Hotel Roc Casa del Mar: Bad resort

This resort is in terrible shape for a 3 year old, the furnishings in the lobby are stained and worn, smell of sewage esp. in building 3 which we were in, lack of food, bread, meats, fries, bananas, etc.,beach grill serving uncooked chicken, ceiling in main buffet restaurant ready to come down with water stains, no exhaust for cooking major smell of grease and smoke in dining area must eat outside. This resort should not be sold or recommended by travel agents. More work should be done to class  [... read more]a resort as a 4+, obvious it is a bad 3. Too big for Cuba. No one cleaning beach area, cups everywhere and garbage not emptied regular.

Hotel Roc Casa del Mar: Ocean Casa Del Mar - Santa Maria

The hotel was decent, but the food was lacking. The ala carte restaurants did not have most of the items on the menu as they claimed they had run out and the buffet lacked basic items like pizza (which is a staple in most resorts). Besides that the beaches were beautiful and so are the people.

Valentin Perla Blanca: Perfect March Break Vacation!!

Lets just start with the fact that the white sand beaches and weather were perfect. The ocean was crystal clear and warm and could not have been better. The hotel was clean and spacious and the staff were fantastic. Our room was located on the third floor with an ocean view and we spent many mornings and evenings with a coffee or glass of wine enjoying the view. Although the house wine is included, we found a great selection of premium wines could be purchased at the different a la carte restau [... read more]rants for a small fee(10-30 pesos) which made our dining experience that much better. The one complaint that always seems to stick with Cuba is the food but we found this resort has excellent top notch food with lots of selections and minimal wait times on getting the grilled meat selections. This was our second time to Cuba and would highly recommend this resort.

Hotel Roc Casa del Mar: Amazing resort

I will start with the good. Clean rooms Clean grounds.(the only mess was made by the guests and was cleaned up the next day) Beer and water was restocked in the room daily(leaving a tip in the fridge helped get extra) The staff was friendly and helpful and most spoke fairly good english. They let you refill the water bottles with water or juice at the bars. Activities staff tried to get everybody active at the pool. The beach was clean. The bad Food at the buffet was cold and repetitive [... read more]. The 2 hour bus ride was a little long though they do stop halfway for a smoke and bathroom break.

Dhawa Cayo Santa Maria: Everything but the food.

We very much enjoyed our stay at Dhawa. The beach is amazing, the pools are large and clean, the rooms are comfortable a good size and have an amazing shower with great water pressure. Mattresses are very comfortable too. The staff were very friendly and helpful. Check in is long and tedious. They only ever have 2 people at the front desk. Wifi is excellent and it works in your room as well as throughout the hotel. The bad: if you are vegetarian your food options will be quite limited as you wi [... read more]ll only be able to eat at the buffet. The options at the buffet are hit and miss. Under cooked fish and over cooked beef and pork. Cheese platters had some mouldy cheese on a regular basis. Lots of cross contamination in the food prep stations. Be careful if you have food allergies. Overall everything but the food was great.

Playa Cayo Santa Maria: Great vacation

The beach is amazing, the catamaran trip was fabulous. The food is very good and the coffee bar was really something to look forward to every morning We really appreciated Jack Gentile’s help from Trip Central to put it all together. He reminded us to get our ocean view, that we were return visitors which got us extra perks and got us the best flights Hope everyone enjoys Playa as much as we did

Hotel Roc Casa del Mar: Nice resort

Resort is fairly new, room was clean and everything worked (ie: shower, a/c). Food shortages at the a la carte restaurants (Lemoncello and Neptuno) and at the snack bars. Beach was beautiful and the grounds were well maintained. Coffee place was excellent.

Hotel Roc Casa del Mar: Could be better ...

