Left with bad Memories, avoid this resort!

Our family recently returned from our stay at the Memories Paraiso Azul Resort after a 7-day stay from Christmas to New Years. We came in a large group and were astonished at the mass scale of the resort, there was plenty of place to roam unfortunately nothing was in close proximity to our rooms, making it difficult to coordinate activities as a group and an inconvenience for the older members of our group who had to walk at least 10 minutes to just get to the buffet. The food was expecte [... read more]dly underwhelming, and we particularly did not enjoy the a la carte, but there were a couple items in the buffet that became staples throughout the trip. The major saving grace of this resort was the beach. We spent the bulk of our day swimming in the crystal blue water, taking long walks and napping under the cabanas. It was unequivocally the high point of our vacation. Unfortunately our trip was hindered by a number of issues. The facilities are sadly not up-to-date and guests should be prepared to compromise on certain luxuries. A few of the issues we experienced included: theft of a cell phone and cell phone charger, a broken bathroom door, a faulty toilet flush, flooding in the bathroom, a night with no running water and a defective air conditioning system. On New Years Eve while we were at the buffet dinner (we had made reservations for 7pm a few nights prior) our room was accessed three times by someone with a duplicate room key. Upon arriving in the room later that night we found that our cell phone and cell phone charger had been stolen. We immediately contacted the front desk and they sent over a security guard, who unfortunately did not speak a word of English. They also brought over a technician who accessed the card reader on our door to provide us with a report on who accessed the room at what time. Since our screen door in the back was locked this was the only way someone could have entered the room. Our cell phone and other valuables were kept in the safe for the duration of our stay. Because we were to leave early in the morning on New Years Day we decided to charge the cell phone and set an alarm for around 3:30AM. The report generated by the technician showed that at 7:15PM, 7:20PM and 7:23PM someone had entered the room with a duplicate room key. This was certainly not anyone from our family since we were at the dinner buffet at the opposite end of the resort at 7PM. We explained this to the lobby staff but since whoever accessed our room did so with a room card, they were uncooperative in pursuing the matter any further, would not apologize for the inconvenience and insisted that the theft was from a member of our family! They did not allow us to take a physical copy of the report, but allowed us to take a photograph for our records. To top it all off, there are no security cameras on the premises so this printed document was all that determined our fate. Our stay at this hotel was nowhere close to pleasant and we ended on a terribly sour note. The lobby staff was extremely unkind when we needed them most, we were forced to prove our innocence to no avail and because of their unwillingness to listen to our story we left the hotel and ended our vacation without resolving the issue. As on every family vacation, we have been responsible and safe with our belongings for the entirety of our trip, we have never experienced an incident like this and we are extremely disappointed with the resort for not having better security precautions to ensure issues like this are resolved. Aside from the loss of the device itself, the loss of crucial information, personal contacts, photos and videos and other items of sentimental value have been heartbreaking. We certainly will not be returning, and will be sure to not recommend this to any one we know.

Average below expectations

Not a very good resort. Shortages of food and other stuff. Service was bad also. Would never go there again. For the amount of money charged this was a rip off. Expectations were higher for the amount of money paid. Would never go there again and would not recommend it to anyone. Sadly was not one of the best vacations we ever had. Very upset about it.

Amazing and sincere Staff.

Knowing the star rating for Cuba is not similar to other parts of the world, our family went with not very high expectations. With that said the challenges faced started from day 1: flush not working, no glasses, no bread, no fries, room key being faulty was a daily issue, coffee machine not working just to name a few . It was a trek to the front desk to get keys fixed. We were a group of 20 and each family had a mechanic in one of our rooms daily. The feedback when speaking to other guests was  [... read more]similar. The most important thing to note was the sincerity of the staff and the eagerness to fix the issue and make our stay pleasant and comfortable. The key to all this was the lack of accountability from the owner of this establishment , the limited resources provided to this sincere group of people working in this hotel that made this sincere and hard working group of people look poorly . Sunwing and the owner of this hotel ( same as Sunwing) portrayed a extremely high representation of this hotel which was not even close to the pretty picture . It would be great to see that the airline and owner of the hotel take ownership and fix what they have broken . It will make guests feel they are important and fortunately they are blessed with amazing staff .

