Club Amigo Atlantico Guardalavaca: Excellent beaches and family fun!

Club Amigo is a personable, well laid out resort. The beaches are superb and you have your choice of the larger beach and two other smaller coves. You can snorkel from the beach as well. The hotel itself is older and a bit run down, but it is really all about the amazing staff and incredible beaches. The food is plain fare but plenty of it. Don't skip the ice cream!

Club Amigo Atlantico Guardalavaca: Great first trip to Cuba

I just returned from my first trip to the Caribbean. I took my two teenage Granddaughters to Cuba for Christmas. It was amazing. The resort was very nice - we did upgrade our room for a small fee. The beach was beautiful with wonderfully warm water. The food wasn't the best but we expected that so it wasn't a surprise. The staff were all very friendly and helpful. Overall it was a wonderful trip to a very nice resort.

Sol Turquesa Beach: resort was under renovations

The resort was being renovated. After hearing memories had just taken over a year ago we had diamond club which didn't make much difference. Not all alacart.restaurant. Were available I paid extra for a room upgrade and the sunwing rep said it should have been included in diamond club upgrade this is the third memories cuba I've been to in three years. The staff was awesome friendly as usual, but are still learning. Booking from here, my travel agent said there were only a couple seats available [... read more] for the extra three days to make it ten days. Cost me an extra $1435.00 But even we got there the resort was only at 20% occupied and the plane had plenty of empty seats

Club Amigo Atlantico Guardalavaca: enjoyed the sun

The resort staff were very rude to us, not all of them, but it was enough that it was memorable. Our room was dirty when we got there and they told us it wouldn't be cleaned until the next day. We went earlier in the season so most of the al la carte restaurants were closed and the ones that were open did not serve food any better than the main area to eat. The food overall was enjoyable. The water was safe to drink since it was filtered. The excursions were fun but the busses were consistently  [... read more]about 30 minutes late. The scenery was beautiful, the beach was nice although it's technically considered to be off the resort so the moment you go towards the ocean you have people trying to sell you stuff which can get irritating when you're just trying to swim. The weather was nice most of the time, it rained a few days but that obviously couldn't be helped. Overall the only thing I really liked about it was that the food and drink didn't make us sick and we got nice tans.

Paradisus Rio De Oro: Very Friendly Staff

The hotel was beautiful and the grounds were in fair to good shape. I liked the individual buildings that were looked after daily by efficient staff and I could trust that none of my valued items would be missing when I returned. This is a safe resort.

Club Amigo Atlantico Guardalavaca: good hotel very bad travel

We had a good time at the resort and our trip there went on schedule . Coming home was a nightmare.Last day we found out the our plane was going to be 5 hours late .The bus was now going to pick us up at 9pm instead of 5 pm . Bus didn't reach the hotel until 10:40pm, what a long day. we were told that our flight was now to at 01:00 the next morning . When we got to the airport it then changed to 02:20.I initially thought I would be getting home around 02:00 am. I got home for 08:00am. Last year  [... read more]I had a 09:00am flight out of Torornto to Mexico , when I got there I was told there was a 6hr delay. Starting to get nrevous about dealing with Sunwing.....2 times in a row they have upset my travels

Playa Pesquero: Big resort

Nice clean resort. Rooms were clean and big. Beautiful beach. Friendly staff. The only complaint I have is about the food. The choice of food is great it's the preparation of the food I had issues with. Mainly the cooking of the meat . Twice I had to stop the kids from eating their burger as it was not cooked properly. In fact I got sick and was in the room all day. So for the rest of the week we just ate pasta and french fries. I have been to many places in Cuba, Varadero, Cayo Coco, Cayo Santa [... read more] Maria and never had a problem. But in the past I have always stayed at a resort run by hotel chain from Spain and the playa pesquero is run by the Cuban government and unfortunately the difference is quite noticeable. All in all though we had a great time weather was great and resort is very nice. I will be going back to Cuba but to a different resort.

Sol Turquesa Beach: Great place! Amazing Food! Amazing Place!

We just got back and it was pretty great resort. Clean! Didnt bother going on excursions, still had a blast. Live show was entertaining, snack bar was okay but buffet food was great! The selection of food was pretty sweet! Wasnt really happy with the Nexus trip agent, wasnt informative at all. People at the desk do not look at you while talking to you, quite rude. Docking points because of them! Everyone else was great! Didnt have a mosquito problem, people may be exaggerating a bit.

