Melia Jardines del Rey: Rest and Relax

Melia Del-Ray is a nice resort overall all though it has its problems still from staffing to service . The check in was ok we arrived at late evening we had our rooms already assinged but ut still took time before we got to our room. There were few issues with resort no water to resort to start our vacation but was fixed by end of day some building were effected for few days and they had issues with no hot water. Room service was good but found out our fridge was not being restacked daily had [... read more] to speak with customer service to get them fillled multiple times also beach towel was a problem all week not having clean towels which is inexcusable they also ran out of some liquior towards week-end. Again besides all the problems the beach and staff makes it worth while visiting . I just wish that they mentioed some of these issues before we arrived we would of been prepaierd for it.

Hotel Mojito: Great resort. Amazing staff!

This resort was great, service was awesome and food was better than average for Cuba. The beach was amazing. White soft sand for miles. Highly recommended. My detailed review can be found at www.dogswineandtravel.com

Sol Cayo Coco: Average resort

Overall the resort was average, it was raining upon checkout, and was raining in our closet. The pool was very good, food at the buffet was terrible until we discovered the omlette, pizza ang pasta bars. There is still alot of hurricane damage around.

Melia Costa Rey: Great place

Although still rebounding from hurricane Irma, the staff in all parts of this resort worked extra hard to make our vacation wonderful. The property, rooms, pool and beach were immaculate. The entertainment was the best we've seen at any resorts we have been to, the food was great for Cuba. I would like to give a special Thanks to Alian at the pool he always found time to make us feel special.

Hotel Playa Coco: En janvier 2018

Food excellent beach perfect very good service but no air conditionner basic animation they iWork hard To repaire what was destroyed Last year and they havé new construction that Will be very good

Memories Caribe Beach Resort: Good value for money

The resort itself is quite nice even though they are recovering from a hurricane. I recommend this resort only if you get an renovated room. Do not get 3401 (Al Fresco suite). The patio door does not lock, the mattress is filthy from being dragged around after the hurricane. Block 18 seems to be renovated. Beans cafe by the pool is fantastic. The pizza shack by the beach is also very good. 24 hr snack bar by the pool also has pizza and really good grilled ham and cheese sandwiches.  [... read more] A la carte restaurants (only 2 were open) Aegea was not very good. Nagago was the best of the two although portions were very small. Went to the buffet after dinner. The buffet was fine, it was a bit boring when we first arrived but was getting better as the week went on. The best part of the resort is definitely the beach. There are only two hotels on this strip. You can walk for ever when you go to the right of the hotel it's about 4.5 km to next hotels and you can walk way past those as well. Many sand banks where you can park yourself and have your own little island.

Hotel Playa Paraiso: Not good!

