Melia Jardines del Rey: Need better management and renovation.

I would not recommend the hotel to anyone. First room assigned had dirty bed sheets and no towels sheets. Water at the sink was leaking. In the building on the first floor was a lot of water indicating some plumbing issues. We were assigned to the different room in other building. It was no much difference. The white towels sheets were missing and we get beach sheets instead.No cold water in the shower and water at the sink was leaking to the floor because was missing part in the facet.The entra [... read more]nce door couldn’t lock. We had no eggs at all for whole term. Bottle water were not supplied to the room for the last 3 days. It was not enough food. People lined up early for breakfast, lunch and dinner time. No intranet in the room only in lobby.

Iberostar Selection Esmeralda: lovely resort

Overall we were pleased. Newer hotel , quite clean and neat. 3 beautiful pools and access to a beautiful beach with incredible turquoise water , friendly staff. Lots of places to walk. It would be good if there was a shorter route to the beach, maybe from the two closest buildings, kind of like the path to the serenity pool from the closest rooms there. There was entertainment in the evening, and occasionally in the afternoon. There are shortages in Cuba so some days there were no eggs and ot [... read more]hers no bread, but there was enough reasonably good food to eat, wine at lunch and dinner, beer and lots of rum. I would not take a picky eater kid anywhere in Cuba at this time. Toilet paper was mostly not available in the public restrooms, always carry some with you. We always felt safe. Scheduling of entertainment was confusing, and might have been changing day to day due to the current issues. I would suggest a Chalk board in the lobby area that can be changed as needed. I would like to see a bit more focus on afternoon and morning activities(water aerobics, bingo, learn to line dance...). Love that you can tip in CAD. We had a toilet malfunction in our room when we arrived which was fixed promptly. There were no beach towels, bathrobes or slippers in our suite as advertised.

Gran Muthu Imperial: Nice beaches.. plenty of sun but..

Just came back firm this resort… as you know there are plenty of food supply problems on the Island so if you expect bread, eggs, all kinds of booze or nice colourful Paris like dessert everyday, it’s simply not going to be here. Staff work 16 hrs a day so imagine how you would feel at the end of your shift.. soo if you expect smily faces.. there are some but not that many.. they try and it’s hard. There are obvious management problems like the cigar bar with a locked cabinet with no keys so you [... read more] cannot get your cigar at 9:30 pm, hard to get towels at times. If you think tips in dollars are going to change anything, it’s not.. they cannot buy anything with it because there is nothing to buy. Give them things, some that you would not think about like a soccer ball and pump got such an amazing reaction from a mother we gave it to (the pump can also work on bikes)… bike kit repair, gum, tshirt and ball cap, powdered milk, kraft dinner…at the end of the day, talk to them, learn from them and enjoy the sun and the beaches.. don’t forget to visit “the lobster shack” located on the beach passed the adjacent Muthu resort (cab cost us $5 each way per pers and the meal was $30 for langoustine (big), shrimp, fish, rice and half decent bottle of white wine (per pers).

Grand Aston Cayo Paredon Beach Resort: Beautiful resort

The resort is lovely, the beach and weather are perfect but they need better management. The lines for food are horrible. They have two toasters (sometimes) but you have to put the bread (which is delicious when they have it) through four and five times before it is toasted which makes for long lines of hungry, angry people. I would go again though as the rooms were nice and the staff were lovely

Valentin Cayo Cruz: March 17-24

Total trip time from airport to resort is 90 minutes, this included an additional drop off . We were greeted with a smile and a song from animation team, followed by a quick and friendly check-in. Rooms were ready immediately as we did arrive earlier than expected. Spacious clean and upgraded rooms, huge walk-in shower, plenty of hot water. Large balcony with view of ocean. Large , clean and quiet resort. Beach is endless white sand groomed daily. Plenty of beach chairs but limited shade area, [... read more] you need to get up early to reserve. Good at buffet very poor every day. Actually embarrassingly poor. Hotel should have been closed just because of lack of food. Special acknowledgment to Jose Ley. A young man with huge potential in hospitality.

