Nice

Rooms were not the best had a lot of sewage smell no coffee in room Lots of plumbing problems Beaches we’re nice Pools can use some cleaning And chairs lots of mold Lots of mold on belcony and bathroom can use a painting lots of mildue First 3 days was good for food at 24 hr restaurant then all ways out of food.

Extremely disappointing

I was very disappointed with this resort. I did not get what I paid for. I was supposed to receive a number of upgrades that I did not get - at all. The first room I was given was a disaster - dirty, stained furniture, ripped bed sheets, the sliding door would not work, the windows were very dirty, and the beds were quite uncomfortable. I was eventually given a better room but the first two days of my vacation were completely and utterly ruined, and the Air Transat staff at the resort was no [... read more]t helpful at all. I was supposed to receive direct transfers to and from the airport, and that did not happen either. I did not receive any of the upgrades that I had paid for. This was supposed to be a relaxing vacation but it was just stressful and unpleasant.

Deffiently worth it !!

Overall the resort and the people working there were very good & helpful for whatever you needed.The buffet had lots of options . Snack bar was great & the dinner’s were very optional for different food styles and very classy looking. The beach words can’t descirbe , have too see with your own eyes

Extremely disappointed with our vacation...

A group of us returned from our trip to MJDR (Feb 23 – March 2). Our group didn’t have outrageous expectations - we are so easy and yet, basic needs were simply not being met. I would highly recommend you to stay away from with resort as we were extremely disappointed. There is absolutely no way the 3, 4, 5 star reviewers stayed at this resort. I have never written a review but this with this stay, I feel compelled to warn potential vacationers. For starters, the resort ran out of buns/b [... read more]read. The 24 hour snack bar is the only place to get food when the buffet is not open which seemed to be the case more often than not. Because there was no buns/bread, they wouldn’t serve burgers which seemed to be the only food you could get during the day. The food at the buffet was unlabeled – there was absolutely no way of knowing what you are eating, no one could tell you. This is cause for concern if you have an allergy – which my daughter does. The line ups for food is insane, you literally feel like you're on the show Survivor. People would run in when it opened and for good reason, when they're out, they're out. Our very first day we went to the snack bar, ordered, and waited an hour for an employee to tell us “we don’t have”. This happened the first day! We felt so helpless… The first room my parents checked into had feces all in and around the toilet prompting an immediate room change. Our room for the most part was clean other than the fact sheets don’t get changed (we had blood stains on ours) and 3 days out of the week toilet paper was not replenished – getting some more felt like pulling teeth. This was also the case for bottled water – it took us 2 days to get another bottle of water and my sister and husband were told by Customer Service if they wanted another one they would have to pay. We spoke to some guests who's toilets didn't flush, didn't have hot water, they're room smelt like sewage (a pipe burst while we were there and it overflowed onto the walkway) so we considered ourselves to be lucky... Every day by 2pm – the bars claimed they ran out of beer. After listening to some other frustrated guests it almost seemed as they were conserving it because they would then have more by 7 or 8pm but it would be the same thing the next day. After the 3rd day everyone would simply ask “what do you have today?” because they also ran out of strawberry daiquiri’s and pina colodas. Towels – there was never any beach towels available. Luckily with our package we got some in our room that we hung onto for the week but if you got the basic package, you weren’t so lucky. We walked by a mile long line every day to hear people shouting and cursing at the towel attendant. The absolutely only good thing about this stay was the weather, beach and family - thank goodness for that. All in all, this resort is not all inclusive. You cannot simply get food or drinks whenever you want because it’s highly likely they will not have any. The staff were incredibly rude but it’s clearly because of the flack they take from unhappy guests. Going into this trip, we were extremely open minded even after the first few days but I have to say it was difficult to get through. I’ve never written a review but experiencing this resort, I feel compelled to warn people – spend the money elsewhere. Apparently in 2017, this resort was fantastic. Since then, it’s gone downhill and there seems to be a few different reasons as to why as per the Air Transat rep on the resort. That poor lady was getting bombarded left right and center by unhappy guests but hopefully something changes.

