Sanctuary at Grand Memories Santa Maria: Great Value
Clean bright rooms, courteous staff and mostly well maintained grounds. (Post Irma considered)
Public toilets were always an exception as it seemed there was a stall or urinal out of service in every public washroom.
Although I was staying in a newly renovated bungalow, updates are an ongoing procedure. Some, while clean, are older wiith somewhat stale decor and others are closed for renovation.
All in all my experience was terrific and with all of the updates I only imagine it getting bette[... read more]r.
Location
Value
Food
Beach
Rooms
Service
Helpful?
Report
Rene -
Verified Purchaser
Memories Caribe Beach Resort: Nice place
Nice place there is a lot of effort to restore the resort.
For the right price I would go back. I got ill on the second last day and my daughter thought it was the fish
Our room had no air conditioning so they moved us and the second room was not much better and we had a issue with bugs
The beach was amazing we had long walks , the food was good and there was lots of variety
Location
Value
Food
Beach
Rooms
Service
Helpful?
Report
Alba -
Verified Purchaser
Sol Turquesa Beach: Very nice resort!
Lots of place to lounge around and enjoy the more than one pools,very spacious lobby,and a variety of different coffee bars and rest areas.the theatre shows were very entertaining.the animators kept everyone singing and dancing to the music.
Location
Value
Food
Beach
Rooms
Service
Helpful?
Report
Private -
Verified Purchaser
Memories Caribe Beach Resort: Quiet Resort
The resort was popular among seniors, but going as young single females it was not the party scene we were looking for. Bars close at 11pm, and there is no disco even though the map and web site says it does. Alot of reconstruction and renovations due to the hurricane. Good points were the staff, they were extremely friendly and helpful. The beach was absolutely stunning and warm. It's a good resort for a quiet vacation but for those looking for a party, warn you to go elsewhere.
Sanctuary at Grand Memories Santa Maria: Nice Place to stay!
Sanctuary at Grand Memories Santa Maria
We visited the resort for 7 days January 18-25. The flight with from Halifax with Sunwing was good and on time both ways, we did upgrade to Elite Plus and used the VIP lounge on our return trip, both worth the extra cost. The bus ride to the resort was 1 ½ hours but quite enjoyable as we did get to see a lot of the countryside, think of it as a free excursion.
When we arrived at the resort we were whisked off to the Sanctuary Lobby where we allocate[... read more]d a room. We did request a top floor room with some kind of a view when booking, what we got was a ground floor room on the backside of the building with a view of nothing much but a dirt pile and a few bushes. We did mention this to our “Butler†he sort of shrugged his shoulders and did little more about it other than say we would have to talk to reception. I did talk to the receptionist and she said it was all that was available and had no record of our request. We spent night one in the room, next morning……. no hot water and the closet door fell off ïŠ.
At the orientation meeting I talked to the Sunwing rep and explained what was going on, and found out that I had paid for a better class of room than we were allocated, he got the ball rolling and we were moved to a deluxe room (which is what was on our contract) in a nice building (58) with a superb view. Things Improved greatly from there on.
After the move we had two great Butlers, Sergio and Jordi, they would book our ala carte meals and would try make things right or help if you had any problems. Our maid, Yanis, did an impeccable job of keeping our room clean and the beer, pop and water guy was reliable too.
Food: As for the food, you are not going to starve! The food is typical Cuban resort food, some excellent some is awful. Generally you can’t go wrong with breakfast, there is always some alternative to the buffet for lunch, such as the beach grill at the Sanctuary, the best sandwiches on the resort, and other BBQ’s in the other sections and if you don’t like your ala carte meal leave and go to the buffet. The drinks were really good all over the resort anything we wanted they seemed to have and it wasn’t the cheap stuff!
The beach is fantastic, the pools were well maintained, the grounds are coming along nicely, they are putting a lot of hard work into the recovery from Irma and it shows, and in fact the guests probably would not realize that they had such a storm other than a few damaged trees.
