The nicest Resort I've been to inCuba

This resort was very modern well-maintained with beautiful gardens and Landscaping. The buffet with basic but they do make stuff fresh for you and all the ala carte restaurants were very good. The rooms were very modern and clean. The beach with very beautiful and the pool was as well. This Resort deserves all five stars.

Loved Cuba, disappointed in our room.

I was very excited to finally get to go to Ocean Casa del Mar after having to cancel the first planned visit due to Hurricanes. The beach was beautiful, the resort was clean and well appointed. Unfortunately, we had issues with our room. When we turned on the ceiling fan we lost all the power to our room. My husband had to go to the front desk, they sent a technician who came to our room he checked out the issue. He went to the utility room and switched something and we had power again. However [... read more], we were not comfortable using the ceiling fan. Also, because our room was next to the utility room, there was a constant beeping at night which made it very difficult if not impossible to sleep. Two nights later we lost our power again. This time the technician they sent focussed on one of the bedside lamps, He dismantled it and removed the bulb. He got our power going again, but the constant beeping was still coming from the next room. I believe the resort should have offered to move us to a different room, but they did not.

Great hotel experience!

I don't often write a review but I have been to Cuba a few times and if you are looking for a higher end experience this would be it. The food was really good and that is not something I have said about any of my Cuba vacation destinations. I stay away from beef but the kids ordered the fresh steak and we also ate a lot of fresh omelettes, seafood and pasta. The staff were very accommodating and the service was A+. I would highly recommend this resort especially if travelling with kids. The beac [... read more]hes in Santa Maria are all gorgeous. Lots of seashells for the kids. Lots of pools and a kid area for the parents if they wish to check in young ones. I didn't use this service but I would assume excellent as well. Staff were super friendly and hospitable. Overall I would give this resort a 4+ review and would not hesitate to go back or recommend. I did tip well so that likely helped and I did bring goodies to hand out to the maids each day. The staff will ask you for stuff but I only left the extra snacks I brought for the kids and my travel toiletries. I did visit the dollar store and brought some hair bands, nail polish, makeup etc. They do appreciate whatever you can leave behind.

We loved our stay!

Best hotel I've been to in Cuba Friendly staff, always a fun time and decent food. Went as a single mom w a teenager. Loved the beach, drinks and entertainment. Be sure to bring your own thermal mug! Will be back :)

Best beach in Cuba

Stayed Oct 2-9 and loved hurricane season! Weather was perfect so please ignore all the reports of rain.We may have had 5 minutes of rain during the day and some rain during the night.This resort is fairly new with beautiful rooms and very well laid out.There are 2 pool locations.The activities pool for games and music but also a section for quiet.On the other side of the resort is all quieter pools with a kids pool a reflection and a swim up bar.I saw workers in the pool scrubbing down the side [... read more]s and cleaning the bar area. Food at the beach bar was great.BBQ wings ribs paella and hamburgers.The buffet for breakfast lunch and dinner had everything.The staff remembers you each day and has your table ready. Even the chef at the grills will ask you what you liked and then tells you he will make you a special meal and brings it to your table.Fabulous service!! There was no restrictions on booking the al a cart.At 5:30ish you can make reservations for dinner that night. Lobby bar had amazing entertainers before dinner and full shows at 9. Overall this resort is the best in Cuba and we have been to cuba over 15 times and 7 different locations. One thing you have to realize is that this location is for R&R and not for sightseeing. Santa Maria resorts are 90 minutes from the closest towns and the causeway is 49km long.Only tourists and workers are allowed here so please if you go meet the wonderful staff and have fun with all the other vacationers!

Best Cuba experience.

Wife and really enjoyed our time in Santa Maira/Ocean del Mar. Best section of the beach, staffs were so friendly, and the weather was sunny and warm. The only part of the trip we didn’t care for was the 3 hours+ bus ride without WC stop.

Beautiful Beach

Still fairly new resort and still improving. Most of the staff are nice but of course, there will always be a few that’s not as cheerful as the others. I will definitely be back if the price is right.

