Sanctuary at Grand Memories Santa Maria: You get what you pay for...

Beach is amazing. Pools are good. Grounds are beautiful but starved for water which prevents them from being lush. Food is repetitive - you had better like pork, ham and fish as there are few if any alternatives for each meal. Eat the food that is fresh prepared for you, not the food sitting in the steam trays. The Sanctuary buffet is located outdoors and pest control is an issue on food sitting out in steam trays. Be prepared for things to be delayed and unavailable. Coffee/Cappuccino' [... read more]s are great from the lobby bar. The check in/check out desk people are hit and miss on whether they will be helpful. The expect you to deal with the butlers. The butlers .... everything is supposed to go through the butler. Ours greeted us with call me if you need anything (no phone number or how too contact), I"m not working tomorrow. No introduction to whom the Butler would be the next day, hours of operation/availability and how to contact or what their job entails. Seems like a make work job at this resort. Rooms - our first room was tired (I can accept that) with a comfortable bed. It smelled of mould. We were eventually moved when we complained of the cigarette smoke from the adjoining rooms being sucked into the air-conditioning and circulated in our room. They are non-smoking rooms. Bugs are to be expected in the tropics, very disappointed with the roach crawling up the shower wall. Our second room was clean, neat, in good repair but had the worst mattress (springs poking through when you lay on it) ever... that was not something to battle over. It's Cuba... you can't expect much is frequently heard among guests. Based on the ratings for this resort and their associated Friends of the Sanctuary group on FB, I had misaligned my expectations for how this would be in reality as it sounds really good, but comes off barely adequate.

Sanctuary at Grand Memories Santa Maria: Fabulous staff!!

What an amazing 10 days. First I would like to thank our butlers Javier and and another young lady, i cant recall her name. We were in building 59. They were amazing, right there in the morning asking if there was something they could do for us. Set up our room with flowers and a bottle of wine for our anniversary. The beaches were like no other. Baby powder white soft sand. The food was great for Cuba. This was the 9th time in Cuba and this will be our winter retreat. I love the people of Cuba  [... read more]and this is a good example of the love they have.

Sanctuary at Grand Memories Santa Maria: AMAZING STAFF, BEAUTIFUL BEACHES

The Sanctuary at the Grand Memories is a great resort. Rooms are clean. Beach is amazing. Food is decent, you have the option of going to the Grand Memories to that buffet. Sandwiches at lunch from the beach and pool grill are good. Entertainment team does a great job performing daily and nightly. All the resort staff are amazing, very friendly and speak English well. They go out of their way to make sure you have everything you need.

Sanctuary at Grand Memories Santa Maria: Beautiful Beach. Resort too small for the amount of people that they have in that section

Staff amazing ! But this can be said about every Resort in Cuba. been to Cuba at least 12 times (different resort each time), so we have some experience on this. The Sanctuary section of the resort is too small for the amount of people they expect to use it. 1 small main building with not a lot of seating. They have roughly 10 pool side cabana's for people to use . If you are not up by 6am to "save" one you are not getting one. The beach is gorgeous. Again, the same issue with the beach. People  [... read more]start going down around 5am to save chairs under the cabana's. by 730am they are all gone. If you don't mind walking you can find a cabana further down the beach on one of the other 2 memories properties you have access with Sanctuary pass. You will NEVER go hungry or thirsty. They may have some shortages, but they always make due. Never an issues for us. We enjoyed walking everywhere. They do have carts that can take you, but used that time as some exercise. The little market is just a short 10 minutes down the main path. Japanese restaurant is a definite visit when your there. We will not be back just for the fact we both enjoy smaller resorts and the issue with finding a cabana was too much of an ordeal.

