Melia Jardines del Rey: Beautiful Resort

This was a beautiful new resort with a lot of smiling faces to serve us and make our stay enjoyable but it did have some flaws. The rooms were beautiful but we had fumes/gas coming up through our shower drain the entire time so we had to keep it blocked with a wet face cloth. Our travel companions said their shower wouldn't drain properly and they had a flood every time they used theirs. They requested maintenance to come and look at it but nobody every came. The rooms were nice and clean but th [... read more]e beds were very, very hard and uncomfortable and the pillows were also very hard. There is not a lot to do at this resort and the gift shop is ridiculously small. It's not even worth having one if that's all they have to offer. The food was disappointing as well but we certainly didn't starve. For the most part, it was lukewarm to cold unless you stood in line and had them cook something especially for you. Booking the "A La Carte Restaurants" is a joke. You stand in line forever or they offer you an appoint for later but they book up so fast that you end up losing out in the end. This certainly needs to be improved. All this aside, the resort is beautiful and the people are friendly and always serve you with a smile. We enjoyed some aspects of this resort and disliked some others as with any place. I would not go back myself but I certainly would not discourage anybody else from giving it a try. Different strokes for different folks as they say.

Starfish Cayo Largo: Good Value

Grounds & rooms were clean. Food was OK. Beaches were fantastic! If you want a relaxing vacation by the ocean then this is the place, especially the cost. Only disappointment was they had no hot water for 3 days.

Melia Cayo Coco: Caya Coco's Best

The Melia Caya Coco Resort is the best resort we have been to in Cuba. It is everything you would want to get away from the cold weather. The resort is well laid out and everything is within close walking distance. The grounds are immaculate, with lots of trees and flowers attracting all kinds of birds and butterflies. The rooms are two stories, big, clean and comfortable. Some resorts are known for bad food. We were quite pleased with the food, the best we have had in Cuba. No complaints here. [... read more] The Melia has a long clean beach where you can continue walking east to remote areas. We walked every morning along the beach to see the beautiful sunrises. Getting a spot on the beach was no problem, in or out of the sun. There is only one pool, but we never had a problem getting chairs. Once a week there is an very popular aqua show. After dinner there is entertainment in the lobby bar with different acts every night. The trumpet player was a hit with everyone. At 9:30 p.m. the show starts in the entertainment centre. The local dancers always have something new. They have a sports centre which we enjoyed every day. There is something for everyone, shooting, archery, tennis and lots of games to play. They offer lots of side trips outside the resort to see the local towns and experience Cuban life. The best thing about the Melia is the people. They are the most friendly people you will meet anywhere. Their main concern is your happiness. Of course, we had some small problems, but nothing that would distract from our wonderful stay at the Melia. It is a Five Star resort which lives up to our high expectations. We can't wait to go back again.

Melia Marina Varadero: Newer resort. One of the better resorts in Cuba

Service and staff were great. Resort well kept and very clean. This was amazing food for Cuba. The beach was across the street, but staff were always available to shuttle guests back and forth. We upgraded to "The Level", and it was worth every dime!

