Brisas Sierra Mar: Wonderful Resort

Everything was perfect , clean new linens, plenty of hot water ,hair dresser, massage& pedicure available. This resort has it all with the usual Cuban cuisine.Very good music in the lobby bar( live)Older resort with established gardens . Flights were on time . Elevator working for the whole two weeks.Perfect holiday for us .

Brisas Sierra Mar: Great resort

Made several trips here now and still find the hotel to be a great place to enjoy and the staff are always going out of there way to make your stay better. Enjoyed the air conditioned dining room. Will definitely be going back

Carisol los Corales: 2nd year at Carisol Los Corales

We have just returned from our 2nd trip to this hotel. I can not begin to express how Great the staff at this hotel have made our vacation again. From celebrating my grandsons birthday to the wonderful Valentine's dinner. Meladie.. Francisco... Yolanis.. Just to name a few should all recieve awatds for how they treat people. Thsnks so much... Miss you all already. Our room was very well taken care of. Thanks to Dalia ... My grandson loved the towel art. Pool was fantastic and i can not wait to  [... read more]return. Thanks from from rm D1 feb. 8th to 15th 2018

Carisol los Corales: Great time

Even though this a three star resort, the service you receive is 5 star. The staff at the resort will go out of their way to help you. The grounds are beautiful. Don't expect a lot of the food. It is Cuba and their selection is limited. We woke up every morning to an omelette freshly cooked. Try the Cuban a la carte. The beach is a natural beach so a lot of rocks, coral and sea grass. Bring watershoes. The snorkelling is great. Tins of shady spaces on the beach. The shows at night are worth [... read more] going to. Dancers almost every night. Do not miss the Aqua show. It is a 5 star resort show. Overall one of the best vacations for the money.

Carisol los Corales: Great time as always

This was our fourth vacation at los corales and we had a great time as always at the resort. Staff are always pleasant and willing to help in any way. We will be back again next year. We did find the mosquitos to be very bad this time so bring lots of insect repellent

Brisas Sierra Mar: Brisas Sierra Mar - Return Visit

The Hotel was normal busy for January, we didn't go into the pool as it really needs a good cleaning. The room is dated but our Maid took excellent care of us, very clean with fresh towels replaced when required. Food is ok, nothing special but missed fresh fruit as we had mainly canned in the morning. When there was fresh fruit it was hoarded right away by fellow tourists. They did move the egg station away from the hot trays section which is good as it caused a blockage. The staff is gre [... read more]at and tries to work with what they have. The grounds are lush as they have recently had a lot of rain, beach dark sand and you will need water shoes to swim in the front, nice area to swim if you walk just past the pier.

Brisas Sierra Mar: VERY GOOD RESORT

THIS IS OUR SECOND TIME AT THIS RESORT.VIP IS WELL WORTH THE ADDED EXPENSE. PLEASE CHECK TRIP CENTRAL FOR THE VIP PACKAGE. EMPLOYEES ARE VERY FRIENDLY, SMALL TIPS ARE VERY APPRECIATED. VACATIONERS ARE MOSTLY OVER 65 YEARS OF AGE. SOME HAVE BEEN GOING TO THIS RESORT FOR MANY YEARS. THERE IS A DOCTOR , NURSE AND DENTIST. SUNWING REPS ARE INFORMATIVE AND OFFER PACKAGES. AS USUSAL YOU CAN FIND TOUR GUIDES NOT FROM THE RESORT OR SUNWING.YOUNG CHILDREN SEEMED TO BE OCCUPIED WITH NO PROBLEMS. LOCAL  [... read more]MUSICANS CAN BE FOUND AT LUNCH AT THE RANCH, ALSO IN THE EVENING AT THE PIANO BAR. REPEAT VACATIONERS HAVE A SPECIAL MEAL AT THE RANCH WITH A VERY GOOD BAND AND DANCERS ON THE LAST NIGHT. EVENING ENTERTAINMENT INVOLVE DANCERS , SKITS, MAGICIAN. I ENJOYED THE VACATION. SO I RECOMMEND IT.