Just spent a week at the Ocean Casa Del Mar (March 7-14). Wasn’t expecting anything extraordinary considering all the bad reviews I had read after booking. Some of the reviews were right and this hotel is suffering. It was badly damaged with the hurricane in 2017 and they patched it up some, but the wear and tear is showing. There’s very few palm trees and mature vegetation on the grounds, so it makes it feel a lot like a compound with cold concrete rectangular buildings. The beach is gorgeo [... read more]us and the east side of the beach is completely coral free. The west side is a little more bumby and has coral upon entry, so good for snorkeling. We took a hobby cat ride with Danny who was quite informative about all the resorts on Santa Maria as he has worked at many of them. We were in building 14 in the mostly quiet part of the resort as it is farther away from the lobby area but close to both the quiet pool and the beach. There is 2 parts to this resort: the animated part and the quiet part. We didn’t care for animation, so remained on the west part. The pool water is quite chilly but it is cleaned everyday. We found the staff to be very friendly and accommodating- give a smile and get one back! Didn’t feel the obligation to tip and didn’t feel like tips were expected either. But we tipped upon good service anyway. The rooms are ok. We had a regular room with a partial ocean view. Beds are quite uncomfortable and you only get one flat pillow per person. Heard a lot of people had issues with leaking toilets or leaking AC, but we were fine. Mini fridge is restocked daily with a big bottle of water and beer/pop upon consumption. Cleaning was done daily, although they didn’t change the sheets all week, so by the end of the week, the sheets smelled moldy because of the humidity, which was unpleasant. We weren’t able to get our beach towels changed more than once during the week, and we were the lucky ones! The kiosk is always closed or if it is opened, they don’t have clean towels. We just happen to pass by when the towel buggy came and switched out our towels. By the end of the week, our towels were pretty gross. The walls of the room were dirty and the bathroom needs a good coat of fresh paint and mildew remover in the shower. Although you don’t spend a lot of time in the room, you still want to feel clean and it didn’t. Now for the food... we know that we can’t expect to eat well in Cuba, but this was beyond anything I have experienced in my 5 times in Cuba. There is a serious shortage of food on the island because of the embargo and it shows. They keep on building resorts on Cayo Santa Maria but they can’t provide for all of them properly. I’ve never eaten so much rice and chicken in my life, because that is all I could find that was palatable. There is a redondance everyday at the buffet. Very few fresh fruits (guava, papaya andsome days we had pineapple and watermelon) the food is sadly just really bad. The buffet is disorganized and crowded, doesn’t accommodate all the guest at the resort during meal hours. The à la carte weren’t much better. And you have to wait in line for an hour (not an exaggeration) to get 3 dinner reservations at a time. I later found out from our tour operator that there is a serious shortage of food in Cuba and Cubans are on ratios of food so that the tourists can be fed adequately. So they can’t eat beef (other than pregnant women, children, the sick and elderly) and chicken and potatoes are available on ratio only. There is a sortage of flour on the island, so some resorts lacked of bread and pasta, but it didn’t seem to affect us. Made me feel bad to know that I could eat while Cubans aren’t allowed to. So this will be our last trip to Cuba. It made us feel like we were in a third world country stealing away from their people.

Playa Cayo Santa Maria: Go elsewhere

Firstly, I take everything with a grain of salt when it comes to reviews, and I think sometimes people are overreacting. Normally I wouldn’t even bother with a review, but I want people to save their money. So here are the major deal breakers I feel need to be brought forward. There were definitely more events that added to the pile, but here are the top ones. Firstly, I got severe food poisoning on this holiday after eating at an a la carte (romantico). I am still recovering after getting hom [... read more]e. Next, I watched a server who was slicing some cheese, hand a woman her order using her fingers. Then the handler licked her fingers clean, and cut my slice and put it on my plate with the exact same fingers she had just licked. I’m not picky, but that’s absolutely disgusting. A strangers saliva all over my food? I don’t think it’s unfair to expect your food is being handled properly. I did not eat the cheese. So the next day when I requested utensils to handle some food, I was told to use my hands. To which I refused. The woman seemed highly annoyed at me as she retrieved some tongs for me to use. Perhaps I know why I received food posioning if this is how the food was being handled. Next, my friend had her jacket stolen. We went to customer service to see if they had a lost and found. The woman working there basically yelled at us and told us she was not responsible for things when they go missing. So that was a waste of time. No one seemed to care that I had gotten sick, or that my friend was simply seeking a lost and found to see if her jacket had been turned in. The beach is lovely. The drinks are cold, but I would NOT recommend this hotel. I wish I could go back and book again and go somewhere else. It was pretty disappointing. Trip advisor has great reviews, and the hotel had been booked a lot and people seem to love it. I do not know how, or why, it’s so highly ranked. I would not encourage anyone to go there.