Melia Caribe Beach Resort: Mid February vacation

My girlfriend and I are in our fifties and this was our first vacation together. To say the least I had high expectations that our time and money will be well spent. Let me preface my comments by firstly saying I had read many reviews of this property and while I found some negative I found even more positive. We opted not to spend the money on the Level upgrade and hope for the best. The checkin was smooth and quick. We were taken to our room and our luggage was taken there for us. First impres [... read more]sions of the room were very good. Well appointed and clean. Sure there are some cracked tiles in the corners of the floor and some less than perfect grout work in the bathroom but nothing to take away the smile on your face. The balcony faced the gardens which are so perfectly groomed it will take your breath away. The beach has powder white sand meeting the aqua blue ocean. The weeds do wash up but are quickly taken away by a special attachment drawn by a tractor. Let me also say as you walk the beaches you will see some resorts using men with rakes and wheel barrows. Many lawn chairs and never an issue to find one. The food.... amazing! Our favorite was the Tia Restaurant. Make reservations if you want to eat at either the Japanese or American grill. Other than that you may have to wait 30mins to get in to the other a la cart restaurants but hey your on vacation.Just walk around any corner and you will find a bar with people who are willing to make the time pass quickly. Many thanks to Heroberto Diaz at The Avenue bar. The entertainment provided by the resort is fun and starts at 930pm lasting about an hour. When it finished you will find a live band in the lobby where you will dance till 11pm or so. When it packs up then the crowd moves to the Fun Bar also within the resort. Yes people smoke at the resort but never was it an issue for me (non smoker). The constant breeze from the ocean takes care of any second hand smoke. We brought 500US each and came home with money. Everyone takes the US currency. Tip the bartenders 1 dollar per round and leave your maid 5 dollars on the pillow. You will get excellent service and they do work very hard. The property is large and we stayed next to the beach as opposed to closer to the restaurants. Our thinking was if we wanted to make a trip to our room during the day from the beach for any reason .... this would be best. Worked perfectly!! Trains run on regular schedules to take you from one end of the resort without a problem. So we discussed beach, food, room, entertainment, money, and transport while there.

Melia Cohiba: A fantastic hotel for singles, couples, families!

Located on the Malecon, the Melia Cohiba was a wonderful place to stay. The hotel is modern, the rooms are clean and spacious and ours looked out over both the water and the city. The breakfast buffet was incredible, the pool area was lovely and the staff were very helpful. This hotel may not be in Old Havana but a free shuttle makes it easy to get there in minutes.If you are looking for an excellent hotel in Havana, you won't be disappointed in the Melia cohiba!

Melia Jardines del Rey: A three stars hotel-not more !

This hotel is still under construction-expect hammer noises,dust and landscaping in early stages of development.Very inconvenient layout of the grounds,swimming pools are not connected by bridges,so you have to go around a lot.Spa is not open yet ,even if it is already advertised on website,which was a huge disappointment for me.Front desk service unhelpful and indifferent,not informing about flight cancellations,not willing to accommodate to room changes etc.Food is decent,but if you wait you c [... read more]an get excellent barbecue done by chef.The waitresses at the lobby bar are nice and fast with orders.The front desk staff should be trained in hospitality or fired.

Melia Las Dunas: Needs a few upgrades

My wife and I just got back from a 12 day stay at Melia las Dunas. It was our 7th trip to Cuba and our 2nd stay at this resort. I only gave this resort a 4 star rating because the accommodations were in dire need of upgrades. The resort was built around 2005, and the rooms have the same furniture, same beds, same 20" TV, same drapes that were falling apart. But, I still think it is one the best resorts in Cuba. The beach is huge, with soft sand and plenty of lounge chairs that did not make it ne [... read more]cessary to reserve a spot at 7am. The pools, one family and one adult only are beautiful with poolside bars as well as a place to have lunch. There are 6 a la carte restaurants, 2 night time buffet restaurants, a pizza parlor as well as a 24 hour beer garden for drinks and food. At lunch there are a few more places to eat. The lobby of this resort is at least the size of a football field. It has a lobbypiano bar that most evenings host hundreds of people. At 6pm the piano starts playing traditional North American classic songs. Often the piano is accompanied by drums, guitar or a saxophone. This music is followed by a traditional cuban band that plays for another hour or so. And believe me they are well worth listening to. This is followed by a DJ with assistants encouraging dancing. If you still want more entertainment, you can watch the nightly show. The food is good, but you are in Cuba so don't expect 5 star restaurant quality. You often hear that the buffet serves the same food all the time. The problem is they serve pasta, fish and all the different meats every night so it is hard to vary. We did make one trip. It was to Trinidad. It was OK, but it was 3 1/2 hours each way so I did not like that. Last time we took the trip to Santa Clara and it was a shorter trip and the same quality. That's it, a fabulous resort who, with a few room upgrades, would be 2nd to none in Cuba.

