, but old but quite comfortable and clean.The cleaning staff are excellent. Otherwise, service is subpar overall. Often had to go searching for plates, cutlery, water, coffee in the dining rooms. Ask for a beer or coffee and often never saw the guy again. The food was ridiculously terrible. Recognizing that there are serious shortages we weren't looking for huge variety but the actual cooking was just bad. How do you screw up roasted chicken or pork. The ONLY choices are chicken or pork btw which was often inedible because it was cooked hard as a rock. Only veg was shredded raw cabbage (no vinegar or anything), sliced beets, green tomatoes. There were loads of beans;black,brown,chick peas. The a la cartes were garbage too. Same crap as the "buffet". They had the ingredients to create some nice dishes but it was like nobody knew how to cook. I was looking for the candid camera all the time thinking it was a joke. Nothing was ever served as it was described. Eg wife ordered roast chicken, brother ordered chicken stew. when served, both were identical and weird looking. I ordered chicken Alfredo..arrived with no cream sauce, no garlic, no pasta, no parm ... Basically more weird chicken.
The beach is beautiful and the swimming there is one of the best. beautiful white sand and coral if you want to see fish etc. The pool is ok. The main hang out is the lobby which is quite nice but it's crowded and pretty loud in the evening. There is always music in the lobby though during the evening and it was excellent.
We spoke to guests from other neighboring resorts(2.5 star) that reported excellent food..fish,shellfish, variety...so we're not sure why Playa Pesquaro was so limited.
This is definitely NOT a 4.5 star resort, even for Cuba. I have been to many resorts in Cuba and elsewhere and this is a 2 star. Know several people who had been there before and the quality has gone down the tubes. [Details]

Large resort, very clean, excellent chambermaid, beautiful beach, great for walking, pleasant people and very helpful.

I was in building 61 and the lighting at night is very dim when you get to the circle area. [Details]

My husband and I had a great stay. The grounds were well kept, rooms were clean and the staff amazing. Food was mediocre, but understandable due to conditions and supplies available. A la cartes were just good, nothing amazing. [Details]

Overall the resort is beautiful, the staff are fantastic and we would go back!

The rooms > yes, they are dated but it's a place to sleep, so that wasn't a big deal for us. There is limited room for your clothes, so pack wisely. As a family of 3, we had to use the coffee table to put our son's clothes on OR have him live out of his suitcase but there was nowhere to put his suitcase as the couch turned into a bed for him. The beds were comfortable, as were the pillows. We had a 'premium' room but did have to call for beverage service twice as our room was missed. They quickly fixed the problem! In that beverage service, we were supposed to get 2 juice boxes per day, which we didn't get because they have no juice.

Pool/Beach > both were great! Beach was crowded, as expected, but we could always find a chair. There were sand flees, so after going a couple of times we made the personal choice to not go back. The pool was rarely busy and we would always get our favourite spot, with washrooms close by. Tip: bring a pool floaty!

Food & drink > the food was good. Yes, there are limitations but the resort did a great job with what they are given. There were days when there was no coke, no mojitos, very limited vegetables, and limited chicken and beef. The biggest disappointment was the fruit ... there was only pineapple and papaya and honestly, the imported pineapple in Canada is better. The 'juice' at the bars was essentially Sunny D. (powder sugar with water). So if you have kids, bring juice boxes! We never went hungry and there were always options.

Entertainment/staff > there is always something going on and the people of Cuba work hard! Daytime restaurant greeters turn into nighttime entertainers. They try very hard to make your experience great. I found that they were understaffed in some areas but that didn't affect my experience overall, I just felt bad for them. We received the most consistent information from our onsite agency rep. She knew EVERYTHING.

WIFI > this was not a big deal for us but it was talked about around the resort often ... unlimited WIFI is advertised and while it is unlimited, you have to get it reset after 72 hours. So if you don't turn your WIFI off, you chew through your 72 hours quickly. You then have to stand in line to reset your hours but they don't top you up to 72 hours again, so we had to reset ours a total of 3 times. [Details]

The food was terrible, if you did not like pork you were out of luck. Same thing every day for 2 weeks. Staff was excellent, weather was good. Lots of loungers around pool. Rooms were dated,worst shower ever. [Details]

Staff very helpful and friendly. 10 or 11.
Excellent bed and pillow. Best ever experienced in a hotel. 10
Hotel 8. Grounds 9 Spread out 2 storey buildings.
Beach 8 A little crowded. Very hard white plastic lounge chairs in regular section. With material in premium.
Snorkelling near beach. 9
Beach activities (boating) 10 [Details]

So very unhappy about the food. No chicken at all . Called ' tuna ' seafood ?
One can only eat pork for so long .

