Vila Gale Cayo Santa Maria: amazing resort

from the time we arrived was a very good vacation to the room with aq ocean view and pool view to the servers and all hotel staff were wonderful.always found food to eat and lots of great people to chat with only complaint was no much shad around the pool ..maybe they can put more umbrellas out

Playa Cayo Santa Maria: Love this resort

This is our 4 th time at the Playa Cayo and and love it..people that work there become like family..husband even likes the food and he is fussy. Looking now to book in December..hopefully renting a suite next time

Grand Aston Cayo Las Brujas: 3** resort

Never again even for free Out of 3 resorts(Grand Aston,Sirenis and Selectum) it has the worst beach area :algae smell, grassy sea bottom no washrooms near the beach, must go to the room or lobby For one week the resort was swarmed with the locals guests, who wasted food like I never seen anywhere and this in Cuba,country which experience food shortages the Transat rep.inform us about With all respect to Cuban people it was painful to watch .Lines for half an hour just to get fried eggs, foo [... read more]d was tasteless .Ifyou want to lose weight it's right place to go. All Service staff ( room, buffet ) was helpful trying to do whatever they could Grounds need to be cleaned (cigarette butts,plastic cups,bottles,cans etc.) Theater floor , needs good cleaning Michael Jackson Show was amazing though. But overall time and money wasted

Playa Luxury Cayo Las Brujas: Beautiful resort & location

Nice smaller size resort, very close to the water with beautiful beaches. The staff was amazing. Always had a smile on their faces. Typical Cuba food but with lots of variety and we always found something good to eat, especially pizzas at the snack bar and hamburgers at the beach snack bar. Beds are very comfortable, and there are two very nice pools to enjoy. This resort is not for a big party people. There is a nice amount of entertainment, but not raging into the late hours of the night.

Vila Gale Cayo Santa Maria: Superbad but not like the movie

Everything was awful besides the people, beach and pool. There was no water running for a day, even though I got the ocean view room. The bed was. Dirty when I got there. Around evening the entire resort smelt like sewage, mosquitoes were everywhere. Including the room, assuming the service staff left the door open too long. The steak house had no steak. The food was awful. AND INSTEAD OF SUNWING ON THE WAY BACK, WE WERE ALL LIED TO AND THERE SOME OTHER SKETCHY FLIGHT WE HAD TO GET ON WHICH WAS  [... read more]INFESTED WITH MOSQUITOES!!!!!!!!!! 5 HOURS IN THE PLANE GETTING BIT……. NO FREE SNACKS……….. I FORGET WHAT AIRLINE THAT WAS, BUT MY WORST.

Melia Las Dunas: Awesome Lobby Bar!

It’s a long drive from the airport to the hotel, (approx 2 hrs by the time you drop off others at various hotels) but the resort grounds are absolutely beautiful and nicely manicured. The lobby bar is excellent and a large gathering spot where there is always entertainment, including violinists, sax players, singers etc. the food is not bad for Cuba and essentially plentiful when we were there the week of Apr21. Some minor shortages like milk a day or two. Not all restaurants were open. The a [... read more]la Cartes were ok but nothing special. The beach and pools are awesome. Virtually no sargassum. It’s a place where you go for the beach and pool with little close by activities. Hotels have Catamarans, paddle boats ands kayaks but that’s all. Overall, we would go back for the beach and relaxation.

Iberostar Selection Ensenachos: Still good value

Fourth time at this resort, as we have always enjoyed it however, you can tell that the pandemic has had significant effects on the level of service and the condition of the resort. Also, there was three days where there was no beer, and one day of no eggs, which was very disappointing.

Grand Aston Cayo Las Brujas: Wonderful week.

Grounds are beautiful and well kept. The rooms are spacious, clean and everything works as it should. I did have a problem with the safe but this was quickly resolved. As is usually the case in Cuba the service is fantastic. The staff are always kind, friendly and helpful.

Royalton Cayo Santa Maria: Best Vacation Ever!

