My daughter organized this trip to Cuba with Sunwing. We were very pleased with the Sunwing Service, and pleased with the Be Live Turquesa. The beach is wonderful and we made a point of going down to enjoy the sunsets just before dinner.The major negative for me was the bed which was very hard and I had difficulty sleeping. The others did not have this concern. We had lots of hot water for showers. I first visited this resort with my two daughters about 8 years ago (they were 15) when it was the Rui Turquesa. This time we went with my daughter's friend and her mother. We all had a good time and I think the resort was just right for us. We left on January 1 and returned January 8. I noticed a number of improvements: the food seemed to be way better, for starters. Keep in mind this is Cuba and people go for beach and rum, not the food. Our reviews were mixed about the quality of the food, Suffice it to say we did not go hungry. I found things I liked and stuck to these. At breakfast, I really liked the coffee, the bread and the papaya. At lunch I found good salads and Cuban dishes at an open air dining room near the beach (I think it was called Guantanuamara). While we ate most dinners in the dining room, there are two a la carte restaurants and you can book each day, starting a 9 o;clock near the main desk. There is an Italian a la carte restaurant in an enclosed building and the food was fine, with really nice ante pasto, and the room was cosy (we had some cool nights). The oriental a la carte was not as good. It is on the terrace beside the main dining room. By Canadian standards, the generic oriental food in the oriental a la carte restaurant was not good and lacked authenticity. I would suggest they pick one country (china? thailand?) and reorganize their menu. While fish and seafood is not my favourite, there were a number of fish dishes which looked interesting. Our favourite lunch place was the freshair eating place on the way to the beach - I like the food there best, and liked the roofed outdoor set up.
The nightly entertainment was good and the entertainers did their best to involve the audience in the games and salsa lessons etc. The synchronized swimming show in the pool was great but could have been lit better. Hint: the bridge near the pool seemed to be the best place to see the show. The only trip we did as a group was the catamaran trip which included a swim with the dolphins. That was the first warm day after three cool days and we really enjoyed it. The photographer took a great picture of my daughter, delivered it to the hotel within an hour of us returning, and we were very pleased with the photo and thought it worth the ten pesos. We limited our trips to shopping, once to the Plaza las Americas which has a post office (great earrings for under $5) and the craft markets in downtown Varadero. If you want really nice crotchet tops wait on the beach for the vendors to go by - their prices are cheaper than the markets and cheaper than just buying the crochet cotton at home. This was my fourth trip to Cuba (first went in 1978) and I feel comfortable there. Next time I want to spend a week in Havana.

Truly much better than Mercure Playa De Oro which is the property right beside this resort. The food was not bad for Cuban food, The pool was excellent; The ocean even better.I believe this resort deserves the 4 star rating however 4 months ago We went to Playa De Oro next door and that one although is bigger barely deserves a 3 star rating even though it says 4 star as well.
Hotel Be-Live Turquesa was clean, everything worked but did not have 115 volt plugs (North American type). It is almost impossible to find a voltage converters there. I brought one but only lasted 1 day then burned out. The staff was very friendly. All the restaurants and stores are accessible by wheelchair. The Italian one was the best one besides the buffet however reservations are done on a daily basis only at 9:am. The Cuban and Chinese restaurants were not terribly good but were OK.
As with all places in Veradero, bring bug repellent because there are very tiny ants that bite. I think they are a type of fire ants. The room was clean but they are everywhere outside.
All in all, it was a great vacation here but I recommend you stay away from Playa De Oro which is next door to this resort.

