Good vacation spot!

Overall, I enjoyed our stay at Melia Las Dunas. This was my first time vacationing in Cuba. I would consider it closer to a 3+ resort rather than a 4+ resort, however. Resort: This resort is huge! I had no idea how large and spread out the layout of it was before we arrived. Be prepared to do lots of walking between your room, the restaurants/buffets, the pools, and the beaches. However, the amenities are centrally located so are easy to find, and they supple shuttle cars that pick you up and t [... read more]ake you where you want to go if you don't want to walk. Room: We ended up upgrading our room to an ocean view after our first night. Our original hotel room left a lot to be desired; it was musty smelling, they had placed two twin-sized beds together to make a "king" bed, and we realized after our first night that the sheets were stained. Gross. However, the upgrade process was easy at the front desk and not too expensive, and the ocean view room was much nicer. Pools: Both the Relax and Entertainment pools were great. Clean, tons of chairs to choose from, and both have a swim-up bar. Beach: Incredible! We spent a ton of time at the beach. The bars are just steps up from the beach, and at time there were workers who took your order from the beach, and got your drink for you. The sand is beautiful and the water is picturesque. Restaurants/Buffets: The buffets were fine. There was a lot of the same selection to choose from each day, but all tasted fine. Definitely book an a-la-carte reservation at the Oriental restaurant if you like this kind of food! It was amazing, and the best one we went to. The Italian restaurant was only okay. There is a 24 hour beer garden, serving food and drinks. Food was so-so, but great when you are hungry and the buffets are closed. But for the first room we were assigned, I enjoyed our first time in Cuba a lot. I would likely book a better-rated resort in this area next time, however it is great if you are looking for a mid-range place to vacation for a week.

Fantastic Stay

We stayed at the Melia Las Dunas Jan. 26 - Feb 2/15. Overall resort is great - beautiful grounds, lobby, rooms, pools, beaches. Restaurants were good - not the best we've ever had, but what we expected. Bartenders were always smiling and happy to make us our drinks the way we wanted them. Drive from airport is about 1 hour 40 minutes, worth the drive to get to that beach! Housekeeping took great care of our room and always left fresh towels (which I've read some people had issues with... not us  [... read more]:-) Lots of activities going on everyday to keep you busy. We budgeted $10-$20 per day for tipping, and that was the perfect amount - just like at home, good service gets the tip! Would recommend this hotel to anyone! **One tip: be careful when you exchange your money - we didn't have any issues, but talked to someone who was just about scammed at the currency exchange at the airport - do the math!

Excellent Resort

Melia Las Dunas is a beautiful large resort where we enjoy relaxing on the beach, near the pool and walking through the gardens. The food is excellent and we enjoy the shows at night. The personnel is very friendly and you feel very safe all the time. We stayed there 7 times both in the adult section and the in children section with our daughter and grandson. We already booked to return for another week.

Awesome vacation, mediocre resort

I went with 5 friends - my husband and I, and 2 other couples. We had such a great time overall! The beach was amazing, the staff was awesome for the most part. The food was mediocre, but that is too be expected. We had requested king beds, but instead got 2 twin beds pushed together. As for entertainment; the resort is huge, so my friends and I didn't realize that we were on the 'adults only' side for the first few days. This resulted in a boring and quiet pool with no activities going on. Lat [... read more]er in the week we meandered over to the other side and it was much more exciting and suited us better as we are all active people. Advice I would give: Make sure you look around the resort the first day so you can find the best place for you and your crew. Don't expect anything great food-wise (however, our oriental a la carte was amazing!), and the drinks are never quite the same. But if you love the beach and the sun and a clean resort, this is the one for you.

Fabulous Resort!!!

The rooms are spacious and well appointed. The beaches are amazing. The Entertainment fabulous. The grounds are very well maintained and even the gardeners are friendly. My hubby and I loved the grill for lunch where we dined on fresh fish, chicken, beef and pork. Going back for spring break with my 14year old son...he will have a blast.

