First class resort

We were very happy at this hotel. We needed some medical assistance and we were very pleased with the medical care we received. The service is excellent, the food at the buffet was really good and the Cuban people couldn't be nicer.

Still Needs Work - but getting there

The Hotel was new so clean & nice. However there was not enough staff in some areas. Our room did not get cleaned for 2 days. The beach was full of coral so did not enough it as much. I would go back in a few years once the construction is completed.

Avoid At All Costs!

Being an almost brand new hotel, this hotel has a lot to work out. Our bed linens were already ripped and had blood stains on them. There were no beach towels for the first few days because the laundry machines were broken. The shower hose burst three separate times and we had water flying everywhere in the room. There were flies on all of the food in the buffet, even on the food in the heated areas. One worker went to replace a platter of food in the hot section, and the food slipped off the tr [... read more]ay and right into the hot water and he just scooped it back up and put it back on the tray for people to eat. The beach is terrible, so rocky and full of coral. There are not enough lounge chairs, neither at the pool or on the beach, however if you give a worker a few pesos he will "miraculously" find you one, but never any cushions, just the hard plastic. We were told about a bus that would take you to a nice beach for 5 pesos, an hour away, so we went. The beach was beautiful however the bus was so old and unsafe. It had a hole in the floor that you could actually see the road go by as you rode in it. On the return trip home the bus was so crowded my husband and I had to stand right next to this hole, and as the old bus went bumpity bump over the old roads I was afraid our feet would fall through the hole. We were allowed 3 dinner reservations in the specialty restaurants but the guy making the reservations said the earliest times available were at 9:30 p.m., way to late for us, so after a little sweet talk he was able to get us in between 5:30 -6 p.m. Once in these specialty restaurants, we were surprised to see only a handful of tables were occupied, other tourists said the same thing. The shows started way too late for us. We never made it to one. This was our 7th time to Cuba and definitely our last one. In the 43 years that my dear husband and I have been travelling I have never wished to be home from a holiday, our return home couldn't have come any faster.

Good service!!

This was our first trip to Cuba. Cubans are very friendly and we loved the service we got!! The rooms are nice and big, the mattress was a bit hard but we slept very well. There is a huge problem with the shower drain as water spills in the bathroom... poor construction. We were in Bungalow 12 and we felt it was the best one. We had oceanview room, not much view but we enjoyed the privacy. The restaurants were not all in there official spot, but they were all open in temporary sites anyways. We  [... read more]tried 4 of them and they were better than the buffet, but I am not a fan of buffets (huge selection though). Do not expect more than 3 stars dining, but they do what they can with what they have. Bring your wine for the restaurants since the wine they serve is pretty bad.

Great time at Melia Jardines Del Rey

Overall this resort was wonderful Things that need improvement: front desk. None spoke very good English They were consitately rude not helpful, and never had enough people to help when needed when you need something we went to customer service and they were wonderful No toilet seat for one of our parties for 3 days The lobby bar didn't take the time to make a good Mojito and people go to Cuba for Mojitos our highlight of our trip was or HolaSun rep Orlando He was very helpful our beach party/pi [... read more]lar beach was a highlight none of us will forget way to go Orlando food at the all LA cartes were fantastic Buffet one night lead nothing to be desired.

Great place to be in 1 year

Great service at reception, wonderful restaurant ( main) and great entertainment. As per the beach, I would rate it at 1. Dirty and was not prepared for a day. Some areas were under construction. There is no flowers, shrubs and trees

Wonderfull Vacation

Best service we have ever had by too many employees to list.Food was very good.They always had a cleaning lady on duty for every washroom all the time. Never had to run after bottled water or coffee for our room . Our location was fantastic near the beach on the third floor with a comfy king size bed. Plenty of hot water.High end liquor at the lobby bar.We have been to Cuba a dozen times & this was the best we have experienced.

