Beautiful setting, no complaints!

This is my 3rd time in Cayo Santa Maria. I really enjoyed my stay at this hotel. The grounds were impeccable, the rooms clean and the beach spectacular. The food was plentiful and very good. I don't get why people complain about the food in Cuba, I've never had any problems. There are 2 large pools one quiet and one with more activities. We enjoyed the quiet side with soft music. The service was also very good, especially in the buffet, servers were very attentive. I would go back to thi [... read more]s resort.

Awesome vacation!

I have been to Cuba several times. And I have to say this was the best food I have had. The resort is amazing. Clean and friendly staff. The beach is amazing when the tide is down there are several sand bars that form on the beach. There was always something to do whether at the beach, lobby or nightly entertainment at the theatre.

Wonderful experience!

We have travelled often to the Islands but never to Cuba. Mainly because of all the negative reviews about Cuba. Well we loved the Valentin Perla Blanca. The rooms were beautiful with all amenities. Beautiful grounds. No bugs! The food was great....and lots of variety ... The Cuban people are kind, and warm. Pleased to help you at any time. Try their very best to please you, and help you. Their smiles light up a room - so genuine. The pools are beautiful and clean. Gorgeous waters. Excel [... read more]lent service at beach! Yordy and others made sure your drinks were always topped up, and Luis came and took orders at your beach lounger for lunch. Delicious BBQ chicken, pork, fish and fresh veggies. Talk about pampering - wow! Any advice - embrace the Cuban culture, enjoy its differnces, its' food flavours and specialties.

Nice resort, great people!

The resort is only a couple of years old so they still have some kinks to work out. Overall, the place is well kept and the rooms are nice and clean, spacious and mostly everything works. We had issues with the water, no water for a few days or very poor pressure and sometimes no hot water at all. Pool is very nice and it is GREAT that this is an Adults only resort, nice to sit around relax and not hear screaming kids! They did have an issue with pool towels running out, again some kinks [... read more] to sort out. The food was not bad but they had problems running out of things at the snack bar and not all restaurants were open even though it was after November 1st. We did the privilege club so worked better for us because we had more A la carte meals which was better since the food there was much better than in the buffet. The people were amazing, we loved all the staff in the Privilege lounge especially Jiordano and Alberto....great service all the time all around from everyone! We will definitely go back but they do need to improve their buffet food, the issues with running out of stuff and overall availability of services.

Wonderful all around!!!

This was by far the best resort I have been to in Cuba...The resort was beautiful and modern, the grounds were well maintained and the food was surprisingly plentiful, flavorful, and great overall. The a la cart restaurants were so good, we did French, Spanish and Italian and the serving staff was great There was no shortage of anything during our stay. Coffee is soooo good! Lobby bar makes some super fancy coffee drinks. Upon arrival, we were greeted with drinks and our check in was very qui [... read more]ck and efficient; our arrival group was not very large, so I would say they do the best they can with larger groups. Our room was very clean and nice. The beds were a little firm, but we had no trouble sleeping. We had no issues with any of our accommodations. The pool was great,..Daniel at the pool bar makes the best Mojitos! The staff was wonderful. The entertainment was good, however we didn't make it to many of the shows. The disco was so much fun, but very hot and smokey at times. My advice would be...make sure to bring a flashlight as some of the lighting was inconsistent. It was very dark in some areas and a flashlight would have been really handy. Most can use their phones, however I would much prefer to lose a flashlight than my phone. Make sure to visit the beach and go on the catamaran sails...bring tip money! The beach was nice but not a lot of space. Some areas were mostly rock, but we never had any trouble finding a spot. The ocean water is just to die for! I am sure there are things people could find reason to complain about, but all in all, for the money we spent, it was so worth every penny!

Fantastic Stay!!

This was my first trip to Cuba, I went with a few friends and my husband for our 5 year wedding anniversary. We had an amazing time. The resort was absolutely beautiful, the beaches were amazing, the food was very tolerable, everyone in our group that had been to Cuba before expressed this was the best food they had had at a Cuban resort! The staff was amazing, so friendly, and went out of their way to make every experience the best! Our vacation was during Hurricane Matthew and even though w [... read more]e were not in it's direct path the resort and the workers did everything they could to make us feel comfortable and not nervous about it! I would definitely recommend this resort to anyone and would for sure go again if I was able to!!

