Great food and beach hotel under repair

Some parts beautiful, some parts not so much undergoing renovations- Main dining areas beautiful as well as lobby and shopping area. The rooms were clean and the staff were friendly and helpful! Great food and fantastic beach!

Beautiful resort!

This resort was beautiful and quite large. Lots of walking to the various ammenities but worth it. Not much to say about the food, but we didn't starve. Brought the kids, age 8 and 2 and they loved every moment. Beautiful beaches, great pool and kids loved the children's area and nightly kids show.

Great spot

The beach is fantastic, the food was excellent for a Cuban resort. You can't expect having lobster on 3 different nights in the buffet restaurant. The staff was very friendly and the service was very good.

Best beach ever

Best resort for families with kids. Very quiet. No waves, no wind, shallow water. Most beautiful beach I ever seen. Lots of fish. Good for snorkelling. Service is not as good, sometimes you have to wait for half an hour to get a drink or food. They operate on "Cuban time"

Iberostar Ensenachos experience

This was our 5th trip to Cuba, this ,by far was the best.Grand Village Room was Great. Service was exceptional. We will highly recommend this resort, specially the GRAND VILLAGE Rooms. We are definitely going back.

Good and bad

the resort is very lush and beautiful to look at . the gardeners do a fantastic job the spa pool area is clean and quiet, easy to find a lounger and alberto is there to help with any request you have. The drinks flow freely although there is only 1 working washroom stall the beaches are the best , no coral or rocks , no need to watch where you put your feet in the water. the waiter service on the beach is a bonus The lobby is lively at night but after 11 it is quiet with no other choices for act [... read more]ivity so its early to bed the room is big but not as clean in the corners as i like the linens are old and stained. the towels are just as stained. not nice to look at! the resort is huge and the shuttles are few and far between so lots and lots of walking the buffet is average as well as average a la cartes. nothing special bring a flashlight as the paths are not well lit and its hard to find your way as the signs are not lit the staff , pool and beaches are the highlight of this resort. the next question is would i recommend it to a friend, well. it depends , some travel with less expectations than others but if it was to recommend to a seasoned traveller, no i would not

Beautiful spot

The resort is very nice. The grounds are very well maintained. Plenty of pools but the beaches is where you want to be. Just beautiful. The staff are superfriendly and there is plenty of entertainment and activities. Great place.

Loved it

Amazing service, staff, clean large rooms, great pools and beautiful beautiful beaches (yes more than one beach) grounds are lush and beautifully kept by hardworking gardeners. Rooms could use a touch of paint but are otherwise beautiful with large private balconies. I would go back in a heartbeat!

Had a great Trip to the Iberostar Ensenachos

First of all, let me start by saying this was our 7th trip to Cuba and my third to Cayo Santa Maria area. Having stayed at the Melia Las Dunas, Playa Cayo Santa Maria and now the Iberostar, I feel I can give a fairly accurate review. We stayed in the Spa Section Second Floor room. The Room was lovely, nice Cuban feel to it. The Bed was hard but I really haven't found one in Cuba that wasn't. The food was very good for Cuba standards. I felt that the a la carte restaurants could have had a bit be [... read more]tter atmosphere, perhaps candles and music would be a nice touch. Beach was beautiful, more of a natural beach. Some areas of the beach could use a bit of a clean up, but being from the East Coast it didn't bother me one bit! The resort is huge, would not be suitable for those who do not enjoy walking or have mobility issues. The beach is not visible from the rooms nor the common areas of the resort. It is a bit of a hike along a nice wooden boardwalk through the mangroves. The cubans working at the resort were very friendly, as we have found everywhere in Cuba. Alexis who works at the front as a bellman is a lovely gentleman who truly takes pride in what he does and the connections he makes with the guests. As with everyplace we have been, maintenance is often an issue for Cuba... lets face it, they do not have things at their fingertips. So yes there were some light bulbs out along the walkways at night, paint chipping and broken latches in some of the public washrooms. Did it bother us?... NO! We travel quite a bit and have been to Mexico, DR, Florida as well as Europe. Cuba is and will always be one of our favorite destinations. Great Value for the dollar, and as for the food we have never gone to Cuba and not come home with a few extra pounds. The food is basic, not necessarily gourmet, but we have never really had a bad experience, but have always stayed at 4 star or better resorts.

Very nice resort!

This was one of the nicest resorts we stayed at. The grounds were beautiful ,exceptionally well kept and well maintained by the friendly gardeners. The pool areas were excellent,clean and well looked after. They have an excellent pool and playground area for small children. Our grandchildren ages 3 and 5 had so much fun there. We would recomend the poolside snack bar . Kids really enjoyed the burgers, fries and hot dogs; we did too! The food at the al a carte restaurants was very good for the mo [... read more]st part. We would definitely recomend the steak and lobster at the seafood resturant. The buffet restaurant was also very good. Great selection of meats,vegatables fruits and deserts.The staff at this resort were all very friendly,polite and very good at their job. They were appreciative of a tip but never expecting one! Our room was large,clean and overall very good.Mini bar was well stocked every day always had plenty of bottled water. Maids were excellent!! There were a couple of lights not working when we first got there but that was resolved within minutes. Overall we were very pleased with our stay at this resort and will definitely go back! The only improvement we would like to recomend would be a new more comfortable bed. Our room had a king sized bed that was very firm and could feel the springs. We fixed this problem by putting the extra duvets under the bottom sheet. I rated this resort a 4 star good but if they replaced some beds i would definitely rate a 5 star excellent!! One other thing we enjoyed was the fact there were no time share people hounding you about going to a meeting!! Loved Cuba and Ensenachos!! Beaches were the best!!!

