Grand Aston Cayo Las Brujas: Resort Review

Grounds and pools were great. Rooms were clean and the housekeeping staff was pleasant. Staff at dinners and bars were good with the exception of the lobby bar, there were a few unpleasant bar tenders. Would have been nice if everything was open, the Central Perk cafe was closed during our visit. Beach was great. Food at the buffet was not good at all, nobody in our group really ate dinner.

Grand Aston Cayo Las Brujas: Challenging

Arrived at hotel late New Year’s Eve. Lobby was full of patrons waiting to go to another hotel for festivities, this hotel had a low key party by the pool, lots of metallic confetti being used, took all week to remove from the pool. For the first 3 days, food and toilet paper was hard to find, apparently the hotel allows locals to use the hotel, so hoarding was an issue. The staff was great, trying to help, but, shortages of the food and TP were the issue until the next shipment came in. N [... read more]eeded to speak to customer service several times regarding lack of bottled water and toilet paper in hotel room. Lookout gazebo was in disrepair with rotten floor boards. Poolside entertainment was disappointing. Bring bug spray, we ended up with dozens of bites. The weather, poolside bartenders and beach made the trip enjoyable.

Grand Aston Cayo Las Brujas: Amazing staff but shortages showed!

The staff made the place #1. The staff was cleaning almost constantly but there was a huge lack in toilet paper, people were hoarding and saving it because they weren’t refreshing the empty roles in rooms or public bathrooms. Taking into consideration that Cuba has huge shortages itself the hotel showed that. The kids only drinks were lemonade or cola. The kids club was shut down and broken. There was only one day of pina coladas or you could get rum or vodka drinks, no slushy drinks. The beach  [... read more]was a far walk but there was golf carts willing to drive to closer. The a la cartes didn’t have the food that was on there menus but staff did the best that they could do with what they were provided with. The entertainment really lacked at the pool bar. The first few days we were there, people were hoarding food, would take whole loafs of bread not leaving any for others but as the week went on it got better. Besides all the negative we made the best out of it. I do recommend the jeep safari that takes you into town and shows you the real Cuba.

