Resonance Blu Santa Maria: Beautiful beach

Beach was beautiful. Great for walking and enjoying the waves. Managers and employees at hotel were friendly and accommodating. Very clean and well kept. Shows were very well done, but could have had the volume turned down a bit. Didn't go hungry. Lots of places to walk, too.

Melia Cayo Santa Maria: Very beautiful resort!

The resort was beautiful and well laid out considering the size. Was like a figure 8, with the main lobby and areas in the middle. The rooms were nice and well kept. Our maid Misleidy was fabulous and went out of her way for us. The buffet food was very good. The A la carte dinners were very good, but my favorite out of the Mexican, the Japanese & the Italian was definitely the Italian. Beach was beautiful. Service at the pool bar was excellent, especially Reinier the waiter. He gave us excellen [... read more]t service. Took care to make sure our drinks were refilled and always had a smile on his face. The supper buffet waiter Alfredo was excellent as well, always greeting the 7 of us and making sure to prepare a table for all of us to sit together. He was extremely efficient in making sure we had everything we needed and always offered us coffee after our dinner. Davide the animation worker invited us to participate in salsa lessons by the pool which were alot of fun and made a point to say hi to us from that moment forward everyday when he saw us. The only complaint I have is that the lobby bar was so busy in the evenings, it was extremely hard to get any service and hard for the bartenders to keep up. Very, very frustrating. It needs to be better organized somehow. Perhaps take away the bar stools around the bar, so that people are not sitting around the area where people are waiting to get drinks. Add more tables in the lobby instead. Maybe offer a self serve beer tap, water station, slushy station(for the kids) all with some staff to supervise and keep clean. Also, it would have been nice if the self serve coffee station actually worked. It only seemed to dispense water? Add more waiters/waitresses on the floor to offer/serve drinks to the tables. I only recall being asked once if I wanted anything the whole week. Open another bar area in the lobby...you have 900 something rooms. You could afford to open another lobby bar in the same area to accommodate this number. All in all it was a great vacation! Food was very good! Pool areas are nice. Beach is beautiful. Service was great in most areas. Oh...I definitely recommend going to the spa. Had a couples massage one day and went the next with a friend for a facial and a body wrap!! Loved it! Dancing/lobby or beach party were great fun!

Melia Las Dunas: Really nice staff & beach

Overall the resort was lovely. The rooms can use an update. But for a family friendly resort the activities started really late. 9:30 for the night show it late for middle age children. Overall it was ok

Sol Cayo Santa Maria: 2-star experience

Check in was quick, an envelope was already prepared. The room was huge disappointment, nothing could open/close. curtains were stained, walls damaged. Moved to another room, which was better, but next day toilet did not work. It was fixed on 3rd day after complaint. Food was very average, but you can find something to eat. Two grill stations in a buffet, one for fish, one for meat. Employees were polite, grounds nice. Beach was the best on the island, water color stunning. Nudist area is annoyi [... read more]ng, it is part of the hotel beach, not near it as some reviews said They should make east side beach presentable, it is very depressing. There was always enough chairs in the shade, you did not need to wake up early. It is my recommendation that AIr Transat/Trip Central do not offer this hotel until seriously needed renovations are performed.

Gran Muthu Cayo Santa Maria: Amazing Beach and Pools

We stayed at the resort from March 22nd-March 29th 2015. This was our first vacation in 18 years without the kids. We loved the beach, pools, lobby lounge and the Shows at night were fun! We were surprised with how good the food was as we heard from friends that Cuba's food was less then desirable. We had food that wasn't great but for the most part we always found something good. Our room was always cleaned and restocked by the time we came back after a day at he beach or pool. We loved it at E [... read more]urostars Cayo Santa Maria so much that we are looking at going back with the kids next March Break :)

Melia Cayo Santa Maria: Cozy+Friendly!

Everything was EXCELLENT!! Only one complaint,was the quality of food!! We have been to Cuba several times before+ this was the first time ever,that food was not up to par!! The a la cartes were average.One other major irritant to me(not husband),was the lack of enforcement on fairness with holding pool/beach chairs! Not enough for all. Other than those 2 complaints we REALLY ENJOYED this resort! Staff were Tremendous!! We actually met the General Manager,by chance,+ he was very interested in ou [... read more]r comments+ listened with an eagerness for any improvements!

Gran Muthu Cayo Santa Maria: Beautiful beach

No complaints, all is good! Beach was fantastic, not a pool person, but it looked great. Food was fine, lobster, mm good. Was bitten by something, not sure what. All and all great vacation. Love cuba!

Melia Las Dunas: Nice resort for the price.

Very large resort - lots of walking. Regular shuttle service would be a great benefit (i.e. shuttle stops at regular, timed intervals). Limited views from balcony's regardless of location. Good a la carte restaurants. Very large buffet - great selection for lunch and dinner. Rooms o.k. but day to day maid service was inconsistent in terms of cleaning. Pool area very nice and quiet on the adult side of the resort. No need to get up early and reserve lounge chairs but one's located under bamboo um [... read more]brellas go fast. One day with no a/c or running water in the room. Spa and gym are very far away from the adult side of the resort. Beautiful beach - very busy. Daily entertainment and shows were very good. Staff were excellent. Keep patio door closed to prevent small lizards from entering the room and climbing the walls.