Wish I would have known

Got to the hotel around noon but they won’t give you a room until after four. To make things worse they won’t give you a towel for swimming because the towels are strictly assigned to the rooms. So bring a towel for the first day. Plus, the theatre and 24 hour bar will fill the air with noise till the wee hours, so try to get a room far from “the action”, if you like your sleep. Cassandra Brown at Tripcentral was great to work with !

Another Great Week!

Although it was low season, Ocean Casa Del Mar did not let me down! The room and entire grounds were kept immaculate. There was plenty of food selection and the drinks were delicious. Nighttime shows were scaled back slightly, but were still excellent. The best part of the trip hands down was the care given to us by Big Daniels of the Animation Team, Leo and Daniel from the Buffet and Vania, Valentin and Andrey at the Pool Bar. Thank you so much and I cannot wait to return to this beautiful [... read more] place!

Not as expected

My husband and I stayed at Ocean Casa del Mar in Cayo Santa Maria Cuba for a week Sept. 4/18. While the weather was fantastic and the staff very friendly & helpful the food was less desirable. The main buffet (only one) open did not have an abundance of fresh fruit. There were no fresh bananas only fried. My husband likes to have one a day as he takes medication for hypertension as recommended by his physician. The hotel photos of the food in the reserved dinning are a little deceptive. What y [... read more]ou see in the photos is not what you get for dinner.The food in the buffet is the same almost every day. What is offered for lunch is re-offered dinner more or less. Our room was cleaned & mini fridge restocked daily. The service provided by housekeeping was very good. It was easy to obtain a chair at the beach/pool daily only because I believe half the resort was closed due to it being low season. If we had stayed here during peak season, I'm sure there would be a struggle for a chair. We have stayed at many resorts in Cuba but won't be returning to Ocean Casa del Mar.

Has potential

Great beach, newer rooms with inconsistency of things working like balcony doors. Food just eat the pastas, stay away from any fish, hamburgers are not good, just get hotdogs not sausages - trust me. The usual no ketchup or catsup lol. Staff is good until cubans stay on the weekend as staff has to assist them before anyone else. Not really a young group resort.

I will NOT Book this Hotel Ever Again

The Resort 1. I had no electricity/ hydro for a day. 2. I had no TV for four days (it was on and off during the entire stay). 3. My telephone in the room didn’t work for 4 (four) days. 4. The bathroom/shower was awful. Every time I needed to take a shower I was flooding the entire floor of the bathroom. I wanted to take a decent shower and I could because I had to collect the water from the floor and clean up everything time after every shower, in order to prevent a flooding. Final I fou [... read more]nd a solution, I was taking a shower late at night at the beach shower. That way I didn’t have mop and clean the entire bathroom floor after I took a shower and most importantly I was standing straight. The Food and the Drinks and Bartenders As a beginning I would like to share with you that I will never in my life will imagine that a very dry and poorly made, most probably frozen burger and a few “hush browns”, as the Cuban personal at the restaurants have called them, will be the best meal that I will ever have. Here are a few observations of my stay: 1. The food in the buffet was terrible and tasteless and 75% and more of the menu was served for breakfast, lunch and dinner (cold cuts, a few vegetables, a few different kind of rise and a few different fish dishes) 2. I was wondering why in a country which grows mangos, pineapples and papaya year round they will serve you juice from a can? You can tell it is can juice because it has this very specific metal smell from the can, when you drink it. 3. I have asked for scotch and my drink was served to me in a red wine glass. I will accept that in a 2 star hotel but I in a 5 star luxury resort - this is unacceptable. 4. I have asked for a dry Martine and I got a scotch glass with on ice or olive. What a nonsense... 5. I am not sure how many bartenders are in the resort, but a few of them at the main bar, below the main lobby, were constantly grumpy and absolutely not pleasant to deal with. I purposely avoided them ant I have spent my tips money on more pleasant, always smiling and welcoming bartenders. I was extremely disappointed and disgusted by the service at Ocean Casa del Mar and my vacation was not pleasant and not enjoyable.