Melia Cayo Coco: More then expected ?

Let me open by saying I’m a straight shooter and i do not benefit in anyway in writing this review. First thanks to Robyn at trip central for recommending the Melia cayo coco. The resort was very nice and extremely clean, the rooms were average and spacious. The pool is again very nice with plenty of lounge chairs and a handful of cabanas, the beach was great and again well maintained. Now the restaurants and food, the breakfast , lunch and dinner buffets were fantastic with plenty of variety a [... read more]nd good tasting food, no shortage of anything. Now keep in mind you are in Cuba and the food is not spicy nor do they traditionally use much seasoning when they cook so if you are a so called “foodie” don’t go, stay home and go to McDonald’s lol. The staff are the nicest you’ll ever meet anywhere and are eager to please even if you tip them or not. The entertainment is good at most but this is not Vegas and they are young kids doing their best. My wife and I have been to Aruba,Antigua, Dominica,and Jamaica and three of those vacations have been at Sandals resorts. So does it compare, absolutely not, but we did not expect it to. There were many repeat vacationers there, some over 60 times there so something must be good. On the plane we heard some of the other resorts had shortages but the were 2-3 star resorts. All in all a great place to vacation and more then worth your money spent, did I mention they were very friendly and extremely clean???

Grand Muthu Cayo Guillermo: Nice Resort

The resort was nice, well kept. Beaches and pools were beautiful. People super friendly and helpful. Downside for a family friendly hotel was dinner times were late. Only option for buffet or al la cartes was 6:30pm. Had 3 small children in our group so meal times at dinner was late. Should have had a 5:00pm option. Also basketball court on site, but no ball. Pool table on site but no cues.

Iberostar Origin Daiquiri: Okay Resort

Lobby was inviting and the food and food staff were very good! Room quality was not good. Phone did not work, safe was broken, only hot water. Reported to frontdesk and was told by work people that came to our room; they could not do anything about it. Housekeeping was not great . Grounds people were extremely friendly.

Hotel Playa Paraiso: Great resort!

This is our 6th trip to Cuba. We've never stayed at the same place twice, but we would be happy to come back to the Hotel Playa Paraiso. We really enjoyed this resort. Currently, there are shortages in Cuba but that didn't have a huge impact on our stay. There was one day that the resort had no coffee, and the beach ran out of sprite. The first day there, the resort had a pig roast and fire roasted chicken that was delicious. The presentation of this feast was gorgeous. There was carved fruits/v [... read more]egetables and gourds of some type. Overall, the food was what you would expect for Cuba, not gourmet but you're not going to starve. As well, it's always good to try different foods. If you like ketchup (or other condiments) make sure you bring some because you won't find them here. The grounds were amazing. The beach was breathtaking with the crystal-clear water. The staff were friendly and fun. The entertainment was surprisingly really good. The only thing I would change in this regard is to not have the volume of music at maximum at the beach or pool. The housekeeping staff were so sweet. Everday was a different towel and/or bedding design. We did leave a gift or a tip everyday for the maids.

Melia Jardines del Rey: Resort Needs Some TLC

We have been to Cuba multiple times over decades and are aware of the country’s economic problems but it saddens us to see the deterioration of this resort since our last stay in 2019. The deteriorating rooms, grounds, crumbling concrete pathways and pools. The busy lobby bathrooms were so dirty. This resort needs some serious TLC. A recommendation to pass on to the Resort is to have a water container available in the lobby to refill your own water bottle instead of having to stand in long [... read more] lines at the bar.

Grand Aston Cayo Paredon Beach Resort: Great resort!

Amazing beach! The resort is new, modern and clean. We had plenty of good food, the cappuccino at the bar was great, too. I really enjoyed the grilled fish, beef stew, beans, rice, potatoes, salads. We recommend this resort and will come back.

