Ocean Riviera Paradise: Highly Recommend this resort (especially for families)

This is a newer resort and it shows - everything was in great condition! The room was large, the beds were amazingly comfortable, good sized balcony with table/chairs, exactly how it looked on the website photos. The resort property is large enough that you get a little walking in during the day, but not too big. Multiple pools offer options; one has huge water park for kids, one is "adults only" which is nice and has the adult entertainment, one is for everyone. There is a pool right on the  [... read more]beach - the beach was great, sufficient number of comfortable lounge chairs, a pool and restaurant right on the beach, pleasant music playing but nothing too loud and crazy. The food was fabulous! Multiple restaurants, 2 buffets, the guacamole was to die for!!!! The only negative is that there weren't enough staff in the buffet in the mornings (coffee was a bit of time coming on some days) but that was the ONLY thing that could have been improved upon. There's a cute "street" down the middle of the resort with restaurants on one side and shops/casino/coffee place/gym/spa/ice cream shop/bowling alley - felt a little like an upper scale shopping district. The front desk staff were always available and helpful. The entertainment at night was exceptional by resort standards. There was always something really fun happening before the shows that entertained the kids and then the actual shows were amazing. I have traveled south quite a bit, Cuba, Dominican, Mexico, Bahamas - and this is in the top 2 resorts I've stayed at. If you have a family with smaller children this is the resort for you. Although, having said that, as 2 adults travelling there was enough separation for us to not feel as though we were surrounded by kids all the time either. A really nice balance.

Ocean Riviera Paradise: Amazing resort

This was our second time staying in Ocean Riviera Paradise. The resort is very beautiful . It is a big resort ,very clean and a lot to do. The beach is very nice too. We stayed in ElBeso adult only. Rooms are clean and nicely furnished. Food is exellent in all restaurant .We did not visit the Mexican restaurant this year. The staff is very helpful also. The only problem here is if you have a problem walking and you want to go to the beach you have to take a trolleys and you have to wait a long t [... read more]ime till they come. If you are in privileged club they go always almost empty but they do not stop for you.

Valentin El Patriarca Varadero: Nice place to visit

The hotel was very clean there is a huge selection of food to eat even if you are a picky eater there will be something for you to eat the snack bar was awesome but the beach wasn’t cleaned all week mikes coffee bar was the best place for coffee

Ocean Coral Riviera Cancun: very nice hotel.

everything was good all areas food was good but sweets not at our expectation. Shows at night some good some not that good.all area around was clean and every day they maintain that cleanliness throughout the day. Time share representatives very bothering. Activities plenty to go.

Playa Vista Azul: Nice resort

Some things were falling apart and our shower leaked. Our bathroom sliding door was very hard to close and so was our closet doors. They did however fixed them both the day before we left. The staff and employees were terrific as is always in Cuba. The towels also smelled like stinky cheese, but everything was very clean. We would go back again sometime.

Playa Vista Azul: great staff and cleanliness

thought everything was very good---great landscaping--- buffett food often cold because of lineups---suggest some self serve micro-waves--entertainment at night was very professional---pool snack bar was excellent

Valentin El Patriarca Varadero: Great Resort

Been their 3 times & would go again. We've been to Cuba 7 times & this one is our favorite. The music is fantastic. Just don't fly with Sunwing. We did once but never again. The seats have about 6" less knee room than TransAt so we were pleased with TransAt. With Sunwing my knees are about 1" longer than the room in front. The resort rates more than a 5 star.