Extremely horrible resort

During our stay there was no water one evening, The buffet restaurant ran out of bread, The toilet flushes didn't work and on the last day my nephew's phone was stolen from his room, never going back to this resort, the only redeeming feature are the hotel staff and the beach.

Not a very good resort

The service was horrible. They constantly ran out of food at the buffet and the fruit and when asked to be replenished they said they had no more. There was no water supply for a day and some of the items in tge room dud not work. Last but not the least our cell phone was stolen from the room by one of the staff.Would never go back there again. Not worth it for the amount of money we paid for this trip. Very bad experience.

Beautiful resort

my husband and i just returned from memories azul thur dec 22 2016 with a notion of returning again next year for third time in a row at this amazing white beach with exceptional runners on beach setting up our chairs for us to lounge around on. the beach lounges were softer than the beds....with the hard bed being the only downfall. so if you go take blow up water air mattress and save your back. the water was amazing along with the drinks on the beach. the hotel staff was warm and friendly but [... read more] front desk had no small pesos for the first two days so we were not tipping every drink as our usual. it all worked out as they got every single peso we took as they were well worth the tips. i would highly recommend this place...clean spacious huge bathtub quiet at night balmy weather and a few good laughs. nice to be home though and will enjoy christmas at our house. merry christmas to all and to all a good night. maggie and laurie meade

Excellent staff and resort!

Amazing experience, great staff, accomodations, beach, pools. Wide selection of food at the buffet. Would definitely go back to that resort!! I was told there were a lot of jellyfish there, but we didnt have a single issue and we were in the ocean for several hours a day!

Relaxing Trip

The hotel itself is a bit dated and the Azul side was 80% empty, there was nothing at the pool and the buffet looked like a ghost town. We spent all of our time on the Paraiso Side of the resort. Our room was kept clean and was sufficient for us for the 5 days we were there. We had a king bed, matress was a bit hard but that was ok, we didn't mind. We were switched from building 52 to 53 as soon as we got there, again not a big deal. The grounds were beautiful, much more mature from the las [... read more]t time we were there. The gardeners do a great job keeping it clean and beautiful. I cannot say enough about the people there. The first night we walked in the lobby bar Micheal (pardon the spelling) and Dany recognized us from a couple of years ago. So welcoming. We were treated well the entire time from them and Rolando at the main buffet, again who recognized us from before. All of the staff are very friendly and will go out of their way to make you feel comfortable. The beach is absolutely stunning, we walked for miles every day. The pool is great, clean and cool, a nice break from the heat. The food is meh! We had 2 al la carts, they were ok, a nice break from the buffet. It was my husbands 50th birthday and they did a cake and sparkling wine for us for dinner which was nice. We didn't go hungry but it got a bit repetitive by the end of the week, and that is typical for Cuba, we expected it. The only complaint that I have is that we were there when Fidel Castro died. We had entertainment for the first day and theatre show for 1 night but then the country was in 9 days of mourning starting on Saturday Nov 26th. They discontinued the nightly shows at the theatre, no music was allowed to be played either at the pool or the beach and there was no activities at either. It was really quiet and sombre around the resort. People were trying to entertain themselves with their own little speakers but some were told to turn them down in respect for their president. You could definately feel that there was dissapointment with travellors because of this. The true experience of being in Cuba was not felt. We felt a little cheated. We managed to make the best of it, it was a very relaxing trip and that is what we went for.

