Disappointed

It was to big for me, beach had lots of coral and stones need water socks. Buffet area to small for the size of resort. Beach towels big issue, they are not washed on site but sent out so can be days without one. Food will it's Cuba nothing seems to get better, never go hungry but for a new resort I did expect better food. I would never go back.

Melia Jardines del Ray - OKAY!

We traveled February 26 - March 4th from Hamilton. Not the most inviting airport but a lot more convenient than Toronto. Free parking but you have to walk outside to the plane. Check In - The process was a bit different. We arrived at the resort around 10:30 pm and we were ushered into a big room for a group orientation. We were given our bracelets and room keys and left after about 30 minutes. Good food - Lots to choose from, you'll never go hungry Buffet is good but a little small for the reso [... read more]rt size. They opened a second buffet mid-trip and made all the difference in the world. Snack Bar needs some work but the a la carts were great! Clean modern rooms - although our maid missed our room the first day and wouldn't set our twin beds as a king like we asked, all in all not bad. Nice shower and tub and sink was outside of the bath so 2 people can get ready at once. Beach - Good beach - Long stretch with at least a 30 minute walk in either direction Some rocky coral upon entry but the beach itself is sandy - need to bring aqua shoes to enjoy the ocean - on the positive side, didn't need to travel far to snorkel Pools - 2 big pools - one really active and the other quiet - we spent cloudy days by the quiet pool. Pools had some algae on the walls which could mean either they weren't cleaned often or the chlorine levels were a bit low (speaking as a Pool Operator) Disco- had a cover charge and drinks were not included Resort/grounds- this place is massive. Beautiful flora but needs some time to grow in. Very clean grounds with golf cart transport when required. Got to use my Fit Bit step tracker and tracked around 8,500 steps a day on average! The lobby was a great place to hang out at night. Entertainment - Got to see "Buena Vista Social Club" live in concert at our resort! Super show and definitely worth the $$. The evening entertainment was corny some nights but other nights it was great with live bands, acrobats, to "men in tights". Some shows were in the Lobby with audience participation which was great. Gym/Workout Facility - Decent with newer equipment. Got a couple of good workouts in during the week. All in all, another great Cuban vacation! 7.5 out of 10!

We enjoyed our vaccation

Resort is huge, you walk a long distance to beach. Rooms clean. Food and restaurants were very good. Lobby is a nice place to sit and have a drink - you can not see the beach from lobby. Lots of entertainments.

Beautiful resort

Overall a great place to stay. The room was clean, bright and spacious. Beautiful beach and pool. The food was mediocre but managed to find some good dishes while staying there for a week. My only complaint would be about some of the male staff harassing the single women with cat calls & propositions for hook ups.

Loved the entertainment and activities

We truly loved the entertainment crew and the pool activities that were offered. My daughter enjoyed the pools and I loved the beach. It was great to always find shelter in a shaded area whether we were at the beach or poolside. The restaurant at the beach was great and served a variety of foods. We enjoyed our stay!

Fantastic TIme!

The hotel was clean and the ground were kept tidy, the staff were super friendly, the drinks were great and the food was great, we loved the grilled meat, salads and pizza!!Walked a lot but that's good!

Not bad

the cooks needs to take classes in safe food handling . saw many time the same utencil was used for the raw meat as the cooked meat chicken was at the grills were served raw buffets need better organization the beach is amazing but bring water shoes

1st and last trip to Cayo Coco

My husband and I just returned from Cayo Coco Cuba. We stayed at the Melia Jardines Del Rey. Our stay at the resort was...I guess you could say boring. Let me explain the pros and cons of our trip. As this was our first trip away from the kids and Canada we don't have anything to compare it to. So I would say it is an unbiased rating. Pros..The resort itself is beautiful, very well maintained. Nicely laid out. The rooms are modern, clean and comfortable. Lots of hot water and pressure. The groun [... read more]ds staff do an amazing job at keeping up with the gardens and cleanliness of the resort. The beach in our opinion was fantastic, we walked about 5 miles everyday. And wow... is all I can day about the pools. Lots of room, and loungers. No mosquitos at all, but bring the repellent just in case. That way you won't need it. And now for the Cons.. The resort is very large so there is tons of walking. It is very dark and potentially dangerous at night and needs more lighting. A guest got off the bus upon arrival and fell into an unused water fountain and broke her leg. You will find these water fountains throughout the resort and it's unfortunate that they do not use them. So the water that is in them is standing water. The food was plentiful but very bland. We only used 1 of the 4 a la cartes we got. Wish we hadn't paid extra for them. Bana Japanese Restaurant was pleasant. The buffet has something for everyone. Activities were almost non existent. A little excerise at the pool in the morning and well.. that's about it. We were so bored we pretty much napped everyday just to waste some time. We booked an excursion for the Catamaran and snorkeling day but it was canceled due to high winds. No fault of the resort! While the weather was warm, it was sooo windy all the time all the water excursions were cancelled. We also went on the Classic American Car trip into the city of Moron. It was the most depressing day of my life. The city is very dirty and poor. Wild sick dogs everywhere pooping on the sidewalks and streets, mixed with horse poop and garbage made for a very unpleasant smell. Our driver spoke no english so there wasn't much to see as he didn't know where to take us. We couldn't get outta there fast enough. You don't really appreciate what we have here in Canada until you see how the people of Cuba live. So to some it all up, while the resort was beautiful it definetly didn't keep us entertained enough to go back. I booked this trip back in September and feel that we paid WAY to much for what was offered. As this was our first trip away we learned alot from other seasoned travelers. Would we recommend this resort. Yes..but if you are looking for activities bring lots of money cause there are only the excursions to do.

