Vila Gale Cayo Santa Maria: A definite update resort

The hotel was much much better than other places that i’ve gone to. I have no complaints in terms of the room except the shower when the water overflowed. I called the reception to send towels to wipe the water as it was very late I didn’t want anybody coming to fix it. The towels didn’t come, and the next night the shower stall wasn’t fix so it overflowed again. The third day I talked to the Sunwing staff and reported the situation and that day the stall was fixed. Other than the shower [... read more] problem, overall the resort was pretty decent. The service needs improvement i think maybe they were short staffed?

Vila Gale Cayo Santa Maria: Beautiful beaches!

Best snorkling off the beach we have ever had in Cuba. Wonderful beach, spent most of our days collecting seashells. Prepare for shortages with certain types of food as Cuba in general is lacking supplies. Staff mostly does not speak English so make sure to bring some of your own supplies for situations such as managing a bought of tourista.

Vila Gale Cayo Santa Maria: Great resort!

Went in February 2023. Bus ride was a little long, approx 1.5 hours from airport. Resort was well maintained, the groundkeepers kept the place clean and even supplied coconuts when requested. Stayed in building 5 which was the best location! The room was amazing, clean, spacious and mattress was great however the pillows were thin. Bathroom had all that we needed but on occasion, we ran out of hot water when showering but that did not bother us, cause we were in CUBA!! The beach is just WOW [... read more]!! Clear waters, sand is a little shelly but soft. Spend hours snorkeling near the beach and saw many starfish and other marine life. Did not spend any time at the pool, so I cannot comment. Drinks were mostly rum based, which we did not mind and not all bars had vodka or scotch. Food, as we know, is always the weak part. We did not go hungry. Yes the choices were limited, but we still ate and had chicken or pork at the buffet or at other restaurants. Sometimes we had to think outside of the box to make some meals. Eggs were available daily, fruit smoothies, cappuccinos were delish, plantain chips are to be recommended but the fish selection was poor which was a little disappointment. HINT: Bring some hot sauce, ketchup, BBQ and peanut butter if you want. The hot sauce we brought was well shared among guests at the resort. In all, great resort, looking to going back next year with the kids!

Vila Gale Cayo Santa Maria: Beautiful Place and Amazing Staff

We had the best vacation ever at Grand Serenis. The entire property is covered in beautiful palm trees and gardens and so many walkways lit up at night...it's breathtaking. The beach is THE BEST I've ever been too!! The staff are incredible and make you feel so welcomed. The food is plentiful and so is the entertainment. We loved it so much that we will be going back next year to host our Wedding ceremony there! I can't wait.

Grand Sirenis Riviera Maya: Grand Serenis Riviera Maya = Kind of Good \ Sunwing Airlines = Trash

The resort was just okay. I experienced some very good meals in the a la carte restaurants, but as far as the buffets went, they were hit or miss. On my last at the resort I went for breakfast in front lobby buffet at 8am, and it turned out they must of decided to re-heat various food items left over from the previous day. Wow! I don’t mind bacon hot & crisp, but slightly warmed, greasy & hard? No thank you! Also, it wasn’t uncommon for the towel guy to give someone attitude if they didn†[... read more]™t happen to have cash on them to tip him when returning their towel. Wow again! Even getting maid service to supply my room with a simple bar of soap required some work. Did I miss something, or are travellers expected to bring their own soap these days? I tipped the maid every day but one, and that was only because she came quite early when had stepped out for an early breakfast, and she opted not to re-stock my fridge, and I suspect that might have intentional. One would be well advised to carry a fist full of bills on at all times when venturing through out the resort. This a beautiful resort, and the entertainment very good! The worst part of my trip to the Grand Serenis Riviera was travelling with Sunwing! I will never book with Sunwing Airlines again! When the going gets bad, they go missing! They don’t have the slightest idea what term Customer Service means!

Grand Sirenis Riviera Maya: Wheres The Beach

Traveled from Feb. 25 to Mar 04 Upon arrival to the Grand Sirenis we were greeted with a Backhoe and numerous dump trucks trying unsuccessfully to clear away the seaweed from the beach and water. This was nonstop all day, everyday of our vacation. We were told this has been an ongoing problem for weeks and will be for many more. We would not recommend this resort.

