I guess it depends on what you expect out of a holiday but if you want a beautiful resort, good food especially the seafood (not so good on the beef front thought), perfect weather, an uncrowded beach to rival any including Australia's, and friendly, charming staff you could certainly do alot worse.
If you expect every whim to be pampered then you really need to spend more money on your vacation and join the rich mans club. The Cuban people are a laid back, happy and proud race who are good at making you feel welcome and if you take the time to get to know them very interesting.
Everywhere you go in Cuba there is that wonderful latin beat and big friendly smiles but as is often the case, the hotel entertainment has a large element of cheese (you love it or hate it). The in house band were excellent but in our opinion didn't get enough airtime. Alberta, the bongo player was more than happy to give lessons to anybody who after a few cocktails by the pool felt they could do better. There are two very pleasant bars open until about 1.00 with entertainment early but not much later on.
We personally would rate the a'la Carte restraunts as very good with the possibly exception of the Italian job. If you do end up with a dish you don't care for, there is always the excellent buffet to stock up on.
Our slight misconception was that the hotel would be full of newly weds and honeymooners aged between 25 and 40. there were a few but the age range went up to about 70. We spoke to alot of guests and found we as professional people had much in common. There were no Chavs and no rich mans club clients, just pleasant holidayers relaxing and supping whatever came their way.
If you are a thrill seeker then the flying rubber dingy is a must. It's simply a boat attached to a micro light with an engine plus wooden propellor attached to the back. You sit in a sort of camping chair with the pilot infront of you who takes you on the most dramatic journey from the beach outside the hotel to the end of the peninsular, skimming at around 50 feet. Then when you reach the end, he banks the dingy up and up to around 600 feet. What a view.
If you go in the right season you will have agreat time at Sandals.

It was our second time at the Royal Hicacos and although we had a great time, we tend to agree with the people who say its not the same as before. Our last trip dates back to 2004 and the food was much better and the hotel was still a quiet destination for people looking to relax.

Food:
The main international restaurant which offers the Buffet had changed since our last visit. The salad bar is much better than before but we found the bread and seafood section to be average. Our favorite restaurant before, Las Morlas was a total disappointment this time around. The best meal we had was during the special dinner offered to returning guests at El Caribe. They also acquired the bad habit of offering bland always cold frozen vegetables in every single plate served in all the restaurants.

Entertainment:

The shows are alright yet they suffer from the same problem as every other resorts in Cuba. They try to please their international customers by presenting shows of american classics, mexican music, fashion shows (which is the cuban version of an infomercial ; they parade the dresses then try to sell them off to the guests). Personally, my reason to be there has to do with my love affair with the Cuban culture. If I wanted to hear Mexican music, I would go to Mexico. Why can't the administration of the hotel show the same pride for its Cuban culture as every other Cuban on the island? The entertainers are really good when they stick to what they know, Guaguanco, Salsa etc.
The traditional Cuban Son group Santiago Tropical is very good but they do tend to play the same songs mostly because thats what the guests are asking of them. The hotel really is not using this group to their full potential by sticking them next to the stairway every day after supper. They should put them to better use at the lobby bar that is sorely lacking athmosphere. About the lobby bar, the resident band of the lobby bar is a real joke. In a country where everyone can sing and dance, I really wonder where they found such an awful singer.

For couples only?
We returned to the resort mostly because we had wonderful memories of how quiet it was and how the couple only policy kept the hotel intimate. This time around, it was an entire different story. There was lots of groups of friends (not couples), Families and for our last 2 days a conference group of 200 people. It really takes away from the peace and quiet of the hotel when you have 200 people doing "private" olympics on the beach or monopolizing the pool for some of their conference related activities. The hotel really oughta change its "for couples only" slogan if it plans on going after large groups.

The beach is still beautiful and the staff (Jorge and Emilio were wonderful to us). It really is the nicest patch of beach on that stretch of Varadero. The Water is amazingly clear and the sand is clean, except for the cigarette butts left behind by the guests (Is there anything worse than getting smoke in the face in Paradise?).

Overall we had a great time and its still much nicer than most hotels in Cuba but its really lacking the charm and overall quality of our first visit. We had a great time with the staff and they were always ready to help us. we would gladly recommend this hotel but were not sure if we're going to go back.

Me and my husband stayed at Sandals Royal Hicacos from 12-26 April. This was our first time in Cuba.
The resort is not the 5 Star Hotel you are used to but still I considered it to be excellent. 95% of guests were Canadian ( we were one of the 2 or 3 Portuguese couples there at that time) which impressed me as they are really nice and friendly. They melt in with everybody and are always open to meet new people.
I will never forget a Canadian Tourist that looked like Fidel Castro and was very nice and funny!