Hotel Mojito: Great resort

Perfect size resort, not too big. Could walk everywhere. Freddy’s bar was amazing. Staff were great. I wish they had French fries and more selection of drinks. Older resort but clean. Beach was beautiful

Tryp Cayo Coco: Fantastic resort

The rooms were kept spotless. The food was delicious; lots of variety; got repetitive by the end, but I didn't have to make it. The people were friendly and kind. The beach was beautiful with lots of cabanas for everyone. I wish there were bottled or canned beer, not just draft. Bring a thermal mug!

Melia Cayo Coco: good resort

great staff especially customer service. good food great grounds 5 star beach will only return if they guarantee an upgaded room. with a shower not a 25 yearold rusty bath with a shower that works when it feels like it.

Iberostar Selection Esmeralda: Beautiful hotel, beach and ocean, but…

Stunning beach and ocean, new resort nicely designed, specious room with ocean view. Cuba is in trouble now so food and drinks were not impressive, no fresh fruits, no fresh juices, very limited food selection in general. It was Russian flag in front of resort but no Canadian flag. About 80% tourists were from Russia.

Gran Muthu Imperial: Mixed feelings

Unfortunately the hotel has deteriorated somewhat. The absence of basics such as eggs and bread on numerous days was aggravating. The Cuban people are more desperate now and mercenary at times. This of course is overcome by the stunning geography and natural warmth of its people. Canadians could learn from them. Overall disappointing in some areas but still an incredible piece of the world.

Melia Jardines del Rey: Resort was dated

The grounds were beautiful the beach was amazing! Never had soda the whole week , food was hit and miss , spent everyday at the front desk trying to get my key card fixed! I mean everyday and mostly every night , either the door didn’t lock or the keycard didn’t work! Moved two times before our last room and then the locks didn’t work , even when we left the door still didn’t lock!!

Grand Aston Cayo Paredon Beach Resort: Beautiful Resort

We thoroughly enjoyed our stay at the Grand Aston. The resort is big and beautiful, and very clean. The beach is beautiful and offers lots of shade options. The pools are also large and beautiful but seem to be lacking an adequate number of lounge chairs. Our only complaint was that the food available in the Cuban keys is quite limited with lots of shortages compared to our last two visits to Cuba a few years ago.

Memories Flamenco Beach Resort: Drank the Kool-Aid

My wife and I have just returned from Memories Flamenco Beach Resort in Cayo Coco Cuba. Over the last 30 years we have been to Cuba more than a dozen times and we have gravitated towards Cayo Coco for the quality of the beaches. For this trip we drank the Kool-Aid and booked the Junior Suite Diamond Club Ocean View upgrade. While the view from our balcony was spectacular, do not expect to have access to the upgrades on a consistent basis or in some cases at all. Here is what we found: Check-in: [... read more] there is no complimentary early check-in. We arrived at the resort at 10:00 AM and just like everyone else we could not get into our room until 4:00 PM. That is a good chunk of our first day eaten up with just passing the time. Our room: we had asked for a room with either a double bed or two queen-size beds. What we ended up getting was a room with three single beds. We were told that we could not move rooms for at least two days, so we settled in with what we were given. Exclusive beach option: while this does exist, there is no guarantee of a beach chair. Just like every other resort you will find yourself going down to the beach at 7:00 AM to secure a spot. There is also no dedicated waiter service to your chairs. A waiter came to us once during our stay and served drinks for about an hour. Drinks: do not expect to get the alcohol you ask for. There was a lack of choices including rum amazingly enough and a lack of pop for mixes. There was also a lack of coffee in the mornings and when it was available it was certainly not up to Cuban standards. Food: everyone will tell you that the lack of quality food in Cuba is endemic for the entire island. That applies to this resort and to the Diamond Club restaurant. Mini bar: It was not stocked daily. The fridge was only big enough to hold a couple of cans of beer or pop. More often than not we had to ask to have it filled. Exclusive lunch at one a la carte restaurant: didn't happen. One dinner show per week: didn't happen Diamond club restaurant: this was a nice feature and certainly better than eating at the more public restaurant. The variety on the menu is quite restricted however. Beach: the beach is beautiful and is why my wife and I chose to go to this particular resort. It should be noted that in front of the diamond club chairs there is a fair bit of coral, and you will need water shoes if you want to take a dip in the ocean. If you move down the beach a bit however you will not need the shoes. Staff: overall they were very friendly and accommodating. Having said all of the above, my wife and I are very experienced travelers, and we are very familiar with the problems Cuba is having at the moment and so none of the items above concerned us a great deal. Because we are beach bums, believe it or not, we will likely return to the same resort. It is not going to be any better anywhere else in the foreseeable future.