Had a great time!

The resort is beautiful, clean abd nicely decorated. The employees will go above and beyond to see a smile on your face. Buffet food isnt the greatest but the a la carte restaurants were great. Very lively but still quiet. great for all types of vacations for all ages

Stay Away In The Off Season

This hotel had great reviews up until our trip. We just got back after a week at the Ocean Casa Del Mar on June 16. Yes its Cuba and the food is not expected to be over the top, but this was beyond terrible. You could tell the food was reused and never changed. What you saw at breakfast was what you saw for lunch and dinner minus the eggs. The only good thing is that they had some fresh stuff they made in front of you such as pasta and rice. Upon arrival at 9:45pm we checked into our room. We [... read more] quickly found multiple dead bugs, stains all over the bed, and a squished dead cockroach on our pillow. We went to the front desk and they sent us to our second room. The second room we were put into had a toilet that splashed you like a bidet, and a sink that had a clogged drain. Our third room we were moved to was already occupied by other but we were still given a key to there room. (This happened to multiple people). They were limited on rooms because half of the resort is shut down forcing everyone into a few buildings. We were given key cards to a privilege room for our fourth room. We walked in to discover stain everywhere, an empty mini bar fridge and a very small tub. Please do not pay for the upgrade. We finally settled for a dirty room as it was about 1am and we were exhausted. The maintenance is terrible in the off season. The worst part about this trip was finding out my phone was stolen right out of our room. Brand new iPhone taken. Police were called in security everyone and all they did was ask the maid if she had it. End of that story. Spent a whole day with the police who ended up leaving. We lost about 3 days from room running around to filling out reports for the phone and interviews. The positives to the trip: The staff that work there are great aside from whichever one stole my phone. Hector and his partner at the buffet make dining a great experience. Sit with them if possible. Dani from the pool side snack bar was amazing. Greeted you with a handshake daily. Mikes coffee like all other reviews blows Tim Horton's out of the water. Get the frozen cappuccinos. The towel guys offer exceptional service, funny to talk to and always willing to help. They looked for my phone more than the security team did. FYI the mosquitoes at this time of year are terrible. Never seen anything like it. Make sure you bring lots of bug spray if you plan on travelling here. All in all I would not recommend this resort nor would I ever return there. Especially in the off season.

Horrible!!!!!

This was the worst resort iv been to so far!!!!!! Alot alottt of mosquitos we never got a chance to watch any shows at night due to the mosquitos! Never got the room we paid for service was horrible bed sheets never changed!! List goes on ...i don't recommend this resort to anyone!!!!!!!! Stay away from this place!

Grad gift to Cuba

We have been to Cuba 9 times - Cayo Santa Maria 4 times, each time to a different resort. This time, we chose Ocean Casa del Mar mainly because it was only two years old and it had been recommended by colleagues. For a resort that was only two years old, it had more than a few maintenance issues - One of my main pet peeves was that many of the pathway lights were not working. We had to use our cell phone flashlights to see where we were going. In the room, the patio door latch was broken, th [... read more]e closet doors were broken, the showerhead was broken and there was very little pressure, but the room was kept very clean by the maid - which is very important to us. The decor - modern and nicely done. Also, the bed/pillows were quite comfortable, I must say. Only half of the toilets in the lobby washrooms were working. The drinks were delicious and the food was okay - steam tables didn't really keep the food very warm Personally, I stuck to rice, pasta, potatoes, bread - mainly because I didn't want to get sick. I guess because the resort was less than half full, the entertainment in the theatre was lacking and there wasn't much in the way of organized activities. The lobby bar had some very talented entertainers each night - a violinist and guitarist playing for a few nights and a pianist on the others. They were amazing! The beach is the main reason we came to Cayo Santa Maria - it is simply gorgeous!! Unfortunately, we had rain for 5 of the 7 days we were there - I mean, torrential downpours so it kept us in our rooms or in the lobby chatting with other guests or playing cards/dominoes. There's nothing much you can do about that! All in all, it was a very relaxing vacation and we thoroughly enjoyed each others' company and the price was right. Would we go back? I don't think I would do the two hour drive from the airport to the resort again.

