Hotel Roc Casa del Mar: 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.

Valentin Perla Blanca: this is my second time in Valentin Perla Blanca . I am completely satisfied with everything and I will visit this resort once more)) excellent service and nice staff)) I wish many clients and good weather)))

Rooms are cleaned daily. Clean beach, varied food in restaurants will satisfy every taste)) Daily show leaves impressions for life.you can also take advantage of various excursions. animators are working at full speed so as not to give you boredom and spend this vacation 100% friendly and always happy to share you time) at every step there are bars so that from the heat you will be saved by cool cocktails.I recommend to everyone)))))

Dhawa Cayo Santa Maria: Very nice resort.

The resort was beautiful. The flowers/shrubs/trees were amazing and very well maintained. The rooms were very nice and clean. Great A/C and the fridge was stocked daily. The staff were very attentive and friendly. The beach was very nice and lots of shade. Unfortunately the food was not that good. The pool bar food was always cold. The buffet restaurant was a disappointment. They were grilling meat and fish but they only had the pasta station one night and lunch time. With my wife being a vegeta [... read more]rian and my friend not eating fish the food was very limited. They seem to chop meat and put it in evey premade dish. That being said we didn't starve. The drinks were typically Cuban. The bus ride was long but we new that before we booked. They did say they are going to expand the airport on the island to take larger planes. We enjoyed the trip but wouldn't go back unless the food and bar drinks improved. P.S. Don't forget bug spary the bugs were horrible.

Playa Cayo Santa Maria: Feels like home

The grounds are kept very well and the staff is extremely sweet and treat you like best friends. The rooms need to be updated but the beach makes it so worth it. Nicest beach I’ve been to ever. Lobby has specialty coffee and great service.

Starfish Tropical Cayo Santa Maria: Nice resort

This resort was very nice. The staff was very friendly. The beach was very clean and amazing. We had three rooms one of the rooms had a very hard mattress. The first couple of night lots of mosquitoes in the rooms. One of the blankets had vomit and smelt bad.caught one of the maids trying to steal from my room. The food wasn’t too bad. The fried rice and build your own pasta was very good. The entertainers were amazing and made you have a really fun time. The pool could of been cleaned more of [... read more]ten from all the sand and green around the walls. I’d rate this hotel a 3 not a 4. Besides the maids and the hotel room everything else was nice. I’d go back just for the entertainers and buffet/bar staff. The resort was in a good location I do wish it was closer to other parts of Cuba like if we wanted to go downtown or more markets than just the little one they had

Valentin Perla Blanca: Beautiful resort

Everything was amazing. The staff was so helpful and friendly. The resort was clean and the good was good. We would go back to this resort again and recommend it to friends and family. Only complaint it the drive from the airport.

Iberostar Selection Ensenachos: Dissappointment

Hotel needs work! Stuff need discipline! They say now when you don’t tip and yes when u tip very well! Nonsense to have Chivas And not tonic! Waiters and barmans have attitude! Restaurants very badly managed and with no consideration!

Iberostar Selection Ensenachos: Iberostar Ensenachos

Grounds were very nice, gardens well kept. Chambermaid was amazing (Youmara) took very good care of us. Front desk staff were not helpful at all...dismissive & rude upon our arrival...did not assist with requests-lights burnt out in our room-our chambermaid took care of it . Beds were terrible. Gym staff terrible...also rude & dismissive.. You come to this resort for the beach...food mediocre, entertainment was very late ..& indoor-we didn’t even know about until 3rd night in.

Hotel Roc Casa del Mar: 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!

Dhawa Cayo Santa Maria: Beautiful Resort!

We just spent 8 days at this resort (end of May) we all loved this hotel, staff and all amenities! The rooms are very clean and comfortable, grounds are well maintained. The staff works so hard to keep all areas of the hotel very clean. We made friends from Canada, Mexico and Cuba, the atmosphere in the hotel is harmonious and friendly, the staff is so attentive and courteous. We tried the 3 restaurants and the one we liked the most was the "Fuego del Mar & Grill", the captain is amazing and  [... read more]also his staff, we fell in love with this restaurant, we came back 3 times, food and service is great! Saludos a Delvis y a la Rubia. The 24 hour Snack Bar is also very good. We went sailing 3 times, I am sorry that I can't remember the name of the staff member that took us in our trips, he took his time and gave us some history about the Cayos. The Habana Club Lounge (Lobby) is wonderful, the staff goes around quite often to ask if clients wish to have a fresh drink, very attentive! What amazed us was that the staff after working long hours and probably under pressure when they were short of staff due to bad weather, were able to keep their smile and be courteous and friendly hospitality! Special greetings to special people, Don Jose Luis (Director) and Don Gilberto (Manager) who are very caring and go out of their way to make sure that their guests are comfortable and happy at their hotel. I also want to mention Lachi, amazing, friendly and attentive fellow and Judy who works in the Buffet. We honestly felt so welcome at this resort, beautiful people, good food and the entertainment is also wonderful, maybe more activities for kids 12-15 years old, specially in rainy days! We will definitely be back! And last but not least, as a non-smoker I do not appreciate that most of the guests who are smokers do not respect the areas that specifically are “non-smoking” from time to time they are friendly reminded by some staff members and they paid no attention. Obviously, these guests show their ignorance and disrespect for others. Thank you Dhawa Resort for making our holidays amazing! Fernando, Olga and Natalia Medina (room 511) from Ottawa, Canada