Amazing trip, even with pending Hurricane

All I can say is WOW. What an amazing time spent with my other half and a few friends. The resort exceeds the photos that have been posted, the Buffet food was pretty good, for Cuba but the a la carte restaurants were amazing!! Italian was the best! The Staff were extremely friendly and accommodating. The staff went above and beyond to insure we were safe IF the hurricane came our way. (We lucked out and only had a cloudy day 1 day) I would definitely go back to this resort and recommend this  [... read more]resort to anyone.

Valentin Perla Blanca Paraiso - Santa Maria Cuba

My first time in Cuba was last year, my wife and I stayed at the Cayo Coca Melia. We had a lagoon room and our stay was 11 nights. The lagoon room was way too far away from the main lobby, the pool and the beach. Our first night, we were very hungry after travelling and ate at the main buffet. The air conditioner was not working, finding out from current but previous guest that it was down for over a year plus. We ate prawns which were not on ice and in a non air conditioned. We were sick for a  [... read more]few days after that.Mostly all food that we tried to eat tasted fishy and salty. Other than that, our stay at the Cay Coca Melia was very enjoyable. The staff were amazing and friendly. Now our stay at the Valentin Perla Blanca Paraiso was a couple of notches up. The food at the main buffet was enticing with a lot of selection, ( NO fishy smell or taste). The entertainment during the evening was great. The beach, was incredible. We did change our room, the day after our first night. The reason was that I paid full price, approx. 3 months before our trip, to have a ocean view. But, what we ended up with was a view of the tops of the trees at sitting level. I had went to the front desk the next day and had it changed from building 24 to building 29. The room was 3 level, not 2 and had a incredible view of the ocean. Plus building 24 was way to from to walk to the main lobby. We had a 3 rd party going with us, but cancelled. Again, I was the first to book a seat on Sunwing. On the way back, I thought that I had a window sit, but I did not. A bitter older drunk woman purchased my window seat at the airport last minute in Cuba. I would recommend to anybody to go to the Valentin Perla Blanca Paraiso. I myself may go back there in the near future.

Excellent staff!

The staff was out of this world. I've been to 2 other resorts in different cities of Cuba and this had the best staff I've had the pleasure to meet. The whole resort was spotless and the beach was breathtaking. A superbe time!

Valentin playa blanca resort

Very nice resort; Grounds were very neat & kept tidy. All personnel very friendly & spoke english well. Rooms were clean & kept up well other than 2 light bulbs out.; Lobby bar, Buffet, other restaurants very clean & good food; However, the pool bar was closed at least 2 days that I know of; The snack bar & Bar area was very stinky most days. All in all very nice resort. other than these 2 complaints.

Worst experience in cuba

The rooms were new and modern, but the beds were nothing to write home about. One squeaked so bad that it would wake you up in the middle of the night if you happen to move. I am not one to complain, but this is possibly the worst hotel we experienced in 13 trips to Cuba. Food was scarce and the buffet was so tiny that you had to bump your way through dozens of folks to get close to the food. Plus not a piece of bread to be seen in 7days - the only thing we found were hard buns that were blue in [... read more] color. We took pictures of the buffet crowd as it appeared to be some type of food frenzy. Then there was the staff - no customer service whatsoever. If hubby stood at the bar, they would serve young women and ignore the men. Plus the young ladies didn't even tip. Getting to the beach was an adventure - you walked on the grass behind one of the buildings, then you climbed a little cliff and then trekked through the jungle - we had never seen anything like it! Also there was no where to eat lunch other than the buffet or pool restaurant and bathrooms were really scarce as well. I actually lost weight and I am definitely not a fussy eater.

Beautiful Resort!

