Amazing, affordable family vacation!

This was our 2nd trip to Brisas Santa Lucia and we saw some nice improvements since the last time we were there 5 years ago. We travelled from April 16-24 with 3 adults (my husband and I, and my sister) and our 2 children (6 & 9). Flight: We flew with Air Transat and had exceptional service with our flight out of Toronto. We checked in online the night before and were able to choose our seats without any additional cost. The 5 of us were able to sit together and even had an empty seat in our ro [... read more]w which allowed for some extra room. I would highly recommend signing up your children for the Air Transat Kids Club…..we were able to utilize the ‘Club Class’ check-in, and were able to bypass the wait in the security line which was very quick and painless. Being part of the kids club, our children were able to receive a complimentary snack on the flight to Cuba and then home to Toronto. We knew that Air Transat did not serve any ‘free’ meals onboard, so we were prepared with our own sandwiches and snacks. We arrived safely in Cuba, went through customs and received our luggage without any issues. There were several buses waiting to take us to our resort which was approximately 1.5 hours from the airport. Once we arrived at the resort (around 11:30pm), check in was fairly quick considering there were several busloads of vacationers. Rooms: We finally found our way to our room (Block 7) to quickly drop off our luggage, throw on our shorts, and head to the buffet for a quick bite to eat before bed. My sisters’ room was in Block 1 (the other side of the resort), but didn’t think it was a big deal to not be in the same block, so we kept the rooms that we were given. Beach towels and a bottle of rum was waiting in our room when we first arrived which was a nice touch. There was only a slight issue with our room, we found a cockroach scurrying behind the bed when we first turned on the light when entering the room. We were fully aware that we are on an island and that there are going to be bugs, so we weren’t overly concerned with this. We quickly disposed of the cockroach and checked for others. No others were found that night. We did find a couple more throughout the week and discovered they were coming in from the pot light in the bathroom. The pot light did not have a cover on it. We didn’t report this to the front desk or maintenance because we just dealt with it by leaving the bathroom light on at all time. Once we did this, we never saw any more cockroaches. Food: We ate mostly at the buffet and the beach restaurant, but also had the Noli-tours dinner on the beach one night. The food was very good, although it did get a bit repetitive, everyone always found something tasty to eat. The ice cream is so delicious!! It was available all day at the ‘ice cream hut’ and was a favourite with my girls. The ‘deep fried dough’ by the pool was also great for a poolside snack! Beach: The beach is very beautiful, although there is quite a bit of seaweed, the employees did their best to clean up what washed to shore daily. There were still lot of clear areas where you could walk out quite a distance and enjoy the warm ocean. The only unfortunate thing is that there were a lot of disrespectful vacationers that would use the beach as a ‘large ashtray’. I don’t have an issue with smokers, but think it’s very disrespectful if you drop your cigarette butts all over the beach. Take a plastic cup, fill it with sand, and dispose of your butts that way please! We did also see quite a bit of ‘plastic’ either floating in the water or wash up to shore. I’ve heard someone mention that it’s garbage from the cruise ships, but not sure if that’s fact or not. Regardless, the beach was a great place to take in a breathtaking sunrise, or enjoy the day. (Just watch out for the sand fleas!) My daughters and I also enjoyed some horseback riding on the beach. The horses were very gentle and both my girls were able to ride each the horses by themselves. Pool: It was where we spent most of our afternoons to cool off. Tip: Bring your own blow up inner-tubes...the kids love these! Swim-up bar was usually busy, but you didn’t have to wait that long for a drink. Be sure to bring your own travel mugs as it save on waste (plastic cups), and you don’t need to refill as often! In the afternoons, we saw that they enjoyed a ‘keg riding contest’….which looked like a lot of fun! We always got chairs around the pool, but wish there may have been more under shade at times to escape the hot sun when you needed it! Tours: My husband and I enjoyed 2 tours – the Lobster dinner at Coco Beach was a lot of fun. We took a quick bus ride to Coco Beach where we stopped at a little fisherman’s village where we got off the bus and could purchase some handmade jewelry by the locals, and take a few pics by the water and see how the locals lived. We then arrived at Coco Beach where we enjoyed an open bar, a bon-fire with some coconut drinks, and a local band. We danced before and after our delicious meal. The 2nd tour we took was the Sunset Catamaran Tour. With this we enjoyed an open bar with a few appetizers before watching the beautiful sunset. Other highlights were the staff – always so friendly, smiling and most seem to enjoy their jobs. “Harry Potter” and Roli really stood out and they were always so friendly. There were many others that I should me mention, but apologize and don’t remember any names. Our maid did a great job always ensuring our room was clean and had fresh towels, and the bartenders made your drinks just the way you liked them. Another ‘bonus’ was that we were able to utilize the facilities at the resort next door (Gran Club Santa Lucia). We spent a couple of days over there and used the pool, and enjoyed their breakfast and lunch buffet on 2 occasions. It was a nice change of scenery when we wanted it! All in all, it was a great, affordable, family vacation. For those who write negative reviews about the resort, you just need to relax and enjoy the simpler things in life! I actually loved the fact that we became totally ‘disconnected’ from electronics for a week and were able to enjoy some great, quality family time together. Although, I did just hear that Brisas now has wifi, it won’t ‘deter’ me from coming back for a 3rd time! Can’t wait for our next vacation …..hopefully we’ll see you again in September!