Iberostar Selection Ensenachos: Great resort!

We stayed at the hotel for a week from May 12 to May 19th, 2018. We absolutely enjoyed the stay, the gardens are so beautiful, and the beach outstanding. We stayed at the spa section and it made a big difference specially at the pool which was always very welcoming, quiet and relaxing. The room was spacious, clean and comfortable, although maybe the mattress was not as good as the one we have at home but who cares?, it is a vacation so I slept like a baby having left behind and far, far away a [... read more]ll the stress and worries of the daily grind..As an aside we did found that the complimentary robes and beach towels came in handy! The hotel itself is beautiful, very much in sync with the traditional colonial Cuban architecture, but still incorporating the best of modern minimalism and relaxed beach resort atmosphere. The food was OK, if you embrace the differences, not everyone on planet Earth eats the same things, the same way, thanks goodness for that! My husband overheard once a guest complaining to a waitress about how her kids did not have anything to eat at breakfast because they serve salami and hot dogs (the little ones) for breakfast, but every day there was also milk in every form and flavor, made to order pancakes and omelets, eggs in every shape and form, bacon, yogurt, juices, breads, butter, jams, cereals, little cakes, ham, a selection of cheeses (soft and hard), salads,(fresh and cold), fruit, and many other things that I care not to remember, which left us pondering what these kids might have for breakfast...If it is a particular brand of ketchup or peanut butter, then no, you will not find that in CUBA, thanks goodness for that too! The buffet might get a little tiresome anyways but there are plenty of choices, I would recommend to try the specialty restaurants in particular the Italian one if only because it saves you from the buffet madness, because although the waiters and waitresses at the buffet did their best they were no match for the hungering masses and screaming kids raining down on them after a day of swimming (the spa section does not save you from that !) You may also wish to head to the pool's restaurant for lunch, and enjoy a quick and peaceful bite, which need not be humble as it may involve some delicious shrimp and lobster...In general I recommend trying the seafood and fish because they are FRESH!! which makes all the difference in the world. All the hotel staff is friendly and very hardworking and you might wish to consider tipping as often as you can. We destined $200 CAD just for tips and it was more than enough. I want to stress that you will get the same service and smile anyway, you do not need the tip for that but you will want to do it anyway and it never hurts! There was also plenty of entertainment to be had, activities for kids and very good music with live bands playing every night at the hotel lobby and then at the evening shows. We did not take any of the excursions on offer so we cannot speak to that, but we did take the bus to go to the little market they have and there we find that there is room for improvement. The bus is 2.00 CUC but it is not a hop on and off one, so if you get off, then to get back on you need to pay again which did not make a lot of sense, why not make it a 4.00 CUC fare and give your guests the flexibility they need when they are exploring places? A personal experience, we went to the little market and had some refreshments while there, but then when it was time for lunch we found that it made no sense to stay there and eat and wanted to get back in time before the buffet close so instead of taking the bus, we just took a taxi which charged us exactly the same fare and we did not have to wait at all! We were a party of 5, so instead of getting 20.00 CUC from us, the bus co. got only 10.00 CUC but they still have to do the same # of round trips, as I said not much sense there... Everything went smoothly with the travel arrangements, the trip there and back, the checking in and out of the hotel, the only real inconvenience is that it is a relatively long haul from the airport to the hotel (1hr and half), fortunately they have very comfortable buses. We strongly recommend this hotel and were the world not so big and life not so short, we would gladly return for a second stay!

Iberostar Selection Ensenachos: Amazing Beach

Best part is the beach. So much shade we could go to the beach at any time and get a lounger. Buffet is the same food for lunch and supper. You get sick of it very quickly. Asian and Italian alacartes are very good. We stayed in the adult section. The snack bar beside the adult pool served lunch and it was really good. The first 2 rooms they gave me were in the wrong section. Finally the third room was in the spa section. Bed was very uncomfortable we could feel the springs in our backs. [... read more] The resort is very spread out, a lot of walking which we liked. Bring lots of bug spray, we did and still got a ton of bites. The place is in need of an update. Maid service was very good always very clean. The grounds are beautiful and well kept. So many beautiful flowers.