Grand Memories Santa Maria: Relaxing Winter Getaway

We went on this trip as a couple and enjoyed a wonderful two weeks at Grand Memories! First things first, the beach was beautiful, one of the loveliest beaches I have been to. There were a few windy or rainy days during our stay, but the experience was lovely regardless. Most of the time was warm weather and sunshine, without being too scorching hot. The water was quite clear and no need for water shoes or crocs since the sand was free of any rocks. Great sand, beautiful water for swimming, and  [... read more]wonderful views. Although neither was on the water directly, the sunrise and sunset were beautiful to see... specifically the one time we managed to wake up in time to see the sunrise haha. The staff on the beach was always very friendly -- including the bartenders, snack bar staff, lifeguards etc. Same with the rest of the resort, all of the bartenders, servers, chefs, customer service and front desk workers were all wonderful. While we typically preferred to go to the beach, the pool was nice as well. The pool at Grand Memories was typically busier, so we would go to the pools in the Memories section which was larger and less busy. Our room was spacious and clean and had a king-size bed, seating area, bathroom, mini fridge, closet with hangers, a handful of mirrors and a safe. All that you could need for your stay. Our beach towels were on our bed ready for us when we arrived. Our cleaning lady was very sweet and made sure our room had fresh towels, sheets and toilet paper each day as needed. She often left pretty swans or other designs on our bed with the towels or blankets. The bottled water in the mini-fridge was replenished each day. For the most part, our room was great. We had a couple of problems with the lock on our door and dripping water from the air conditioning, but the front desk and mechanics tended to the issues promptly. I found the buffet to be good. I know some people complain about the food in Cuba, but I thought it was good. I'm not a picky eater, but I did bring some hot sauce for us to use sometimes. The fresh fruit was the best. There was lots of juicy pineapple and papaya that you'll never have as fresh and tasting as good when you are back at home. The a la carte restaurants were alright. With two a la carte reservations allowed per week, we went to the Mediterranean, "Chinese", and the Italian twice throughout our stay. My only tip is don't expect Chinese food for the Chinese a la carte because it's not Chinese at all LOL. The bad thing about the a la carte reservations was that you had to wait at least an hour in line to reserve the a la carte and you could only reserve one a la carte and only for that specific day. So you end up waiting around in line for at least a solid 4 hours during your vacation. Not the brightest idea for how to reserve the restaurants. As for some late-night snacks, the Pizzeria by the lobby was perfect to grab a little bite to eat. They often had limited toppings available based on the availability of ingredients and how busy they had been, but once again the chefs were very friendly and a pleasure to chat to.. especially if you know a bit of Spanish. I highly recommend visiting the nearby market to visit the shops, buy souvenirs, and rum, or simply do a tiny bit of sightseeing. There are so many talented artisans and many beautiful pieces they are selling as souvenirs. There are also a handful of restaurants at the market. My boyfriend really wanted to try some lobster and the meal we had at "La Goleta - Restaurante Marinero" was great! Just note: the prices are in USD. We typically walked, but there were golf carts that you could hop on to go throughout the resort, to the other sections of the Memories hotels, or even to get to and from the market. PSA #1: For anyone travelling to Cuba, don't exchange your money for Cuban pesos since it is not used, specifically for tourists. We heard some people had exchanged a bunch of money at the airport and were stuck with a ton of pesos that were useless to them when making purchases at the hotel shop or the market. You can use USD, CAD, or even your credit card in most places (as long as it's not an American card). PSA #2: Don't bring coins like loonies and toonies! A lot of people were tipping with Canadian coins, but these are useless to the staff. Tourists may mean well by giving these coins as tips, but they aren't aware that the Cubans can't use foreign coin currency. Only bills are worth something to them and can be used. Countless times there were bartenders, chefs, or servers who were asking to exchange Canadian coins, dollar for dollar, for bills since they were stuck with so many coins that were useless to them. Very sad. Instead, bring bills or even toiletries or small gifts to give as tips to the staff. They will appreciate it very much!

Hotel Roc Casa del Mar: Horrible!! Do not stay here.

This hotel has such great reviews and stars but I can assure you that this is a 1.5-2 star hotel max!!! I have the pictures to prove it. There supposedly 9 restaurants which is false there is 1 that rotates nightly. We upgraded to the excelsior club and it said we would get so many extras but we didn’t get any. Including the bottle of rum that was supposed to be in our room. We had to switch rooms right away when we got there. Keeping in mind we have two young kids and it was like 1am when we fi [... read more]nally got to check in. Add we needed dinner to that and the snack bar that was 24 hours wasn’t even open. When we pulled up to our building there was 9 toilets just sitting outside the building. The room wreaked of smoke and was so dirty and all the pillows were ripped and garbage. They moved us rooms and it was better, with better views and 2 beds instead of one for our family of 4. The lines at the buffet were absolutely insane. It would take over an hour for fresh food and people would load everything they could take to their rooms on plates not leaving much for others to get. The sunwing rep was very helpful for us and after 2 days we left that resort and went to another resort which was amazing. Don’t get deceived like we did. This place is absolutely horrible.