This is a beautiful small resort on one of the most beautiful stretches of beach in Cuba! Miles of soft white sand and the warm turquoise ocean, with plenty of beach chairs and palapas for shade (although it helps to get there early to secure your spot). The service is out of this world! Every guest has their own "butler" who is there to look after your every need or whim. All of the staff are delightful - very friendly and professional. The food was mostly very good, especially the lunchtime Cu [... read more]ban barbecue - my husband's favourite meal of the day! The spa, which they share with the resort next door, is beautiful and our massage was truly restorative. We have always loved Cuba and have been several times. This resort will be our destination of choice from now on!

Sol Cayo Santa Maria: Decent resort

This review is strictly our personal opinion. We do not recommend anything to anyone because every person has its own priorities and ideas about good and bad vacation. My wife and myself had stayed at this resort 10 years ago. It was in a very desperate condition. Recent reviews were saying WOW about newly renovated hotel SOL. It is a way exaggerated. The resort was reopened at the end of Nov.22 and it seems that everything was done in a hurry. Everything was repainted with ugly white pai [... read more]nt which seems to be just super cheap or expired primer paint. In many places you touch the painted surface and you can see traces of paint on your fingers. Inside the room ( We have seen three) the surfaces of the entrance doors and sliding doors to the washroom are all hand stained and maids do not care to do anything about it. The rooms however were renovated. It is true. Only some rooms have new AC. Most AC are old and it is a good chance that you get a bad one. We had to change our room once due to non-functional AC. In general, if everything is functional, we do not care much about rooms and grounds. Our priority is deep enough ocean to swim. This is the oldest resort on CSM and it has the best spot in regards of the ocean. Beach is cleaned very badly. Over two weeks period we have seen only one person that tried to clean the beach which is probably about 500 m long. He seemed to be more preoccupied to hang around naturist beach to collect his tips for cleaning beach chair. The beach of neighbouring resort Melia Cayo Santa Maria was cleaned by 7:30 every morning. Probably 80% of tourists are going to naturist beach but they have only 20% of the hotel beach dedicated to them. Why not let people enjoy the whole beach the way they want. Btw, there are many tourist that coming to sunbath on SOL naturist beach from other resorts. We stayed at textile section of the beach which was mostly empty, no loud music at all but gentle whisper of the ocean - perfect! 32 times in Cuba (all over Cuba) and we have never had any problems with food. In fact, we consider Cuban food way better that Canadian food which is full of artificial flavors, antibiotics, trans fats and God knows what other chemicals. The official statistics says that 65% - 70% of adult Canadian population is obese. Maybe it is because of "great Canadian food"? Everyone is tipping with Canadian coins, which workers later exchange to bills with the help of tourists. A quite efficient system. The choice of alcohol was very satisfactory: rum, beer, red whine, "river" of Spanish champagne. We do not care much about mixed drinks. This is not party resort, thanks God. Mostly older people. Again, no kids. We do not care about pool. With resort capacity of 300 something rooms there was about 90 -100 tourists according to the receptionist. The number is going down as she said. Again, perfect for us. It is was a very first time that we have ever seen managers eating in a buffet (breakfast, lunch, dinner) and drinking in the bar. I guess, everything is perfect at the resort and there is absolutely nothing else left to do. One more thing. The English of the personnel is extremely limited or nonexistent. Not sure about French. Most tourists are from Quebec. Despite all the mentioned negatives, we will return to this resort when the price is right.

Playa Luxury Cayo Las Brujas: A Great Value!

