Well Worth the Money!

While this was our first time at a resort, we felt as though it was well worth the $788 that we spent for our 5 day vacation. We ran into a few bumps along the way, in the first few days; items such as water and beach towels were supposed to be in our room upon arrival, yet it took us quite some time to finally receive them. We heard from other guests as well that their rooms were missing small items when they arrive, such as soap or towels. Once we had this sorted out, it was fine! The  [... read more]food was fairly basic but still great! Although if we had stayed much longer than 5 days, we most likely would have gotten sick of the same types of food every day at the buffets. Ocean Casa del Mar is fairly new so they have a few things to improve on (ie. better maps or signs to help you figure out where to get to for activities, restaurants etc.) The front desk, room service, and customer service employees were all very polite and helpful. The pools were very clean, as well as the beaches. We were a little surprised by how narrow the sand portion of the beach was, but it was okay. Definitely recommend taking advantage of the included activities such as kayaking and catamaran sailing (bring your own snorkel gear if you want to do that for free). If you are looking for a decent hotel in Cuba, this would be it. However although it is 5 star, it does not compare to 5 stars in other countries.

Nice

Think too big for me. To busy with lines especially waiting for food but very friendly staff & clean. Needed toilet paper. clean towels Tks for the complimentary bottle rum Too long bus ride fr airport for me but others may not mind!!!

Terrible resort

Food terrible and below Cuban standard. Grounds dark at night. I am recovering from 2 total knee replacements and hurt myself badly walking at night. Ground area was not lighted. Very dark and dangerous. I was not able to leave room for two full days. I am still in pain. Many complaints from others. I could go on and on. Many thefts on resort, no food or bathrooms on beach. Do yourself a favour and go elsewhere. Ocean Casa Del Mar is a disaster. Stay away!

Okay

Beach was narrow and rocky. Bathrooms are not near the beach. Unfortunately it was windy all week so spent a lot of time at the pool. Lots of lineups for restaurants, snack bar and buffet - areas very crammed. Food was repetitive. Staff worked very hard but understaffed.

Great Vacation

Very nice resort. Lobby was great lots of room to sit and relax service was great. Rooms were very nice, clean , lot of room. Need to work on there grounds. New resort but too much open space , not very mature. Also the section between the rooms and the beach. Too large a space to have nothing.. Looks like a desert.

Friendly Staff

This hotel has lovely grounds, and very clean. I found the beach okay compared to Varadero. Loved Mike's cafe however I did find the food at the A La Carte's either warm or cold. Staff throughout very friendly and helpful.

2nd time to this resort

This was our second trip to Ocean Casa del Mar. We were there last August (2016) for two glorious weeks and this time (March (2017) for one week. The beach is amazing, but was different from the last time we were there. Food was great, always have the chefs prepare the white bass for me. This time around they only had the shrimp once at the buffet, little disappointed and not much salmon this time around. We did enjoy our very first lobster dinner. Rooms are good, they could spend a lit [... read more]tle more time cleaning as I noticed the counter in bathroom had not been really cleaned all week by the maid and think the sheets were just moved around everyday to make it look like they were changed. No issues with bugs this time around like August, there was a beautiful warm breeze the whole week. Spent sometime at the pool and never any issues finding a chair there or the beach. Entertainment was okay, we have been to Cuba 6 times in the past three years and have seen the shows. We did enjoy the Michael Jackson show last August, saw it twice in the two weeks we were there and were really disappointed that they did not do Thriiller this time for Michael Jackson. As always the Cubans are the best entertainers though compared to Dominican and Jamaica. The staff are amazing and we were treated like royalty, Magdiel in the buffet was superb and always had a table waiting for us. It was really nice that they remembered us from last year. The whole resort was open this time too and nice to see it all. The drive is not that bad, but we were delayed leaving Halifax and never got to the resort until early Saturday morning and we were suppose to be there Friday night by 11, a little disappointing.

Ok for the price - but lots of quirk to work out

Rooms are beautiful and clean. Beach a bit small. Pools are great. Plenty of chairs. Staff amazing. Food is below average for Cuba. Options are limited -long line ups and wait time especially for a la carte restaurants. Pool towels were rare.

Beautiful resort

We did not get our accommodation together families were split up in different villas even if requested previously. Beach was beautiful but a bit hard to navigate for older folks. Line ups for food was long even in the buffet and no prebooking for the a la carte restaurants. Entertaining was good. Dancers were very good. Service and food was mediocre For the price it wasn't too bad

2 star resort

Rooms were nice, but no shower. Food wasn't good- long waits. My phone was stolen from my room by a staff and they told me they couldn't do anything about it Priveliage has no meaning, everything they said that comes with it did not. Pools were probably the nicest part of the resort.