Melia Las Dunas: A large resort

Spectacular beach. Lots of entertainment. Rooms were fine, however, toilet paper was somewhat of an issue. Had to give a gift to a maid in the main lobby to get an industrial size roll so we wouldn't keep running out. Food was good. Lots of variety and lots of restaurants to choose from. Too bad its such a long bus ride from airport to hotel. This is somewhat of a deterrent, however, it gives you a chance to see sights along the way.

Gran Muthu Cayo Santa Maria: Great resort

You can't beat the beach. It's spectacular. No debris in the water at all-just blue water and perfect sand on your feet. A large resort. Exchanging beach towels was bothersome, so only did this once midweek. Line was too long and had to wait for this service. Booking a la cartes was tedious as well. The airlines we booked with only included 2 a la cartes which no one knew about and they were chosen for you. Overall, great value for your money.

Melia Las Dunas: -Melia Las Dunas Santa Maria

The host staff were friendly and mostly helpful. The food at the main buffet was average and the specialty restaurants were good The public restrooms through out the resort were under serviced and at times disgusting. The towel supply at the pool area was poorly stocked the bar and host staff were great. We arrived at 10PM in the evening to find our room door ajar and the A/C turned down to 15 degrees C. Our room floors were not swept everyday. We put all of our used bath towels in the bathtub o [... read more]n day 3 so the cleaner could supply fresh. They did not they removed the bath mat and hand towel & hung the bath towels up on the towel bar Gross! when we notified guest services they brought us 1 worn out (but clean) hand towel. Not ideal for 2 people showering the next day. The bed was poorly made each day- bottom sheet not stretched smoothed before being tucked in. The picture on the bathroom wall had broken shards of glass place back in the frame.

Gran Muthu Cayo Santa Maria: nice

the lobey is very nice & clean. The workers are very very nice always smiling. Service to the bar war excellent and fast. We couldn't change our towel for the beach in the week. the room could have been cleaner.

Memories Paraiso: great resort

el a cartes need to up grade their food maybe only give them a 3+ (easy fix), Italian only really good one out of 4. pools are fantastic-best i have ever been to, 1st day kids area pool temp was good-after that every one around (all pools) complained they were to cool-they have lots but need way more shade covers there are loads of chairs, same as beach fantastic but again need more shade-by 9:30 all shade covers gone except for way down the beach-its sad watching the elderly or people with litt [... read more]le kids wondering around to find cover and that i find not acceptable and totally unnecessary, there's loads of space where more can be added to the right on Azul side (its crucial shade be provided for all who want it) -but that said beach staff was great (recommend hats or clothing for them so they are easily recognizable) and did their best to help out, loads of chairs. Kids pools should have more shade cover over the pool itself. All staff fantastic. Booze accessibility best i have ever seen and all servers friendliest ever--never ever even a hint or look as to where's my tip-they all went out of their way to please you even when we thought they were to busy they had time-i have been to 15+all inclusive's. Going towards building 54 which is on a slight hill they need benches i found myself stopping and just standing for a break but i do have a slight medical condition-however i did see elders that did the same-(easy fix) was very nice to see alcohol cart part way up at times which i did not stop at. Fridge replenish was only a little off couple of times which was fine, yes i did tip. Will go back which i usually will not if i find pools to cool or not enough shade cover, this place was only off a little bit (again another extremely easy fix) i really hope they take heed to my recommendations as pool temp and shade so important to most. Nice to have little entertainment in main lobby nightly. Highly recommend resort to all. Great location with no worry of local's to bother you, completely safe. Catamaran with 2 snorkel stops on it was super but not really presented i only knew from research it was offered-then we needed to go on wait list (for 3 days) until they got enough people to go- but again not presented or info any where on paper or on tour board at all-we did get to go and it was very good and highly recommend. There is some snorkeling on rocky point on right side of hotel Azul side, with needle nose fish and about 3 or 4 colored fish. Overall fantastic resort.

Gran Muthu Cayo Santa Maria: Very nie place

Very nice hotel. Best food considering "Cuban food standards". Great beach. Somewhat slow service, thought. Excellent and beautiful swimming pools. Awesome evening and night entertainment. Very professional magician show, rock band, dance performance.

