Melia Cayo Santa Maria switched from Golden Tulip Aguas Claras Resort

We switched resorts from Golden Tulip to Melia Cayo Santa Maria due to TripAdvisor reviews. We were so glad that you did switch. Melia Cayo Santa Maria is a small resort and was very quiet and very friendly staff. The only problem was that some domestic drinks were not available and NO TEA at all at this resort and many others on the island, as well as the airport. The rooms were large and nice. We have an ocean view, Villa 11. The first week was quiet with only 50% capacity, second week was a [... read more] bit busier but resort was not full. Second week we enjoyed more seafood as it became available. Staff was very friendly and always said hello to us. We met some new friends and enjoyed ourselves. The night time entertainment in the lobby bar was fantastic, there were three violinists who each performed separately a clarinet/sax person, a live band and every night we enjoyed the music. Weather was perfect, it rained at night while we were sleeping. Melia sprays every morning at 6 and night at 6 for mosquitoes and that is one of the reason why we switched our vacation to this resort. This is the first time here but have stayed in Melias many times. This is about our 15th trip to Santa Maria and this resort was one of the best we have stayed in.

Beautiful beach

I was a little concerned because the reviews leading up to our stay were so bad. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by our stay. Everything was clean, service was good, food was definitely repetitive but we always managed to stay full. Drinks were very good, bottled beer, specialty coffees etc. Pools were definitely dirty but were cleaned regularly while we were there. Beach towels were a major issue but we were told to use the room towels which we always had plenty of. Overall it was an a [... read more]mazing vacation. Definitely there’s room for improvement but overall we enjoyed our time there.

Amazing resort

All nice & clean. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Pleasant relaxing week

We stayed at the Golden Tulip the first week of November 2018. Overall good week. No shortage of beer! The beach is awesome. We aren’t pool people, but the pool looked clean. The staff was very pleasant and helpful. The food was good. Loved the salmon and beach grill pork barbecue. There was a bug in our room a couple of times but we were on ground level and that can happen. We would go back!

Awesome Vacation!

Spent a week at the Golden Tulip Aguas Claras Resort with my 2 sisters. We had an amazing time. Had plenty of food to choose from. Never went hungry. Beach was amazing as always in Cayo Santa Maria. Large rooms and clean. Staff was very accommodating. Always did their best to make sure we were attended to at all times. Entertainment team was excellent. Made us laughed all the time and was always making sure that we were having fun. Highly recommended!

Beautiful resort, very good service.

Clean hotel, renovated rooms, modern decor. Rooms do not smell mold either not humid (the AC works perfectly). The service is very good. The food is good, maybe not as much variety but still very good and fresh. The resort deserves 5 star. The beach is clean. There are two big pools.

Great Vacation

We went for 7 days Sept 28-Oct 6. Overall, great experience. Not many people!! Swimming pool was always available, just a few people there so you can really swim freely. Great price for the 4 star. The weather was great. showers at night and sunshine during the day, just the last day was cloudy with short showers. I have been to Cuba 5 times and the good and untypical thing about this hotel is its planning site - first of all you can see the blue ocean when arrived to the front lobby, while othe [... read more]r hotels make you see the bar first. This is the best time in the year to go to cuba from my experience. Great deals due to low season, the weather is still great as for me. Warm enough to swim while refreshing wind at night. December to March is cold for me, i had to cover myself with a towel when at the beach. june to mid sept is too hot, sweating all the time. so beginning of october is really great to swim and spend the whole day at the beach. I highly appreciate the great job that gardeners are doing!! Amazing to look at those beautiful grounds!!! First disappointment was the room key which did not work, had to walk back to reception to replace. Second- the shower glass cabin was leaking with water on the floor after taking a shower, also the drain in the shower could be planned better to drain the water faster so the water pressure at the shower could be turned at max. I have heard that it is the same at other rooms so it is the planning and construction overlook. The food was ok. I never forgot I am in Cuba so not much variety but if you are not picky you would never be hungry. Salmon at the dinner in the buffet was great. Great cooks all the time who would make for you the customized dish from the available ingredients. Also, i appreciated the great work of the pastry-cook. All the sweets were very delicious!! There was ice cream of three tastes for the desert for lunch and dinner. The show every night was great. Really enjoyed the magic show and pirates. The service was very good. No tips requests/expectations here, which made me really happy to give tips at this place. I would go there again for the same price and at the same season.