Horrific experience

Hi Monika, I was very disappointed and frustrated with my stay at this hotel. The Good: It has the most beautiful beach i have seen. It is only a 15 minute ride from the airport. The Bad: My experience going to the buffet was terrible, people would run in and grab food because once they ran out you may not see it again or for long time and most often never again. The food was not labeled and you were never quite sure what you were eating. Not to mention the cockroach I seen crawling  [... read more]all over the dessert tray. The entire hotel ran out of bread for 2 days. 3 afternoons the bar ran out of beer and 1 night out of rum and were serving pina coladas with vodka.. Service was extremely slow at the restaurants. There were no beach towels, we kept the same towel for 6 days. We had blood stained sheets. Toilets didn't flush properly, some guests even had to use a bucket of water to flush their toilet and others didn’t have running water and were unable to shower the entire week. A pipe burst in the middle of the resort, with water spewing up and causing a river of water flowing along the walk way which smelt like sewage. The A/C was extremely loud which made it difficult to fall asleep when it was running. There were mosquitoes everywhere and they would get in the room through the vents. We are all covered from head to toe in bites. The pool was full of algae. It was green all around the pool! The hotel grounds and buildings look neglected and it feels like the hotel has been under managed and unattended for a long time. There was very little beach service. The bar attendant came only once to take our drink order in all 6 days we were there and it took forever to get the drinks. If you have anything left in your fridge it wouldn’t be restocked. We had half a bottle of water left for the 3 of us and when we asked for another bottle we were told there is a limit of 1 per day and if we wanted one we would have to pay for it... I thought this was an all inclusive?? We had an issue with the safe and when trying to call the front desk we were transferred and placed on hold for at least 20 minutes before calling back and being hung on 4 times on purpose.. Last but not least, we had multiple items stolen from our room. I was extremely disappointed and would highly recommend you no longer recommend this resort to anymore of your clients. Thanks, Ashley Grogan Sent from my iPhone

Disgusting

Let me start by saying the weather was fantastic and the beach was beautiful which made the week bearable. The hotel is horrible. There are lacking in staff so service is terrible and they just don't seem to care. Every day about the same time every bar runs out of beer they also run out of bread and buns and trying to get water in the room which should be stocked daily was painfully. Drinks were so watered down and the main lobby bar ran out of pop and juice one day. Our room was kept pretty  [... read more]clean she did a good job but toilets don't flush good , public washrooms are filthy and no toilet paper. Long lineups to wait for food that is terrible. Al a cartes were somewhat better. The pools are nice and lots of chairs but the algae growing on the side is ridiculous. Plastic cuts and dirty plate left around the pool and you have to say something before it gets cleaned up. When checking in a woman was complaining about crock roaches in her room. Our last day there out crawls a cock roach from the salad bar. Where there's one there's 100. Nobody was happy at this place and people couldn't wait to leave. Disgusting place!!!

We travel often and this was the Worst resort we have even been to... We would never go back.

We stayed at the Meliá Jardines Del Rey resort was very understaffed and the staff that was working would never go out of their way to help with any requests. Our first room we were checked into was dirty it had never been cleaned from the last people. While I was at the front desk changing rooms another couple that check in at the same time as we did came down to the front desk with a coach roach in a napkin they found on their bed when they arrived. You were allowed one bottle of water per  [... read more]room and if asked for another bottle they would charge you $5:00 dollars so if you had even a little water in the bottle they would not give you a new one. My husband is a beer drinker and everyday they would run out of beer it would not matter where on the resort we were from 2:30 to approx. 5:00 they would not have beer. There was never any slushy drinks at any bar on the resort. If you were lucky and received a beach towels you had to keep it for the week as you would not get another one. The food at both buffet served the same food all week there was never anything new. We seen a coach roach on the salad bar. It was hard to find butter if they had any and once it was gone it was gone they would not bring any more out. The mosquitos were terrible everyone travelling in our group came back covered with bites and we all used off deep woods off bug spray. This was the worst resort I have ever been to and would highly tell anyone thinking about booking it NOT to. This is not even a 3 star resort. The grounds are very pretty the pools are nice looking but the pool walls are cover with algae. The beach it lovely.

