Had a great vacation

We arrived on Jan 5th to a beautiful hotel on wonderful grounds. The hotel was booked to capacity so there was a lot of people present. Grounds - This resort has four pools and the beach (which is beautiful) but unless you get up at 7am to put your towels on your chairs you are not getting one. During the week I seen multiple altercations over chairs that were uncalled for. The pools were very clean and well maintained and the lobby, theatre and staff were amazing. Food - there is multip [... read more]le a la cartes, the buffet and the snack bar. Due to the amount of people it was very difficult to get food unless you waited in line up for 1 - 2 hours. One day we waited for 2 hours for lunch. A lot of nights we were eating of plates that were not washed well or couldn't get a plate at all. The food was ok but we have never had an issue with Cuba food so no complaints there, it wasn't fantastic but we didn't starve. Our room was amazing, we asked for ground floor close to everything as my husband had spinal surgery and we got exactly what we asked for. Each day the maid came in and cleaned and did a fantastic job. We had a great week but won't be returning to this resort as it is to big for us and we don't like the line ups. In regards to cleaning they need to ensure there dishes are cleaned better and general areas as this was lacking. I would suggest this resort to you if you like to have fun with the amazing entertainment staff, don't mine waiting in line and don't mine walking as it is quite large but if those things are not for you I would suggest you move on.

Amazing!

I have traveled to Cuba 4x, and this is my second time to Cayo Santa Maria. I have to say that we had an amazing time. The food could have been a bit better. Being a Cuban run resort, I found there was really no "western" options in terms if vegetables that would have made the meals more enjoyable. I stuck to meats and things that were "safe" in my opinion and I had no issues all week. They don't have salad dressing, and didn't have sugar until the end of the week. If this is something you need [... read more] to get by, then bring some for yourself. The entertainment by the pool and beach was by far the best I have ever seen in all my travels. I have never seen everywhere else get the guests so involved. They really need more recognition. Well done! This hotel all around was 4.5 stars in my opinion. Definitely will go back..

Awesome Place

We just got back Dec 30. Everything was great. Beautiful grounds. The staff is amazing. We met many friends there. Plan on returning again soon. I am also keeping in touch with a few of the staff through face book.

Fantastic time

We were given a room overlooking the Relax pool where we spent a lot of time. The staff was incredibly friendly. After being home for a week, we've already booked a trip here for next April. Can't wait to go back.

Our experience in Playa Cayo Santa Maria

Fourth time to be there. Previous times were acceptable although the food quality and services was not match a 4 star hotel.But this time almost every thing was horrible! Almost no eatable food(my sons survived on fruits whole week!),many drinks were not available and we found 3 times insects in our coffee and drinks!The complementary drinks in our fridge(like coke, beer,..) had been reduced to one bottle of water for 2 person per day! They served ice cream cup without spoon and told us squish i [... read more]t to eat it as they were in shortage of everything! Our room had a bad smell I guess because the wall was wet is some parts!They told us because we came on Wednesday,there is no special party for returning guests like you as we missed it on Wednesday! Finally after on week of poor services and shortage on every thing ,all family got Corona as a result of poor sanitation and all of us are badly sick and off work now. Truly it was a wasting of time and money!

Wonderful resort

The resort is a wonderful holiday destination, I have been on holidays a couple of times but my trip to Playo cayo Santa Maria stood out for me. From the wonderful food and drinks to the cleanliness of the resort. The staff are also courteous people. This is a great value for money and I can’t wait to visit again

Awesome Resort

The hotel was beautiful, very nice staff. The massage I received at the Spa was the best massage of my life, the pools and beach was top notch. I enjoyed every moment, lots of food and drink. The best

Not great

Hotel outdated...needs lots of repairs. Paint coming off of walls. Seen cockroaches in dining hall around the food. Beach was beautiful but way to many rocks, stubbed toe many many times. Front counter staff very nice but restaurant staff catered to Cubans before Canadians. Pool dirty people eating and drinking in pool...stepped on chicken bones.

Amazing family resort !!

Family has great time at the resort. Kids were happy. 24 hour restaurant and food was excellent. We will come back again and enjoy the excellent services. Beach was well maintained and safe. Pool services were adequate.

Amazing family resort

Family has great time at the resort. Kids were happy. 24 hour restaurant and food was excellent. We will come back again and enjoy the excellent services. Beach was well maintained and safe. Pool services were adequate.