Sol Turquesa Beach: Great Memories at the Memories Holguin!

Hotel Overall Unbelievable how clean this place was kept at all times. the grout between the tiles was cleaner outside, and everywhere, at this resort than my own bathroom. The staff are constantly cleaning the grounds to ensure that it stays picturesque. Size Memories is quite large. I remember reading this in some reviews prior to my departure and it is 100% true. When checking in, try to ask the concierge for a room closer to the pools or beach, otherwise you will regret the long walks. Foo [... read more]d I've been to Veradaro before and the food there was terrible. So bad that I brought two bottles of hot sauce with me this time fearing the same fate. However, I never used it even once. With that being said, I went to a few of the a la cart restaurants and they were underwhelming. You will be better off just sticking to the dinner buffet as there is great variety and they make some killer stir-frys. Also, use some common sense. Don't go to the Italian restaurant in Cuba and expect to blown away. You are Cuba...in an Italian restaurant. Think about it. Beach The beach is nice, but not the best one I have ever been on. Mind you I am comparing it to places like Thailand. The ONLY knock on the beach was that there was sea weed in the water. I read that this year (2015) was part of a 5 year cycle where the ocean has larger than normal blooms of sea weed so that could have been the reason. Staff The staff are by far the best part of this resort. They are incredibly friendly and will go out of their way to get to know you and make sure your trip is as enjoyable as possible. If there is one reason that I would ever go back to Memories it would hands down be to see the staff that made my trip so memorable.

Club Amigo Atlantico Guardalavaca: beautiful place.........lousy atmosphere

I arrived on site at 7 in the evening and booked into my room. Upon entering,there was an extreme odor of humidity and mold. There was a band of mold around the room about 12 inches high. I had specified queen bed but there were two singles in the room. ı went into the bathroom and when I flushed,there was a squealing for about 10 minutes from the toilet. Next to the T.V. It worked but the remote didn't so I went to the front desk to change rooms. They told me that there were none available til [... read more]l 2 P.M. the next day so I stayed the night in the room. The next day, i managed to change rooms but they charged me an upgrade. when I told the lady that it was not my fault that there were no more rooms available to me,she replied....it is not my fault either.......I paid.I understand that the resort is a 3 and a half stars so I accepted what that meant. the food was good but not a lot of choice. The service was not great. The worst thing that i encountered really bad was the aggressiveness of the people there. Lots of confrontations including myself on 3 occasions. The bar was small and not a lot of choice.Service was slow. On the beach we had to pay for drinks and food which I had never encountered in other places in Holguin. when this was calculated into the cost,it was the same price as going to a 4 star hotel. I don't like to complain because I understand the difference between a 3 star and a 5 star hotel in Cuba.

Playa Pesquero: Excellent value!

Lovely grounds and pools; excellent beach and room; drinks were plentiful; food was average, though you can improve your dining by focusing on the food stations: custom omelet/pasta/salad/steak/seafood, prepared just the way you like it!

Playa Pesquero: Not Bad

Overall this resort was ok. We arrived and were surprised to have our room upgraded and were checked in fairly quickly. There was a lengthy wait to get help to get to our room with our luggage. Once we arrived to our room, we had everything we needed. Nothing fancy but all the necessities. We did have an issue with our fridge but it was resolved fairly quickly. The beach was much less then expected for Cuba. It was over crowded, water was rocky and dropped of very quickly, Which for us was not  [... read more]ideal for our two young children. We spent most of our days at the pool, Which was never overly crowded and the kids enjoyed it. The food wasn't bad at first. Unfortunately, dinner wasn't served anywhere until 6:30 pm. This became extremely difficult with our young children that were exhausted from busy days in the sun. Needless to say our dinners were always rushed and full of cranky kids. We were not able to go to the included a la cartes because the timing was not child friendly. The food at the buffet was repetitive and by the end of the week the kids actually refused to eat because they were no longer enjoying it. That being said, no one had any issues with being ill from the food. The resort was very large which became troublesome for the kids as it was a lengthy walk to anywhere from our room. There were golf carts that drove around the resort for transportion but they were unpredictable and rarely available. Overall, we had a nice time but we made this choice because it was pitched as a great place for families and kids. There were a number of things that made it challenging for our family with young children (5 and 1yrs old). It may have been a different experience if our kids were older.