Melia Las Dunas: Absolute amazing resort

I went on this trip by myself and it was very relaxing chill resort. I will definitely be going back. I was looking to get away and relax and I got exactly that at this resort. I also enjoyed the night life they offered.

Melia Peninsula Varadero: Resort itself is good

Did not expect so many kids. Food was always cold unless it was cook in front of you. Service was fair at the most. Ran out of different alcohol for cocktails. Room was nice and clean. Not for singles or couples

Hotel Camino del Mar: 5th visit at MCG

Our week at the MCG was wonderful. We beached, fished the pier, fished the big bridge, recorded 70+ species of Birds, rode horse back through lagoon & along the beach, swam, walked the beach, enjoyed the food...best in five visits, enjoyed the early evening entertainment. Our 3rd floor room was very clean, had hot water, toiletries, toilet paper, drinking water & pop replaced daily. Buildings need maintenance... paint, fix doors, replace light bulbs, repair parts of wharf, and wooden structures. [... read more] Staff is extremely friendly, hard working, extended our room checkout time and supported us when our flight was delayed. Even though this Resort is tired & worn...it is still the best place to relax and enjoy the beauty of Cuba.

Melia Jardines del Rey: Great resort!

We enjoyed our stay; it is a beautiful resort and when it is open to full capacity, with the accommodation complete, it will be a busy spot. The pool is fabulous, beautiful area, the beach is great, we loved to walk the beach everyday. Suggestion, take "water shoes", there are rocks as you enter the water (I kept my flip flops on). I love Cayo Coco area, returned after 17 years; it's very busy spot now with the new hotels but that didn't bother me at all. The drive from the airport is great, qui [... read more]ck & close (20 minutes). The service at the hotel was great, the buffet restaurant was great, good food, no complaints at all, plenty of food for all .. suggestion, bring pepper/salt, ketchup & seasoning salts LOL .. it's was a personal taste thing .. they provided HP & A1 sauce, which was great for me. The al-a-carte restaurants were great, no complaints, food very tasty and service was excellent!! Our room was comfortable, new design, lots of room for 2 people, king size bed, loved that we had a coffee maker .. suggestion, take coffee mate or similar as they don't provide any type of coffee cream/creamer with the coffee maker. I would think you could get milk from the restaurant if you need it as there is a fridge in the room. Also, take adapters/converters for small electronics e.g., cell phone charging, curling irons/flat irons .. it is 220 volt people!! I have an "European curling iron" and it worked great, no convertor required! There is a hairdryer and it worked great! Take face cloths if you use them .. I didn't ask housekeeping for one; I'm assuming they would provide you with them if they are available. Cuba has come along way over the years .. I worked with the 1st travel operator to take Canadians to Cuba (mid 70's), only to Varadero at that time, so with that said, "you've come along way Cuba", offering great spots for vacationing Canadians! The "people" are very friendly, accommodating & hard working! I would definitely return to this resort, great relaxing, stress free spot! I would return to Cuba, all areas!! Ciao!!!!

Melia Las Dunas: nice and clean resort

great resort, a bit to large for our liking, food was good, always something to eat, burgers pizza and a la carte restaurants were delicious as well. Staff was helpful and friendly, room alittle dated but clean

Sol Varadero Beach: Back to Mexico

We were cautioned about Cuba and managing our expectations. Maybe the Melia chain doesn't believe in heating pools? A lot of inexpensive details that we thought were important the hotel obviously did not. The number of these details were significant but the lack of and quality of food was really a deal breaker. The Cuban people are great.

Melia Peninsula Varadero: nice resort

The food was good with a lot of choice.Buffet only started at 6:30pm and the show at 9:45pm, so a bit late for children. Did not get a room with double bed the first night even if that was the only specification requested for the holiday. I guess it is the usual when you go to cuba. Got unlucky with key card, they had to change the entire door handle that took another day. The hotel should have more activities and should have music during the day and should have music at the beach. The only ente [... read more]rtainment was the LOOKea team. The team is only for french European guest. So the hotel should have their team too. Some staff were friendly but not all. Often I was thinking they should smile more or at least be friendly. But all said and done it was a nice holiday but just to much time wasted on a room.

