Great Getaway

We had a wonderful time at the Ocean Casa Del Mar. This was a new resort so you could tell there were some minor hiccups to work out but nothing anyone couldn't look past. I did find that I noticed the language barrier more than I normally do in Cuba but with travelling to a different country you can't assume everyone will speak some English. The scheduling of the snack bars was never consistent but there was always food somewhere. The pool toilets often ran out of toilet paper and one of them n [... read more]ever had the lights on but with a couple drinks you don't care much about things like lights! The rooms were beautiful and well maintained. The beach was gorgeous and although it was a little small there were plenty of chairs and room for everyone. Yuni at the pool bar was a wonderful bartender and made sure everyone was always having fun. Defiantly the most personality on the whole resort. My only main complaint was the night life was short lived. They were only allowed to play music in the main bar until 11pm and that was when a lot of people were just getting in the mood. I understood there was noise restrictions but in a resort that big there should be a place for people to dance if they'd like to. I've had a few people ask for reviews on this resort as they'd were looking into travelling here and I've give a great review both times!

Great value Resort

My husband and I travelled there this January for 10 days and would go back! The resort is very clean and modern. The rooms were spacious and clean and the bathroom shower was excellent! The staff was friendly and helpful if we needed anything. The buffet was large with wide variety of options and the a la cartes were always available as another option if we decided to go. The food quality was ok but we knew that as I had been to Cuba before. The beach was beautiful and we took advantage of it d [... read more]aily. The high winds we had for 2 days made it unavailable for us but the pools were a great substitute for those days. As it's a large resort we appreciated the strolling from one end to the other for variety of the pools and activities. There was entertainment nightly with good variety as well. All in all it's an amazing resort for the value and for that reason I would go back!

Ocean Casa del Mar, Santa Maria

Carman and I booked our trip knowing from past experiences what to expect and are happy to report that this resort did not disappoint. Our trip from the airport was a couple of hours but uneventful. Check in was easy and we had to wait for our room so we headed to the snack bar for a bite to eat. Fabulous service and food was good. Once we got our room keys we headed up to a clean and nicely decorated room. It was comfortable and that was all we needed since we don't spend much time in it [... read more]. Would of liked a room with a bathtub but it was likely under the Privilege Club package which we didn't upgrade to. Buffet was typical and we most certainly were cautious of our choices, but we could also eat at any of the "a la cartes" that were opened. We stuck to eating mostly from the stations when we went to the buffet, where we could choose what we wanted and watched the chef's cook for us. We had a wonderful hostess named Leidy who provided us with a table, wine and a special hug when we came. She was wonderful. The pool bar and snack bar were very accommodating providing us with great service and I can honestly say they went above and beyond to make our stay accommodating. The only complaint we have is the internet was very frustrating. I had purchased a package from Bell ($75 for 30Mb of data) which lasted less than a day. So I had to contact them and get another 30Mb so I could download my emails. Internet was down 90% of the time it felt but I could turn my phone off airplane mode, download my emails and turn it off without any problems. Not sure how that works but that is what happened. The other complaint is that we only brought Canadian money as we figured we would just convert into Cuban currency. We were told the exchange rate that we were being charged would be based on the US currency exchange which is about $1.30? We all know that the Cuban dollar is not par with the US. I hope my review helps someone. Honestly, if you want to go enjoy a beautiful beach with crystal clear water, great pools and fantastic staff, this is a great place to go.

Great Vacation!

The hotel was really good, great location and a really nice beach. The staff is amazing, always trying to make sure you're comfortable, 2 really big and nice pools, great entertainment and awesome drinks. The only downside was the food, but even then you can always find something descent and fresh to eat, especially on breakfast. We had an amazing time, would definitely come back next year, best value for the money we ever got.

Amazing Resort

just came back from a week vacation. truly a great resort, the rooms, the food, and the people were fantastic. The beach was amazing. I would definitely recommend this resort and will definitely be back. missing my Cuban Coffees.

Going back!

