Good Resort, far from perfect, but good overall

A very nice resort. Very big... Management needs to be changed to make people happy. Customer service is clearly NOT their main priority. Food was fair, Staff was always friendly.. Would definitely come back here again. Definitely worth the money paid.

Awesome first Cuban experience

First trip to Cuba...resort was clean, staff friendly. Highly recommend the diamond club well worth the money. A la carte Japanese restaurant was awesome! Lots of open air areas to relax, diamond club beach with bar and waiter service is great. One tip to note is sunwing resort rep will tell you at orientation that you can bring back "120 single cigars each" Not true for Canadians. Whether cigars are single or in a box you are still only allowed 50 per adult. Also watch paying in Canadian dollar [... read more]s for excursions, definitely inquire as to the exchange rate. Rate was 1.33 when converting to CUC but when we wanted to pay in Canadian which they said we could, all of a sudden we were being charged a rate of 1.44

Very large, family friendly resort!

Very nice resort. Friendly service. Always greeted with a a smile and a "hello"! The beds were very hard and pillows were thin. Disappointed that the pools and bars closed at 6pm, except for the "disco" there was nothing happening in the evenings. Food there was very bland, and some times questionable. Amazing beaches with crystal clear blue waters! The landscaping was beautiful! Lots of extras things to do on and off resort for the whole family! Loved the overall experience. We will be back wit [... read more]h more family members in the near future!

Don't go for the food...just the beach.

The Pools, beach are well served and a great time, but the food leaves allot to be desired. Out of the places I chose to eat only one was really different or tasty compared to the rest. Snack bar staff was usually actually rude and very hesitant to serve and the lobby staff just wanted to check you in weren't interested in helping with issues without giving you a hassle...only people who wanted to help were the travel company reps. The buffet was the same every day as well...no variations. That  [... read more]said the Bar staff was great, so were the beaches and pools. Great Michael Jackson show...will go to Cuba again but likely not to memories sadly. Wanted to love the resort but just had to focus on the moments I enjoyed. Will try another location for sure.

Our Trip to Memories Cuba

Well, after tons of research and making the decision based on a family of 5 I chose Memories in Cuba. Most of the comments were pretty accurate but everyone's experience is always different IMO. Funny, but not funny story that has left a first impression memory is I got locked in washroom in the main building after arriving while waiting for our room to be ready. Waited 20 minutes to get out and they new shortly after I could not get out. Once I was out, I went to complain and then it was sugge [... read more]sted it was my fault as the locked worked fine every other day. The Nexus/Sunwing staff were suggesting I was wrong until Maintenance told Customer Service and then it was like, sorry what can we do for and they did take care of my mini bar daily which wasn't part of my package. So, a small unfortunate bad start but then they did look after me that was satisfactory. This is a Big resort, lots of walking no matter where your room is as the buffet is near the front. The Beach is at the end. Ala-Carte Restaurants and entertainment is in the middle. The food: Well, this is the biggest downfall of the Resort.You would think after all the years in business and who the Major owner is, that they would have a better system on how to cook and manage the food. Very little organization, lines get busy for the Pizza and grilled items. People bud in which drove me nuts. The Selection of food is poor, not a lot of options and when they run out, they rarely refill with the same item or bring something else. A perfect example is Bacon in the mornings. They know this goes fast, and when its gone, it takes forever to replace or sometimes, you never see it again. The Calimari was very good no matter how they made so I stuck to that a lot and with the Pasta station or the Chicken which was pretty good. The Open concept of the Buffet restaurant is another thing I didn't like since Birds and Flys fly in all the time, therefore you always have fly's on the food, which is terrible. I know its hot, but if the Diamond Club section can be closed off with Air Conditioning then why not the main area. Then there are the "other" bugs running through the food. Saw them more on the bread table then the middle area or the grilled area, but they are there. Also had one on the chair beside me at dinner one night. I wasn't totally surprised but they could do better IMO. We only tried the Italian restaurant as we have young kids who are picky and this was a very good meal. The Pizza the kids had was so much better than the Buffet. I heard from several people there and then a friend who happened to go here the week after we did, that the Japaneses restaurant is pretty good too. For Lunch we pretty much ended up eating at the Snack bar at the pool with the slide. The ladies there were really nice and the burgers, hotdogs, pasta, and Fries worked out fine for the kids and family. Missed out on the Grill /Buffet by the Beach but went in one day and it looked pretty good. Same food generally but smaller and just looked nicer and cleaner. Accommodations: This to me was the best part of the resort actually. We had 2 connecting rooms on the 3rd floor, building 30. Nice and big, everyone had their own bed. Now the mattresses are not the greatest but again its Cuba. Rarely saw any bugs, plus I brought some traps and spray so was prepared. It was always cleaned everyday but one, thanks to Zulemina (probably spelled it wrong and she was off the day it wasn't cleaned so not here fault) but she was so nice everyday bringing us water and making nice animal designs of the towels. The gifts we gave and tip does go a long way. We had no problems in our room but over heard other issues that lasted days, so it is a hit and miss situation. Our kids had very little interest in the Beach, but got them to go once which lasted 10 minutes then back to the pool. Ocean was choppy that week and the weather wasn't the best as couple days of rain and I mean rain. At one point the grounds were flooded, but a day later it was mostly gone. Overall the Beach look really nice and wish we could have experience it more and will not waves as it did look beautiful. We stayed around the party pool which had a small kids pool for our 2 year old. Overall the resort was not that busy so it was great. No crowds in the pool or the bar or the restaurants. If you do stay in the south end, you'll hear the nightly entertainment most nights until or past 11pm but it wasn't that bad. The water slide was a nice addition for the kids and some adults too. The Staff, everyone was very pleasant and when you give them gifts and tips they obviously take care of you a little more so we always had the same spot at the Buffet restaurant and had a couple different Servers but my wife got to know them all and they were always ready for us. The Sports Bar was extremely HOT and only 1 TV but got to see the Bluejays while on vacation which was cool, unfortunately we know they lost. We did the Havana trip and they say it is a a 1:45 minutes trip, but its actually 2.5hr to get there and then 2.5hr back which includes a 15 minute stop. For me it was a very nice and education trip. For the kids, not so much. The lunch that was included at a restaurant was the best meal of the trip!! In Closing, I don't see ourselves going back to Cuba unless the Americans transform things over the next 10 years. Food is the main reason but for some, I know they do enjoy it. Too Each his Own.