Melia Jardines del Rey: Will be an amazing resort

Service This resort had fantastic service. On the beach they would bring you beach chairs (you never had to reserve early or search for your own), the same goes for chairs around the pool. Service in all restaurants and bars were excellent with the exception of the Lobby Bar (where it was extremely slow at nights). The resort is large (even with only half complete) and they would offer you golf cart rides to your room if you wanted. Beach The beach was beautiful, it was long and had fine, white [... read more] sand so excellent for walking, collecting seashells or just building sandcastles. BUT bring water shoes, they really need to excavate the rock in the water just off shore. The rock is very sharp and will cut feet. In order to find a clear place to enter the ocean you will need to go the far right of the beach by the last of the shade structures. (It is a bit of a hike). Also the snorkelling was great - there was a reef just off shore and it was not too deep and you could see many, many different types of colourful fish. Pools There were only 1 main pool open at this point and it was really 2 pools (not including the baby pool for toddlers). The pools were like a giant square with a part in the middle for sitting on beach chairs. The one being shallower (great for kids) and the other deeper. There were lots of beds around the pool and always seemed to be one available, we never had to scramble out in the morning to reserve one. The only downside is the pool had some sort of edge that cut the children's feet. Almost every child had small cuts from something on the bottom of their feet. Oddly the adults did not. Food The food was good especially for Cuba. The buffet was large and while the selection did not change a lot, they had a fresh meat cooking station, fish cooking station, pasta station and flambé banana station nightly, the food overall at the buffet was quite good. The 2 a la cartes were okay but the menus were quite limited. The snack bar was only okay as well. It also had an extremely limited menu. Drinks The drinks were okay at best. Most tropical drinks were made from those slushy machines and they never had any fresh fruit for drinks. This is an area this hotel could improve upon. With the exception of the coffee and the coffee drinks, those were spectacular especially the latte macchiato. I was told the Spanish coffees were good too. Rooms The room was brand new and in superb condition. The safe was free and the TV's were flat screen and had a variety of channels from around the world. Landscape/Resort I am sure when this resort is complete it will be beautiful but I was there in Feb 2015 and it was no where near that point. Most of the grounds were mud. They were desperately watering and trying to get grass to grow but there was not a lot of grass. The bigger concern is there is a large section of cleared land between the buildings and the beach that will not be built on for 2 to 3 years - as they will eventually build a luxury section there(or so I was told) and it is an eyesore, it was one very large mud pit. The resort was only half complete - which I was completely aware of when I booked and I got a good price for a Melia resort. The other half was no where near done and I will be surprised if it is complete in May as they state. So many things that are listed just aren't ready. The current gift shop was the size of a closet and sold rum, cigars, and a couple Tshirts/towels so bring what you need. Overall though I would recommend this hotel and expect it will be fantastic when it is done.

Paradisus Rio De Oro: Paradisus Paradise

The public areas in the resort are the best of any resort I've been to - open air with water features and lots of space with sculptures etc. The outdoor grounds are maintained beautifully. The food is excellent with lots of variety. Having an open-air dining room is a big plus - much better than an air conditioned room. The pool and beach dining areas were also excellent. Another big plus is having the pool close to the beach. I like having the rooms in small buildings instead of one large build [... read more]ing. The rooms are certainly adequate with nice balconies. Even although the resort was full, it never felt crowded. The size of the resort was perfect. Huge resorts don't appeal to us. Staff was great and always pleasant.