Needs improvement

Staff couldn’t be more friendly but this resort is definately under staffed. The front lobby seats really need to be replaced! Staff are so over worked that it was a long wait at any of the food bars. We had rooms cleaned without problems but experienced anger from other guests every day.

Better then expected

We really enjoyed ourselves at this resort. Plenty to eat. Beautiful beach, awesome beach bar staff (especially Joel) the rooms were cleaned daily and our bar fridge was filled everyday. The pools were big!

Great vacation

My husband and I stayed at the Melia Jardines del Rey from February 3 to 10. When we were choosing our hotel we were a bit leery about the size of this one. It has over 1,000 rooms and our guide told us it is the largest Melia property in the world. But we knew the Flamenco beach was fantastic, having stayed at two neighbouring hotels the last three years, so we thought we’d give it a try. Arrival and check-in: The hotel is about 15—20 minutes from the airport and because there were quit [... read more]e a few of us going to this hotel we went there directly without having to drop off passengers at other resorts. We flew with Air Canada and arrived at the hotel around 10 p.m. There were two other buses expected around the same time so the hotel staff took us to a conference room and handled our check-in there instead of having us line up at the reception desk. They also brought Cuban CUCs so we could exchange our money right there. We were then driven to our rooms by one of the many shuttles that move across the property regularly. Rooms: We were given a room on the second floor in Bungalow #9. The room was one of the nicest we’ve had in our 16 trips to Cuba. It was spacious, clean and comfortable. The bathroom was great. Large shower, lots of hot water and great water pressure. The mini fridge was restocked every day. The AC worked well without fail. Beach: The Flamenco beach is magnificent. A few years ago the three hotels on that strip enlarged the beach substantially allowing for more beach chairs and palapas. Chairs were available no matter what time of the day you came to the beach. However, as is the case at most resorts, if you want to secure a spot with shade you need to stake your claim by 7:30 a.m. at the latest. We’re used to doing this and have no problem getting up early to ensure a great day in an ideal spot. The water was crystal clear and the sand was great. There were some rocks so water shoes are a good idea. Pools: We never use the pools when in Cuba because we are there for the beach. But from what we saw the pools were lovely and well maintained. There was also a children’s pool and a large children’s area complete with slides, swings and a huge inflatable bouncing/climbing area. Food and drink: I often read complaints from visitors to Cuba about the quality of the food. We don’t set our expectations too high and as a result we are rarely disappointed. The resort has two buffets that serve breakfast, lunch and dinner. If I have one negative comment about this resort it was the lack of variety in the buffet the first few days we were there. Even the juice was watered down which we found odd. I suspect that they had an issue with supply, because things improved slightly while we were there. We never ate lunch at the buffet because there is an excellent smaller buffet right on the beach that had a good selection of lunch options. We made reservations at three a la carte restaurants – Cuban, Asian and Mexican – and all three were excellent. The food was good as was the service. There is also a 24 hour snack bar on site that services the basics – sandwiches, burgers, salads and the like. Their burgers were great. Entertainment: There was usually some kind of musical entertainment in the lobby in the evening – singers, violinists, etc. But because the lobby is so huge, the entertainment is really only enjoyed by guests who can get a seat close to the performance area. In the a la carte restaurants we enjoyed some live Cuban music performed by musicians who moved through the restaurants. We tend to be early to bed and early to rise people so we rarely attend the large evening shows in the theater. But we did go for the Cuban Night and it was well worth it. The show was professionally done. Resort layout and ambience: Despite its size, the resort is actually more compact than we expected. Everything was within a reasonable walking distance – 5 to 10 minutes at most. They also have staff driving the grounds in shuttles and offering lifts to anyone who wants one, which is a nice touch. Where we noticed a bit of a difference from previous trips to other resorts was that this resort seemed a bit “sterile”. Let me explain what I mean by that. The resort lacked ambience. There didn’t seem to be a central core to the resort where people would gravitate to. At smaller resorts we would usually find ourselves sitting next to the same people and this made for pleasant conversations over a drink. We have made friends this way in the past who we still keep in touch with. We didn’t find that here. What was interesting about this was that other guests seemed to be seeking ambience as well. There wasn’t a person we passed at any time of the day who didn’t smile and say Hello, Bonjour or Hola. This was new to us and we found it lovely and refreshing. The staff: The staff at this resort was always a pleasure to deal with. They genuinely wanted their guests to have a great experience. We are always grateful and generous with tips and/or gifts when we see someone going beyond the call of duty. The Cuban people are one of the main reasons we are drawn back to their beautiful country. We look forward to our next trip.

