Starfish Cayo Guillermo: Relaxation at its finest

My wife and I visited this resort from Feb 01 to Feb 08 2015. We left the kids at home with Grandma so we could have some quiet time away from our family and home based restaurant we run in Ontario's cottage country. This resort is exactly what we needed, smaller, great service and all the amenities you would need. The food was average for Cuba, however there was always something to eat. The Italian ala carte was exceptional and because the resort was having a slower week, we were able to sneak  [... read more]in twice. The pools were a little chilly but the ocean was not. It was a very shallow part of the ocean so if you are big swimmer this is not the place for you. If you like long walks on the beach and walking out onto sandbars in crystal clear water than try this resort. We met a lot of lovely people and the staff was exceptional.

Estelar Playa Manzanillo: Lovely property & Friendly Staff = Fantastic Vaca!

This property is clean, well-manicured & very safe. All amenities are a short walk from your room. The rooms are spotless, the beds are a little hard, but there are a lot of pillows to make up for that. We had a few minor hiccups (safe was broken, patio door wouldn't lock) as soon as we notified the front desk, we had the issues corrected within 15 minutes. I would say that 95% of the staff we spoke to, did speak English. However trying a little Spanish did go a long way. I even got a Spanish le [... read more]sson or two...which helped! There are 3 a la carte restaurants & 1 buffet at this hotel. I was blown away at how good the food was at the buffet, there was a lot of selection & the staff worked hard at replenishing any items that were getting low. Also, if there is a piece of fruit or something you don't see, the staff always tries to accommodate & get it for you. We attended 2 of the 3 a la carts (The Grill & Nativo). Both had a large selection on the menus, with a salad bar to start. One night (Thursday) there was a "GALA" dinner around the main pool, with a variety of different food stations set-up. During dinner there was live music & dancers. It was a great night! There are 3 bars on this property, the quite pool bar, the beach bar & Mar Abierto. The pool bar & beach bar server a large selection of drinks, however they do not have blenders at these locations. But they both make fantastic Mojitos & Caipirinha's. After dinner every night we would go to Mar Abierto for a cappuccino, a few drinks & sometimes snack on the popcorn served there. Service was always quick, and the drinks were incredible. The bar staff definitely know how to make a cocktail! The pool staff were constantly cleaning the pool & testing the water. We usually would go to the quite pool in the afternoon. But the main pool is where all the activates take place. The beach is volcanic sand, and not your typical Caribbean water. The waves were fun to play in, and there is a lifeguard on duty. If you want to go to the beach do so in the morning, as the wind, waves & under toe pick up in the afternoon. We used the body boards, and even paid the $23USD for an hour surf lesson. There is a shuttle provided by the hotel into the Walled City – Cartagena. You have to book 1 day in advance, there are many different time slots to go into town & to come back to the resort. All the staff are friendly & helpful (Francisco, Johnny, Oswaldo, Diana, Lysander, Miguel). It didn't matter if it was a bus-boy, bartender, front desk staff or even the General manager. Everyone went out of their way to ensure we were enjoying our time at the Resort. This resort has top-notch service. I would most definitely visit again!!

Occidental Cozumel: Outstanding customer service all round!

The Occidental Grand in Cozumel was a pleasant surprise. Beautiful grounds, exemplary service ( from housekeeping to recreation to serving staff!) made our stay great. Overall the food was good. Rooms were clean and adequate - could be updated but certainly met our needs.

Occidental Punta Cana: Wonderful resort

Grounds are beautiful and well kept, beaches are great, food is excellent, service is fine, positive and always with a smile, but rooms are outdated with old furniture and beds, need updating...good value

Occidental Punta Cana: Amazing Resort

This is our third yr going to this resort and we will go again next yr. The resort has purchased more beach chairs so we had no problem getting a beach chair every day. We stay for 2 weeks and we enjoyed every minute. The resort really works hard at keeping the beach clean and we walk an hr everyday and we noticed other resorts had a lot of seaweed that wasn't being cleaned up. Our resort has a much wider and longer beach than a lot of other resorts as well. Also they have improved in the area o [... read more]f live entertainment after supper before the show starts. It's in the main lobby and you can dance and enjoy that time while you wait for the show. Also the resort now offered an hr of free internet in the lobby every day. The staff is so friendly and helpful and always cleaning. The rooms are very clean. The food is great and lots of variety in the buffet. The other area the resort has really changed and improved is the time share people vendors etc. do not harass you. They are there but way less aggressive. Also they don't have the vendors as often during the week. We love this resort.