Ocean El Faro: 5* Ambience with 3* SERVICE

This resort has a lot of appeal just based on decor alone. It’s very glam and chic, and pictures are telling the truth, but what you do not see are the serious issues with the staff, their ability to provide service people are accustomed to at other resorts that are qualified to be 5*. I do not blame the staff, I blame management, both upper and middle. There are managers walking around observing, but they have no impact on the quality or lack thereof of the actual service. There is NOONE pers [... read more]on greeting you when you arrive at the resort, for a 5 star there should be someone with a friendly smile either providing you with a cocktail or water or a cold cloth as most other resorts do. When you checkout and leave there is NOONE offering you a farewell, asking how your stay was or just a simple, goodbye. At the main buffet where you spend most breakfasts and lunches there are ZERO servers, no one person coming to your table specifically to ask what beverages you would like to drink with your meal, coffee service is one of two men with coffee jugs walking around serving the entire Buffett of hundreds of people, and you will be lucky to receive a coffee, not to mention water. They only have people collecting your plates(busboys) and even that doesn’t happen often throughout your meal. The pool bar has 2 bartenders serving hundreds of people that are overly anxious to re robe their cocktail to consume under the hot sun. There is one waitress also serving drinks around the pool, but imagine one waitress attempting to service hundreds of people, with one tray carrying 8-10 drinks at the most. The beverage staff that fills refreshments in your room forgot to attend our room for two nights, so no water bottles in the room for the kids. Water is a necessity. I should not have to holler and argue to have this service at a five star resort. At Mikes coffee, while a great idea to have a cafe onsite- there were two staff on at all times to service a resort that has approx 450 rooms. The bowling alley closed down for maintenance all day and two evenings. One restaurant closed for maintenance for 4 days, it’s not a necessity, so I’m not complaining, however my issue is that I can go as far as to call this misrepresentation. The Ice Cream hut that was supposed to open everyday at 3:30pm, did not, the girl serving chose to open when it was convenient for her, and she really didn’t give a crap whether you were mad or not. The Buffet ran out of mango and passiofruit for 2 days. This is not a necessity but when you arrive in a country when they have farms of these fruit and this resort “runs out” you can clearly see how much they want “pleased” guests. Tables are not prepared for guests when you are seated, they are dirty, no napkins, no cups, mugs and cutlery. I have experienced service like this in Cuba, My mother had a leak in her bathroom in one of her sinks that she called maintenance to fix 3 times, as she slipped in the water in the bathroom, no one showed up, all services to call by phone after 10pm are constantly busy, my guess is they took phones off the hook. Who was really great and always ready to speak to you and follow you and chat you up... the timeshare staff... very eager to get you to attend a breakfast meeting to show you around the hotel... with service like we experienced I would not recommend this hotel to anyone, and those timeshare staff will definitely have a very difficult time.

Hotel Roc Casa del Mar: Home away from home

Ocean casa del mar is an awesome resort to relax in paradise. The fresh fish, the omelet, and fried rice stations are worth the short wait. The staff are second to none especially my best friend Jorge the gardener. He is like my brother. Also my favourites are Valentin, Junier, Leo

Ocean El Faro: Very Impressed!

This is a great resort. Love that u can go to all restaurants except Japanese without reservations. Food was excellent in all, was impressed! Also a extra ice cream booth and great coffee shop(Mikes) to go too. Big place but never had problems to find a lounger at pools or beach. Lots of room in pools, not overcrowded. Love the lazy river, no shortage of tubes. Rooms are spacious bed very comfy, and seemed sound proof. Bathroom big with both separate shower and jet tub. Used tub worked great, sh [... read more]ower drain is slope wrong would leak on floor, but used rolled up towels by door and was fine. Only set back is people trying to sell you timeshares, we would tell them already went to seminar and would leave us alone. Beach is okay, a lot of waves, not much shade but were working on putting up more sunhuts. Overall were very impressed!

Playa Vista Azul: Good resort

The resort was beautiful, well maintained with good beach options and pools. Plenty of lounge chairs and places to soak in the sun. The food wasn’t the greatest, as is the norm in Cuba, but we did find some good options, as there are several a la cart restaurants. The Cuban and Italian restaurants were the best. The Privilege package was great for getting the better drinks at the private bar, but not everything listed for the package was actually provided. Room service in particular was terrib [... read more]le, as you have to order it the day before and often times it comes cold. It also says you can order breakfast from 7-11 but wouldn’t let us have food sent until 8. Room selection seemed to be very random, so be wary of upgrading. Night life pretty much dies down after 11, but the one beach bar stays open later, with food and drink options and a decent place to chill. Most staff members were great, but some were not. For those who live by their phone, you will not like the wifi coverage as it is spotty at best. Overall a good resort, but not great.