Wonderful Family vacation

We visited from Jan 22-29, 2015 and had a wonderful family vacation. I went in with low expectations because of all the reviews I read, but this hotel is good. The vacation is what you make it. I strongly believe that some posters are just negative people and have nothing nice to say. We arrived in the evening and the check in experience was great. We were put on the family side, building 33, on the upper level, which is what we wanted. The room was clean and very spacious. We ate our first meal [... read more] at the international buffet and it was pretty good. The next day, we woke up and reserved our spots by the pool. We realized afterwards that we did not have to do this as there are plenty of chairs. The family side as a great pool for the kids. Water only goes shin deep and is perfect for all kids to play in. My kids loved it! We had no difficulties changing our towels on a daily basis. The Hotel itself is beautiful and well kept. The rooms are clean and the staff is friendly. The grounds are very large and there is a lot of walking to be done, but what else will you do after all those meals. The food was okay. A lot of variety every day. Yes, some repetition, but what do you expect. We found that they were creative in using a dish from the day before into something new the next day. The fish and meat stations were fantastic. Fresh and grilled to your liking. You need to have patience to wait in line, but well worth it. There are a lot of varieties for everyone, even vegetarians. There are a lot of rice dishes and vegetable dishes. The pizzeria is very good. We ate there 3-5 times during the week. The beach is STUNNING. Crystal clear water and white sand. The kids loved it for their first beach experience. Otherwise, it was a fun trip. Great weather, beautiful beach and great staff. Make your vacation what you want it to be and do not listen to all the negative comments. We have been to other resorts in Cuba and this way better.

Tasteless food but paradise

The lobby and grounds are beautiful. The rooms are average but your never in them and beds are hard. The pools are nice but beach is out of this world. Shallow ocean with crystal clear water that the kids loved. The sand is like flour and brown sugar mixed super soft. We brought condiments and sauces that helped with the tasteless food. If you can get a good deal on this resort I would recommend. Try booking within the last week for best prices.

3 star at best

The bus ride from the airport was a bit long but we arrived in daylight and had a lovely tour guide and beer to make the 90 minutes go by quickly, check-in was easy and we were escorted to our room just as easily. Although the grounds were maintained well, (groundskeepers would cut open a coconut and provide a straw if asked, offered your flowers for your hair...) the resort is in need of some attention. We were on the adult side which was.. very quiet. Our room was clean, but the toilet seat wa [... read more]s broke, we had no hot water (or water pressure after one shower) for 4 of the 5 days there. That said, the manager provided us each with a 30 minute complimentary massage at the spa and a free late check out. Almost every public bathroom had a few broken (closed) toilets and never had toilet paper or paper towels so we travelled everywhere with a roll in our bag. Your towels do not get changed each day so be sure to hang them up to dry on your balcony as the rooms are somewhat damp. We received a bottle of water in our fridge everyday as you are not to consume the tap water but when we asked for 3 as there were 3 of us, we were turned down. Save the empty bottles and take them with you every morning-- our bartender "jorge" would fill them up for us to take with us throughout the day. Bring a travel mug for your bevies as well.The food was not wonderful as we had anticipated --but the "beer-garitas" were great and the pool service consistent! There were a few go-tos for food though: the sports bar, the panini place on the beach and the one grill at 1-3pm near the sports bar. The morning omlettes were excellent at the buffet. We only did the oriental a la carte- it was okay.There a fantastic main bar in the lobby where we generally started our evening and that main building is really a perfect gathering place. On overcast days, we played cards in the main lobby and people watched as there is nothing to go see as the resort is in a desolate area, (remember the bus ride and the long causeway!) no residences etc although there is an aquarium nearby but we did not go on any of the excursions. There is a convenience store and a market, but there was not really anything that really felt enticed to buy-remember you will not find any north american products in Cuba..yet. There were some lovely artisan artworks that you could purchase.We did enjoy the aqua gym and the salsa lessons pool side and the other provided entertainment and would have liked to take advantage of the catamarans on the beach but it was too windy while we were there. Be forewarned of the jellyfish on the beach-they are everywhere! Few servers spoke English but they did their best to smile and gesture!! There were many weddings down there (fun to observe) as well as French Canadians so it was fun to practice our French! Despite the conditions of the resort, we met many kind people, had many laughs and did not regret taking our short vacation here. We were grateful to get away from the -26 temperatures and made the best of the experience--but would most likely not return.