Dhawa Cayo Santa Maria: The resort was Excelent I will recomended to any one travel to Cuba

Satisfied on how clean the Hotel and bedroom were, I love the concept of having 24/7 open bar and food. There is a chance to be improved the reinforce of non smoking area most of the people ignore the not smoking sing everywhere in the hotel that was the minus and also should be a most for the tourist transportation coming from the Airport to the Hotel to said in both languages French or English. We do not have to be ask. also one of the mayor fantasy that I have was to eat Lobster which I d [... read more]id not see anything like that in the buffeted or whole fry fish.

Memories Paraiso: Terrific Resort

The people are very friendly and helpful.They worked really hard for our satisfaction..Sad tob see them run for sixteen hours a day. Overall Need more selection of foods as my son is vegan and not much selection was available..Fantastic beaches and even though we got rained out we had great fun.

Royalton Cayo Santa Maria: Royalton Luxury Hotel, Santa Maria

There were three things we didn't like about this hotel 5 Star Luxury Resort the Royalton. 1. Location: It was almost two hours from the airport. If you wanted a drink, you had to buy a can of beer for $5.00 Canadian and there was no water available. 2. Buffet: You had to go to its sister hotel, Memories, if you wanted to eat at the buffet. Otherwise, there was two restaurants and a snack bar. Only one restaurant was open for breakfast and lunch with very limited choices, you had a few more  [... read more]choices at the snack bar. The food choice and quality was poor to fair for a five star in Cuba. 3. Entertainment: Again you had to go to its sister hotel, Memories, for entertainment that started at 9:50 pm. However, the mosquitoes were so bad not many went. What we liked about the Royalton Luxury Resort. We had the Super Saver Room, ground floor, close to pool and snack bar. The room itself was big, spacious and clean. The bathroom had a separate shower and a tub with shutters that opened into the bedroom. Each room had a butler that would try and satisfy your every desire from restaurant reservations to a beach lounge on your patio. The beach was a short walk from the room to a gorgeous, clean white sandy beachfront and the ocean was clear with a clean hard sandy bottom. There was a beach butler that found you a shelter and cleaned off any sand left on the chairs and a bar waiter that went around and took drink orders. Every day there was some kind of entertainment/games at the pool or beachfront. Would we go back? To be honest, NO! Nothing to do with the room or cleanliness but because the food was lacking and I came home with salmonella poisoning which started on the day we left to come home. Things to remember to bring from home: plug for sink/tub and washcloths.

Valentin Perla Blanca: Lovely resort for Cuba

The resort was lovely as per Cuba standards. It is easy to get around it. The staff was nice. The food was crap. One needs to fully understand Cuba does not have excellent customer service, accommodations or food. It just doesn't exist in Cuba, no matter what part of the island you go to or resort you stay in. One goes to Cuba because it is relatively inexpensive, it is a short flight and the ocean is wonderful. However, if you must go to Cuba this resort is suitable.

Melia Las Dunas: Where to begin??!!

We arrived at our hotel at 2 am. Getting to our room we were greeted with a towel on the floor wer from the ceiling and air conditioning leaking. This was how they dealt with the problem all week. It rained pretty much the whole time and umbrellas were limited and if you had one it was broken. Trolley cars were not running in the rain and thunder so you had no choice but walk in the downpour to your room. Apparently they had no fries milkshakes or sparkling water?? At the 24 snack bar. The [... read more] resort and service is run down, water leaking everywhere. Just awful! Just happy the sun finally appeared and made the resort somewhat decent for a day or two.

Hotel Roc Casa del Mar: 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.

Melia Buenavista: Hidden Gem - Indeed

Hubby & I spent one week at Melia Buenavista early May. Is advertised as a "hidden gem", and it is. Staff are very friendly, helpful, attentive & prompt. Grounds are well kept & attractive. Our suite on the second floor with view of the middle (of the 3 beaches), was beautiful and clean, without any musty smells one often encounters in hot climates. Water pressure was very good also and it had a working safe in the walk-in closet. Beaches to die for! The main one goes on forever, along the [... read more] turquoise water with beautiful fish and pelicans. Restaurants (two) plus breakfast & lunch buffet/restaurant served nice portioned (not too big) delicately flavoured meals. Good variety of fruits, cheese, cold meats and fish. Musical entertainment at the bar every evening. Would have liked some additional form of entertainment/show, pool tables and somewhere to dance, however, realize it is a small resort. Also, the drive from the airport is 1 1/2 hours long, and goes through wonderful landscapes, but also through small towns and communities that clearly show the poverty that is everywhere in this country. :-( But overall, a very good and relaxing vacation.

Valentin Perla Blanca: good

new, nice beach, clean room , good food, fair entertainment, nice landscape, ........ good good good .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... [... read more]................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................