Melia Las Dunas: 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!

Resonance Blu Santa Maria: Not a good choice. Under new management

The negatives Unfortunately the service and quality of food was subpar. We were a group of 12 travelling from Jan. 2 - 9/15. New owners had taken over and alot of things were lacking. Buffet food was cold or dried out from sitting too long. The cuts of meat were low grade, mostly bone, tough, or lots of fat. Canned fruit cocktail and pineapple rings for the first few days. Inconsistent service. Sometimes we had warm water on the tables with service staff available. Other times you had to wait at [... read more] the bar for a drink.Stick with the a-la-cartes where food was freshly prepared. Couldn't get a fresh beach towel, unless you asked front desk. The sheets weren't changed on the beds all week. Obvious linen problems. They ran out of beer by noon. More arrived by 2 or 3. The lobby washroom ran out of toilet paper and soap by 8. There were so many fixable problems that became glaring when added up. The hotel manager had only arrived 3 days previous. He did accommodate our request for an upper floor, after a 4 hour wait for the room to be cleaned. They were short staffed and overwhelmed when a new bus from the airport would arrive. The positives One of the most beautiful beaches I've ever seen. Soft, powder, white sand. The grounds were well kept and clean. We were lucky to have beautiful weather. The rooms were cleaned daily. We had a great vacation since we had met up with family members and enjoyed ourselves. Antonio at the Cuba restaurant/grill endeavored to make our stay memorable. Eat at the a-la-cartes, better service and food quality. Once this resort gets their act together, it can be a good place to go to.

Gran Muthu Cayo Santa Maria: Great Resort!!

Awesome Holiday!!The resort is well layed out. Very clean with beautiful plants and trees. Pools are awesome! Food was very good with a great variety. Different dishes every night. The breads and desserts are wonderful! Try the black beans and rice! Staff was very friendly and helpful. We stayed in room 1926 overlooking the pool, rooms in block 9, 11, or 12 would be the best rooms with views and location but block 19 was close to all the amenities and the pool view was good. Beaches are beautifu [... read more]l with soft sand and lots of lounge chairs and beach bars! The only thing I can say negative is they could be better organized with the room cleaning and restocking, might want to buy a small pack of coffee for the room as it is not always refilled. They did not replace the room towels or bedding all week, so use them wisely!

Resonance Blu Santa Maria: Nice Resort

This resort is under new management and I found the people trying hard to make it a nice stay for all. I found the people really friendly, the food plentiful and good, really liked the expresso first thing in the morning. The rooms were comfortable and clean. If I had to complain it would be that my clothes fit a bit tighter when I left, must of been the damp hot weather that shrunk them.

Valentin Perla Blanca: Not a 5* service

Overall the experience was bad and I will never go there again. The hotel management can't be seen, staff training is weak, organization is horrible and if they continue like this they will drive themselves to the ground. Everyone I talked to was unhappy and disappointed. Do not go there!

Melia Las Dunas: 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 !!!

Melia Las Dunas: 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!

Playa Cayo Santa Maria: Great resort!

My boyfriend and I travelled Jan 9-16 to Playa Cayo Santa Maria. It was a great vacation!! My boyfriend had never left Ontario before this trip so I didn't want to go somewhere too expensive in case he didn't like the whole laying around for a week. This resort is incredible for the price, great rooms and staff. The pools were beautiful, i wasn't the biggest fan of the beach as it was alittle rocky as you want down to the water and almost like two tiers. The sand however was beautiful and water  [... read more]was great. We had fantastic weather. We are very picky eaters but we really enjoyed the food here, the 24 hour snack bar was awesome, whenever your hungry there's always something to eat- at 6 am, midnight, anytime- with good selection of food too!we were in building 15 which is what our travel agent recommended for us, the lady at the front desk said it was the best building when we arrived and we soon found out why- closest to the beach, right beside a large pool, and the snack bar right there as well! It is a large resort, but you can walk from one side to the other in less than five minutes. We tried the Italian a la carte restaurant and the cubn buffet, both had decent food but you can get the exact same food at the regular buffet at a quicker pace- I guess it just depends if you want to be waited on! In this townit is only resorts, no one lives there... There is a market you can take the bus ( if you want to wait all day for it for one peso) or taxi is abou t 5 min drive, it costed us 3 pesos each way. The market has little souvenirs to buys, restaurants and bars. The entertainment staff was incredible, always getting people to join in, decent shows each night. We had a blast on our week away, already starting to plan our trip for next year!!

