Nice resort a little ways to go yet

The resort is nice and clean. Nice rooms.check-in was quick and smooth. I though I was getting a suite but being a new resort no one was clear on the 5 levels category rooms available so I didn't get what I was expecting but the room was nice. The buffet was not very good. Evelyn and Roger super nice!! So many flies in the buffet area was frustrating trying to eat in peace. Went outside to eat. Been to Cayo coco food was much better. The italien restaurant was very good. Went 3 times. Was there [... read more] -11 nights so towards the end I had no desire to eat much. The entertainment was not good except 1 show retro night. Beach party cancelled both Sundays to windy. It's very very windy in Santa Maria which I was not expecting 24/7 wind. Couldn't sit out and enjoy balcony much. Ocean view was obtrusted by big tree. Could not stay on the beach. Was disappointing. Could not get money for 2 days at exchange counter machine was down. Communication is bad there they said as well as spotty wifi. Wifi was not a big deal for me though. The bus for the market didn't show up at all on Saturday wasted a day going back and forth waiting for this bus. Overall 11 days was too long for this resort very very bored and dissatisfied. Flight delayed 5 hours not one told us at the resort was not in the book either until I started asking questions. Also not impressed with Cubana airlines. The one thing I like is the extra luggage allowance so we can bring stuff down for staff.

Absolutely Loved It!!

The staff first and foremost are top notch ! So friendly and warm. Everywhere you went it was clean, always standing outside the washrooms to take care of things. I had the best massage I've ever had! The beach was perfect if you like to snorkel or go for a nice walk, the water was crystal clear and the waiters and staff down at the beach.... AMAZING! I would return to this resort even though I don't typically go to the same place twice . Entertaining and different from what I've seen in the p [... read more]ast. The food was excellent to say the least!! I wish I could go back tomorrow...... I highly recommend!!!

Great Resort, Wonderful People

Review of Dhawa resort The Dhawa Resort is actually located on Cayo Las Brujas. It is approximately 1 1/2 hours from the Santa Clara airport. There is a bathroom on the bus since it's a long ride. You get a real look at Cuba's countryside on this bus ride. On entry to the resort we were greeted by the lobby attendants. The lobby is open and spacious with many areas for groups of people to meet and relax together. It is tastefully decorated and the service is excellent. They have servers t [... read more]here that will come take your drink order all day and night. The people at the desk took our information and had us checked in quickly. They were courteous and kind. The attendants drove us and our bags on a golf like cart to our building. We were in building 9 on the main floor. Our building is right beside the beach. There are 11 buildings to stay in. Each had its own positive for where it is located. Some are close to the pool, some close to the lobby and some close to the buffet and recreation areas. Depending on what floor you're on, you can sometimes have a nice view of the ocean. Each building has 3 floors. After the attendant explained how to use the safe, he left us to unpack. The resort has everything you need. There is a bank which is open daily from 9-5, a lobby bar open 24 hours, a large pool with a swim up bar, 3 a la carte restaurants (Seafood, Italian and French), a pool restaurant and bar, and a recreation area with basketball, tennis and soccer courts. There is also a large theatre with a stage where there are shows most nights and there is a bar in there as well. The lobby has live music every evening from 6-9 and the lobby bar not only makes great drinks but they also serve cappuccino! Many people enjoy time with friends in this area while drinking their morning or after dinner coffee or cappuccino. We enjoyed the service of many hard working Dhawa staff. I feel like we are leaving friends behind. Lianna and Yalenia at the pool restaurant gave us great service. Everyday we ordered food and drinks from them. Their service was prompt, efficient and very friendly. The food is good there. We loved the pizza and chicken but also enjoyed the hamburgers. In one instance when I had a spill which caused a stain on my white shirt, Lianna told me what to use to take out the stain and helped me and it worked like a charm!! We just loved our time at the pool restaurant and bar because of these wonderful ladies!! We also had great service from Marlye. The beach is always one of my favourite places to go. The sand was deep and white. There are lots of shade sources along the beach. Some are for two chairs and others for 4-5 chairs. The beach there is right beside a coral reef on the left as you walk onto the beach. The beach is about a kilometer long and for now they don't share it with another hotel. They are building a sister resort at the end of the beach which will be adults only we have been told. Anyway the secluded beach means we didn't have people trying to sell us anything. It is a nice relaxed atmosphere. There are 4 paddle boats, 5 hobby cats, 2 single kayaks and 3 double kayaks that you can borrow to use while you're at the beach. Osvaldo and Raul Abreus are amazing at the Beach. Raul will personally find chairs for you in the shade. He will unstack the chairs, wash them and lay your towel so it doesn't blow away. Raul became a good friend. Osvaldo goes up and down the beach taking drink orders and then delivering right to our chairs. It is great service and he is one of the kindest people you will meet. The beach bar has a grill. The grill worker also walks down the beach taking orders and then delivering them to our chairs. He uses a sealed container to keep the food clean and warm. Boy are those hamburgers and hotdogs good!! One of our favourite things to do at the beach is to watch the pellicans dive for fish in the water. Sometimes they dive right beside you!!! Also snorkeling is wonderful at this beach. Further out there is vegetation and this is a great spot for the little fish to hide. If you snorkel around the rocks you'll see some beautiful coral and fish! It's not something to miss. I never did find out if they had snorkel equipment to lend out as I brought my own. We only hung out at the pool for one day. There are about 100 chairs around the pool. Most of them have shade provided. There is also a kiddie pool with chairs by it. The buffet eating area is spacious. The breakfast has many different choices such as omelets, breakfast meats, fruits, smoothies, eggs, and cheese and sliced meat. The omelets made by the talented Daniel were enjoyed by my husband who had one made for him every day. I personally loved having the crepes full of fresh bananas made by Rosy. They are to die for!! We mostly had pizza for lunch at the pool restaurant but made it to the buffet for lunch on the last day. One or two days we had lunch at the beach and pizza at the pool. They serve the same food for lunch as dinner at the buffet . Unfortunately the service in the buffet was not as good especially at lunch. Even though my husband and I tipped every day at dinner and tried to sit in the same area, we didn't get any kind of service worth anything. It wasn't hard. It's a buffet. They only needed to bring us drinks, keep our water filled and clear plates. Most of the time it was hard to get the server to bring us water. On more than one occasion, after asking the server to bring us drinks they never returned even with water. I believe they are understaffed there. But it is important to understand that they has just opened on March 1st, 2017 so I'm sure they were just working out the kinks. Annely at the dessert area cooks fried banana or pineapple every night. It is cooked with a little bit of butter and lots of orange juice. Annely is kind and polite and does a great job! I think I had this for dessert every day!! On our last night we had an amazing server, Yailen is amazing! She go go goes. She doesn't miss a beat or an order. We wish we sat in her area every night. Adrian Navarro was our room attendant for a 3 of the days. We missed him when he was moved to another building. He was very good at his job and very polite and kind to us. We wish we could have had him every day! All in all it was a great holiday at a fabulous resort. We look forward to going back there again.