The grounds were beautiful, the beach even better. There is a lack of shade on the beach, but you can build your own shade from lawn chairs which is what our family did. The beach that belonged to the hotel was very large. We walked it every day. At some point we thought we had our own private beach as there was nobody around, we loved that. The grounds of the hotel were very well kept. The buffet dinner was a very large room, seating always available, allot of choice of food, but it was a littl [... read more]e bland, not much flavour. The deserts were delicious, the coffee excellent. We ate fish and chicken and pork and that was very good. Their pizza was ok. We experienced a couple of a la carte restaurants and they were just OK. Not really worth going to them. You can get the same at the buffet, so I would recommend just that. This hotel is in the middle of nowhere. There is not even a store on the property. The only little store they had sold Rum, Cigarettes and Cigars and that was pretty much it. The rooms were very comfortable and clean. They do NOT restock you with clean beach towels. We all used the same beach towel for the week we were there. Bathroom towels are also not replaced daily. We found out only near the end of our stay that if you throw them on the floor, you will get fresh ones. They also do not replace your shampoo or body wash, you pretty much have to ask them for that. The people working at the reception desk should learn to speak English a little better. They are not very efficient. We complained about our balcony door not locking. We were on the ground floor and I had a problem with the door not locking. It took the hotel 2 days to fix this problem. My son's toilet leaked the entire time we were there. The air conditioning unit is above the front door as you walk into your room. My son's unit was leaking. When his fiancee walked into the room at the end of our beach day, she almost broke her back slipping on a large puddle that had collected at the front door because the AC unit was leaking water all day. Maintenance is not very quick at repairing things there. I think there is a lack of maintenance people working there and I strongly suggest they hire a few more for all the units that could experience problems. All in all the Cuban people are very appreciative of anything you do for them. They are very friendly at all times (except for the staff at the reception desk), they could benefit from a customer service course. I do have to say that besides of a couple of issues, we had a great holiday. The weather was perfect, the beach was perfect, the grounds beautiful, you can't ask for more. Oh, I have to comment on the shows at the theater in the evening. They had dancers every night. I believe they were the same group of people every night. They were very very good, however, after 2 nights of dancing, would have been nice to see something a little different. There was a "magic" night which was very good and we enjoyed that. I would rate the shows 6 out of 10 compared to other resorts. I would definitely go back to Cuba, however, I would want to experience a different resort next time, but I would recommend this one.

Disappointing hotel

not good service grounds dirty not enough chairs and palapas on the beach everything was reserved for privilege not a good idea for everyone people feel left out, buffet too crowd only half open run out of bread toilet not running in the lobby ,the only thing good about is the rep. of sunwing Naomy that helped us with our staying or else i was going to change hotel.

Valentin Perla Blanca

Beautiful beach and grounds ! Spotless resort with great service ! The 1 hour and 45 minute ride to the resort was accompanied by a knowledgeable tour guide. Nightly entertainment was fantastic and many events during the day to keep busy.

Beautiful beach

This hotel is beautiful and very clean.. Our room was always made up and clean towels everyday.. But they didn't change the sheets all week but that was OK The beach is amazing.. Great if you like walking the beach.. We paid extra for the ocean view and the privilege club and found it was worth the extra money...having a private area for a nice quiet breakfast and lunch was worth it..we liked the privilege beach area too..the privilege staff couldn't do enough for us booking our dinner reserva [... read more]tions , our spa massage, and arranging our luggage pick up at 6am... Now I have mobility issues and this was very frustrating for me ..the resort has at least 12 carts and benches all over the resort so they are set up for transporting guests but they don't have a regular schedule for pick ups..you hardly saw a cart unless you ordered one! My phone didn't work in our room so I wasn't able to call for a pick up so I had to go to the lobby to get rides to the beach and the restaurants... One night the restaurant called 4 times for me to get a ride we waited for 40 minutes for a ride !!!!!! That was very frustrating for me.. They have the system in place they just need to implement a daily schedule it will make a lot of guests happy... If you can walk this won't effect you:) The food was good lots of selections...

Great resort!

First off, upon arriving the staff are very helpful and super friendly. The hotel grounds was very well kept. I was surprised at how modern the rooms were. The food was good, you can't expect five star meals at the buffet. the al la carts dinner were really good and tasty ( in particular the Italian restaurant). The pool is absolutely beautiful. Beach is of course the best part of it, although there were a lot of rocks and what not. Downside however is that the resort is quite large so lots of w [... read more]alking, which I didn't mind. Lots of mosquitos and I would not recommend staying on the first floor. We had issues with mice a couple of times. Overall, I would recommend this resort to friends but I probably would not be back. A lot of guests were of the older population. So we felt a little out of place (maybe it was the time we went). However, Amazing staff and beautiful place!

Amazing beaches great pools.

Hotel is easy to navigate as it is a large resort. Grounds were very well kept Gardners were out every morning. Staff as good. Beach and water amazing. Theater shows every night to keep you entertained. Overall good experience.

Amazing beach!!

The resort was laid out well easy to find your way around. We had purchased the package with the upgrade to privilege I wouldn't recommend that there wasn't a huge difference. It was hard to get a decent chair on the beach but the beach is absolutely beautiful!! I really have nothing bad to say about the resort, we had a good week...thanks !!

Interesting

if you like a lorge resort this could be the place for you no pool towels for three day the beach was not that great very few cabans for shelter from the sun the water was beautful the room was good some rooms had some problems had a great ocean view alot of walking would not go back thank you

Spa feel resort

Very modern resort With a spa feel. Quiet and relaxing. Beautiful beaches where you can snorkel. The food is what to expect for Cuba. The service is very cordial. The restaurant à la carte Oh la la was suprisingly good.