Customer Service needs so much work... long line ups ut beautiful resort

The hotel itself is beautiful. customer service is awful. we requested rooms in the same building as we booked at the same time with family and we were placed in building 16 and building 6 . so that was the start. changes took forever .. and the rooms were not always up to par.. one room low water pressure and water would not drain right. food not so great and long line ups for everything. I have no idea why trip central would have this as a gold star and would advise anyone to go here. we just  [... read more]made the most of the situation... beach was windy and water rocky and a bit rough for families and the elderly. my worst beach in Cuba.

Better than I expected

In fairness, this was the first time we stayed at a multi pool holiday complex. So it was much busier than we expected. The wifi did not work which has resulted in me spending a lot on data because I have to stay in touch with an aging parent daily. That would prevent me from ever going back. The people were very nice and the room was clean. Although there were a number of items broken including the jacuzzi jets which flooded our room on the first day. The food wasn't great but we were able to g [... read more]et decent breakfast at the privelege restaurant. For the money it was fine, but as mentioned above I would not return because of the difficulty with communicating back home.

So So

The resort is pretty new so the grounds are very barren still. Otherwise ,it is pretty and fairly clean. Upon arrival we had no towels, nothing in our mini bar (including no water to drink),and the safe did not work. Nothings was rectified until the following day . This was very frustrating. I had to buy an open bottle of water from a women on the front desk so I could have a little drinking water in my room. The beach is second to none . Amazing.

Absolutely stunning

Got home from Ocean Cass del Mar last sat and have been extremely busy to write a review .So today I had some time first off I'm gonna say this is an amazing resort .We enjoyed every min of our vacation .Even though this is a fairly new resort the grounds are absolutely beautiful the gardeners have worked so hard to make this place a gem .The pools I'd say are extremely beautiful always plenty of chairs to be had .Their is no need to get up early and put your towel out .Actually made me kinda ma [... read more]d one day as I seen 8 chairs being taken by towels all day and no one their the whole time .Really if your gonna to this make sure your their to enjoy the pool .The stafff at Ocean Casa Del Mar will go out of their way to make your stay absolutely stunning .We got the pleasure to chat with a few and I can say we walked away with some good friends .Yunier and Pape were amazing right from day one .The other 2 girls at the pool bar were amazing as well .One afternoon we were getting a drink made and my husband recognized a girl working behind the counter he says where have we meet her before we'll be had the pleasure of meeting her 3 years ago at another resort .Way to go Ocean Casa Del Mar for getting such an outstanding person to come work you she is absolutely wonderful ( Yireni Rodriquez ).Your staff make this place really feel like home .The food was delicious we never went Hungary .The beach is stunning and plenty of room for everyone .The entertainment team was absolutely wonderful as well they sure like to get people involved in the activities I had the pleasure of participating it was a great afternoon .I could go on and on ,so folks if your looking for a great vacation spot Ocean Casa Del Mar is the place to go you will feel like your truly at home .We have already decided that we will be returning next year .

Nice resort, but needs improvements

My husband and I stayed at the Ocean Casa del Mar from March 31-April 11, 2017. First impression was that this resort had everything we were looking for. Its fairly new and lobby was spacious, bright and had a view of the water, very picturesque. When we booked our trip we were told we had the "Privilege package" which gave us certain perks. Nice! Well when we got to the resort we were told to go to the "privilege" line up that it would be quicker. Wrong, it was total chaos. The people checki [... read more]ng us in had no idea where some of our check in information was, they could not find our packages with our keys. Finally after about an hour or so of waiting we get to our room and we didn't have a shower. Apparently the "privilege" rooms have jacuzzi tubs and no shower. We complained and they finally gave us a new room with a shower which was great but we had a leak in the closet and after 3 days of complaining about the leak they changed us to another room. We had no hot water and the hairdryer burnt out on me. It took them quite a while to resolve the issue and our fridge was completely empty for 3 days. I had to ask our maid if I could get some water and she supplied it for me. By Friday April 7th I was in my room at 11:40pm in bed when I heard some guests coming down the hall and stopped right at my door and were able to get in with a key that reception had issued them. Imagine my surprise!!! My keys no longer worked and the next morning reception told me that I had "checked out". How could I have checked out if I was suppose to be there till Tuesday April 11th. They issued me new keys and never apologized or greeted us with a smile. I told our Hola Sun rep. about our experience and she was very apologetic and tried to see if she could rectify some of the issues but there is only so much she can do. The Hola Sun rep. did tell me that the management people are the issue at the resort and I have to agree. Before I would even think about going back to this resort, I would have to be reassured that it is under new management. The food was good and the a la carte restaurants were also good. The servers were quite friendly and courteous. The rooms were clean and the grounds were well kept. lots of seating areas in the lobby and around the pools. The beach is great! I have mixed emotions about this resort because of my experience and privilege really didn't mean a whole lot there. It was never really explained what was included in the privilege package and the management team had no clue as to what to tell us. If someone decides to go to this resort, make sure you ask for a room with a shower and whatever else you make require at the time of booking to save a whole lot of grief.