Grand Memories Holguin: Grand Memories - Holguin Cuba: April 2-9

Grand Memories \ Holguin. Date: Sunday April 2 – Sunday April 9 Departure Time: Sunwing original 6:15am. Later received confirmation flight departure to 7:55am. Actual Departure Time: another delay 8:45am (unknown reason) No problem with flight. Customs \ Immigration at Holguin – Cuba : No Problem. Boarded Bus: A very long bus ride to hotel, note to those who may be of interest 2hours. Since departure flight was delayed, the arrival was late at the hotel we missed the lunch and buffe [... read more]t was closed. Suggestion go to Snack Bar. There were 2 busses of tourist now going to the Snack Bar for food \ drinks. Imagine the nightmare with only 2 persons behind the bar. Everybody is thirsty and hungry screaming for service. This part could have been handled a little better, knowing the flight was delayed passengers would be hungry \ thirsty. I left my luggage at the front of hotel and returned after my Snack Bar Lunch. Check in was slow but moving along. The room excellent in size and décor, no problem on second floor facing Pool. Room had a small fridge, empty, no water, no drinks. Seems no longer stocked with water \ beer \ pop. Had to wait until next day to get Bottle of water, no problem. Was able to get water from bars. Dinner at Buffet no problem finding table space, very clean, excellent. Had salad, soup, chicken, desert, beer all good, excellent. Excellent service, plenty of staff to offer help at table and behind kitchen counter. Breakfast Interesting Note: one of the grills has a young lady who sings during her cooking….I waited in line just to hear the show and wake up to the busy morning, excellent. Buffet table has a lot of items to choose, no problem with salads plenty of items to select with green leaves. Desert Table: Plenty of fruit, sweets…excellent with ice cream. To families with small children: very disappointing to see had parents do not manage the kids and leave them alone to go to the desert table alone. Kids are kids fully blame the parents, kids touch the plates and items with there hands and this has to stop. Ice cream was wasted and dropped because the child could not reach the spoon and tub and hold the plate. Do you do this at home, waste a lot of food, shame on you, you may be on holiday but have respect for others who are there on vacation also and hotel expenses. My suggestion for families with children under 10 years charge double the rate. Next day I began my hotel grounds walk. Note: This is a very large hotel, for those of interest walking may be of interest. Counted 7 pools, 3 in the middle partitioned and 2 on each side. Plenty of chairs, huts no problem, has 2 life guards excellent service, pool bar located in middle pool able to get service no both sides in pool and out. Beach groomed everyday by a team of 20 workers every morning…excellent. Plenty of chairs on the beach. Sand is course with shells but clean. If this is a problem, put on foot gear. One section of the hotel is reserved for Sanctuary clients. The buildings are labelled A, B, C on the map etc. Note: there is no label on the outside of the building property to inform you where you are. This is very very confusing. The next problem that makes this worse is the buildings are joined together and some are 5, 4, 3 floors, you have no clear idea where you are. Took me 2 days to get the layout of the land, relation to middle pool, lobby, my building and surrounding services. The Hotel is excellent, brand new opened last year, the rooms are excellent. Room: AC worked no problem, water pressure no problem, toilet no problem, very large king size bed…excellent. The staff will do everything to help you, make your stay 110% satisfied…excellent. This is a hotel in its infant stage, 75% of the staff is young students and I don’t believe they have the experience to manage this hotel when it goes full production. Experience takes time and with young new staff it will be a learning curve. The management team has a lot of work in front to make this happen. Time wise this is off – season, come late fall winter December the hotel will need all the staff to be up and ready to run. Did not do any tours excursions but Sunwing has reps on -site to help. The Lobby bar was slow with 2 reps behind and 20 customers waiting for drinks, but plenty of floor walkers to take your order, excellent. Weather was excellent, sunny plus 30 everyday. After lunch the pool water was warm. On vacation do not stress, easy going, yes there are some areas that need to be improved. Return Flight: now this is a stressful with Sunwing. Departure Time: original 1:05pm, received delay message to 3:00pm, boarded at 4pm, plane took off at almost 5pm Arrived Toronto at 9pm. Overall: a an excellent hotel to consider for your vacation.