Wonderful vacation

We had a wonderful vacation at Melia Jardines del Rey. The rooms were clean and comfortable, the service was excellent, the pool, grounds and beach are lovely. The grounds will only become more beautiful as the vegetation has a chance to grow and beome more lush. Suggested improvements include eliminating standing water in the reception area to control mosquitoes and continued attention to the food.

Nice Resort!

The resort is still under construction with only half open. A la carte restaurants were very good, buffet food got boring after a while. Grounds were ok but still under construction. Lobby area is huge and a nice place to hang out anytime if day. They make amazing specialty coffee at the lobby bar!

ANOTHER GREAT VACATION

This resort is very large. The accomodation, staff and food were all very good. The beach was not to our liking as too many rocks, not big enough and too crowded, therefore for us only a good vacation. Work needs to be done to improve the quality of the beach.

Amazing but a monster of a resort.

Clean, safe good food for Cuba. Ocean infront of resort was horrible. Rocks rocks and more rocks. I sat at resort next door. The safe was amazing but with the construction I found that every employee had a shtic. Hats made of leaves 3 peso pet my bird 1 peso draw a pic 5 peso. To much begging. The resort is stunning but to big. Don't know if this matters but Canjat was the airline, never ever again. Rude disgusting dangerously arrogant employees. I would not return to Cuba with this airline. Jus [... read more]t saying.

Good for new resort

The hotel grounds were well maintained, beautiful landscaping. The hotel was kept clean always people picking up things that were left behind glasses, cups, papers on the floor. The rooms lovely, the room service came in daily so always fresh water for brushing teeth for drinking. The maids did a good job although maybe more staff needed. I think that the towel & laundry delay should be explained to visitors as there were times we waited til after 7 & had to use beach towels. The dining area ser [... read more]vice wonderful especially our morning & lunch servers. They went above & beyond to assist us. The dining area clean the only main issue was the days they did not spray & many mosquitos. The beach was nice although water shoes needed to get into ocean once in no problem. The beach was clean, there were many chairs available great service at beach bar, daily activities for children and adults one recommendation to entice people to participate possible offer a give away maybe a souvenir a bottle to winners other resorts in Cuba do so. The pool was excellent daily activities there too. The towel service was excellent always fresh towels. The pool had enough chairs, the pool bar good as well. The evening entertainment needs some improvement in a two week stay we saw maybe 4 excellent shows. The other nights there seemed to be not much variety same dancers & band & music selection. They did have dancing afterwards but at a certain enough is enough & DJ killed good party by putting mellow music. The entertainment team that ran activities had individual talents they should have put a show together utilizing their own talents. The biggest pet peeve was no toilet paper in the public bathrooms. No need to really try the restaurants nothing special buffet was phenominal with variety & service!!!!!

Beautiful resort

A beautiful new resort. The staff go all out to make your stay as enjoyable as possible. If we needed anything in our room it was delivered very quickly and the staff followed up to make sure our needs were met. It is a big resort but well laid out. It was great to walk to different areas and wear off some of the delicious meals. If one does not want to walk then there are always staff along the routes to pick you up in their carts. The restaurants were nice and had great ambiance but we enjoyed [... read more] the food in the buffet more! The beach was beautiful, it was rocky in some areas but with water shoes we managed just fine. I have been to nicer beaches but it was still enjoyable. The nightly entertainment was very good and I would highly recommend the Michael Jackson show and the Pool Party show. The all day excursion to the mainland was a lot of fun and included many different activities, it was well worth the price of the excursion and our tour guide was excellent. The catamaran trip was ok but I would not recommend it. All in all I was very impressed with the staff whether it be at the check in counter, the buffet dining area, the pool bar and maid service. Although parts of the resort are still under construction it did not affect our stay as it is fenced off. It will be much bigger once that construction is finished so I am glad I went now before it gets too big and thus more people. The only complaint is that guests get up early and reserve "their" beach chairs and beach beds....I do not think this is fair to other guests but I don't see how that can be stopped. I feel so fortunate to have had wonderful staff who were so helpful and addressed my concerns in a friendly, timely fashion. Beautiful smiling staff, delicious food, great entertainment...all contributed to a wonderful vacation!!

