Very Good Vacation

This was a great vacation going to Cuba is always a question but this resort exceeded our expectations the grounds, staff and food were well above our expectations……………,…………………………..!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Do not go to Sanctuary Grand Memories Bad experience

When we arrived at Varadero airport Dec 2nd, and got on our bus going to the hotel, we had lined up at Grand Memories reception for 30 mins or more, the front desk guy told us we were at the wrong reception and the Sanctuary reception is actually 5 min walk , the tour guide on the bus did not tell us that Sanctuary is another reception area ? we were a party of 8 and some were new to Cuba, whereas we came to Cuba 16 times. There was no hot water for our showers , so I complained to our reception [... read more], butler , anyone that will listen! They insisted it will be looked at and fixed ! 4 days later , still the same , hot water only in the afternoon, as they claimed it’s on solar heating !
My friends were denied the next morning at buffet to put 2 tables of 4 together, male server said it had to be separate? Gave my friends altitude ! Are you kidding? 
Wednesday Dec 3rd- Power outage affected the whole island, pre- hired a taxi driver and went to Havana that day and able to have lobster at a restaurant the taxi driver recommended , great service ! Went to the Italian a la carte restaurant at Grand Memories , my husband ordered Hawaiian tasted “doughy” and white (raw) , appetizers were “meh” nothing to rave about, spaghetti tasted like it was from a jar, and we finished off at the buffet again ! The service was mediocre! 
Thursday Dec 4th- was told there was a lobster dinner at the Marina, wait for the bus in lobby and will pick up at 6pm, 4 buses and everyone scrambling to get on, chaos! Got there at 7pm , only sliced pork and appetizers were served, several hundred people from different hotels , live band, terrible loud music, not enough table and chairs , took taxi back to hotel, all 8 of us ! Ate at buffet again ! 
Friday Dec 5th- do not go to Gourmet restaurant, we were seated 8 of us in a round table, ignored for 15 mins, finally, water was poured , asked for red and white wine, was told NO white wine, then the buns were placed on our butter plate, my husband asked where’s the butter? NO butter, with attitude ! My husband went to buffet and got butter for our buns! He also saw the server grabbed 3 buns from the bun basket with her bare hands, unsanitary ! No food safe! Didn’t refill red wine till we flagged servers down, was told I ordered fish soup , but I told her I ordered 1 fish soup and 1 chicken soup, she argued “no, you didn’t “ !! She forgot to give me a soup spoon, so I borrowed my husbands after he finished ! We all WALKED OUT ! Went to buffet , finally got real good service! 

Housekeeping forgot to clean my bathroom, but cleaned my room , took my gifts and tips I left ! Never any clean beach towels at towel huts , always CLOSED?! Internet is spotty and sucks ! 

Shutout to Anet (lounge bar at Sanctuary) Cappucino lady at snack bar , Daniela (reservation for a la carte) 
They were great ! Adrian was my butler, he was ok still needs to be trained better

Feel like family

This was my third time staying with Sanctuary and it’s so warm and welcoming. Cuba has food shortages so don’t go for the food but we always found something to like. But the staff are the best. They become friends! They are always smiling and will do anything for you! This is the kind of place you just keep going back. Yamaysis took us under her wings and checked in with us and made sure that everything was great! I am thankful for everyone that made our trip so special until we meet again….

Beautiful resort Amazing staff

This was our second time in a row at Sanctuary my Cousin & I absolutely love this resort the food was delicious & all the staff are so amazing & friendly ..also by being on the Sanctuary Adults only side also gave us full access to Grand Memories side which made it more fun like having two resorts in one .....we are in love with Sanctuary at Grand Memories Veradero & plan on being back there again next April

Nice Cuban resort

The resort was good for Cuban standards. The rooms were dated but there has been some improvements made to the resort as a whole The food was decent but I’d recommend staying on the sanctuary side as the sister resort was terrible. The reason you go to cuba is for the beaches and the friendliness of the people, in this area, there was no disappointment.

Wonderful Resort

Very clean , pool is very nice and clean , all meals can be had in the restaurant No Buffet. Staff is always friendly, Pool Bar Staff are the best ! Beautiful Beach and boardwalk to Beach and Beach Bar is new but is awesome .

