Good resort, but..

We stayed 15 days in February. The room is very nice and spacious. We moved from building 5 to 7 due to a noise that was right in front of our balcony ( show time), too hard to fall asleep. Room in building 7 -TV had only 5 channels ( others had 48), a technician couldn't fix it- no signal he said. Too strange and odd to have a string for drying the swimming clothes in the shower stall- too humid there for that - better to have it on the balcony. The food in the buffet was OK, no co [... read more]mplaints. A-la cart restaurants were not very impressive. We visited 2- Cuban and Asian ( Italian didn't work). It would be nice to have hand sanitizers everywhere in the public areas- I didn't see any. Also there were no tissues in the rooms, no coffee makers. The plates in the buffet looked as they were not properly cleaned. THE HOTEL HAS TO DO SOMETHING WITH FLIES IN THE BUFFET! They are everywhere- on the food, in the glasses. There are not enough lounge chairs on the beach- that's why people have to go early in the morning at 6.30 and reserve them. The neighbour hotel has hundreds of chairs on their beach. Comparing to Grenada's hotel- we could change the beach towels any time on the beach, here we had to leave them in the room so the maid would have left us the new ones- not very convenient. Hotel's marina was closed all the time- we had to go to Valentine to book a hoby cat. The guy made for us only 15 min along the beach, though the other boats were in the sea way longer. May be, because we didn't belong to Valentine? No bicycles for rent, it would be nice to have them. There is a grand piano in the lobby- nobody ever played it. I think, the hotel is OK, though there are some issues there, that can be solved. Cuban people are nice and hard working. My complaints are for the management.

Fun with my 4 year old

I wanted to write a review of this resort and focus on 2 things - stuff to bring and coming here with a young child. The rest I'm sure is covered in other posts... I highly recommend bringing the following items if you are travelling with young kids: - canned or powdered milk - their formula - their favorite juice (somehow) - ketchup (however we had French fries only once) - peanut butter/jam - mustard, BBQ sauce, hot sauce - salad dressing (!) - lots of potato chips (they are nowhe [... read more]re to be found around here) - Crackers - candy (they have some chocolate and cookies in the shops) - water/pool toys and beach toys (they have some floaties like inner tubes at the Kids club) - lots of sun coverage - finding shade can be a challenge - umbrellas get scooped up really quickly - wet wipes - movies/TV downloaded onto your devices - the wifi does not work well - 1 or more large travel mugs for cold and hot drinks from the bar Bringing kids: I came here alone with my 4 year old son. I had read there was a Waterpark which was why I booked it. There really isn't a "waterpark" although there is a cute kids pool with some things that spout water so maybe that's what they meant. We had an Aqua Fun room which just meant that it was right next to the Kid's Pool and Kid's Club. The ladies who work at the Kid's Club were great. They watched my son anytime between 10am and 5pm. He loved playing there. They had toys, play-doh and coloring books. They also have a little shallow baby pool (in addition to the kids pool) and a little swing set. In addition to the regular kids club hours, they would have "mini discos" at night some evenings for half an hour. They would dress up and play kids music and they had lights and would all dance to silly songs. My son loved it. Another night they played a kids movie in the lobby and put mats and pillows on the floor. Another night they had a "pirates dinner" and everyone got a pirate hat to wear. One very fun night they had a pjama party with games and lots of kids came out for this. I was a bit frustrated by the food situation there. For example, the lack of real juice, not having French fries, etc. The food was not very child friendly, although they had pizza one night. Of course my son didn't seem to notice. They always had ice cream and some yummy deserts. I'm glad I brought toddler formula along. We paid for 8 x 2L bottles of water because we went through it quickly and it was annoying to keep asking for more. There is no bath tub and my son hates showers so he only had one forced shower the whole week. Overall, it was a pretty, modern place with good staff. I'm so grateful that the Kid's Club staff were so willing to watch him so I could have a break. For Canadians: Please bring cash for tips in US $1 bills and some $5. They don't want our loonies and toonies, their banks do not accept them. If you're looking for a nightlife, this is probably not the place for you. But for a week sitting by the pool and reading it worked well for us. I didn't love the beach simply because of lack of chairs and shade. Maybe if we walked further along the beach we would have had better luck but it's hard to do that with a small kid.