Amazing Grounds

ARRIVAL: 1 hr.& 40 minute bus ride from airport to resort. Beer sold on bus but less expensive if you purchase it from vendor in parking lot prior to boarding the bus. Check-in could be smoother by supplying guests with an envelope which includes everything including room key. Instead we entered a room off the lobby, received an information package & wrist bands and then had to line-up at the front desk to receive room keys. Guests are anxious to get to their rooms and commence their vacation.  [... read more]FAVOURITE SERVER: Vlatamir who initially worked as a host/server in the buffet restaurant and promoted, during our stay, to a server for the lobby bar. He was an amazing employee whos was friendly, happy and extremely competent. GUESTS: Large majority of guests French Canadian. ROOM: Resort divided into 2 sections - adult and family. If you are a couple and wish a quieter vacation, request a room in adult section. Stayed in Building 49 and hand rail going to 2nd floor was loose and required tightening. Bathtubs have high sides. May prove difficult to climb into if you suffer mobility problems. Cold water 2 days - even at 4:00 a.m.(early morning check-out for flight). Water extremely hot on remaining days. Room was large and comfortable. Mini-fridge; safe & umbrella Complimentary plastic make-up bag in bathroom which contained shampoo, body wash, shower cap and bar soap. Unable to plug curling iron into the 110 outlet located on face of hair dryer. Had to use converter we brought from home. to plug into outlet to use curling iron. Firm bed. Large bottle of water, 2 cans of pop and 2 beer delivered to the room each day. POOL / BEACH: Clean and towels always available. Many lounges and lots of coverage from the sun at pool and beach. White sand beach. Take a travel mug to use at bars. This will eliminate use of small plastic glasses. RESTAURANTS: Mexican, Cuban, Seafood, Italian & Romantico Enjoyed good food in both the Italian & Romantico restaurants Piano player in Romantico - Played too loud instead of background music. VIP/RETURN GUESTS: Treated to a bottle of rum in room upon arrival and an extra dinner invitation in the Romantico - lobster & steak

Nice people, terrible service

The service was absolutely horrid. Plus there is no wifi unless you want to spend lots of money to use the 2/5 computers that barely work. Phone calls to contact home are also too much money. Fix it!!

Simply amazing!

The hotel is very nice, people are friendly and the rooms are clean. The beach is amazing, by far the best beach in Cuba in my opinion. The food is very good. We did the Italian, Asian and Romantico a la cartes as well as the Cuban one. The Italian was my favorite and the sushi at the Asian restaurant was really good, a must try. Have been to the resort before and the food was good but this time it was really good - not sure what changed. As always the food at the buffet does get tiring and you  [... read more]crave foods from home but it was really good and there are a lot of other places to eat during the day like the pool restaurants, Mi Conucu the pizza place and the Beer Garden which is 24 hours - love the steak sandwich. And if you go you have to try the grilled Cuban sandwiches on the beach - to die for!! Love, love, love this place. Will go back over and over.

Resort too big.

We found the Resort was very big and that made the room service suffer. We did not find the room service very good as the cleaning was not well done. We asked for clean towels as I put dirty towels in the bath tub as requested and they took them out of there and hung them over the chairs and table on the little patio outside to dry out which I was not happy with. Please bring your own face cloths as I asked for them and they brought me hand towels. For the grounds they were beautiful and also th [... read more]e public areas. The dining areas were very nice and on the hole the food was pretty good. I did take my own salt and pepper. As for the beach I did not find it to be the best as there was some sea weed in it. The pools were great. We would not return to that Resort again.

No toilet paper, no activities, no shuttle,

Food was cold, even the soup was cold, No toilet paper, no activities but they announced full activities, no shuttle, beautiful beach but within 10 minutes the pulled out at least 15 jelly fish, there wasn't enough umbrellas for every room, when it rained we had to wait over 1 hours for a shuttle that never came for our engagement party everyone had to walk and get all wet.

Best in Cuba yet!