Good time was had by all

My family of four spend 7 days at this nice resort on our March Break. Despite the 1,000+ room facility being almost full, we never felt crowded and there was always space to move about and relax. The staff were top notch. Friendly and hard working. The beach was beautiful, but you need water shoes as there is coral and rock in the water for about 20 meters out. After that it's soft white sand with fantastic swimming. Rooms were new and well kept (the resort opened in 2015) but the beds were a b [... read more]it hard. Grounds are nice, but as this is a new resort, the vegetation is not mature so nothing is big and lush yet. Entertainment was probably the best part. Something new and exceptional every night. Such great musicians! The lobby and theatre areas are the main gathering points and there's tons of room and it's very clean and comfortable.There was a slight breeze all week, so we barely saw a mosquito, but we heard this can sometimes be an issue. The food was fine. This is Cuba, so you don't go for the food, but I would say as far as Cuba resort food goes, this resort is definitely on the upper scale as we all thought it was fine. ((Pro tip: bring 220v plug adapters. You could charge your USB devises on the TV, but only works when the TV is on. This was a constant battle for us making sure all cameras and phones got charged every night.))

Great resort

rooms nice and new,services great,food as well, lot of different choices...entertainment was great every night,so It was great place to stay and relax... pool areas was amazing. I would definitely like to go back:)

Melia Jardine Del Rey

The hotel was good in that there was a clean bed every night and a beach to go to every day. The water was nice, but you had to make your way through a maze of coral before you could make it deep enough to actually swim. The pools were very nice! Service there was quite good. The rooms were very similar to many other hotels where I have stayed before. The shower was very modern, air conditioning was great, good view from the balcony. The beds were a little firm for my liking, but I adapted to th [... read more]em. There were many trolleys picking people up and taking them where they needed to go, but the resort was well laid out so if there isn't a trolley, walking is very easy.

Worst Resort that I have ever been to.

This is Resort is new nice grounds no much greenery. Rooms okay. Too big. Service is horrific. Food preparation unsanitary. No Beach towels for 3 days. Ran out of food. Turning people away from buffet. Had to switch hotel it took me 3/4 days to make the move happen. Will be looking for compensation from Trip Central for the 4 days that I lost from my two weeks vacation. Would not recommend this resort to anyone. Totally horrible vacation.

Ok resort

Large resort with over 1000 rooms. Fairly well layed out. Rooms were spacious and well designed. Grounds well maintained. New resort so growth of plants still young. Buildings very modern looking, prefer something less so with more character. Food I would give a 4 out of 10. Vegetables very over cooked and mushy. Fairly good salad selection most days. Breakfast definitely best meal of the day. Limited selection in the 24 hour Cafe, food never hot. Service very slow. Beach very virally and almost [... read more] impossible to enjoy unless you have water shoes. A little disappointing. Always able to get chairs at the beach. Bar waiters were pretty good, going up and down the beach taking orders. 3rd time in Cayo Coco where the weather has not been great. Probably won't return to this part of the island.

Large resort

Too big for us, trouble walking around, waited sometimes very long for golf cart to pick us up, food not hot, not good at all, al la carte restaurant us ok, bistro was the best. Front desk not helpful at all, we certainly fended for ourselves all week, not willing to help when we needed a ride or help to the beach. We tipped the cart drivers a lot and they were the best they could be. Third night in tipped the housekeeper 5 Passos then got water and coffee left for us, but until we tipped. Groun [... read more]ds were cleaned just way to big and too much walking, for someone with mobility problems.

Nice Resort

Large Resort, Very New and Clean. Staff very Friendly! Beach is Beautiful but does have some rocky sections. Lots of Aquatic Life Crabs, Starfish, Sea Snails etc. Bring Water shoes! Lots of Shade available at the beach. Most Staff spoke good English. The resort had a kids show and adult show every night, as well as various musical acts in the afternoons. The resort is not close to any town. Closest town Maron is 45 minutes away, So most excursions are full day trips. Dolphinarium is 20 Minutes b [... read more]y Bus. Overall had a great time and no one got sick!