This hotel was great, easy to navigate and find restaurants, lobby, bars, pools etc. Lobby - gorgeous, plenty of room for sitting, couches, lounge beds, chairs and tables. Mike's Coffee is off the Lobby and it is so wonderful, they have so many coffee options. Access to WIFI in the lobby (you buy cards 1.5 CUC for an hour). also, the lobby has an incredible view of the ocean, when we arrived it was breathtaking. We went to the Japanese restaurant, it was very good. highly recommend visiting  [... read more]this one. you don't make reservations you just go. we only waited 5 minutes in line to get in. buffet had plenty of options for all meals, pasta station was the best I've had in Cuba. Pizza was good! our room was by far the nicest I've been to in Cuba, bathroom was great, the shower was great - good pressure and temp. cleaning was great. we were in building 6 and I would request that building next time. its a perfect location. beach is smaller than most I've been to, if you go to the left (off of the entrance near building 6) its really rocky, large rocks in the water (we were told this was because of a storm that washed away sand) but if you go to the right of the bar you can walk into the ocean fine. water is a perfect blue colour. there is a nice strip you can walk down! pool was great, entertainment was lively! always something going on but also quiet times. restaurant beside the pool was good for lunch. swim up bar was good. The only downfall is that there is a 2 hour bus ride from the airport but I think the hotel is worth it. you get to drive an hour down a causeway which was an experience, and pass three towns. the bus had a washroom and they sold beer! everything was good, I will be going back!

Beautiful resort

Ocean casa del Mar is a beautiful resort. It is very new, clean with attention to details in both the architecture and service. Each day we were greeted with an animal creation made out of towels placed on our beds. The rooms were spacious with fantastic showers. The mattress was new but not overly comfortable. They have pretty standard mattresses without a pillow top. Customer service was excellent. Very lovely people who really didn't speak English very well. The pools, gym, activites were wo [... read more]nderful. I was told you don't go to Cuba for the food and I'd have to agree it wasn't great. The highlights were the stations were omelettes were made fish was fried, and pizzas created (I didn't try the pizza), and fried bananas were prepared especially for you. The buffet had a wonderful selection of food. The beef was very tough and the chicken was dry. I enjoyed the fish and pork and fried bananas with coconut ice cream. The restaurants opening in rotation every night and offered Italian Japanese and seafood specials. Some of the meals were quite lovely. Some were not. The evening entertainment was superb. Live bands great musicians and dancers. The beach was the highlight of the week. I learned the art of doing nothing and had a very relaxing stay. If you want to rest relax drink and enjoy the beautiful resort, ocean casa del Mar is perfect. The island of Santa Marie is dedicated to resorts and tourism. To experience and learn more about Cuban culture & history a different resort or location would be preferable. For us on this trip the resort was exactly what we were looking for. Thank you.

Great resort

Ola, Myself and my daughter who is 2 years old stayed at this resort and we really enjoyed it. The resort is new, clean and very big. However, it does need a little more landscaped areas and maybe a few more palm trees. The beach is absolutely amazing. The food is what people expect from Cuba but it is a little better than other resorts. Entertainment was excellent and all singers dancers, were putting on an amazing show every night.

The good, the bad and the great!

Rooms - Nice and modern Service - Friendly staff Food - I got food poisoning...buffet was not the best. Many restaurants were closed throughout the day and only snackbar available. They did run out of a lot of food and we ate ham and cheese sandwiches most of the time. Only good restaurant was the italian. So definitely lacking in the food department here but so is all of Cuba. Entertainment - Nice water activities, yoga, stretching, dancing, shows.. Beach - Spectacular clear water.. [... read more].this is truly what made our trip Pool - Two large pools each with a swim up bar/volleyball net Location - 2 hour bus ride from the airport but very secluded and safe Value - For the price this was a great deal at a newer resort as much of Cuba is very out dated.. Overall - 6/10

Wonderful

Everything about this resort exceeded my expectations. It was clean and modern. The food was far better than other Cuban resorts we've been to. The staff were wonderful. This resort is more suited to couples, quite mellow and relaxing. The only things I didnt care for (not the hotel's fault ) was the long bus ride to get there and the beach was dependent on the tide.

Great NEW resort with amazing staff

- room was very modern and clean, shower was walk in with raindrop head (amazing and romantic) - pool was a little on the cold side but the pool bar staff on the left side made our trip unforgettable and the entertainment staff are very energetic and have activities each day by the pool - the beach seems rocky at first glance but once the tide is out, just a minute walk from the left side walkout is amazing white sand (if you love snorkeling or collecting shells, this beach is for you!!) - [... read more] food was great if you are brave enough to eat their cuisine (fish, seafood, rice) otherwise mediocre - a la carts are no reservation which meant getting there 10 minutes before they open to ensure a seat, otherwise first come first serve - if you plan on tipping the cleaning staff or even the entertainment staff instead of money bring items of everyday use (shampoo, toothpaste, clothes, sandals) these items are very expensive for cuban residence - loved this resort and would return in a heartbeat!!!

