Memories Flamenco Beach Resort: Disappointed

This resort needs to be renovated badly. Furniture and cushions in lobby area are very old and in desperate need of new upholstery. Rooms are dated. Bathtubs are very high and difficult to enter into. Very difficult for the elderly. No water pressure in the shower and somedays no water at all. Bathroom towels were old and gray. Food was always the same. No variety in food. At the snack bar always ran out of food after standing in line and then being told they ran out of food. Meat was tough  [... read more]as leather, unedible. Toilets near the bar and lobby did not flush and the smell was horrible. Staff were very nice and helpful. The only things positive about this resort is that the grounds were nice and the beach was amazing. I would not recommend this resort to any of my friends and would rate it as a 2 star.

Memories Flamenco Beach Resort: Great Get-a-way for a week!

It was lovely. Because of Covid, they are just updating the buildings, and the staff were very friendly. I loved the Massage. Best one I've ever experienced. Always problems with the stock of toilet paper but always took my own, just in case. the washrooms needed a plumber to update. Beach was so beautiful. Entertainment was top notch!

Memories Flamenco Beach Resort: Absolute waste of time and money!

Memories flamenco Cuba was an absolute waste of our time and money. They rate this resort as a 4 1/2 *, the resort isn't worth 2 stars. Beach is beautiful, that's the only positive to this resort. Food or lack there of was atrocious, inedible most of the time. Resort was filthy. Lost water for a day and a half. Service was horrendous. Resort was fine taking our credit for Cuban money only to tell us afterwards that Cuban money is only good for tipping, and then refusing to give us Canadian money [... read more] back so we could buy our kids souvenirs. Why theyre stock piling Canadian money is beyond me!! Paid extra for a ocean view room only to show up to a swamp/dumping land view room. Beds may as well have been box springs probably would have been more comfortable. And last but not least both my Girlfriend and I are now off work because we both contracted Covid!! Never again!! Will never recommend Cuban resorts or Sunwing to anyone ever again.

Grand Memories Varadero: Very Nice

The hotel was nice. A little out dated but within the week we did see maintenance, painting and upgrades being done. The staff was very friendly. As far as Covid procedures the staff did Their beat to remind people to stay six feet apart and to wear their masks. They did a fantastic job