Wouldn’t Stay Again

My friends and I stayed here for a girls trip. We enjoyed the beach and pools, and the resort itself was beautiful. However, the food was atrocious. We were not expecting anything great as we knew going into it that the food in Cuba is subpar. The issue was that the buffet actually didn’t have a lot to offer, forget about taste. Some days there wasn’t even bread, or rice. They often ran out of fish too, so a member of our group who was vegetarian had a really hard time. We had two rooms betw [... read more]een us, one room on the first floor and one on the third floor. The room on the first floor didn’t lock properly and the room on the third floor was a mess. The AC didn’t work properly, the balcony door didn’t close and there was an infestation of ants. By the last nights there were ants in the beds. The staff were lovely and tried their best, but the service was lacking. Ultimately, we had a great time but we wouldn’t come back to this resort again.

NOT THE BEST

THIS WAS NOT THE BEST RESORT i HAVE EVER BEEN TO. tHEY RAN OUT OF BEER, THEN THE RAN OUT OF MILK, THEY NEVER HAD ANY CREAM FOR THE COFFEE. AND YOU HAD TO REALLY LIKE PORK, AND TOLAPIA, BEEF WAS NONEXISTANT, THEY WERE BBQing PORK SLICESAND PUTTING THEN IN HAMBURGER BUNS. WE RAN OUT OF HOT WATER FOR THREE DAYS , THEN WE RAN OUT OF WATER. ON THE SECOND LAST DAY FOR THE DAY. THE BARTENDER WE GOT TO KNOW WAS GREAT, I FELT SORRY FOR ALL THE PEOPLE THAT WORKED THERE, LONG LONG HOURS, THEY SURE DO DEP [... read more]END ON THE TIPS THEY GET. I HAD A HARD TIME BUYING A CUBAN CIGAR, THE SAND ON THE BEACH WAS DIRTY, I DON'T THINK THEY EVER RAKE IT. OTHER THAN THAT WE HAD A GOOD TIME , THIS PLACE IS HUGE, THEY ARE SITTING ON A GOLDMINE THEY JUST PROBABLY NEED MONEY TO GET IT GOING MOST OF THE PEOPLE I TALED TO SAID THEY WOULD NOT GO BACK, WHICH ISA SHAME LYNNE RICHARDS.

Beautiful resort, place and people !

We have been to Cuba before (Cayo Guillermo) and we loved this new resort. The rooms were spacious, clean, full of light and conveniently organized. There were mosquito nets on the doors. The buildings are situated to have as many of the terraces to have an ocean view, specifically the 2-3 floors. The food was just right for me with enough variety for breakfast, lunch and dinner, to be able to make a different plate every time. There were servings of at least one or two types of meats (pork, l [... read more]amb, chicken) as well as fish at lunch and dinner. I am not a big meat eater and I enjoyed mostly the yogurt, bread, soups and salads as well as cooked vegetables, rice, fish and potatoes, etc. The staff at the restaurant melted our hearts each time we saw them. We will never forget the kindness, the smiles and the great service we received from Rosalia and Reinier. Entertainment: There was relax and dance routine each morning and afternoon at the pool and at the beach. The evening entertainment site was at the pool but there was also a beach party one night, which we all enjoyed and was a great time for everyone from very young, young and old. The Entertainers were the life of the place. Always genuinely friendly, happy and positive. We saw them everywhere and had very positive and good conversation, or danced together with Beatrice, Jessica, Andrew, Alejandro, Jackson, Billy and all the others! The cleaning staff was also very accommodating. There was shortage of bottled water at one time when they cleaned the rooms in the morning but they brought the water to our room later in the day when it was available. All the staff accepts tips as a normal practice across the resort, ask the staff or the Sunwing representative for information. We also brought clothes and gifts (tank tops and T-shirts) in good shape although not brand new to give to the cleaning staff in the rooms and outside. Everyone was grateful to receive them. The young staff was ecstatic about brand names. Since we have been back, we miss everything in everyone. This was a truly enjoyable vacation for our family.