Unsafe and No Protocols

I love travelling and am usually used to backpacking. I'm not too picky... There is a lot of things to discuss here: 1. First day, someone stole my flip flops. Days 2 was the worse! While I was drinking with a group of people...there was a man who was obviously very drunk. The man, started to harass the guys and females. I had to DE-esculate the situation and prevented a fight. I went to the bartender 4-5 times with 20-30 min time span between each request for security. As I passed the bar to  [... read more]go the washroom, the bartender still fed the guy drinks, to which I responded "YOu shouldn't be feeding this guy anymore drinks." When I returned to socialize, the drunk man aggressively pushed me, then he threw a punch to my face and to my ribs. Good thing the guys held the drunk man back... which was when security came in and threw his arm around the drunken man as if comrades. NOTHING was done. The workers didn't ask if I was okay, there was no compensation, no consequences to the man, no upgrade in security. I felt completely unsafe...especially since i saw the man the next day at the bar. No police was involved, security lied and seemed to covering up for the man since he was a local. THE HOTEL MANAGER said they don't have protocol in order... or even one for capping off how much one should drink, along with no accountability to the security since it took soooo long. They don't want their guests to get upset if they cut them off from drinking was another excuse.The place is huge how do you have one security who doesn't even show genuine concern for their guests. I was rattled for three days.... three days of being called to recall the situation. My ribs hurt (no asked if I was physically or mentally okay)... good thing I avoided the face punch... if the male guests didn't step in, the man would of seriously injured me. This situation wasn't taken seriously. That same night, the security said the police was on the way... which it wasn't... he also said that he asked me if I wanted to file a police report. which he didn't. I got assaulted and nothing was done to really reassure me. I told him I don't want any other females going through my experience and what was to be done... response: we'll look into it. Walking to my room, is completely dark... there aren't any lights... knowing that the family was out there .... knowing what I look like.... stressed me out! 2. They allow people who get kicked out from other resorts for violence and using drugs to stay at this hotel. I know this cause a wife got kicked out from the other hotel due to her violent, abusive and drug taking husband. She first hand told me this and told everyone at the hotel as well. They brought their drama onto other vacationers. (all for money) They take them in... so let's really think about how much they really care about guests safety. 2. Rooms: majority of the times the keys don't work. My place was all the way by the beach. It took a lot of walks back and forth... total 10 keys. My legs had theeee workout. 3. Service: People who work there are friendly to groups of people who are locals or regular visitors. I got terrible service. Lots of attitude, I would have to walk to the servers for a beverage, no smiles or gratitude when tipped. Mind you there were the few 2-3 workers who were kind. 4. People who work there work 12 hour shifts... maybe that's why they aren't so happy. 4. Workers yell at each other loudly early in the mornings... you can't avoid waking up. 5. I work really hard and was trying to take a break and really enjoy myself. Instead it was seven days of extreme stress. The beach was the best thing that was there... you can find that anyway. The water healed and lifted my spirit AVOID THIS PLACE AT ALL COST, IT AINT WORTH IT

Still a good place

it is a hard times for everyone and seems much harder for Cubans but they still deliver good value . Service is good, food is scarcer but ample, drinks as usually satisfying , good caffe and ample entertainment

Amazing.

Just come back on June 25,spent a week in a pleasant place with pleasant people. Whant to say big thank you to Elaine( receptionist) for helping me with restaurant reservation. So sad, didn't have a chance to say you goodbye. Only one thing make me disappointed, it is a lady from customer service, she does reservation for restaurants. We asked her to change our reservation for Italian restaurant. She refused, saying that is booked completely. But what makes me upset, she even didn't open the co [... read more]mputer to check if it was available. So, we managed to come to Italian restaurant ,again thank you to Elaine, but the restaurant wasn't busy at all. So for me, she really didn't care. Otherwise, it really nice resort with very friendly people. Recommended 💯

The best walue for money

Nice layout and beautiful beach and the main thing it's very few mosquitoes at night and a nice disco club and I was surprised to see that food was really great and tasty knowing what the country goes through right now a big big surprise for me and like always very friendly and nice people all around

Amazing resort

the hotel service was fantastic the air transit rep Raoul was so knowledgeable food was good no complaints people always friendly covid was not a issue had to wear a mask in the lobby till u sat down and same with buffet .only issue was my wife had a bathing suit taken ,but went to Raoul and security were so good on this .spike to all the maids .but did not get back we found out that they had trainee maids in one days and that is when it was taken ,they know who and they will not work again the [... read more]re .all in all we had a very relaxing time

Resort not up to par after reopening

Beach is amazing, can walk for miles. Pools are lovely. Spa is well done. Haven’t been here for 5 years and it needs some upgrades and repairs, in the rooms especially. Food is adequate/average, there are some shortages but you will not go hungry. Liked the entertainment and musical groups. Staff is very friendly. Check in is lengthy and information could be given on the bus ride from the airport about the resort (ie: buffet times, where to reserve restaurants, spa info, where to ge [... read more]t beach towels) and Covid test procedures etc.

Playa Cayo Santa Maria

We just got back from one week at this resort..love the place..people..and beach..want to go back in march for two weeks and bringing more family..also hopefully for New Year and hubby birthday..pools were great..24 hours food..

It was a good hotel

The staff could of been more helpful, not a lot of people spoke English which was frustrating, the food was awful and the locals were treated better than the tourists . They were cooking meat with the same spatula meaning they were flipping cooked meat with the same fork as they were picking up raw meat . I complained and saw it happen the next day . Mixed chicken and pork together ????? There was no change in menu same food every day . And I feel like they lied about positive covid results they [... read more] kept people in rooms then released them in the day we were leaving and charged them money . So positive for 2 days then negative ???? It was scary to think we were travelling home with people that had covid . They did not test people they had it already even tho people could still get it with shots ????? They charged them 100 to be cleared ???? Scam if u ask me . This needs to be looked into . Will I return no I will not . Unless things change .

Not five star

Needs a bit of refurbishing Food is not that great Rooms are a bit tired an so is the lobby The beach is the best in this whole experience the pools are a bit dirty. Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

I would recommend this resort

I liked this resort because they were masked at all times. At no time did I feel at risk to covid. They were very accommodating. Food was very good. Had no issues. The beach was absolutely gorgeous. The rooms were very clean. Bartenders were quick to get drinks and always very pleasant. I would go back to resort again.