This was my first time at the Melia Las Dunas and I will Definatley be returning. The service was great, food was delicious and the room was gorgeous and always perfectly clean. My girlfriend and I enjoyed the options for bars and pools, not to mention the restaurants. The buffet was always good and fresh, especially the meat corner (cook there was fantastic, professional and polite). The bartenders at the pool bar were always smiling and friendly. On the last day one of the landscapers cut me o [... read more]pen a coconut and explained the benefits of drinking it, he even had a pack for straws with him in case this happened. I had been to the Melia Buenavista previously which actually had a higher rating but honestly enjoyed this resort more. Overall a great trip full of great memories! Thanks Melia!

Perfect vacation!!!

My husband and I and our two boys stayed at this resort from January 9-16 2015 and we enjoyed our trip . The best part was the beach loved the entertainers always kept us busy!!! The ham and cheese sandwiches at the beach were amazing!!!! The grounds were beautiful!!!! We stayed in bungalow 17 which was close to the family pool but a little walk to the beach. The food was actually better than we thought.... Rooms were always cleaned... Bar fridge stocked but a couple days we had to call because  [... read more]they had not come by!!! We would definitely come back !!!

Great Resort! Great People! Great Trip!

I stayed at Melia Las Dunas with my husband in a standard room 7615. Our room was clean. We did have to ask for face cloths and water on the third day. The resort is big, there is a family section and an adult section. We were in the adult section. The hotel grounds are nice, well maintained and clean. The food was good. We ate at the restaurant by the adult pool, service was good, the pizza, burgers and poutine were good. At the 24hour snack bar, the service was hit and miss, the burgers were g [... read more]ood. The pizza was the best at the pizza restaurant near the family section. The Romantico was excellent. I did take bug spray, there were about six mosquitos, I never had to use the bug spray. We enjoyed a relaxing week in the sun!

Back again

Santa Clara Airport: Air Canada Vacations delivered (three) blank DR forms for completion on aircraft. Almost two hours to hotel via modern bus – no washroom. Check in: Prompt and efficient. Room upgraded because frequent visitor. Hotel: Grounds beautifully maintained. Some jungle. Beach is very long and wide. Pool has plenty of lounges and some shade. Lots of washrooms, serviced continually. Security: Digital room safe provided. Security evident at perimeter and on walkways. Card-lock room [... read more] door. Free second room key provided without asking. Room: Had a screen on balcony door and left AC off at night. Beach towels placed in (upgraded) room. Refrig was stocked daily. Maids often work in teams of two for fast service. English TV channel range was scant. DW and French for the Europeans plus other languages. News scant and CNN dropped on weekend. Climate: Perfect day and night temps. One day where rain showers kept us under cover. Food and bars: Modest variety at buffet but less than in the past. We alternated with reservation restaurants. One central location had 24-hour food service. Bar stock had acceptable product range. All-day coffee bar service in the large central lobby bar. Computer Wi-Fi: Forget it. Expensive and ineffective. Leave it at home. Summary: We do three or four two week sunshine trips each winter. This is our base case comparison is with others. This was a repeat trip this season. Certain attributes are inferior, e.g.: communications. It will remain on our list when considering future travel plans because the people are very friendly and we feel secure.

Great vacation for the price

Great vacation! Beautiful resort, pools and beaches. Food was good. Lots of variety to chose from. Rooms are basic but clean. Bring face clothes. We did have to move due to musty smell from ventalation which bothered my allergies. They did move us to a better room quickly with no fuss. Great for families and adults wanting a quiet time as resort has an adult pool where kids are not aloud. We had to ask for clean towels a couple times as well as water for our room. Entertainment and lobby are gre [... read more]at! Romantica a la carte restaurant if FANTASTIC! Looks like we are going back for our wedding next January!

For Cuba this is an excellent resort

No complaints about resort, rooms, service or food quality and selection. All the staff were very pleasant and very helpful. Only complaint I have is for the fumigating they were doing 3 or 4 times a day Smelled quite a bit.

Awesome resort

The grounds were beautiful, beach was awesome. Food was actually not bad compared to what I've been told. I just wouldn't recommend the buffet. Everything else was good.. I like how they have the beer gardens open 24 hours for a snack any time and when leaving for departure at 5 am it's nice to be able to eat. Especially when you have kids. The kids club was ok ..my son enjoyed it. I would definitely go back.