Disgusting

I don't understand how anyone can say this is an amazing resort. The excuse "it's low season" is not an excuse for the filth or lack of service, food and clean sheets and towels. If you're going to stay open, you have to serve the people that have paid to be there. I literally counted down the minutes until we could go home. It was literally hell on earth from start to finish. There are way too many negatives with this resort. The only positive was our butler Noel - he was wonderful.  [... read more]The other butler Renier, was pretty miserable. You can do better. Stay away from this place.

Excellent

Everything was great with excellent food. No shortage issues. Great first vavation overseas...............................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Great Food and hospitality.

The Adult Only section of Sanctuary with private beach section is a bit small and uneventfull, but thankfully the main "Family" section called Grand Memories located a verry short walking distance away was much bigger, busier and active. Food was above and beyond expectations having been to the other end of the island twice in the past. No issues with food shortages.Only Cola on two occasions. Buffet as good as can be expected or wished for. Great snacks and food at the snack bar 24 hrs a d [... read more]ay. Main bar open 24 hrs also. The hop on hop off bus at $5.00 per day to Varadero and along the over 40 neighbouring resorts was a Great feature to get off the resort. Temperatures were a bit hot , 35 degrees in late May though, and being off season. Beautiful beaches as expected. USA and Cdn dollar bills accepted. Not coins though. Best trip so far out of 3 to Cuba.

RELAXING WELCOMING RESORT

This resort was very nice, welcoming and relaxing! It was unusually hot the week we went thank goodness air conditioning in rooms, restaurants and bar worked well. Wasn't enough covered/shaded areas outside to cool off. Pool area was very nice however the lounge chairs collapsed. One of the employees was kind enough to get us 2 good ones. Pork seems to be the major food which was hard as we don't eat port. Again the staff was most accommodating, if they made a mistake it was corrected.  [... read more]There was more to this hotel that we weren't aware of, best to check at the main lobby for updates!

Great hotel

Everybody know cuba are in crissis right now they lack of many things For example we did not get orange juice all week long BUT fresh mango and papaya juice every day And the BUT is important because for every little thing missing or not 100% perfect the staff was ready to go extra distance to help always apologizing with a smile « sorry we don’t have it today maybe tomorrow » the cuban people are the warmest people i know, and i have traveled in 11 countrys on 4 continents, despite the si [... read more]tuation they keep genuinely trying to help and make our stay enjoyable I was ashamed of some hotel guests rolling eyes or making loud comments on how intolerable was the fact that ONE days in the week they was missing fresh beach towel to exchanged, it is for sure a major crime to be obligated to reused your towel for a day (sarcasm there) So if your a Karen or a male Karen thinking people have to serve you and fulfill all your desires to the absolute perfection do go to cuba. if your able to live with the flow, make the best of the situation and go to that wonderful place where ALL the hotel staff have been nothing less than perfect

Fantastic resort

Rooms were clean had clean towels. Food was doable had lots didn't run out of anything. The staff were great, very helpful, and polite. Check in was a bit of a fuss but nothing worth complaining about. Grounds were clean well kept. Beach was well kept pools were clean.

Beautiful beach and service

The grounds were well kept. The beach was always cleaned, and we could always get loungers at all times of day. The rooms were central to restaurants, bars, pool, and beach. Butlers were super friendly and helpful. They go above and beyond!!! Rooms were clean and the king bed had a good mattress. There were shortages but there were still always other options. We will be going back.

