Great, relaxing vacation

Great, relaxing vacation. You can't beat the beaches anywhere. If you go go to the outdoor bar at sanctuary, Darrell is the best bartender he really took care of us and made our trip absolutely amazing. We went when the resort was actually slow but we preferred it. Staff is very friendly. I had message the manager ahead of time for our anniversary to do something special for the room that ever ended up panning out, but still had a great trip.

Amazing resort

Hi everyone, as I already did a review on Grand Memories Hotel and mentioned there Sanctuary, cuz I was staying twice in Sanctuary Grand Memories. It's amazing only adults place , magical paradise in everything!!!! I personally highly recomend this place. I'll be back there for sure!!!! Great ppl, nice rooms, good food, perfect service. Love this place!😍

Amazing resort!

This was our second time vacationing at Sanctuary at Grand Memories! We loved it just the same. We realized our timing was a bit out of season and some adjustments were made (lunch and dinner buffet were served at the main hotel). The staff was friendly and helpful as usual. We had our butlers from last year remember us and conversations were pleasant and it was like talking to old friends. Accommodations were welcoming and we didn't have any problems worth mentioning (minor inconveniences).  [... read more]We vacation in Cuba for the beaches, not the food. The food is repetitive, sure, but New Year's stay in the Bahamas was just the same for almost triple the price... There is always something that calls to us and we do not go hungry. The staff is friendly and willing to help or get someone who could help. Overall, the experience has been awesome this time around too and we are planning to return!

Amazing time yet again

It doesn't seem to matter what time of the year it is, the grounds/gardens always look great. We'll done gardeners. Pools always clean and pool bar well stocked. Beautiful beach &smiling staff everywhere you look. Is there any wonder why I keep going back?

Need to Improve Service

-Room has been full with cockroaches and mosquito -Asking for drinking water bottle, there were no one to place in our room- call at reception multiple times but no response and hang phone, I WENT TO RECEPTION AND ASKED FOR DRINKING WATER. -No proper room cleaning and bed sheet was with cockroaches' blood spot. - There were no vegetarian options in food and restaurants are very dirty and full of with flies. If you ask for any special food such as Pizza- they make faces. -One day we went to e [... read more]at Pizza and asked for 1 more pizza then chef told me sorry oven is broken and not able to make another one. After 20 mins he told me your pizza is ready. so strange.. -Only 1 lady butler who named Mercedes, she is so king and fulfill our requests such as drinking water and asked everything is ok in your room? She organized and booked multiple times dinner at restaurant for us. She is amazing.

My happy place

I am always amazed at how beautiful this resort it. The grounds are always so well kept. The service is second to none and the beaches are spectacular. Armando, Pablo, & Delvis are the absolute best at the pool bar. No shortages of anything that I could see.

Nice but needs better safety measurements

It was a beautiful beach and hotel and people were nice. However, i fell on my second night due to lack of lightning and safety signs.Medical attention was there but all i got was advice to get to town clinic. Now i am facing a long rehabilitation for my foot.

Beautiful Beach!

Hello, overall we thoroughly enjoyed our time at Sanctuary Grand Memories, Santa Maria. So much so, we plan to go back there again. We even have our favorite room picked out. We loved that it was adult only. The beach was absolutely amazing, the staff were very friendly, efficient and hard working. There was a good choice of food and drinks and the market near the resort was a great place to shop. Going in off season (May) was wonderful as the resort was much quieter as was the airport when retu [... read more]rning. The negatives were: The fact that the food is not covered over so there are flies everywhere and I had a blackbird side swipe me on my head when I was sitting outside for breakfast. I do understand it's difficult for the hotel to do anything about this and that eating inside is an option of course. In the rooms, the bathtubs could use updating to walk-in showers. A couple of people almost fell stepping out over the tub. Also, the sink in the room smelled. We felt the music festival went on for too long, 4 nights while we were there, same music more geared to young people. Would prefer to see more stage entertainment. Also, there were a couple of workers who we found upsetting. We don't know names. One day when walking to get breakfast at the buffet at Sanctuary, a chef on the breakfast bar was yelling at one of the waitresses. That should never happen in front of customers and other staff. Also, one at the female bartenders at Sanctuary told the male bartender serving us to give my boyfriend rum when he requested brandy. My boyfriend got his brandy.

It could have been perfect.

The following statements reflect solely my personal viewpoint. Nice hotel, great beach, good food, OK drinks, and a fantastic staff. And tons of mosquitoes and sandflies. In spite of very unpleasant gaseous mixture, which is sprayed twice daily around the hotel by fogger machine, they just eat you alive. Alongside this nuisance, the non-stop, excessively loud music emanating from speakers situated in every bar, restaurant, poolside, beach area, and even from the personal speakers of wait staf [... read more]f and tourists proved impossible to escape, even during the night when poolside revelers were present. If you can tolerate these inconveniences, you will undeniably adore this resort. I am not coming back.