Vila Gale Cayo Santa Maria: The best resort we have ever been to in Cuba. This was our 15th time

The bus ride from Santa Clara airport is 1.5 hours. Check-in was fast The rooms are still looking new and have a balcony. We were in the main building with an elevator. Other buildings are 3 story with no elevator. Younger staff, they all seem happy. Great service! The food is cuban, we had lots of fresh vegetables and some fruit on the buffet. Roast pork seems to be the meat of choice. No pasta at the main buffet, but they had good lasagna at the snack bar. We brought some paper plates wi [... read more]th us so we could get a salad from the main buffet and a sandwich from the snack bar and eat on the beach:) The beach is gorgeous and the ocean is very calm almost like a lake. Pools are also great with lots of shade and chairs available. There were 7 of us ranging from 1-65 years old and we were all very happy.

Vila Gale Cayo Santa Maria: Great weather….poor hotel

Context: We are easy going, had basic expectations based on previous trips to Cuba. We love the simplicity, comfortable pace, Cuban people, beaches, and in comparably lower price. Picked the Grand Sirenis for its relative newness. There was however an appreciable hardship at this hotel (Feb 17-24). Some general and specific observations of our week. Hotel seemed only about 1/3 occupied: Food/Drink *Very little food at the extra hours snack bar (“ham sandwich”, “cheese sandwich”, “h [... read more]am and cheese sandwich” 3 of (5? 6?) menu items along with hotdogs. No easy pizza, burgers or snacks, ever. Frequently no fries. *Regular buffet *extremely* humble, with lots of repetition along two simple service areas. No cooked fish dishes, in plentiful supply in the past—except for large sardines, and regular razor clams. Routine items: pumpkin, stewed half tomatoes, cheese, ham, ham and more ham, black beans, rice, chicken (the latter I ate daily, it was good, but still…). Good dinner rolls and bread, finely shredded lettuce, and on one day, a decent creamy cucumber salad, which combined well to improve the lettuce. *not easily grossed out, but one meal featured chunks of ham with skin on the back—and pig hair still evident. *had the last 4 eggs one morning at 7:45. Otherwise eggs/omelettes are necessary survival (NB seldom potato variants at any meal…hash browns twice, once French fries, and stampedes that could not be satisfied). * limited but adequate fruit. We tried smoothie bar once, seemed acceptable to many others. Self serve hard ice cream popular and delicious. *domestic red wine fine—but poured in 2 or 3 oz servings; replenished if asked. Coffee, Fanta and frozen lemonade (at the bars) all good, as was iced coffee. At different times there was no vodka, no wine at the lobby bar. *hotel room decent, decor and bed, but as noted elsewhere not clean. Cleaning staff in the hall daily but no clean bath towels or mats for simple exchange (after using ours for few days). Tipping had no bearing. *Mid-week, three staff knocked on the door to check our towels, one with a clipboard. We thought this meant changing them, but it was to quickly inspect if we were hoarding them; then they left! We used the pool/beach towel provided for showering. We also just made own beds (one day I noticed the label showing on my pillow case—on inside-out—reversed it and saw lipstick on the other side then put it back on the wrong way! *Rooms had mini fridges, not minibars: no provisions except 1 bottle water daily. General *apparently a complimentary bottle of rum could be obtained from Guest Services, have to ask; we’d already purchased allowable duty-free as gifts. *buffet not open for supper until 7 pm, too late for many, especially youngsters *entertainment varied/limited. Agree with all: MJ show excellent with seemingly professional dancers. Should have brought tips for their all-out performance of 1+ hour. Another night’s “beach party” out front was noisy and went on until well past 12:30 a.m. *very beautiful beach, plentiful chairs/umbrellas, safe area, clean, calm water, lots of small shells. *wait staff were mostly pleasant and working hard. Atmosphere and weather goes a long way…Latin tunes and people still very much enjoying their escape from Canadian winter. We had brought necessities and children’s school supplies which were deeply appreciated. I have an affinity for Cuba and chalked up a lot of the above to the post-Covid realities and a country with unique political/economic woes…. Having said that, guests at the nearby Angsana gave positive insights on their food, restaurant options, spa, smaller size and wonderful facilities…so, if you’re still with me, look there or elsewhere. ——-> TripCentral and Sunwing: honestly endorse your products as vacation-worthy; Grand Sirenis should be sidelined until things improve….

Vila Gale Cayo Santa Maria: Not the best hotel

We did not like this hotel at all. I was disappointed on so many levels. The food is not great. Same thing every day. We tried an a La Carte restaurant and waited 1.5 hours to get our food. The rooms are not cleaned well. Dirty in the corners, cobwebs and the shower is not caulked properly so it would leak/ flood the floors. I mentioned it to front desk twice - NO ONE came to deal with it. I gave up. I asked for towels to cover the puddles of water and they gave me a dirty towel only. There mu [... read more]st be a towel shortage - not to mention the clean ones have stains on it too. It doesn’t seem like anyone wants to help with anything! The pools are a bit cold. The beach has so many sea shells that some people cut their feet walking to the water. We walked over next door to the grand aston hotel and went for a nice pizza lunch. We didn’t care we had to pay for it - just needed something different. Anyways if you’re going , bring hot sauce, ketchup , peanut butter and anything else for flavour. Also bring your own towels! And bring mosquito repellents they get you at night.

