Not too shabby

This was our first time staying in Cayo Santa Maria. We chose the Ocean Casa Del Mar as it was one of the newer hotels and the reviews weren't too bad. First the positives: The resort itself is situated on more of the natural part of the beaches in Cayo Santa Maria and you can definitely see it. Part of the beach is narrow so if you go early morning or late evening you will get high tide. The beach is naturally beautiful and the water is crystal blue. The pools are nicely done with a few [... read more] cabanas and ample chairs. They are kept clean as well. The weather was AMAZING!!! We went in mid-May during the start of their rainy season. We lucked out and there was not one drop of rain. Additionally when we went as well the resort wasn't busy at all. Almost like we had the place to ourselves!!! Because it wasn't busy it led to great service. The restaurants weren't busy and we had no issues with waiting at the buffet, a la cartes, bars or cafes!!! I wanted to give a special shout to Alexi, Madigiel, Yoel, Yunio, and Yudesky. By far they were our best servers for food and drinks and they treated us great. Remember that these folks live on tips and once you tip, they remember you and give you great service. Our maid service was amazing. We tipped her a peso each day and we would come back to great towel art and little notes of appreciation for it. Rooms were kept clean and spotless each time we had turn down. Thanks again Yamilet!!!! The entertainment staff was great. They made the most with what they had to entertain us with. They had daily competecions which got everybody involved. They chatted us up as well and we made great friends with Yoa. Thanks again for making the stay great. The food was average as expected but not bad as many pan Cuban food at hotels. The buffet wasn't bad for food but it mostly was the same. The a la cartes are first come first serve. I would recommend going early at 6:30 when it opens for if you later it can be challenging to get in. The food at Origami was by far our favorite. It was the Asian resto and was quite yummy so much so that we went 3x during our stay. We also went to Limoncello. Was okay for Italian food. Didn't get a chance to see the Mediterranean or Creole resto. Didn't know where to find it actually. Found it one day while walking the whole resort. As for drinks....YAH!!! They don't slouch. Cuba Libres were my go too and they were hella good and strong!!! If you wantes coffee or an aperatif, Mike's Coffee was our go to. Great cappucinos and espessos!!! Now to the negatives: The buffet advertised different theme nights.....however the food was the same night in and night out. If you advertising Asiatic or Italian or BBQ then give us that type of food but don't have the same food each dinner. I would also put the Creole and Med restos to where the Playa Ranchon resto is located. It was never used and only relegated to Privelege guests for romantic dinners. I would have everything centralized in one spot rather than keeping it hidden. The resort also has no elevators. All the building are three storeys and with stairs. You basically have to get a bellboy to bring your luggage up to the room. Speaking of the bellboys and others who were driving the carts around, I would recommend to slow a bit down. They fly around the resort in them, and if they don't happen to pay attention, it could cause an accident!!! Finally we did have some tech issues with our room. First night we got there the power went out in our room because of a sensor on the balcony door. That followed by the room to our door not locking. However we got our maintenance guy to come and fix it and he fixed it swiftly. We also had an issue with the safe and not being able to open it. Once we notified guest services though we got it taken care of. The flight was with Westjet and it was great as usual. Transfer from the airport was safely done by Transgaviota. Sunquest vacays did a great job with the package and word to the wise: Take the VIP lounge at the airport. It is worth it!!! Would we go back again. Absolutely!!! Definitely there is room to improve but I am sure they will learn gradually from our reviews!!!!