First time in cuba

Hotel is very clean, I constantly saw workers cleaning the grounds. Rooms were made everyday. For the most part, staff is very friendly. Food was quite good, enough choices to find something you like.

Not good resort

I didn't find it very customer service at front desk also rooms were not cleaned properly no new towels for 3 days had to ask same food all the no variety not very friendly the staff u say hello and no response no children activity very little entertainment not very good stage in repair the restraints were not what they were to serve like the Italian we asked for Ceasars salad got peas with carrots and mayo mixed no lettuce or carrots nothing was not impressed waited 20 minutes for food wasn't b [... read more]usy so why did it take so long traveled with granddaughter and daughter for granddaughters 11 birthday first time for them in Cuba and this is the service they got not impressed at all will never go back to this resort again memories varadero and I have been to cuba twice before at different resorts and never got treated like like this . .

Terrible resort

Honestly i expected more...the staff was very rude...they didnt properly clean ur room...u had to beg for towels...most didnt speak english....they just starred at you....i ate the same thing everyday....the meat was never fully cooked...the only thing that was good was the pools...but they never cleaned the bottom, just threw chlorine in and barely ever picked up the cups on the side of the pool...they just went in the water until someone like us cleaned them up...i would never reccomend this h [... read more]otel to anyone...worst vacay ever...i went for my daughters birthday and she was not impressed on how it took almost two hours to receive a cake...only happiness i had was the excursions...

Terrible food and service

They don't have variety of food, a lot mosquitos in the restaurants. They never effort to provide better service. The same activities in the pool and beach all the time Tv and ration in the room didn't work

Good resort. Could be great!

We just recently got back from Memories Varadero. We are a family of 5. 3 boys ages 15, 20, and 22. This resort is really geared towards the younger crowd. They had a blast. The beach is fantastic and the 2 pools are good as well. One is the activity or party pool and there are a lot of young impaired people at the swim up bar. The other pool which is closer to the the lobby is a lot quieter but still has a swim up bar. This resort is huge so if you don't like to walk it may not be for you. We d [... read more]on't mind walking. Everything about this place is hit and miss. One evening the path lights are on the next they're off?! Same as the food some days you will find things you like and the next time it's not there. The servers are mostly friendly and willing to look after you. Now what really made me give this a 3 star was the fact of them running out of ice, soda water, wine!! One day I couldn't get red wine from 4 different bars. then I got some from the buffet. Later that night when we were at the lobby bar, where everyone gathers in the evening again no red wine, so I ordered white for my wife. When I went back up for a second glass, no white wine! Really!! A resort chain like this and you don't have wine!! I don't know if they are trying to ration everybody or staff is to lazy to get it. Also had a cell phone stolen out of my sons room. So in closing The beach and grounds are beautiful. Rooms are clean, but could use some upgrading, old box TV and ghetto blasters! Just get clock radios with built in docking stations! We will not be returning however my boys loved it. Lots of potential

Don't recommend

The grounds and public areas were clean, rooms were also fairly clean but everything is extremely old and mostly broken ;such as the temperature control. Although we had issues with our room, once we called the front desk they sent someone to come help/fix right away. The food was not good as per the normal Cuba standard. One specific complaint about the A la Carte bookings is that they only gave you 2 for your whole stay -one of which we missed because of miscommunication with the lady who book [... read more]ed it- which is not enough considering the quality of the food in the buffet. The beach was very nice and the water was crystal clear, definitely one of the best. On the other hand, the pool with the water slide was very dirty and muggy. All in all, I would say it was way too expensive for what we got and although we had an awesome vacation, it could have been even better if the hotel quality was much higher.