Melia Cayo Coco: We'll be back!

We were at the Melia Cayo Coco for our 4th stay from March 12 to March 19, 2024. We stayed in building 83 as it was close to the beach, the pool and the buffet. Our room wasn’t ready when we arrived but that was ok. We came prepared and had packed our beach clothing and sandals in our carry-on bags. When we went back to the lobby counter around 3:00, our room was ready. The lobby staff will provide you with the Wi-Fi info. Each guest has access to 10 hours of FREE internet and if you use it all, [... read more] you can go back to the lobby desk to have it reset. There was an employee readily available to grab our luggage and to drive us to our building via a golf cart. We had two heavy suitcases which he easily carried up to the top floor. Don’t forget to have some bills in your pocket to tip the transfer bus driver and the bellboy. FOOD: Everything was absolutely fantastic! We didn’t book any à la carte meals as we were very pleased with the selections in the buffet and we wanted to control what was being added to our food such as sugary sauces, seed oils and spices that we don’t eat. We typically sat in the first section at the entrance of the buffet as we felt it was cooler than sitting in the other areas. Yoandra, Hector, Lea and Miladis took great care of us for breakfast/lunch and Eddy, Joel and Omar spoiled us at dinnertime. We ordered Mimosas at breakfast along with plenty of coffee for my husband and hot water for my tea. Our wine glasses were continually filled up at lunch and dinner. We were never informed of any shortage of water, wine, beer or champagne. If you’re going to say yes to water or any other beverage, please be sure to drink it all. The same goes for whatever food you’re putting on your plate. Please don’t be wasteful. We went to the chef to the far right (meat station) to have our eggs cooked as Charles typically had a long line. Don’t forget to tip the chefs as they work hard and endure hot temperatures during their shifts. I missed having fresh shrimp but I can understand how expensive it can be for the fishermen to take their shrimp boats out. Lobster tail pieces were served on Thursday at the beach restaurant for their Cuban Day celebration. Be sure to check it out. There’s typically a long line up for the outdoor grill station on Thursday. EMPLOYEES: We were happy to see a lot of employees that we had recognized and interacted with from our previous stays. Some employees actually remembered us even though our last time there was 9 years ago. The gardeners were very pleasant to talk with especially Felipe. He hasn’t changed a bit. We often gave them treats from home on our way to the buffet for breakfast. There was always a fist bump or a hug in appreciation. Next time we’ll be bringing them some gardening gloves. BEACH: We missed this beach so much. There’s definitely not a shortage of soft white sand. The ocean was absolutely gorgeous. We had a few somewhat windy days (gusting around 25 to 30 kms) but we were still able to swim and float in the ocean. There’s a fresh water shower along the wooden walkway near the beach restaurant. Please be sure to rinse quickly and to shut the tap off when you’re done. We saw a man walk away with the water still running, uggh. Water is a precious resource in Cuba. Please respect this when you’re washing your hands and having your shower. There’s nothing wrong with temporarily shutting off the water when you’re washing your hair, washing your body and rinsing out your hair conditioner. Save the long hanky panky shower sessions for when you’re home. The water sports club is on the beach to the left between the MCC and The Sol. You can take out a kayak or a peddle boat for free and you’re entitled to a free 30-minute sail on a Hobie cat (skipper provided). Although this is free, please tip your Hobie cat skipper. You can book snorkeling at a cost of $25 Cdn per person which is a 2-hour excursion I believe. The towel exchange hut was open from 8am to 4pm and is located between the pool and the evening show area. We only exchanged our towels once as there’s really no need to exchange them every day which is such a waste of their resources (water, soap, transporting). We always travel with a set of our own colourful