Costa Morena: two weeks vacation in costa morena

hotel is decent, renovations are ongoing, this is a destination for a quiet vacation, to rest and enjoy the natural scenery. quite small two star all-inclusive. no beach. tropical fish on close proximity of the hotel "cement beach" called natural pool. family atmosphere among the other tourists, most of them being snow birds from all-over Canada and returning for decades to this hotel. If you not picky, this is a perfect place. Price was very good. Weather always good. Mountain view marvelous.  [... read more]90% of rooms are on the sea.

Carisol los Corales: Great resort!

This hotel is not too large to get around. The food has been improved. The beach is good. The pool is large and clean. I would go again! There are restaurants outside the hotel to try out real cuban cooking. Overall this is a 3* hotel providing a reasonably good service to all guests.

Brisas Sierra Mar: hotel chaleureux

cet hôtel construit en flanc de montagne offre des vues panoramiques autant sur la mer que sur les montagnes de la Sierra maestra,en plus d'une végétation abondante la chaleur de cette région de Cuba en fait un endroit très confortable et agréable. Le personnel est accueillant souriant et courtois, toujours prêt a rendre service pour nous rendre le séjour agréable.Sauf pour la représentante de Hola Sun (caribe sol) Kathie elle ne pense qu'a vendre ses excursions ,nous soutire de l'a [... read more]rgent de façon indirecte, peu courtoise et surtout pas souriante et en aucune façon facilitante. Il y a une bonne variété d'excursions dont une nautique pour aller faire de l'apnée au canal blanco qui est gratuite. Les points forts sont la nourriture qui est toujours fraiche variée, avec un souci de la présentation et bonne c'est dans cet hôtel que j'ai le mieux mangé dans tout ceux que j'ai fait, a date. Il y a des repas 4 services avec soirée musicale, deux restaurant a la carte dont le Bodeguita qui est typiquement Cubain avec un décor et une cuisine recherchée et de la musique traditionnelle cubaine. On offre aussi un repas spécial de langouste($), le chef de cuisine Rafael a un réel souci de gastronomie. L'animation est le second point fort elle se glisse un peu partout en musique et en activités diverses marches matinales d'observation d'oiseau, en velo, ou en escalade vers une chute dans la montagne, elles sont gratuites.il y a de l'aquaforme du yoga et des jeux d'eau. les points faibles sont l'état des édifices et des installation matérielles qui sont vraiment déplorables voire même dangereuses. Par exemple,il manque des lumières dans une zone d'escalier. Et des marches il y en a, a vous en faire faire un réel exercice cardio,156 que j'ai compté de la plage au dernier étage(7) du pavillon le plus élevé du site, seul UN ascenseur sur 4-5 fonctionne!!! les chambres sont toujours propres grandes et avec de beaux balcons. Avec quelques rares visiteurs inopportuns.. en dernier lieu cet hotel est assez loin de la grande ville de Santiago ce qui ne facilite pas sa visite soit par des excursions , des taxis ou location de voitures qui sont couteuses.

Brisas Sierra Mar: good climat

Rooms were old and need a lot of fixing to bring it up to par. The transfer back home took way too long. 3.5 hour waiting in the lobby, no more ecces to your room. Another 4 hours on the airport , no good! Beach, service we're OK. People are nice and try to make the most of it. Food is Cuban and good

Carisol los Corales: Despite numerous predicaments, we still enjoyed our two-week stay at this resort.