Beautiful Beach. Horrible Customer Relations

Overall our experience at Ocean Casa Del Mar was positive. I would likely not return due to the size of the resort and the poor customer service. I also do not believe the resort can handle the amount of patrons if it was at full capacity. Pros: - The most beautiful beach I have ever seen. Crystal clear water, tropical fish swimming around, white sands. It was perfection! - Decent drinks. Best Mojitos ever! - The food was quite enjoyable. The Buffet does become repetitive however there is  [... read more]always fresh meat, fish and pasta to be made. - Pool and grounds are well maintained and beautiful. This is a newer resort and in a few years I am sure the foliage will be even more beautiful. - Amazing service from the staff at the buffet (especially Daniel and Russo!). - Housekeeping is thorough and always leaving nice towel designs in your room (Thank you Yenier!). - No issues with beach towel exchange, we got fresh ones every few days. Cons: - Worst customer service at the front reception, guest services etc. Basically anything on the top floor. Hopefully you have no issues at this resort, if so, good luck having them resolved. - Hours of Operation - do not exist. The bank is scheduled to be open from 8:00am to 8:00pm and it took us 2 days to get pesos because it was either out of money or not open at all. Similar issue with the internet cards. - We arrived rather early on our first day and our meeting with our rep was not until the following day. We have no idea where to find food, the beach etc.. We were dropped off at our room and left to fend for ourselves. - Snack bar on our side of the resort was not open during the day, therefore we always went to the buffet or took a long walk to the other side. Tips: - Change your money at the airport to ensure you have pesos - Internet will work in your room (it did in ours which was building 18) - Buffet and A La Cartes usually open 10-15 minutes past when they should be. If you tip a waiter well the first day he/she will go out of their way to seat you right away. - Bring comfortable shoes - there is a lot of walking - Located 10-15 minutes away (walking) is a shopping center where you can buy artifacts, clothing etc. - Speaking Spanish or French is an asset at this resort.

Great Santa Maria resort

We went at the start of May which is off-season at the resort. As such, it wasn't too busy and we never had to wait in the buffet or at any a la carte restaurants. The resort is only a year old so it has a nice modern design. The pools and beach were great. However, watch for the rocks in the water -- when it is wavy you can't see them and they are very sharp. When the water is calm, the beach is great and you can snorkel and see plenty of fish right at the resort's beach. The food was typ [... read more]ical of Cuba. Decent selection but the buffet is the same every day. The Origami Asian restaurant was our best meal of the week -- highly recommend it. Also, Mike's Café has great drinks and awesome service! Finally, all of the staff we dealt with were very friendly and helpful.

Resort was beautiful

I really enjoyed my stay at Ocean. The rooms were clean and the staff was (for the most part) friendly. The beach was a little too small (not much sand). The mosquitos were brutal. The wifi was a rip off though. You will have to purchase an hour pre paid wifi card that usually doesn't really give you an hour and the wifi is usually not working at all.The gym was also great and there was a really nice worker handing out water and towels and spotting you while you lifted. I would stay there again  [... read more]but I would make sure to bring some good walking shoes because it is very large. Be prepared to do A LOT of walking.

Great Resort

Although we only got to enjoy 5 and a half days due to Cubana air flight delay the resort was great. The food was more than adequate, lots of choice. A la cartes service was ok but the food served did not reflect the menu. The bar servers were courteous and very efficient.(Thank you Yireni) Our room was clean and comfortable. (Thank You Georje in Privilege building #9) Good entertainment, many activities by the pool. Massage therapy not worth the money. Beach has beautiful sand not enough shad [... read more]e and no bathrooms close by. No attendant available to rent scooters or cars.(Hit and miss) The grounds were well maintained. We happened to be at the resort when the mosquitoes were at their peak. Smogging during the day seemed ineffective and a health concern. We would rate this resort a 3.5 star.

Wonderful resort

The staff were amazing, the beach and pool were unbelievable and the hotel room was impeccable. Overall such a wonderful experience. Even the food was impressive- so much choice and you could tell the effort put into each and every dish.

Great vacation!

After reading some mixed reviews I was nervous with what to expect, but our stay was great, this resort met our expectations. Food was as good as expected, having been to Cuba before. The grounds (landscaping) needs some work but the beach is beautiful and that's why we go! All in all, we have no real complaints. This was a typical Cuban 4 star resort.

Average experience

This hotel appears to be modern in design but disappointing on cleanliness and needs a lot of TLC. The pool sizes are great and there is plenty of seating but again needs to be cleaned. Always empty glasses everywhere and needs many minor repairs. The beach are is beautiful but very narrow and rocky. The food was average. Staff very friendly and attentive.

Nice Beach

Room was great with a nice big walk-in shower. It's a newish resort so things are not fully grown yet. When walkways and hard surfaces are wet they are very slippery. Pools are nice with plenty of lounge chairs and shade. The beach was long and narrow with lots of chairs and palapas. The problem is the food and restaurants. There is no reservations for à la carte restaurants which makes for long line ups. The buffet does not open untill 6:30pm for supper and there was a line up for that too [... read more], and often the food was cold.