Vila Gale Cayo Santa Maria: Our Stay

Hotel was nice n beach everything else not good, food not very good we were a group of 22 people and some of us got sick, staff weren’t very friendly only 2 people standout everyone else is like they hate there jobs will never go back there again

Vila Gale Cayo Santa Maria: Amazing Beach

One of the best hotels in Cuba. If you are going to Cuba to enjoy the beach then this resort is right for you. The variety of food is not great but I expected and do not bother me at all. Room is very comfy.

Vila Gale Cayo Santa Maria: Good time at the resort

Overall staying at this resort was good and Relaxing. Good weather, gorgeous beach (if you enjoy swimming in the ocean this is the place), food was OK, room was clean, staff was OK could be more helpful, entertainments were alright. Downsides: booking the a la carte was painful (waiting for a long time for the staff to show up and then learned most of the restaurants were fully booked. However they tried to squeeze you in for a 9pm reservation. No choice but to accept). Another downside was the  [... read more]food at the buffet was very inconsistent. For example the same soup can be good in one day, the next day it's so salty that you cannot consume. Most of the time the food was salty. They have good bread, butter, some good dishes, yummy yogurt and guava drinks.

Vila Gale Cayo Santa Maria: Amazing Resort

This resort was beautiful. The grounds were green, lush and clean. So many spots to sit and enjoy the outdoors. The room was very clean and spacious. We stayed in one of the bungalows with a view of the ocean and a very short walk to the beach. The food was as I expected. Limited variety but was plentiful. I was not going to Cuba for a culinary experience, I went for the sun and sand. The nightly entertainment was OK but one night was EXCEPTIONAL with a Michael Jackson performance. Overall, I w [... read more]ould highly recommend this resort as long as your culinary expectations are not high.

Vila Gale Cayo Santa Maria: Covid is gone

Tripcentral .....we are leaving our life...covid is old story.....we have to move forward .....I can't believe people still believe in COVID. Canadian are more stupid then Cuba people. Is 3 years and people in Canada still live with fear of covid. Until when. ????

Vila Gale Cayo Santa Maria: Good resort!

We visited this resort beginning of February second time there we love it! The beach the pool the services wonderful. People working hard in the resort to accommodate the guests We will go definitively again! I recommend the place!

Grand Sirenis Riviera Maya: A real "Grand Resort"

There are many different and diverse facilities to enjoy in this Resort. We have stayed in this resort on four different occasions and had fun each time, and each time we were traveling with different friends and they also loved the place. We like the buffet and the coffee shop but didn't really enjoy the restaurants very much. Unlike every other time, this time, our room was smelling mold. we reported the problem, and they just tried to kill the smell by more cleaning. The room was clean e [... read more]nough already, and the smell did not go away with more cleaning... we wanted to be moved to a different room, but over request was turned down and we were really disappointed. The staff are friendly and mostly helpful.

Vila Gale Cayo Santa Maria: Grand Sirenis Cayo Santa Maria

It was a lovely modern hotel..comparable to Dhawa but inexperienced staff, limited quantity of food selection, quality, supply (some days there was no sliced bread or eggs for breakfast), very little fish at the buffet or at the restaurants. Everyday every we had to deal with swatting flies off our plates and table during our meals everywhere in restaurants. We only got to see 4 great shows out of the 7 nights we were there. The Michael Jackson tribute show being the best.

Vila Gale Cayo Santa Maria: Very nice 👌

The hotel is very clean and the rooms is very clean and comfortable. The staff very friendly and helpful and happy.the food is repeated and needs attention.the flay is very annoying around the table and the plates 🍽 and the cups. Especially inside the buffet.but we really enjoyed our trip around the beach ⛱️ and the pool and the entertainment and the show.

Grand Sirenis Riviera Maya: Amazing vacation!!

What an amazing time we had at Grand Sirenis Riviera Maya!! Food was great, room was very nice, pool for everyone (quiet, party, activities…), fun time at the lazy river, learned about dolphins… was there for a week and everything was simply great! Felt safe, clean and staff were great!

Grand Sirenis Riviera Maya: Amazing trip

We had a wonderful time! The room was big and great, the food excellent( a great buffet, and the brazilian restaurant was amazing. We loved the dolphins show and everybody was there to help us if we needed it. The beach was also great. So I you see we enjoyed all our stay. Thanks