Nice resort

Dhawa Santa Maria is a nice new resort. The color finishes are creamy/beige very stylish and modern. Rooms are big and clean. Everything is working properly. The lobby /reception / theatre and the bar area is where most of the evening activities take place. The crowd is mostly middle age. The service is very good. The food is good and if you are willing to wait in line at the different food stations for the occasional personalized meats, seafood, eggs , deserts etc. is even better. I rarely w [... read more]aited because I have no patience for lines but I could always find something to my taste. Restaurants are a hit and miss depending on your choice on the menu ; the best food I tasted was at the grill. I would skip the French and Italian. You are better off at the buffet unless you care for sitting down and being served. Pool area is nice. The beach is large enough and you could find space under the palapas even if you come to beach late in the morning. The beach needs to be cleaned because still a lot of roots in it. One member of our group hurt himself on one of those roots so do pay attention when you walk. Also the beach area was extremely windy which I believe is because of it being located in a cove. The entry into water in some places is rocky and full of seaweed. The beach is private to the hotel; it is not very long like in other places where you can walk for an hour or so . From left to right the walk takes about 10-15 minutes. I would rate the resort a strong 8/10 and the beach and ocean only a 5/10. If you do not care for the water part I would recommend but if you care for the whole beach water experience there are better places to go.

Great resort and amazing service!

This was a great and pleasant surprise. Being a new resort (opened in January) we were very skeptical and nervous about going. We had the "hope for the best and expect the worse" attitude. At the end we wished we had booked 10 days or more vacation. The hotel is beautiful and boutique like, very modern. Super clean and the service is 5 star quality. The food was unlike any other hotel I've ever been in Cuba. Amazing quality and variety. From jumbo shrimp to unlimited bottles of shampagne! We tra [... read more]velled as a couple and developed friendships there, everyone we spoke to had the same feedback as us. I would definitely recommend!

Great new resort !

The swimming pool is really something. Usually, we stay by the beach, but this huge swimming pool with different areas really attracted us. All the employees are very professional and friendly. For a new resort, everything was great.

New resort

Nice, refreshing, new resort on island close to Santa Maria. No issues to report. Beach is beautiful with drinks and lunch snacks delivered to your palapa. A la cartes could be better but buffet is acceptable. Long ride across causeway to airport (90min.) Entertainment team were fun....Gabriel was a joy to talk to. No bingo. No bugs. Grounds will be fully in bloom next year. Quieter at beach as opposed to pool area.

