I went with 8 friends to Varadero. I believe the Iberostar Tainos is one of three Iberostar resorts near Varadero. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Expect to tip regardless of being all-inclusive; these people rely on our tips and I had no problem leaving a couple pesos to servers and bartenders. Other vacationers were from Europe, very few Canadians at this resort. The staffers at the hotel were terrific and would chaperone ppl from our group of 9 that wanted to go out to bars in Varadero after the nightly theatre performances. We were all between 25 and 29 and this made us some of the youngest people at the resort. Being a large group we made our own fun and truly enjoyed this one-week stay. In addition to this resort I would also recommend a day-trip into Havana and staying for a Tropicana performance - so great! The only complaint - beware of airport staff trying to make a quick buck by telling you your bags are overweight.

We stayed at the Tainos from Jan 26-Feb2, hot, sunny weather the whole time, the resort was nice, clean rooms and very friendly staff, beach was AWESOME, food was ok, if you want great food then don't go to Cuba, remember that this is a poor country, don't expect 5 star living!!

We took a trip to Havana, this is a must but be aware the bus ride from the Tainos is around 2 hours each way, take lots of water as it was not provided to us, there are tonnes of beggars, don't make eye contact and you'll be ok

We played a round of golf at the Varadero golf course, we booked when we arrived and played the next morning at 7am, it starts to get busy pretty quick so go out as early as possible, the rental clubs were surprisingly good (taylormade Racs).make sure you bring alot of balls, some resorts include golf but make you pay large for cart rental (mandatory) in the end you save maybe $20.

the jeep safari was maybe 5-10, the snorkeling was not good, if you want to see any sort of marine life while snorkeling don't take this excursion, try something else.

i would recommend this resort and definitely Cuba as a destination.

Hi,

I want to write it as I was worried myself about the renovations at the Iberostar Tainos that lots of people were writing about. 2 other people asked me to write them an email, so I just decided to post my response to them as my review.

We stayed at the Iberostar Tainos from Jan 24 to Jan 31, 2008. Please take into account that our previous experience with
hotels is limited: we only stayed at the Iberostar
Daiquiri in Cayo Coco and Moon Palace in Cancun.

1. First of all, the only part of renovations that is
not done is the Japanese restaurant (there are 2
restaurants now - Cuban and Japanese). It is in a separate building and the renovation works did not bother us at all. The Japanese restaurant is not open yet. Please do not ask me when
it is going to be open as I do not know (although it
did not seem like a lot of things still to be done).
2. The hotel itself is beautiful. We stayed in
bungalows, the rooms were large, clean with king size
beds.
3. The beach is very nice. It is wide, they clean it
every day and the water gets deeper gradually, so
everybody can enjoy it. We walked along the beach and
saw the beaches of 5-7 other hotels and both my wife
and I agreed that the Iberostar Tainos beach is the
nicest one.
4. The food selection and quality is very good. What I
found different compared to the Iberostart Daiquiri, for
example, is the fact that the Tainos had a separate menu for
breakfast, lunch and dinner. At the Daiquiri the breakfast
selection seemed to be wider, but a lot ot dishes
could be found among lunch dishes. At the Tainos for
dinner they had a great cheese selection every day.
They also had a sushi table, which was very nice. They
had different fish and meat choices that could suit
any taste in my opinion.
5. Entertainment was good, but at Daiquiri it was
better. Throughout the day they had a lot of
activities and guys were really trying to get
everybody involved. I have to mention that they were
not annoying and if you did not want to participate
they did not insist. Every day there is a kids disco
show from 8 to 8:30. Then half an hour dance lesson
and the night entertainment starts at 9:30. The only
reason I say that the entertainment at Daiquiri was
better, because they had a dedicated choreographer and
it really showed. At the Tainos they had a few new
dancers, so some of the performances were not as
professional as at Daiquiri. Having said that, I have
to say that some people commented that the shows at
the Tainos were better than at the hotels they stayed at in the past. To be fair, they guys at the Tainos really
did their best and the overall quality of the shows
was good.
6. Kids club. There is a lady that takes care of kids
from 10-12 and 2-5 and also dances with them from 8 to
8:30. I would say that the kids club at Daiquiri was
much better, since they had kid's shows every night with a
lot of different costumes. They also had more
interesting programs throughout the day. To sum it up,
kids club is operating, but geared more towards 4-6
year old ones. Ours is 8 and ran around the majority
of time with some older kids.
7. Staff. Definitely friendly and helpful. I have no
bad comments to say. One thing that surprised me - at
the Tainos a tip can get you more attention than at
Daiquiri. I am only talking about small favours,
nothing special, but people seem to be more
appreciative. For example, there was a guy who would
always check on us to make sure that we have what to
drink and even when I ordered at the bar, he would
insist that he would bring the drinks to our table. We
always left 1 peso at the dinner table and sometimes
we would go to get some food and when we got back ,
the glasses were already filled with our usual drinks
- red wine in our example.
8. Pool and pool area are very nice. The bar next to
the pool was so good that a lot of people (including
us) had their lunches there.
9. Excursions - we did a trip to Havana and Seafari
(catamaran trip, snorkling, lunch on the island and a
dolphin show). We did the "Havana trip one day" as we
could not go to the Tropicana show with our son.
Havana trip was a good trip, but given that you only
have 4-5 hours in Havana, be prepared for some rush
during the excursion. You do not really have a lot of
time to spend at each site. Overall, we would
recommend the Havana trip. The Seafari trip is not
bad, but given that we only had 7 days in Cuba,
we both agreed afterwards that we should have skipped
the trip as it was not something special and it does
take one day. Just to let you know the Dolphin show is
approximately 1 km away from the hotel.
10. The Tainos has a nice tennis court and
basketball/soccer field. They also offer bike rides.