Memories Jibacoa: Great vacation

Food was good, grounds were well kept, lots of activities, very friendly staff, clean room, nice pool, wonderful beach with amazing view of the mountains right behind it. Would have preferred less smoking around the pool

Memories Paraiso: Amazing staff!

The hotel was clean and friendly. It is in need of some update. There were very few pool chairs available as many are broken and need replacing. The food was exactly what you expect in Cuba. The amazing staff made the vacation. Everyone was so friendly and endearing.

Sanctuary at Grand Memories Santa Maria: Not as advertised

So apparently to the Memories people 24 hr roomservice,and fully stocked fridge means something different. Had to beg for water in room,asked butler 3 times 1 day,finally got a bottle from bar,asked about beer,was told on its way when they knew they hadn't had cans for over a week....butler are trained to say yes no matter what,personally you get more out of a Walmart greeter at home.Yes it's Cuba,yes there's shortages,but when you can 10 km away on a catamaran trip and they have skids of b [... read more]eer,that's not shortage, that's the resort being cheap All that aside ocean there is beautiful,pools and staff were good as they dealt with what they had. The towels you threw on floor were recorded for more use,left glasses on balcony 1st day,still there last day

Grand Memories Holguin: Grand Memories Holguin

This resort opened about 18 months ago. It is truly first class accommodation. There are 7 pools and the rooms are European modern, spacious, fully air conditioned, bright with balconies. The food is Cuban, but there is ample. The people, as usual are pleasant and helpful. This being a new resort with local staff, their English language is wanting with some, but they are working on it and are trying hard to improve. The resort is located on Ramon Peninsula an undeveloped area as yet, but a new  [... read more]resort is opening beside in September and 2 ships were witnessed delivering materiel for a third new resort. It is a two hour bus ride from the airport. A hidden gem for sure. Thanks Ash you were very helpful in this 3 year wait and delivery. No evidence or mention of Covid. Murray Peer.

Memories Caribe Beach Resort: Not so amazing resort

Won’t be going back for a second time! It started with our bed having to be completely replaced because the box spring and mattress were awful to sleep on. We could feel the springs and the slats from the box spring. Limited toilet paper at first but would get replaced with used rolls from other rooms. Food was ok didn’t starve. No mix for drinks. The flies in the buffet were ridiculous. Couldn’t eat without continuously swatting at them and they were all over the food. A cockroach ran acr [... read more]oss the bread table while I was getting toast. No complaints about the beach it was absolutely beautiful!!! And the gardeners were really nice.

Grand Memories Holguin: Amazing Resort

This hotel was very clean. The staff was amazing. I would definitely return this hotel on the future. The rooms were well stocked and up to date. There was lots to see on the bus ride to the resort. Give this resort 5 stars

Grand Memories Varadero: Very pleasant Resort.

I have few negative comments to make. It was my second stay here. One was before Covid and I must say that little has changed except it's four years older. There is quite a lot of staff . Grounds keepers, house keeping staff etc. My room was kept very clean, fresh towels everyday, bottled water in the fridge as well as beer and a bottle of rum. This was of little interest to me but some people found it great. The only thing which needs to be updated is the bathroom. It is old and looks the same  [... read more]as four years ago. One problem I had was with the wifi reception. Often I could not log on but the hotel had a young lady installed in the lobby to help with that. This needs some attention. All the buildings in the resort are freshly painted and the grounds and pools well maintained. Receptionists were friendly and very helpful especially when the found out that this was my first trip alone. My check out time was extended giving me plenty time to rest and get ready for the flight home because of the very late arriving time in Ottawa. I have to commend the concierge staff for their way they treated me and arranged reservations at the various restaurants in the resort. Food was plentiful, well presented and although some items were not available every day, there was absolutely no shortage of food. Beautiful fruit and salad trays. I am not a great eater but there was always something I liked. All in all I Had a very Pleasant stay. As a foot note. I would like to thank Sandra for the help she gave me arranging this trip and the information she provided helped a lot to make things easier.