Good resort

The hotel has very good landscaping with big variety of plants. The gardeners are amazing! Can't say the same about food: not big choice. Not very convenient counter with trays - just from one side you can pick up from the tray, and it creates the line. the pools are excellent - we were lucky that one part of the resort was under renovation, and we could enjoy the two huge pools without crowds - people prefer the bar near the pool, so we were almost just two of us swimming in these two pools  [... read more]near closed buildings. We paid additional for Diamond Club - it does not worth. The Diamond Club designated beach area is small, you need to reserve your sun beds early in the morning. We were going to the other side to enjoy privacy. For people who like crowds and very lowed music it could be the advantage. beaches are amazing - the best we ever seen in Cuba before. You are entering water not thinking about any rocks that can hurt you. Weeds are there - but they are everywhere, we are not very picky about weeds. At least, they are on the ground, not in water. Cuban guys are doing their best to pick them up every morning manually - it works somehow. The worst thing - bites of some creatures we did not understand if it was mosquitos or something else. We could not see anything, but we are all beaten and itching. We did not notice any fumigation procedures in the hotel as in the other places we were before. Overall, it is good resort, and we can recommend it. Just don't pay additional money for Diamond Club - the room is the same, no significant privileges.

Amazing resort!

I loved the place!. (except the plastic cups and plastic straws i saw polluting the beautiful beach and resort paths). The accommodations were great, grounds were great, food was great! The ocean and beach were beautiful. Staff very friendly and helpful. Weather was great! I loved that the beach bar man does not offer straws at his bar. I think the rest of the hotel should follow his lead. I like to leave a place better than i find it so i got a bag from the life guard an [... read more]d spent some time filling up a big bag of beach trash. Lots of plastic cups and straws, cigarette butts. On the paths at the resort because it is my nature, i was constantly picking up plastic straws and plastic cups. When you have a resort near the ocean there should be no plastic available for the selfish tourists can pollute such a beautiful place. I like to explore a country too so I booked 3 trips through the hotel travel rep.for Air Canada, who was an exceptional travel rep!!! 1. I did the all day trip to Havana. 2. The jeep safari trip. 3. The catamaran trip. I had two major concerns: (One involved the hotel, and one the airport in Santa Maria). 1. HAVANA: On the bus our English speaking tour guide did not say what to do if we got separated from the group, well, I did not get separated, THEY LEFT ME BEHIND after the first of many tours in Havana.! Luckily i am not a person who suffers from panic attacks. After sitting and talking to a few locals for 30 minutes or more about my dilemma, we were about to go to a tour place to see what to do, that is when FINALLY i heard my tour guide calling my name. I said 'where is everyone? He told me they took the bus to the lunch place. What?! They left without me? I thought under no circumstance does a tour guide LEAVE A MAN BEHIND. I asked him "didn't anyone ask where is Brenda?". He said "no". (I found out later they were looking for me and did ask about me, so he lied about that). I went with him and waited for the bus driver to come and get us, while the rest of the group were having their free lunch. They took me to a bank, which was pre-arranged before we left our hotel, then we went to the restaurant to pick up the rest of the group. After parking the guide asked me "Aren't you going to have lunch"? I could see my group lined up to board the bus, so I said no, I did not want to make them wait for me. This should have never happened. We did the rest of the Havana tour and got back to our hotel around 3 AM! It was supposed to be from 4:30 AM to 11 PM. The second incident was at the airport. After booking another flight to fly home on West Jet on Saturday (because i adopted a kitten in Cuba and Air Canada does not allow pets). I left my cat and luggage with the West Jet rep in his office and went next door to use the washroom. I saw sign "Toilets" so went in. I went in a stall and locked the door. When I was ready to leave, the door lock was stuck/jammed, and there was no way to get it unlocked. I thought okay scream for help, which I did, and no one came. I tried to break the door down to get out but it was too strong, so i continued to scream at the top of my lungs "help me, i am stuck in the washroom", HELP, HELP! Nothing, no