Beautiful resort

The pool area with the idea was crazy. No supervision and the kids couldn't even enjoy the slide. The pool bar was gross and the amount of drunk people was insane. They would take over the slide and our kids couldn't enjoy. Life guards are sleeping or just flat out don't care. Was not impressed with how they ignored everything going on around them. I had it on one day and freaked out on the life guard to remove a drunk man out of the pool who was about to drown if we didn't keep on I on him. It  [... read more]was out famy vacation and I never felt so stressed out in my life. They had another pool which was great but the kids choose this resort because of the slide. The resort is beautiful and huge, be prepared to walk a lot. I would not recommend this resort to any family. This resort needs to step up on accountability. Between the drunks and lack of security I felt with these life guards I should have stayed home. Very disappointed and it's a shame because the resort is beautiful. Management needs to insure proper training to his employees.

Disappointed overall

The hotel itself was not as well kept as I expected. The first room they put us in was "old", musty and had a feeling of being dirty. They moved us the next day the room was cleaner but same "old" feeling. The worst part was the food and trying to problems resolved. We went with other family and one of our rooms had the A/C not working. I had to go to the customer service desk more than 3times a day for 3days before it was resolved. The same thing happened the 4th day to our room with no A/C. Th [... read more]e beach was stunning and the pools were nice, a little dirty though.

Enjoyable vacation on a budget

Overall we had a good experience with good service, great weather and a beautiful beach. The one area that could use improvement was cleanliness. Our room was not at an acceptable level of cleanliness upon arrival but this was quickly addressed. The swimming pool was also not properly cleaned on our first day but this seemed to improve as the week progressed. Our biggest problem was getting access to clean beach towels - it took 3 days of repeated attempts before we were successful in exchanging [... read more] our towels (they always ran out of clean towels).

Horrible Service!

Worst all inclusive experience ever. From the flight to the the resort. Horrible customer service everywhere. Flight had the worst attendants I have ever experienced. Stay away from Sunwing and Memories.

Passable - if your laid back

I booked this resort based on a visit at Memories in Santa Maria. This actual resort was not like the one in Santa Maria. The management was supportive and tried to fix things as soon as you notified them so that. The food was bare minimum and over half the things in various places were broken on specific days of the week. Ie. The fryer for fries, the toaster the cappuccino machine. Also they would "run out" of a lot of items just 30min after a restaurant opened. The a la carte: NOT worth it. Th [... read more]eir computer was broken the 1st two days we were there so they gave us bookings to the beach buffet which had nothing but dried over fried chicken and rock hard pork chops. Good luck at breakfast. Omelet station is PACKED. No variety what so ever. The kids club was amazing. I paid extra for extended hours and also hired the same staff member to come to our room to babysit for the night. They had fun activities such as the beach party which rocked, as well as the foam party in the pool and on the beach. The beach was nice we went snorkling paid the $20 cpu but was totally worth it. Not one of our worst vacations, but not one of the best either. We are quiet laid back so we let a whole lot of other things slide.

Beautiful resort, poor service

The resort is beautiful. Beach is lovely. Rooms are clean. However, the service is below average. Entertainment staff at the pool are very rude and unhelpful, as this is a huge resort and they laugh at you if you ask questions. After check out you are offered a room to shower and change, however, they have no one cleaning these rooms in between guests! Walked into the most disgusting mess when wanted to shower. Concierge staff acted as if nothing was wrong after I had voiced my concerns to them. [... read more] Overall, management and staff need to check their attitude and remember that rolling eyes at guests and being sarcastic is unacceptable in service industry. If this resort was managed better, it'd definitely be one my of favourites.

Good resort for money.

Nice stay with family of teenage kids. Lots going on all the time - large resort. Diamond club is a must. Food fine - nobody starved but nothing fantastic. Book restaurants as soon as you arrive they get booked up fast. Good staff. Overall good time.

Great Location!

The hotel rooms, bathrooms and grounds require renovation. Beds, bed spreads, and towels are looking old and smell dirty. Beach and pool chairs very dirty with birds droppings on it, also around the pool dirty tiles. I have never seen anyone cleaning the chairs or pool tiles. You can have a great coffee at the bar in the lobby and a very pleasant service too. However different story with the maid at least in the 25 building, water was a demand and scarce commodity, a few times I did not get the  [... read more]water, and she seems to be forgetting to put it in my room. I left her 1 pesos tip every morning, but I guess it was not enough for a good service. The fridge did not work and the patio door did not lock. I called the front desk and was told someone is coming, but did not show up at all. You get what you pay for. I paid $825 and no single supplement; it was the best price at the time of purchase. The food in the main restaurant was not bad, plenty and if you willing to stay in a line to get freshly baked pizza, meat or fish it was available. I ate whatever was available in the buffet as I hate lineups. There were plenty of fresh fruits and excellent deserts. Over all if you are going to relax for a week at no great expense it is a place to go, make sure you take your own towels and ask maid for water in the morning, otherwise you are not going to get it at all.

Cuba 2015

Its a good hotel. People at the buffet were very nice. The bar tender and the maids were amazing. The drink at the bar next to the lobby were awesome. The food was ok . the Italian restaurant" a la carte" was not good. THE beach and the pool are amazing and the room are clean.