Melia Cayo Santa Maria: Painfully Honest Review-Would Not Return

I'll start with saying that our expectations were that the beach would be beautiful and the food would be "meh". Everyone knows that you don't go to Cuba for the food, but for the beaches. The Good - There are two stand out points - The beach is simply the most beautiful stretch of beach I have ever seen and the staff is wonderful. There are several resorts along this stretch, but you can still walk for a very long stretch. The staff work hard every morning to clear the washed up seaweed  [... read more]and there is always someone around in the morning to bring you lounge chairs. That brings up the point that there is always lounge chairs to be had. There is no coral along this stretch, so it's perfect for swimming. Not so much for snorkling. I can't say enough about the cleaning services and wait staff. They were all wonderful and helpful. And work very hard. We did the private catamaran excursion that was offered. This was absolutely fantastic. We had the boat to ourselves, went to the dolphinarium, had a fresh lobster lunch that was provided by our hosts (one of them actually swam down and picked the lobsters from the trap), went snorkeling and got to visit Iguana Beach (yes it really had wild Iguanas that we fed lobster to). Definitely recommend as it was the highlight of our trip. The Bad - The rooms are definitely in need of some serious repair and generally run down. Our room seemed to have suffered from some flooding at some point and there was alot of water damage to the bottom of the doors. The bathroom door was so bad that about 3 inches of the bottom was warped and disintegrating. The toilet in our children's bathroom didn't work properly most of the time and it had to be fixed twice. The beds were old and hard. The pillows had stains on them. One had large blood stains. We didn't let this affect our trip in any way. We could look past it as you don't spend alot of time in the room anyways.   Now for the Ugly - Unfortunately, the ugly was very ugly. On day 2 the resort became jammed packed. This in itself wouldn't have been a bad thing if they were tourists and the resort was prepared. It turned out that they were locals and ALOT of them. We learned that the Melia resorts have started to host certain groups of locals for music festivals held at the One Gallery Hotel that is down the road. The more well off locals are offered a discounted price to stay for the festival and are bussed in. They took over the entire resort. The majority of this group behaved in a terribly entitled way and placed excessive demands on the staff and food supply. There were two days during our stay that we actually had to fight for food. The buffet doors had lines before it opened and you had to wait for more than an hour just to get inside. When you did, there were literally crumbs left. The other food venues were tapped out. You couldn't get a table or food to take away for hours at a time. The locals would send one member of their family and order 20+ sandwiches/omelets...or whatever was served at a time. Mulitply that by 20 families. If the staff didn't wait on them, they would treat the staff horrbily. It was very difficult to watch. After about 3 days they were all gone and the quiet resumed. When asked, reception informed us that there will be more events such as this and it was not a one time event. Apparently, the next one is in February. This is the only reason why i have given Service only 2 Stars. Lastly, both me and my husband ended up with food poisoning. I do think that the resort being so short on food played a role in us getting sick. Luckily, there is a doctor kept on staff who assessed us and was able to provide gravol injections. We were very thankful for this.