When you haven't been to Cuba often, or ever, it's challenging to choose a good resort. So you rely on reviews, and I want to share my experience at Angsana Cayo Santa Maria. My criteria was for a beautiful beach, good snorkling close by, decent food choices, clean resort and a pleasant staff. This resort checked ALL the boxes. The beach: is divided in sections by rough rock (so bring shoes), this makes it varied and interesting. We found a section all to ourselves. Snorkling was amazing [... read more] right off the beach. Didn't matter which beach, though the best was off the rocky section. (path by the end of the pool). Lion fish, barracuda, star fish, tuna, the list never ended. Food was typical Cuban fare. But if you know that going in, you won't be unhappy. The fish tenders at the snack bar were my personal fav. Ala-carts were surprisingly good. Coffee and drink preparation were first class!! They ran out of cheese halfway through the week, but that was probably a good thing for my cholesterol. I have cheese at home. Resort was spotless, very bright and new feel. The "Garden view" room we had I think was one of the cheapest rooms, facing opposite the ocean. But this gave us quiet/peaceful mornings on the balcony listening to the birds.... No Regrets there. The staff were all extremely professional and VERY pleasant. The excursions (Santa Clara, and Jeep Tour) were good, but know that things are very difficult for Cubans right now, so the trips were educational, eyeopening and somber at times. My only disappointment was the lack of nightlife/entertainment, very chill. This can be good or bad depending on your desires. I will say, there was an electric violinist who blew my mind one night. A pianist, fashion show and water show rounded it off. There was a "Jazzroom" but it was never open. All-in-all I was EXTREMELY happy taking my girlfriend for her first Cuban trip to this resort. I wouldn't hesitate a second to go back.

Grand Aston Cayo Las Brujas: Beautiful Resort

My overall experience was great. Staff was more than accommodating and friendly. It was unfortunate for the shortages of certain food and drink, but the presentation of what they had was fantastic. I would definitely recommend this resort.

Vila Gale Cayo Santa Maria: April 2023 Experience

My sister and I just came back from this resort and all we can say is you get what you pay for. We booked this resort a few weeks before we left and it only cost us $1100. So again, you get what you pay. For. I would never pay more! It is not a 4-5 star resort. There are only 2 pools and they close very early in the evening. I think it was 6 PM. Including the pool bars. The beach itself was beautiful I will say. And they do have some paddle boards and water stuff that are free.But everythin [... read more]g is based on a lineup and 1st come 1st serve. They were very generous with their alcohol, but they were very limited on their knowledge of cocktails and different drink mixes, so I only had the same two drinks for the whole week. It got old pretty quick. The food, though I heard there was a food shortage, was plenty but it was the same thing everyday and again very few selections. But plenty of it. I don't recommend waiting an hour in the lineup to book the restaurants because the restaurants serve the same food as the buffet, but they only give you one small serving where the buffet you could eat as much as you want. The 24 hour snack bar is not a snack bar.You have a selection of a ham sandwich or a chicken sandwich or if you are lucky a hot dog, but it does not come with anything but bread and the meat. My recommendation as I had read before is to bring your own condiments. They don't even have salt and pepper anywhere ... no ketchup, nothing. Also, if you do go, DON'T BE SELFISH! There are ignorant people stacking on food, bread, desserts, etc. Eat only half and the rest is thrown away and less people have options or don'tget any. Don't be greedy! The staff is very mixed in my reviews.I had some that were very nice, but I had many that almost seemed annoyed if you asked them any questions. So I didn't have the best experience with the staff. It does take an hour and a 1/2 to get to the resort and it is a long trip.They do have a bus that you spend $5 that you go to other resorts on the island and there is a small resort about a 45 minute drive away that has a market and restaurants that you pay, but at least there are more variations of food and drinks.The market is very small. The room definitely needed some upkeep.They said it was only built a few years ago but it looks older.There was water and condensation everywhere always. I never want to complain but definitely know what you're getting into when you go. If you want all you could have alcohol and sit around and do nothing, this is the place. If you are one like me that likes to get up and do things, this is not the place. Even the pool, though it has a volleyball court and the property has a tennis court and basketball court, you have to bring your own sports equipment.They did not have a volleyball. So keep that in mind. For those who have kids, there is a very small pool but with no activities, except maybe at night time there's a small activity at the Theater, but the kids room consists of a chair and a table and 6 cribs.There's no toys or anything that I saw. So definitely bring your own. The theater night shows were OK.They do try their best and they do try to get the audience excited. Again, you get what you pay for. I personally will not be going back to this resort or others on the island, as I heard they were all generally the same.

