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Cuba, August 2007 -
Hotel Barcelo Marina Palace
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The
Marina Palace is located in a quiet spot right at the very Eastern
end of Varadero and around 10km from the busier areas of the town.
How long it will remain this quiet is a bit of an unknown quantity
as the marina across the road is currently undergoing extension work
to increase the capacity up to 1,000 boats.
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Hotel Opinion
The
Marina Palace is a relatively new resort and part of the Barcelo
group of hotels. This 4* hotel is well presented and ideal of
families or couples looking to relax. Although the location is right
at the end of Varadero, it isn't really a problem as there are
plenty of ways to get to the centre of the town and at the moment,
there isn't enough in the centre for your hotel location to be much
of an issue.
If you don't want to, there is no
real reason to leave the hotel during your stay as it has everything
you will need although it is definitely worth going out into the
town at least once.
The majority of guests were from
Italy, France, Canada, Spain, Portugal and some South American
countries. |
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Our Room
It was
described as a "Junior Suite" and although I certainly didn't agree
with the description, it was a good sized, comfortable room. The
electronic safe and mini-bar were included as part of the all
inclusive option. The TV had a number of international channels
although nothing from the UK and the air-conditioning was a welcome
haven from the scorching heat outside.
The rooms
were all in a number of 3 storey blocks in the hotel grounds.
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Beach
All
beaches in Cuba are public so the hotel has no control over who has
access. There was no area marked out for swimming so the various
water sports such as kite surfing and water ski-ing, could manoeuvre
between people swimming in the sea.
The beach
itself was beautiful white sands although there was a bit of seaweed
around too. The hotel did have a flag to indicate the swimming
conditions (green, yellow or red) so you always had an indication of
whether or not it was safe.
There
were also plenty of sun-loungers but not enough umbrellas to go
round. The situation wasn't helped by people putting towels on
loungers before breakfast and then not turning up for the rest of
the day.
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Swimming Pools
There are
2 swimming pools at the hotel. The main pool has a swim up bar and a
water slide. It is also the location where all the pool activities
take place such as water polo and the scuba diving lessons. There is
also a quieter pool which is just for swimming and sunbathing.
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Entertainment and
Activities
During
the day, the animation team provided limited entertainment with games,
beach volleyball, dancing etc. There was also a games room with pool
tables, table tennis and board cards available free of charge.
Every night, there was a mini
disco for the children followed by a show. The show was usually
about 45 minutes and was very, very good. There was a different
theme every night. For those who wanted to keep going, the night
ended up at the hotel disco which was also air-conditioned.
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Bars and
Restaurants
The main
bar at the hotel was the Hemingway Bar in the reception. There were
people here getting drinks all times of the day and night. Other
bars were also available at the theatre and main swimming pool. You
could also get drinks and snacks the the snack bar at the base of
the lighthouse when the restaurants were closed.
Breakfast, lunch and dinner was served in the Buffet Restaurant.
There was usually a good selection of food but the quality did vary.
In
addition to the snack bar and the regular buffet, there were also 2
gourmet restaurants (Spanish and Italian) which had to be
pre-booked. As part of our all-inclusive deal, we could eat at
either restaurant once a week.
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Other Facilities
Other
facilities on offer at the Marina Palace included a shop, beauty
saloon, internet cafe, money exchange (cash or credit card),
business centre, spa, post office, car rental, medical centre, tour
desk, childrens club and tour desk.
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We use
Skype as our telephone provider and as internet telephony (VOIP)
grows in popularity, it gives our clients and business partners the
opportunity to call us free of charge from anywhere in the world.
Our Skype ID is bbmexplorer or
you can call us on our regular number 0208
816 8789. If you haven't got a Skype account, you can set
one up by clicking the Skype logo. |
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