Decent resort

My fiancé and I were here last summer and loved it. We brought our family last week and noticed a lot had gone downhill - service was poor, grounds not kept up properly, our room keys wouldn't work on a daily basis, snack bar selection and service was atrocious. Two of the snack bar waitresses were downright rude and the buffet wait staff did not offer drinks nearly enough- my four year old would be done eating his meal and still not have a cup of water offered to him. A la carte restaurant by  [... read more]the beach only offered to privelige customers - not happy about that. We had reserved a table for 13 at another a la carte and they gave our table away and ended up seating us at different tables. Overall beach and pools were great but service so terrible we will not be returning

Only Fair!

The resort was only average...it was too big with not enough staff. The rooms were clean and maid staff were good, however they often ran out of clean towels so you could go days without any fresh linen. Customer service was very poor. We asked to be in a room in the same block as our friends and both our travel agent and transit rep requested it...out transat rep even wrote us a note indicating that it was all arranged, however when we checked in they did now acknowledge knowing anything about  [... read more]it and put us at the opposite end of the resort. There are no reservations for the a la carte restaurants so you can wait upwards of an hour or be told there was simply no room. You may be served quickly and efficiently or wait hours for a meal. The buffet was terrible, not enough staff with very long wait times for food. We were upgraded to the privilege section which meant we could have breakfast and lunch in a separate restaurant...the food was good there and the service excellent even though there were only 2 staff working...Rachel and Desriel. They were awesome! They had a wonderful coffee bar and the beach was beautiful. Many people were taking towels and chairs on the beach that others had reserved in the mornings so don't count on that working. Most days you could not get a new beach towel as they ran out of laundered ones. The resort would be great if there were enough staff and supplies for them. I would not go back nor would I recommend this resort to others.

3 star at best

DONOT pay for privilege at this resort it is not worth the upgrade! This resort was a big disappointment. We had 6 rooms with everyone that we travelled with! To start we all had to get our key cards reactivated every single day for every single room and no security check to see if we were actually from that room. Our room was missing ceiling tiles and we could see the lovely pipes and wires. We were on the main level, there was no lock on the sliding door and when we requested it be fixed the f [... read more]ront desk lady responded in Spanish. The food was disgusting and every person out of 13 people were sick atleast one day. I had wire in one of my meals! The Air Canada rep Levan was useless and did not want to help at all. The pool we found metal springs, the grates at the bottom of the pool were missing and most chairs were broken. We saw animacion driving around in there little golf cart but never saw them do anything. We travelled to this resort specifically because my brother was there last year and they could not believe how quickly this resort went downhill! On a positive note the beach was beautiful To sum it up if you like easy entrance to your room and food poisoning stay here!

Great beach, resort not so much

Bartenders and drinks were good, awesome cappuccino and coffee. Resort fairly new and modern, but not very clean. Trash rarely picked up off the ground by staff. Straws and cups floating around the pools regularly. Food not so great, buffet loud, dirty and not very tasty(even by cuban standards). Not very many activities day or night - lots on the activity board but not much of it actually happened. Would not go back. (First time I have felt that way about a resort)

Great Resort!

Excellent value for the price, upgrading to priveledge is not worth the money but for us it was included in price. Pools and beach are to die for, very very well kept resort. Little far from airport but didn't mind the scenic drive, let's you see other parts of the country. Currency exchange always had long line and never had one dollar bills. Ice cream is dairy free and bring ketchup! Wifi is absolutely awful only got on three times in a week! No night life, more of a resort for couples or olde [... read more]r people not students. Hardly anywhere to find souvenirs and market has only 5-6 tables!

Large Resort

Beach is narrow and most of the time the tide was in thereby making the beach narrower still. Everything is spread out and because the resort is so large the staff don't get to know you like the smaller resorts. Lots of confusion and miscommunication with staff, being sent to wrong location. Overall resort was okay not a 4.5 star resort, maybe a 3.