Overall it is a good resort and it’s best assets are the “people on the groundâ€, the maids, gardeners, waiters and all the other manual workers, these are the guys that make it all work.
Location
Value
Food
Beach
Rooms
Service
Helpful?
Report
Private -
Verified Purchaser
Royalton Splash Punta Cana: Loved it!
All around fantastic for families. A great mix of everything for all ages. Especially loved the service and great attitude of staff. Shout out to Edwin for his amazing service. Pool was beautiful. Great walk to beach with peacocks!! Coffee shop top notch. Club house staff were so awesome. Loved it all. Will def go back and recommend to others.
Our stay at this hotel was amazing. We did have a few minor problems with our room when we arrived but once that was sorted out it was awesome. The staff were great and so much fun. The family gathered there from across Canada, we celebrated a birthday all while having a great time. If only they had a direct line to the sun :) I would certainly go back.
Location
Value
Food
Beach
Rooms
Service
Helpful?
Report
Private -
Verified Purchaser
Memories Flamenco Beach Resort: Surprisingly okay after hurricane
First let me say cuba had a hurricane hit only 3 months ago. They have done remarkable things to get open so quickly.
It was a typical Cuban vacation on the most part. Cuba always does things 90 percent when it comes to construction. Paint slopped over and grout not perfect etc but that just what makes cuba.
This resort had alot of water issues sometimes water pressure sometimes hot water. But they just had a hurricane pass and are trying to fix it as problems arise. It's not perfect but w[... read more]e always had a shower. The buildings may have issues in the future with mold due to quick work to fix things.
The washrooms needed severe help. Constant needed cleaning as people kept flushing paper and other products down the toilet clogging them and backing up.
The bright side food choices were good and never went hungry. The staff are always amazing and helpful with knowledge about the city of moron.
However everyone i know had diarrhea for several or more days. Not full on sick and throwing up from water but diarrhea.
I had An enjoyable vacation for the most part
Location
Value
Food
Beach
Rooms
Service
Helpful?
Report
Corrielou -
Verified Purchaser
Royalton Splash Punta Cana: Great family holiday
Pleasantly surprised. Rooms were clean (beds were very hard and pillows were awful). Buffet was pretty typical for all-inclusive. A la carte restaurants were excellent. Love not having to make reservations. The waterpark was great however they are VERY strict on height and my daughter was at the cutoff point for the large and small slides. Pools were clean. Music around pool was too loud (no need for it to be that loud and I’m no prude when it comes to loud music). Not enough umbrellaâ[... read more]€™s around the pool. As a parent I like my kids to have a bit of shade to escape the sun for a few moments. Beans cafe was our daily stop loved it. Kids club was amazing. Best kids club we have been to by far. The beach at Royalton was beautiful lots of lou ge chairs. The little trolly that goes around resort comes frequently (those who complain about wait times clearly aren’t enjoying the relaxing lifestyle while in vacation). Walk to Royalton is only a couple minutes and you will see some wildlife along the way. The only thing I would change would be to upgrade to a suite next time.
Location
Value
Food
Beach
Rooms
Service
Helpful?
Report
Private -
Verified Purchaser
Sol Turquesa Beach: JAN 21 TO JAN 29, 2018
The hotel offers you a welcome drink as soon you check in. The hotel employs people to play piano, voilin, etc. in the lobby. The waiters/waitress constantly ask if you would like a drink or anything. Bank is also by the reception and it's opened till 8 p.m. Very nice, clean & most of the staff were very friendly and helpful. The room we stayed in were good. The room was spacious and clean including the balcony. The hotel had quite a few pools at least 5. They were always packed and c[... read more]ould see staff cleaning/mopping especially after the rain. The beach was clean and they had staff monitoring the place till 5 p.m. and the bars were within walking distance. The hotel also offers quite a few choices of restaurants such as buffet, a la carte restaurants and snack bar that's opened 24 hours so there's of plenty of choices where food was concerned. There's also some free excursions organized by the Hotel.
