Sanctuary White Sands

Modern, New and well laid out! PROS: Great pool and nice walkway to beach. Good food and a variety of a la carte restaurants. Buildings easily identified and well lit. Great animation team! CONS Slow service(lack of personnel or experience) No shopping(no boutiques)

Beyond Beautiful Resort

Everything about this resort was miracle. We were staying building #1 it was abit of a walk to the beach but we didn't mind it. More steps! Rooms were beautiful, food was amazing. Beach was paradise. 7 days of heaven. Guests were disrespectful by leaving the beach towels at the beach chairs for next day. Very selfish! Also FYI Noone asked us for proof of medical Insurance. It's a scam! Reisy at the beach was the best! We will definitely return back.

Beautiful Beach!

Hotel was ok. Didn’t feel new. Needs more staff but I believe resort was at capacity. Long waits at lobby bar. Some staff were inexperienced and also didn’t understand English. Elevator wasn’t working. Beach is lovely but lacks more palapas. Had to go early to reserve lounger with towels or risk not getting one. Found many guests were putting towels on pool and beach loungers to ensure they had a spot each place which seems so unfair. Definitely need more of them. Food was decent for Cuba. A la  [... read more]carte restaurants weren’t worth waiting in line to get a reservation. Same food as buffet basically. Stick to buffet and go when you want as opposed to 8:30 or some insane time. Crazy thing is they weren’t half full even though we asked to go earlier. Made no sense. Not a lot of entertainment in evenings. Bring cards or games. Beds comfortable. Shower nice. Rooms decent although we didn’t have a working lock on our door. Beautiful pool although we didn’t use it and it was a bit cold but that’s just the weather. For the price we paid it was ok but if you expect more I’d say go to a well established resort with great experienced staff. Been to Melia Cayo Coco a few times and found it was worth paying more for but that was many years ago. This place needs time and experience to improve. All in all it’s worth a try. Can’t beat the price for the amazing beach.

Beautiful resort

This resort was gorgeous. It was incredibly well laid out with the pool running down the centre of the resort between all of the rooms. The pool was clean at all times and there was a very gradual walk in which was great. The beach was well maintained and you could go for a long walk if you chose to. The food was excellent. Yes, it got a little repetitive, but that is to be expected. There was always fresh fruit, several meats to choose from and stations where food was being prepared for y [... read more]ou. Overall, a great experience.

Travel Advisor simplified process

Our Tripcentral advisor, Beth McKinley, made booking so easy and a smooth process. We appreciated the emails to keep us on track with requirements for travel. We had an amazing trip experience overall.

Quite Good

A nicely laid out resort where they try to meet all of their guests needs. The fresh grilled food is great. Most of the buffet food is cold unfortunately but lots of variety Nice drinks and delicious coffees

Amazing resort

We had a wonderful time! My husband and I came here thinking it might not be as good because almost all resorts we’ve been on which is our fourth time in Cuba I thought it might not be as clean or low on supplies but honestly it surprised us all. The food was okay like anywhere else. I say okay because I’m picky with food but everyone else seems to like the food. And the hotel was very clean. Lots of entertainment, and great workers, everyone was very nice there. The exaggerations were an expens [... read more]ive. Take usd money as they prefer that. No need to exchange to pesos cuz they only take usd and sometimes Canadian. We had a lot of water so water wasn’t an issue. I didn’t like that the room cleaners would just come in sometimes in the morning to clean if you are a late sleeper. Cuz they would just knock and walk themselves inside which was annoying. But overall very good resort. Lost of mosquitoes so take bug spray and flys

Beautiful Resort comes with some very bad service

The resort is beautiful, well laid out and easily walkable. The service at the swim up bar was fantastic. The butler we had every other day was very helpful. That's where the good part ends. The service at 24 hour bar and buffet and lobby bar was horrendous! If you want to become invisible this is the resort for you. We tipped when we had good service which was not very often. Food was so bad. The only vegetable was slightly warm over cooked cabbage and raw cabbage. No potatoes, n [... read more]o other vegetables. The only fruit was over ripe bananas, un ripe pineapple and papaya. With this resort being so isolated there really was no options for dining or excursions. The beach was beautiful but the sand was so soft that. as a senior, walking to the water was very difficult. I will never return here even if the problems are addressed. I have been to Cuba almost 40 times (even 3 star resorts) this is by far at the bottom of my list.

Definitely over any expectation you will have from a resort in CUBA

Amazing services, room and staff! The room was big and spacious—the variety of the food was outstanding. The entire staff was always ready to help. The beach and the sand to die for. Overall, they are doing a fantastic job with the resources they have.