Melia Las Dunas: Over rated resort

December 20th to January 3rd, 2024 I’ve been to this hotel 21 times since 2018 obviously the hotel went down during the closure in 2020 and 2021 and is having difficulty getting back to the 4 star status. The hotel needs major renovations and the grounds have been neglected, there are not enough workers to keep up the work. There is a lack of fuel therefore a lack of employees, they work very long shifts and do the best they can. There is too much lack in everything. The public areas  [... read more]are clean but the lobby washrooms are terrible usually no toilet paper and most the the toilets don’t flush properly. Night drinks in the lobby are served in flimsy plastic glasses, the staff are told to say there are no glasses but they have glasses during the day! The rooms are descent but need work, no hot water for showers (this has been an ongoing problem) I was told that the hot water is turned on for a couple of hours in the morning and at supper time. During my 2 week stay I had hot water, not boiling hot twice. My showers were luke cold or cold. The telephones in the room do no work. The meals in the buffet, in the trays are cold, even when the trays are replenished the food is cold. To have a hot meal in the buffet we have to stand in a long lineup. The entertainment music is very, very loud, even with ear plugs the music was loud. So it’s boom, boom. boom from the center lobby, boom, boom boom from the kids theatre and boom. boom, boom from the Music Festival publicity for December 30 & 31and the Disco was opened at the Plaza Estralla so the hotel closed their hotel disco. The entertainment team was trying to get everyone to go the the Disco & Music Festval $$, I was told that there would not be any entertainment at the hotel. I spoke the Acting manager, he said he would speak to a higher up. Thursday, Dec 28th there was no entertainment and no music, the dancers and some entertainment went to the disco. Friday, 29th the show was a bit earlier then they went to the disco. Saturday, 30th no entertainment, no show. Sunday, New Year’s Eve management decided at 3pm to have a New Year’s Eve party. They had a show and the music was full blast all night. 2023 there were 3 Music Festivals (that I know of) which attracts more local cubans who are rude disrespectful, yell, take over the place. I was told there will be more music festivals. Christmas and New Year’s Eve, the locals take plates full of food to put in their bags to take home, they are triple thick in front of the buffet counters, I could not even see what was in the trays and the cooked meat lineup to the end of the food counters, they were leaning against them with their hair hanging over the food. New Year’s Eve supper I had 5 small bananas! I later went for a sandwich at the 24hr snack bar. The higher management has decided to go towards the music festivals and the regaeton music/ dancing. This type of music is for the younger generation even the animation team is geared to this music. The hotel had 2,000 guests for New Years, they cannot handle that many guests. We had to wait in long lines to get into the buffet most nights and was worse Christmas and New Years. All power went off one night in all the hotel at supper time, they do not have a backup generator or do not have fuel to operate it. Everyone gathers to the lobby, there were only 2 bartenders to serve everyone, later there was a 3rd one added. The 3 bartenders were working with the flashlights on their phone so see. There was a small emergency in a corner and another one in the office. The power went out at supper time in November also. I arrived at midnight, the next night ‘greeters’ came to ask for a review. One night my handicapped friend went to get a cart to take him to his room, there were no available carts, he had to walk with one leg and a cane in the rain to go to his room. I cannot go to a hotel that caters to the local uneducated cubans and to the younger generation with full blast music any more . Sadly, I had to say goodbye to my many friends that I have made over time. Sunwing, the plane as delayed at least one hour departure from Montreal. There were 4 plane arrivals at the Villa Santa Clara airport. Needless to write customs was packed. Return flight also delayed, this time there were 6 planes departing, the lineup to check in was horrendous. My plane was supposed to be 4th to leave, they put it last.

Hotel Roc Casa del Mar: Nice staff doing their best

Food was as expected, but you go to Cuba for the beach and sun which were both beautiful and in abundance. Unfortunately, hotel resources were lacking such as no coffee anywhere for 2 days, insufficient toilet paper, room keys that consistently deprogrammed (even when not touching a cell), and a safe that needed repair twice. The staff are so nice and really try their best. Overall, underwhelming for a holiday destination.

Melia Las Dunas: Melia Las Dunas

Lots of variety at the buffet but it’s like a 40 minute wait for an omelet if your hotel even has eggs (heard lots of them didn’t). Lots of food shortages, couldn’t get a pina colada my entire week there to save my life :( Mostly just lemonade or coke to mix with hard alcohol or you’re drinking beer/wine the whole time. Tipping $5 USD is the only way to keep servers serving you or else you have to go stand at the bar. All the employees said hi to my husband but wouldn’t even look me in the eye o [... read more]r say good morning to me, didn’t matter if I was the one tipping or not. Lobby is pretty and that’s good because it’s the only place that we could connect to wifi.

Grand Aston Cayo Las Brujas: Great Resort

Beautiful beach view from the ocean view rooms. Friendly staff and great atmosphere. Rooms were clean and comfortable. A-la-Carte restaurants served good food and perfect sized portions. The live shows during the evening hours were entertaining and interactive.