Memories Caribe Beach Resort: Not up to expectations

I travelled to Memories Caribe from Mar 30-Apr 6. After reading many relatively positive reviews I was looking forward to a week here. I had previously travelled to nearby Memories Flamenco and had an awesome time but was looking forward to Caribe's adults only experience. I chose to again spend the extra $130 on Diamond Club for the additional amenities, however in hindsight I cannot say it was worth it here at Caribe. The exclusive Diamond Club (DC) check-in and welcoming cocktail was ju [... read more]st a temporary sign propped on the check-in desk which disappeared afterwards to never reappear. And all people arriving regardless of status received a cocktail (DC actually got theirs last) The room 2107 was OK, but I did suffer from 2 floods in the room and a cockroach problem. More about that later. Let me start by listing the Pro's and Cons: Pro's: - The Beach is amazing. It is very busy but that is what a trip to Cayo Coco is all about. You will have to get there early to find a chair, but often staff have them hidden in the trees and a tip will have one miraculously appear for you. Sand Fleas are a problem, but the advice is to put on plenty of deep woods off when you go down to reserve your spot and then not go to the beach before 9:30 when it gets hot enough for the sand fleas to hide away. -The waiters on the DC beach are amazing. There were two who constantly made the run from the beach bar to thirsty travelers weighed down with a dozen bubba mugs and they never got an order wrong. Now they earned their tips. -Snack bar at the DC beach was well above par. Burgers and Fries were some of the best meals of the week. -Food at the Buffet was pretty good by Cuba standards, but you did have to wait. Masks were mandatory and you had to wait for staff to serve you with tonges. There really were not enough staff and you had to wait. Con's: -Staff not overly friendly. Even leaving a tip didn't seem to elicit much in the way of a smile from most. -Waiting for a waiter in the main lobby bar was torturous. Could take 20 minutes or more to get your order if it wasn't forgotten. -No real DC bar. There was just a tiny shelf at the end of the lobby bar with a sign that read Diamond Club bar. It offered one level up in Rum, and a bottle of Jamieson's Irish Whiskey, Ballentine's Scotch, & Chivas. Now I do drink Jamieson's regularly, but this was definately NOT Jamieson's. It tasted more like a cheap ligueur, like a watered down drambuie. I asked for an unopened bottle, but they didn't have one. The Balentine's wasn't much to write home about either. (If you drink your whiskey neat, skip diamond club and bring your own.) -The Sports bar remained closed throughout the week, so no pool table or TV's or games. -The entertainment was a little lacking. Afternoon activities at the pool were seldomly joined by guests. (who wants to do aquafit in the pool at 4pm after drinking all day) Animation host yells at full volume in rapid spanish and english that is barely understandable. Most folks around the pool just winced since the volume was so loud. -Nightly entertainment was so-so. The saxaphonist was amazing, he played all over the resort on multiple days. The folk dance shows were underwhelming. There was a singer one night and she was good (in spanish). There was a Michael Jackson Show one night and it was pretty good, but afterwards the introduction of the participants took longer than the show as they each had to show off their break-dancing abilities. -As usual in Cuba you have to get up early if you want a decent spot by the pool or beach. People usually put their towels on pool deck chairs to reserve the prime spots by 7:30am and they never show up until around 4pm as they spend the day at the beach. It is frustrating but that is the game I guess. -Had a flood in the room (2107) twice!!! First time the maid said they would send by a repair team. When I got back tot he room it seemed all dried up so I thought nothing of it, but the next day it was back and I could hear heavy dripping. Turned out the repair was a towel behind the suitcase tressel to soak it up. The towel was soaked through and water was everywhere again. I called for service and they showed up within 30 minutes and tore open the ceiling to find a burst pipe. There was mold and crap etc everywhere. He managed to repair the pipe and the maid came back to mop up the suite. They did not offer to move me though. -The pond you see in the pictures apparently had a problem. they had to drain it and the smell was horrific. Imagine 35 degree heat and a sewage lagoon. Staff were squeegee'ing up black sludge and other foul smelling goop for days right outside my room. smell was very rough but thankfully did not permeate the room. -Cockroaches: I killed one on arriving at my room. No big deal. there were 3 other dead ones feet up in the room over the next couple days. The maids swept them up. But my last night as I was trying to sleep I felt an itch on my head and ran my fingers through my hair to find a cockroach crawling across my head. Yikes. had the body itches and heebee-jeebee's for much of the night. Then I finally fell asleep around 3am after a full room search and repacking all my clothes and shaking them out several times. Sprayed by suitcase with deep woods off and left it outside for 3 days after I got home before washing my clothes in hot water twice. I told them when checking out and they marked the room for fumigation. -And finally the WiFi. Worst experience of all. Took 2 days to get on to the system. I have an iPhone 7 and was told by front desk staff after repeated tries that the internet will not work with iphones. I know that is BS as its the highest selling phone in the world. Also others with iphones or ipads were working. After 2 days of repeated tries, I finally found a desk clerk that knew how it worked. You need to sign on to the Caribe wifi, you will see that there is "no internet service" listed, then you must go out and back in through Safari to log in again. This will work eventually. It can take 7 or 8 attempts before it works. but usually works best if you turn your phone off and on again to reset it before each attempt. Even then however, many of your functions will not work. I could only text with one person, the rest of my contacts had to go through messenger. No email and no facebook. This is the Caribe system that has the problem. At the airport you are given a card with a user number and code and it works just fine. In summary, The weather was amazing, as was the beach. I would not recommend the Diamond Club at this resort as it is just not worth the money. I really loved Flamenco three years ago, but would not likely return to Caribe. I love Cuba and the Cuban people, but I notice that there has been a definate change in the past 2 years. Perhaps its COVID or there is another reason, but smiles are at a premium.

Memories Jibacoa: Awesome Resort

I went there with a group of my teammates in cycling and we thoroughly enjoyed our stay. Furthermore the roads in that area were great for cycling compared to other locations we have been to in Cuba. Highly recommend this place to anyone.

Memories Jibacoa: Great Resort

The resort is very nice for Cuba! Because of our unplanned late arrival due to Sunwing screw up with luggage that started in Toronto. By the way, Sunwing is terrible on so many levels. Because we had to sit at Veradero airport waiting to see who was getting their luggage from plane, which Sunwing rep could have taken care of this for the travellers at airport and all four buses could have been on their way to their hotels rather than everyone sitting waiting for the people with missed luggage it [... read more] file themselves with lost luggage office at airport. So, when we finally get to hotel and check in, we were told there is a snack bar. Finally after walking around a dark resort, we locate the tiny snack bar. The snack consisted of a ham and cheese panini. That was all there was offered. Got to say, it was good. The food is good at all three meals at buffet. The wine could be improved at dinner. Staff are great! Rooms were nice and clean. We didn’t like the two levels of customer service for the Diamond Club and regular customers. This was very dominant in everything that has to do with customer service and drinks. This resort is not inexpensive to stay there and I expected better alcoholic beverages. The internet was a hit and miss in lobby only. Hard to log in to internet do ArriveCan which is important to leave Cuba. Not a five star resort but a good 3.5 star resort.