We were a family of 2 adults and 2 teenagers at the Pestana Cayo Coco visiting from December 29th 2017 to January 5th 2018.This was our third time in Cuba; once at a 3 star resort in Varadero and once at a 5 star resort in Holguin. This was also definitely our last time at this resort as well as our last time in Cuba. Unfortunately we were very disappointed with this resort. We usually let a lot of things go as we like to travel and always try to have a good holiday, but we have our limits. I  [... read more]will review this resort in detail: Check in: no problem Rooms: we had 2 rooms on third floor with no elevator, it did not bother us as we like walking and the staff carried our suitcases up, which we appreciated. Rooms were very dated with a musty smell, but looked fairly clean. Could not lock balcony door. No mattress cover, just a thin sheet on the mattress which I found very gross. Bathrooms definitely need upgrading. Very hard to take a shower with the way the shower head was positioned. Water pressure was low, but at least we had hot water. We had a problem with flushing the toilet, and this was fixed the next day. My daughter tried to take a shower and a frog crawled out of the drain and jumped on her. I picked up the frog and carried it outside to freedom. Our building was very dated with chipped tiles and was not cleaned often enough. Lobby: for some reason some pillow chairs were missing. Not always clean. Very busy and crowded at times. Lines: hard to get towels, had to wait in line the first day until around 9:40 am. Long line for new year’s eve dinner reservations, then another long line to book speciality restaurants. Very long line to get pizza at lunchtime, I think the wait was at least an hour or so. Grounds and public spaces: not clean at all. The toilets were especially filthy. Buffet: was okay, but not great. My daughter is vegetarian and there was not a lot for her to eat. She wanted pancakes at breakfast, but there was no syrup just honey. If you have picky kids bring your own syrup and peanut butter. I noticed some people brought their own Nutella. My biggest complaint at the buffet was that the plates were very dirty and that was gross. Some days I tried to wipe my plate with some hot water and a napkin before using it. Speciality restaurants: okay, but not great. They tried to accommodate my daughter with vegetarian food, but had no vegetarian selections on the menu. The last night when we went to a speciality restaurant there was a mix up as our reservation in writing specified 7:30, but when we got there they told us it was wrong as it was for 7 pm, but that they would accommodate us. They tried to be friendly but looked stressed and overworked. After we sat down the waitress tried to serve a few tables at once but accidentally dropped a plate which shattered and cut my daughter’s leg. So while we were eating our dinner my daughter was trying to stop the bleeding by using a napkin to apply pressure to the wound. Bar: drinks were a hit and miss; sometimes they were okay and sometimes they were bad. Staff: some of the staff were very friendly and helpful which we appreciated, but some were very unfriendly and treated us like we were a nuisance. Entertainment: not amazing, but I did enjoy the dancers and they tried very hard. Gift bags on new years eve were nice. Noise of entertainment sometimes went on way too late at night. Only one tennis court and net was held up with a stick. We tried to play once and people came with there racquets and sat inside the court and wait for us to finish, so we just left. They had a baseball court, but no balls, so that did not work out. The water sports centre will take you for a free catamaran trip, unfortunately the last two days the ocean was too rough and they had to cancel all water sports. Bugs: there were lots of mosquitos and we had itchy bites all over our bodies which I presume were the mosquitos. We did apply bug repellent, but we still got badly bitten. Pool: way too small with not nearly enough sunbeds. As the weather cooled down we tried in vain for the last three days to get sunbeds by the pool. I think the other guest must get up 5 am to claim the sun beds. This was very disappointing. Beach: was lovely, but also hard to get a good spot. We made the mistake to leave our towels for too long on our sunbeds at the beach and all four towels were stolen. The customer service rep pointed out quite rudely that guests are not supposed to reserve sunbeds,which was the last straw and I had enough. I brought it to her attention that there were not enough sunbeds and that we had been trying to get sunbeds at the pool for the past three days. In the end the Hotel made us pay 50% of the price of the towels. The Transat rep was a nice lady and spoke to the hotel about the towel situation. Excursions: took bus to Playa Pillar which is a beautiful beach and we enjoyed our time there. The catamaran snorkel trip was also very good. Transportation: bus pickup for excursions and airport were chaotic. My daughter had to jump out of the way of a bus that suddenly started moving and scratched her leg badly on a stick. At the airport drop off the man behind us also had to jump out of the way of a bus that suddenly started moving. All in all we feel like we wasted our money and will not return.