Great resort with kind staff

This resort was great, we stayed at the sanctuary side which was 18+ and more quiet. We had access to the entire resort so it was nice to be able to come and go from the sanctuary to the busier family side. One aspect that could’ve used improvement was that there was a lack of communication about daily events, transportation and excursions. I read online there was yoga in the mornings but had no idea how to find the dates or times. We also had room service but had no menu or ways of knowing the  [... read more]services available. The housekeeping was good, but they didn’t come one day that we needed fresh towels, but the rooms are very clean. It was also noted in the sanctuary offers that the mini bar in the room would be restocked but it never was. We left a note asking but it did not happen. We were also told that we could exchange beach towels for fresh ones near the pool, but the hours were not listed anywhere so we never got a chance to catch it while it was opened. Another thing that took us by surprise was the lack of condiments and snacks. I was told before to bring ketchup but didn’t think too much of it… do it. The snack bar had hotdogs and hamburgers but had no sauces so they were just burger and bun. There was also no snacks to buy or offered on the resort, so you could only eat breakfast, lunch and dinner, or go to the snack bar which were more like full meals and had limited items. Also, the resort had extremely limited alcohol options… like only rum. Rum is great, but a glass of wine or a drink with vodka or gin would have been nice. They had rum and sambuca only at most bars, they also had beer but ran out a few times. We also had our safe break with all of our valuable items including money and passports 2 days before we were supposed to leave. Luckily they were able to call a mechanic who fixed/pried it open. And now for the good stuff: The resort was so beautiful and well laid out, with lots of greenery and flowers. The rooms were also very quiet and you got your own balcony. They were also very clean and the housekeepers did a great job when they came. They have a lot of bars on the resort which is a plus and are allowed smoking in the lobby. The pools were fantastic, there are 3, one being on the sanctuary side and 2 others on the family side, the bartenders at the swim-up bars were the best and very friendly. The beach itself was magical with tons of room on the beach to set up chairs provided under umbrellas. The water was crystal clear and very warm. Another pro could be that the drinks are extremely strong, this can be a pro depending on how much you like rum, lol. The people were also the kindest people, very welcoming and webfelt really safe there. We took a bus into Varadero one of the days and it was so beautiful. A double decker bus took us to the vibrant city, full of shops and art. We also went on an excursion which was a catamaran boat ride to a coral reef and then to an island for a few hours. This was definitely the highlight of the trip. The beach was beyond incredible and the buffet when we got off the boat was amazing. Overall, this trip was great! It was my first time in Cuba and I still went there expecting certain shortages, but the ones I pointed out were just what we noticed. In the end, I would definitely return, but I’d bring certain things with me like my own wine and snacks and potentially even condiments just to be safe.

Outdated

The hotel is outdated, however clean. The staff were unbelievably rude, this was my 22 time in Cuba and 2 at this hotel, very sad to see how down hill it’s gotten, the pjs to going to Cu a has always been how friendly the staff are, not the case anymore

We loved the place

our friend brought us there it was amazing we loved everything hope to go back next year. your butler novia helped us with everthing.took my dad he uses a walker and they put us on main floor.great staff they took care of us 100 percent..

Outstanding staff make the experience over the top...

The Sanctuary section of Grand memories is Adult Only, so it is much smaller, more intimate. They have their own pool, beach section, bars, dining. We dined a la carte each evening, the food was very good. We checked out the Buffet at the Grand Memories - it seemed simple, not appealing. The beach section was small, but open to explore the broader beach as far as you desire. Accommodations were good, but evidence of areas in need of maintenance (shower door does not seal tight so water escape [... read more]s onto bathroom floor). The part of the resort that was best were the staff, starting with the butlers - Norvi and Jose. Their attention to details was exceptional. All other staff from bar, dining, beach, ground keepers, etc all were excellent and fluent speaking English. They made you feel welcome.

Enjoyed my stay

The grounds were clean and they groundkeepers were always working on it. The rooms were also clean and the restaurant. The pool was very clean and enjoyed the entertainment staff, and the Canada Day and Cuban Day. Staff/Butlers were friendly and made every effort to your needs were met.

Not so great resort

overall, the resort was ok. Missing toilet seats in the majority of women's washroom and no soap. Buffet at breakfast was terrible. no bagels, muffins, toats, jams and juices taste nothing. A la carte restaurant: same menu throughout , fish, chicken, porc with litlle vegetables and rice. Some of the nights, they didn't have any wine. beaches were awesome and temperature was amazing. air conditioning was working quite well and not noisy as some of the resorts. i felt safe dur [... read more]ing my stay. some of the staff didn't care of people.

Amazing resort

The food in the Sanctuary was always good !! We had beef many times the week we were there was always fabulous! There was no bacon 3 mornings out of the week they said was very frozen. The beach was amazing .