Playa Cayo Santa Maria: NOT A 4 STAR

POOLAREA WAS NEVER CLEANED IN 10 DAYS I WAS THERE LOUNGECHAIRS ARE DISGUSTING RUN OUT OF JAM AND SALADDRESSING ON 2ND DAY WAS SICK FOR 4 DAYS FROM SOME FOOD THIS HOTEL IS RUN DOWN,LOOKS LIKE NOBODY CARES ANYMORE

Melia Cayo Santa Maria: Beautiful resort!

First time to Cuba and we loved it! The weather, grounds, beach, weather was just amazing!! The food was ok meaning you’ll never starve but you can’t compare it to Mexico as this is a communist Country and what they import is limited....Capuccino’s at lobby and snack bar were delicious! Beach Grill was good.....Entertainment was hit and miss but enjoyed violinist every night...!

Hotel Roc Casa del Mar: Beautiful resort!

The resort was beautiful with well kept manicured lawns and and many pools. There was no shortage of daily and nightly entertainment. Unfortunately, there were a few things lacking late start with the buffet with the same foods every single day. There were a few a la carte restaurants we tried but the common theme was half the items listed on the menu were unavailable. Neptuno was the best of all we tried. Dont even bother going to limoncello. The staff hands down made the stay enjoyable but co [... read more]nsidering all the $ spent Ocean needs to do better!

Playa Cayo Santa Maria: Great resort - we will go back

The resort was beautiful. The grounds were immaculate and the 4 pools have enough chairs with shade for everyone. All the public washrooms were kept clean and the snack bar had a decent selection of foods The best part is the beautiful beach with it’s white sand and turquoise water!!! The only suggestion for improvement is to add more seating to the lobby bar - it got very crowded in the evening

Melia Las Dunas: Great beach

sprawling well maintained property,no mosquitos garden staff does an excellent job and are very helpful with directions . Please remember to also tip them.My room had a very well designed bathroom and was well cleaned. The maid was exceedingly efficient .A fresh cost of paint is very much needed to compliment the room and complete the total resort ambiance . The beach is the best and one will be surprised how far one can wade into the ocean and still stand up. Good for non swimmers . Bars and R [... read more]estos on the beach are great .Getting a beach chair even at busy spring break was not a problem. Great job by the beach attendants. Wifi service worked very well. Take time to read the terms of usage from first log on .Bar staff and bar entertainment was great. My disappointment started with the food .The buffet does have a few good offerings . No one will starve however most all of the food was very bland no dpi you sauces available salt and pepper shakers needed to be unblocked and refilled,rice was at most times very salty as echoed by a few ppl with whom I chatted. I observed that leftover of one offering was dumped into the other container and would magically appear the next day as a choice. A microwave or warming station should be set up for those of us who like their food hot.would accommodate that preference after having to wait in long lines and walk to the table. Getting a hot cup of water was a struggle . Spoons don't seem to exist as part of the table setup .The waiter's serving area for juice or coffee needs a good cleaning .dirty walls from poring spills. After 3 days the food is monotonous and some not as fresh. Salad bar was always surprisingly great .Desserts were just good period.,lots of the usual choices with some surprises.Some recycled fruit,didn't. Always look fresh .plenty of different meats from the chef prepared stations, Fish also but sometimes very salty. The best tasting food was from the oriental resto. Italian resto pizza was cold burnt service very poor .The 90 mins drive from the airport is a bit much but the coach was comfortable and the driver was careful . The Air transat rep on the return leg was very detailed about the different sights along the way and I got a better understanding of the way of life in Cuba , Made me kinda sad, Honestly,if you don't mind paying a lot of money to be dropped unto an island with a great beach ,this hotel is for you . Did I feel safe? YES. Would I go there again? NO. Glad for the experience .

