Vila Gale Cayo Santa Maria: Great escape

Ground, pools, beach were all excellent. Staff was awesome. The only negative was the lack of certain foods but we were already aware of shortcomings across Cuba before we booked. Overall excellent vacation, would go again

Vila Gale Cayo Santa Maria: Wonderful time

Spent last two weeks of March here. The beach is awesome. It is the reason we go to Cuba. The hotel is a nice size, the beach is maybe a five minute walk from any of the buildings. The lobby is big with lots of sitting areas. The rooms are good and spacious and bright. The a la carts were repetitive - same food in the French and Mediterranean. The Cuban was the best. The food at the buffet was iffy, we were just after March break but it was pretty bad even for Cuba. Things did get bet [... read more]ter the second week, but you couldn’t rely on something being there the next day. If I was bringing kids here (or probably anywhere in Cuba) I would bring peanut butter, ketchup, Nutella, crackers, salad dressing, etc.

Vila Gale Cayo Santa Maria: Great Vacation!!!

March 24-31, 2023 Beautiful resort, gorgeous beach, weather was hot and sunny. Ocean front room had amazing view. Check in and out was fast and easy. Transfer to and from resort was good as Air Transit rep was very informative and there was lots to see. Food was better then I thought it would be. Great vacation. Would I go again - ABSOLUTELY!!!

Vila Gale Cayo Santa Maria: beautiful beach

we really enjoyed the resort. grounds are well kept, staff were great. always so kind. Chicho always took care of us and our room. the beach is amazing, snorkel right off the beach, take the hobby cats out for a tour, paddle boats or go for a long walk on the white sand beach with crystal clear water. sting rays, star fish and may other little fish as soon as your toes hit the water. always lots of palapas on the beach. we only went in the pool once. hard to pull yourself away from the be [... read more]ach! we knew going to Cuba that there were food issues, so we packed snacks, ketchup, nutella and vodka. food variety was very limited. most days eggs for breakfast, no pancakes the odd day there was bacon and no milk for coffee or cereal. there was beef at the grill station the first day then none the rest of the week, some days chicken, and everyday pork. no fries, pizza, of hamburgers. so you have to be creative with the pork. very repetitive for lunch and dinner, same thing all week. desserts were very limited to icecream and jello and some very dense cake square. a la carts were very nice atmosphere but went to the steak house and no steak/beef. some entertainment in lobby was very good others no so much and some very loud, too loud for the space. we were in bungalow 3 and was easy access to everything. for a newer resort it could use some touch ups, the first room we were in the toilet ran constantly, the towel bar was barely hanging in front of the sink, and near Buffet #1 there was a room above that water was pouring off the balcony onto the roof, not sure if it was a broken pipe or what but we reported it, it stopped but then pouring out again for a few days. also noticed that bungalow 1, 2, 7, and 8 were not in use, the resort was definitely not to full capacity. the resort definitely has potential. but you have to keep in mind that Cuba is having a hard time getting supplies, the ports are not releasing and what ever resort is at the top of the chain get priority on supplies. please be kind to the staff, if you have any clothes, shoes, toys, anything. please leave for the staff. they are very appreciative for all of it. i would hope in the future Cuba is able to fix some of the supply issues and be able to add to their food variety. if they do i would definitely go back. this was our 6th time to Cuba and 3rd time to Cayo Santa Maria. just can't beat their beaches.

Grand Sirenis Punta Cana Resort: Mixed Feelings.....

For most of the trip, it was great! Huge shout out to our waitress during breakfast and lunch, Rosa Maria! She made us feel welcome and at home! The sun was shining for the full 7 days! Not a drop of rain to be seen! Couldn't have asked for better weather! The food at the resort is also very good, especially the pizza that they offer each day (but could do with some fine tuning as it can be a bit of a mess with ordering. Sometimes the guests would call out each others orders to ensure f [... read more]olks got their pizza). Our room during our stay had a bum AC. They did sent someone quickly to fix it, however did not really work well the entire stay. Maids were very courteous when cleaning our room if we were around. Especially on the last day when we had the DND sign on the door, the maid service called to see if we had wanted them to come clean or drop towels off. I thought that was a nice touch. Stay away from the elevator in building 39. My sister and I were stuck in there and no one came, even though the emergency alarm was sounding. Imagine being trapped with someone who is claustrophobic and has panic attacks, in a 3X3 box that smelled like hundreds of folks excrements as the septic was literally outside the building ….. You can paint your own picture there. I did open the door enough to see we were between floors, and then it did start to lower slowly to the next floor. Again I had to pry the door open as it would not open with the button. This elevator incident was reported to the front desk and to our concierge, no one seemed to care. So people, take the stairs!! Even was "invited" to the VIP breakfast that was better if I brought logo's like MC, Visa, AMEX. Oh, and don't forget ID's. Really?! You just found out that we were stuck in the elevator and you push the VIP breakfast and dangle a free trip in front of our faces. He did however offer us (the ladies) a 35 minute spa that he never followed through on. Kind of disappointed of the fact that we have been to this resort several times, loyalty means nothing :(

