Good resort but had huge bugs in my room

The resort experience was overall good, the workers were very kind and hard working for the most part. However when we tried to book a date for a dinner we were lied to. We were given a false date to eat dinner at the Italian restaurant at the resort but in reality it was the buffet that was only open that day. Negative points for the workers that deal with the reservations, they were unkind and came off agressive after asking them to do their job which was to reserve us a spot at any day for an [... read more]y restaurant. The rooms were okay and the cleaners were very good always mopped the floors and made the beds. A big issue I had was I had 2 big and 2 medium sized bugs in my room. I woke up twice on two different occasions to two huge bugs. One time one was beside me head on the bed and the other time it was on the floor near my bed. Then there was a bug on my balcony covers and also one in my suitcase! I mean it’s crazy that I can’t even keep my suitcase open without a bug wandering its way inside of their. I wasn’t even able to kill it because it ran off from my suitcase into the bed covers once it popped off of one of my shirts. Room 5014 has some serious bug infestation.

30+ trips to Cuba, do not recommend this resort, 3 star resorts are better than this 5!

30+ trips to Cuba within the last 10ish years. Lots of various resorts ranging from old 3 star, to new 5 star. I’m comparing Cuba to Cuba resorts. Check in: Arrived at 11am, did not get our room until about 6pm! Even though check in should be 4:00. If they were honest, I would have just stayed at the pool, instead of waiting 2 hours in a wet bathing suit in the lobby, hearing them tell me “any minute”. Rooms: What a disaster. Our room did not have a bathroom fan. Every shower would steam [... read more] up the whole room, including the floors, which became very unsafe. So we had to blast the AC to get rid of the condensation, and were frozen, otherwise we’d have wet damp bedding. Since everything was damp, the smell was extremely musty/moldy, with lots of mold one the walls (see attached pics), how is this a new 5 star??! The toilet make major noise at 5am every day since they shut the water off around 1am, and turned back at 5am, waking you up every day. Pro was the bed was comfortable and AC worked. Service: Lobby bar service, I don’t think I’ve seen worse. 10 people lined up to get coffee with 1 server in the morning. The staff played the “If you tip more, you get to cut in line” game. Which is unethical. My fiancé had been waiting a while, one lady came in waiving a $20 and bartender went to her! My fiancé said something clearly upset and the bartender pretended that he didn’t see him standing RIGHT infront of him for the last 10 minutes, very disappointing. No table service like they do at Grand Sirenis in CSM. A huge difference like I’ve never seen before. Buffet staff were better, but a bit slow refilling drinks. Pool bar should have someone willing to interact with guests for the experience, not someone who looks miserable to be there. Snack bar staff was good. Food: 9/10 for Cuba. They had a nice grill by the pool, although the wait times were long. Buffet was typical Cuban food, but seasoned well. AC worked very good, even too cold. Con would be the area is designed way too small, the place was packed when even 60% full. Hard to get around. Be aware: When looking at social media images, some are from the CORAL section which is a different resort. Entertainment: Sat under the shade spots at the beach all day, other than 30 minutes at the pool, oh and before that under the stadium seating eating food that guests would bring from the snack bar, when they asked people who were walking by. The guy with the colored hair is sketchy, I’ll leave it at that. Was the worst entertainment team I’ve seen. A guy won a barrel pool riding competition, and they then said to win the bottle you had to do an embarrassing “sexy” dance, which he did, and then they said it was a joke, NO BOTTLE of rum at all! Yet the 3 star hotels give them out with every game! Pools: Lounge chairs from hell. You go to sit in one, and the back smacks you hard in the back of the head. They are all broken! You need ties to hold them in place. (Hard to see in the pic, but when sitting you can see the back doesn’t stay attached to the base, it goes up with you) Along with that, all spots were taking at 6am., and this was end of high season, end of April. So if you didn’t get up you didn’t get any shade. The actual shade was broken umbrellas, which you had to ask a lifeguard for the stick to be able to prop up. Half of them had fabric missing (see pics) People had to sit in the snack bar, with towels to be able to swim. The resort was built in the windiest place in Cuba, how could you not plan that there would be days where 90% of the guests would be at the pool?! The only good thing about the pool were the nice lifeguards, pretty much the only people that interacted with you. All other staff were cold, non talkative, I wonder if the managers told them they aren’t allowed interacting unless providing a service? I’ve never seen anything like this at any other resort, again, 30+ trips all over Cuba. Beach: Couldn’t really go due to wind. You can’t sit down, because you get pelted in the face/eyes with sand. And the one day that was calmer, no shade spots to be found, all taken. Management needs 50% more shade! It’s not a vacation having to fight for chairs at 5am. Overall: Would not recommend. I am actually writing this review after staying at an old 3 star hotel (review coming soon), and because the 3 star was SO much better, I decided to write the one about Esmeralda, to save people their hard earned money. There might be people that liked it, but have they seen 30+ resorts in Cuba? Or did they go to 2, and Esmeralda was their “favorite” that they now call “the best”? Food for thought. NOTICE: When trying to upload a review to SELECTION side, it’s defaulting to CORAL. So that might be an issue.