We arrived back yesterday, I was a little concerned after reading the reviews but we were tied by specific dates and which hotels were available. We had absolutely no problems, we were there from the 8th - 15th and had a great time. The food was generally good, always fruit and salads, I have 2 teens who frequented the snack bar constantly. And to be honest if there was nothing that appealed to me I was not going to starve, I ate more there than I ever do at home! The a la cartes were good with great service, the people were mostly very friendly and pleasant to deal with, on occasion you got a grumpy one but everybody is entitled to a bad day! Mario and Janet at the Mohito bar were absolutely fabulous, lovely people and fabulous mohito makers. The rooms were simple but very clean, beds were hard but that is how we prefer them anyway, and we did not spend much time in the rooms! We had requested a king bed with an adjoining twin but the way the hotel is designed that cannot happen as all the kings are in a block and the twins are around the outside so we could have a king and have the kids in a different area or stay together and have twins, which is what we chose. The beach was fantastic, pool was great. I do not think that we had any complaints. We went to Havana for the day which was fabulous and we did a jeep tour which was a blast. I did not realise, my own fault, that there is no snorkelling at the beach, well you can snorkel but it will only be sand to look at, you have to go out to the reef which is extra money, that was a shame but nothing that you can do about it! I asked about taking gifts down and was told that although all gifts are appreciated clothes and shoes are the best as they are the things that they cannot afford to buy and are somewhat limited to get, if I was to go again I think that I would take clothes that I could leave instead of shampoo etc that I took this time.

We had a great vacation and it was really good value, personally I much prefer Cuba to DR and I would definately recommend Varadero!

I was about to write a review for the hotel on our last trip, then I remembered that I didn't write one for this hotel, which we went on November 24, 2010. It was our first time in Cuba and it's true that Varadero has a wonderful beach! And it was warm and sunny every day!

ROOM: First of all, for that price, don't expect a 5 stars hotel! The staff at the front desk were very nice. We ask for a room near the pool and we got it. The room was basic but clean. There was no hot water in the shower and almost no water at all in the bathroom sink but we told the front desk and everything was fixed during the day. The grounds were very well kept. The groundkeeper was a gentleman and gave flowers to every women.

BARS & RESTAURANTS: The lobby bar offers beer cans and the waiter on the beach was generous with the rhum (rhum is so cheap in Cuba you can buy a 26 ounces bottle for less than $3). The buffet restaurant has an issue with the ventilation. There was smoke from the cuisine and it always smells fish, even at 8 a.m. For this reason, we prefered to eat outside on the terrace even if we felt like in Hitchcock's movie The Birds. They should put a net around the terrace (it was a year ago, maybe they did?). The breakfast was the best meal, it was actually very good, but the restaurant had some management problems: lack of dishes, no more coffee in the coffeemaker, toaster malfunctionment... For the other meals, let's say that the food was okay, not great but we didn't starve. At the end of the week, we were fed up with the spice that they put on everything. We went to Italian À la carte restaurant. Nice service, better presentation, okay food.

LOCATION: It's a 10 minutes walk to the route to take the bus to Varadero. The bus cost $5 per person per day. It's a walking distance from Delphinario and Cuevo Ambrosio is not far.

VARADERO: We had a good time in Varadero. Cheap beer near the beach. Bring your toilet paper, they charge you to get some in public washrooms. Josone Park is also perfect for a walk.

HAVANA: We rent a car in the hotel lobby and went by ourselves. If my memory's good, it cost $120 for the day (map, gas and insurance included). The road to Havana is easy, you follow the main route along the ocean. There's lots of vultures and the view from the Matanzas bridge is breathtaking! The problem occurs when you're about 10 minutes from the city. Suddenly, there's more routes and no more signs! It's not easy driving in Havana. The thing to do is to park the car and take a cab, which is not expensive. We weren't impressed by the Revolution Place but the Christopher Columbus Cemetary worth the trip! And, of course, Old Havana is superb.

MONEY: Canadian residents, note that our looneys and tooneys are not accepted anywhere in Cuba. They only accept paper money. You can change your paper money at the hotel for Cuban Convertible Pesos. It will cost a little bit more than a dollar in canadian money to get one CCP. Beware when you buy something from a vendor on the beach or in the city that they give your change in CCP and not in regular pesos, which are worth almost nothing.

To resume, we enjoy our stay at the affordable Be Live Turquesa. We had what we were expecting.