Vila Gale Cayo Santa Maria: Beautiful Resort

Amazing place to stay! Employees are very kind! Pool and beach are top tier! Only thing that wasn't at our taste was the food! Every thing else was perfect. We had a great time out here. If you are a foodies person it might be hard for you

Vila Gale Cayo Santa Maria: Horrible Experience

Resort wasnt clean, employees were mostly kind but some were very rude. Food selection was the worst we ever experienced in Cuba. Rooms werent cleaned properly, no clean towels everyday. Alcohol limited in bars and barely any night entertainment. We will not come back to this resort.

Vila Gale Cayo Santa Maria: Beautiful beach and resort, not enough food

Grand Sirenis has a stunning beach with calm water as it is situated in a bay. The resort is new and modern, the staff is friendly and service-oriented. There was a shortage of food and note we are experienced annual travellers to Cuba. We ate mostly pork/ham, cabbage, rice and tomato. I actually didn’t mind it but it became very repetitive. Pasta, bread, cheese, potato, beef and chicken started to show up later in the week. Perhaps the situation was worsened due to the March break crowds [... read more]? It felt like an episode of Walking Dead watching people rush the buffet. If the food supply is improved, I would return. Overall we enjoyed our trip.

Vila Gale Cayo Santa Maria: Resort was nice, Food was scarce

Overall, a great resort in terms of cleanliness, activities, amenities, beaches, etc. Staff were kind and gracious. Food was really scarce and lacked diversity - moreso than usual for a Cuban resort - and it was evident that the resort next door (which we visited on occasion) was not suffering from a similar shortage - so this is definitely an issue that is bigger than the ongoing political embargo against Cuba causing food shortages throughout the country.

Vila Gale Cayo Santa Maria: New resort, poor management

Main issue with resort - luck of food and service in buffet. Cuba in shortage of food - understandable. What is unacceptable: 1) People line up and wait for 15-20 min to enter into buffet 2) Only 2 grill stations open. Huge lines to get grilled beef - about 45 min 3) 45 min takes to get rice or veggie, only few trays with food available NO PASTA, NO BREAD AT DINNER, NO BUTTER, NO CHICKEN, NO CHEESE, NO MILK, NO FISH OR SEAFOOD KIDS HAS ZERO FOOD SELECTION 5 STARS?????

Vila Gale Cayo Santa Maria: Bring what you're going to need. A cheap vacation only

I wish i could write that we thoroughly enjoyed however I can't. Bad stuff first: Bring condiments such as peanut butter, salad dressing, ketchup, also powdered milk for coffee and snacks for the room. Bring toilet paper or flushable wipes. No potatoes, very little chicken, sometimes no bread and butter, no milk. Lots of pork, beef, lunch meats, rice, some veggies. A few fruits. No smoothies. The menu is repetitive and also the same foods at the a la cartes. No privacy in the rooms for family a [... read more]s the bathroom door/shower is frosted glass. The resort is a bit more than an hour and a half from the airport. No snorkeling gear available so bring your own or rent for $10 each. Good stuff: The beach is beautiful as are the grounds. Lots of room at the poolside and on the beach most of the time. The people were lovely and seem to like their jobs.

Vila Gale Cayo Santa Maria: Very limited food at the resort

The resort, beach and pools are great. They staff are amazing. We starved for 7 days at the resort. I have been to Cuba so many times and we know what to expect but this time was a totally different story. Very limited food every day at buffet and al la carte the same menu for all. No fries, pasta, pizza, shrimps, fish, burgers, some days milk and cheese. We paid for a vacation to starve our kids. Unacceptable. We had to leave the resort and buy food to feed our 3 kids.