Occidental Papagayo: Nice 3 Star

Hotel was not up to our expectations for an Occidental; resort is old/tired and needs upgraded. Beach also fell short of our expectations - note: beaches are public so there will be vendors, locals sharing it with you - Also, no beach bar so take a drink or two down with you!. Lots of steps/walking but they do provide shuttles to take you around (on the 1/2 hour). No outside pool-side bar, so you either had to be served or if you went into the building where the bar was, you had to be dry, shoes [... read more] on, and I felt I had to throw a cover up on also. I have to mention that "Carlos" was an awesome Server and "Jen" was an awesome pool-side entertainment coordinator! Bar closed at 5, and to our disappointment, between 5 and 6:30 when the buffet opened, you can't get a drink unless you pay for room service/alcohol, or you walk all the way up to the main lobby bar! Our room was nice, clean, but nothing special. TV was old and only 2 channels in English (Not that this mattered much to us). Our King size bed was comfortable. Small fridge stocked with 2 beer, 2 pop and 2 water daily but no bar alcohol supplied. All the staff (except 1 guy who clearly didn't like his job), were great and very friendly. Nightly entertainment was lacking unless you like playing games like 'music trivia', local guy playing a guitar, etc. There is a disco that we didn't go to so can't comment on. Food buffet: was ok only. Italian restaurant was excellent! Suggestions for improvements: build an outdoor pool-side bar and expand the concrete around the pool by a few feet so there is more places/room for lounges, and provide more umbrellas; as it is now, people have to pull lounges on to worn away grass to have some space/shade - we did this and when my sandals were wet, they actually got mud on them from the worn ground where are lounge was sitting - I was not impressed! The lounges were also very worn, not clean looking, and also need to be replaced. We went on daytrips through Air Canada and Kudos to Emileyo! He was an awesome tour guide. If there's only one full tour/day you want to do, go to Monteverde - tour a coffee plantation (and lunch), let a hummingbird perch on your finger, and hike in the cloud forest and along the suspended bridges. All ages can do this one and it was an Awesome experience!

Allegro Papagayo by Occidental: Great value and MONKEYS

We spent a week at Allegro Papagayo at the end of January 2015 . The grounds are beautiful but very hilly, the walk to the rooms from the beach, pool, and restaurant is all up hill but very enjoyable. The rooms are a bit dated but clean and comfortable. The beach is huge with open and shaded areas, the sand is black. There are plenty of areas to walk and explore. The pool is great with a shaded swim up bar. All week the food was amazing, whether you want to eat regular food or try new things it  [... read more]did not disappoint. The staff was like anywhere, some were great and looked like they enjoyed being there while others were just going through the paces and doing as little as possible. The resort was pretty well organized except for the trip to the white sand beach which was a disorganized mess and would be the only negative experience of the entire trip, the staff on that trip were lazy and rude. Greatest thing about this resort is the wildlife, beautiful birds , iguanas, and most of all MONKEYS are everywhere. The cappuccin monkeys on the beach will entertain you all day , and will take bananas from your hand if you offer. If you look you will also see howler monkeys , they are not as friendly and keep their distance but are great to watch. It would be hard not to have a great vacation at this resort.

Estelar Playa Manzanillo: Estrada Grand Playa Manzanillo Hotel

Great Hotel, staff were very helpful and at the front desk they all spoke English, had a problem with the inroom safe and within 5 minutes it was fixed. Food was excellent - by far the best was the buffet.

Allegro Papagayo by Occidental: MUCH better than expected!!!