towels which we use to reserve our loungers in the morning. If someone steals our personal towels, so be it however if your hotel towel is stolen, you’re on the hook $$ for it. Don’t leave your towel or anything else on the lounger overnight as it’ll be taken. Bring some rope and clothespins to hang up your towels to dry. The classic rooms have open metal gates between each room so you can easily hang up a clothesline. There’s plenty of palapas for shade. There’s a long row of palapas for non-smoking (to the right of the beach bar walkway) and another long row for smoking (to the left of the beach bar walkway). The palapas are marked with non-smoking and smoking signs. If someone is smoking in the non-smoking section, mention it to the beach bartender. Dariel and Jesus took great care of us at the beach bar. We tipped them with kids clothing, shavers, deodorant and money. MONEY: It’s not necessary to convert your Cdn or US money to the Cuban peso (CUP) as they gladly accept Cdn and US bills at the resort, the markets and the airport. The bills must be in pristine condition, no tears or marks. We brought a lot of products with us to give as tips along with US cash. You can give them cash all you want however products are hard for the locals to purchase. Bring shavers, clothing, footwear, medical supplies, children’s and adults toothbrushes/paste, pantyhose, women’s sanitary products, sunblock, bug repellent and bite treatment, laundry pods, clothespins, laundry rope, work gloves, milk powder, AAA batteries, candles, lighters, etc. EXCURSIONS: We didn’t do any excursions however if we would have been there for 2 weeks, we would have ventured out to Pilar Beach via the local bus. It’s beautiful there! There was a guy walking the beach looking for people to book parachuting. We saw the parachuters once a day, pretty cool to see. MUSIC/ENTERTAINMENT: there’s plenty of very talented musicians in the lobby and at the beach restaurant. It’s quite obvious that they love their musical culture. We purchased a CD (55 songs) from the ‘Son del Rio’ band. They often play at the beach restaurant and we heard that they were also playing in the lobby at times. There’s another great band that play at the beach restaurant. We don’t know the name of this band but the female (lead singer) has an amazing voice. ROOMS: the classic rooms that haven’t been refurbed are slightly showing their age but shouldn’t hold you back as you’re barely in your room. The sliding mirror doors are a bit of a pain as they’re so heavy and sometimes don’t slide easily. In our opinion, remove the sliding doors as they’re not needed. Our room was very quiet. We had to cover the LED display on the mini split with black electrical tape as it was extremely bright which interrupted our sleep for the first few nights. COULD IMPROVE ON: Water pressure – if we showered between 5pm and 6pm, the pressure seemed ok. If we showered after 6pm, the pressure was sketchy. There were times that my husband had to hold the converter button in in order for the water to flow out of the showerhead so I could rinse off shampoo, conditioner and body soap. Toilet paper – there were a few times after 5pm at the beach restaurant that there was no toilet paper in the ladies’ bathroom. After the 1st time this happened to me, I saved our barely used napkins and put them in my beach bag to be prepared. The ladies’ bathroom off the lobby often ran out of toilet paper once the staff had left for the night. AIRPORT ARRIVAL & DEPARTURE: OMG the arrival was extremely hot and painful as there were hundreds of people lined up to go through customs in an unconditioned section on the lower level of the airport with no clear layout of where the lines are to line up. Once we made it through customs and security, we waited a very long time for our luggage. There was only one washroom that was shared between men and women. From the time we got off the plane to getting on the bus, it took approx. 2 ½ hours. The departure wasn’t as long but we still had to stand in a long line up when the bus dropped us off. It took an hour to drop off our luggage at check in, go through customs and security. Side note: I recently found a great site for more info on Cuba and its culture: https://havana-guide.com/