This hotel is beatiful and the beach also, but problems are: food, service and pottery not cleaned.
I often travel, but I don't like arenas doradas and for the reasons over described I not council to nobody.
Sorry for my English.

Let me start by telling you that I've traveled quite a bit and don't expect much. But I do expect cleanliness and courtesy this resort gave me neither of these.

The rule to the resort - if it's broken chances are high that that's the way it will stay. Burnt lights all over the resort-
Large water fountain in the lobby not functioning-
Broken lights-
Lifted sewer lids everywhere very dangerous for children to fall in.

Courtesy: There were maybe a handful of employees of this ressort that were kind, most could not have cared less for it's tourist.

Food: Can't complain the variety was not bad, and remember that you are in Cuba. But they in the a la carte restaurants they always had one of the 3 selections which wasn't available.

Cleanliness: Room towels weren't changed very often, the maid actually left us a note after our 3rd day not to leave the towels on the floor because she felt bad to put them back on the counter for us to use. She told us she would change them when she had some to give us, and because I had a 5yr child i had special privlages imagine that.....i got 1-2 clean towels one day when nobody else was getting clean towels.

Service: We went to the buffet for lunch & supper we had problems finding clean dishes, and glasses. One day I had it, i went to the buffet with my family and for starters no one came to set our table so i took it upon myself to set our table, place setting for our group of 5. We made our plates and sat down, still no one has approached us to serve our drinks. So again I got up and went to the soft drink machine to get drinks but there I only found a few filty glases, so I asked the waitress for 5 clean glasses, that became a really big ordeal, she told me there was problems and would get me clean glasses so I waited and waited by this time we're really starting to get upset because we've now almost finished eating and still no glasses, I was considering walking to the hotel lobby bar to get some clean glasses, but i refused to go in principal. I walked over to the waitress and asked her for clean glasses or plastic glasses, she told me she had no plastic glasses and would get me some glasses, so at this point fed up i followed the waitress that's when i really got pissed because she walked into the kitchen passed with her cart filled with dirty dishes and i waited outside of the kitchen for her and she walked out with the same freakin cart with the same freakin' dirty glasses - I had it. I told her what was the problem - why can't i have some clean glasses. She had the nerve to get upset with me and tell me how they were understaffed with only 3 people working the buffet, (there were maybe 20 clients in the whole restaurant), and got angry with me for not being patient. My husband asked to speak to the manager because it was unacceptable we've all finished eating and needed to drink at least some water and she had the nerve to get upset with us. So I set up my own table, had no service and had to threaten to get glasses. That's the way things went around there i'm furious just thinking about it.

Beach/Pool Chairs: Lots but 75% were broken (hard plastic) careful if the kids sit on a broken chair.

TMR (Tour Mont Royal) Rep that was there was useless - we had to handle all our complaints directly with the hotel director.

Broken glass found almost daily around resort and close to the showers by the beach.

I could go on and on but i'll stop and summarize it by saying
We loved the Beach, resort needs renovations,
Staff needs to be trained to be kinder to the guests,
Resort needs to be cleaned up, play cuban music not american music...what's up with that?? I don't recommend this resort to anyone. Feel free to email me any questions you may have at carmy1@hotmail.com

Just returned from Varadero (Mar 5-12 2007). Cuba is beautiful! Arenas Doradas was nice... the service needs some attention especially in the buffet. The night club, although present, is very poorly attended. Hotel provided entertainment was good. The food was better than expected. The rooms were clean and well maintained. Tip the cleaning ladies and they keep your room in very nice order with fancy sheet decorations. For $80 cuc take the jeep tour, it is well worth it!

I just got back from traveling around Cuba, and I wish I'd had more time in Varadero. The beach at this hotel was incredible, better than anywhere else in the country. The grounds are big and well-kept - a bit of a walk between the rooms and food and beach, but everyone can use a bit of exercise! This hotel was not perfect but heads and shoulders above every other property I stayed at elsewhere in Cuba. I was told it was 4 star and it really was - I thought it was spotless, friendly waiters and animation staff, nice, big, modern rooms, actual water pressure in the shower! I thought the food was excellent by Cuban standards. Just to have a machine that gave hot chocolate was awesome - try getting that anywhere outside of Varadero! (ok, they did have one at the Sevilla in Havana). Yes, there is smoking everywhere but you find that in any country outside of North America. Front desk staff spoke good English but our room was not ready for several hours after arrival, without even anywhere to store our stuff so we could go to the beach. This was technically a breach of contract but there's absolutely nothing you can do about it! They had a little mini salsa lesson by the pool but it is not challenging if you know anything about salsa. If you want just a beach vacation, this is a great place, clean sand and water, chairs provided, no jineteros on the beach. But, don't think that Varadero is Cuba - it totally is not. You might get some Cuban music but locals are absolutely forbidden to enter the resort, so forget about mixing and meeting them. My friend is PR manager at the Barcelo and could only poke her head in the lobby. Varadero is an artificial paradise set up for tourists. The staff don't have time for political discussions and you won't see the real landscape, culture and problems that are unique to Cuba. If you go to Varadero, take at least an overnight to Havana and walk the city, the Malecon, and find a place where the locals dance - that's Cuba!