Also found this resort to be to overcrowded for our liking [Details]

I had very nice time at this hotel. Well organized, clean, good food, friendly staff. Will definitely come back and recommend this hotel to my friends and family. [Details]

Our first time in Cuba AND at an all-inclusive, and we enjoyed it thoroughly. We were greeted kindly, checked in quickly and got much of the information we needed to set ourselves up for success.
The pools and beach are beautiful, the staff were incredibly helpful and friendly, and we had a great time.
Hotel rooms on the standard side of the resort are located in 2-floor buildings; the rooms are spacious and VERY clean, thanks to the attentive housekeeping staff. We were kept stocked up with Cristal beer and bottled water. To celebrate our birthdays we upgraded for our last three nights of the trip to the Premium side of the resort which was even more of the same lovely staff, scenery and overall experience. Premium rooms have outdoor showers which was such a wonderful way to wake up/get ready for bed. A caution about food if you are vegetarian or have dietary restrictions: bring all kinds of snacks. We used our own hot sauce liberally with certain buffet meals. Overall, enjoyed our time on both the Standard and Premiums sides of this resort. [Details]

Le peuple cubain est présentement en grand manque de denrées de toutes sortes. Comme plusieurs le savent ils vivent du tourisme. Le manque paraît au buffet la bouffe est bonne mais redondante il n'y a pas beaucoup de variété mais ils font des miracles avec ce qu'ils ont. On ne va pas au Pesquaro pour la gastronomie. L'hôtel est vieillissant mais très propre j'étais dans la section 19 et Maria avec son merveilleux sourire et sa bonne humeur entretenait ma chambre . Quelle gentillesse merci Maria. En fait tout le personnel de l'hôtel était souriant et heureux de travailler pour les touristes. Un merci tout spécial pour Mario à la plage. Chaque jour j'arrivais et ma chaise m'attendait sous le palapas. La plage du Pesquaro est tout simplement exceptionnelle ; turquoise peu de vagues et peu profonde sur près de 200 mètres le paradis des petits poissons colorés les enfants adorent et les parents aussi tu peux faire de la plongée en apnée en partant du bord. Les sports nautiques sont inclus. Le wifi rentre bien à l'hôtel et était inclus. Merci à tout le personnel pour ces magnifiques souvenirs. À bientôt je l'espère.
Si vous décidez de vous rendre au Pesquaro soyez généreux avec vos pourboires en argent canadien ou américain ils manquent de tout donc apporter des shampooings, déodorants, pâte à dent, vêtements etc ils seront des plus heureux. [Details]

This is my 4th time visiting this hotel over the last 15 years.

Positives: Beach is very nice, pool and swim up bar are great, the food here is much better than anywhere else in Cuba that I have visited. There is something for everyone be it nightly entertainment, kids activities, disco, sports club, fitness, sauna etc. The rooms are clean and in general the hotel tries to maintain everything to a high standard.

Negatives: Rooms are dated, however they are comfortable. The beach has sand flies which come out before sundown, so I would recommend to leave the beach by 4pm.

To note: the current food/drink situation in Cuba due to the communist government is completely dire. This is not the fault of the hotel or staff which do their best. This resort does a BETTER job than any other Cuban resort in terms of food, that's because the region is mostly agricultural. However, be prepared for lack of various different items and make sure you have a positive pre-disposition and are adaptable! You won't starve, best case scenario you fit in those jeans from 15 years ago!

Highly recommend this resort. [Details]

I spend 7 days at Playa Pesquero from 8 of September to 15 of September as usual the best resort can't compared with others in Holguin. My second home starting from 2014 till this year 2 times per year each vacations spend 14 days but this time only 7 days . I can really say it is my favourite vacations in cuba. 100 thanks for all kindly stuff & special thanks for Mr.Ricardo, Yadira and Caridad for the assistance anytime to makes our stay very comfortable to spend an amazing vacations sorry if I can't mention all kindly friends workers in my lovely home. [Details]

We enjoyed our stay at your hotel. Food was great, grounds excellent, beach...what can I say.
And for all you "birders" out there, you will have lots to see in between the hotels if you walk to the right. Lots of beautiful birds, bring those cameras. And most importantly a huge thank you to each and every staff member catering to guests under the ongoing difficult power supply situation on the island. We really APPRECIATE your warm Cuban smiles when you came to work. Keep up the good work and we hope it settles sooner than later. See you again soon. [Details]