Our 13th trip to Cuba in 9 years and 2nd to the Carisol Los Corales since November, 2010 commenced in Toronto on January 4, 2018. The Air Cubana flight departed 1 hour late. We immediately recognized the 23 year old, all-black livery Airbus A320, as we had flown it to Cienfuegos in January, 2016. After a 3.5 hour flight we landed in Santiago de Cuba just before 6:00 pm (i.e., almost as scheduled). The bus ride to the hotel took over one hour and we still managed to have dinner. Two weeks befo [... read more]re the departure, we had sent an email to the hotel, asking to either upgrade us to a bungalow at additional cost (bungalows were not offered by Hola Sun) or give us a quiet room, far from the pool and the entertainment area. Unfortunately, we got a room in Los Corales in the 500 section, which almost exactly met the conditions that we had NOT asked for. It was facing the swimming pool and the entertainment area, so the first night it was quite noisy because of the show and later people kept congregating in the bar area. The following day after 10:00 am the pool music began. We were determined the change the room. The next day we approached the front desk, only to be told by a stern & rude clerk that there was no availability of any bungalows or rooms. We insisted on speaking to the manager who was much more receptive and said that with a fee of 20 CUC per night per 2 persons we could move to a bungalow at Los Corales or a junior suite at Carisol [incidentally, the previous evening, upon our arrival at the hotel, we inquired about upgrading to a bungalow and the clerk at the reception desk told us it would cost extra 30 CUC for 2 persons per night; apparently the price had gone down overnight ;)]. We went to the Carisol, spoke to the person at the reception desk there, were given an upper level junior suite in the “H” section and soon we moved in—Angel, a very nice hotel employee, drove us & our 5 suitcases in a golf cart. The next day we paid almost CAD $400 for the upgrade and the safe (2 CUC per day). However, from the outset we experienced a plethora of problems (which I mention later in this review) and my friend demanded a refund of the extra money we paid for the upgrade. Fortunately, she did get it back, albeit in CUCs. During the first 7 days of our stay we had the worst weather ever in Cuba—it was cold, windy, cloudy, and it also rained (one evening we experienced such a heavy rainfall that we were unable to leave the room and go to the dinner), so we never spent any time on the beach. I was sorry for those who came for vacation for just one week! The weather improved significantly during the second week, it was sunny and hot (up to +30 C), although it rained at least once. GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE HOTEL • The Carisol is much quieter than Los Corales, as the latter has nightly entertainment and other activities. It takes just over 5 minutes to walk between the hotels. • Hotel guests can freely use all facilities/restaurants at Carisol and Los Corales. • Both hotels have stores (“tiendas”), yet the one at Los Corales is bigger and better stocked. They carry rum, toiletries, detergents, clothing, beverages, liqueurs, cigars, batteries, etc. The tienda at Carisol once had no beverages at all and on another occasion it was unexpectedly closed before 5:00 pm. • There is also a small stand at Los Corales selling hats, clothing, souvenirs, postcards and stamps. Letters can be mailed at the reception desk. • At Los Corales, near the bar adjacent the entertainment area, a Cuban man has a small stand where he is rolling & selling cigars. • Bike rental (free) is available from Los Corales from 10:00 am to 11:00 am and bikes are rented for a 24 hours period, to be returned at 10:00 the next morning, but their quantity is very limited and are often unavailable. But at least they are maintained on a regular basis by the guy in charge of the rental. Scooters are also available for rent ($). • At 10:30 am a very entertaining & inspiring Cuban lady was conducting stretching exercises on the beach—15 minutes beforehand she religiously walked along the beach and spoke individually to all tourists, encouraging them to join. My friend heartily participated and she really enjoyed them. There was an aqua fit session in the pool afterwards. • Massage is offered at the beach for 25 CUC. • We often went to the ‘Coconut Bar’ on the beach, it had many drinks and cold beer. Other bars (in the lobby of both hotels and the swim-up bar at Carisol) also served various drinks (Pina Colada, Mojito) and cold beer. • There were several dogs and cats on the hotel’s property, usually hanging around the restaurants at meal time. A couple of times they followed us to our room; one pooch even curled up and slept on the balcony overnight. • The beach was quite nice, but there were not enough palapas or trees providing shade, so we had to ‘reserve’ them early in the morning by 8 am. • At Carisol, around the pool, there were many toads after the rainfall which several times gave a unique & noisy performance in the evening. • One evening on our way to dinner we spotted a big spider—we were told it was a tarantula. Just a few days later my friend spotted an identical spider in the resort’s washroom and she said it was a very unnerving encounter. • I think that there were bats flying in the evening, but I was unable to take a closer look. • There were plenty curly-tailed lizards all over the property, which often chased one another on the beach the way chipmunks do in Canada. • The resort offers many interesting excursions, the information is posted in the lobby of Los Corales. • There are a number of horse-drawn buggies in front of the hotel, which can take tourists on various excursions. • Our Hola Sun package included a free trip (by a horse-drawn buggy) to Laguna Baconao & the crocodile farm. We also had a 20 minute boat tour (3 CUC extra per person) on the lagoon—the scenery was beautiful, as it was surrounded by mountains. The crocodile farm basically consisted of 4 cages containing large dozing crocs, do not expect an eco-tour ;). By the way, “Baconao” means “son of the tree” in the language of the Taínos. • We took advantage of a free bus trip to Santiago de Cuba on Sunday—it was certainly a highlight of our stay at the resort. It departed from the hotel at 10:00 am, arrived in the city at 11:30 am and left back for the resort at 4:00 pm, giving us just over 4 hours to explore the city. We managed to walk from Plaza de Dolores along the main pedestrian street (Francisco Vicente Aquilera) to Parque Cespedes, then saw Tivoli and the waterfront, took a horse carriage to the Cementerio Santa Ifigenia where we saw Fidel Castro’s grave, watched the 2:00 pm change of the guard and were back at Plaza de Dolores at 3:30 pm. OUR ROOMS LOS CORALES—Block 500 (1 night) • The room was facing the entertainment area and the pool—it was quite noisy at night and after the entertainment ended as people congregated in front of the bar. • It also got noisy at around 10:00-11:00 am, when pool activities commenced. • The air conditioner in the room was very loud (not that we had to use it, as it was quite cool outside). • There was a small fridge, safe (2 CUC per day) and a TV set in the room, but no telephone. • The room had a stale, smoking smell. • There were 2 single beds. • The back of the hotel building faced two abandoned structures and a field where various farm animals grazed. CARISOL—Junior Suite, Building “H” (13 nights) • The junior suite was on the upper floor, facing the ocean, and had a balcony with two comfortable chairs. We also had a view of the mountains. There are 4 units in each building, 2 on the ground floor and 2 on the upper floor. • The room was spacious, had one very large king-size bed and one small single bed, ideal to place our suitcases. • The bathroom had a shower stall, not a bathtub. There was a hair dryer. • Except for the window in the bathroom, it was impossible to open other windows in the room. • There was NO hot water whatsoever for the first 7 (seven!) days. • Cold water was just trickling for the first 7 days, so even our cold showers were difficult to take. • We (as well as many other tourists) had NO water (cold or warm) at all on 3 separate occasions and such shortages lasted from about 3 to 20 hours at a time. Some newly arrived tourists were very upset as they desperately wanted to take a shower after their flights. • One evening the balcony, bedroom & bathroom lights suddenly went out. The technician was unable to fix them, but they were back on the next afternoon. • The air conditioner did not work for the first 2 days (the remote control was missing), but since it was cool outside, it was not a big issue then. Later it was functioning, but every while it stopped (probably the circuit breakers tripped and had to be reset). • During the second week we had no A/C for 2 nights, even though we notified the front desk numerous times. Eventually a maintenance guy came, reset the breakers and showed me how to do it. Yet the A/C stopped working just minutes after he left. Despite my resetting the circuit breakers many times, they kept tripping every few minutes and after 1 hour we gave up. It was quite hot, we left the door open, but mosquitoes got into our room and finally we had to close the door and ended up having a rather uncomfortable night. The air conditioner seemed OK after something was replaced, as it kept working without interruptions. We also got our lights back after a night of semi-darkness. • Power went down about 6 times, but it was restored immediately, within less than 20 seconds. Yet probably due to the power surge the coffee maker which we brought from Canada broke. • The TV set worked, but the audio sound was very distorted and the close captioning did not work, so we never turned it on again (in our case, it was not really a problem, as we do not have TV sets and do not watch TV back home anyway). • There was no telephone in the room—each time there was an issue with our room, we had to walk all the way to the reception to