Location
Value
Food
Beach
Rooms
Service
Helpful?
Report
Joe60 -
Verified Purchaser
Memories Caribe Beach Resort: Good value for money
The resort itself is quite nice even though they are recovering from a hurricane.
I recommend this resort only if you get an renovated room.
Do not get 3401 (Al Fresco suite). The patio door does not lock, the mattress is filthy from being dragged around after the hurricane.
Block 18 seems to be renovated.
Beans cafe by the pool is fantastic. The pizza shack by the beach is also very good.
24 hr snack bar by the pool also has pizza and really good grilled ham and cheese sandwiches.
[... read more]
A la carte restaurants (only 2 were open) Aegea was not very good. Nagago was the best of the two although portions were very small. Went to the buffet after dinner.
The buffet was fine, it was a bit boring when we first arrived but was getting better as the week went on.
The best part of the resort is definitely the beach. There are only two hotels on this strip. You can walk for ever when you go to the right of the hotel it's about 4.5 km to next hotels and you can walk way past those as well. Many sand banks where you can park yourself and have your own little island.
Location
Value
Food
Beach
Rooms
Service
Helpful?
Report
Vance -
Verified Purchaser
Sol Turquesa Beach: Great Time in Cuba!!
We really enjoyed our time meeting others and the Cuban people! The atmosphere at Memories is very family orientated with lots to do! Some things that need improvement would be the uncomfortable beds, weak internet, running out of popular food and the carts driving on the walking paths. Otherwise it’s a family friendly resort with a rustic feel.
Location
Value
Food
Beach
Rooms
Service
Helpful?
Report
Private -
Verified Purchaser
Memories Caribe Beach Resort: Post Irma - pleasantly surprised !
First of all, greetings to the friendly, outgoing poolside bar staff, to Julio and every server working days and evenings. Every morning, we picked up or got "hand-delivered from the pool counter to our breakfast table" fresh cappuccinos - artistically decorated with palm trees or hearts or cursive script!
And our thanks to John and the front desk staff!! They were very friendly and professional in dealing with our request to change rooms. We moved from an older unit to a quiet, private, r[... read more]enovated "european-style" room with a great....no, the BEST view of the ocean (Bldg 24-16).
The grounds and quite a of the unit buildings were evidently still undergoing work in the recovery process after the storms. The landscaping in parts was still very rough. But many beautiful palm trees on the property.
Mosquitos....especially 4pm thru the evening. No-se'ems worse...many swollen welts! Thank heavens for salt water! Wear bug spray and keep re-applying after swimming....I had a strong reaction to the bites and they took forever to heal...and I live in northern bug country...different species - ouch!
The food in the main building, the pasta bar and the grill to order had a nice variety! (waiting in line was tedious). The beach area, the sand bar stretching across the entire bay (wow - great water walks!) the free time on the hobie cats, beach grills, all very amenable!
The service in the a la carte restaurants good, the food - not our favorite . The pool, not our favorite - cold...and shallow, so people who went in just stood around...If you are a swimmer, stick to the ocean.
Recommendations to the Resort: FOOT SHOWERS on the walkways at the beach. BILLIARDS or PINGPONG TABLES or SHUFFLEBOARD...We don't all enjoy beach volleyball...
Recommendation re: airport: Upstairs, main lounge :NO communication re: gates/flight numbers...announcements not audible, not understandable...when you have three planes, including two Sunwings waiting and two gates emptying, it is really funny(not so much) when you board and the flight crew immediately tells you where the plane is going and to GET OFF if you are on the plane. heading to the wrong destination. Please add electronic info boards upstairs and perhaps an informed attendant at the gate who knows what plane has been called...
Loved Cayo Coco. Enjoyed a resort with NO children. Enjoyed the proximity of the resorts to the airport.
Happy holidays!
Location
Value
Food
Beach
Rooms
Service
Helpful?