Wonderful, Relaxing, Perfect Vacation!

Ocean Casa Del Mar was absolutely breathtaking. From the beachfront property to the immaculately clean resort, we would go back in a heartbeat. The service was the best we have ever had. Thank you all!

A Tale of two Vacations

Context: I have travelled to Cuba more than 10 times and love the country. I also have a good idea of it's limitations so knew what to expect going in. We made the most of our time and had a blast... Having said that, this resort was not cheap... so I one still expects value for their money.. onto the review.. Part 1: New Years 2017... was a disaster. The resort experienced a flood of Cubans (500+) for the New Years weekend that it was not equipped to handle. Which of course would [... read more] be difficult, given that these guests were taking massive hunks of cheese and hiding them in their purse. Grapes and Apples were stowed in pockets. When that ran out, the butter was taken by the basket until the resort had none. Then the bread.. there was a 1 day period where the resort didn't have bread... at all. The lineups for the only 2 open a la carte restaurants (where people tried to take refuge from the crowds of angry locals who were yelling at the buffet staff when they ran out of something) were massive. The staff became on edge and help for any issues was slow if forthcoming at all. The management did not respond at all to the issues until the sunday.. where they began controlling access to the Buffet.. so now there was a line there too. The staff were aware of the incoming storm of Cubans, and knew it would be like this. (I spoke with many staff regarding the issues) If only we had been warned before booking! Oddly, the beaches, snack bar and pool were not busy during this period. We learned our lesson, and avoided the Buffet and "rode out the storm". The experience made the resort feel much more like a 1 star for the duration. Part 2 The Storm Passes As quickly as they arrived, the large group left. Our experience for the final 4.5 days of our trip was fantastic. The staff, now much more relaxed, were friendly and helpful. Food was plentiful and pretty good for a Cuban resort. My wife in particular loved the Pizza stand. (choose your own topping and they cook for you.) There was also (in the buffet) a Sandwich stand, Pasta stand, and a few others. The omelette and smoothy stands at breakfast were great. The A la Carte restaurants if I'm honest, could use soem improvement. The food, for the most part was ..ok. Enough with the food, I don't go to Cuba for the food anyway! The coffee bar was awesome, from the espressos to the frozen frappes or whatever they are called. The bars were great also. They had alot of higher quality drinks. 7yr aged dark rum, etc etc. The nightly band that played almost daily from 8-9 was great, as well as the Retro show they put on one evening. The pools were clean and beautiful, the beaches gorgeous. Really a very nice resort.. now back to some negatives. 1. The entertainment in the theater was dreadful. I mean seriously cringeworthy. Do not waste your time. 2. The Towel exchange was rarely manned, and half the time the guy working there had no towels. (not really a big deal) 3. Severe lack of entertainment staff. Very little entertainment outside of the nightly live band. (which is a plus for some people that prefer quiet) 4. Spotty wifi ( I expected this going in, but if you aren't familiar with Cuba.. the wifi is down more than it's up, and the bandwidth can barely handle Facebook.) 5. Posted event/dinning schedules were not updated until a few days into the following time period. So had no idea what restaurants would be open, who was serving what etc etc. 6. Gift/smoke shop literally only held 1 person and was closed more often than not, even during it's posted hours. 7. The best show we saw (and one of the highlights of our trip) was not advertised anywhere in the resort. We just happened to be there when they started setting up. What else did we miss??? 8. The good entertainment (live bands/retro show) were sooo bloody short. (retro show everyone expected to last all night ran from 7-8:30.. wtf?) The live band was only 1 hour a night. I place blame for all the (real) issues on the management staff. They really dropped the ball in so many ways, and did little to improve the situation. The resort has so much potential, I really hope they work on the issues and make use of the beautiful resort they have. I wish I could rate the resort higher, as the staff, when not stressed (lol) deserve rave reviews. However the overall experience left alot to be desired.

Worst experience in Cuba in 15 years!

