Sol Rio de Luna y Mares: Wonderful Place

This resort is amazing. It transports people back in time to horse drawn carts, little traffic and peace and serenity. The beach is wonderful with a reef to protect from sharks and other worrisome sea creatures. White sand and clear green blue waters, great for young and old. The rooms are good quality and the food is plentiful. We had no complaints.This area of Cuba offers lovely hills and countryside. We would love to return to this place. Thanks to Lisa Selig and Trip Central

Sol Rio de Luna y Mares: Wonderful once again!

We have been to this resort multiple times and we love the beach, the amazing lookout and the people who run this wonderful place. It has good food and service, without all the fuss of other resorts. This great beach is only shared by another resort and they have the nasty part of the beach while this resort has best of beach and shade and the unbelievable fossils beyond the resort bordering on the preserve area. Will always return here! Thanks Lisa Selig of Trip Central

Tryp Cayo Coco: Fantastic resort

We had a lot of fun, great people! The room was a little out dated, but it was still nice. We hope to go back again in the near future! I found that the employees is what makes the resort awesome. The ocean and pool are amazing, and the shows and activities were very entertaining to watch. Thank you trio central and tryp Cayo Coco

Sol Palmeras: Fun trip

Our check in with Gonzales was very quick. He was friendly and professional. The AC in my room did not work. I requested a different room and they were very obliging. My room was newly renovated and a walk out to the pool area.. it was great!! The restaurant was good. Service was good. Yedeil, one of the servers was very personable and great! We went to the Chinese and Italian al me cartes. They were ok. The pool was great and beach was nice. Water was fairly rough due to storm coming in.  [... read more]We experienced 3 days of rain unfortunately. The stay was still good. As time went on staff became more personable and service improved. Overall enjoyed the resort and the trip.

Paradisus Rio De Oro: Catered to adults

This is true.Food is catered to adults only. Big cockroach found in bathroom.I guess must have came out from the drainage. Went to the reception to put lights in the balcony but took almost 2 days for them to come and needed to be reminded 1x by phone. Since it is an adult resort they should put more lights along the walk way as seniors in general does not have good eyesight especially at night particularly the walkway going to the theater. Sink drainage was not properly draining and cleane [... read more]r told us when I was about to go to the reception to report ..she presented herself to report the problem but I guess she forgot to tell till I realized it was not done and reported it my self.Someone came right away after and I was glad it was done in promptu.My lesson is.... report it yourself but out of the goodness of her heart the cleaner presented herself to do it. The beach restaurant lacks choices..better to go to the main DR.

Memories Cayo Largo: A piece of Paradise!

The groups are very lush and well kept. The flora & fauna are endless, white sands, crystal clear waters with occasional waves (went in Dec). Very peaceful & relaxing Island to visit. Love the cats! Please feed them people and be kind as we are all God's creatures.

Tryp Cayo Coco: Tryp trip

Well, it's Cuba and you don't expect a lot. The rooms are clean but dated and the a/c works well. The only negative thing was the shower head was original, water came out like a hose, and the toilet required a pail of water to flush. They are still repairing the damage from the last hurricane but it's coming along nicely from last year. Staff are great and polite, always saying Ola and wanting to engage. They loved any little gift you give them be it gloves or gum. The food choices are good but [... read more] they don't rotate the selection enough. Atmosphere was great, always something to do, pools are clean and beach beautiful. Do bring bug spray as the sand fleas are voracious as well as a bottle of Benadryl.

Paradisus Rio De Oro: Out of date resort

Service at bars and restaurants was terrible. Servers were more concerned about cleaning tables rather than taking care of guests. It was next to impossible to get a drink refill. Rooms are old and falling apart. No lifeguards on the beach. They sat at the back row and spent all of their time on their phones. Snorkeling equipment was terrible with most masks leaking. Check in took 45 mins with a very small lineup. Lady changing money to pesos was very rude. Refused to exchange more then [... read more] 10 peso coins at one point. Does she not want us to tip?

Paradisus Princesa Del Mar: A Great Stay

This a sweet resort with amazing staff. We stayed on the regular side. We enjoyed our week very much. The everyday buffet wasn't phenominal but we managed to eat well. The booked restaurants were amazing and Sakura (Japenese) was by far the absolute best. The 24 hour eateries run out of stuff quite often but you can still manage to get a bite to eat. The rooms were tidied each day, but the sheets were not changed during our entire stay. Close access to the ocean and there is also a stop for th [... read more]e "hop on hop off bus" just outside the main gate. Getting to downtown Veradero is quite easy. Would stay again with the knowledge that it is about a 3star resort by Canadian standards.

Melia Jardines del Rey: Will return

Clean resort , food wasn’t all that bad , like any resort after 4 days it gets monotonous, great beach , loved the sandbar. Only complaint is the walkways were very dark ... they need way more lighting !