Great New Resort!

-best room I've had in Cuba-big, nice decor and new -nice pools with lots of loungers -good wifi service -great beach -supper staff -food was average -lots of bugs after dark, bring bug spray -quite windy -loved the bath robes,!

A Caribbean Gem!

This resort is a Caribbean Gem! A very well appointed hotel with fabulous staff. I must say the Butler service was outstanding. We were lucky to have Carlos and Federico take care of us. They were most attentive and took care of any concerns or needs we had. Our Sunwing Rep, Beatriz Tornet was very helpful. We had a medical emergency with one of the guests in our party. She did an excellent job in closing the communication gap and coordinating too many things to mention here. The pool was sp [... read more]ectacular and well kept. The buffet and a la Carte was wonderful. All the staff work very hard to make sure you want for nothing. I hope to return next year!

Brand New Resort

The Resort was brand new just opened in march 2024. The buildings and grounds were perfectly manicured. The food was great. so many choices if you say food is lacking your way to fussy. We had a few issues with the front desk and the maid service. I have ulcerative colitis and a half a roll of toilet paper just does'nt cut it. i let the front desk know this at least the first four days in a row. nothing changed. Also we went on an excursion and asked for a wake up call which we did not recieve.  [... read more]one small bottle of shampoo (individual) every 3 or four days. when i asked for soap they said they didnt have any they had body gell. We recieved none of that either. my wife took two small soaps off of maids cart so front desk mislead us. bottled water still seemed to be in short supply as some days we got it and other days we did not. Beer seemed to be in better supply as we always got two beer in our fridge every day. thank goddness we brought our own soap shampoo and toilet paper. the first four days of our 11 day stay the ocean was way to rough to go in. My phone would not work thank you so much Beatrice sun wing rep for letting us use your phone to check on our little ones. we sat in the same section at each meal until a busboy picking up dishes knocked over a full glass of wine on my wife. all napkins were gone and she had nothing to wipe up with. He didnt come back so she could clean up. She was fuming. We brought it up to one of the managers. Nothing seemed to get done. great resort with a few issues. When we landed in cuba we changed most of our american money for cuban paseos. didnt find a single bussiness that took cuban paseos. They do not want Cuban money and all prices are in US dollars and if you try to pay in Canadian beware you will pay whatever exchange rate they feel fit to charge. Do yourself a favor just bring american money . .

Lots of Potential- missed the Mark

At first glance the Sanctuary White Sands in Cayo Coco appears to be a beautiful, new resort. The people are lovely but this resort falls short in a few areas. Keeping in mind this is Cuba and expectations are definitely lower knowing the difficulties they face. Food in the buffet is the same on a daily basis, so we booked the la car restaurants 5 out of the 6 nights- the food is definitely better at the a la carts! Housekeeping is basically non existent; they make your bed and that's about it [... read more]. Towels are not available to be replenished so if you are expecting clean towels you need to ask and might get them every 3 days if lucky. We threw our dirty towels, after 2 days of use, on the floor and when we returned we found the same dirty, damp towels folded and left on the floor. When we requested new towels we were sent towels that stunk and we could not use. We finally got someone to give us extra pool towels to use. The pool appears large and nice but after a few days you will notice the same items that were at the bottom of the pool are still there and it appears they have no pool vacuum to address this issue. This leads to our biggest complaint about this resort.....SMOKING. If you are a non smoker do not go to this resort. They allow guests to smoke everywhere, even though they say there is a designated smoking area off to the side of the lobby bar the entire lobby smokes and they do nothing to enforce the smoking section. The tables and chairs, not even a year old have burn marks because of this; such a shame. One night we were surrounded by smokers and I asked the manager to enforce the no smoking, he did and 5 minutes later someone else lit up but nothing was said- completely hopeless. They allow smoking in the pool and guest butt their cigarettes on the pool deck which ultimately make there way into the pool! Yes, cigarettes butts in the pool. Even at the pool swim up bar you cant' sit there unless you want to be surrounded by smokers! Absolutely disgusting. Same at the beach, lots of cigarettes in the sand. The resort was at 50% capacity during our stay but they do not have enough beach chairs even for that. I got up at 7am one morning and went to the beach, all the chairs taken! The staff on the beach said people get up at 5am to save chairs- we gave up. Only way to get a chair at the beach is to go after lunch when people are packing up. I must say that if management actually cared about taking care of this resort it would be a beautiful place but after only 9 months of being open it already shows wear and the toll of smoking everywhere on the property. They need to invest in a pool vacuum and more chairs for the beach.