Good, not amazing

Everything was average to good. Rooms - had to change rooms at 8pm due to no flushing toilet, next room had no television, wife fixed the cable as maintenance was notified several times to no avail, rooms were clean, telephone did not work Grounds - beautiful beach, pools were nice, would return due to stunning beach, plenty of palapas(?) Food - average, meat selection poor quality, chicken good, poor dressings for salads, breakfast great, pizza amazing, ala carte was good Staff - friendly a [... read more]nd accommodating, gratuities help Front desk - poor, not very helpful, plenty of "we will send someone tomorrow", poor English Entertainment - not impressive although they were trying Overall, you get what you pay for, wasn't paying for a 4 star

Good Vacation - Resort needs improvements

We stayed at the Golden Tulip the week of Sept. 21, 2018. We have been to Cuba now 8 times. We usually go to Varadero but decided to try Cayo Santa Maria this time. Our overall experience was good but there was definitely areas for improvement. Bus ride: Definitely 2 hours. It’s very long especially after flying. The bus ride for us was during the daytime hours so we were able to see the small towns and country side but I couldn’t imagine that bus ride at night. Resort: Beaut [... read more]iful large resort. Grounds are well maintained and very pretty. Guestrooms: We upgraded to an Ocean view prior to our departure. It was totally worth it. The view was incredible. Keep in mind that when you are out on your balcony/terrace the mosquitos are bad. Also, keep your eyes open for tarantellas. We were beside our friends and they had a giant tarantella hiding in the water hole of their balcony. Probably the size of an average hand. Also, check your sliding door when you arrive. Ours barely opened. You had to be Hercules to open it. We stayed in Block 15 on the 3rd floor. Housekeepers were great! Mini bar always stocked. Food: This is where improvement needs to happen. The main buffet was horrible. Like I said previously, we have stayed in Cuba several times and have never experienced such bad food. This was the first time we found the food awful in the main buffet. They offered a large buffet, but there are sections in the buffet and in each section there was 5 or 6 chafing dishes of different food. The thing was, the entire buffet was sections of the same 5 or 6 dishes. We were lucky to find one thing we liked. Breakfast was the only meal in the buffet that was tolerable. Fresh eggs each day. Never count on any fresh bread. Or should I say buns. They never had bread. Each day they had baskets of buns, even for breakfast. And they were rock hard stale. I brought peanut butter with me and couldn’t even use it for toast. Most of the staff in the main buffet were good. Some were pretty pushy for you to go into their sections. One time we sat down and no one even came over to greet us or ask us if we wanted anything. There were definitely staff around and then when we left 3 staff stood by our table expecting a tip. It was very unusual. International and Italian A La Carte: Thank goodness for these restaurants. The meals in both restaurants were really good. The staff were incredible. Fresh sliced bread – like right out of the oven fresh. Why not at the buffet?? We ended up booking a 3rd a la carte so we were guaranteed a good meal. Also, you will see a lobster/steak dinner advertise. DO IT! It’s $20 Pecos each and 100% worth it. The lobster is huge and incredible. One our friends had the steak. It was the size of a dinner plate. So good! The Thursday of our stay they opened up the beach grill and had a pig roast. This was really good. They don’t say anything about it, we just stumbled across it. If you were at the other end of the resort you may miss out on it. Beach: Most incredible beach ever! Tons of sunshade. 2 beach bars. Beach towels were always available. Pools: The 3 tier pools (main pool) are very beautiful but the 2 lower level pools were closed 3 days we were there. They did re-open but very dirty. The main upper pool by the swim up bar was so disgustingly dirty I don’t know how people even swam in it. Hair, floating things, the white grout throughout the entire pool was black with dirt. It was gross. Never once did we see anyone cleaning the pool daily. Any other resort we have stayed in they actually have a pool person who goes into the pool and vacuums and cleans it daily. The “family” pool is the same – dirty. Bars: All of the bars we went too were amazing! The staff were so friendly and kind. The lobby bar was a lot of fun. The Spanish coffees are to die for. The air conditioned bar was great too. We played pool, the music was great and it was a good place to cool off for a bit as the lobby bar was rather hot. The mosquitos and sand flies/flees (idk) were horrible. We got eaten alive. I used muskoil spray and came home covered head to toe in bites. They fogged each night which was good I guess. The fogging smell was toxic. Catamaran: It was okay. The lunch was fantastic. They drop you off at a beach for over an hour. It’s nice but the beach has no shelters, no washrooms and no drinks. All in all our vacation was great. We travelled with 2 other couples and we made the best of our week there, not letting the bad things get in our way. Unfortunately, we wouldn’t go back to Golden Tulip Resort. There are too many things that need to be improved, things that should be there to begin with.