Hotel Roc Casa del Mar: My experience at Roc Casa del Mar

I am going to preface this review by letting every reader know that the workers are amazing and that we made the most of what our vacation was. All statements I make are either my opinions or my observations and personal experiences while at this resort from December 26th, 2023 to January 2nd, 2024. Sunwing should be ashamed of themselves for how they have marked this resort. This was my wife's first time going anywhere and the main reason I choose this resort was because of Sunwings claim of [... read more] 9 restaurants. I gladly paid the extra money for the Excelsior upgrade that gave us access to all the restaurants every day. Good, hard earned money waisted because there aren't nine restaurants, there is one and it rotates through the various options (Cuban, Asian, American, Italian, etc.). The other restaurants are all closed as is half the resort due to the low number of guests. Well we were only able to get three days out of seven because the other days that line restaurant was booked solid and for the days we could book the only available dinner times were late 8:30 - 9:30pm. This upgrade was also supposed to have its own lounge but it doesn't exist from what I was told by the staff. Its own section in the buffet, but it was closed. Its own beach section and drink service which did exist, kind of, but everyone no matter if they had the upgraded package or not was using this section so does it really exist? The bathrooms by the pool were cleaned maybe once every two days and that's according to the bar staff near by. Toilet seats are missing, stall doors broken or missing. Toilet paper non existent, but that's actually common for Cuba (bring your own) The New Years Eve buffet dinner was a nice touch however I don't think they anticipated the amount of local guests that would be there to also enjoy the holiday. My Wife had to wait over an hour in line for a lobster tail, but at least she got one ? And as she said the server was taken aback when she only wanted one as most people were quite willing to take up to six at a time. Seeing the locals fill bags with fresh fruit and other food to take with them was heartbreaking and annoying all at the same time. I will say we both loved the Cuban people, they were as they always have been, an amazing bunch. We made friends with the pool bar staff and they really made out vacation. Coffee bar staff are just as great. Would I go back?........to see the people again...yes. Would I go back over a holiday again?.....not a chance. Was I disappointed....in Sunwing for what they are selling vs what they provide... absolutely YES and again Sunwing should be ashamed of themselves. I am not sure if given the choice if I'd take another Sunwing Vacation if one if one of the other carriers were also available, even if it cost a bit more money. I've gone with most of them and none have lied to me about what I'm getting. Buyer beware, ask all the questions you can think of, look at the online forums for the resorts prior to booking to understand what's happening.

Iberostar Selection Ensenachos: Very beautiful beach

Very beautiful beach. Very kind staff. Poor kitchen. Abandoned residential buildings and rooms. No mini bar. And very loud environment in the lobby.***********************************************************************************************************************************************************

Melia Buenavista: Not A 5 Star By Any Means

This place was so run down that it was not a 5 star by any means.Breakfast was a night mare the flies were terrible and we had no eggs for days which breakfast consisted of toast bread and lunch meats,cheese and fruits.The unit we stayed in was not what i expected from a 5 star resort.The safe was useless and every drawer in the walk in closet was broken or missing which forced us to carry our important documents with us at all times not a comforting feeling while on vacation.The food was not al [... read more]l that great but we were not there for the food if i wanted great food i would stay home.The beaches were awesome even thought it was very windy for the first three days so swimming in the ocean was very hard.The people at the resort were great very respectful and always helping in any ways.The electrical standards in this resort is very poor here in Canada that resort would be closed down in a hear beat.Many lights were burned out and switches and receptacles were so worn out and broken that the cords for lights and our chargers would always fall out of the receptacles.The patio door was off its track and had a 4 inch gap at the top of the door allowing bugs into the room.

Iberostar Selection Ensenachos: Honest review

We were there from Dec 21 to 28. Amazing beaches and good pools. The resort did a fabulous job to put together Christmas Eve dinner with all the possible variety. For the other days buffet had limited variety but freshly grilled chicken, fish and seafood was always available. Ala carte were not the best at all. This resort should improve in terms of entertainment for guests and more activities or live music in the lobby for guests in the evening time.

Iberostar Selection Ensenachos: Honest review

We were there from Dec 21 to 28. Amazing beaches and good pools. The resort did a fabulous job to put together Christmas Eve dinner with all the possible variety. For the other days buffet had limited variety but freshly grilled chicken, fish and seafood was always available. Ala carte were not the best at all. This resort should improve in terms of entertainment for guests and more activities or music in the lobby for guests in the evening time.