Mixed feelings about this one

We just returned from one week at the Oceans Casa Del Mar in Cayo Santa Maria. I can't give this resort the same resounding endorsement that I have given to other Oceans resorts though. On the negative side: - I found the food to be extremely disappointing, particularly in comparison to the Oceans resort in Veradero. I am not a picky eater but I found the buffet and the a la carte offerings were unappealing and at times, put me off food completely. - The system for accessing the a la  [... read more]carte restaurants is ridiculous. It is bad enough to not be able to plan a time to eat and make a reservation. When you do stand in line and get a table, you have the uncomfortable feeling of people lining up to get the next seat, sometimes peering through the windows to see if anything is opening up. Locking the doors and leaving guests outside wondering what is happening is not the way to deliver a satisfying meal experience. - In general, I felt the service was sub-par across the whole resort. Very few members of the staff made the extra effort to engage with the guests. In particular, many of the bartenders gave the impression that you were inconveniencing them by asking for a drink. There were a few exceptions, particularly the servers at Mike's coffee bar but in general, the experience of dealing with the staff was so different and so much less pleasant than other resorts, I was shocked. On the positive side, there were a few things: - As a pale skinned person who burns easily, I was thrilled to see plenty of loungers available with ample shade at both the pool and the beach. This is not often the case anywhere I go and it was really appreciated. -The quality of the entertainment that we took in was excellent. The dancing far amazing, particularly the Michal Jackson show. The performers have a lot of talent and the shows we saw were great.

Good Value

The public areas and rooms were very nice, lots of little nooks with comfortable seating to relax. Service at the bars and restaurants was very good. Did not like the lining up for the a la carte restaurants, long lines and inefficient handling. Customer service was a nightmare, the stock answer was " sorry, I'm new " ! the privledge customer service was even worse, the lady just continued inputting on her computer, we weren't sure whether she heard our request ! Best to go to the Air Transat de [... read more]sk for any issues, very helpful and effecient ! Overall buildings and service very good but beach and food quite poor even for Cuba !

Disappointed

Pros: With the exception of the rocky areas...beach is beautiful. Clear blue water. Pools are nice Entertainment team was great during the day and the evening shows too Cuba Night was fun, traditional pork bbq and churros We were upgraded to a room with ocean view Cons: Food was terrible even for Cuba standards. This was our third time to Cuba and we've never had complaints about the food until now. The buffet was the same every single day. Vegetables were mushy and tasteless.  [... read more]Food at the pool snack bar arrives cold. The Seafood a la carte restaurant had shrimp on the menu but they had no shrimp all week. We were upgraded to Privilege but all the rooms in the Privilege building have Jacuzzi tubs but NO SHOWER. The seaweed on the beach sits there for days without being raked. The lounge chairs are the hard plastic with no pads and they are never wiped down at the pool. And while there were certainly exceptions (server at the snack bar, housekeeping staff in charge of our room, some of the buffet servers)...for the most part the staff are unfriendly. Unlike so many other resorts I've visited all over the Caribbean and the South, there is no feeling of warmth or hospitality. Many of the younger staff look bored and even annoyed when you ask them for something. For this reason alone I will never stay at an H10 Ocean property again. It's also tough to find anyone who speaks English, even among managers. This is a 3 star at best. You can find better in Cuba.

Amazing Staff!!!

I stayed here with my family and had an amazing week, staff very friendly, midgal the waiter the not only was the staff amazing but they kept the resort in shape, looking good everyday. The beach well kept as well. I would return in a heart beat!!

Overbooked resort!

Hello, The resort it self is nice, I would rate it a 3 star not a 4. We arrived and they didn't have a room for us, waited over an hour to finally speak to someone and we had booked privilege. 3 people in one room with 2 full size beds. No shower, imagine getting into a tub when you spend the day in the sun! Ouch! Towels were stained, had to ask for 3 days to get extra towels as they only left enough for two people. Pillows, forget about it. You get a free message, but once again we didn't a [... read more]s they were over booked. Free bottle of rum, asked 4 days in a row. Still nothing! The staff was very nice, the front desk needed some training on how to deal with issues. Beach is beautiful, bring bug spray as we had sand flee bites daily. Overall, pay the extra money and stay at the royalton or Valentin