Mixed Review

The resort itself was very nice, beautiful pool area and the most amazing beach I've ever seen. However the pools were not very clean so we ended up spending the majority of our time on the beach. Rooms: The rooms were nice, we had an ocean view which was fabulous. There were only 2 very tiny drawers in the closet which was not great as we had to live out of our suite cases the entire time. The pillows are flat but you can ask for extra pillows if you want. The cleaning staff were great,  [... read more]the room was very nice with the creative towel sculpture on the bed daily. The water guy was wonderful, friendly and very sweet. Pools: all the grout in each pool was black and there were missing tiles. There were pools on three separate levels and there was an infinity pool overlooking the ocean which was amazing! Lounge: The lounge was good, no fans so it was very hot to sit in there in the evenings. The bar staff and waitresses were amazing and friendly. Entertainment Staff: Joey was my favorite, so personable and funny. He wanted to improve his English and it was fun talking with him. Entertainment: Not much for entertainment at the resort, other than in the evenings at 9:30 when the stage show started. No foam party at the pool, and not a lot of fun activities happening. Bugs: There were a ton of mosquitoes and tiny biting flies..Our legs were covered even though we used 'Off'. They sprayed the bug fog in the evening when we were sitting in the lounge, they should maybe do that in the middle of the night instead. Beach Towels: were available every day and they were big, thick, blue towels. I loved them. Beach Bars: the staff was fantastic, the drinks were great!! Beach: Lots of cabanas set up for shade, and the beach was beautiful. Make sure you have flip flops for walking to and from the beach through the trails as there are lots spurs in the trails. Be careful in the water - lots of jelly fish. Buffet: The buffet was not great, six stations of the exact same thing. We stuck with the eggs cooked in front of us in the morning by a super great chef, and the chicken legs and potatoes at dinner time. Everything else I was not a fan of. 24 hour Snack Bar: The food was much better and available during the day. One day they had a big pig roast and buffet in one of the beach buffet buildings which was great. Lobster/T-Bone Steak: It was very much worth the 25 Pecos, so much food and was absolutely amazing! Bus ride to resort: The ride was very long after flying in. It was interesting to see the little towns on the way but the 2 hours on the bus was too long. Catamaran Excursion: Not the best I've been on for sure but it was nice. The dolphin area was fantastic, the staff on the boat were boring, they dropped us off at a beach with now shade, no drinks, no nothing for over an hour as they pulled back out into the ocean and waited. Not happy about that but we were on vacation and we made the best of it. I love Cuba!

Mediocre resort

The rooms were clean with up to date facilities. Always polite staff. Beach was amazing, while we where there it rained a couple of times during the week but never for more then 15 minutes and always able to carry on with activities. Buffet was mediocore, not really impressed, would recommend eating at beach spots or 24 hr bar as much as possible. The service at the grills was slow but polite. The items in the buffet dishes was duplicated so not really as many options as it looked and the ho [... read more]t dishes were not always hot. The lobby bar staff were awesome for service and attentiveness but mixing of drinks was hit and miss if you got the right mixture. They couldn’t grasp that I wanted vodka instead of rum. Usually added the vodka into drink with the rum. The pools look awesome, swim up bar and multi level overlooking g ocean but not very clean. The grout in the tiles was always black with mould. The drive from the airport to the hotel was about 1.5 hrs. Very long.

The beach was the best thing about thus hotel!

I found that the place was too big with a lot of walking on cement everywhere, and was very slippery with the humidity. The washrooms were very good with toilet paper. The quality of food could of been better, nothing much to eat, had bread and pasta. The meat was scary. I was looking forward to Cuban bananas, but had none, no smoothie station. I had diarrhea. I was covered with mosquito bites. The internet doesn’t work in the lobby in the evenings. Also everything is expensive now. Th [... read more]e bag of Serrano coffee is now 17 Cuban pesos which is about 23 Canadian dollars, didn’t but any, cheaper at Starsky and Hutch in Aurora.

Magnifique plage

La plage était magnifique et l’hotel très propre!! Pour ce qui est de la nourriture je donnerais un 7/10 mais je n’avais pas de grande attente car c’est Cuba!! Par contre très déçu du savoir vivre des cubains en visite à l’hotel!

Very nice resort!

