Our family (2 30 something adults and 2 kids under 3) stayed a this hotel at the end of January. It was a very nice vacation.

The hotel is clean with a nice open air lobby. The staff is very friendly and helpful. The rooms are standard hotel style. We ended up with two adjoining rooms through a booking error/miscommunication. One had a king size bed, one had two twins. There is a mini fridge and a safe in each room. Again the rooms were clean.

The pools are nice, our kids enjoyed the kids pool. The larger pool is not very deep in the shallow end and has very gentle slope through out the entire length so our older child was able to play in the main pool as well. The pool was never really busy and there was always deck chairs available to lounge on.

The food was a bit of mixed quality. When we arrived the hotel was hosting the Havana rum company appreciation days/party. So the food was excellent with both sides of the buffet having selections and ice cream at lunch and dinner. After the appreciation days were over, the selection was basically cut in half. But even so at supper there was a choice of a fresh grilled meat or fish, an oven cooked main dish (roast/turkey/fish), pasta, and buffet selections (veggies/plaintains/rice/potatoes). The quality was standard buffet quality, not gourmet but nothing to complain about.

The beach is nice and the hotel has lots of lounger chairs available. They also provide a cooler with water and cola for guests to have a drink from.

The nightly entertainment was decent. A dance troupe one night, the hotel staff putting on skits a couple nights. Again we were a little spoiled as the rum company put on a big party one night with an excellent dance group and one the more popular cuban bands.

Overall a very nice vacation. The hotel is active but not a crazy party.

As a graduation trip for 3 girlfriends, Blau Arenal provided us with wonderful accomodation. The resort was located close to the beach, about a 2 minute walk over a quaint wooden bridge. While the beach was public, it offered us the opportunity to acquaint ourselves with local Cubans, all of whom we encountered were friendly and pleasant. The beach had a little bit too much seaweed for my liking, but the water was warm and clear. The best part of our stay was the daily bus trip to Havana, about a 20 minute ride, which allowed us the freedom to view this beautiful city with no transportation expense. The staff at Blau were extremely friendly, including all wait staff, bartenders and animators. Tipping was appreciated by all but not expected and service did not diminish. The food was tolerable, with a wide variety of food each serving. Breakfast is probably the best meal of the day. Drinks were heavy on the alcohol, so if you like to taste the Coke in your rum and coke, ask the bartender for less alcohol.

Dec 22 to 29th we stayed at the Blau Arenal in Playa del Este (East Havana Beach). We are a family of six - 49 & 56 and kids 25, 24, 21 and 16. We have traveled quite often but never to Cuba. We knew that we were compromising quality in exchange for proximity to Havana City. We had been told that this hotel, while billed as a 3 star, would not measure up to any 3 star we had stayed in. It was a rocky arrival after many delays on an icy tarmack in Ottawa in the freezing rain. The 3 a.m. check in was relatively quick but not problem free - we were given mold and turpentine smelling rooms with no flushing toilets and no c/air (in one instance). No amount of complaining in the lobby was effective. The two suites we had paid for were unavailable until the next day! With that, we went to bed, not daring to unpack a thing! Do not let them check you in to 303, 302 or 309. People who came after us had the same thing happen to them!

Our move to suites went smoothly 242, 243 & 263 (and for our trouble, we were given a free late check out and an additional suite instead of a room). The weather was lovely - things began looking up. This was going to be a "make the best of it" type of holiday. The coffee was great (espresso & cappuccino machines at each bar), the beach was reasonably clean (approx 200 metres away), over a sketchy boardwalk affair in need of repair, but manageable (it needed more proper huts & chairs). The property itself is in need of massive amounts of repair and sprucing up (the pool for example, needed draining & painting, though the chairs were new. None of the floor tiles matched (patchy repairs having been done over time), the ceilings leaked in many rooms & main areas, there were open telephone and electrical rooms, the lobby had broken chairs, the internet was down for the first 3 or 4 days, the rooms, though clean, had old blankets, bad drapes, small pillows, and closets but no bureau drawers. The safes and t.v. remotes, however, were free - often not the case in Caribbean countries.

Many of the facilities challenges were offset somewhat by the wonderful service from staff, animation team, bar tenders, especially when tipped early in the vacation. A peso (convertible CUC) is worth approx $1.40 Canadian and can be exchanged at the front desk daily (don't do too many in advance) ...and we generously distributed some of these upon arrival (not waiting until the end). We quickly became established regulars in the small, well laid out place. The intimacy of a 166 room hotel with a good crew makes for a quick comfort level being achieved. We met interesting people from around the world. The prices in the beauty salon and gift shop were reasonable.

The food was o.k. at best. Limited in selection, but more surprisingly, devoid of any "fresh seafood" and strictly rationed - if they ran out of something, it was gone! The kids lived on ham & cheese sandwiches and fries from the snack bar (breakfast ended long before they were up 7:30 to 9:30 am), then on to the pasta bar at the buffet for lunch & dinner - interspersed with some greens, and some meat when recognizable (roast pork & chicken were o.k.) - bread & butter were popular, as was the red wine - the deserts were mediocre. No fear of over indulging here! Mojitos were available sporadically when they had "fresh mint" on board. Some nights you could get brandy and a cappuccino, on other nights, no brandy. It was very random. Other guests spoke of their wine being regularly "watered down". And a Havana special did not look the same at each bar - depending on what powder juice crystals they had available - yes folks, no fresh fruit juice here!

Shows and activities were pleasant but not overwhelming - just constant enough not to present some of those awkward lulls so often felt in other resorts - where you finish dinner at 8:30 and wait until 10 for the show while kids participate in a "mini disco"! No, these guys had the live band move to the lobby and had the animation team and patrons dancing and singing while they waited for the show - nice touch! Their shows were also more innovative than most - yes, some lip synching, but outside dance troupes a couple of times, a couple of comedy sketch shows, with good mime rather than a lot of multi-language stuff, one Broadway memories show, a fashion show around the pool & clothing sale afterwards on Christmas eve, live music throughout, all contributed to a really good time.

Night life at the disco ended around 2 a.m. but there was always something planned after hours - kids had no complaint in this regard.

Access to Havana was brilliant! Two coaches per day (9:30 and 2:30) free! That was enjoyed by all. My husband says he'd go back, I'm not so sure. But then again, he's the old car and history buff!

wow where to start? well the rooms were not bad, although, the suspended bridge was a wooden walkway that was in disrepair was only about 10 feet from the water below, the beach was nice but if you wanted a drink you have to go back to the bar, but it was only a couple minute walk, there was a constant odour that comes from the septic tanks which by the way were right outside of our rooms, the hot tub was empty, the tennis courts had no nets with grass growing around the courts,

lunch was very consistant by that i mean it was the same thing over and over again, if you had turkey at night then you had it again the next day mixed in with something else and that goes for everything, major food recycling, table clothes were changed once in the 6 days we were there, but i do have to say that a peso after every meal gets you a glass that's never empty and a reserved table and that's great for keeping the table clean,

also as a single guy i was looking to hang out with people like myself maybe meet a few women only to find out that i was the only single straight guy there, it's a major club for the gays due to the many ballets and operas in habana, although if you dont mind catching a cab back from habana at about 15 peso you could also have a great time dispite the hotel..