Fabulous beach

Brisas has the best beach in Santa Lucia! Combine that with a lovely pool,super service and some really fun staff and you can't lose. Don't go expecting 5 star food or a room looking like the Ritz but do go with an open mind and ready to laugh

Comfortable and friendly

Rooms were fine with good AC. Beds were comfortable. Good entertainment. Food was alright once you figured out what to eat. The beach was great and service very friendly and efficient. Would go there again for sure.

Awesome Time!

This hotel was really great! I will list the things that were great: -Entertainment Staff -Drinks -Excursions -Location -Pool -Fries at the snack bar Do not miss the pasta making station in the main buffet hall! It's at the far back and people usually miss it! ;-)

Nice resort

This resort is in need of an upgrade but is still a nice hotel. The food was good and always could find something to eat. Nice that it has 24 hour bar and snack bar. Staff was nice and helpful. happy to have seen this hotel but not much to do

Great place for a week of relaxation!

The room was great and very clean. The bed was very comfortable and the temperature was perfect. Through grounds are very well maintained. The pool was amazing with lots of chairs. We loved the coffee bar and the coffee was so good. The beach was clean and such blue water. The food was better than we had anticipated and the choice of food was great. We would definitely go back to this resort. The Cubans were friendly and honest and we felt very safe when we went bicycling outside the resort.

Great relaxing resort!

Grounds were well kept. Beach was walking distance. Staff were awesome and well attentive! Food....well its Cuba! Take your own bottle of ketchup if its a condiment you like! The rooms need a little bit of a face lift.

Great time!

My boyfriend and I stayed at Brisas mid march for one week and had a wonderful time! The beach was beautiful, the staff was amazing and the food wasn't bad at all. We expected the worst-being our first time in cuba before we went everyone told us Cuban food was tasteless! We brought our own salt, pepper and ketchup and we were good to go!) the thing I wasn't to fond of was the nightly entertainment and the lack of "local" surroundings. We were hoping to be able to see more of the Cuban lifestyle [... read more] and explore more outside of the walls but there isn't much to see. We went on a lobster dinner excursion....it was worth every penny!!!! The environment, the people, the food....it was one of my fondest memories from our trip!

I would go back!

I loved this resort. Not too big, friendly staff, decent food, nice pool, nice beach, nice rooms. My only issue was that the bartender at the pool bar (Mike) was so slow and didn't pay attention to customers at all. He took FOREVER to serve us and then when he finally took our order he took forever to bring us our drinks cause he was busy checking his phone and talking to his wife. The only way to get a drink at the pool bar was to get out of the pool and stand on the dry deck because otherwise  [... read more]the bartenders would never serve you.

Really relaxing

All good except we had our rooms changed because we had requested a ground floor room(my husband was recuperating from recent hip replacement, and my daughter and her husband wanted to keep on the ground floor and requested that plus a "pack and play" for the baby.. We were put near the nightly entertainment which was stupendously loud until 11pm. Not much sleep till then for our two rooms.

Great Place

This resort was very good. The beach would be perfect for kids as it is shallow and warm water for a good distance. The sand was soft and white, and the beach was raked several times a day. Great place to stay, food was good and a la carte restaurants were very good. Small enough that you did not have to walk a long distance to get to beach, restaurants etc. from room .

Extremely amazing resort

This resort is one of the best in Cuba. The beach area is clean and well accessible from the main of the resort. The resort staff is very friendly and more than happy to help. We did the Catamaran tour and that was more than I expected. The food was left to be desired if you like to eat a lot of fish other than that it is Cuba and they do not have too much to offer. Beef is certainly not on the top of their menu as we did not have any the entire week. The washroom facilities lack toilet seats in [... read more] the woman's washrooms for most of the public washrooms in the resort. Overall I would most certainly recommend this resort and the location Camaguey a very nice spot to visit.

Good Bang for the Buck

Pros: cheap, great weather, good diving, good trip to Cameguay (Unesco World Heritage Site), lots of cute cats and dogs, some good spots for photography Cons: beach has seaweed everywhere, resort is old, food is lousy

Good and not so good see details

Good rooms, good food, got the location I asked for, friendly staff, good value, sunny every day. Beach, white sand, but long rough walk to swimming depth. Never seen such constant wind. Good pool to escape, good bar service. Entertainment , the worst ever . Just endless noise, and silly games, no quality. Supposedly some little show at disco, but after 11pm.