Melia Cayo Santa Maria: Mediocre at Best

Just stayed at Melia Cayo Santa Maria December 2019 for one-week. Overall: 2 1/2 stars Beach: 5 stars Room: 3 stars Food: 1 Star Pools: 3 1/2 stars Serving staff: 3 1/2 stars Location: 2 stars Reception staff: 2 stars Animation Team: 4 stars Value: 3 stars Got a decent price for the time of year and decided to take our 2 thirteen year olds. We had a very early flight and arrived at 10 am in Cuba. Bus transfer was very long, almost 2 hours. So the location wasn’t the best but the [... read more] beach made up for it. Not a lot to do around there and not a lot of choice in shopping. Can take a can ride in an antique car or 2 dollar bus ride to another resort where there are more market shops but barely. In general, the resort needs a massive overhaul. The rooms are dated. Beds are hard. Found bugs in our bed. Tubs have no plugs so you can’t take a bath. Shower has weak pressure. Smells musty. Fridge and room not stocked very well. Had to push for more water and soda pops instead of just beer. Reception staff rude and not very well trained. The one staff - Adriana - took issue with me watching her as she billed my credit card for spa services I purchased for the kids and my wife. She was palming my credit card and after scanning it through the debit machine did not want to return it. She recorded the MasterCard numbers separately which gave me concern as I didn’t want my card defrauded. When I asked her to return it she laughed and said don’t worry. I found this to be infuriating and rude. It’s my card. It’s my money. Be respectful. And the billing was of concern. I was quoted one price at the spa for 3 massages and then billed 12 USA dollars more when I had to pay. The food was sub standard. We have stayed at many melia resorts before and this resort does not compare. The food was bland and tasteless. There was very little selection at the buffet and it was the exact same for 7 days in a row. Like, change it up a bit. It’s not a huge deal if it’s the same but then increase your buffet stations to give some variety. Breakfast was terrible. No standard selections. No bacon. No pancakes. No waffles. Only a small selection of cereal. The restaurants were also low quality. The only restaurant that was good was the 24 hour bar/restaurant near the pool. Pizza was amazing. Burgers were amazing. Staff was really friendly. We went there every night after the restaurants because we were so Dissatisfied with the other restaurants. The entertainment team was good. Pool is in desperate need of repair. Grout is coming out all over and it is not being cleaned. It collects at bottom of pool. Beach was incredible. We tipped over 100 Canadian dollars during our trip and still felt the service was lacking. In any case, it was under average and in desperate need of an overhaul. I tried talking to managers on several occasions but the staff would give me the runaround so none of the other issues we had ever got resolved. Disappointing. Would not recommend.

Melia Las Dunas: Review of Melia Las Dunas

I visited Melia Las Dunas December 2019. Grounds: The grounds were nice, and the ocean was beautiful. However, there were about 4 sharks spotted on day 1 of our vacation about 10 feet off the shoreline and we were not permitted to swim. Again, on day 2, there were about 5 more sharks and we were not able to swim. Most of the tourists that had been there for some time said this had not happened before, but it still put a damper on our vacation. We visit Cuba for the beach and swimming. Many of [... read more] the remaining days very windy, causing large waves and strong current. There was one calm day where we were able to swim with no issue. The pools were nice and the swim up bar was in a good location. We enjoyed going here while unable to swim at the beach. Room: The room was fine. About what is expected in Cuba. Friends who I traveled with, did not have a working blow dryer in their room and had to use ours. Our toilet seat (lid) would not stay up, so we kind of had to hold it up while using the bathroom. Not pleasant, but manageable. The maid, Karenia, was nice and always had a smile on her face. Entertainment: Probably the highlight of the whole resort. The entertainment team did a great shop with the nightly shows. However, the bar was packed and drinks were terrible! They absolutely water down the liquor. Food: Absolutely TERRIBLE. I have previously been to Cuba 5 times. I know the food is generally below average, but this was worse than any other visit. There were little options in the buffet, and even the basics - pasta/pizza were NOT good. I heard that this may be due to food supply issues overall in Cuba right now but I don't know how true that is. Overall: I would give this resort about a 3.5 star max. Unfortunately, the sharks/not being able to swim in the ocean some days, and the food brought down the average for me. With that said, the grounds were nice and entertainment was good.

Sol Rio de Luna y Mares: Good value for the money

Beautiful location and grounds, very well kept gardens. The beach is amazing. The rooms are old, especially bathrooms need major revamping. We visited this resort many times, mainly because of the beach and nice grounds. The downside this time was the construction work on the beach (new restaurant is being built). So it was noisy and smelly at times.

Sol Palmeras: Gorgeous Beaches

I recently stayed at the Sol Palmereas in Varadero. The resort is huge and also very beautiful. The buffet get a little tired as it is the same thing everyday. Also we stayed in a one bedroom bungalow and yes they clean it everyday but if one of your kids drops as much as Cheerio on the floor an army of ants will soon be crawling around the floor. The beaches are gorgeous and the pool as great as well. One thing did not sit well with us was the fact that we waited 2 hrs and 30 minut [... read more]es for the Sunwing bus to collect us to go home. Then once we arrived at the airport our flight was delayed two hours. That made for an exhausting long day for a 1 and 3 year old.