Unsafe & Unsanitary

My husband and I have been to Cuba over 10 times. We love Cuba for the beaches and the people! We decided to take a family vacation with our 1 year old to Iberostar Selection Esmeralda for 7 days. Where to begin….. CHECK IN: We arrived at midnight and got checked in and did not receive any direction of where to go or how to get to our room. We had to ask another traveller who happened to be sitting in the lobby. We were told we couldn’t have the wifi code as the lady at the front desk [... read more] didn’t know how to do it. We said ok, we will come back in the morning (we like to check in with family back home to let them know we made it safely). The next morning we went back to ask for the wifi code and they told us they didn’t have any wifi available. ???? FOOD/DINING: We came with low expectations of food knowing the issues Cubans are currently facing with pandemic recovery and the US trade, on top of that we also know how the food should be since we’ve visited Cuba multiple times previously. However there was always a line up to get into the buffet and a LONG line up to get to the food (if there was any). Lunch starts at 1pm and dinner at 7pm. We had pork and rice for every meal, every day. Sometimes the rice was crunchy or dry as if it were 2+ day old rice. They ran out of bread for two days. Fries, pasta, pizza, condiments or butter were non existent. If you are looking for fruits, they only had papaya 2 of the days in the morning. The plates, cups, utensils in the dining hall were never clean. They were always still greasy or crusty and you could see the smear marks on the plates from how they wiped the previous food off. Coffee stains on coffee cups that were not cleaned prior. The lobby bar had no milk for coffees in the morning and snack bar did not have cups and they frequently ran out of beer and water. 24 hour snack bar only operates a couple hours a day and there is no selection of food. ROOM: The room is spacious and very well laid out however our shower did not drain and water pooled about ankle deep until it flowed outside of the shower (after about a minute and a half), we only had scolding hot water in our shower as well as lots of black mold. We arrived to our room with dirty, stained sheets and 1 blanket for 2 beds. Requested new sheets and we were not able to get them. We tipped our maid with money and gifts every day but it seems like they just do not have enough resources to provide clean sheets and towels. For 7 days we used the same dirty sheets and towels. Our balcony / floor in the room was never wiped down or swept. We did not receive toilet paper for 2 days. Minibar in the room is empty and was not stocked however they do leave 1 bottle of water per day (if you need more you must ask for a refill at the bar which tastes like chlorine). CHECK OUT: We were required to check out by 5:50am and the bus arrived to pick us up at 6:50am which meant that we would not make it for breakfast. The receptionist told us to go to the 24 hour snack bar but it was closed because there was no food available. CONCLUSION: We do not recommend coming to Iberostar Selection Esmeralda as it is simply not safe or sanitary. We understand the situation but it would be best to avoid booking here. They have a lot of work to do to make the guest stay safe.

Resort is average !

Hotel is nice and clean ,my room was close to the beach,buffet ,pool and other entertainment facilities what happened daily we loved ! Food was fair everyone can find something to eat ,but we can see some differences compared to previous years i been shocked no bread for the whole day ,not eggs for the breakfast (several days) we stayed 12 days but you can always find something ! Only thing i like to tell for management it's dirty dishes and glasses !

Canadians must read ...