Our family decided to take a vacation and get away from the snow. At first the review for Oceans casa del Mar were really good. But it was a lie. In the first couple of days the food did not sit well in our stomachs. We all had some type of food poisoning in which we had to stay indoors for a few days. In the new year we seen more Cubans that entered the hotel. This is when the food was completely gone. We were lining up outside of the restaurants to try to get breakfast. Trays were empty [... read more] and dirty. The chefs gave the best to the Cubans. When asked in the snack bar for sandwiches or bread they said it was all gone. Plates in the buffet filled up to the top with just one item. Cheese, pork, ham. For New Year's Eve we went to the ranch restaurant and spent one hour in the line and the food was horrible. So we decided to go to the display buffet which we had to wait for 30 minutes to get ONE slice of turkey for 3 people. It was incredible to see that the Cubans were stuffing their handbags with cheese and other edibles. We have traveled to Cuba more than 10 times and we know not to have high expectations for the food but this experience was the worst we ever had. My family has decided that this is the last time we step on Cuban grounds. We guarantee that the locals will ruin the tourism in Cuba.

Worst Vacation ever in my life!!!!

Ocean Casa Del mar in Cayo Santa Maria, Cuba. Arrived 23 Dec departure 03 Jan. I have never had such a bad vacation in my life!!!! I never saw anything like that in my life! Over 100 locals (Cubans) entered the resort and our vacation were basically ruined. Cubans are stealing food and plates form the buffet bullying all tourist, stuffing food in large bags full with meat, bread, cheese etc. We had to line up outside the buffet for 30 to 45 minutes just to get in to get food and it had a [... read more]ll gone! I grabbed a bread roll, no butter available and sat waiting for them to bring more food. Each time new trays were brought out, they vanished in seconds. Breakfast was just as crazy and the lineup at 8.30am was insane. We had to wait half hour to even get in! to find another line 30min. to get some eggs. The "24 hour" snack bar, didn't have food 24 hours. We will never return to this resort and feel as though I have wasted thousands of dollars! and 11 days of my life! I would never recommend this resort to anyone I know. Cuban airline are disaster, departure from Toronto 8 hrs late, from Santa Clara waiting at airport for 9 hrs. Andrew.

Good Family Vacation

Was a lovely resort with the most Amazing Beach! Rooms were clean but only one pillow per bed (unable to get a 2nd despite request) Food was average for Cuba (frequently ran out of food) Very long line up for buffet at times. Disappointed that a la cart was not available for 2 nights of our stay???

Ruined by locals :(

Before reading this review - keep in mind that if the management had not allowed 500 locals to come into the resort the experience would have been much different. The hotel itself was very nice, despite a few issues and although we had a lot of issues with staff not serving us, the ones that did were great. I would have loved the opportunity to visit this hotel under other circumstances, I believe it could have been 5 star. I am reaching out in regards to a recent trip to Ocean Del Mar – Ca [... read more]yo Santa Maria. My boyfriend and I were staying there from Dec 30 – January 3 and we had the worst experience I have ever had at any resort, or anywhere for that matter. Although this is a new resort, and most people would be weary – I was excited to visit since I have stayed in another H10 resort in Punta Cana and everything was absolutely amazing. Unfortunately, that was not the case here. We arrived late at night – around 9pm. We got to our room and the sheets were full of brown stains and there was nothing in the fridge, not even water – our room had been forgotten. We called the front desk and they said they would send someone to fix the room. We then head to the lobby bar and I went to the front desk just to confirm that everything would be taken care of. The girl was very busy talking to other workers but she assured us it would be done. We spoke to other people and no one else had this problem. We got back to our room almost 5 hours later and nothing had been done. We called the front desk multiple times and there was no answer. We finally walked to the front desk at almost 3am, which is a very far walk and the same person who said it would be done was still there. They changed the sheets, but still no water. That was a horrible experience to start off with, unfortunately the trip only got worse. December 31/January 1 the resort let approximately 500 locals into the resort. This absolutely ruined the trip for various reasons: 1) The locals were very ignorant towards the Canadians. We are not predigest and loved many members of the staff at the resort, however the locals that they let in acted like savages. 2) The food: We paid a lot of money to visit this resort and once the locals came we were unable to eat. The buffet was overrun by rude locals taking whole trays of food and leaving everyone else with nothing. They were ignorant and not courteous and you felt unsafe being in there. In one instance, we were in line for the buffet on new year’s eve and as the doors were opening – the locals got violent and a gentleman we were with got pinned between the doors and suffered severe bruising. This was followed by fist fights over food. They list that they have 8 a la carte restaurants but that is not the case. There were only 3 open and on new year’s eve they closed 2 of them and charged $30 to eat at the third one, which we did because we were starving and had no choice. Other times, we were forced to wait up to an hour to eat at the snack bar. The waitresses would serve all of the locals first so you were sometimes waiting 30 minutes before having your order taken. The food was horrible, and not what we paid for. With the amount of food the locals were eating, the resort ran out.. There was no bread for 2 days and we were forced to survive on hot dogs with no bun and ham and cheese with no bread. 3) The liquor: We suffered drinking the cheap alcohol because they had to hide it from the locals who were consuming everything. On January 2 after they left – it was a whole new resort. They had better alcohol out – men serving bottled beer etc. We should not have been punished because they let too many people into the resort. 4) There was never any toilet paper in the washrooms and when I would advise the staff they would just shrug their shoulders and say it’s all gone. 5) Twice all of the lights were out in the building we were staying ins main area and the surrounding area. I’m not sure if they do this to conserve energy but it was pitch black and very unsafe. If we had not had our phones there would be no way we would find our room. We went to complain to the resort about the horrible events, however there was a huge line up people complaining, so we didn’t bother. We had spent enough time in lines and waiting just to eat and wanted to try to enjoy the little bit of time we had left without the locals. We thought it would be best to reach out to H10 directly since those who complained at the resort were not being compensated. I have looked at trip advisor and see that someone has already posted a horrible experience very similar to mine. I thought I would reach out to H10 directly first in hopes that you will make it right. We were so excited to visit this resort, especially since it was a H10 resort but it ended up being our worst experience ever. We suppose that they decided to sell tickets to locals to maximize capacity, however it will hurt them in the long run. Every single person we talked to was miserable and hated their experience. We spoke to many others at the airport that stayed in different resorts and they did not have this problem and had an excellent trip. We are very disappointed and feel our time and money was completely wasted on this trip and we now have no faith in H10 resorts.