Report
Morritt67 -
Verified Purchaser
Memories Caribe Beach Resort: Beautiful beach
This was our 4th time at this resort and we always come back for the beautiful, unspoiled beach. We love the white sand, turquoise water and being able to see living creatures of all sorts without being accosted by sales people. During our walks on the beach it was apparent that this is one of the best beaches in the area. It does not have the lava rock prevalent at other resorts.
Hurricane Irma did quite a bit of damage to the foliage and grass around the resort but the landscaping crew is [... read more]very busy replanting what was lost. The beach at the resort is much the same but area around is a bit different. Usually we are able to walk to a section where the big conch's and sea urchins reside but we were unable to find them this time. We did find three sea stars about 8 inches across but didn't see any of the small black ones usually found on the sand bar. We had no problems finding the flat sand dollars and the 4 inch domed shaped ones but didn't see the variety of fish we usually see or the stingray's.
Our room was beautifully updated and the King size bed and bedding was very comfortable in addition to being fresh and clean. There were a lot of additional amenities in our room as well although ground coffee was not provided with the coffee machine this time.
I want to give some attention to the food because so much bad has been said about Cuban food being bland. There have been some changes...some good, some not so good. I am a foodie-I love great tasting, authentic food including various fresh vegetables and meats. I am not really into fill-up food like battered meats, pasta and rice dishes with little else in them, fluffy white Wonder bread or processed meats.
In the past, there wasn't really very much to offer unless you lined up for the freshly cooked fish or meat, and made a salad out of the pretty raw vegetable decorations. This time there was always a selection of raw vegetables including cucumbers, tomatoes, cabbage and bok choy sliced thin as if it was lettuce. Their salad dressings left a lot to be desired but cold-pressed olive oil, balsamic vinegar and other condiments including hot sauce were always available. There was also a variety of hot peppers, olives, cheeses and cold cuts that could add zest to anything. In the morning you could line up for anemic looking, thin pancakes (quite yucky) or eggs-any way you liked, including an omelet. (Whatever happened to the waffles??? They really were good!) They used to have an amazing bread bar with authentic artisan breads but now it's mostly the baked, frozen bread products you find in supermarkets. The odd time they have authentic Calabrese or Italian bread. (On a positive note, the new toasters actually work!) If you need peanut butter you will have to bring your own. Mostly I avoided the actual hot buffet because the meat there was overcooked and dry, and the other selections seemed to be a way to use up leftovers. The exception was the fajitas dishes, anything containing potatoe pieces and whatever they were actually carving at the head of the buffet. (NOTE: The carver doesn't always know HOW to carve). When it was pork, it was quite delicious. Beef is ALWAYS tough. Fish will contain bones. Turkey is quite nice if you didn't get an overcooked portion-try for thigh. Summary: Scout the entire buffet first. Use your imagination to create yummy dishes with whatever is available. You will always be able to get some decent, great tasting food.
We met some wonderful Cuban people who go out of their way to please whether tips are given or not. We missed Solomon (the flamingo others called Roberto), and the peacocks. Also, the weather wasn't the greatest this year..it was cold and windy and so we mostly hung out at the pool....but....WE WILL BE BACK!
Location
Value
Food
Beach
Rooms
Service
Helpful?
Report
Private -
Verified Purchaser
Memories Jibacoa: Great Experience. Very nice resort
On arrival I wondered if I had made a poor choice in resorts. The room was not at all fancy, and the beach area was partly rocky, and not like I see on some of the beaches in other resorts. The shower was not working when I arrived and the room safe was not usable. Having said that, the room was quite adequate for my needs, traveling alone, and the shower was repaired in quick response. The staff all through the resort were amazing, and there was always something happening for the entertainm[... read more]ent of the guests. There are several excursions to choose from off site, and they were very interesting for me. The food was excellent and abundant. All the common areas inside and outside on the resort were very clean and nicely kept. This was a very nice experience for me, and I enjoyed my vacation time very much.
Location
Value
Food
Beach
Rooms
Service
Helpful?
Report
Private -
Verified Purchaser
Memories Caribe Beach Resort: A wonderful stay!