Paradisus Rio De Oro: Another wonderful visit to our favourite resort!

This Paradisus has it all, as evidenced by its many return visitors.....many of whom have visited more than 10 times. Spread out over a large property, beautifully landscaped and managed, this collection of small accommodation buildings, including smaller 'villa-style' units in two major sections, offers many excellent dining opportunities from the open-air buffet, snack bar, ocean view beach-side dining, to the 5 up-scale specialty air-conditioned dining restaurants on the property. With 24 h [... read more]our per day complete service for food and beverages of all types, the ORO does 'have it all' to offer its guests. The main swimming pool is always excellently maintained, offers a wide variety of seating opportunities with excellent seating/lounging options from full sun to filtered sun and full shade.....with never a need to 'reserve' your favourite spot. The 1.3 km beautiful creamy fine sand beach (considered by many to be the best beach in Cuba), with beach access to excellent off-the-beach snorkelling is beautiful too. But, for us and many other return visitors, the ORO's fabulous staff really are the magnet that keep us going back! The resort celebrated its 21st birthday on Dec. 21, 2019.....and many of the staff have been at the resort since it was opened......this fact speaks volumes about their excellent service standard, and that of the Paradisus Rio de Oro! We have recommended the ORO to many friends.....all have been more than satisfied and impressed.

Paradisus Rio De Oro: Head scratching vacation

First of all I want say we went with our best friends a had so much fun. However, our room was beyond hilarious. Apparently our bathroom door broke(who knows when) so the hotel replaced it with a shower curtain. Our toilet whistled when we flushed it. Our shower leaked every where. We had little lights as it was not the bulbs but the sockets were burned out. No fix according to the staff. Our thermostat never worked so we had cold 24 hours a day. You can not drink the tap water however you h [... read more]ave to beg for bottled water. We had none so I went to the snack bar for water and he would not give us a bottle. He said it was a different department. I have never seen so many people doing so much and getting nothing done. Their banking system is like exchanging real money for Monopoly money for a premium. Their money is useless off the Island however they charge Canadians at US rates. What a rip off. Plus make sure you have your Passport to get pesos, get an attitude and all you want to do is get money to tip the workers. Their airports are so backward it is head scratching. It took us an hour and and half just to check our luggage. The people are great however they have no chance as they work long hours, make little money, have no resources to solve our problems and have no hope. Will never go back. Kissed the ground when we arrived in cold Canada.

Melia Las Dunas: Loved this resort again

The resort is very clean , grounds are maintained very well . The staff is lovely! I had my granddaughter with us and they were extremely kind to her. I would like to say Liset Hernandez was especially kind to Graycee. Liset has a beautiful voice and soul . We told her Graycee’s Mom had died and she let her really feel special. She sings at the hotel twice a week . The dancers were wonderful too ! The food was pretty good , there was always something to eat that we enjoyed . This is my sec [... read more]ond time there and it certainly won’t be my last !

Melia Marina Varadero: Not eqial to star rating given

Not well organized, rooms in the main building are not maintained, poor entartainmant, apartment building rooms are better quality but quite a distance from the restorans, pool, and beach, the only thing which was prity good is a lovely beach and pool area, the star rating for this hotel is not more than 3 stars

Paradisus Princesa Del Mar: A huge, beautiful resort

After a day in the regular resort, we upgraded to the Royal Service area, which is what I thought I had booked. The Royal Service was well worth the additional expense. The rooms were not only bigger but more luxurious and included all the amenities we expect in a North American hotel, whereas the rooms in the regular resort did not. The Royal Resort areas (pools, private beach and restaurants/bar areas) were not as crowded and the service was exceptional. We even had bar service at our chai [... read more]rs on the beach!

Melia Marina Varadero: Service is 5 stars plus!

Being welcomed by genuine people makes for a great adventure. Maria and Yankiel at the snack bar always smiled from their eyes and their genuine attention made the snack bar our second home at any hour of the night (shout out to Yosmany on shift change, another rockstar), Jula and Yunior on animation never missed a beat in welcoming you into the activities and created connections among the vacationers, Deynelys, and Josee at the pool bar made the experience a special one by connecting vacationer [... read more]s in conversation and creating a sense of comradery that made the pool bar a "must visit" every day. Jenny was a superstar maid who made sure we felt her special touch when she cleaned our room, her attention to detail was noticed daily and made us feel looked after. Laso was ever ready with a smile as he offered rides to and from the beach in a modified golf cart (carrito). The last day was epic when the coconut /Landscaper guy made me a palm hat with a palm grasshopper on top for only a tip, this hat was the best souvenir I got in Cuba. I highly recommend this vacation for anyone who wants to relax in a safe and friendly environment with real value for your money.