Brand new

This hotel was brand new and it showed. Best pool and buildings. The beach needs a little work, but we are told they will be doing work on it. The food is hit or miss, but thats Cuba. The best food in site was the bbq on the beach. Everything there was very good.

Excellent Service All Round

The hotel is beautiful and modern with an easy layout. We stayed in building 6 with an ocean view on the 2nd floor. The rooms are a good size and the maid service was good each day. The pool complex was a good size but was a bit on the cold side as we had a few cooler days. The beach was good but not as nice as other Cuban beaches but the service on the beach made up for this. Drinks were delivered to you as often as you could handle and water was beautiful. We had all of the a la cartes  [... read more]at least once and enjoyed them all. We only had the buffet twice for dinner and it was ok. Good options for breakfast. We did the snack bar every day for lunch and loved the pizza. All of the staff were very friendly and were keen to have conversations with guests who were interested. We had a great 10 days!

Fabulous resort!

We loved this resort. It had everything you would want and more. Rooms were very clean, rain shower was a lovely touch. Restaurants had great food and great service. We enjoyed the beach and were particularly impressed with the food and drink service on the beach. Lobby bar served the best drinks and coffees. Overall, we were very pleased. We have been to Cuba five times and we would definitely return to this resort.

Great Resort

The hotel was clean and comfortable. The buffet breakfast and dinner needs more variety for kids. All 3 Alla carte restaurant were amazing food and kids choices were available The pool and kids activities were amazing and definitely family friendly

The Personal Touch and amazing trip

Check in was efficient and courteous. We upgraded to a suite. It was well worth the extra $$. So spacious with 2 bathrooms (one of which was amazing, the other was a powder room), a large living room and a large bedroom. The suite had lots of storage room and was great although we were hardly every there. It also had a beautiful ocean view and amazing balcony. The bar staff was great. Marbelio at the beach was awesome. Where else can you get food as well as drinks delivered right to yo [... read more]ur beach chair? What a treat! The entertainment staff was awesome. Marbey, Jaiky, Julio and Roberto were great. Enjoyed having lunch with an entertainer when my step-daughter was busy. It was very nice to have company when otherwise, I would have been eating alone. The pool was excellent. The beach has a nice gradual incline but needs further cleaning. Overall this trip was definitely a 5. Highly recommended to anyone.

Great resort with an alright beach

The hotel itself was amazing, the food was some of the best I've had in Cuba. Room was super clean, we loved the shower! Such amazing service from all the workers! The beach is a huge downfall though. We would love to go back to see all the workers again, and we loved the pool. But the beach & water are a huge disappointment. I would be hesitant to go back because if the beach. It's to bad, because the resort is absolutely beautiful. They've really thought of everything from being served on the  [... read more]beach, to exchanging your towels everyday as many times as you want. The a la cartes were very delicious. It was nice that we could go every night to an a la carte. The buffet was typical for Cuba. We loved the snack bar, pizza was great. This resort wouldn't be for people who love to spend their time on the beach. We're huge beach people and we spent the week at the pool. It's quite windy on the beach because it's in a cove. Hope this helps with your future clients :) ! Thanks for the great customer service o'Neil !

Awesome Vacation!!

We loved the size and layout of this resort. Everything was convenient and close. The food was awesome and the staff as well!! We especially loved the variety if specialty coffees and the restsurant by the pool for lunch!! We will return!! Chad & Jan

Awesome time!

My boyfriend and I went away and took a leap as there were no reviews other than 1 spanish. We are so happy we took a leap of faith! New resort, very clean, modern, looks like ikea type resort! Food was actually quite good! I didnt go hungry. They even had Heinz Ketchup and Mustard available along with other sauces. I can be picky. People are so friendly, great service. Beach was nice but not a very wide sandy part. They have a chef on the beach, the chicken skewer and chicken sandwich was reall [... read more]y good. Theres also a tikki style bar on the beach. They have free sail boat and paddle boat of the beach too! The pool was good, equipped with a swim up bar, very friendly staff. We liked Jenny at the pool bar. You can get food 24 hours at the snack bar, drinks too. Leondro became our bestie! Nothing major to complain about. Minor complaints would be that our room key didnt work a couple times as well as safe. I would recommened bringing some sort of insect repellent. We didnt notice untill we got back to Canada but we are covered in bites (I think sand fleas) I didnt notice bugs though! All in all I must say it was a lovely get away and great value for it being so new and good food compared to a lot of others in Cuba! Hope this helped, Cheers