This resort is very clean. Rooms are large with bar fridge which is replenished daily. Room also has a safe. Both services included in your all inclusive package. Each room also has an iron, ironing board, blow dryer & umbrella. The beach was a bit smaller but kept tidy & very beautiful. Staff were all friendly & helpful except for the guy who worked in the money exchange shop. He never smiled or exchanged any type of pleasantries or small talk with you. The food, although plentiful was [... read more] the usual, rather bland. A nice feature, you could get either a bottle of wine or champagne to take back to your room every evening when you left the buffet after having your dinner, no charge. My two complaints would be one, I have been to Cuba 5 times & I have never seen the mosquitos so bad!!! You could barely sit out at nite, they ate you alive! My second complaint was the gift shop. Rather pricey! Smokes & liquor much higher than any other resort I've been to. Also, you could'nt count on them being opened during their posted hours. They seemed to open & close at their own discretion.

Wonderful quiet resort

This has been our fourth stay at the hotel, first week of March. Not crowded at all, lots of space, great long white-sanded beach. Great for those who value the above. Good selection of food and drinks at buffet and bars. Lots of mosquitoes, take a good spray. Specialty restaurants are good for experience, don't go there to get something special in terms of food. The staff still doesn't speak acceptable English, particularly at the front desk and housekeepers, and they like if guests speak Sp [... read more]anish to them. Overall, very satisfied and look forward to go there again.

Resort is great

I love the layout of the resort. Block 19 is great if you have children. Get a ground floor your steps to the pool. The resort is fairly new but it does show wears and tears. The room is big and nice and bright. Only concern of the room is it didn’t feel as clean as I would like it there were visible stains on the decor pillows so unsure if they are washed or just tossed back on the bed but it makes it feel dirty. Stains on the coushions on the chairs in the room etc. The staff were very frien [... read more]dly and nice. Never felt pushy or needed to tip each and every time although I did tip well I didn’t feel like I had to to get great service. The towel hut is never open so bring your own towels. We walked by multiple times a day and it was never open. The ice cream hut although says open daily 10-4 it is never open not once so that was disappointing. The food is ok it’s typical for Cuba it’s not great but it’s not terrible. Very repetitive and bland. The bank at the hotel couldn’t take credit cards for money a few days I was there because the line wasn’t working so plan to bring cash to exchange to be safe. There is no doctor on site it is a 5 peso cab ride there and 5 back but the clinic is very clean and they were very professional and helped us very quickly. The pools seem to have a lot of wear on them like rust stains and broken tiles which are cracked and sitting at the bottom of the pool they need a bad vacuuming. The kids club is great the girls there are awesome. If you get this resort for the right price then go because it is overal beautiful and a great valu but I wouldn’t pay more then say 850 per person you can get better for that or less.

Awesome Holiday

Hotel was fabulous. Great size. Rooms clean. Pillows sucked. Bring your own if able. Beach was breathtaking. NO issues with finding chairs. Ran out of towels at times. Pool was clean and not too busy Food was edible. Typical Cuba food. Didn't starve!!! Bus ride from airport to resort about 1h45min. Ok when travelling during the daytime. Would definitely go back.

Loved the Golden Tulip

My husband and I travelled to this resort April 18-25 with a few of our friends. First time to Cayo Santa Maria but 7th time to Cuba. It is a 2 hour drive from the airport but it went by quickly and I enjoyed the history told by our tour rep. I was very impressed with the layout of this resort. The staff were all very friendly and helpful. The grounds were lush and beautiful. Food was as expected in Cuba. We did love the ham and cheese sandwiches at the snack bar and had one every evening. The [... read more] beach was incredible! Nicest beach I’ve seen. This resort is great for couples, families or groups...something for everyone. Planning to return for sure.

Amazing trip!

Just got back from our trip at the Golden Tulip! (April 12th-19th) We really enjoyed our stay and the amazing staff that made it that much better. It was not busy during our stay and we had no problems getting a chair in the mornings beach or pool. We spent our time on the beach but the pool is absolutely beautiful for those pool people! Easy check in & out, good food (especially the Pizza Hut on the pool YUM) Also one night they had a pig roast and that was VERY tasty! I would most defiantly re [... read more]ccomend this resort to someone and hope they love it just as much as us. We have no negative comments to make but a little tip I do have is pack face cloths & beach towels. I don’t think Cuba has face cloths so we had packed our own & there was always a long line up for beach towels which I read before our trip so I’m happy we brought our own! Also the pillows are a little flat it did not bother us my boyfriend prefers flat pillows but I just put two of the small throw on pillows under the actual pillow and I was perfectly fine. For someone that might be an issue so just bring your own! ALSO the beach was SO nice this resort has it’s on beach area which made it less busy, we really liked this! Thank you Golden Tulip for a great experience and the friendly staff! We had a nice relaxing vacation.

Lovely Holiday

We had no problems at all. The food was very good, the staff were very nice and rooms were clean. We would go back tomorrow if we could. The beach is lovely and they are building new shade every day.