Melia Marina Varadero: deceptive location

Quite disappointed to find out i was 20 to 23 km. away from the actual varadero beach strip.Paid approx 15-16 dollars for 12 small bottles of water, from their onsite overpriced store .took several taxi rides to vradero at 20 to 25 cuban pesos equal to american dollars.8-10 taxi trips.Construction noise when sitting on balcony..wish i stayed home.Checked in at about 6am feb 7..went to havana for 2 days to escape this prison compound. when i came back friday evening feb.13,at 9pm..Desk clerk told [... read more] me i should of checked out at 12 noon that day?What happened to my 7 nights?..he should me the hotel policy which states one is to vacate by 12 noon THE DAY of departure.well my day of departure was the next morning. Sat feb.14 at 5 am? They also tried to charge me for each hour i was late.!!..He finally settled on offering me to stay til midnight?..i said whats the point, i'll just pack and leave to the airport.Asked what cab to airport is.?he said ill have him take you there for 50$..however when taxi arrived and desk clerk had left..cab driver wanted 60?.cab made it halfway to airport and broke down.Waited for another cab.arrived approx 11:30pm at airport. Virtually no seats ..only a few with people snoozing on them..my flight was leaving at 5:15 am..ended up sleeping on floor with suitcase as pillow.Other issues were hand held shower nozzle, which fluctuated hot/cold on it's ownA/C which operates with sliding door fully closed.This was a chore with faulty door. Upon landing was notified 75 pieces of luggage were removed due to weight etc. and would be in edmontontook ages to wait through all luggage, find out mine wasnt there, then line up to fill out form to an address i could not provide, because i am working in canmore, and recently rented new place. was told bags would be shipped within 3 days.Address of my place was on phone which was stolen while i left it for a few min. in my secured resort at melia marina.talked to agent and explained i need items from that bag.i even said i would pay for express delivery to calgary. i called baggage info number at 6:30pm..fellow said luggage was delivered and should be there.I was exhausted, and said great i will pick it up in am.Got hotel for the night..He was wrong, it had not arrived , i found out next morning..Good thing i didnt go try to retrieve it that night!..i would have probably had an assault charge.Finally spoke to supervisor, who brought me to her office where a couple bags had been delivered. Thank god 1 was mine....Anyway..few other things not mentioned, but if this ideal getaway sounds appealing it can be had for about 3000$..oh and no meals or drinks included.

Melia Jardines del Rey: Good resort but has issues

Resort facilities are nice and well layed out but it took 3 days to get water issue resolved and just as long to get bath towels for our room. Beach is nice but not really swimable due to rocky shoreline and low tides....good snorkelling though.

Melia Las Dunas: Average to Good

Overall a nice resort, pretty modern and new by most Cuban standards. Clean rooms, no major issues with mine, just don’t expect a fresh towel every day. A pretty huge resort, takes a long time to get anywhere. However, being so large no spot in particular was ridiculously crowded. Although during certain times of the day, pool or beach chairs were tricky to find if you are with a group people. Service from resort staff was highly variable, from good to absolutely dismal. You quickly learn wher [... read more]e or who to go to for drinks/food. Food was probably some of the best I've had in Cuba, late night 24 hr food was by far the best and easiest to access compared to other places I've stayed. Did not enjoy the beach as much as Cayo Guillermo or Varadero. It was narrow, and water gets deep quick. Often big waves, which are fun at times but they eliminate the possibility of lounging half in the water with a cocktail. If you’re looking to kitesurf, don’t bother coming here go to Cayo Guillermo instead. It’s possible but far more hassle than its worth, especially with such a crowded, narrow beach. However, could be amazing with the large shore break and a surfboard if there wasn’t a carpet of humans on the beach. Night life is ok, the lobby bar area quickly clears out around 1. By 3am expect to be one of the few if not only one up. Highly recommend the bowling alley in the off resort "market area". We went twice late at night with friends, cant believe nobody else goes there. Drinks cost money there unless you bring your own in. Overall if you’re looking to party and have some off resort adventures go to Varadero instead. I'd say the Melia Las Dunas is a good couples resort, good it you want to enjoy Cuba but have better food and rooms than the rest of Cuba, or for people who don't care to explore off resort too much.