Amazing Resort and wonderful stagg

From the moment Martine helped us book our vacation we were excited and looked forward to this trip. The people and resort did not disappoint. Incredible beach and views. Great staff across all areas. The resort may benefit from posting recreation activities and posting any live performances. The sax player was an added bonus!

Enjoyable Get Away to Sanctuary Whitesands

Newer hotel so everything is clean and fresh. What's best about Cuba are the people and they didn't disappoint. As the hotel is new some of the staff I don't think have a good idea of what to do; most evident in the snack bar. Probably not their fault as I suspect a training issue. With some good training and management oversight. I don't expect this would be a long term concern. Bartenders are experienced and know their stuff so that base is covered. A lot of energy from the Entertainment  [... read more]Team

Brand New Resort with potential

The resort is quite new and has yet to tap into its full potential. Despite being an adults-only destination, it features two shallow pools akin to children’s pools, encircled by lounge chairs. I believe this space could be repurposed more effectively. The majority of the staff seem to be in the early stages of their employment, yet their earnest efforts to excel are evident and commendable, especially considering the broader challenges of supply shortages in Cuba. As for returning to this resor [... read more]t, I’m inclined to do so, but I plan to give it another year, allowing the staff ample time to settle into their roles and establish a smooth routine. Overall, my stay was enjoyable, particularly due to the oceanfront room that offered a daily spectacle of the sunrise cresting the ocean’s horizon from the comfort of my balcony.

Amazing Resort

I was looking for a smaller, quieter resort with a nice pool and beach. I was thrilled with the Sanctuary White Sands. Both the pool and ocean were extremely warm. The ocean was crystal clear. Our room was more than adequate. We had a partial ocean view together with construction of the new hotel next door but the construction was never an issue. The food in Cuba was as to be expected. I knew that going in and it didn't deter me. Were there shortages? Of course but you adapt. I would 1 [... read more]00% return to this resort as the staff, bartenders and especially the entertainment staff were absolutely fantastic!

Relaxing paradise

This resort is a hidden gem! I loved my time here, I did not have any issues like others have mentioned other than the food at the buffet was repetitive but when that happened I was able to go to the grill bar by the pool or go to the pizza making one located on 8 Block and the pool definitely needs more shade. My room was cleaned every day and my towels were changed daily. You get 2 bottles of water daily as well. I would recommend to tip your maid and water person, it goes a long way. I tipped [... read more] daily and like I said I had no issues. The beach is the best this resort has to offer it is amazing! I loved it! The lobby bar was great as well, the Cubans that work at this resort are very friendly and did make a few friends on this trip. This resort is for people who want to have a relaxing and quiet experience and that is exactly what I was looking for.

New build but with issues

We were there April 21-29. The resort is basically brand new so no issues with the nuts and bolts. If only that were so for some of the "softer" elements. Instead of rehashing how nice is the beach and how well kept are the grounds etc., I feel the need to share some of the downsides. It's clear most staff and likely the management are pretty much brand new so take everything with a grain of salt. Here are some of the challenges: #1 - towels (not the beach towels) As we checked into Block 6 i [... read more]t sounded like the housekeeper walking by said "no towels." However, the room was stocked. What we discovered the next day was towels were never replaced. Having stayed at other resorts, we left our used towels on the bathroom floor only later to discover they were merely folded up soaking wet and put back on the shelves! That continued throughout our stay. #2 no new sheets including on day one - My bed had a distinct odour of the previous occupant along with some stains on the sheet. Again, the sheets were never replaced all week. Yuck! #3 The food selection was limited but that was expected. What needed to be improved was the buffet food was rarely hot. It was mostly room temperature. Care for some tepid deep fried calamari or mashed potatoes? #4 Staff at the limited cooking stations were clearly untrained. I felt quite sorry for them. One day, hand-formed hamburgers were the special. The cook prepared them one at a time and didn't move on to the next person until the burger was cooked. Needless to say, the line up quickly became very long. Lack of training resulted in under-cooked fish, over cooked omelettes etc. Note, I'm not criticizing the selection, just the preparation. #5 - After reading the glowing remarks about the bartenders I was surprised at how "meh" they were. Then I realized they saved their charm for the female vacationers. Going back to the positive reviews it was easy to connect the dots. Would I go back? Not likely. What's a scary thought is while the resort was less than a third fill as a "soft opening," it was barely managing to meet the basic needs of its visitors. It's hard to image their management team rising to the challenge. Hope this helps and of course, to each their own!

Great Place

The hotel is brand new. There were a few hiccups but were resolved in a timely matter. There were also some inconveniences that should have been addressed with more urgency. Beach is beautiful, food okay, service great.