one came to help me. The outside bathroom door was open so i could not figure out why no one was coming to help a woman screaming for help. Fortunately, there was an opening under the door of the stall and I wondered if i could squeeze my body through it? So, i pushed the one small bag i had with me under the door then got on my belly and crawled like a lizard out of the stall. When I stood up i immediately saw a guy in a work uniform standing in front of me. I said 'did you hear me screaming?" He said no, this is the men's toilet and I had to pee. I just saw toilet sign, did not know it was men's room. I told this guy about my dilemma and he was very sympathetic with me, and said he would make sure someone comes to correct this jammed lock. What if a person was having a heart attack in there or being assaulted, no one can hear you outside when you scream, or if you are too large to squeeze under? I think they need to change the concrete wall for future safety of people in that bathroom. I asked my west jet rep, "did you not hear me screaming for help?" (as his office was adjacent to the men's room), and he said 'no'. My pastor preached to us "Don't freak out", well, I did freak out, screaming, swearing, trying to bust the door down. It was a very frightening experience. The other issue was my hotel rep told me that Air Transat takes animals so i booked a flight with them. Rep told me 'be in hotel lobby at 7 AM on Saturday morning" for airport bus coming to get you, so I was there. I waited and waited and asked a young man working at our hotel front desk where is the airport bus? He said don't worry, sometimes they are late, it will be here. So i waited and waited. (This young man should not give out false information, if he does not know the situation, do not get involved, or, look into the matter!) Turns out there was no airport bus coming for me because I did not confirm I was flying with them, so i had to pay to take a private taxi to the airport. 70 pesos. When I got to the airport, the Air Transat guy said i could not take my cat on the plane and had to go buy a hard carrier and put her in cargo. No way was i going to put a 2 month old, 2 pound kitten in cargo. So, what to do now? That is when I went to talk to West Jet as I heard they take animals too. When he saw my carrier i bought at the vet's office he said that is fine, it is a carry on. My new flight to Toronto flies out of Vera dera so another paid private taxi ride to that airport. I was pretty flustered by now so the Transat girl who knew of my dilemma was on the phone with my hotel rep, because of all mix up and hassle he reimbursed me the 70 pesos for the taxi ride from hotel, now i just had to add 60 pesos for the cab to vera dero. That was very nice of him. In future, if someone is adopting a pet make sure all people involved know which airlines allow them on the plane, i.e. WEST JET! Yeah West Jet! You saved the day! My kitten Ariel is loving her new life in Canada. Another thing, on the tours advertised, there was a cock fight listed, but it was crossed out and my travel rep said they dont do that anymore, but on the tour bus, the guide said we would be visiting a demo cock fight. This shocked many on the bus as we all are against such cruel sport to animals. It was a demo and no one was hurt, but this was a shock, again, miscommunication. The catamaran was great. I had my ocean cleanup recycled plastic water bottle with me so took the opportunity to share with some people about this project. I met a wonderful young boy from Argentina who is going to look it up OCEAN CLEANUP and see how it all started because of a young man from Denmark, Boyan Slat. Apparently Argentina beaches are full of plastic garbage so I am excited to see what this young boy does. I am sending his photo to Boyan to tell him of this young man's interest and enthusiasm about getting involved. I only went on it to see how the dolphins were being treated. I am against whales and dolphins in captivity. I think the hotel tours should not support this kind of "pseudo-entertainment". The announcer sounded Russian and it was just like a circus act, what they made the dolphins do. Please do not offer anything that involves cruelty to animals. The jeep safari was fantastic, very animal friendly, seeing a farm and fantastic lunch with local Cuban couple. I highly recommend people take the tours offered at resort. I met so many wonderful people this way! p.s. i only gave a fair final rating because of the plastic cups and straws i saw discarded. If you don't supply them, people cannot toss them as trash! I would love to come back and work with them on educating people about trash in the ocean. Put signs on the beach, "clean beach, dirty beach", some people have no brains or respect for beautiful nature.