Melia Jardines Del Rey-Simple

I understood before booking for the Melia Jardine Del Rey that there was construction going on to complete about 12 new buildings that house guests. So, I have no complaints about the construction but of what most have reported and that is the quality of the food. The a la carte restaurants fail to meet the standards of a 4 or 5 star. I will be clear that we ate at three of them. We chose Las Aquas which was seafood. It had very little available on its menu that would be good seafood. I believe  [... read more]four items were offered of which two were seafood. Fish was an option and the second was listed as lobster, shrimp on rice and squid. I asked that squid not be included on the plate and was told it was mixed in the rice so that was not an option. I ordered chicken that was so badly over cooked that the edges of the chicken was hard and curling up. The chicken was also cut into small pieces, such as small medallions and put on rice. The cheese sauce that the menu said the chicken was in was completely missing. It was not edible. I was very disappointed. La Bristo which was featured as French/Mediterranean was alright. The service was very good. The food failed to impress us or another couple sitting beside us. Between the four of us we ordered the beef steak, roasted chicken, and two of the seafood (lobster) dish. When they came they all looked much the same. The roasted chicken was not roasted. It was a stripped chicken leg that looked boiled and stuck in the top of a small bed of what appeared to be mashed Yucca. The beef steak was a small amount of shredded beef on a small bed of rice and the lobster was very tiny and again, stuck on top of a small bed of rice. The Cuban restaurant should be avoided because the food there is pretty much the same as at the buffet. The drinks in the lobby are good, but mixed drinks such as Pina Coladas should be avoided at the pool bar. They were the worst drinks I have ever experienced in my travels. The tasted scary and awful and went into the garbage. Stick with wine, beer and rum and coke. The wrong plastic glasses are being used to serve the drinks at the pool. They are the plastic juice glasses used elsewhere. Because of this, four times more plastic is being dumped into the garbage which ends up in the ocean. Many of the mixed drinks were thrown in the garbage near the pool and the liquid was running out of the bags when they came to collect them. I'd rather see proper size glasses and made of coated paper. The buffet was not bad and had much to offer. The rooms were simple and clean and the mini frig always had water and a few drinks in it. The pool is outstanding and very nicely designed. There is a developing problem with what we call "lounge chair trolls". People who will go out late at night and early in the morning to claim a chair by leaving their towel on it. I watched this over the week I was there and many times the people doing it did not show up until about 2 or 3 in the afternoon. They go on outings or down to the beach and do not use these chairs leaving others guests to walk all over the pool area looking to sit and use the pool. Many times workers were asked to bring out extra chairs so guests could sit. Many resorts have taken action against this practice by guests by posting signs, removing the towel after 30 minutes, giving other guests the permission to remove any towels on chairs after 30 minutes if not being used. Others have gone as far as to have an employee out around the pool early in the morning telling guests not to leave the towel and walk away. I understand that the resort has only been open since January, but there are many problems developing that are not being addressed and they will escalate if not handled now. I notice huge stains and dirt on the lobby chairs that have not been cleaned and this looks bad now, so what will that lobby look like in a year with really filthy and stained lounge chairs. It is especially noticeable in the pagodas outside the lobby. Two of the taps in the women's room at the lobby bar are running non stop. They work on motion. They were running when I arrived and I reported it and they were still running when I left. If you are environmentally inclined, this will drive you nuts. It's such a waste. The gym is very small and only open in daytime hours. The resort is isolated, so to see anything you will need to get a bus or take an excursion. I can't say whether I would recommend this resort at this time to anyone. It depends on the individual and their expectations. It also depends on what they want to pay.

Fantastic experience at this resort!