Beautiful place, specially the beach.

The resort was nice, when we got there, I had to asked about "What happened to the welcoming with cocktails?" Then we needed to use the rest rooms, as we just came on a bus that doesn't have a toilet and it was 1.5 hrs of a rough ride; and when we got to the rest rooms they didn't have toilet paper, I mean non of the bathrooms male or female had any toilet paper. When I asked the reception they said " no toilet paper" very sorry about that " then they explained is because it is "OFF Season" w [... read more]e couldn't used our room's toilet because it wasn't ready until 4pm. We got there at 12:30pm. We managed to book 3 a la cart restaurants, we missed one, because we got our beach towel stolen the very next day after we got it, and I had to deal with the person in charged of security and he took awhile to come and see me to take the info about the issue. The second a la cart was the third day of our vacation and it was supposed to be the seafood restaurant, my fiance order pescado frito con arroz, (fried fish and rice) she thought it would be a full fish with fried rice and she was disappointed as the portions of fish were two tiny pieces smaller then sardines and maybe a quarter of a cap of rice. I order a tariaky pasta with beef, but it turned out to be very salty, all I could taste was salt, couldn't finish it. We end up leaving to the buffet restaurant to eat there, this turned out better. After this experience we didn't bother even to go to the third option. One day the beans at the buffet were not cooked well, hard to chew, other day they were spoiled and sour. I know Cuba is well known for the luck of taste on food, but this was for me one of the worst I had, and I being to many parts of Cuba a total of five times. This is rated 5 stars on the website, but I don't believe it should be, more like 3.5 *** The cleaning ladies were Awsome, the servers at the buffet were great, the bartenders were also great, the manager of the resort Israel came around after my complaint about the toilet paper issues, the beach towel incident and he turned out to be a nice and decent guy. I guess he found out that we were celebrating 5 years of our anniversary and he sent us a cake to our room, the third night we got there. We made some connections with a lot of the stuff members at the hotel and by the end of our vacation we enjoyed our stay. We made the best for what we had of our experiences.

Wonderful resort

Visited from May 27 to June 3. My husband and I spent a wonderful week at this beautiful resort. Received a most friendly welcome by Israel. Check-in was quick, being only two of us. Beach: Perfect – wide, fine sand, no weeds, miles long. Plenty of palapas and chairs. Room: Ocean front, modern, roomy, meticulously clean, all in excellent working order. Love the screen door, enabling us to hear the ocean and get fresh air. Room numbers are lit and easy to find at night. Pools: Looked nice [... read more], but not used, since we prefer the ocean. Hotel Facilities: Well-appointed, easy to get around. No steps to trip over (great for elderly guests). Wide and well-lit walkways. Common areas are kept very clean. Food at Buffet: Simply delicious. Wide variety. Food could have been warmer, and coffee better. Bars: Quick, efficient, friendly service. Coffees were delicious here, especially the Spanish. Landscaping: Lovely - gardeners are doing a fine job. Special mention: A sincere “Thank You” for the special attention and perks given us on the occasion of my husband’s birthday. Thank you to the pastry chef who baked the most delicious birthday cake, for the bottle of wine, etc. One negative: Music (if you can call it that) at the beach is way too loud and irritable. Base is too heavy, and could be heard far away. Why not play your beautiful Cuban music and songs? We loved your show and songs on Cuban day! Once again, sincere thanks to ALL the wonderful people: waiters, waitresses, cooks, bartenders, cleaners, gardeners, etc., who made our stay at your resort a happy and memorable experience. Would we return and recommend this resort? Definitely!