What a wonderful Resort

This resort was amazing!! We went down as a family of 6, even know the weather was not great for the first few days we made the best of it. The food was good, always something to eat, the beach was amazing and the staff went above and beyond. It's a very well maintained, clean resort. We cant wait to return in the near future.

Really good for the price !!!!!

The price is really good and the hotel (its rooms) have some deficiencies, eventhough, globally it's not bad at all....The first room I was given was bad, had bad odor, air conditioning didn't work well and was very dark in the outside, so I asked to be changed to a better one the next morning....They immediately gave me another one, which in those aspects was good, but the phone didn't work and had no radio....I kept it as is because those defects were not significant for me....I can say that t [... read more]he beach is magnificent, very big and excepcional thin sand, I loved it.....

Beautiful

My daughter and I stayed only one week here, and we had an amazing trip. The beach is absolutely perfect, the pools were clean and big. Lots of great staff, especially Alejandro at the pool bar who was just wonderful, and Andy in the entertainment staff, who really went out of his way to make sure we were having the best time possible . We also really loved the staff in Mediterranean a la Carte, which as it happens also had amazing food. The room was clean and the chamber  [... read more]maids lovely. The bad: We found the staff at the front desk to be cold and unfriendly, and very unhelpful. My daughter is asthmatic and we requested several times to be moved to a building closer to the main area as walking is difficult for her in such heat. We felt we were dismissed (come back later and check) (come back tomorrow after check out) despite it being the low season and there being plenty of empty rooms. My daughter required her ventillin inhaler more than I can ever remember. By the end of the week her breathing was so bad that she wound up having a severe asthma attack as we were getting off the flight home. Also, we requested a cart and bellboy to assist us with our luggage for check out, but they never showed up, we had to drag it all by hand accross the resort, while my daughter struggled to breathe, and nearly missed our bus to the airport. Other than the front desk, this resort is great. I would return simply based on the service we got from Alejandro and from Andy.

Not very good

Food at the buffet: The food was absolutely horrible. They served the exact same food every morning, afternoon and evening and didn't have many choices at all to chose from. At times, the meat they served at the buffet was either still raw, way over cooked that it ended up being so rough and the chicken tasted as if you were chewing on rubber. The dessert cakes were always stale. The only thing that I could honestly say was amazing was their dessert crepes with chocolate that they would make in  [... read more]front of you. That's basically what the whole family ended up eating the whole entire week.

A Perfect First Family Vacation

We were very impressed with getting a freshly squeezed orange juice upon arrival at the resort. The rooms where always cleaned, the maid service was too cute with the towel animals our sons loved them and so did we. During all of our meals we were always greeted with a friendly face and smile, no always approached and drinks always offered, The lazy pool was wonderful since the bungalow was right beside it. The kids club was perfect and it gave my husband and I the chance to explore the re [... read more]sort on our own. WE LOVED THE FOAM PARTY We have never been to one. All the events that the resort had; toopy and Bino and the Bernstein Bears, disco night and the impressations were perfect. The beach was to die for white sand Warm waters and the bars plus the music , that we went every day that we were there, There was one chef that was there and he made the best fried eggs they, were perfect every time he made them. We had a favourite bartender "Rey" he was too cool A favourite service I can't remember her. We did not have a hard time staying but we had a hard time leaving the resort because we didn't wan t to go home haha. On our last day as my family and I were leaving our room. I stopped and looked around at everything that I experienced that week and smiled saying I will miss this place, I must come back !!!!!

My favorite resort

It was my 5th stay at the hotel:amazing beach,excellent service,decent food.Everything is located very convenient.Special thanks to Customer relationship manager Nancy Gonzalez for taking care and meeting all our expectations. Will return for sure again

Memories Paraiso Azul

Friendly and helpful staff. Fair value for your money. Desserts are very tasty with a large quantity. Savory part of the buffet is a bit bland and gets boring after a while. Nice evening entertainment.