Vila Gale Cayo Santa Maria: Beautiful resort

The grounds, pools, facilities, entertainment were all great! Our room was spacious with wonderful views. Our bed was extremely comfortable. Room housekeeping was very good. Buffet and Restaurant areas were nicely decorated with ample areas to enjoy a meal. Omelette and stir fry stations were great! Staff were very courteous and helpful when asked for assistance . Beach and its facilities was excellent. Water was beautiful and calm enough to enjoy swimming . On the down side….. variety [... read more] of foods offered could be better but we understand Cubas situation regarding food sources and imports etc. General cleanliness in common areas could have been better…..eg elevators, common washrooms. Wifi service was very erratic. I was rarely able to connect even with new codes. Regardless of these deficiencies we did enjoy our holiday!

Grand Sirenis Riviera Maya: another super vacation

resort and spaSirenishotel is the best hotel we have been and will ontiue to go there.the staf arevery very nice and helpful and happy and loving.The hotel ios always kept in tip top shape. the restaraunts are excellent and the buffets arevery good too.The rooms are all junior suites you do not have to upgrade like other hotels.highly recommended the beeches and pools areexcellent the spa is great and the dolp0inpool is en ntertaing

Grand Sirenis Riviera Maya: Not the same as it use to be :(

This was our fifth time at Grand Sirenis (not that anyone cared). We noticed a lot of differences that were unfortunately not positive. Check in is always a pain -takes a while and they always try to put you in the older suites first (we know not to stay in those from past experience). It’s always a lot of asking to be put in a building we know is better than the others (even though they are all the same cost). The ‘big show’ and kids mini disco (which didn’t happen every night any more) [... read more] were way lower quality than what they have ever been - a lot of lip synching and repetitive dancing. They show an advertisement for the resort on loop for like an hour before, which didn’t happen last year and was boring. There were no Covid protocols but I didn’t expect there to be. This year we would have breakfast by the pool and would not even be acknowledged by a staff member, where last year we would be offered coffee. Numerous times we had to search to get our own cutlery and could often not find plates at the buffet, no matter if we changed the times we went. The staff seemed not very happy, which I understand to a degree (dealing with rude privileged white people has to be annoying) but this was more than that. The grounds weren’t as clean as they use to be, we saw a squished ketchup packet sit in a main walking path for days, floors were dirty ore than they were clean. The bathrooms throughout the resort were always smelly and disgusting, especially by the pools. Perhaps it was just hard to keep up with guests that acted like feral animals (people are gross), but it was a notable difference from past visits. It was just disappointing this time around. It’s the first time we ever skipped a ‘big show’ and the first time we ever talked about not returning and trying somewhere else. I will say, the staff cleaning the seaweed worked their butts off and did a great job. The weather was great.

Grand Sirenis Punta Cana Resort: Disappointing!

Easily 80% of the resort got sick--vomitting and diarhhea. The resort tried to blame it on the "canadians who brought it down" but people were sick the week before march break. Don't know if it was food prep or storage or the water or ice but some think it came from the buffet, some got sick after eating in restaurants. But it was bad. Eveyrone you spoke to had whole parties out for 1-2 days. Aside from that, don't get the family suite with the king bed unless you have little children. Our [... read more] two teenagers couldn't sleep on the pull out because the mattress was so thin the frame of the sofa was digging into their back. We got moved to another room with two doubles the second night but it was by the delivery road. Not great they had a bed to sleep in even though my husband and I were crowded. The hotel offered to move us closer to the beach so we thought, "why not"? But they they lost our luggage and brought someone else's to our room. It took several trips to the front desk before they found it. Frustrating because the switchborad doens't speak English and only select front desk staff speak English. We also found that hardly any servers spoke English and at one point we had to have 4 different people come to the table before someone could answer a simple question. With about 98% of the resort being English speaking guests the hotel should endeavour to teach their staff some of the basics of English. The website info was misleading because some of the activities and events were only for Ultimate Club members, which there seemed to be a big push to join. If you weren't an Ultimate Club member you could do the daily activities but things like the evening beach party were for specific people only. The nightly shows were ok. Same entertainers so it got a big boring after a couple nights. Because of the #of families with young kids the disco was empty and the entertainment in the plaza was poorly attended. The meals were mediocre except for the Japanese restaurant, which was amazing. The Jambalya on beach was also very good. The buffet was extensive but be prepared for kids running all over the place grabbing at everything. Breakfast buffet was good. If you want to get a beach/pool chair plan to be down by 6:30 to claim your spot, especially if you want shade. By 7 or 7:30 everything is gone. People turn in their towels for new ones, take the new ones to their rooms, and go down early to claim a spot. Have never had to do that before and it was crazy. Only our first room had robes and slippers. We never saw them in the other two rooms. The stocked bar is actually a stocked fridge with pop and water and it was hard to get water refills. The bathroom fans in all 3 rooms didn't work and two out of the three rooms had burnt out bulbs, which again, took several calls to the front desk to get replaced. The beach was nice and you could walk for miles. The line up at the beach bar is really long and they were inefficient. The pool bar had faster service and the fresh/healthy bar was really good for non-alcoholic. We heard from people at other hotels that no one got sick so I would say if you have your heart set on this area, choose another hotel. Also, be aware that this is the sunrise side of the island, not the sunset. And the waves were very high and strong so no resort had any water activities going. We did a catamaran tour for snorkelling and a sand bar but it wasn't great and there wasn't much to see. The coral reef was a let down and the sand bar wasn't the one we had friends go to but ours was more just shallow water off the shore. All in all that was a let down and was very unorganized and what should have been 4 hours took up our whole day. That was organized through our westjet rep. I wouldn't go back to this resort and wouldn't recommend it so if you decide to go you take your chances.