I am a realistic traveler, you get what you pay for. The only reason I give this place four stars is because it did not have all the luxuries of a high end resort...but that is not what we paid for, nor expected. The terrain has a steep incline, but there are shuttles to take you back and forth. Which also provides for a gorgeous areal view from the lobby. The resort is on a bay, so there is no open ocean, but the Four Seasons is next door. If it's good enough for the Four Seasons, it's good en [... read more]ough for us. We really enjoyed that this was a smaller resort. While some may not enjoy the limitations of one buffet and two a la carte restaurants, we relished the community feel of this establishment. Everything was close and nearby. Building 10 & 11 are closest to the pool and restaurants. While there is some noise, it is not anything to complain about. The beach is a black sand beach, but there is a free tour to a pristine beach that goes daily ( you will have to reserve a spot the day before). The trade off is the daily sightings with monkeys. If you bring a cup of water to the jungle gym, they will climb down and drink right out of your cup. That was an experience we would not have gotten at a large resort. The staff were wonderful. Our Nolitours rep was extremely friendly. Esteban at the disco made sure each and every night was fun and memorable. We went into Nicaragua for a day trip. Although we waited at the border, we were in a nice air conditioned bus. We could not have asked for a better excursion. The country is breathtaking! We did have to leave close to 5 am and there were not shuttles running at that time. We walked up the hill in near darkness ( bring a flashlight for this instance). But it was safe, so we were not discouraged. We booked our tour in the lobby. There is a desk on the left hand side when you walk in, before you get to the main desk. We found her prices to be the best! We also struck up a deal with one of our shuttle drivers to take us into town on his day off. Him and his brother picked us up and toured us around, showing us the countryside and completely flexible to our schedule. Finally, we were there over Christmas and New Years, the fest that was prepared and the fireworks display were above and beyond anything we expected. This is not a luxury resort, but it has the essentials, beauty and service to be a fantastic place to lay your head at night while you explore the country. P.S. The staff did not pester us to take part in group activities like so many other resorts, which we REALLY appreciated.

Estelar Playa Manzanillo: very nice resort

I found all of the staff to be very helpful, polite at all times, and cheerful when helping with any questions. The staff had a relative understanding of English and if they didn't understand you, they got someone who could understand. The rooms were very clean; the dining room staff were always helpful; the food was very good; and the pool areas were clean with friendly and helpful staff. The beach area was nice also. The dining room selection could have a little more fruit and a little more de [... read more]sert selection but what was available was very good. With reference to the Sunwing representative, I was disappointed that she did not have sufficient knowledge of certain tours. She also misinformed me regarding the time of a meal that was to be served as part of the Mangrove tour offered by Nexus Tours. I am going to write to Nexus Tours and to Sunwing regarding that tour because my brother, his wife, and myself went on that tour on January 27th, 2015, and were thoroughly disgusted with it. We were booked to leave at 2 PM. 1) The Sunwing Representative (Emi) was specifically asked (twice) when the lunch, included with the tour, would be served. Emi replied that we would do the tour first and then we would have the meal. This was incorrect. After eating a hardy meal in the hotel dining room, we were picked up at 2 PM and promptly brought to the restaurant located in Manzanillo to eat. Well we could not eat again as we were full. 2) We were loaded onto a leaky canoe (with no life jackets provided) and started the tour. The first part of the canoe ride was through some mangroves that smelled like a sewer. The smell was absolutely disgusting. Once we left that area and entered the open lake, the smell was gone. 3) The Nexus tour brochure indicates that we would have an exotic canoe trip through the mangroves of the Virgen ..... visit to primitive lime kilns and hatchery sabalo. The tour guide had very limited information during our walk through the 'Precolombian Museum' which consisted of a few huts with recreations of people and pots etc., and we did not see a hatchery or lime kilns. 4) We continue to canoe through the lake and then entered another channel of mangroves that smelled of sewage. 5) Disembarking from the canoe was hazardous as there was no proper dock. The gondolier backed the canoe into a culvert by a road and we had to turn around in the leaky canoe (which now had about 1.5 inches of water on the bottom) and basically crawl carefully to the back of the canoe and get out. We paid $47.00 US each for this farce of a tour and would like our money back. Of note is that fact that we were misinformed of the time the lunch would be served but were lucky that we missed eating again because I am of the opinion that one of us might have brought up what we ate due to the smell in the mangrove channels.