The property is beautiful, and the rooms are modern, HOWEVER, If you stay on the ground floor you will sleep with bugs.. we got moved to the third floor and found the bugs weren’t as bad. There were a lot of ants, mosquitoes and other small bugs in the room and completely unrelated to bugs, but we also found toenail clippings in the corner of our room. They cleaned the room but still didn’t clean them up, it seems they only make the beds and don’t clean anything else. They have 2 al a  [... read more]carte restaurants, Cuban and italian, and allow 2 reservations per week. They were both okay. The buffet was hit or miss, some days they would have food options and other days it was like grasping at straws trying to put a meal together, and even then it was average at best. There is a food shortage, so given the circumstances it wasn’t THAT bad, but like I said, some days were better than others. There is also a snack bar by the main pool that serves food all day, the pizza was great, but it isn’t always available and sometimes you would need to wait over an hour. The night snacks you had an option of fish, pork or a cheeseburger, the cheeseburger always comes undercooked, so I suggest asking for it well done. The bars were below average with limited selection. 1 type of beer, a few spirits, no sodas, and slow service. The frozen drinks came very watery and not thick and milky (Pina colada) or thick and icy (daiquiris). The wifi is strong when it works but can be very inconsistent and dodgey, it works on the beach and by the pools most times and in the room sometimes, but does not work in the lobby. You also get a slip of paper with your wifi login and you need to go to the front desk every 3 hours to re-activate the wifi. The beach is nice. White sand and turquoise blue water. There was a lot of seaweed but I think that washed in with the rain and they had workers slowly removing it over the week. The water is shallow and wavey, it was pretty windy when we were there. The amenities were lacking, it’s advertised there is a spa and water park. There was neither, we thought it might be at the coral section but we were told we couldn’t go there. The gift shop was terrible, they had corn flakes, candy, toothpaste and cigars. It was the size of a closet and only 3 people could squeeze in at a time. The service was very slow and we often felt like a last priority. 95% of the people at the resort were Russian and it was very clear they were favoured and top priority. The staff were younger (I’m only 30) and spoke more Russian than they did English. Some spoke zero English. One day I was at the front desk renewing my wifi and a Russian man aggressively came up beside me and talked over me to the agent to get helped first. The desk agent gave him his full attention and I was then ignored. When I called the man out and asked if I was invisible, he blatantly ignored me and continued talking to the desk agent, I then raised my voice and repeated myself and he mumbled something in Russian under his breath and the agent rolled his eyes and laughed. He then asked the man if it was ok to help “the lady” first… even though I was speaking to him first and we were there for the same purpose. I would like to point out, my friend and I are two females in our early-mid thirties and were very positive and happy / friendly toward everyone, very polite to the staff, not causing problems or making various requests. We are very low maintenance, and we had been tipping everywhere. So in a nutshell, this hotel is far from a 5 star and is closer to a 3 star. If you are Russian you will get better treatment and if you are Canadian I would probably just stay away all together. If you are looking for an updated room and a nice beach and don’t care about service, food, entertainment, drinks or being harassed and bullied by Russians then you might be ok with this hotel. I personally will never come back, and for an Iberostar it is an embarrassment to the brand (even for Cuba) At the airport we spoke to the other Canadians and they all had the same experience - poor service, entitled and aggressive Russians harassing them, bad food and feeling unsafe. Pros: modern rooms, beautiful lobby and property, amazing pools Cons: bugs in rooms, terrible food, terrible service (unless you’re Russian), no amenities (spa, casino, water park, water sports etc), entertainment catered to Russians (Russian music and Russian commentary)

Beautiful resort

Beautiful new clean resort, very warm friendly people, service was good, food was good and plenty, im not fussy about food, but very impressed, a breathtaking beach and ocean and unbelievable was great sandy, smooth beach. My best vacation ever and the best best beach. Looking forward to will be going back again next year.

Great resort!

Beautiful resort. New and clean. Very updated and modern. Amazing staff, very friendly and helpful. Lady at the pool bar Dailiniet was so amazing. Always asking if we needed refreshments, very fast service always with a smile. Room was beautiful, some ants here and there but we were on the ground level so not much to complain about. Room was close to pool and lobby.

Great resort

Everything is great in that resort. It’s brand new one with great layout and design is 21 century in all details. It’s about 1 hour from airport and if you enjoy Cuban beaches this will be right for you. Coral level bit more advance.

5 stars beautiful place and staff

I love hotel and kid’s club and staff was very nice people and take care my kids a lot and both have fun and food was not bad and beach was very nice service was excellent I am recommended for family