Playa Cayo Santa Maria: Amazing resort first class service

The resort was very neat and well maintained. The staff working there is amazing and very generous on the drinks :). I have already recommended this resort to 10 other friends. I had the oceanic view from my room and its just breath taking . I will definitely go here many more times.

Iberostar Selection Ensenachos: Beautiful Resort

The beaches were gorgeous, resort beautiful and staff excellent!! Dayker & Gustovoe are a must to see bartenders in the lobby bar excellent service. Will definitely go back!! Resort has a great cigar store and lounge must visit those areas.

Gran Muthu Cayo Santa Maria: Simply Unbelievable!

I don't even know where to begin...this resort is amazing! I would come back here in a heartbeat. I'll try to break things down a little bit: Beach- Amazing, Santa Maria has some of the best beaches I have even been to...powdery white sand and crystal clear waters. It's like your in a dream. Pools- Awesome...always lots of chairs to be had. Only recommendation I would make is to have less "animation" as they call the pool side entertainment. When they are playing games (which is great for part [... read more]icipants) they use a mic and often yell in it. I am all for the games but don't use a microphone and just celebrate with the people playing the game. Other than that the pools where great! I love how close they are to the ocean...you get the best of both worlds! If you looking for a quieter pool head to the other one where they have the kids splash pad. Believe it or not its much quieter. Food- It's Cuba food so I don't need to say much. You know what your getting so no use complaining (complaining tourists are the worst, if you are one of these people don't come to Cuba the rest of us don't want to listen to your rants). Instead embrace their local cuisine and find things you like! Omelettes are always delicious, they even has Turkey one night which was fantastic! The Mediterranean & Cuban a la cartes were the best...Gourmet was pretty good. Room- We had an outstanding room. Building 14, 3rd floor. You could see the ocean and we often slept with our door open (they have a screen door which is really nice to keep the bugs out). So pleased with our accommodations! Service- OUTSTANDING! The Cuban staff are truly a delight. They always go above and beyond for you. Dennis is a waiter in the lobby and one of the hardest working individuals there. He provides outstanding service and you can always see him hustling to get everyone there drinks...tremendous job! My mom and I lost our luggage on the first night (due to an error by my lovely mother) and Henry & Yousef did everything they could to help us get it back. They found it for us and brought it up to the room...I am forever grateful to both of them! All in all we had a fantastic holiday and we would definitely return here! If you don't have a good time here, it's your own fault!

Resonance Blu Santa Maria: New but Needs improvements

Bell boy lied about currency and took advantage of my grandmother, Ran out of beer/glasses in bar nightly, Entertainment was awful, Slow service everywhere, no French fries except last day, No beach towels/room towels/water for 2 days, basketball nets broken, no wifi/cable tv, gym wasn't open yet, pool cues and table broken, staff had no knowledge of excursions, entertainment didn't start until 10pm, no schedule of activities around the resort, poor beach access.

Melia Cayo Santa Maria: All in All a Good Week

Since it is a solid 1 1/2 hours from Santa Clara Airport there is little option to experience the culture and history of Cuba unless you really pay attention while on the ride to the Resort and the return to the Airport. The grounds around the Resort are well cared for even though the Bungalos are spread out over a large area and considering the Resort is older. The landscaping with flowered shrubs and mature trees around the Lobby and Pools area (mainly the central part) is beautiful and relaxi [... read more]ng. Our room (a junior suite) was spacious but needed updating as it was showing it's age. The beach and Pools are wonderful with the Ocean the most beautiful turquoise colour. Sadly, many people "reserve" loungers around the pools even though it is against posted policy but nothing is done about it. Very discouraging for those of us that do follow the rules! Another major issue is the lack of beach towels for exchange. Only once during the week and only by chance were we able to exchange our beach towels. Not good ! Now for dining !! The Grill (El Almirante) near the beach was great for lunch with barbecue, fresh vegetables, salad makings, black beans and rice, etc. Grilled fish, etc. you order as you also do for the Calamari which I found to be very good - not rubbery like most places. The Casa da Vinci (I think that's the name!) near the one Pool was also good for lunch such as pizza and sandwiches. We ate at the Mediterranean, Italian and French a la Cartes. All had great service and ambiance with the French, in our opinion, the best. Unfortunately again the rules were not followed by some and nothing was done about it. Although it says "Smart Dress" there were some who came in shorts, t-shirts and sandals which I wouldn't say is Smart Dress. It was sad to be told soon after our arrival "not to worry about dressing up as nothing is done about it anyway". We DO dress up and thankfully the majority do also !! The Buffet leaves much to be desired. We normally ate eggs, toast, muffins, juice(which seemed a mixture of orange and grapefruit) and yogurt drinks. Everything else looked very unappetizing especially the globs of bacon which appeared to be boiled. The dinner buffet was no different. Very little variety and mostly unappealing with little vegetable. The seating are was very institutional in appearance with no ambiance and was also very noisy even when 1/3 full ! There are many cats around the Resort and although they look clean I feel should not be there ! Many people were petting and feeding them. I feel that a vacation spot such as this should NOT have cats or dogs roaming around ! Not good health conditions. Could it be that some people who thought they were bit by "no-seeums" could in reality have flea bites? Possibly. Would we return to this Resort ? Yes we would but now that we've "been there - done that" would know to do a few things differently next time. In closing I just want to echo what many have said about the Staff. Yes, they are all friendly. We made many good friends in our short week's stay. If you, as a guest, treat people well they will treat you well in return. Remember - Respect earns Respect !