Great Time

We found the resort clean and grounds well tended, the staff very friendly and accommodating, the Transat reps helpful and informative. There was some "seaweed" on the beach (especially after a windy day) that they attempted to clean up, It was not seaweed we have in the summer here, there was no smell, so it didn't bother me at all. I highly recommend bringing a snorkel set from Costco or something, theirs works but is very basic. Plenty of fish at the resort by the coral and the "Playa Bonita" [... read more] excursion is a great for a snorkel experience. The food was fine at the buffet, certainly not what we can get here in all respects but we found our favourites that we returned to. From what we heard "Brisas" had the best food selection of all the resorts in Santa Lucia. Really had a great time over all. Met all my expectations. Love Cuba and the people.

Amazing as always

this was my 10 time to cuba and the same for Brisas Santa Lucia this time I was with my friend and my grandson as always we have a great time even though the weather was not great for the first few days we had a great time .The personal attention I get when I go there is like coming home everyone knows me and helps me as much as they can for I walk with a cane ant they are always attentive so as I do not fall or I need something there is always someone in hand,my room is equipped with bath math  [... read more]and bat plug in case I would like a bath instead of shower,there is nothing at Brisas that thye will not do for you and your family when your part of theirs which what happens when you first go there,me and my family go to brisas 3 to 4 times a year I have been to other places but brisas santa lucia is home I would recommend it to anyone who wants to go to santa lucia camaguey .have fun in the sun

Nice resort!

This hotel was a bit run down however very clean, grounds were kept immaculate and staff were amazing! I would definitely recommend this resort for someone who wanted to get away at a great price!!!!!!!

Tried But Failed

Beach: LOADS of seaweed the first two days. It was to the point of disgusting to walk through (see picture). Little to no snorkeling right at the beach. Must head down the beach to get a glimpse of core. Warmer then the pool for sure. Lounge chairs are good and bad. Many are new but a great deal are dirty, stretched to the point of being saggy and uncomfortable and many of the plastic ones have broken arms. Food: Buffet was pretty much the same everyday with the exception of the grill. It varied [... read more] between chicken, fish and pork chops.The service staff is lack luster at best. We had many meals where we sat, ate and left without having anyone at all stop at our table at all. We had two Ala cartes. Cuba was delicious and seafood was the other end if the spectrum. Their seafood cocktail consisted of processed I'm at a to on crab stocks cut and then stirred in mayo. They ran out of ketchup, mustard and had no slush drinks, ran out if limes and mint also. On occasion we had to try three bars before we could get a drink because the power was sketchy or the water world not work. The Room: Large stain on one of the covers and was never changed. Coach roach was smashed the first night on the bathroom floor. My wife's gold chain and pendant was stolen the first day also ( they would have had to go through our things to find it) we couldn't get a safe that night and had to wait. When we did get a safe code it would not work. We waited for two hours in our room for the man to come fix it. Maids did an excellent job and the grounds crew did a great job maintaining a clean resort. The resort limits the toilet tissue as the week goes on because many tourists take it with them because anywhere off the resort it is not supplied!! Not even the airport. The Pool: pool is clean but cold. If you have kids keep a close eye because the lifeguard sits behind the rules board to get out of the sun. He can only see half (maybe) of the pool. Many games go all day but very loud. Qubecquois make up a good portion of the visitors here and they know it. Pushy rude and ignorant (not all but a great deal of them).

Great resort

very nice facility, excellent service, everything is clean, neat and tidy. The room is spacious, very clean and beds very comfy, furniture is old and sparse, place needs some basic maintenance ! However, for the price and compared to the neighbor resorts, this was the best. Not much to see in the immediate area, so we suggest the boat ride to see the coral reef, and take the horses for a tour around the lagoon. Bring Canadian money and exchange at the nearby bank, can't rely on credit cards work [... read more]ing half the time. Overall, we loved the beach, the pool area and met tons of great people. Will

Ok, but wouldn't return

We had great weather, 30s all week! The beach had a lot of seaweed that was regularly being cleaned up by a tractor. The pool was quite cool and not too busy. The bars were basic, they ran out of mint & coconut milk before the end of the day and didn't have limes. Lots of decent rum! The employees were friendly and definitely responded to tips! No wifi and very limited internet for a price, calling cards also seemed to be a premium, couldn't get one all week. The rooms were very basic, the white [... read more] towels showed stains and the sheets weren't changed daily. (Not that I mind so much, but the sand was a little 'off-putting'.) We got a nice bottle of rum with 2 cans of cola and a bottle of water on day one, no replacements. The power would go off a few times a day. Only enough hot water for 1 quick shower and one day the pipes broke so we had none. As for the food, all I can say is thank goodness for the morning omeletes! The buffets were the same everyday, not impressed with the choices at all! The a la carts weren't much better.