Occidental Punta Cana: Great place.

Only problem was our toilet didn't flush and was a problem. That and there were a lot of French speaking people who seem to think they own the place. Other then that it was great. I really liked Punta Cana.

Occidental at Xcaret Destination: Amazing place, had the best holiday

Excellent holiday get away can't wait to go again. The food was the best and the service was exceptional. I would recommend this resort to anyone looking for a very relaxing holiday, the people that ran it were very helpful with all our daily needs as we do not speech spanish.

Allegro Cozumel: Not what it's made out to be

My husband and I stayed Jan 10-24. This hotel is a 3 star at best. It would be and awesome resort if the food was good. Yes there is always something to eat but I did't pay what I did to "try" and find something to eat every evening. Breakfast is ok, lunch was good but good luck with dinner. The oriental a la cart is amazing (so you know they can cook). The beach is great, rooms are clean and the pools are good. I will not return to this resort or Cozumel for the fact that wherever you go, even  [... read more]trips through the hotel, you have to take a taxi and pay out of your pocket. Taxi one way to town is $16-20. Ferry to the mainland is $12 each. For half the price, you can go to Puerto Plata in the Dominican and get a better resort, better food and AMAZING service.

Sirenis Tropical Varadero: Would not go back again

Went with a large group of family, 11 of us. My girlfriend and I were the only ones with a decent room. Others had no water, no working toilet, the list goes on. Poor service. Locals were getting served before us even though they would come after. Ended up leaving - the buffet had absolutely no labels on anything. Paid extra for the upgrade - no bottle of rum. Swimming with the dolphins the Cubans DEMANDED to "tip" a minimum of 10 pesos per person which is unacceptable. Would never go back to Cu [... read more]ba again. 3 times is enough. Save your money and go elsewhere.

Occidental at Xcaret Destination: Amazing Resort

Great restaurants, friendly staff, clean rooms,nice pools, only down side was no ocean to swim in. The man made lagoon was full of seaweed, and smelled badly. They were doing they're best to clean it daily.

Allegro Playacar: Great resort, have stayed twice and will again

Nice clean rooms, wonderful staff.The pools are always clean as are the beautiful grounds. The food is great, lots of selection in the buffet and the Mexican and Italian restaurants provide superb food and service

Occidental Punta Cana: Awesome Resort

Occidental Punta Cana is simple wonderful. Yes the rooms are dated but very clean, quiet and beds were comfortable. Your not in your rooms much anyway right?. The food, service, beach and everything about this resort made for a terrific holiday.

Estelar Playa Manzanillo: Beautiful resort

Beautiful hotel, about 20 minutes outside Cartagena, free shuttle bus from hotel into the city several times a day, rooms were nice, two queen size beds, maid service not so good, had to ask for towels three times, same goes for water and beer in mini fridge. Three pools, spent most of our time at the passive pool, adults only, bartender and staff at that pool were great, always smiling and being helpful. Food was good, a little more vegetarian options in the hot buffet would have been nice. Did [... read more]n't try any of the a la carte options. Overall, I would recommend this resort, great value for money.

Occidental Punta Cana: Great resort well maintain and grounds beauiful

Great place just to relax the staff was excellent and Food was good. Did not like the Market vender being allow to set up their booths on their property bugging buy their products. Other than that it was great place to holiday and would recommend it to any one.

Sirenis Tropical Varadero: Good Resort

The service when we first got there was not very good, but it was way better the following day and rest of the week. Beaches are amazing. Food is not good but no one can go to Cuba expecting any good food. You need to really go for a walk around the resort when you get there because there is a lot there it's just a matter of finding it.