Playa Luxury Cayo Las Brujas: Amazing resort -- ((( understated )))

Just returned from Angsana Cayo Santa Maria. New resort opened Dec 2018. This is an (( Adult only resort )) thinking max rooms at 300, so not big. This is fine, because the staff can easily service the guests, which they did, and they bend over backwards to help. Always with a smile. This includes all levels of the staff , from the groundskeeper , maid , servers etc. First impression is AWESOME -- off the bus, and you look into the lobby and look straight through to the ocean. Fabulous backdrop [... read more], " GOTCHA" comes to mind! Food. -- Buffet restaurant is out of this world, variety on a daily basis is amazing, changes daily, never the same. Something for everyone's taste palate! Only knock and this is a very minor knock -- not that many choices of fruit (( after all this is Cuba and they can only offer what they grow )) and cakes etc are not too diversified either. (( again not a big deal )) --- ice cream good selection daily. 2 a la carts -- Asian (( great )) , Seafood - this was my only disappointment -- menu was great, just served cold, other guest who ordered the same as me said was hot, tasty and great the seafood resturant is close to the beach and is open for lunch as a mini-buffet and big huge nice SURPRISE -- has a huge outdoor BBG GRILL. - everything is great -- selections again are amazing - pork, beef, lamb, fish, chicken, chicken wings, potatoes, pineapple and other grilled veggies --- great -they also have a Snack bar, that has a full menu and is open 24 hours, great scenery and lots of tables 2 beaches -- one big with a bar and servers right on the beach --- GREAT -- the second is much smaller, gives you a sense of privacy , also with server -- and entertainment by various birds diving for fish. -- both beaches have lifeguards, 2 types of loungers, awesome view of the sunset from the smaller beach, you have wade out about 100 yards. room is good, shower has window opening (shuttered ) so you have an outside view through the room -- personally I thought this was a fabulous touch. -Wifi is free , each guest is assigned time totaling a hour - there are 2 bars that provide enterainment, one by the major pool and an enclosed Jazz Bar, with a piano player --- both are awesome -this resort is services by all the regular carriers - Air Transat, Sunwing, Holasun and Air Canada - at the time of my visit they are restricting guest to 70% occupancy , I met with Senior management and the reason is to iron out the kinks. - make sure to take bug spray - the mosquito's are deadly. the sort sends a truck with a bug sprayer around at 7 am and 7 pm- works well -Cayo Santa Maria is populated by 19 different resorts and they all offer the same excursions - they more you want to do the more it will cost. -from my perspective I am a 70 year old man, 2 excursions were good for me, I loved the laid back atmosphere - we had one incident with about 4 female guests being loud and abominable. hotel management dealt with the problem. they sent these women back to their rooms to sober up. during my 12 day stay this was the only incident! - everything about this resort is fabulous --- I met numerous people either on the beach and during my excursions from HUGE 1000 room family resorts. one family was starving,, the buffet ran out early and had huge lineups -- they ended up forcing themselves into the a-la carte's and fighting with resort management daily. there are number of HUGE resorts on this island ----- they CAN NOT handle the number of guests- I met a Dutch lady who went to the last resort on the island, the walkways were so in need of repair that they were dangerous. there is a 2 Peso bus that connects all the resorts, and provides a mini tour, and will transport you to 3 different Flea Market type Plaza's. - this is worth the tour because you get to see all the resorts. so simple to see which ones are run down- a five year old could figure it out. - basically if its 7 to 10 old resort --- STAY AWAY!!!! you can see the state of disrepair - if you can , do not chose the HUGE resorts. they can have as many as 4000 guests, so noticeable --- their beach's are crowded, both on the beach and in the water.