Valentin El Patriarca Varadero: Great Resort

The hotel was very clean, staff are amazing and quality of service was great. The food at the buffet was very disappointing. The resort needs some updates but we really enjoyed our 10 day trip. Thanks for taking such good care of us.

Ocean Blue and Sand: Lovely Stay !

We were there 22-29th of March. As a prestige guest we had an easy and quick check-in in a separate area which was nice. We had a "butler" in prestige to help you out ... nice touch but if not it would have been good just the same. The prestige lounge is nice. Nice and cool with alcohol there available with ice and snacks. Also bathroom available in the lounge. We ate breakfast by the beach each day as a privilege guest and ordered from a menu. The beach restaurant was open to everyon [... read more]e at lunch and was good. We did buffet for dinner a few times and I have no complaints. We have travelled to Cuba quite a bit and the food her is a definite step up. The steak restaurant, italian and Japanese were also good. I had no problem with tummy issues anywhere. The gym is open 24 hours incase you want to keep up workout while away. One thing to know is Coffee is available in the foyer of the buffet on the entrance across from the gym/spa at 6am. We are early risers and were searching for coffee the first day. Mike's cafe should open earlier but it opens at 7:30. If you are a beach lover then you may be disappointed as the beach has some issues with eroding. They are doing their best to stop it. The beach to the left and right at the next hotels is fine and much deeper but because they are on a point for some reason they are having issues. Still lovely though but some may not be happy with that. Our room was great.. lots of pillows and comfy. Room was a bit cold and hard to regulate so maybe that could be looked after. I don't know if i would go back as there are just so many places to go in the carribean. We did like the fact that it was not too big. We prefer smaller resorts. Hope this helps.

Hotel Roc Casa del Mar: Terrible food, poor service overall

Not one to normally post a review and I sat on this for bit, but I feel that after my experience during the week of Feb 21st to Feb 28th at Ocean Casa Del Mar it would be irresponsible of me not to. First let me qualify that I have been to Cayo Santa Maria five times already having stayed at Melia Las Dunas 3x, Melia Cayo Santa Maria x1 and Memories x1, so I know what the baseline is for a resort on this coast in Cuba. Let me begin; The buffet was terrible. Same unappetizing food every da [... read more]y. Often would do a circle around the buffet and come back to the table with an empty plate and a sinking feeling. Staff at the sitting area outside the buffet were experts at avoiding eye contact and acting like it was someone else’s job to clear a table, provide cutlery, drinking water or wine. The Romantico and Seafood one (can't recall name right now) are adjoining restaurants. Did they build these over the septic system? The smell was so offensive that we turned around and left as the seafood restaurant is an open air venue and the smell was wafting into the dining area, I honestly don't know how other people were able to eat in there. Meals at the Italian and Asian venues were 'okay', but honestly all the meals were strongly salted but compared to the slop in the buffet was preferred, so I am being generous when I say okay. Running out of food, often. Bad enough but maybe you should tell people before you present them with choices that don’t exist. Drinks at the beach bar. Funny how they can seemingly pour so much alcohol in a drink yet I can taste and feel nothing. How can the same pool bathroom be out of toilet paper every single day? Two public washrooms in key areas (near lobby) and one at one of the restaurants by the pool were out of commission for a better part of our visit with sewage back up issues. Beach towels. Only able to change them once. The kiosk was never open? no explanation. Day one. No French fries. Day two. Out of chicken for the rest of the trip. Day three. No more beer for our mini bar for the rest of the trip. Beach BBQ. Fatty uneatable pork chops at one end, and the other served the same seafood paella every day! that was over the top salty. I talked with many people that week whose experience was the same (and some worse) than ours. The beautiful beach and weather saved our vacation. This resort is a no go for me in the future.