We had a wonderful time at this resort, and found the staff to be very attentive and friendly. We've heard many people complain about the food in Cuba, but quite honestly we love it. Five times in Cuba now, at different resorts, and have never been disappointed. The only exception this trip was one a la carte dinner where the food was over the top salty. No biggie, as all of the other meals were great.
We upgraded to the Diamond Club and had a bungalow room. Some rough edges (to be expected in[... read more] Cuba), but no real complaints. The indoor shower was weak, but the outdoor shower was awesome... so, outdoor showers every day! The room was well kept by our maid and very spacious.
The beach was fantastic, aside from a fair bit of wind and some cold water on the first couple days of our trip (the weather started a bit off, but got better). Beach service was excellent, and crews cleaned up washed up seaweed and debris early each morning.
Bar services were good, although it was sometimes challenging to find a seat in the Piano Bar area. Night time entertainment was hit and miss, but overall enjoyable.
It was tough leaving on our last day as we had met some great people (staff and guests) and were really enjoying ourselves there. I would be most happy to go back there one day.
Location
Value
Food
Beach
Rooms
Service
Helpful?
Report
Private -
Verified Purchaser
Sanctuary at Grand Memories Santa Maria: Amazing Beach
Arrived at Sanctuary after a long drive there and had to wait over an hour for our room.
No robes with our room and had the coffee maker changed out and it was so slow we just went to buffet to get coffee.The room was clean and we had lots of hot water.We had to request the in room liquor dispenser to be filled .The view from the room was piles of garbage in the back from the storm damage which was removed after 4 days of being there. We had many troubles getting a clean table to sit down and[... read more] have breakfast at Sanctuary, and at times went to Grand Memories for meals as they had a better selection and more comfortable place to sit and have a meal.The food was not the best, we left the only A'la Carte we went to for the Grand Memories buffet.The line up's at Sanctuary grills were long and blocked the rest of the buffet, sometimes our meal was nearly over by the time we got some water or coffee.The entertainment was enjoyable. Smoking is allowed every where !! The resort is big and cart buggies are available. It seemed dangerous at times as some didn't have working lights and the people were expected to move off walkways when 2 carts met on the road. Service seemed to be good with tips and not so good without tips. The beach was beautiful but not much shaded spots at Sanctuary.No beach bathroom here but Grand Memories and Parraiso have beach washrooms.You have to walk down to one of the other resorts or go back to your room.Everyone was allowed down at the Sanctuary (Adults Only) part of the beach.There are no vendors on the beach which allowed you to really enjoy your time there.The Market was enjoyable.There was nothing available to eat when we checked out at 5 am.It was our first time to Cuba and it was a let down.
Location
Value
Food
Beach
Rooms
Service
Helpful?
Report
Bouwpa -
Verified Purchaser
Sanctuary at Grand Memories Varadero: Good for Gluten Free!
Overall a good resort and good size (easy to get around). Great variety in restaurants & bars and the food & drinks were good. First time to Cuba and we kept hearing about how bad the food would be, this was not the case, while not totally amazing by Canadian standards, the food was good at this resort. My wife has Celiac disease and the servers seemed to be knowledgeable about gluten free food, and my wife never got sick and always had good food (although often she couldn't have the sauces, d[... read more]esserts or the packaged mashed potatoes - ask for rice instead). She enjoyed the Cuban style food - which was generally gluten free - at the lunch buffets. She had a card explaining Celiac disease in Spanish but most servers were already aware of gluten free requirements.
The pools were good with great food & drink service at the Sanctuary pool and the beach was amazing (although because of the cold weather we didn't go in the water of either). Unfortunately, our room's bathroom was close to disgusting with black mold in the shower. Thankfully, the room had a shower in the tub as well that was clean. Overall, the room did not seem to be well cleaned. The shower was cold due to cloudy cool weather we had. The resort apparently uses solar power to heat the showers and so we had cold showers (yes cold, as in no warmth whatsoever). I should mention they did offer a courtesy suite to have a hot shower, we did have one hot shower in this suite, but then it was cold a couple times too. I think with some reno's to the bathrooms and fixing the heating of the water this would be an excellent resort.