I will start by saying we have been to Playa Pesquero 4 times. The ocean here is spectacular although not as warm as I remember but still loved it. The resort is still super beautiful. The older staff that have been with the hotel for 8 or more years are still incredible and warm and many remembered us. All the things above along with great customer service and so many little extras are what have brought us back over and over. It may sound like I am a Karen who is spoiled in this review but I normally wouldn't complain as I know Cuba has different ingredients at their disposal and more so with covid limiting their supplies but I have always praised this hotel and feel it's important for return guests to know about the changes….. The removing of so many little extras and the lack of good customer service like they had in the past are enough for us not to return here which breaks my heart to say as there still are some wonderful kind hearted staff members who still care, managers and people who run the hotel no longer care to please Canadian and European tourists. They do however seem to allow local tourists to do what they want no rules seem to apply to them just the rest of us. If you are curious about all the negative things and changes that we encountered you can message and I will be happy to share our experience. If I were to write everything here it would be 4 pages long.
Instead here are the “no Longers” about the resort and some tips we would have found helpful
Return guests would get upgraded when available – no longer
Return guests would get late check out – no longer
the new rule that you had to have stayed 6 weeks with them
Rules used to apply to all guests no exceptions- no longer
My husband, my 12 year old son and my 70 year old Dad were told pants are mandatory for the a la cartes. Although inconvenient as they would have to return to the room to change after dinner to back to the lobby, they still wore pants. In 2 of the 3 a la cartes we went to other guests went in with beach shorts not even dress shorts and they were permitted. A guest we met from Europe came in dressier white shorts and he was told no and he went to change into long pants while his family waited for him to return and not 5 min later a family sat next to us 3 out 4 of the men were wearing casual/beach shorts

Plastic cups-no longer
Tip:
>bring cooler/tumbler cups-there is no plastic cups anymore and you cannot take the glass ones away from the pool bar another rule only applied to some of us. There were other guests the poor bartenders had to pretty much babysit not to take the cups away
Little carts and cookies in the lobby- no longer ,
So disappointing we appreciated that extra touch. It was cured meats, bruschetta and cheeses and another cart with brandy etc. they used to come around the lobby with. They also always kept little container trays with cookies and buns next to the coffee cart in the lobby no longer, so disappointing

Little carts/vendors on the Blvd. to the beach-no longer

Hungry late:
Too bad so sad, so disappointing. The below standards snacks at the Beer garden were your only options. Sardine spread on toast and some yuca that's it.
Tip:
take bananas to your room from the buffet or you will starve
Maybe zip lock bags to take buns too

Diabetic? Or have Allergies/dietary restrictions:
Tip:
>bring sweetener or crystal light stuff to add to water as they have no diet anything to drink
>there's no tip on religious dietary restrictions but keep in mind if you do not eat pork or beef your choices are limited. There were no fries as a backup either, actually no potatoes at all. Most soups although delish contained meat.
>note: veggie pizza is pickles and olives as the toppings and side note tomato sauce I found very sweet my daughter liked it though
>no hamburgers or hotdogs to be found either (sad for the kids)

Food options:
They used to have:
Carts I mentioned before> no longer
Pool Grill restaurant> no longer, sad as the food was always great here
Poolside carts/stands with burgers, hotdogs and fish & chips>very sadly no longer
24 hour beer garden with great snacks> it exists but great snacks> no longer
Seafood a la carte> as far as we know> no longer sad as we had lobster there a lot
This trip only once at welcome back dinner and was so sick after. Others also got sick from that dinner
Ice-cream place> it exists but the flavor selection they had before> no longer
Buffet>exists still, but only one buffet and the food was just ok no better than any other resort we went to in Cuba before which is a big step down for them as the food before was so good at the buffet
Bars>still exist

Entertainment:
>still have shows but not as good as they were before
>still have an animation team but before they had fun by the pool now its pool bingo…yay
Positive things:
*nice gym
*Dr. on site
*spa (never visited myself so not sure how good or bad it is)
*nice games room area with pool tables and ping pong, mini golf and more sports and games
*alcohol always available but no tequila for those who like it
*juices at breakfast were good but any other time of day or bar your choice is oj and pineapple from concentrate.
*resort grounds are well kept and beautiful
*beach is amazing clear water but sand not smooth little shells and pebbles
*rooms are a good size and beds are okay, we asked for connecting rooms which was great for our kids to have their space
*they provide beach towels but only one place to exchange (before there was by the pool and ocean now only by the ocean). Don't lose the towels they will charge.
*golf carts are available to take you around

All in all we still loved our vacation because the ocean and pool gave us the relaxation we were needing. Just wanted to let people know a lot has changed. [Details]