Unforgettable experience!

Over all the resort is clean. They have lovely and genuine staff. Special mention to Jenny from the lobby bar and Pedro from the grill. The staff of this resort are going above and beyond to provide a better experience in Cuba. About the food, I don't have any complain. I always find something to eat.. even my husband who is a vegetarian.

Very good value for your money!

Best beach in Cuba! Have been there twice and 5 years later, it's just as beautiful as the first time! The only bad side is it's 1 1/2 hours from airport. Travel during the day and it give you a free excursion!!

Great resort to relax and enjoy

Pools were very clean and a fun place for the kid to have hours of fun on the island in the center. Very friendly entertainment staff, even had my daughters hair done in new twice. Good selection of outdoor games (shuffle board, chess etc) Always someone at the beach to setup the chairs, cleanup etc. Great selection of food.

Stay away from Starfish

We just returned from a week at Starfish. This was our first trip to Cuba - the resort was a big disappointment. Only half the resort was opened, only a couple of restaurants open. Had to wait about 5 days for a reservation at a restaurant. The service was so-so. Some eye rolling from staff at drink request (which was never even received). Most Staff just did not seem happy. BEACH - the beach was quite nice. Not too crowded and the seaweed was raked every day. Lots of beach chairs. Only downside [... read more] was it was a large beach with only one bar open, so was often a long trek back & forth for drinks. ROOMS - they were ok. Plain. We had to switch rooms as ours did not have curtains, mirror, and faulty a/c. Our second room was better (block 30). I think they are all in need of TLC though. Rusty bath fixtures, dirty grout, leaky... Dim lighting. We left gift bags each morning but only once did we get a fancy animal towel thingy LOL - our friends seemed to have better luck. Also our pillow cases seemed to get turned inside out instead of being changed. Stains on bedspread. Cleaning overall was a hit or miss. FOOD - horrible. We were 'warned' not to expect great food, but ugh... Yuck. The buffet always had a fishy smell. Chicken & steak were grilled fresh for you but always a big lineup. Same with pasta station and the omelette station. Otherwise just slop... . I'm not a seafood lover, and picky for quality meats, so had a hard time finding things to eat. The breakfast was lacking too - thought there would be waffles/pancakes... Nope. Always the same foods, no variety. The public washrooms were terrible. Very smelly, only a handful working, and never any toilet seats. ??? The grounds were pretty. The gardeners were working daily.

Just average

the beach was the greatest.the pool and grounds were very nice.the food was below average.rooms were clean.the service was good just took to long to get a drink.poor entertainment no place to go dancing on the grounds.

Incredible beach!

The hotel was quite satisfactory with comfortable rooms, good food options, nice pool and decent service overall except at the beach bar sometimes. Buffet was actually really good on NYE. Not well lit and no signage but the beach makes up for it.

A really lovely resort and the beach is the best.

The gardens are impeccable, food in the main dinning-room excellent as is the service. The Sports Bar excellent service and great food. Service and music in the main lobby very good as are the servers. One point of concern is the washrooms in the Theatre and main lobby are unacceptable in any persons rating. Toilets were broken and at times the Theatre was closed off for using the washrooms and the main lobby water leaked all over the floor and most times out of two weeks 2 or 3 were working som [... read more]e time. Sanitation and bacteria are a big concern.. My intent is not to criticize but by bringing it to your attention this can be addressed. As you know in Canada the Health Department would close facilities. I do hope this will be addressed as I would like to return to this hotel with friends. The Staff were wonderful and I loved the friendliness.

Not bad, nothing special

Hotel is claiming (at the entrance) 5 stars!. Honestly it is 3 stars but you get what you paid for. It is a huge resort and I suppose maintaining takes effort and money. Room that we were in, was with a 1 king size bed on the second floor. Room was cleaned daily. Problem we experienced was that the bathtub leaked water on the floor. It was fixed by sacrificing one of the towels that was rolled up and put on the tub to soak up the water. Beach is long and the sand is powdery white. I personally p [... read more]refer beaches with the trees but this was OK considering the beautiful sand. Did not enter the pool but it looked clean and it is really big (only one was open while we were there) Food was adequate, considering number of people that the resort has to feed. Not always enough cooks on grilles and for the first few days there was only one bread toaster so there were lineups there. I didn't mind much as I would find something to eat outside the lines. However, I honestly couldn't drink coffee that was served at the buffet room. Bar close to the main pool had better coffee but I started drinking Spanish coffee and that was OK Entertainment was sub-par but this is subjective - seems that some people were happy with it. Reception desk not always have people who understand English so this was sometimes frustrating, for example the last day I asked for complimentary access to the room for 30 minutes between our checkout time (noon) and the time our bus leaves (5:15PM) and one receptionist kept repeating that I have to pay 35 CUCs to stay in my room until 3 PM. I had to find another receptionist who could understand English and she gave me the access to the room Wi-Fi in the lobby worked fine for me although some people complained about bad service. Some staff is very friendly, others ignore you. Not the best service, but again not the worst. Overall, not bad but really nothing special. Price we paid was way too expensive but for stay over the New Year's day it was the lowest we could find. Could recommend but that is not without strings attached.

Better than expected

This was my 2nd to trip Cuba with my 2 daughters and this year far exceeded last year. The beach was one of the best I have ever experienced in Cuba, the hotel, buffet, rooms and pool area matched the quality. The staff at the resort, were very helpful and friendly and went out of their way to help. A special note to Raphael at the pool bar. I would recommend this to any family looking for an enjoyable vacation.