Amazing Resort

We really enjoy our stay at Melia Jardines del Ray. Specially the manager Yohanndre very helpful. If you are planning to go cayo coco take with you mosquitoes spry with you. I was eaten alive by mosquitoes lol.

Smile and enjoy the beach

This resort is all about the beach. It is truly incredible! The food was good and plenty of variety.The resort is severely understaffed but friendly. Bartenders were extremely inexperienced and slow. Bars often ran out of beer or other products for the day. We couldn't get a towel until our second day,and couldn't get it changed the rest of the week due to shortages. It was disappointing but we made the best out of it. The staff that was there went out way to make our stay pleasant while apologi [... read more]zing for issues obviously beyond their control. It was warm and sunny during our stay so we smiled and enjoyed the beautiful weather.

Needs new management

This hotel is big and I don’t believe they are equipped to accommodate the number of people they can house. From the time we got there there were issues with stock. They continually ran out of beer, ice, vodka, orange juice. The beer was often warm and they had no draft at anytime.The first day we went for breakfast they had no bread. It was hard to get fresh towels in your room and I heard of some people that couldn’t get towels at alll. We managed to get pool towels the first day but the [... read more]re were none available again until the day we were leaving. We were originally housed in building 9 but the continuous smell of sewage outside was over powering. We were moved to building 26 after 2 days where we had no shower curtain. When we brought it up at the front desk they simply said “we don’t have any”. The irrigation system leaked outside our building contributing to the mosquito population and many people, including myself, got covered in bites. Toilets in both rooms ran continuously and didn’t flush properly. We were on the beach one day had one drink from the satellite bar went to get another and were told they were out of ice and beer so they were closing. This was at 1:00 in the afternoon! We were unable to make any reservations for al carte because everything was full except Cuban which I heard wasn’t very good. The line ups took forever to book as well. On the day we were leaving, February 25, I went to the luggage room to get something out of my bag there was a woman on the floor with all her luggage open crying because she thought she had lost her passport. There was a bellboy standing over her. She eventually found it and this guy freaked out on her for wasting his time I guess? The same bellboy about a hour later was making sexual advances towards my friend when she was inquiring about taking a shower. Asked her “if she needed any help in the shower” This hotel has the potential to be a nice hotel and has a beautiful beach but is very poorly managed.

Beautiful beach but be ready to hear “no we don’t have that” all week

This resort like all others has good and bad features. The most amazing thing was the beach. You can walk for miles on white sand beaches in either direction with amazing views. Second to this is the pool area which is equally as nice and very clean. The resort overall was nice and clean and the rooms were modern. Now for the negative. Meals were the worst part of everyday of our stay. The food is horrible. There is no selection. They run out of food as soon as the doors open. None of the food [... read more] is labelled so you have no idea what you are eating and the line ups to get the food are very long. The dinning areas are also very understaffed. If you got to the dinning room even a half hour after it opened the tables would not be cleaned off, have fresh cutlery, and you weren’t able to get drinks with your meal. The snack bars are equally as bad when you sit down and order the staff point to 2 items on the 15 item menu and say that is all they have for today and by midway through the lunch service this choice would be further reduced. Fortunately the a la cartes were much better and the service was fast. As we read in previous reviews to bring our own towels we did and this was a life saver for the week as every morning we watched atleast 30 people ask for towels to be told they didn’t have any and would need to come back later. Overall if food is not important to you this resort is good if you can get it for $1000/person or less.