Melia Jardines del Rey: Nice place poor food poor service

Stayed Jan 10-17 2018.The hotel was good about requests we made thru the travel agent, getting us what we requested.We asked for a room close to amenities on the ground floor, due to mobility issues. We got a handicap equipped room. Room quality was a 4. Booking in was a pain in the butt. It looked like 2 bus loads arrived just before us at about 12:00 noon, which of course is also check out time. We were herded into a conference room where they were trying to give two briefing meetings at th [... read more]e same time.There was a table full of stemmed glasses filled with blue drinks. We passed . Glad we did the next morning the table was still there looking the same . Half the glasses full, 1/4 partly drank, 1/4 empty or spilled. I guess they were leaving them for the next bus load of Suckers! Due to all the talking with people trying to figure out what was up, people were screaming and shushing at each other. They collected up our passports and went to the front desk with them to scan them. Some people got an envelope with room keys and welcome info.The other 75% were told to check with the front desk after 3:00 pm. We were lucky probably due to getting a handicap room and got an envelope.We saw people from our bus in the lobby at 5:30 still waiting with their luggage.They were not happy! The hotel was mainly suffering from being overbooked for the amount of staff.Because of the size of the resort and lack of management we received very little personal attention mostly at the Buffet. Bars were pretty good with service but ran out of things at times. Hit and miss at the pool and beach. One day at the pool staff served us drinks. The next day there were no servers around the pool for over 3 hours. Animation staff was very limited one day no one from noon till 4:00 then only for only 1 hour. Another day from 3:00 till 5:00.The pool walls had about 25% coverage with algae in the remote corners. The pool bar area was cleaner. At the beach the bar had a lineup of 40 people for hours and the next day they had a second bar set up at a table next to the bar and the line up was only 6 or 8 . Hardly ever got the same server, so service was poor.We are tippers but finally gave up tipping in the buffet the last couple of days due to the poor service.Last day for breakfast couldn't get coffee or juice, asked 3 different servers. The last one who actually got us some said it wasn't her table. The table beside us finally got up and walked over to the servers station to get their own coffee.We don't usually eat at the a la Cartes as we can find what we want at the buffet.The selections in the hot tables all looked overcooked, brown, and unappetizing.Fresh fruit was limited. No mangos and bananas for the first couple days then sporadically for the next 3 days. Pasta and morning egg lineups were usually more than 30 min. There were two buffet areas one large and one small that were attached. The large one never opened at the posted time and they diverted people through the grass to the small entrance.Once we waited for the large to open standing sixth in line then once we were let in the staff shooed us away from the nice tables into the small buffet later letting people sit in the area we wanted ???. Very badly organized staff. Usually most places are having a staff meeting inside the doors before they let people in. We never seen this once. Some of the servers were great and helped make our meals pleasant. We tipped them well. But mostly the management of the staff was severely lacking. To be fair they had a fair amount of entertainment in the lobby area and a bit at the beach. A marque to announce the entertainment schedule for the theater, foam party, etc did not exist. I wouldn't recommend this hotel. Nobody seemed to be getting sick from the food but I would rate the quality of the food and service in the buffet the worst I've had staying about 20 times in 10 different 3,4,and 5 star places in Cuba. NB: Don't use the bank outside arrivals at the Cayo Coco Airport. It seems a scam. It was 2 points worse than the hotel and did not give receipts as official banks usually do.

Melia Jardines del Rey: Melia jardines del rey

Beautiful hotel.. but if it’s almost full good luck for chairs at the beach. Spent 4 days searching the beach area for chair.. even in the p.m still no chair available. At the pool there is plenty of chair but if you are a beach person better wake up in the middle of the night to get one. Too little buffet for all those people and the beach restaurant it is like a zoo in there. I don’t mind waiting but i wont wait 1hour 25 for chiken so i ate fries and cucumber all week. People are nice reso [... read more]rt is beautiful but they need to fix this issues asap. Also missing piña colada at the lobby bar or miami vice almost every night. No champagne...