Awesome Christmas Vacation

Wonderful resort, clean and organized. Hard working staff from the expert towel creating maid, the gardeners, bar staff, general cleaning staff and the grill masters. The entertainment staff are excellent and put on top notch shows!

You get what you pay for

We paid average price, got an average hotel. Location is a bit far from a small airport. Almost 2-hour ride in the dark has nothing to report. Check-in was quick but provided minimum helps and information(May due to the loud music paying in the reception hall). With no helping from bell boys, we walked in the dark for 10 minutes to find our room eventually. After long delay for the flight and the bumpy ride, we expected hot and agreeable food. But only to find that there were no arrangement, the [... read more] place we could find food was the grill in semi darkness, the only foods available were burger and hotdog, So much for first impression! The room was in good size, and clean. Bath room had no fan so smelled of dampness. Plumbing was working, barely. Air-condition was working but loud. Lights were working but forget about reading at night. After a quick inspection, I drew a mental list of things to bring next time, provided here: Must bring: Toothpaste and tooth brushes; Your own towers (You may still want to bring your own, even provided…); Shower gel, Shampoo, and Lot of hair conditioner; Boxed tissue; Slipper; Water proof Sun cream; Plenty of mosquitoes spray; After-Bite (Despite of mosquitoes spray, you will be bitten, many times!) OK, after all these negative first impressions, we woke up in a sunny tropical garden, with soothing sound of waves in the back ground and singing birds dancing outside of the patio door. The environment of the hotel was unreal. On our way to the beach, we came across a huge free form swimming pool. Plenty of sun beds. When we finally reached the beach, our over-all impressions for this resort had changed positively. The sands were off –white, creamy and soft; The sea was calm, emerald green with slightly salty aroma; Silky early morning sun clothed the beach with dream like amber hue. In other resorts, we spent little time swimming in the sea. Here, we spent hours in the water and never have enough of it. When swimming in the sea, you will find small fishes tickling your foot! This is easily the best beach we ever have been to. Forget about other aspects of this hotel. Everything else stands no chance against the beautiful beach. So you get what you pay for: an average priced hotel with many things can be better organized and managed. But what a beach! We will come back, if for nothing else!

Very nice holidays!

We liked everything. A bit of criticism: spraying against mosquitos at the time when most people very coming to breakfast. It was not possible to walk through the cloud of gas. Too little of shading against the sun.

Very Family Friendly Resort

The hotel was very clean, and well maintained. There was ample food choices and the staff were so friendly. The kids loved the nightly kids shows, as well as the adult show.The rooms were clean and bath towels were changed everyday.

Beautiful Resort

Just returned from a 5 night stay to celebrate our shared birthday! We had a fantastic trip, from start to finish. Flight was on time and went off with no problems, bus ride is a little longer than some may like but the tour guide was great and pointed out areas of interest along the way. On arrival to the hotel we were greeted with a drink and check in went very quickly. From there, we had a great week with no concerns aside from AC not working for the first night that was fixed the next day. W [... read more]as leary about the food choices from numerous people who have visited Cuba, but one would have to be a VERY picky eater to go hungry at this resort. The evening entertainment could have been a little better, there were a few nights that didnt leave much to do, but we had packed cards, made friends and had some great laughs in the lobby over drinks. Overall our stay was fantastic and would definitely go back to the Starfish again!!

Fabulous first time visit to Cuba

Great location. Our room was lovely and staff were excellent!!! Lovely People! The food was for the most part very good. We loved the Market and used the fitness facility there. Fabulous white sand beach and the ocean view is amazing.

Everything was up to my expectations

The flowers,vegetation and water features were very attractive. There were lots of choices in food and very attentive staff. in all areas. The evening entertainment was very professional except for a couple of night which used the guests doing crazy skits with one another.

Beautiful Resort - Starfish Cayo Santa Maria

Went to Starfish Cayo Santa Maria Nov 29-Dec 6. This is a lovely resort, very clean and very lush gardens. The rooms are large and well appointed. Weather was beautiful 25-30 degrees. This is a large resort with 1400 plus rooms, but as this was still the slow season, only half of the resort was open with only one of the a la carte restaurants which rotated the set menus each day . The pools were large and immaculate and the beach was white sand gorgeous. The buffet was fine, a typical Cuban reso [... read more]rt buffet with lots of choice and a good fresh grill section. The beach was white sand gorgeous and we were impressed with all the beautiful architectural design features that have been incorporated throughout the resort. The shows with the dancers were the best I have seen in my 10 trips to Cuba. There were virtually no activities and I missed not having Yoga, Tai Chi, etc. available, but again, probably a full slate is available in the busier times. If you don't mind the 1 1/2 hour drive from the airport, I highly recommend this resort. as excellent value. Jenn Black at Trip Central was excellent and very helpful.

Awesome beach

Beach is the star for starfish resort. Highly recommend for this time of year. Resort is very large but only half open during off peak season. Wonderful staff. Linens and towels changed daily. Food typical for Cuba. Great bread pasta and pizza omelettes. Staff are amazing Great value for the price

Nice Place to Stay in Cuba

The resort is located on a very nice beach. The rooms are okay nothing spectacular. Room is outdated but clean. The staff is cordial. The food was good and offered variety. My toilet was not working properly when I arrived. (It would flush on occasion) Called to have it fixed. The service was timely however, the problem still persisted during my stay even after a part was replaced. The resort is a nice place to stay when visiting Cuba.

Excellent resort with amazing staff

Very clean and beautiful pool. Staff was super friendly and very accommodating. Appreciated that Cayo Santa Maria has a check point and locals cannot access the resorts unless they are working a shift.