Grand Sirenis Punta Cana Resort: Not happy at all

The resort itself is beautiful, a nice setting but unfortunately quite neglected. The check in was horrible. I had paid for a family suite and they wanted to downgrade me. Then they ask were we wanted to stay and then gave us the complete opposite. The room was not prepared properly. we called and went to the front desk 3 times. WE finally got sheets for the children but no mattress. They offered to change the rooms but then decided there was nothing available. There was a constant high pitch [... read more] sound from the thermostat. The bathroom ceiling was leaking. They just came to wipe it but did not fix it. We tried to get a Japanese restaurant reservation, which was impossible. We booked a reservation for the Mediterranean but they cancelled it one hour before since they overbooked it. Then they promised us a beach supper, which they just changed to a mexican restaurent which was so noisy with a band that you had to scream. So, we also left there without eating. The people there were not friendly. The waterslides were partially closed and the ones open, were not the safest. We were looking to a nice family vacation but in all honesty, it was very disappointing.

Vila Gale Cayo Santa Maria: Nice Resort

This Hotel had everything and the beach was spectacular and beautiful and wide and well maintained. Do not expect amazing food in the restaurant, the consequences of Covid are still being felt, the restaurants will have bread one day and no bread the next day, or milk and no milk, etc.... The servers, the bartender and pretty much the whole staff really try and do their best, they have major restrictions in their everyday lives by the system imposed but they do well with hotel clients. Cuba i [... read more]s a beautiful country and has beautiful people.

Vila Gale Cayo Santa Maria: Very large and beautiful resort.

Very large and beautiful resort. The room was modern and beds were comfortable. The shower is open to the room so it is a little tricky for privacy. The towels were not changed during our stay but we could exchange our beach towels daily. We requested 2 extra body pillows via a note in our room and we got them on the same day. The beach was very clean and spacious. No chair reservations needed. Shaded gazebos were being constructed by skilled workers with palm trees and leaves... simply a [... read more]mazing to see them work! The 2 pools were clean... one to party and one to relax in. Shaded areas are few and far between. The food was not so bad but very repititious. Same food almost every day. There are food shortages so no expectatioms means no disappointment. Bring condiments like ketchup, mustard, peanut butter, granolas and snacks. The À la carte restaurants were very tasty and the waiters were eager to please. If small.group, it is easy to find a spot even witout a reservation. Our favorite was the Cuban food... the tostones... delicious!! Wine, beer and rhum galore... If you are looking for something more refined, bring your own. The lounge wait staff and entertainers were just fabulous. The 3-hour Wifi was good in our room and the pool but unavailable at the beach. Quick tip: Be nice to the reception staff, 1$ tip goes a long way... we got unlimited access for 4 days. If you want to bring a few things for staff, they are very appreciative... shoes, medication, clothes. You can tip in Canadian coins and then buy them back in exchange for bills. No need for cuban pesos or US$. Good $ for value. If you are looking for a party place this is not for you.

Grand Sirenis Riviera Maya: Great Resort

From the food to the staff to the grounds it was great. No complaints other than it is very large. The gym was quite a distance from main resort as well as some other activities. If the beach is important to you this may not be the resort for you as it is not large , rocky bottom and alot of seaweed. It is about a 2 hour bus ride from airport.