Playa Vista Azul: Not impressed

Beach was far away with no washroom close by. Pool bar and lobby were nice but I love my beach time. The food was cold unless you stood in line for the pasta, stir fry or omelette😳 A la carte were on a first come first serve so unless you were priveledge it could be a long wait with nothing special on your plate in the end.

Ocean El Faro: Ocean El Faro Resort

The resort was okay. I wouldn't say great or exceptional as the resort only opened about 3 months ago when I vacationed there. Highlights of the resort was the lazy river, the pool and entertainment area. Pool had a swim up bar, friendly staff and a ton of games and entertainment to enjoy. The food at the buffet was wonderful and contained a ton of options. You would never go hungry. The restaurants were also good. My favorite was the Blue Moon and Sakura. Amazing food and service all around. So [... read more]me downfalls of the resort was that it was new and so there was construction right beside the resort. They are building an adult section to Ocean El Faro so there was quite a bit of noise (not too bad though). Our backyard to our hotel faced the adult edition (under construction of course) so most of the time I didn't feel comfortable enjoying the hammock swing that was in the backyard. I found the services at some of the restaurants very poor. Customer service and interpersonal skills were lacking in the hosts/hostesses and waiters/waitresses. Once we were seated at our table at the Margarita restaurant for example, it took 25 minutes for the waiter to say hi and greet us; another 30 minutes for someone else to take our order; and then another hour for our food to arrive. Other tables around me who were seated after I had been, had been served bread, water and wine before my table. I also don't particularly like being bombarded and constantly asked by H10 associates if I'm interested in time shares. The beach was small and I think still under construction so it lacked. Water was very rough and so I didn't spend much time at the beach. Overall, I enjoyed my time there.

Valentin El Patriarca Varadero: Amazing Resort

This place is awesome. This was our first time to Cuba and this resort was great. The staff were polite and friendly and the food was awesome as they had a great buffet to eat from which included homemade French bread, pizza, pasta bar, seafood bar, dessert bar and many many more food options. The bungalows were clean and well kept and the grounds were very clean and the gardens were looked after very well. I would definitely recommend this place to people.

Hotel Roc Casa del Mar: Awesome resort!

We were pleasantly surprised by the resort. Beautiful beach and extremely clean. Staff was great. It was very busy on the Saturday and there seemed to be families that were there for a nights vacation just on that day. If there is nothing you can find to eat that would be your issue. Something to satisfy all. Our only “complaints” would be not being able to get the coffee maker that was to be in our room. We asked everyday there but were told it was impossible. Secondly, the ocean view is  [... read more]not really ocean view. And finally and the reason we will not be returning to Santa Maria is the profoundly long transfer from the airport to the resort. 2 hours is too long for us. We will go back to Santa Maria when we can fly directly.

Hotel Roc Casa del Mar: Everything was lovely except the main dish foods. They were Luke warm. There were two delightful exceptions which we discovered late in the week. These were omelettes which were made in a frying pan at the time, and to which you could include your own ingredients. The other was spaghetti whicH was also made at the time with ingredients of the guest choice.

The hotel, rooms, grounds, pools, beach and room service were all lovely. Junie, our maid service was sweet and accommodating. We were booked for two weeks but came home after one week. This was due to my husbands contracting diarrhea. He was confined to our room for 3days. We both LOVE MUSIC but there was a unrelenting LOUD thumping of music at the pool that one couldn’t get away from. ( we are both in our 70’s 🤨) At the beach, which we managed to get to on our last two days, had mu [... read more]sic but it was not constant and not as loud. We also spent part of one day going by taxi into the International Clinic to see the physician/ Pharmacist.

Playa Vista Azul: Just Ok

Hotel itself was clean and well maintained. The food was bland and cold the majority of time. Reservations at ala cartes were nor allowed so had to stand in line ups to possibly get in. The beach is on the adjoining property and not out front of this resort and although quite large there is about 12 palapas total so minimal shade and no kayaks or paddle boats.