Really needs fixed up.

Resort in need of LOTS of maintenance. Rodents in rooms, broken plumbing everywhere. Safe in my room didn't work (which I reported twice). Towels in rooms never laundered. Dont know if understaffed, but nothing really got fixed in the week I stayed. Food was meh, so was the booze. The simplest cocktails only. Not even a Mojito some days. The pool was nice when clean. Beach was pretty.

Beautiful Resort

The amenities in the resort were 5 star. I had hot water. The room was excellent and we received toilet paper, towels and water daily. I got turned around on my first night and ended up at the resort next door and Dariel Gonzalez came to my rescue and helped me find my room. It was truly a wonderful resort and I would highly recommend it Cathy wheaton

IBerostar Esmeralda Selection

I was very pleased with the resort, I had a great experience starting at the check in at the Lobby Jose Sarduy was very helpful changing our hotel to the ground floor with no complaints about the room just easier with my friends bad foot to do all the stairs. The security was great on the beach and all the staff were very friendly. Buffet servers were very accomodating and housekeeping was excellent.

Pleasently surprised

The food was actually great tasting and had variety. The service workers were wonderful Jose at front desk, Karel in the sports bar, Elaina in the buffet. They were usually low on toilet paper but we had just enough.

Amazing resort!!!!!

The place was beautiful, all the staff was amazing, the room was always cleaned so nicely, food was good, the beach was stunning. All the staff had a smile on there face and was happy to serve you, extra thank you to josé Luis and daykel Headley for making my stay so much better, the drinks were made to perfection

Good and Bad

We loved the location, loved the view, thought it was well laid out. we liked the pools and the staff were very friendly and helpful. The food quality seemed ok, not as good as some other Cuban vacations i have been on, but since i have heard from other who were staying at other locations our food was poor. Keeping food safe was not the focus on this location. Some foods that should have been kept warm were not, some that should have been cold were not. My son daughter in law and myself [... read more] all got food poisoning. I did not spend one day enjoying the resort and even were at the point of needing intravenous. No one from hotel or Sunwing spoke to us on our issues.

Relaxed in Canada

Beautiful resort and kept very clean. The beach was absolutely stunning, and the pool area was very nice as well. However the pool deck was VERY slippery. I was very pleased with my room. The food…well we know people don’t go to Cuba for the cuisine lol The bars tend to run out of a lot of alcohol and mixes needed for drinks. This was my first trip to Cuba so I didn’t know exactly what to expect and I was quite pleased with everything.

Disappointing Trip

To be fair to the resort we had to cut our trip short due to a family emergency, so we didn’t experience all it had to offer. We knew going in there would be shortages etc, but seeing all the 4&5* reviews I chose this resort anyway. The grounds are lovely. We had a nice ocean view room with a king bed. Good water temperature and pressure for the most part. The bath towels were old and worn and they only gave hand towels every few days. One recommendation to the hotel is to prov [... read more]ide a map of the report to its guests. Upon check-in we were provided no information on the resort at all. We even had to ask how to get to our room. We had no idea where the buffet was, where to get beach towels or any information on booking the a La carte restaurants. Another thing that needed attention was the lack of loungers around the pools. There were very few and the ones they had were broken. They did have plenty of loungers at the beach, but the beach was incredibly windy and not comfortable to sit at. They could have brought some of those loungers up to the pool area. Food was limited, but edible. No shortage of eggs or bread, but not a lot of fruit or salad options. Coffee was TERRIBLE. I have been to Cuba twice before and the coffee was very good. You couldn’t get a hot cup of coffee (even straight out if their fancy coffee machines) and it was like a cold sludge. In terms of alcohol, they had the regular vodka, gin, rum, but the mix was very limited. They didn’t have soda water or fresh limes. Mixed cocktails were out of the question. They continually ran out of red wine as well. They also turn the water off over night. We had an early flight and we were picked up at our resort at 6:30 a.m. We were unable to shower or flush the toilet. We could only brush our teeth with the bottled water and the dribble that came out of the tap. The staff were great and very helpful.