Nice Resort - Great Value

The grounds were great - well kept - lots of lush green - Pool areas were very nice. Good size crowd - never had any lineups but the resort was well attended. Room was great - nice size - view was not great. Food was average - they need to discover some spices. Entertainment was not the best.

Set your expectations appropiately

I generally don't write alot of reviews but I was a little disappointed with Iberostar Ensenachos. I have been to Santa Maria once before to a 4* resort and really enjoyed it, so I decided to pay extra to experience "5*". In a nutshell, there was no real value in that extra money spent for this hotel. The main differences between this and a 4* are it was isolated, quite, and the Ensenanchos beach was absolutely beautiful. That is pretty much where it ends. The hotel room was an average room. T [... read more]hat being said, we had a large cockroach in our room the second night. We didnt want to over react, but then we saw a bunch of ants on one of the night tables. We moved to another room, we saw another small cockroach there. Front desk did not really feel like they needed to apologize or what not. I understand this is Cuba, but this is my 4th time there, and it was a little disappointing to experience this at a so called 5*. Food was quite good for Cuba standards, but it more or less was equivalent to other 4* resorts in Santa Maria. Contrary to some reviews, there was no Heinz Ketchup, and the biggest disappointment was I never had lobster at the Buffet restaurant. Generally the beef is very tough, chicken has a slightly different texture, but Seafood is a safe bet. I don't eat Porc so can't comment on that. I love Cuba, and the Cuban culture, but value for the dollar is not there for this resort. It is disappointing to pay a significant amount of money more than other resorts and not experience a "special" vacation.

Very nice resort !

beautiful beaches, very nice pool for kids, friendly stuff, room clean and little fridge filled with drinks every day ( cola, Fanta, Sprite, beer and water) great resort for families with small kids..

Tropical Oasis

On the whole, it was a great resort. The room was a little dated, the outlets in the bathroom and room didn't work and it would have been nice if the dance club was actually open. The beaches were phenomenal and the snorkelling was great! We quite enjoyed the food and selection and the weather was great minis the mosquitos at night.

An Excellent Place to Relax and Rejuvenate

I am one those people whom you would call a “workaholic”. Being at the Iberostar is one of the most enjoyable and relaxing experiences that I could have. The resort is so big and beautiful and clean. If you love to take a long walk or jog, this would be the place, as it would take over an hour to walk from one end to the other end. The Iberostar Ensenachos resort has 5 swimming pools and not just one, but two connecting beautiful longest beaches for you to enjoy. Each side of the beaches hav [... read more]e unique qualities to them. The first time we visited the resort, we spend most of our time at Mengano beach where we went snorkeling up to the sunken barge where there were colorful little fishes to see. There were also many star fishes on the Mengano side of the beach that you can pick up and look at. This year when we went back, we spent most of our time at the Ensenachos side of the beach because our room was situated on this end of the resort. Similar to the Mengano beach, the Ensenachos have the same extended long beach front. Here, there are many fishes that comes right up to the shore and nibble at your feet. It was unique experience to be able to stand in the ocean and see hundreds and thousands of fishes swimming around you. One thing to note: they do not have many snorkelling gears for you to use there so it is best if you bring your own. The place is so big that where ever you go, it does not seem crowded. We enjoy other facilities such as the gym, tennis court. They also have a spa there but I cannot comment on since I did not participate in the activity. The show they have there are quite good. The dancers were very professional. I would say the flamingo show that we went to see were comparable to the shows that I have seen at Casino Rama. I also noticed that there are great areas for kids to enjoy as well. Our room was big, clean and air-conditioned. The outlet in the room are all 220V so if you need to use your own electronic devise to bring a splitter. The food was decent. There appears to be a bit more flavor in our food. The resort has several restaurants. The ones that we dined at were the Italian, Asian, Mediterranean and of course the Buffet. If you love seafood, there is no shortage of that. The people were so nice. Every morning after our workout, we would walk along the path and the gardener would offer us a fresh coconut. We met several couples who have been there 4 times and some have been there 15 times and I can see that since we are there 2 times already and would likely go back there again.

Amazing and relaxing

Many new updates, food terrific, spa side for adults only is so relaxing. Massages inexpensive and terrific. Staff is amazing and are always there to offer you refreshments. Wifi now available which is a huge improvement. In Cuba I think this is one of the best resorts

Good for Cuba

This a very beaytiful hotel located in a wonderful place. This said, it need some maintenance to be back to what a call a 5 stars. Service is great. My older daughter is peanuts allergic and servers take it very seriously.

Great time!

Went for a beach wedding. The beaches were beautiful. Service was great, and the people always seemed to be in great spirits. Our room was fine and we had an amazing maid take care of us. The food was okay, but nothing to brag about. Got to see a lot iguanas which was cool. All in all, it was a pretty awesome time with great people.

Excellent time once again

overall... a good value for the dollar, the staff was excellent from Roberto meeting you to the check in staff and the maids. And not to mention the General Manager was always engaging. The hotel is getting tired, but still ok for the value. If not sooner than later, this hotel might get to a point where it may be too late to fix up, so please keep up. The beaches are fantastic and beautiful. My wife and I will be back to this hotel soon.

Great resort great time!

We had our wedding here and it went very well. Only thing I would say to make it better is if the ceremony was further down the beach away from the bar so its a little more private but all in all great place. Food was good the resort and pools were awesome and the people were very nice and fun. They came out and danced at our reception and made the night even better.