Don't believe the bad reviews

We were there from Feb 16th to Mar 1st. We loved the resort, the shows were great,rooms were big and nice. The buffet food was good by Cuban standards. As for the a la cartes, we liked the Italian, the Bistro and the Aqua. At the Fuego, we all chose the lamb and it was so tough we could not eat it and it was cold. The rest of the meal was very good and the service in these 3 restaurants was excellent. The one we did not have a good experience at was the Asian, to start they offered sushi but, to [... read more]ld us they did not serve it, the soup was cold and tasteless, main entres 2 out what we ordered were not available white wine was warm and we all ordered the same thing for dessert and we all got something totally different without even an apology when we told them. Service was terrible. The beach was a big disappointment, even though we had read the reviews and brought water shoes, I did not expect it to be as bad as it was. Yes you could go to either side a few hundred yards, but my sister has a back problem and found it hard to walk in the sand to get to the nice water. Pools were beautiful, but I go for the sand and the ocean and this was a disappointment Sand Fleas were terrible as were the mosquitos. We brought Watkins with 30% deet and it worked if you remembered to put it on, it even helped with the itching. I had a reaction to a mosquito bite and had to go to the doctor which I have to say was much easier than seeing one in Canada. I find the exchange to CUC is ridiculous, they say it is worth more than even US money and the Euro, which is totally absurd as you can only use it in CUBA!! If they fixed the beach, which they say they will, and if they start spraying for mosquitos also start raking the sand on the beach for the sand fleas. I would go back, but for me this was a real downer. I should say that my hubby did not get one bite from anything, and he didn't use Watkins. The rest of us were driven crazy lol. I would recommend this resort but with a warning for the above My rating for the pools is a 5 but for the beach it will be a 3

Large new resort

It's a new resort so the landscaping is still growing into a lush surrounding. The gardeners are hard working friendly people especially Datchel and Ailier. Give them all thumbs up. The staff in the dining was very efficient and attentive kudos to Christi and her Co workers . Food was actually quite good can never go wrong on breakfast. Lots of hot water beach towels seem to be a problem but hey I don't need a fresh one every day same goes for the bathrooms. A washcloth would be nice however. Al [... read more]l in all worth going back too. I experienced no insect problems at all.However it is usually windy a blessing in the summer but not so much in Jan or Feb.

Ok resort

The dishes and the cleaning of the table was very discusting, we were told this resort is new but it's not by the look of the showers in the rooms. The food was not very good at all except for the lunch at one restaurant by the pool that had fries and wings thank god for that, we eat a lot of bread because that's all was any good at buffet.

Don't believe the bad reviews

This resort bends over backwards to give you a great time. The staff is pleasant and they work their butts off to keep you happy. The check in process was a little confusing, having never been south before. Guests were cranky and just wanted to get a drink. Staff worked very hard to get us settled in quickly. The Transat rep gave us the run down the next morning which was very informative. The food was delicious the first few days, then it got boring really fast. There was lots to eat for a ve [... read more]getarian but the a la carte restaurants only had one dish that I could eat. I ordered the mushroom risotto at Don Pepperone & it was white rice with dried up strips of mushroom, with crunchy sea salt on top. I was there by myself and felt like everyone around me was getting better service. Favourite parts: the pools are gorgeous, clean and plentiful; rooms are large with balconies, a minibar and safe; lobby bar staff is top notch. Worst parts: people putting their towels on pool loungers in the morning and going off to breakfast, lunch & dinner. Sometimes it was hard to find a place to sit. People were laying on the grass and the pavement. So many obnoxious Canadians were drunk and loud and rude. Ugh. Loud music at both pools. I just wanted to doze in the sun and cool off in the pool all day. The beach is absolutely gorgeous. Yes, it's a bit rocky in places but the water is so warm and clear. Lots of beach chairs and a bar with very friendly staff. Sand fleas had a feast on me so bring bug spray. Sometimes tiny ants made it into the room and the bed. Just keep the sheets tightly tucked to the mattress when you're out for the day. The room was cleaned every day even when I had the Do Not Disturb sign up which was fine but not necessary. Wifi is not great. There are four computers for over 1000 people and some people were just watching videos while others were waiting to check in with their families back home. The activity people are great, so much fun ("Any" in particular was hilarious). They try to get you to exercise a little but I was having none of that. haha

Resort was spotless clean at all times

We found the staff to be very friendly the hotel and grounds was well kept, out room was very nice and well maintained by the staff surprisingly for Cuba the food was good at this hotel all in all lovely hotel and will recommend