I guess that' s all. Hope you will find it helpful. To
sum it up, we are very pleased with our stay at the
Tainos and would recommend it to our friends without
hesitations.

I thought it would be helpful for those looking for recent information on the Iberostar Tainos post-renovations as I was you at the beginning of January 08 trying to get as much post-renovation information as I could. If you have read the Trip Advisor forums, the renovations that were supposed to be completed by the end of November 2007, were in fact not completed until the first week of January 2008 which in some cases forced people to either cancel their travel plans or change resorts, and in my case, made me a little nervous as i was traveling 18-25 January 2008.

Before i get into the specifics about the Tainos, I should provide some detail on my travel history. This is my 4th all-inclusive in the Caribbean, one of which was at Sandals in St-Lucia for my Honeymoon. This was also my second time to Cuba, first time being in Cayo Coco.

Overview

We traveled as a group of 8 from January 18-25, 2007. Everyone agreed that we had an absolutely phenomenal time - we have no complaints at all. All the staff was great. The Animation works soooo hard.

Signature Vacations

I am quite disappointed with Signature Vacations as they switched the travel dates (from Sunday Jan 20 to Friday Jan 18) without advising our group, and the Signature rep at the Ottawa Airport was very rude to us as we checked-in for the flight since we were a few minutes late.

Skyservice

Everything that is to be expected from a charter flight company. Landing in Varadero was probably the best i have even witnessed!

Check-in

Check-in was efficient. There is a 2 CUC charge per day to use the in room safe. The safe is not somewhere where you want to cheap out on your trip.

Renovations

Contrary to what the hotel has told some people, including myself, some of the renovations are not quite complete. For the most part they were done, however, it seems that they were still working on the main building as well the a la carte restaurant beside the main dining hall. The renos did not intrude on our vacation at all.

Lobby - Room - Grounds

Everything seems freshly renovated. Lobby, room and grounds were nice, clean and well maintained. Rooms were clean, air-conditioning efficient, lots of hot water for showers. All lights were compact fluorescent and there is a card slot on in the entrance of the rooms to activate the electricity for the room. I thought this was very socially responsible of them. No complaints here.

Pool

Nice and clean, water was a little chilly. Did not have to fight for sun chairs.

Beach

As can be expected from Cuba, the most beautiful beaches in the world! Tainos' beach did not disappoint. We walked up and down the beach, and would have to say that the Tainos has one of the best, if not the best stretch of beach in Varadero. Bonus is that there is a full bar right on the beach. We did not use any of the available water equipment.

Food

I'm of the opinion that you don't go to Cuba for the food. I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised by the food during our stay. Between our 2 dinners at the a la carte and the dinning hall, overall the food was really good. I am comparing this to my previous stay in Cayo Coco and the Dominican Republic. No one had any issues with the food such as intestinal problems. No complaints here.

Excursions

We did the Varadero Tropicana and the Havana day-trip. Both were very nice and well organized. I would however suggest that those who have difficulties walking should stay away from the Havana trip. Two from the group also did the Catamaran tour and loved it.

Cigars & Booze

DO NOT buy your cigars from people off the beach. They are likely banana leaves and could be confiscated at the airport. All cigar boxes must have the Cuba Government seal on them. In terms of price, I would purchase booze and cigars at the Varadero Airport. Prices were significantly cheaper than those on the resort or in town. I bought a 35 CUC box of cigars at the resort that turned out to be only 20 CUC at the airport.

Overall

Overall, I would definitely recommend this resort to others. I would also return to this resort on a moment's notice. I suspect that it is not classified as a 5 star because it had limited a la carte selections.