Beautiful resort

7th time to Cuba. 1st time to Ocean Casa del Mar Pros: Beautiful resort, wonderful staff, excellent service, lovely beach and pools, clean, good food, best Michael Jackson show I’ve seen. Cons: Ground level pool view room not available. We’re moved into a ground level NO view room; patio door did not lock, safe/coffee machine/hair dryer did not work, loud weird noises coming from ceiling outside of the bathroom ALL night long. Would recommend this resort, if you like the family resort e [... read more]xperience.

Okay

So my review it’s a beautiful resort but the food is not great I had better the mosquitoes are awful the rooms I had a lot of problem with do not leave your room key beside any TV iPads iPhones any kind of phones or they won’t work otherwise it was a good but I won’t pay any higher than $1000 at this resort

Decent value for price.

May 1-8 , 2018 stay Beach was as beautiful as expected with tons of shade available and lots of seashells to collect. Pools were nice and good temperature. Weather wasn't the best but May is the beginning of the rainy season in Cuba but the price we paid (under $1000 per person) was very reasonable. Rooms were basic with hard beds and leaky air conditioners but had fantastic, large walk in rain showers. Unfortunately maintenance and cleanliness was not the best here. I believe this i [... read more]s due to lack of funds and products for repairs and I can only assume that staff have not been trained to clean outside areas. It is a shame because seeing staff walk by broken glasses and not pick anything up for several days is not nice. There was a tourism event which included a beach party in front if the market area beside us and the next day the beach was covered with litter- especially empty plastic bags which I was told contained tshirts for attendees. Many of these ended up floating in the ocean. We picked as much up as possible but again... Sad that the workers from that event didn't clean up the mess and even sadder that tourism attendees left litter everywhere!!! Take care of the environment and the beautiful beach that Cuba offers. Buffet- not much variety and most food was slightly warm or cold but you could always find something to eat. I found the staff were pretty good and friendly. A la cartes- ridiculous system of waiting in line ups each day to reserve a table and I never saw more then 5 tables filled in each restaurant at a time. Menu options were very limited in every a la carte and at least 25% of items were "not available". Lol. Drink options- poor!!! Even a la cartes didn't offer more then the basic wine, beer, a few spirits. Had no clue what a margarita even was in the Mexican a la carte. Coffee shop was the best part of the resort and offered the best drinks. 24 hour snack bar wasn't open much at all. I guess off season means hours are dependent on the mood of the day. Flies were bad a few days we were there. A fogged went by once each evening but clearly, this time of year requires more fogging. Money exchange at the hotel- i exchanged money 4 times and the 2 times it was a guy, everything was fine, but there was a girl who messed up the exchange both times. Best case scenario, she's incompetent but I truely believe she purposely tried to scam me. She pushed the money at me and said thank you 3 times and was trying to rush me and I didn't go and counted that she shorted me 4 cuc. The next time, she counted the coins on the other side of the glass in piles of 5 and when she pushed it through, I started looking at it and she tried to pass off one pile of 5 coins as $1 cuc and they were actual $0.50 cuc coins. She stammered and said, oh someone put the coins in the wrong slot. However, it's odd that she counted 5 of the $0.50 coins in a pile and didn't notice. So,.... My advice is to count your money and look at each coin before you leave regardless of the line up! Bus trip there and back- good service and drivers. I wasn't overly happy with the resort but for the price, it was decent.

Great resort!

Had a great time at Ocean Casa del Mar. The beach is amazing. Food is typical for Cuba. The hotel and rooms were nice. Grounds were well kept. Pool was great. Overall, a great vacation with not much to complain about.