Memories Flamenco Beach Resort: Memories Flemenco Cuba

Flight hours were changed from what we originally signed up for…. This caused us problems on the way there & very much so on the way home. 2 hours standing & sweating in the Cuban airport! Got home at 7am … yes I know it is suppose to be a review of the resort!

Memories Flamenco Beach Resort: Very Dated

The hotel has not been updated in a number of years; the public bathrooms were clean however falling apart. Our room was ok, however one day no towels or water. and our phone in the room never worked so we had to walk to the front desk to obtain. The hotel ran out of everything , and we did not have wine until our last day of holidays. The beaches were beautiful, however will never go back to Cuba, as the food was terrible.

Sanctuary at Grand Memories Santa Maria: good service and very comfortable

We stayed in the sanctuary. The rooms were always clean and the mini bar always had water, beer and soft drinks. We were very surprised to have our own butler. He was extremely helpful in booking our A la cart and a spa for me. He was always there to answer any issues we had. There was three of us there and had two separate rooms. My mother (90), my brother and myself. My mother had some mobility issues and she was made very comfortable by the staff. The food, well its Cuba and we we [... read more]re always nourished. Definitely try the chicken sandwich at the beach. BEWARE OF THE HOT PEPPERS IN THE CONTAINER BESIDE THE GRILL! There was no wine, which was a bit of a issue for me but they made some great drinks with rum. They made an amazing Spanish Coffee when they had milk. Their Margarita's were wonderful. We went one evening to watch the entertainment but had a lot of difficulty getting a shuttle back from the theatre. So we watched the evening entertainment in the small lobby. It was wonderful. All in all it was a lovely experience.

Grand Memories Cayo Largo: Everything you need…

The staff of all ages worked diligently every day for long hours and provided excellent service to their guests. They are to be commended for their dedication and most of all for their patience in dealing with many demands and requests from their guests.

Grand Memories Varadero: Worth the money

Beautiful and clean beach and pool, food was good but not so much variety which is understandable because of all the global shortages. The only thing that needs to be changed is the Mattresses in the bedrooms. They are extremely old and uncomfortable to the point that I was better off sleeping on the floor

Memories Jibacoa: A great vacation

We just returned from a week at Memories Jibacoa and are happy with our choice of resort. The location is beautiful with the resort nestled between mountains and the sea. Everything was super clean and maintained, the staff were friendly and helpful, the entertainment was enjoyable and the food was good. The resort is relatively small so everything is close. Our ocean view room was definitely worth the extra charge. No complaints at all with the resort. Travel with Sunwing was frustrating t [... read more]o say the least. We endured a 6 hour delay going and a 2 hour delay coming home. The 6 hour delay was due to a concern with the plane. We ended up moving to a new plane and got to the resort at 3 am. Coming home the delay was due to several crew members calling in sick and having to round up replacements. I don't recommend Sunwing but I do recommend Memories Jibacoa.

Memories Flamenco Beach Resort: Awful

The resort has the best beach but everything else was awful. The food was beyond disgusting. Cockroaches crawling all over the buffet and bread baskets. They ran out of glasses and plates every day. They didn’t have any bottled water - not even a store to buy some. It was like we were in a concentration camp with unlimited access to the beach. It’s a shame because it is actually a nice small resort with an amazing beach.Side note don’t bring an electronic cigarette with you to Cuba because [... read more] they are prohibited. They will confiscate it at the airport. You can reclaim it on your way out but it will cost you $5. It would’ve been nice to know, tripcentral/sunwing

Grand Memories Varadero: The worth resort ever!

We came home on march 25 2023 from Grand Memories Varadero. 1. There are no toilet seats, not in the room and not in public washrooms. 2. There is no hot water. 3. For 7 days they cleaned the room about 4 times and bathroom is about 2 times. 4. In the public women washroom there are no toilet paper, toilet seats either and doors have broken locks, so you can not close the door. 5. Eggs and milk were available about 3-4 days, no butter and beef. 6. There is no hot tub in the pool and no [... read more]t enough chars on the beach. All the rest is ok.