Melia Jardines del Rey: Poor Resort - Would not Return

Firstly, let me say that this trip was our 15th time to Cuba so we really know what we are comparing this property to. The property is very tired looking – mainly the rooms. It is understandable that the grounds are not perfect due to the hurricane. They are doing a lot of replanting to get it back into shape. The hotel is understaffed to suit the needs of the large number of guests in this property. The lack of English on some of the basic words was a huge problem. For example, 1 egg  [... read more]means many eggs. And so on. Staff seem very disorganized. Some were very hard working while many others just stood around talking to each other or the guests and looking for handouts. We spoke to one of the newer workers that had just come in from another property to help out and he told us that “nobody works here”. There were many water leaks everywhere at sinks, toilets, urinals and underground water pipes. Some garbage remained in the same place on the sidewalk throughout our stay of 11 days. There were not enough loungers at the beach. If you didn’t claim them by 10 am, you were out of luck. Many or the loungers on the beach and at the pool were mouldy. Many of the drains around the pool were plugged so when it rained the guests had to walk through an inch or two of water. The music at the pool was so loud that hardly anybody sat close by to the speaker. The entertainment staff said that this is what the guests wanted but everybody we spoke to said it was deafening. The same was true of the night shows. We had to leave every night due to the pounding on the eardrums. On the day of our arrival, when we entered our room, it smelled extremely musty. It was very tired looking and was missing light bulbs. There was no hot water. Really needed a shower after the long day at airports. The mattress smelled like a public toilet. The patio door lock was broken and it needed 2 people to push it shut. We asked our Air Transat rep about transferring to another property but we were told everything was filled. We did learn later the others had transferred out. After complaining to the rep a few times, she basically ignored us and tried to look busy or picked up the phone when we walked by. Forty eight hours later we were given a new room and we finally got to shower in tepid water. For the next 3 days we were without water or without hot water or had no water pressure. Once the water stopped in the middle of my shower and I had to towel off the soap. There were numerous stains on the couch. There were cigarette holes and brown stains in the blanket. (see attached pictures) On one day the fresh towels smelled like urine/vomit. That was disgusting. On one occasion, the wet towels from the floor of the shower were just folded up and placed back on the towel rack. On two days, the bedding was placed on the suitcase stand and we had to make our own bed. The patio door lock was broken. The toilet was continuously leaking throughout our stay. When it rained, the water ran down the hallway and pooled outside our door (approx. 1 inch of water) and seeped into our room. We had paid extra for the elegance service. NOT WORTH IT AT ALL. There were NO dedicated rooms and all we got for the extra money was 1 peso WIFI card for each day of stay and a bottle of rum which we had to fight for. One day while walking out of our building, I almost got nailed by a huge laundry bag that was tossed of the second or third floor balcony by a staff member. That could have broken a person’s neck. Missed it by about 1 second. As for the restaurants, they seemed inadequate in size and staffing to suite the needs of that many people. On several occasions, we had to walk around about 50 or so empty and soiled tables in order to find a clean table with cutlery. By that time our warm food was cold. There were lineups outside to get in occasionally but very long lineups at the egg or grilling stations of up to 30 minutes. All members of our party of 4 got diarrhea. I got it on 2 separate occasions. At the snack bar, it took 45 minutes to get a hamburger and the other order never came. The a la carte restaurants were very poor in quality and served cold food. Several menu items were not available. My wife has an allergy to cilantro and we told the servers this. She was still served cilantro. There was little or no signage over the food in the buffet – bad for those with allergies. The bars and restaurants were constantly running out of menu items – juice, pinna colada, water for coffee machines. About half of the coffee/expresso machines were out of operation at any given time causing huge lineups at those that were working. Bar service was poor – unless you had money in your hand. So now for some good points now that I have vented some of my frustration. The property has a nice beach and a lovely pool. The customer service manager (Ansiel?) was very nice and tried to be accommodating. He realized that there were many problems and said he was doing the best that he could. The staff at the Cuban restaurant were awesome at arranging a special table and a birthday cake for my wife. The Bistro restaurant was great. The best food of the whole trip and the staff Yipsi, Michal and Enrique were full of smiles and were the nicest of all the staff. Finally, we met the new hotel manager half way through our stay. She realizes that there are very serious problems with this hotel and seems very committed to making sure all problems are corrected.

Melia Jardines del Rey: Love Cuba but won't be going back there!!