Resonance Blu Santa Maria: Starfish Cayo Santa Maria

We spent the week of March 25th to April 1st at Starfish. Overall it was a good experience. The trip in from the Santa Clara airport was about 1 hour and 40 minutes, but it gave us a taste of the real Cuba. Upon our arrival, we were greeted with music, dance and a welcome cocktail. A very nice touch. Our room was clean and comfortable, but we could have used more pillows. If you have mobility issues, this is not the resort for you. The grounds are very large and sprawling. Getting to the beautif [... read more]ul beach was a chore. You cross a wooden boardwalk , go down a set of stairs and then take a path to the beach. Another set of stairs would be quite useful. Once at the beach, which is very long and very beautiful, there are only 2 places to get drinks and food. Another bar/snack area would be perfect set halfway down the beach. The pools are beautiful. There is a mini buffet at the main pool , but the other pool had only hamburgers and hot dogs and one day was not even open. The food was okay. Some days better than others. One of the best meals we had was from the pasta station at the buffet and the Italian a la carte was fantastic. We managed to see only 2 shows. Do not miss the Michael Jackson show. It was amazing!! Showtime was listed as 9:00, however the actual time is closer to 10:00 They would start giving out awards for the day at about 9:30. Followed by a game. By the time the actual show started, a lot of the audience had left. A suggestion would be to start awards, etc. around 8:30. It is tiring sitting at the beach!! There is a market down the road from the resort with shops, bars, restaurants and craft vendors. Some of the a la carte restaurants are located there. You can walk there or be taken by the resorts golf cart. Starfish is a beautiful resort but could use some tweaking.

Resonance Blu Santa Maria: Need to work on the food otherwise great

Bus ride was long 1.75 Hrs and bumpy. Wife was carsick,not to the point of heaving but not pleasant. We asked for a front seat for the return and they were very accommodating. The wife had some issues with a previous leg injury so we wrote to them 2 days before the trip . Although we did not get a reply to the e-mail they did see to our requests. They pre-arranged booking in with the rooms already assigned giving everyone an envelope on the bus.That made the booking in go much smoother. Rooms we [... read more]re clean, decor a bit tired but everything worked. Towels were kept fresh, although other reviews warned of problems. Grounds were clean. It would be nicer if they removed more of the jungle from the grounds. Our terrace faced the path to the pool with 20' of thick jungle in front. Only was to get to the pool was the building exits. Pools were excellent, pool bar and permanent hamburger bar beside it were great. The beach was excellent with a handy beach bar. A nice touch was lots of portable bars on carts close to all events so you wouldn't have to go far for a drink. Lots of mini shows, in the lobby, buffet, and in front of the theater to preview the night's entertainment.The hotel is on startup with new ownership from Dec 2014 and it seems lots of equipment is lacking. People complained about things like sports equipment lost or missing, volleyballs for pool and beach, that sort of stuff. The theater was beautiful. Entertainers were great .They need 2 or 3 times more speakers and power amps so you can hear the show when the place is full and a DJ that knows how to run a mixer board. During the Michel Jackson show all we heard was Tish tish boom boom boom and not a word of the singer's voice. The food was not 4 star. I have had MUCH better food at 4 other 3.5 star places in Cuba. The variety was inconsistent.With a good buffet we usually can search through it and find enough variety to please us and we rarely eat at the a la carte .We had to search a little harder than normal to satisfy our needs. We ate at two a la cartes . The service was excellent but the food was below par. No butter for our buns and Cappuccinos came with sour curdled milk, kind of like cottage cheese. The guy making them should have seen that. They offered to get us fresh ones but we were kind of turned off. The people managing the food service need better training. Food at the steam tables was generally cold even at the opening times. It seems they cook the food hours before it goes out and leave it on a cart full of trays before getting it to the steam tables. They did have staff keeping the steam tables clean and attractive but couldn't time the kitchen cooking the food to keep the steam tables full. Long waits for trays to be replenished. Main Buffet had no toaster for breakfast till the last day then it didn't work. You got hit and miss toast from the pizza oven.They would not serve cappuccino with dinner though they had a coffee window for servers near the kitchen. Everyone seemed to do their best with what they had. If they trained their food managers to do a better job organizing things then the materials they have to work with would present better. I understand it is difficult to get a consistent stock of food materials in Cuba but other hotels seem to do better. A long dissertation but the Resort's only drawback I see is improving the variety and quality of food the rest of place was great.

Melia Las Dunas: Nice place

The grounds were beautiful, very large hotel. Rooms were nice and big. Maids did a great job. Adult pool area was nice and relaxing. Kids area a bit of a zoo. Very happy they were seperated. Beach was beautiful, but no washrooms close by. Shows were nice and courtyard entertainment was fun but repetitive song list. My only complaint was the lobby bar. They need about 10 more bartenders on staff in the evenings. The poor guys were just swamped. Some nights you may have stood there for half an hou [... read more]r or more to get a drink. This bar and the 24 hour snack bar were the only bars open at night, and with the size of the resort it was not enough.

Melia Las Dunas: Good resort

We we're a family of 4. The site was nice but could have been better taken care of. There was a few maintenance issues. We had a leak in our bathroom and it took 3 calls to fix it. But the staff was very friendly. The flight was the big problem for us 8 hours delayed to go and 6 hours delayed for the return flight (sunwing) need I say more..

Melia Las Dunas: Very nice for the most part.

The hotel was really pretty good. The lobby bar was great. Probably the resort's nicest feature. Room was fine except for the bed. It was really poor. Bed springs poking through the mattress. Food was so-so. On a par for Cuba. The beach was fabulous. Made up for anything not so great.

Melia Cayo Santa Maria: Excellent couples resort.

The beach is perfect and the grounds are beautiful. Our room was located far enough away from the pool and bars that we didn't hear any noise at all. It was a short walk from a nice long beach. This was our second time here and we'll go again.