Memories Jibacoa: Amazing and Friendly Resort

This is our 10th time to this resort. It is like going home. Amazing snorkeling from the beach. The pool is pristine, as are the rooms. The staff cannot do enough to make sure that everything is a 10. Covid protocols were in place. All staff were and guests were masked in public areas. Buffet is served by masked and gloved attendants. Will definitely return again.

Memories Jibacoa: Very nice place to go

As a returning customer I can say that this is a great place to stay in Cuba.............................................................................................................................. ..

Sanctuary at Grand Memories Varadero: Amazing staff, pool facilities, & beach!

Positives: - The staff at this resort are absolutely amazing. The butlers (Rene & Mario are amazing!) will bend over backward to help you and are always around asking if you need anything. The bartenders, wait staff, groundskeepers, pool maintenance workers, entertainment and all other staff we encountered were super helpful and kind. - The adult only beach is beautiful and well kept. I did find that the flag system was perhaps a little off as it was yellow on other beaches but still green  [... read more]on ours and the current/waves were pretty rough. - The pool area is really nice and along with the grounds is immaculately kept. It can get a bit louder in the afternoon so if you desire quiet head to the beach. - Free wifi is a nice thing to have, though sometimes slow it worked fairly well for us and we were able to easily video chat with family members at home. Negatives: - The food is okay, we certainly never went hungry. There are often things missing and are definite shortages that are noticeable. However, if you are wanting any condiments you should consider bringing them as they are often unavailable (i.e. salt, pepper, ketchup, mustard, butter, etc). - The rooms are in definite need of some love. The doors are rotting, our shower overflowed always as it wouldn't drain, the toilet didn't always flush, the fan was falling off of the ceiling, our patio door lock was broken and there were holes in the top of the patio doors where bugs could get in, the cabinet where the mini fridge was was broken, lots of paint peeling etc. We were at this resort 8 years ago when it was managed by Riu and it has not changed at all. - There is no buffet at the Sanctuary side and often times the options at the restaurant there are very limited. Additionally portion sizes at the a la carte restaurant are very small. - On the weekends (Thursday to late Sunday) there are many locals that visit the hotel which is in no way problematic with the exception of meal time. We found often times those visiting would hoard food (taking full plates of items), wait in lines to get food for an entire family of six, push their way through lines aggressively.

Resonance Blu Varadero: Great staff amd booking agent Nicole

A but dated but in good condition. There were a few food shortages amd creative substitutes, but it is more respective of the Islands challenge he's at this time. Beautiful beach, clean rooms. Nice shower.

Memories Flamenco Beach Resort: Awesome Beach

Why are you going to cuba? Well its not for the food! I didnt starve but i also didnt come out needing to size up on my pants. it is a beautiful island with many nice people. Everyone was happy and kind. The beach w the sand bar was lovely snd thats why you book this resort. The rooms were out dated but hopefully if your spending money to travel you wont ve spending ample time in the room. 3rd floor water pressure wasnt great but it got the job done. Our friends had a coffee machine in their ro [... read more]om.but we did not. But who needs it when u can go to the lobby bar and get a cappuccino or spanish coffee. During covid at the buffet each station had a server or 2 to fill our plates for us as to not have everyone touching the utensils Fine by me. Not a huge hold up. Most resorts to a lobster night but this one did not. You can take a 35$ can ride in an okd fashion car to Lennys for 25$ lobster shrimp and chickem i was told. or 219$of their money which is like 38$canadian for lobster st the resort. The a la cartes nothing to get upset about if you didnt get a chance to book. Small portions and nothing real amazing at them. My favorite was the bruschetta at the italian....2 small pieces and a soup at the Mediterranean i believe. As for steak if you like rare...good look probably wont happen. Just go into it knowing if your a foodie then cuba may not be the place for you. 2 nice pools one w a swim up bar and a baby waiting pool as the 3rd. Our outlets match theirs in Canada and US. Bring canadian or US money. Dont swap your cash for cuban cash as they dont use it anymore. take a little walk out of the hotel to your left and 2 resorts down (the one thats not open) they have a little market. OR take a 10 min bus ride for im not sure how much $ to the bigger market. disco is a bus ride you have to pay for which also pays for your alcohal 10 mins away. Spa people? Get a massage over looking thr beach or take a ride 10 mins away for the mud and seaweed type spa.