Playa Pesquero: Tired

Hotel was very tired. Needs to be cleaned and painted. Lots of fried food, if you like that. Very little in the way of fresh fruit and vegetables. Excellent coffee bar. Nice beach. Good weather and temperature.

Playa Costa Verde: Good Resort for the Money

My husband and I just returned from our 3 stay at Playa Costa Verde and it wont be our last. The staff do everything they can to make your stay with them one to remember. The food is variable, after 3 years of coming to Cuba we realize that they don't have the consistent variety that we have at home. That being said we enjoyed our meals there. The grounds are well kept and the beach and water are amazing.

Brisas Guardalavaca: really nice stay

really love that we can walk around hotel, the food is very good & the staff very friendly It was our fourth year at the resort & always cannot wait to go back I will recommend this resort to my friends

Sol Turquesa Beach: Enormous Resort

There were five of us looking for a last minute, reasonably priced tropical vacation. Memories, Holguin was the cheapest available for the week of December 5th to 12th of 2015. Two in our party have been to Holguin before, the Blau Costa Verde and Playa Pesquero resort. So we were comfortable with choosing the Memories resort as it was only one beach to the east from beautiful Playa Pesquero beach. The resort is enormous, and it seems even bigger when you consider the whole thing is built on a  [... read more]hill so you are constantly walking up and down hills, up and down stairs. I wouldn't recommend the resort for people with mobility issues. If you are able bodied it is fine. The rooms were a big run down, termite damage to doors, ants in room, etc. The accommodations were adequate though and the maid service was great. Weird thing though, my fiance and I had a room with two single beds. So did my sister and nephew and our friend Mike. I've never seen a resort with single beds, made my fiance and I feel like we were the Flintstone's sleeping single. Note, mini bar is re-stocked daily with water only. If you are hoping for pop or booze in your room, you will need to tip the guy making the water rounds daily. For a buck he gave us beer and pop destined for the 'VIP Rooms'. Pools were great, many levels of pools and all different depths. Just be prepared that there is no washroom close to the swim-up bar. You can either trek down a bunch of steps to the bathroom located near the towel exchange or trek up a LOT of steps to the 24 hour bar. The beach is beautiful and the waters calm. But not as nice as Playa Pesquero beach. The reason, lots of grasses growing in the water and you can feel them between your toes. I also stepped on a lot of sharp pieces of rock or coral. Restaurants, we tried the Seafood one, none of us liked it. The Italian, was excellent. The Romantico was excellent. The buffet was mediocre and there seemed to be shortages of everything. There was only bacon one day in the week we were there, and tomatoes only two days. If you order a club sandwich, it's just ham and cheese. 24 hour restaurant isn't really 24 hours and they run out of hamburgers some days. The breads everywhere were excellent. Best server in the buffet is Luidmilla, everyone else was mediocre. Nightly entertainment is okay, loved the Grease show and the mock cirque de soliel show. We missed the water ballet show. Some points to note that can really ruin your vacation here, the mosquitoes were HORRIBLE. Each of us had over 100 bites each. And we had bug repellent. And there are about 40 stray cats around the resort and so we all had flea bites as well. I wanted so bad to smuggle the gimpy cat with the missing foot back to Canada. Poor little devil. If you are going to rest and relax this place is great for you. If you are looking for something exciting and with awesome food, this is not the place for you.

Club Amigo Atlantico Guardalavaca: Great!

Food was great for cuba, crystal clear waters, could'nt ask for anything more. I didn't except such cleanliness at the resort and I was shocked. So many restaurants to choose from. Best of all... the staff!!

Club Amigo Atlantico Guardalavaca: great time

Hotel was clean, food had a lot of variety and there was lots of activities, eg. Minnie put competitions, ping pong competitions, bingo, dance lessons, morning yoga and even a drink making competition every day. Jeep excursion was a lot of fun.

Paradisus Rio De Oro: amazing resort

First they are saying a 5 star but i would rate it a 4, just because it needs a little TLC all around, beside that the food was excellent we are a la carte people but stayed at the buffet all week so many choices and was good. The rooms always clean, the service was excellent from maid, bartender, ground people always with a smile on theire face. Entertainement was excellent starting with the before shows to the main one.

Sol Rio de Luna y Mares: Good resort with tremendous staff!