Vila Gale Cayo Santa Maria: Good vacation spot

Fantastic entertainment and evening shows! Beautiful rooms, beach and amenities! Morning activities by the beach were great but couldn’t find all the afternoon activities by the pool. Food was limited and inconsistent in availability but tasted good. Service was good for the most part. Check in could have been more informative. Ran out of water twice during the week but it came back after a few hours. Overall good vacation for the money.

Grand Memories Santa Maria: Breathtakingly Beautiful

My family and I had a fabulous time at Santa Clara-Grand Memories resort. The staff were outstanding. Alessandro from the Diamond Club was very attentive. Lisandra, our house keeper, was especially kind and helpful. Although, this was our first time in Cuba and we were for warned by many people that the food would be okay. We unfortunately, still had issues with finding adequate meals. But all told this is an amazing resort and we will return.

Grand Aston Cayo Las Brujas: Will not return

Our booking was all over the place! Requesting a suite due to having a baby! We were placed in the furthest building from our family with stairs and no phone no wifi! Would not change! All rooms had issues all family had to move rooms due to hotel issues. Rude staff, horrible pools dirty, locals on vacation. The day before leaving food was great, pools cleaned all locals left! The whole trip was a mess. Do not recommend this resort. And I wish the booking was booked with request to all be close [... read more] and appropriate accommodations for an infant as this is a family resort, lifting a stroller up three flights of stairs numerous times a day.

Melia Las Dunas: melia las dunas

It was our third time at this hotel and our best. The hotel rooms were freshly painte, new air connditinners (sitent), and the grounds were well kept and overall the hotel very clean (and rooms serviced every day). The food (buffet, outdoor grill, cafe, restaurants) were excellent; there was ample fresh vegetables (letice, tomatoes, cucombers, squash, aubergine...) and grilled fish of all types, chicken, pork, beef and seafood, and great deserts.... we lacked of nothing. The beach and pools  [... read more]are spotless and the key assets of the resorts. I would return again.

Resonance Blu Santa Maria: Lovely Resort

I really loved it there. The grounds were beautiful, everything was well maintained, clean, and the staff were always happy, smiling, and eager to please the visitors. Its a large resort, so walking to get to lobby, pool, and beach were unavoidable but I loved the exercise.

Melia Las Dunas: Wonderful Vacation

We had a wonderful 2 week vacation on this beautiful resort. Our room was clean and comfortable. The grounds are beautiful & well maintained. The food was good. The beach is beautiful. The staff including Allyea, Lily, Yosneil, & Amaria in the lobby bar, Barbra in the bbq, Frank & Nuriely in the Buffet, Yari our housekeeper, and gardeners Hector & Mickey were amazing.

Playa Cayo Santa Maria: Don’t go there, not even a 3*

This is the worst vacation I’ve ever been on. Here’s all the things that were wrong : - no mini bar even though they claim they offer it. - everything is dirty and the room cleaning service is sub par. It still looked dirty - no vegetables and fruit variety: the only ones they offered were cabbage, tomatoes (green), cucumber, passion fruit, pale pineapples and white watermelon. Only one day they offered bananas and people were taking a lot of them for their room because there’s nothin [... read more]g to eat. - no service at the buffet. Only one morning out of the 7 days I got water and coffee. Never had any service and I had to spend 5 mins to find a place to sit with cutlery. - staff are super harassing towards female guests. They whistle and yell at us to get our attention. It’s disgusting - staff looks miserable it’s super depressing - staff went out with some guests and left one of them to find the resort by herself in pitch black middle of the night on the beach. She came back crying cause she was so scared. This was unacceptable. - if you want coffee in the morning, prepare to wait for 20-30mins at the coffee bar. Only one machine and staff member there.