This resort was perfect for me and my family. The room was very clean and new, the buffets were large with a great variety of food, the a la carte restaurants had great service and great selection of foods, the pool was huge and the beach was picturesque!

It has potential

Resort will be great once fully completed. Expect construction crews and noise to be a part of your stay. Short power outages are the norm at least once a day. Staff was wonderful, nice rooms, food was good, gorgeous white sandy beach. We enjoyed out stay.

Wonderful vacation

We flew with Air Transat from Hamilton for a week's stay at the Melia Jardines Del Rey in Cayo Coco from Feb 27 to March 6. We had a wonderful flight and recommend the Hamilton airport. It all went very smoothly. Arrived at the hotel, drinks to greet us, a nice touch. Rooms were modern and spacious. King size bed with walk in shower, vanity was on the outside of bathroom which was very efficient. Rooms were kept spotless by housekeeping, we also had turndown service for a few nights with chocol [... read more]ates which was a lovely touch. We had ground floor room overlooking pool which was very handy. Pool was beautiful and very large, small kiddie pool also available. Had to scramble for shade each day but staff would bring extra loungers if you asked. Entertainment was good every day by pool but pool was big enough to get away from that if desired. Beach was very small and again shade was at a premium, no shortage of loungers. Rocky but areas to right and left of entrance to walk into the ocean. Beautiful views of the Aqua coloured ocean. Food was great, best we have had in Cuba, we have been 6 times to different areas of Cuba. A la Cartes were hit and miss and depended what you ordered and your overall tastes. Buffets were well stocked and there were grilling stations for eggs in the mornings with smoothie bar. Lunch and evenings, fish and meats and pizza and pasta. They also had a banana,papaya, pineapple flambé station. They also had 24 hour snackbar by the pool with food cooked to order and a beach restaurant which had buffet style food. You will never go hungry. They are still completing the 6 a la carte restaurants so some have to share the beach restaurant. You could eat outside if desired at every meal, what luxury.... Bars were well stocked and you could get fabulous cappuccino and Spanish coffees at the lobby bar. Ending the night with a scotch or brandy. The lobby bar has great music every night before dinner which we really enjoyed. Go early for a nice cocktail before dinner and enjoy the variety of music. We did not catch too many shows so really cannot comment. Staff at this resort really go out of their way to help you. The resort is not finished yet but should be in a couple of months. The building construction does not bother anyone. This resort will then be the largest in Cuba, we will see how they come with double the amount of rooms. We did not mind the walking, nothing was more than 5 mins away. Be careful of the walkways, they are narrow and dark at night and they are used by the resort for deliveries and golf carts. We had a wonderful vacation and would highly recommend.

Thoroughly enjoyed our stay

Rooms were clean, bedding was very comfortable for Cuba, washroom great. Everything is new. Service was quite good. Staff at front counter did all they could. One instance regarding internet service created a small problem which was you cannot text but must E-mail or have Twitter, Facebook, etc. to send messages. Food was fantastic I have no complaints at all. There is a fair bit of walking so learn shortcuts, use shuttles or don't forget stuff creating second trips back to room. Enjoyed a la ca [... read more]rt restaurants last night had filet of beef. Shows were quite good, enjoyed the Michael Jackson show the most. Everyone was quite pleasant. The only drawback at all is the beach because of coral on shoreline which will require some remedial work; probably take some time. Take water shoes and do take snorkel and fins, check out offshore-lots to see. This holiday was well worth the money and I would have no problem returning. Thanks for the rest and relaxation. Had excellent weather from March 1-8, 2015.

First Trip to Cuba- Pleasantly surprised

This was my first trip to Cuba and was not sure about what to expect.Everything about this resort exceeded my expectations. The food was fabulous, people exceptional and grounds, pool and beach beautiful.

Great Resort

Had a great time, staff very receptive to any issues we had and landscapers working every day to green up the resort. I would recommend they shave down the coral for the first 20 feet entering the ocean, would improve the beach tremendously !!!