Good value for your dollar

We stayed at this hotel October 16-23, 2015. I've been to Cuba 7+ times previously, so no surprised really! The hotels about 60 minute bus ride from the airport, so make sure you hit the bathroom prior to leaving the airport, its long and boring! The hotel itself is nice and clean with friendly staff. (Not sure if the hotel has new management, lots of changes happening while we were there) We paid for the ocean view, worth every penny, we were over looking the pool bar Mares side (busier/louder) [... read more], Luna side is very quiet, but you have access to both. The beach is beautiful, some shade available. While there, they un-veiled the new lobby bar, very nice. They did have a white night themed party, which is fun, but it wasn't advertised anywheres, and luckily we had all white clothing, most guest dressed up, which made it really fun! The food, well its not the worst I've experienced, but it def was not the best. Lots of variety, but the same variety everyday, it good boring REALLY fast. Best meals, pool bar/24hour bar, trust me! (breakfast to supper) Only resort that has vendors everyday, which is nice. Your only a short cab ride away from market with over 40 different vendors, 15 pesos return, with most cabbies. *REMEMBER - Don't be afraid to haggle prices with cabbies or vendors. Also you will be approached by a guy on the beach to sell you vacation packages... its best to purchase them from your representative, safer etc. I would go back, but I'd love to try a different island for our next vacation!

Won't recommend

We went there as a family of three with 9 year old son. The only thing I don't like is very basic rooms with ants crowing all over the place, so be careful, or bring the insects spray and other thing is food variety. Maybe it would be OK for the week, but been there for 2 weeks very tired of food. Other than that everything is perfect : the beach is most beautiful I've been, customer service is perfect very professional. If you don't like the room, they'll give you 3 or 4 to choose from. I conta [... read more]cted with them in advance asking to place us in the building 6,which is right on the beach and we got the room on the second floor with ocean view. I appreciate it.

Amazing

Beautiful well groomed resort. Food is excellent with many different varieties. Staff is wonderful and helpful. Beach is beautifully kept with a restaurant and bar at your fingertips. I highly recommend this resort. I've travelled all of cuba. To me this is one of the wonderful stay i had

Great!

Everything was wonderful as usual, except they were having issues with the air conditioning. Although they were trying to get it fixed we had a 21 month old with us and a room that was 100 degrees with humidity at 100% it was a little tough. We were able to sleep in a different room one night, so that was definitely helpful. This was a minor issue and has not changed my opinion on the resort or the people in anyway and I hope to be able to go back over and over again.

Amazing resort, very nice, excellent location

Good food,very nice people, clean beautiful beach. Rooms are old, but clean. We were there 10 ears ego and it is still very nice hotel, what we remember from last time. They change little think. We hade excellent holiday.

Exellent resort

Excellent resort, amazing staff and food. I love it and will remember for a long time. I will come again with my husband and family friends I love the white beach sand and the surrounding coconut. The fish and the vegetables are fresh especially pumpkin delicious. I love the aqua show which is spataculous . I love it love it.

Nice staff but I think this hotel used 2 to better

We were greeted with the warm cuban smiles and amazing hospitality from the moment we entered this property. The rooms were clean and always decorated with beautiful swans, hearts, etc. The staff at the main buffet restaurant- both the ones making our food and the wait staff were all amazingly warm and inviting. The beach is beautiful and not very busy. The only thing we had issue with (and I don't think this is the animation crews fault but perhaps how the hotel is being managed in recent years [... read more]) was that there were not much of the typical activities during the day as in other hotels. I have been to other hotels in Cuba and there are always very fun activities during the day and evening - with amazing cuban music and lots of dancing but there was not much of that in this hotel to our surprise. I was told by others that this has changed over the years and the animation team (most are still the same people) were much more active and there used to be a dance team at nights that was specific to the hotel - but all this has changed over the years under the new management. So this hotel lacks music, dancing, and energy!!!! If these were put back in place, I would definitely return!

Beautiful beach, good food, pretty grounds...

Good food (lots of fresh fish, veggies and snacks at the buffet and snack bar). Beautiful pools and beach although beach gets deep very fast and windy (at least while we were there). Very attractive grounds though rooms a bit outdated (good for cuban standards however). Service at buffets could be improved (long waits for water, cutlery/clean tables-servers seemed to stick to return visitors) but at other restaurants/bars/snack bar was always excellent.

An unparalleled location.

My husband and I just spent a week at this lovely resort at the end of April, beginning of May. We had a wonderful experience overall. The staff were wonderfully helpful and we had no complaints about the food. I think that those who complain must be overly picky. Otherwise I can't understand them. Our room was definitely outdated, but we had what was promised in our package, namely a king sized bed, a stocked fridge and a bottle of rum. We also had the most beautiful view of the ocean from our  [... read more]balcony. The room was kept clean and we really didn't spend much time there anyway. The beach is amazing and the water is so clear!! The staff were out every morning to clean up the beach. During the middle part of our stay, the province celebrated a holiday that commemorated a story of how rain came after a long period of drought back in the 1700s. Ironically it hadn't rained since the end of November. Wouldn't you know it' but didn't it start to rain on the holiday. Sadly, we could go swimming in our room, it flooded so badly. We mopped it up with our towels and put a bucket under the worst leak. The emergency number was busy, so we took care of it ourselves. The maid eventually came with a mop and gave us extra towels. We didn't let the weather get us down though and in between the bad weather, we managed to have fun. We did the dolphin swim the day before we left, though we had to wait 45 minutes for a downpour to finish before we could get started, lol!! It was great and we can definitely recommend doing that excursion. We also did the train trip. It was fun too. The tour of the cigar factory was the highlight as far as my husband was concerned. All in all we had a great time. The resort buildings are tired and do need work, but I understand that they are working on that. Treat it like a week at the cottage. The rooms are actually nicer than most cottages, since the furniture matches and the mattress isn't lumpy. I would say that we loved the way they cook the fish. Some of our best meals included seafood.