Well, what can I say. We booked this hotel for 11 days with our friends and we were very excited about it especially with it being a 4.5 star. This was our 15th time going to Cuba and the second time in Cayo Coco. We had nothing but problems from day one. No Hot Water, No Water at all, no pressure - if you had water. We had to argue to have our room changed but things didn't get any better Air Transat Rep was rude, unprofessional and didn't help much. Paid extra for Elegance but got no [... read more]thing of what was listed for this level. Waste of money. Food, sucked big time. I know you don't go to Cuba for the food but this was almost uneatable. Had the Ala Carte restaurants included but would only recommend the Bistro or the Japanese ($) which they gave us because of all the problems . Noting exciting with the rest of the ala carte. Be careful if you have food allergies as they did include Cilantro in my TexMex even after I told them I have an allergy to it and they told me they could accommodate my food allergy. Staff was lazy and didn't care for anything other than tips. When serving you, they stood for a few seconds waiting for their tip - each time. Music everywhere was played at a level that was probably heard all the way to Jupitar, giving visitors a headache. Could not watch the evening shows because of the reverberating base sound. Couldn't sit by the pool because of the level of the music and when asked to turn it down, they said no. Grounds were beautiful - even after the hurricane. and the layout of the pool was pleasant to the eye. Not enough beach chairs and just enough pool chairs and the ones you did find were moldy 24 hour restaurant service was slow and the food everywhere - even the ala carte was always served at room temperature. Coffee sucked and 5 expresso makers you were lucky if 2 worked at any given time. Bar was always running out of liquor and there wasn't any Pina Colada's for the first 6 days. If you are considering going to this hotel, think again. They did get a new Hotel Manager and the last couple of days, things did get a bit better with the service but they have allot of work to do. Hopefully she can get things up to par. Give them time to bring it back up to a 4.5 star.

Melia Jardines del Rey: Worst of them all

A quick overview.the grounds are lovely need a little work but lovely.the hotel wa too busy and could not properly give service to their paying customers. A manager from Melia confirmed this . Customer service did not exist for 5days then got better In Some cases. Food ran out on one day I was there not sure what happened the other days . The towels and linen Were not clean . For the first time in my travels I gave the happy dance for going home. I did not get what I believed I paid for They s [... read more]hould not take people if they cannot look after them. The beach was lovely .

Hotel Playa Coco: Second time here

We were second time here. I loved this place first time, I loved the beach,it is amazing the access to the ocean. Pleasant place. This time unfortunately was not so good. We had bad weather. We got cold. We got sick. A bad urinary- kidney problem. Both of us. Hopefully for all other travelers, only from sitting on the cold beach to much. But I am not so sure. This time in the Hotel many times, in many spots, it was coming out the water from walls. Even in our room, two or three days, for longe [... read more]r or shorter time, in the bathroom. Rain water or waist water? Close to the beach garbage sitting there for days, nobody bothers to clean. The air conditioning in our room was unusable. It was a very very bad mold smell when it was running, even if only the neighbor room was running it. UNBEARABLE. Luckily we didn't need it because of the cold weather. Also this time I noticed a few time that food was reused for more times, they changed color and the taste also was not so pleasant. But this is an impression only, if they are practicing this method of saving food, it is not certain for me.

Hotel Mojito: Another great time at the Mojito

We have been to this resort been to this resort before and was still as awesome as always. It was great to be reacquainted with old friends as well as meet a great bunch of new friends. There is still evidence from the hurricane in the fall, but the boys were working hard getting things back together. Hospitality was excellent and the food not to mention the beverages were excellent! Ignore the negative reviews about this resort,we will definitely be back. thanks to tripcentral for looking  [... read more]after us! Don and Penny

Memories Caribe Beach Resort: Post Irma - pleasantly surprised !