Valentin Perla Blanca: Amazing Beach and Resort Bad Service

Resort was very nice, large but easy to navigate. Beach is breathtaking but the food was very poor. Management and the purchaser is obviously doing a poor job. Ran out of cups glasses towels dirty bed sheets. Rinsing glasses out with cold water. 5 menus for the whole restaurant at each A La Carte. 1 beach towel the entire week and rehung dirty towels. Will never go back.

Memories Paraiso: Amazing beach, water, view!!

Just got back from a quick 4 day vaca. As I said the beach was the best I have ever seen, worth the 90 minute drive from airport. The hotel and grounds are very dated!!! Room was clean, but again dated. The people were all very friendly!! I would not go back due to the poor quality of food, but I was aware of this. I can scratch Cuba off my bucket list!!

Melia Las Dunas: 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.

Valentin Perla Blanca: Beautiful resort bad service

The resort is very nice to look at and the gardens while not yet mature are still quite nice. The service is the issue at his resort at this point. Everyone is new and they don't know what they're doing. We travelled January 9-16 and it's been open for a few months. We were there when they were messing around with the reservation system which I understand they've fixed now. Highly recommend the French restaurant. Highly recommend the Italian restaurant it was the only one with 5 star service. Th [... read more]e Cuban restaurant was awful food made me sick and the service was horrible. The boss there was very rude. The lobby bar is too busy and drinks are too small. Bring a bubba keg mug. You can find better service by going to the smaller bars like the snack bar and beach bar. Best place for lunch is the beach bar. Order the spaghetti with the fish. Once the service quality is there this will be a very nice 5 star but as of right now it is not.

Resonance Blu Santa Maria: Nice hotel with great atmosphere

Had a great time at starfish hotel with a great atmosphere. Food was usual Cuban food, Nothing special but price made up for it. Pool area was nice and comfortable. Beach was amazing and beautiful. Only complaint was it was hard to get new clean beach towels. I would recommend this hotel.

Melia Cayo Santa Maria: Dream destination

The room that we had was spacious, bright, imclean and cozy. The oversized decor pillows were fantastic to lean on when watching TV or reading a book. Two great pools, non-stop activities, which we benefited from. Two great size pools and just an overall great atmosphere. Live shows every night and the nicest hotel staff you will ever meet. Yasvany in the buffet, Julia to look after our room, George in bell service everyone outdooing themselves to make our stay as comfortable as you can imagine. [... read more] This was the first vacation my husband and I took without kids. "Kids" are now 17 & 20 but we've always been inseparable. Being without them to share this wonderful experience was difficult at first but masses of pictures, perfected weather and terrific company rectified that. Miss all the new friends we meet and look forward to many more vacations to come.

Playa Cayo Santa Maria: Excellent resort compared to many others in Cuba

Very clean premises and beach area. Beautiful white powdered-sand and flat beach, easy to walk on. Transparent clear water where you can see the bottom and your toenail. Very clean pools without the awful smell of chlorine. Excellent international drinks and mixed drinks. Good food, lots of restaurants and choices, better than similar resorts in Varadero, although still very oily. Excellent charcoal custom-made pizzas and burgers. A very convenient and good a la carte 24-hr restaurant. Rooms wer [... read more]e large, clean, modern and pretty. Staff very friendly, more so than in Varadero. Osuhe, the Air Canada representative was always ready and most helpful to communicate our needs to the reception area. Lifeguards were plenty and very attentive to protect resort clients. Good program for honeymooners but we needed help from AC rep to get all frills delivered as service at reception is inconsistent and manual. The best animated lobby we have ever seen, with lots of happy people, live music which changes twice every day, specialty flambé caffe cart. Overall, excellent features and we will come back there next year.