Ocean Casa Del Mar Cayo Santa Maria Cuba

Grounds were nice and well maintained, gardens still growing in, will be very nice in a few years. Check in was fast and was easy to get a bell boy to provide a ride to the room. We did not get a king bed as requested and the bathroom did not have a proper stand up shower, only a tub with a hand held sprayer. (tub was jet tub, but not what we desire when travelling, we prefer proper showers). turns out the hand held shower head did not work due to previous occupant broke the knob. We requested a [... read more] new room which took a couple days, but we got room with a large stand up shower (still no king bed though).After that we had no room issues, maid service was excellent and mini bar was restocked daily. The option for previlage is not worth the extra cost. people we spoke to who had it did not get all the services privilage is supposed to get you. we did fine without it. (hint: if you tip well, you will get most what you need, like "privilage" alcohol at the bar.) You cannot reserve a la cart dinners, you need to line up, 1st time we've experienced this at an all inclusive, needless to say we did not eat at all a la cart restaraunts. we had a terrible experience at the seafood a la cart, Neptune, we lined up at 8:00 pm, were seated by about 8:30, only got 1 glass of water and wine, and no one took our order, we waited for almost 1 hour before walking out at 9:30 to make the buffet before it closed. we tried to get someone's attention but they didn't seem to care. We tried the japenese a la cart, origami, and the wait was not long and food and service decent. You'll need to line up an hour early for the italian. Buffet was decent most times. long wait lines though for fresh grilled beef and chickin, seafood, pasta bars. service was prompt for beverages if you get a good section, all service staff were good, we found a good spot and kept to it for all meals. Mike's coffee bar, superb! excellent coffee and service by all, Yoel was awseome,always served us with a smile and promptely and was always pleasant. The main bar: is very busy most evening, all the bar tenders worked hard to ensure everyone got served. Shout out to Louis and Oscar, you guys rocked! Two pools, we prefered the "west" pool, seemed to be more action there, (entertainment or animation staff we great), Edel at the bar was awsome. Pool maintenance could have been better, ie: pool deck and pool floor were not "vacuumed" entire two weeks we were there. (that we could see anyway). Filtration and chlorination were evident. There is a snack bar at both pools, both were good, the east pool snack bar (and bar) is open 24 hours. Beach was good, ocean was beautiful, the west beach snack bar and bar service very good, try the chicken and veggies there. We did not take part in many evening shows, but we liked to get a seat by the fountains at the main bar people watch. Main building was always clean, bright and tended to. night time path way lighting was minimal, bring a flashlight. All in all we had good time, yes some minor complaints, seems some people were having a worse time than us, but for the value, for us for two weeks, it was well worth it. look beyond the minor issues and enjoy the sun, the beach and the pools. the staff were very friendly and did what they could to make our stay enjoyable and memorable.

Beautiful Resort!

Beautuful, clean resort. Food was as expected for Cuba, the beach is not so great. There were parts of the beach that was very rocky. Service was average, depends on who was serving you. We got the Privilege package which gives us a separate check-in that did not happened. We didn't get the room in the Privilege building, which was ok, since these rooms didn't have showers. The Privilege package, however, did give us a lobster dinner & access to the beautiful spa next to the hotel along with a  [... read more]free massage. My disappointment was with the a-la-carte restaurants. Normally, you would make reservations, however, for some silly reason, Oceans decided to do a first come first serve, which means people had to line up if they want to eat a-la-carte. We did not line up & did the Buffett all week. Overall, it was good value for the money.

Terrible

This hotel is terrible.. the food was not good at all, the beach wasn't any better. The staff didn't seem to know what they were doing! the ala cartel restaurants don't have a system yet, had to wait in line up for at least 1-1/2hr and you might not get in. i wouldn't recommend this hotel at all.

Very peaceful and relaxing vacation

This hotel just opened recently so has all the new fixtures. The pools are so blue like just on the pictures, place is very clean, the town market place is a 10 minute walk. overall highly recommended

Never again

This was one the the worst resorts i have been to, the food was terrible, you can tell there was no effort into it, fruit was almost rotten! the beach was also very rocky and dirty, lots of cabanas knocked down for the amount of time this hotel has been up its already falling apart. the ala carte restaurants, you have to wait about 1hr and that doesn't guarantee you'll be eating there, they only have so much food so we were told, so you'll have to come back tm, and line up again. i wouldn' [... read more]t even go back if this was down to the lowest price. the best part of this trip was getting a tan, the entrainment was really good. this place needs more staff and smiles they all look miserable with the exception of the entrainment team. I'm also surprised transat would have anything with this resort for anytime i have flown with transat the resorts have been pretty good.