Nice spot, but needs some attention

Best aspects of this place: - Grounds: Are gorgeous. Pools are beautiful. Beach is stunning and the most beautiful I've ever seen. - It is worth the bus ride from the airport. - Rooms: Are well appointed. Housekeeping staff were very good. - Sports bar: Is pretty neat. It made for enjoyable evenings. - Staff: Are fantastic. What needs improvement for this to be a true "5 STAR" resort? (1) The check-in process is abysmal. It is inefficient and frustrating especially after a lo [... read more]ng day of travel. Staff provided only one key card & a handwritten strip of paper with the room # on it. We had to request Wifi separately, AND a towel coupon. (Did not know this while at the desk.) All check-in information should be in a package, ready for visitors upon arrival. Should also be able to book a-la-cartes upon arrival, rather than wait in line for it for an hour every afternoon. (2) Food Handling Practices. Food safety training should be conducted with those who cook food. I observed, on more than one occasion, raw chicken being handled with the same utensil as cooked chicken. Several in our group fell ill during the trip, losing 2 or more days of their vacation. (3) Food quality: I knew there were shortages before I left and I knew what I was in for as I'd been to Cuba before. I won't complain about what is served when average Cubans are starving off-resort. There was always something to eat. However, two things in this area really sucked and the hotel management has control over these: FLIES > The only night there were NOT flies all over us in the dining room was a day when there were “very important looking people” circulating around the resort. So, 5/6 nights we were fighting flies while eating. FOOD TEMPERATURE > is always questionable. Hot things aren’t hot enough, food that should be kept cold isn’t being cold enough. This goes back to food safety, but it shouldn’t be hard to increase the temperature in the buffet stands. Also, the “a la cartes” served the same food as the buffet. Why bother? Get rid of these and set up some specialty spots, like a cigar bar, music room, or games room. (3) Management of the hotel: My room smelled like sewage one day after I returned from the beach, and I came to find out later that there was a sewage backup below me the day before. Why wasn't I notified or moved? Good management would have at least left nearby room occupants a note to tell them what happened and offer to move them. The cabanas outside the pool were popular – but VERY hard to land. Unfortunately, some guests were being greedy and claiming BOTH cabanas and beach chairs with their towels, making it difficult for some to find a place to land. Management should look for a method for guests to book spots, OR they should increase the # of chairs & cabanas. More English channels, especially news. The Russian propaganda got old pretty quickly. I won't be back, but only because there are so many other places to try. I really do hope that the hotel management takes feedback seriously, it is such a beautiful place but operating at 70% of its potential. A little effort will make it so much more!!

Amazing Resort

This was my 2nd time to this resort. I absolutely love it!! Beautiful grounds, very clean, rooms are large and beach is amazing. The staff is very welcoming and respectful from the front desk to the gardeners and everyone in between. The entertainment staff are fantastic and made some lifelong friends and memories. They are what keeps me wanting to go back. Great big shoutout to Angel, Billy, Alejandro, Leah, Jackson, Oscar on the entertainment team for the fun and their energy!! Also, to [... read more] the great bartenders Osniel and Raoul for keeping us hydrated!!! Cannot wait to go back!! Definitely recommend this resort.

Nice comfortable room.

Great resort very friendly staff. Would vacation there again and recommend it too. Great beach. Water is amazing Food was great and plentiful. Very nice pool with swim up bar. Entertainment nightly and nice variety of bars on resort

Amazing resort, but

Excellent beach, very good food, nice resort. We were not lucky, we got a very bad reception person when we arrived and the same person in the day of our departure. (no English at all, no knowledge). Also there was mechanical problem with water; it was shut off every night from one to five o'clock.