The service was very good and we felt well looked after by our 'butlers' Noel & Gretchal. Being in the Sanctuary (Diamond Club) section provided special areas to eat in for the main buffet which was nice, as well as access to top shelf liquor & perhaps better service with the blue wristbands. We could also change money at our private lobby and avoid the crowds in the main lobby.
Location
Value
Food
Beach
Rooms
Service
Helpful?
Report
Mel88 -
Verified Purchaser
Grand Memories Varadero: Don't waste your Money!
We arrived at the Grand Memories Resort very early Saturday morning (approx.2am). We checked into our room which was quite run down however, seemed clean. We decided to go to the 24-hr snack bar for something to eat. Upon returning to our room my boyfriend wanted to have a bath. At that time we found that our room had no hot water-not even warm water. I called the front desk who advised me that it was broken and assured me it would be fixed in the morning. Well, morning rolled around and still n[... read more]o hot water. Called the desk again they advised that it was broken and they were working on fixing it. I asked to switch rooms so they put us in another room that evening to find out that it also did not have hot water.. I was informed by other people staying at the resort that the reason there is no hot water was because it was cloudy out and the sun was not getting to the solar panels. The new room they placed us in had no Cable TV which wasn’t a huge concern for us and they ended up fixing it in about 2 days. I once again called the front desk to complain about the no hot water and received no assistance. The next morning I went to Sunwing to explain the issue. She attempted to call a bunch of areas however, they did not answer so we walked over to the front desk. She was able to secure another room for us but would need to wait until after 4:00 when the maids were done cleaning. She also asked the ladies to give us a late checkout on the Friday we were leaving. When 4:00 rolled around we went and got a new key from the front desk (they clearly were tired of hearing from everyone about the hot water and not overly friendly). That evening we were going to switch rooms once again when our maid stopped us and assured us we would have hot water in our room tonight-they were fixing the issue. We decided to stay in this room and we did end up having hot water for the rest of our stay however, no cold water-only blistering hot water! At that point I didn’t want to complain anymore as I would rather have hot than freezing cold. I called the front desk to let them know we were going to stay in current room. The next day we finally had one nice weather day and were able to sit by the pool. After breakfast, I went to go change to find out that my room key no longer worked so I had to walk all the way back to the front desk to get a new key.
We were sick from the food each time we ate which was unfortunate and still suffering from the effects of the food. The specialty restaurants were very good however, they did not sit with our stomachs. We ended up only eating toast/croissants and cheese for many meals as we were constantly sick from the food. My boyfriend got extremely sick on the way home and needed to sit right beside the bathroom on the plane. Upon talking to another couple we met there they have been very sick since getting back to Canada.
We were unable to sit on the beach due to weather which is of no fault to anyone, however, upon walking to check out the beach we noticed how filthy dirty it was. Garbage all over in the trees. Not a pleasant view considering the water and sand is so beautiful. Many of the public washrooms on the resort were out of toilet paper and hand soap by the afternoons/evenings and very dirty. Also, the coffee machine at the snack bar was broken the entire trip and although there was a coffee machine in the room, they did not supply coffee.
The entertainment at the Cuban bar was great in the evenings we really enjoyed the live music. However, overall my entire experience of Cuba was not positive besides all the issues at the resort, I found Varadero and Havana to be extremely dirty places! Like pick up your garbage!! Also, everywhere we tried for food was terrible. I would suggest hiding your resort arm ban when leaving the resort. We were in downtown Havana and a couple approached us and said “Hey! We remember you from the resort†they “assisted†us with finding cigars which ended up being a rip off and then we had to tip them 20 paseos! We will not be returning to Cuba again. We are super disappointed that we had to pay money to visit this resort.
Duration of stay: Jan.13th-20th, 2018