We’ve been to Cuba (all over) thirteen times and this was our first at Sol Rio de Luna y Mares, but won’t be our last. It was a great two week stay! When we first arrived late in the evening, there was water on the floor of our room that was leaking from the overhead air conditioning unit, but maintenance staff were very quick to address the issue and when it was determined that it was something could not be taken care of right away, we were quickly moved to another room on the main floor a [... read more]nd then to our ocean view room the following day. The resort is divided into two sections (Luna and Mares) and we were in the Mares area, which is the busier (as it is near the main lobby and buffet restaurant) and lively area. It is however not so lively that noise ever disturbed us in the late evening when we wanted to get to sleep in our room. We had the extreme pleasure of being in a fourth floor ocean view room. The room itself was nothing fancy, a little “tired”, but was spotlessly clean! The housekeeping staff were wonderfully attentive and aside from cleaning, replaced a bottle of water daily! Some rooms in our area were undergoing renovations during our stay and I understand that many in the Luna section have been as well. We hope that the hotel owners and management continue to make this a priority. We very much enjoyed the food in all restaurants there. The variety of well-prepared fresh food in the buffet was a pleasant surprise. Our favourite section was fish grilling station (we visited it every lunch and dinner while there!) had five varieties of fish and calamari which the friendly staff selected, seasoned and grilled according to your wishes. Breakfast featured prepared hot and cold food, along with both fresh omelette and Spanish tortilla stations, along with a wide array of foods, such as cereals, pancakes, French toast, sausages, cheeses, cold cuts, fresh fruits, juices and yogurt. Lunch and dinner were comparably good. We enjoyed all of the à la carte restaurants (French, Mediterranean, Italian and Mexican), with the French being our favourite. We heard a couple of people complaining about the food, but when we asked them for specifics, it became very obvious to us that they were the types that have to always complain about something. We have veryy high standards as far as food goes and had no complaints whatsoever about what was served at Sol Rio de Luna y Mares. During our thirteen stays in Cuba at a variety of service-level resorts, we think that the food variety, presentation and service overall at Sol Rio were the best. We were at a five star resort in Mexico last year and it did not have the wide selection that Sol Rio provided. I must also say that the organized fashion in which the à la cartes are booked (one person dedicated exclusively to bookings) is also the best we’ve experienced. The grounds were very well maintained by a hard working crew and very beautiful. The beach is truly something to behold. Very long, wide and natural, with beautiful white sand. Perfect for walking, swimming and snorkelling, as well as paddle boating, kayaking, wind surfing, volleyball etc., which are all available. It wasn’t crowded and there were plenty of palapas and lounge chairs, as was the case with the main pool. The staff will take you out on a Hobie-type catamaran too, which gives you a great view looking back at the coastline and resort. Although there are live shows each evening, we only took in the aqua ballet, which was tremendous, as well as the fashion show. We preferred the more quiet area of the Luna section during the evening, where there is always a guitarist, pianist, flautist, singer or some other form of very tranquil entertainer performing. Every Friday afternoon, “Cuban Day” is celebrated at the Mares section, with a roast whole pig, drink mixing lessons, coffee roasting, dancing and a few other activities. Even on rainy days, the animation staff did a great job in keeping the guests entertained with plenty of things to watch or participate in. Although we didn’t take part in any day excursions, there are several available, ranging from bus and catamaran tours to hiking to nearby attractions. We rented a motor scooters a couple of times to tour the countryside and the surrounding roads are in quite good condition for that kind of activity. Every staff member we encountered during our stay was extremely and genuinely polite, friendly and helpful! Truly outstanding!!! Various travel and tour company brochures we have seen rate Sol Rio de Luna y Mares as 3.5 to 4 stars, but in my opinion the staff definitely move it upward a notch! We recommend that you bring a reusable thermal plastic cup or mug for getting drinks at the beach and pool bars. Otherwise, you are served drinks in small disposable plastic cups there. From an environmental standpoint, I invite you to think about the amount of plastic waste that produces. We are talking about a relatively small (compared with some) resort of approximately 464 rooms. At full capacity, if everyone there (at two persons per room) used just six plastic cups each daily (and they probably use more), it would amount to 5568 cups per day, or 2032320 (yes, two million, thirty two thousand, three hundred and twenty) cups per year. Pretty alarming, when you consider that they are derived from petroleum and end up in a landfill site or burned after only just one use!!! We went to Sol Rio de Luna y Mares with realistic expectations, open minds and had two wonderful weeks. We hope to return in the not-too-distant future! Did I mention that the staff were great?!! I can’t say it enough!