Good resort

Great beach,great place,breakfast was good, there stock of food and alcohol was low , waited 3 days for beach towels,food selection was fair, could have been better,they had better selection on previous trip, the hotel is sliding down a bit, but it’s cuba, still had a good time

Nice resort

Overall the resort was nice. Very beautiful beach and pools. The bars and the night entertainment were good. But the food was absolutely terrible, I dreaded going to eat every meal. I was warned the food wouldn't be great but I honestly didn't think it would be that bad. I still feel sick when I think about the food. I had a couple problems with my room that I told the front desk about but were NOT fixed i.e the door to my room not locking ever and the phone in my room not working. Other than [... read more] those things it was a vey nice resort I enjoyed everything else about it.

Great resort

Pool was nice, beach was amazing, service was good, towels were hard to come by and resort seemed to be a little under staffed, food at the buffets was alright but al le carts were great! All and all it was a great week

Great trip!!

A bit of a lengthy review but hope you appreciate the info. This was my family's first trip to the Melia Jardines Del Rey. We had a great trip and would return to this resort. It is a large resort and there is quite a bit of walking distance to amenities depending which block your room is located. It didn't bother us but I would suggest a room in blocks 10-19 to be central to pools, food etc. The room was adequate, clean and maid service was good. Each room has a safe, iron, ironing board,  [... read more]hairdryer and bar fridge. The fridge is re-stocked daily with 2 beers, 2 pops and a large bottle of water daily at no cost. You can request a change in the order of beverages if need be. The bar service was good, considering a large hotel. There were some lineups but they moved pretty quickly. The beach bars ran out of beer daily around 5, but the pool bar and lobby always had it around the clock. The food was great! We had chicken, beef, fall off the bone ribs and pork dishes. The usual Cuban fare with rice and pasta dishes, cold-cuts, fruit, fish, amazing omelets, cereals, etc. The a la carts were very good. No shortage of food for sure. Ive been to Cuba 7 times and have never had a problem with the food. Ive seen complaints about the food in reviews but if you want "7" star food, go to Sandals and pay triple! Its Cuba. A tip...make the trip to "Lenny's" on the beach for fresh lobster or beef, chicken etc. A short cab ride and for $15 peso's you get an amazing meal on a private point of land overlooking the ocean. The entertainment was ok, I think geared toward the younger crowd as it was reading week. The stage shows were good too. My daughter and her boyfriend took the catamaran trip with lobster lunch and snorkeling and loved it! ($160) They also attended a rave in a cave offsite converted into a nightclub, and said they had a blast! ($25 each which incl. all drinks) Staff and workers were awesome. The resort could use a bit of minor TLC...some paint here and there, locks fixed on patio doors in some units etc., but nothing major. No need for special adapters for phones, tablets etc., as the have converted all electrical (website says they are required but are not) Okay my BIGGEST problem with the resort and it doesn't involve the resort or their employees.... Some tourists, not all, leaving all of their empty cups, garbage etc. on the beach and pool area after they leave. I was appalled at the manners of some "adults" visiting paradise. The attitude of "Ive paid for this trip, you need to clean up after me" is disgusting! As a Canadian, that's not who we are....shameful. Overall, I loved the resort and everything it offered. Twenty minutes from the airport was nice too. A long review but just wanted you all to have the details. Special thanks to Tripcentral for all their help to make this trip so memorable. Special shout out to Angela Douglas from the Waterloo, Ont. branch for all her help. We look forward to dealing with her again soon..... Thanks Chris G.

Ok Resort

Need to upgrade,make sure Beach towels are available. Snack Bar staff are rude. Too many mosquito in the room.Toilet not working. Didn’t see anyone cleaning the pool in the morning for 5 days. Beach bar are so small and limited.

Just ok

Service was slow at all restaurants, had to wait for cutlery and drinks. Especially the restaurant by the beach, the staff just chatting amongst themselves and we had to get our own cutlery, napkins and water. And if you asked the staff, they would take ten minutes before bringing anything. The pools in the lobby attracted mosquitoes so that was bad! Bring your own towels as we waited 3 days to finally get them! They should have them in the rooms when guests arrive. Very far walk to the bea [... read more]ch too.