Memories Jibacoa: Great resort for the money

The staff is always what makes Cuban resorts so appealing. Fantastic covid training for all staff. Everyone masked 100% and constant sanitizing. The setting and the grounds were beautiful. Food was really well done considering Covid shortages and the fact that is is Cuba. Rooms were clean and comfortable and A/C worked great. Beach cleaned daily and always plenty of lounges at the pool and the beach. The only downside was the number of day passes and short term passes being issued. The vib [... read more]e at this resort is a quiet older crowd so it was really noticeable when midway through the week a lot of younger locals started hanging out in groups around the pool and lobby. The inebriation was apparent and the garbage (empty plastic cups, and half filled drinks) left around the pool was annoying. I understand the hotel has an obligation to keep the resort full but hopefully, when Covid starts to diminish, and more rooms are taken by longer term bookings, it will reduce the short term passes for this resort. Highly recommend this resort if you can pick it up at a good price.

Grand Memories Varadero: Run down

Food was not great, the snack bar had one item late night. Drinks were watered down. Was dehydrated most of the trip because they wouldn’t put water in the room unless I tipped. Not coming back, it will be the last time.

Memories Flamenco Beach Resort: lovely stay

Covid makes everything a bit tougher, but the hotel accommodated us well regardless. The food, once we got onto what we liked (ie. rice!), was fine. The rum continues to be excellant, and the weather was gorgeous. I had problems with bug bites, but the other 2 I travelled with experienced no such thing. It has one of the best beaches we've ever been on.

Memories Caribe Beach Resort: What a change....

This was our 7th time to Cuba and by far the most disappointing. Where to even start. The Cuban people are usually lovely and friendly people. This was not so this time.My observation is that they appear to be short staffed or not staffing the busy areas of the resort. "Bites" is suppose to be the 24 hour snack bar. Upon arriving , our travelling companions went to try to get some food. They were met with a woman behind the counter who would not take their order. She just stared at them. T [... read more]his happened a few times during our week. It also appeared that food was being rationed. The buffet food was cold. The only choice all week at the cook station was stir fry. The al la carte's were ok. Again, short staffed. The man I booked our al la carte's with in the front lobby was rude. I asked if I could buy a bottle of wine as the room you sit in has many on display. He said that they were unable to sell any at this time. The rooms were dated and smelled of mould. Our bed had a sheet and one blanket.Our towels were not changed the whole week. There is no place to exchange your beach towel so we had damp dirty towels for the week. Our bathroom appeared to have been renovated recently and unlike many other rooms, the toilet room actually had a door! The water pressure was good and was always hot. There was not beer or soft drinks in the mini fridge all week. The pool only has a few chairs with shade. The beach is beautiful but there is definitely sand fleas. During a quick rain shower they came out and swarmed us leaving us covered for the week in bites. When it came to drinks at the bars everyday something was not available ie) no vodka, coke or tonic water. The snack bar at the beach had pizza the first 2 days which were pretty decent. The rest of the week they served soup. I feel that the pandemic and probably the crisis in Ukraine have contributed to the complaints I have made in this review. That being said, it was disappointing to spend the money and not be satisfied.