Melia Las Dunas: Good resort

Beautiful beaches but very hard to find beach chairs because people put towels to save them and we had to wake up at 5:30 am to reserve couple if lucky to find any. Same thing for the pool. I had a nice room but my brothers room was moldy and smelled very bad, also they had big black cockroaches. The rooms always clean thanks to Carlito. The best thing on this resort is ENTERTAIMENT and the worst think is not having beach towel change for 10 days that i stayed in. Thank god i got thin towels f [... read more]rom home so washed them. Overall we had fun I will recommend this hotel to friends but also give them tips how to be prepared

Melia Las Dunas: Another unforgettable time in Melia Las Dunas

Returning guests to the Melia. Clean resort, friendliest staff (shoutout to Alia and Andry at the Family pool!). Food was short this year, lack of pizza at the snack bar. Everything else was amazing. Miss the sports bar already! I would definitely return.

Hotel Roc Casa del Mar: ENJOYABLE

This was my first time in Cuba. I loved the resort and the employees there were amazing. For me the food was fine. My companions on the other hand are more discerning. My favorite spot at the resort was MIKES COFFE BAR open 24 hours. The only complaints I had were the mattresses were rock hard (we changed rooms) and it was the same. They could easily fix this by adding foam mattress tops to all the beds. The only other complaint we had was signing up for the specialty restaurants which yo [... read more]u need to do in advance and then finding the menu changed when you get there. Would I go back. Yes in a heart beat.

Playa Luxury Cayo Las Brujas: OK resort for 3.5-4 Star

The hotel is OK for a max of 4 star but no more than that. I’ve been in Cuba more than 20 times, two times at this resort and one time at the sister hotel Dhawa. First time at Angsana in December last year was much, much better, but it looks like there is very hard to maintain it at that level. Drinks and food variety went down. We were lucky and we knew our way around and always asked to bring more fish from the kitchen. White wine was not available for few days in the restaurants, same wit [... read more]h champagne. The beach is OK and well maintained but going into the water is a problem for non-swimmers, there are rooks everywhere. Snorkeling is good around the hotel. Outside facilities are very well maintained but inside they started to worn down. I was surprised to see the damage and low level of housekeeping services in less than two months. It looks that the hotel was built with cheap materials. The A/C did not work properly. I was not able to bring the temperature below 22,5C. Hot water not available at least three days at peak hrs. At check I was told that my room is not ready. I had to wait few hrs even if the hotel was only half-full. It never happened to me in Cuba. They have two restaurants a la carte, one Asian and the second with seafood. I was not able to book at the seafood. It was always full, so I went to the Asian three times. Thanks to Rogelio who made our dinners worthwhile. The snack bar was the only one that maintained the December level. Thanks to everyone for the hard work. Beach bar services were very good except the drinks selection. Very modern architecture, location, swimming pool but this is not enough for a perfect vacation After the first visit in December, I recommended the hotel to all my friends. 10 of them joined me during the second visit and all of them were disappointed. I felt bad for not being able to meet their expectation for a perfect vacation. Very modern architecture and position but this is not enough to have a perfect vacation. I do not think I would go back again to Angsana except maybe to visit some friends.

Playa Luxury Cayo Las Brujas: Love the resort and our 11 day stay!

We just returned from our 11 day vacation from Angsana and love it. The property is absolutely beautiful. The staff was even better. We were pleasantly surprised that we really liked the food as well. This was our 5th visit to Cuba and this resort was in the top 2 that we liked best. The snorkeling right in front of the resort was amazing and a huge bonus. This is the smallest resort we have stayed at so I was a little worried we would get board but that was not the case. Always something [... read more] to do. Entertainment was good too. Would definitely recommend this resort.