Vila Gale Cayo Santa Maria: AMaxing resort

This hotel was incredible. After hearing about the food shortage in Cuba, I was a bit worried. When we arrive at the resort the 24 hr bar and grill had hot meals , drinks and a very friendly staff. This was about 11:30 pm. I travelled with my granddaughter for Christmas we stayed for 7 days. She was definitely impressed.

Valentin Perla Blanca: Fun n Friendly but lacked toilet paper lol

The staff are very friendly in the dining places and the bars. Lounge bar was great. Snacks at the pool perfect 24hrs. Beautiful beach. The one downside - reception manager / resort liaison. Not very helpful at all. Sounds petty but zero of the public washrooms had toilet paper. Guess some kind of shortage. And the rooms only had one roll. You had to ensure even if a few sheets left for the maids to replace or they would leave it like that. The public washrooms never did get any toilet pap [... read more]er. Several frantic husbands trying to find some for their wives. Due to the time of the year only half of the resort was open - approx 200 guests only in a 1000 plus room resort. So the entertainment instead of the theatre was just in the lounge. Still good though. Christmas dinner was very good.

Grand Memories Santa Maria: Pretty Good !

This is my hubbys first time in Cuba and my 3rd, but 1st time going to Santa Maria. With Cuba, you just can’t expect A LOT. And that’s exactly what we did and we were not disappointed. The only thing that kind of disappointed me was waiting for our room to be ready. A bunch of us had to sit and wait almost 5 hours in order to get keys to our rooms. I think that was a little ridiculous. But , the rooms were spacious and clean and I never had issues. You’re in there to sleep, of course it’s not go [... read more]ing to be a 5 star luxury experience. The pool was small and cold but if you walked down the path to memories, they have a much bigger pool there. The beach, beautiful. Cubas beaches are always beautiful. Food; now I am a VERY picky eater and I ALWAYS found something to eat and I was full every night . Sure ya, we didn’t have eggs the entire time and hardly any desserts, but it is what it is. My life wasn’t going to end because of it. I was full and content daily and I’m ok with that. We had one good show where they brought them in from outside the resort, other than that, the shows kinda sucked and we ended up skipping most of them. We didn’t find out till the last day that about 5 min walk down past memories, there was a big plaza with restaurants ($) and tons of vendors for souvenirs. Thank goodness we ended up finding it ! Lastly, the hour and a half bus ride sounds gruelling, especially after just coming off a flight, but it was well worth it. Sit back and take in the scenery. Only the hotel workers are allowed through into Santa Maria and it was nice not being bugged on the beach or asked to buy something every now and than. All in all, I would for sure go back! The Cuban people are always the absolute best and the hotel was just a bonus !

Grand Aston Cayo Las Brujas: Not great :(

We have been travelling to Cuba for 17 years and this was the worst experience we ever had in Cuba.Just want to mention that we never travel to Cuba with any high expectations and we are very aware of the shortage of food, drinks etc but in this case I believe most of it was bad management. The reason I say this, is because we walked on the beach to the next door resorts and let me tell you it was not the same. The check in was a mess..our rooms were barely ready at 4 pm and once we got the 2 r [... read more]ooms, one of them was already occupied by someone else so we had to sort that out. The buffet barely had any good choices of food, the first day we got there they didn't even have a toaster at the bread station until we complained and they brought one out. Absolutely ridiculous! They only had eggs at breakfast for 3 days we were there and on our last 2 days they barely had bread and NO butter. They started running out of the main supplies really quickly once the resort started to fill up as of Dec 25th. Entertainment was ok..nothing special, the beach was beautiful but they could replace their beach chairs as they are awful, broken and very used up. And to top it off, the morning we left there was no water in the entire resort. I would never return to this resort.

Memories Paraiso: Great staff unless you wanted something done with your room or upgraded to Diamond club and expected anything to be different

I’ll keep this short. I’ve been to this hotel 4 times now. That was the last. The friendly bar and wait staff don’t make up for the lack of service from the hotel. Put it this way, I was supposed to be pool view… I ended up finally after 3 room changes being able to stare a row of trees 10 feet from the balcony.