Incredible beach and beautiful sea

The hotel was adequate for my needs. The staff are very friendly and lovely. Except for the lack of variety in food it was a nice relaxing time. Of course, it’s all about the beach ! The grounds are kept up nicely and things seemed quite clean, especially my room !

Our stay

We just returned from 10 days at the sanctuary Santa Maria. The beaches and ocean were amazing. The resort was clean and staff were friendly however we paid more to stay at the Sanctuary and yet went 5 days no milk, ran out of beer, tea, and bread. We had to ask for our towels to be changed and the same with our bedding which wasn’t done. They closed down one of the cooking stations in the sanctuary so we had to have most of our meals at Grand Memories. There was nothing special about  [... read more]the a la carts as they served the same food as the buffet. Ourselves and many others we had spoken to where very disappointed.

Great vacation

I been in Cuba 7 times. Always had a great time. First time in this hotel first time without my kids just my boyfriend and I. Beach is perfect! The resort is well taken care of! Our room was amazing! The maid the butler did an excellent job! All the staff actually been amazing. We had no issues. Food was fine we love breakfast and usually skipped lunch. Definitely enjoyed the fruits! So delicious! From our part no complaints. We had a fun relaxing week. Definitely recommend it!

Fantastic service from all employees

Although this hotel is older, the amazing staff, from our butlers to the entertainment staff, made our stay so much fun! Cubans are such warm and friendly people with great smiles all the time. They are hard working and try to make your stay the best it can be. There was plenty of good food and a large variety. Of course, some days they ran out of some supplies, like milk, beer and vodka, but the next day it was back. Always fun at the pool! And the beach AMAZING, with bars and food huts a [... read more]vailable. Beautiful weather every day. The golf carts are great shuttles back and forth between hotels and the market. My first time in Cuba and I would definitely go back. No obvious effects of COVID at this hotel.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

Great staff and beach ... but ...

We where there the week of Feb 28 – Mar 7. Sanctuary Memories is one of 3 memories resorts that are end to end to end. Grand Memories and Memories being the other 2. Sanctuary is the premium of the three with Memories being the lesser and Grand being in between. We arrived at Sanctuary around 11pm and entered the booking desk area in the lobby. The lobby, lobby bar and booking desk where small and looked like something out of the 1990s. The lobbies in the other resorts were very large and  [... read more]very modern and welcoming. While we where checked in somewhat quickly, we were jammed into a small area waiting to get our room. We found out later that there was food for us, but the staff did not inform us. We were also told we would receive a welcome drink, which also did no materialize. Our bags were taken to our rooms by staff (perk of being at Sanctuary). There are 6 buildings that surround the pool. Building 61 is closest to the beach. The rooms are dated, but a good size. Each building has 3 floors. We where on the 2nd floor facing the ocean. While we could see the ocean over the trees, I’m sure the view from the 3rd floor is better. Yes … no elevators. Each building has 1-2 butlers that take care of any needs and make a-la-cart reservations. Our butlers were Jose and Dayan. Both are great guys and went above and beyond in their assistance. I asked what the difference in Sanctuary and the other resorts … Sanctuary has butlers, no kids and 20% off spa. The rooms are air conditioned, but for some reason towels and sheets where always damp. I confirmed this with many other guests. The bath tub is very narrow and the bottom of the tub being about 6-7” off the ground, which made it tricky getting in and out. The grab bar came off the wall in my hand. The staff, beaches, pool and grounds where great … everything else not so much. Noting that this is Cuba, my expectations for the food where very low … and the actual food was lower than I expected. Pork is the main meat with some chicken. I got tired of eating pork. All the a-la-cart restaurants did not have any choices … everyone got same meal … usually grilled pork. Sometimes, they had beef, but it was tough as leather. There is only 1 a-la-cart at Sanctuary, with the others being at Memories. You would think that being in a tropical climate, that there would be fruits abound … no such luck … there was only papaya and guava. All the juices served are made from powder mixes and tap water. They have 24hr snack bar, but only serve pizza (tomato sauce looks like tomato juice). There is a shuttle service between the 3 resorts. It is a 15-20 min walk from one end to the other. We felt the food at the buffet was better than the a-la-carts … more variety. There are a couple of food huts around the pool and at the beach, but they only serve grilled pork. The bar had beer and rum, not much else. No vodka. The lobby bar had mix for various mixed drink, but I couldn’t get a mojito anywhere. The ice cubes are made with tap water. Between the buildings and the pool is a walkway and bushes. Every night and morning there is a truck that goes along the walkway fogging the bushes for blackflies … they are using pesticide. You can smell and taste it. I feel the fogging pushes that bugs towards the pool. I ended up with bites all over my body. The on-site doctor helped with the itching. I had asked the front desk if there was a schedule for the so-called evening shows at the theatre and general ‘need to know’ around the resort. Neither was available. The odd night show they had was not acceptable entertainment. We had to constantly ask other guests and our butler about where things where and what was going on …. Including the towel exchange. Overall … I’ve been to worse resorts, but I’ve been to better in Cuba. Would I go back … NO.