Beautiful Playa Esmeralda

Having been to the Cayos of Coco and Guillermo at the Iberostar Daiquiri and Memories Flamenco, it was easy to compare. Travelling on the mainland from the airport to Holguin allowed for us to see the beautiful scenery of rolling hills of green, heavily loaded mango trees, horses, dogs, local people and their houses, the inlet to the dolphinarium and so much more. Sol Rio de Luna Y Mares was a wonderful place to vacation. We were very comfortable in our oceanview suite, with a king size bed and  [... read more]a twin for our 10 yr. old. Food and drink were varied. We especially enjoyed the fresh fish, the pig roast, the banana flambes, the local guava, papaya, watermelon and pineapple and ice cream. The pool with shaded bar was lovely but could not compare with the wonders of coral and fish to be enjoyed at Playa Esmeralda, near the Paradisus de Oro. We also loved the on-site local craft market. We bought lovely paintings, leather goods, wooden crafts and beautifully crocheted dresses. They also had craft sessions every day along with many beach, pool and lobby activities. The evening water ballet pool show was a standout. Hands down however, the biggest standout was the staff, from top to bottom. Excellent!

Highly recommend!

What can I say...well the resort was fabulous...the staff were fantastic and the beach was GREAT! We were at the Sol for the last two weeks of April 2015 and I can honestly say it is the best resort we've been at in Cuba thus far out of six at various locations. We stayed in the Luna section which was very quiet and enjoyable. While we did experience a couple of unavoidable room issues the customer service staff were very quick to respond and even followed up with phone calls to ensure we had be [... read more]en looked after. The food was really good...lots of choice, fresh and tasty. The resort grounds and facilities are in good shape and looked after. Beach was great for walking and the swimming and snorkeling was excellent. I would definitely recommend the Sol Rio de Luna y Mares.

Lovely Beach and staff

First of all the beach is lovely and the staff are very accomodating. It had been 6 years since visiting Cuba and found the food hasn't changed much, still not great and little variety. The drinks were disappointing as well, wine not very good and hated all the slushie drinks. We had 2 days of rain and had a dam at the next resort wash out which caused all the beach water to turn brown so didn't get to enjoy water due to this and rainy weather. It was a relaxing week.

Great Food!

I highly recommend staying that this resort, no complaints. Food was great, beach bar with DJ open every night for the partiers, great evening entertainment and friendly service.Rooms were clean and beautiful view!

Great place and amazing beach

We enjoyed the whole week. Groundsare clean rooms as well. Foodwasgood Lots of variety. Staff went over and above. We were really happy to see lisandro the food and beverage manager. We originally met him in 2007 at sol Cayo largo and when we arrived we were surprised to see him working there. I recognized him immediately and he recognized us as well. Lisandro went over and above to see that we were satisfied with everything. What an asset to the resort. He is always around working diligently an [... read more]d mingling with guests making sure all runs well. Lisandro is a gem

Beautiful Beach

The variety of different locations to eat dinner. The restaurant on the beach served fresh fish and grilled chicken. The breakfast menu had a variety of eggs and plenty of fruit. The beach had plenty of shady spots to rest in the daytime.

Great Value & Stay

Beautiful long beach. Lots of food choices & variety. Lots of fresh seafood and fruits. Grounds are clean &well maintained. Staff is very helpful. Out in the country, I don't know what is around the outside, but went scuba diving.

Great vacation

The beach and grounds of the hotel were beautiful and well kept. The pools were never too busy making it easy to get a drink it snack. I would recommend the snack bar due to good service and food. The food was average but I was always able to find something to eat. However, the service was sometimes slow.

Decent Resort

Hotel grounds are very neat and organized. Rooms definitely need an update on the Mares side, especially the bathrooms. Food was excellent. Service was good but understaffed it seemed. Nightly entertainment was great!

Very good resort, wonderfull time

We were at The Sol Rio Luna y Mares for the 7th time and we will return again. The beach is wonderfull, Palapas and trees for every one. They had new chairs this year: more confortable. What we like the most is to take breakfast, lunch and supper outside. Rooms are ok and clean. The only thing we regret is that there was less restaurants a la carte, so we had only one supper a la carte, because the otherones were full. Stayed at the Mares, but we will ask for the Luna next year because of the no [... read more]ise. Beautifull ocean view, but noisy.

Fabulous Fun, Fabulous People, Beatutiful Resort

My Fiance and I traveled to Cuba the first week of April 2015. The food, for Cuba standards, was very good and a lot of choices. The staff were very friendly and lots of fun. We danced from morning until night enjoying all areas of the resort. The resort was fairly quiet, enjoyable, relaxing. Our room was average, needed some upgrading, but clean. We wished that the room fridge was stocked with alcoholic beverages (wine, rum, beer) for evening hours. But they were quick to increase the bottled w [... read more]ater being left, so thank you for quick response to service requests. Our one complaint was that there was no snorkeling equipment for quests to use and with the coral reef within swimming distance it was a disappointment. We also weren't allowed to sign out life jackets to use in the water which we didn't understand as they had numerous life jackets hanging up unused. The Catamaran run was so much fun. Our reef fishing excursion was amazing with the finale being our catch fresh cooked and served for lunch. The entertainment at night was wonderful and enjoyable for all ages. The gym was lacking in quality equipment and opened a little late for the heat of the area. We had the time of our lives, danced danced danced, swam, swam, swam, drank, drank, drank, laughed, laughed, and laughed some more. Thank you for a wonderful escape from the Canadian winter.