First of all, greetings to the friendly, outgoing poolside bar staff, to Julio and every server working days and evenings. Every morning, we picked up or got "hand-delivered from the pool counter to our breakfast table" fresh cappuccinos - artistically decorated with palm trees or hearts or cursive script! And our thanks to John and the front desk staff!! They were very friendly and professional in dealing with our request to change rooms. We moved from an older unit to a quiet, private, r [... read more]enovated "european-style" room with a great....no, the BEST view of the ocean (Bldg 24-16). The grounds and quite a of the unit buildings were evidently still undergoing work in the recovery process after the storms. The landscaping in parts was still very rough. But many beautiful palm trees on the property. Mosquitos....especially 4pm thru the evening. No-se'ems worse...many swollen welts! Thank heavens for salt water! Wear bug spray and keep re-applying after swimming....I had a strong reaction to the bites and they took forever to heal...and I live in northern bug country...different species - ouch! The food in the main building, the pasta bar and the grill to order had a nice variety! (waiting in line was tedious). The beach area, the sand bar stretching across the entire bay (wow - great water walks!) the free time on the hobie cats, beach grills, all very amenable! The service in the a la carte restaurants good, the food - not our favorite . The pool, not our favorite - cold...and shallow, so people who went in just stood around...If you are a swimmer, stick to the ocean. Recommendations to the Resort: FOOT SHOWERS on the walkways at the beach. BILLIARDS or PINGPONG TABLES or SHUFFLEBOARD...We don't all enjoy beach volleyball... Recommendation re: airport: Upstairs, main lounge :NO communication re: gates/flight numbers...announcements not audible, not understandable...when you have three planes, including two Sunwings waiting and two gates emptying, it is really funny(not so much) when you board and the flight crew immediately tells you where the plane is going and to GET OFF if you are on the plane. heading to the wrong destination. Please add electronic info boards upstairs and perhaps an informed attendant at the gate who knows what plane has been called... Loved Cayo Coco. Enjoyed a resort with NO children. Enjoyed the proximity of the resorts to the airport. Happy holidays!

Hotel Camino del Mar: Amazing resort, amazing staff

This resort has been through a lot. It's not the same as it was. But they are getting there! Loved every min of it.. foid wasn't anything too fancy. But just not my style. Can't wait to return in a year or two and see the progress.

Melia Jardines del Rey: Nothing special

Big resort I would rated most 3 stars For few reasons 1. Not enough service people.2.all inclusive is not actually All. 3. Personel didnt really care What was going on 4.its to much to write it But over all was ok at least Ocean Beach and Weather

Memories Caribe Beach Resort: Beautiful beach

This was our 4th time at this resort and we always come back for the beautiful, unspoiled beach. We love the white sand, turquoise water and being able to see living creatures of all sorts without being accosted by sales people. During our walks on the beach it was apparent that this is one of the best beaches in the area. It does not have the lava rock prevalent at other resorts. Hurricane Irma did quite a bit of damage to the foliage and grass around the resort but the landscaping crew is  [... read more]very busy replanting what was lost. The beach at the resort is much the same but area around is a bit different. Usually we are able to walk to a section where the big conch's and sea urchins reside but we were unable to find them this time. We did find three sea stars about 8 inches across but didn't see any of the small black ones usually found on the sand bar. We had no problems finding the flat sand dollars and the 4 inch domed shaped ones but didn't see the variety of fish we usually see or the stingray's. Our room was beautifully updated and the King size bed and bedding was very comfortable in addition to being fresh and clean. There were a lot of additional amenities in our room as well although ground coffee was not provided with the coffee machine this time. I want to give some attention to the food because so much bad has been said about Cuban food being bland. There have been some changes...some good, some not so good. I am a foodie-I love great tasting, authentic food including various fresh vegetables and meats. I am not really into fill-up food like battered meats, pasta and rice dishes with little else in them, fluffy white Wonder bread or processed meats. In the past, there wasn't really very much to offer unless you lined up for the freshly cooked fish or meat, and made a salad out of the pretty raw vegetable decorations. This time there was always a selection of raw vegetables including cucumbers, tomatoes, cabbage and bok choy sliced thin as if it was lettuce. Their salad dressings left a lot to be desired but cold-pressed olive oil, balsamic vinegar and other condiments including hot sauce were always available. There was also a variety of hot peppers, olives, cheeses and cold cuts that could add zest to anything. In the morning you could line up for anemic looking, thin pancakes (quite yucky) or eggs-any way you liked, including an omelet. (Whatever happened to the waffles??? They really were good!) They used to have an amazing bread bar with authentic artisan breads but now it's mostly the baked, frozen bread products you find in supermarkets. The odd time they have authentic Calabrese or Italian bread. (On a positive note, the new toasters actually work!) If you need peanut butter you will have to bring your own. Mostly I avoided the actual hot buffet because the meat there was overcooked and dry, and the other selections seemed to be a way to use up leftovers. The exception was the fajitas dishes, anything containing potatoe pieces and whatever they were actually carving at the head of the buffet. (NOTE: The carver doesn't always know HOW to carve). When it was pork, it was quite delicious. Beef is ALWAYS tough. Fish will contain bones. Turkey is quite nice if you didn't get an overcooked portion-try for thigh. Summary: Scout the entire buffet first. Use your imagination to create yummy dishes with whatever is available. You will always be able to get some decent, great tasting food. We met some wonderful Cuban people who go out of their way to please whether tips are given or not. We missed Solomon (the flamingo others called Roberto), and the peacocks. Also, the weather wasn't the greatest this year..it was cold and windy and so we mostly hung out at the pool....but....WE WILL BE BACK!