Quiet Resort, Friendly Staff

Beach: Stunning. Turquoise blue water, powder white sand, nice breeze. Pools: Nice, large, Chairs in need of work. You need to get one of the lifeguards to help you setup the chairs as they fold and they have to tie them in place. Food: Meh. Very repetitive. Even the a la carte menus were just ok. We always went to the buffet after as the a la carte serving sizes were quite small. Rooms: Descent. The louvre door to the water closet is kind of weird. I found the room spacious with decen [... read more]t sized balconies. Grounds: Very well kept by the gardeners. Bars: The one pool bar was closed all week. The others were pretty good. Drinks are made from a powder but still tasty. Lobby bar=Great coffee beverages The resort was only about 20% occupancy when we were there (very quite). At times our kid was the only one at the kids club but she really enjoyed the kids club leader (Maria).

Extraordinary Oasis

During my stay at the Iberostar Selection Esmeralda in Cayo Coco in November 2024, I was impressed by the resort's dedication to maintaining a clean and well-kept environment. The facilities were impeccably managed, with the lobby bathrooms consistently spotless and the grounds meticulously maintained. It was clear that the staff took great pride in ensuring a welcoming and pristine atmosphere for guests. The culinary offerings at the resort were enjoyable, with a diverse range of dishes that [... read more] catered to various tastes. However, from a culinary management perspective, I observed areas that could benefit from improvement, particularly concerning the organization and leadership within the dining services. While the dining room staff displayed exceptional dedication, courtesy, and hard work, there appeared to be a lack of clear guidance and direction from supervisory roles. This absence of effective leadership occasionally resulted in lapses in coordination and dining room etiquette, which, in turn, impacted the overall dining experience. Stronger and more visible leadership, along with proactive support from supervisors, would greatly enhance the cohesiveness and efficiency of the dining operations. Providing structured guidance to the team would not only improve the level of service but also empower the hardworking staff to showcase their full potential, further elevating the guest experience. The accommodations were excellent, featuring comfortable rooms equipped with all the necessary amenities to ensure a relaxing stay. Room service was attentive and efficient, adding to the overall sense of luxury. Entertainment options were varied and engaging, offering activities for guests of all preferences. The reception staff were exceptionally friendly and professional, always ensuring that guests' needs were met with efficiency and care. While the resort's remote location adds a unique charm, it also presented a challenge in the form of limited taxi services. Introducing readily available taxis either at or near the resort would not only enhance convenience for guests but also attract more tourists, making it a valuable addition to the resort’s offerings. A standout feature of the resort was its stunning beach, complete with pristine sand, clear waters, and convenient amenities, making it an ideal spot for relaxation. In summary, the Iberostar Selection Esmeralda offers a beautiful and enjoyable vacation experience with exceptional facilities and friendly staff. With enhanced leadership and coordination in the dining services, as well as improved transportation options, the resort has the potential to reach even greater heights of excellence.

Absolutely fantastic

My travel agent had been here the month before and her recommendation certainly proved to be right. The resort is amazing and extremely well laid out. I definitely enjoyed my stay and would definitely look forward to returning in the future.

We had a wonderful time as a family

The facilities were top notch, the staff were all very friendly and helpful. The food was better than expected and we always had more than enough to eat. The sports bar was a nice place to hang out in the evening. I would say I didn't enjoy some of the song choices that the dj's played in the afternoon... some songs had lyrics that were very inappropriate for a family resort but when I asked to change the song they obliged. We stayed for 5 nights and it was a wonderful time. There weren't any te [... read more]nnis rackets to play tennis.Our room for our family looked over the neighbouring adult only resort and they were very loud with their music, we probably should've asked for a quieter room but it didn't bother us enough to ask to change. Overall a wonderful relaxing time. I miss my morning coffee in the beautiful lobby bar and of course the most beautiful beach I have been too!