Resonance Blu Varadero: Great staff for the most part, beautiful beach

I travelled from Toronto to Memories Varadero Beach with 3 friends in February for a week-long stay. Here’s the short of it: The pros: - WONDERFUL staff, for the most part - Beautiful beach - Fun atmosphere The cons: - Staff stealing from our room - Horrible buffet - Dirty bathrooms - Lack of night-time activities - Few choices for alcoholic beverages Overall we had a pretty nice time, mind you we are a group of 4 in our early 20s, ie. we weren’t expecting a 5-star exper [... read more]ience. The best part of our experience was by far the friends we made at the resort - we got lucky and met a group of young Canadian travellers like ourselves - and the staff. The worst part of our experience was by far the food and the fact that our maid stole from our rooms and then accused us of lying and refused to clean for the rest of our stay (details below). The staff - the good: The staff at this resort - for the most part - are amazing. Special shoutout to Laura Maria, the sweetest girl you’ll ever meet who works at the lobby bar, and Steve, the most charismatic guy on the resort who works in ‘animation’ at the main pool. Other amazing staff members were Yudy and Mairobys, two women who worked at the Italian a-la-carte who always showed us the best time, and Alex and Robert the two main bartenders at the pool bar. These people were unbelievably kind, fun, helpful and totally made our stay The staff - the bad: a few staff members at Memories were not so great. On the first full day of our stay we had multiple items stolen from BOTH of our rooms. A Ralph Loren t-shirt, a pair of earrings and two bottles of perfume. At first, we didn’t want to assume, so we did a thorough inspection of our things to make sure, and confirmed that they had been taken. Keep in mind since this was the first day we arrived, all of these items were still packed away in our bags, so whoever took them would have actually had to rummage through our things. Within 1 day of us notifying the front desk of the situation, we were approached by our maid and told that in an attempt to avoid any more “accusations” she would no longer be cleaning our room. So we spent the rest of the week with no water bottles, clean towels or clean sheets. The beach: the beach at this resort is beautiful and generally well-kept aside from a few broken beach chairs. We spent pretty much every morning here! The pool: the main pool is such a great time. They have activities there every day at 12pm and great music & vibes. They also have a slide which we frequented, haha. The pool bar was also really fun, it’s inside a little cave and the bartenders are the best (shoutout Alex and Robert) The bars: be prepared to drink rum and beer for your entire stay. The bars were lacklustre as the resort was pretty much out of EVERY type of alcohol besides rum. No vodka, gin, whisky, tequila. They also rarely had any red, white OR sparkling wine unless it was at one of the restaurants, only beer. As someone who pretty much only drinks vodka, this was a huge bummer. The rooms: the rooms were fine, bedding seemed clean when we got there, we had hot water, our A/C worked. They definitely aren’t beautiful but we weren’t expecting anything grand. One major disappointment was that the fridge was never stocked. We weren’t Diamond Club so we didn’t expect to be given anything fancy, but some water, pop and beer would have been nice. The buffet: I’ll be honest, the food at the buffet was absolutely horrible. I’ve been to Cuba 4 times and I usually expect it to be less than enjoyable, but this food was really bad. We pretty much ate beans and rice for the entirety of the trip. The selection at the buffet was really lacking so you really had to scrape the bottom of the barrel to find something edible for each meal. I’m not sure if it was because of import issues due to Covid, but be prepared to come home hungry. The a-la-cartes: we went to the Italian and Japanese restaurants, each one twice. The Italian was our favourite. The Japanese one was also decent, but you mostly go to that one for the “show” since it’s hibachi-style. In short, both restaurants were good - I think partially because we were desperate, but hey, at least they had better selection than the buffet. The entertainment: other than the nightly shows (which were pretty good) the entertainment was lacking, no club, or night-time activities. Luckily Steve usually brings his speaker to the lobby and gets the party going which was a nice surprise, but other than that it’s pretty quiet at night. Overall, decent stay but we likely would not return - mostly because of the food and overall cleanliness. I’d probably be more likely to pay a little bit more for a 5 star elsewhere. But if you’re looking for something quick and dirty and to come back with a tan, Memories isn’t a bad choice. Special thanks again to Laura Maria, Steve, Mairobys, Yudy, Robert and Alex - they absolutely made our stay!!

Memories Jibacoa: Un tout inclu epoustouflant

Un emplacement de rêve pour les adeptes du snorkling. La barriere de corail est a distance de nage. L hotel est propre la nourriture est bonne, les jardins sont de toute beauté . le personnel est tres sympathique .

Memories Caribe Beach Resort: Disappointed

Sad to write this review but the reality is that Cuba is suffering from lack of everything and it’s more than likely due to conflict in Ukraine and of course Covid. I have travelled to Cuba at least 12 times and this will probably be our last. At least 50% of staff seem very unhappy and not very friendly which is unusual so can assume something deeper is going on. Alcohol and food supplies were lacking, bugs were terrible. Beach of course was beautiful but overall things have changed and I do [... read more]n’t see it turning around anytime soon. Cuba needs to move away from its alliance to Russia and change its political landscape.

Memories Caribe Beach Resort: Quality resort

The fabulous beach and sports facilities guarantee you will always have something to do. Great value in room quality and lovely grounds . Very clean. Caring staff. Really good service all around. Pretty good options for food / especially that the snack bar really comes through. Yes this resort is ok!!!!