Decent resort with a beautiful beach

The hotel is a little run down and needs a lot of maintenance and upgrades. The fountains were filthy, the chairs in the restaurants and lobby were all stained. The matresses were old and springy and the room was so humid that everything always felt damp. Our room phone didn't work for our entire stay and our faucets were loose and leaking. The staff was amazing though and the food was really good.

The beach is the only positive thing I have to say....

The resort forgot to provide our room detail package to the bus guide so we were told it would be waiting at the hotel for us. We arrived, waitied in the check in line for over an hour only to be told our paperwork was missing because our room wasn't ready and to come back after 4pm (approx 3 hours later). We were not offered any food, snacks, or water and told that the buffet opened at 1pm and to go there. After eating we went down to visit the beach (the most amazing beach I've ever seen). We  [... read more]went back to check in, waited another half hour, paperwork took another 15minutes to find. We were taken by golf cart to one of the furthest buildings only to find our room's door open and the cleaner just getting started. We left our suitcases, went back to the beach, and then back again to get ready for dinner. Our fridge was completely empty (not even water) toilet didn't work, neither did the phones. When we went to customer service she looked at me and laughed, saying "that's it? That's the big problem?" And handed me a bottle of water. The resort boasts many à la carte restaurants on their website (I wanted to visit the steakhouse on my birthday) only to find out we get 2 reservations per week and only had two choices, Italian or Med. When confronted about the other restaurants described on their website,we were told they were part of the marketplace next door and were not included. We could go but it was at our own cost. We were told we could use a debit card to book tours thru Nexus but they only took credit cards, the lady told us to take a taxi to the ATM so we did, cost us about $15cdn. We got to the ATM and a man at the entry looked at my card, shook his head and turned me away. We returned to tell the Nexus guide what happened she giggled and said sorry and THEN wished me a Happy Birthday as I walked away. The resort was full of locals which doesnt bother me at all IF they didn't receive preferential treatment over the rest of us non-Spanish speaking people. Their 24hr snack bar/restaurant was NEVER open...we generally went all day without any snacks between meals, and ended up spending a fortune on hotel chips and chocolate bars. My husband was even swatted like a fly when attempting to get some fruit before it opened for the lunch hours...WORST resort EVER

Good Value - Great Beach

I have mixed feelings about the trip. The reviews about the food are true so if you are a foodie, not for you. We ate whatever was being grilled that day and had some vegetables. The buffet was beans, mashed potatoes, cut up hot dogs etc. We went to two a la cartes, Italian- I had pasta , it was fine just no different than what was in the buffet. The Mediterranean Restaurant was menu surprise. We got something different that what we ordered from the menu. We did not get sick and what we a [... read more]re was fine for us, we just did not partake in much of the offerings. With respect to the buffet area, nice entertainment for lunch and dinner-live bands- very enjoyable. Our rooms were clean, and the maid left us daily hand written notes notes. Our closet door was broken and our toilet was temperamental. We paid extra for Diamond Club and was disappointed that we were not aware of the benefits, we spoke to some others at the end of the trip that brought us up to date. We stumbled across the Diamond Club beach area. Our rep told up that Diamond club members had a 3 o'clock check out which was useful. There was a sitting area for Diamond Club members, we sat there for a bit one night but there was an unattended bar and no service. We are ocean people so we spent our days at the ocean, beautiful, clean and clear lot of sea shells. The main pool was not very clean, probably from overuse. Apparently we went off season and there were alot of cubans, which was great except that they pretty much kept to themselves and definately were given preferential treatment at bars and in the hotel. The Catamaran cruise we went on was awesome. Great service, clean boat, lobster for lunch, dolphins and great snorkeling. However, I thought I was paying 89 cuban pesos when I got home my visa was charges 250 Canadian. Same with the vip lounge at the airport..I thought it was 25 pesos my visa was charge 70 cad. Not impressed. There we also alot of cats on the premises. Jamaica had the same. Not a fan and guests were feeding them. We went on this trip last minute and paid 1550.00 for 2. I would not pay more.