Hotel Playa Paraiso: Never Again

This resort has many good things going for it, beautiful grounds, pools and new lobby but the food was terrible. I have been to Cuba two other times in the past year so I have a comparison point. Lack of flavour, overcooked, lack of variety, lack of basic condiments, tomatoes, fruits and vegetables. The room was charming and spacious but the bed was rock hard, I did not sleep properly all week.

Melia Jardines del Rey: Good hotel

I stayed there with my husband Jan 11. We liked the hotel, and had a good time, but had some obstacles. Thought after reading some of the reviews I would add my two cents. Irma: unfortunately due to Irma, the weather is still out of sorts. Nothing that the hotel can change, but thought people booking at the last minute may like to get the heads up. We had two days of sun, two of rain, and the others were like typical Canadian fall days. Not what you would expect from Cuba. Rooms and  [... read more]grounds: our room was always very clean and well maintained. No holes, cracks etc. Always replenished our mini bar. The grounds are clean and beautiful however the lighting on the pathways to get around the hotel was not great. There were times that we could barely see the ground. The property is huge. If you don't like walking long distances just to get to your room or the beach, perhaps this isn't the place for you. They do offer little golf carts to get around, but most of the time I saw them they were taken. Food: food was ok. Typical buffet style food. Seafood was amazing!!! A few problems: nothing was ever hot. Luke warm at best. Not sure what temperature they keep the food under the heat lamps, but I could have served a small baby this food without any harm of burning them. The a la carte restaurants left a lot to be desired. After having stayed at many other resorts, the a la carte restaurants were disappointing. They tried to be "fancy" but failed most of the time. Also, good luck finding a salt shaker anywhere. When I did find any, they were so clogged that nothing would ever come out. Not a big deal though in the grand scheme of things. The thing that disappointed me the most of the food here was the lack of restaurants. They close down the buffet early in the morning for breakfast and the only place to eat is a snack shack. I ate there twice and refused to go back. There is no little snack place for desert or coffee, or French fries for example. It's much needed. Bar: lovely drinks in glass and not plastic. However, by around 9 pm they ran out of glasses each and every night. It's ok, we brought our own bubba mugs, but here is the thing. You could go to the same bartender five times in an hour, ask for the same drink and get a different thing every time! They put what they want, with the amount of alcohol in that they want each time. There is no baseline. Very disappointing. Shows: the shows were very well done and better than expected. Staff: very friendly. location: far from the beach and overall not a great location. If what you are looking for is pool and beach with drinks this is the place. But if you want to visit the real Cuba, go on walks, etc... Cayo Coco isn't it. Beach however was probably one of the best I've ever seen. Very calm water and bright blue. Gorgeous. As for excursions, being where they are, they are very limited. We wanted to much more excursions than offered, as the next town over is quite small and not a lot of cultural excursions. The one complaint my husband had since day one was the cleanliness of the men's washroom by the buffet. It was filthy. Out of orders signs on all but one of the toilets, nose excretions smeared all over the walls (that were there since day one), just plain dirty. All while the cleaning ladies stood right outside the washroom all day talking. They watched everyone go in, would mop the floor and then continue to stand there. This was heard by many other patrons. All in all, we were happy about our stay there, but not sure if we would recommend to friends and family. It was our first trip to Cuba. We will be going back, but Varadero next time. Not sure what I think of the Melia brand right now....