Nice Hotel Poor Food

We just stayed a Casa del Mar and it was a good week. Staff was friendly, hotel was clean. The pools were very nice as well. The food was another story...the first couple of days were good then they ran out of food, qualitiy and taste was poor, and the lineups were huge. They do not take reservations for the a la carte restaurants which creates a very poor competitive atmosphere for food. Overall I give the hotel 3/5 stars!

A Disappointment

This resort was a huge disappointment for us. After reading all these amazing reviews, we were excited to have booked there, only to come back not so happy. Pros: The beach, absolutely stunning. Our favorite spot. The pools were nice as well, and they had a really great play area for the kids which was definitely useful for our 2 year old. As this was a new resort, there was still a lot of building going around, but the grounds were ok, and the rooms were nice, especially the rainfall shower [... read more] head. Entertainment for the kids was great, the staff did a great job with the kids. Cons: The A La Carte restaurants did not take reservations, which resulted in us and others waiting for almost 2 hours to get in and have a nice sit down dinner. That kind of thing doesn't work well when travelling with a toddler that normally eats dinner earlier (like 5:30pm). All the restaurants didn't open until 6:30pm for dinner, which was still a little late, especially for the buffet. Food was not good at all. Not too many options, and not very easy when you have a picky eater. Our daughter lived on bread and butter, watermelon and ham the whole week. The resort had a lot of Cubans stay there, which I don't mind, but I was really disappointed to see how these Cubans would cut you in line at the buffets, and some were just rude. Hoarding all the food, fighting over the food at the buffet....it was a nightmare to see. The food was also catered to the Cubans tastes and not the other tourists. I get that this is Cuba, and the food in general is not the greatest, but if this is a resort that is supposed to be 5 star, then there should be more options for food. I've stayed at resorts in Cuba that have had really good food. They also advertised 8 restaurants, but there were only 3, plus a buffet and 2 snack bars that were open. Some of the staff members were great, friendly and helpful, but there were a few bar tenders that could have put a bit of a smile on their face here and there....they wouldn't really look at you unless you tipped. Also, it was hard to communicate with some staff members as they didn't even speak any English or French. The walk from the hotel to the beach was a bit of a hike, and the closest washroom was by the pools. It would have been more convenient to have some bathrooms a little closer to the beach area. Overall, I would not recommend anyone to go to this resort. If you can, spend the extra and go to Melia Las Dunas, it is 100% better, the food is good and staff is so much more friendlier and you get reservations for the A La Cartes. This has definitely made up our minds about not going back to Cuba ever again.

Beautiful resort but some improvements needed

The grounds are nicely done and once it is complete it will look very nice. The rooms and public areas are very nice. The service from the maids and wait staff was very good. Reception were cold and indifferent to you and your needs. The food have little selection and very bland. The beach was awesome but that area is on the windy side. Lots of beach chairs and shade available. Pool area is beautiful