The Staff at the resort are also nice and friendly, always eager to find out more about other cultures and have a good chat, but some are only after the tip all the time and we could see that sometimes they serve best who tips more often. So bring your fat wallet with CUC if you want the best service.

Rooms: Rooms are spacious, clean, King Size bed, bath tub for 2, great balcony if you have a garden or sea view. Satellite TV could have more channels available but anyway you are not there to see TV. Mini Fridge was there and working (you can hear it working through the night ) but always empty, so I didn't understand the purpose of being there . They leave a bottle of water everyday outside the fridge though.

Beach: Stunning beach, the best I have ever been too, I know the Mexican and Dominican ones and I can tell you it is the closest to Paradise when it's not windy and cloudy. It is the closest to Polynesian beaches, blue turquoise water, very warm, clear and crystal, you can really see your feet and starfish at the bottom, you can float and swim without any single wave. Fishes are rare but sometimes you get to see them. Our Resort has the best beach of all neighbour resorts, more spacious, large and clean from Sea Weeds. It is true what has been said here, people save their spot under the "palapas" and place they towel under the hammock early morning, normally from 7am. Well, in fact they do this because there are just a few Palapas. Sun in Varadero burns like hell so unfortunately we had to save our spot too some of the days...well if you can't beat them, join them. Not very pleasant and polite but people try to fit under anyone’s palapas, and they usually have a wide shade for more than 1 couple anyway.

Food: It's not like the Mexican 5 Star resorts in variety but it is acceptable. Even better than Mexican resorts when it comes to seafood, on tuesdays they have lobster in buffet so you can eat as much lobster as you can. During the rest of the week you can find oysters, Crabs and shrimps. Fish and meat is grilled in front of you although it’s always the same type of meat, at dinner you can have pasta and pizza as you like, you pick your own ingredients. Waffles, crepes and ice creams are excellent. I found breakfast to be more diversified than other meals . As we stayed for 2 weeks we found food at the main buffet to be very much the same all the time except for seafood of course.
At night there isn’t much to do but then again, it’s a resort where the majority of guests are Senior. The House Band, Tropical Santiago plays the same music every night although the singer has a tremendous energy to it every time.
A La Carte Restaurants are very fancy and chosen not to eat much but with quality. What impressed me the most is that SRH serves good wines and champagne and all rum is Havana Club, they do not look at expenses as far as drinks are concerned. Best drinks and cocktails are served in Lobby Bar and Piano Bar.
The Beach Grill has not a big variety of food, if you choose to eat everyday at the beach grill you will eat hamburgers and chicken all the time.

The Night Club: Very poor , all you can hear is music from the sixties, seventies and some hits from the 80's. Everyday we heard the same tunes over and over again. Dance Music was a DVD playing called Diablo.
Unfortunately I lost my Sony W200 Camera there and when I came back it was gone. That was the most sad part of staying at SRH. If anyone has found it please email me at paulab@------- . I lost many valuable pics of this trip but luckily I brought also a camcorder that shots pictures too so I could take some pictures home.

The Shows: some are very boring when includes singing and dancing only, I don't know why but sometimes all they could sing were sad brazilian songs that I knew as I was Portuguese. Others impressed me and were a magnificent show: circus and magicians, as well as water acrobats. Not all was bad.
Excursions: Go to Havana, it’s worth while. The Catamaran excursion to Cayo Blanco is a must if you choose to swim with dolphins.
Although it has a lot of things to improve I will definitely be back.

Simply put, we were treated like kings. We arrived outside of the airport and we were greated by a Sandals rep, who promply helped us find the foreign exchange, and got us a taxi. We thought we would be on a bus, but we had a taxi all to ourselves, and we had not paid for concierge service. We were greated by name at the reception desk at the resort and promptly handed a glass of champagne. We were told our room would be ready in an hour, and told we should go enjoy breakfast, which we did. We got back in about 45 minutes and were escorted to our room by Jorge after a quick tour on his golf cart. We were in our room, unpacked and on the beach by 11:15 the morning of our arrival. Everything about our trip was spectacular. The staff was so friendly, the food delicious, and the room was very nice and extremely clean. We had the same maid all week, and she left us some very nice towell art each day. We were given a bottle of champagne each night at the front desk to take back to our room. The beach was absolutely beautiful, wide, white sand, tourquoise water and very clean. The pool area and the entire resort was even nicer than the brochures and website made it out to be. We are planning on going back next April and expect the same wonderful experience. Anyone who finds fault with this place, should just give up travelling. Kevin & Karen, Wentworth Nova Scotia, Canada.