report it. • The maid (Martha) did a great job meticulously cleaning our room daily and also tried to assist us with our room glitches. • We never saw any bugs in our room, except for tiny ants which were usually on the balcony, attracted by drops of liqueur. On the balcony we spotted a large green leafcutter-type grasshopper and a small gecko. • We were given only one key to the room (just a traditional key, not a magnetic card) and it was impossible to get another one—we found it a little inconvenient. • The safe cost 2 CUC per day and it also used a traditional key (no numerical pad). • From our room’s balcony we often watched horses and donkeys grazing the grass just in front of our room (what a wonderful environmental way to mow the grass!). On two occasions we were quite surprised to witness a herd of about 10 big bulls and cows passing just meters from our room as well as a herd of goats. Some horses had bells, so at night we heard them long before we saw them. Actually, we enjoyed those animals very much, as they gave a genuine rustic touch to the resort. • Gardeners were noisy in the early morning, pulling the bins on the front sidewalk. • At our room we were never bothered by entertainment noise or any other disagreeable sounds. • No bottled water was delivered to our room, as in other hotels during our previous trips to Cuba, so we bought a few bottles of mineral water in the tienda and then asked servers or barmen to fill them with drinking water. FOOD • We had meals at both Carisol and Los Corales. Los Corales was more crowded. • There was plenty of food and it would be difficult to go hungry, but it was quite repetitive and relatively basic. Well, I never go to Cuba expecting gourmet cooking—yet I still managed to gain about 5 lbs. Needless to say, we never experienced any gastral issues. • All bags, backpacks and purses had to be left outside the restaurants, presumably because some guests were stuffing them with food… and other items ;). • Some Spanish-speaking tourists were trying to ignore the lineups and were impudently cutting in—unfortunately, the staff still served them. We had to firmly tell them to join the end of the line. • Raw vegetables were available at every meal, but they would taste much better with good salad dressings. • Outdoors dining at both hotels was awesome (one of the reasons we went to this resort), but not always available. • Breakfast egg stations served eggs & omelets, but most times they were slow and inefficient, some inexperienced cooks had problems even with cracking the eggs! • Lunch & dinner: cooks prepared pork, beef, hamburgers, hot-dogs, turkey—but I never saw shrimps & fish. • The buffet food was quite tasty & healthy, yet almost identical every day. • Fruit choice was poor at breakfasts. • Ice cream was, according to my friend, very tasty! But as she learned later, it was probably chemically made. • For dinners we ordered red wine, which was below average—well, nothing really unexpected. • Service was spotty—some servers were very good, others mediocre. • At Carisol a 7-person Cuban band played Cuban music, but a little too loud, it was often impossible to conduct a conversation. Besides, when the band was playing inside the restaurant, the acoustics was terrible, the cacophonous sounds were deafening! • At Los Corales there was probably a different musical band—one evening it played excellent Cuban jazz music which I loved. • At Los Corales there was a restaurant adjacent to the main one, which offered pizza and spaghetti. We went there once and had a pizza, which was OK. A’ LA CARTE RESTAURANT • We went only once to the outdoor a’ la carte restaurant at Carisol (La Piazza). • We waited for one hour for the food. • The order was not correct and could not be changed. • The beef was like shoe leather and the desert consisted of… melted ice cream. • The 7 or 8 piece musical band was standing very close to our table and was very loud; I considered tipping them NOT to play. • Overall, it was a disappointing experience and it was relief to leave—it is much better to go to the regular buffet. OTHER INFORMATION • Upon arrival, at the airport at Santiago I exchanged money, getting 153 CUC for CAD $200 (i.e., 76.50 CUC for CAD $100), the hotel offered 74 CUC for CAD $100. • At the hotel we rented bikes on 3 occasions and rode to the village of Baconao, Laguna Baconao, Jarden de Cactus, Hotel Costa Morena, the Blow Holes (!) and the Aquarium. Easy, yet awesome jaunts! • It was somehow difficult to get one peso bills or coins, even though we approached servers and hotel staff at the reception and asked for them at the exchange kiosk and in the hotel tiendas. Sometimes we tipped in US dollars. Some tourists tipped in Canadian coins (probably before they had a chance to exchange money) and a few resort employees asked us to change them into Canadian bills, which we did. • We asked the gardeners to bring us coconuts and thus we could often enjoy this tasty fruit. Surprisingly, the gardeners much preferred razors, hats and t-shirts in lieu of pecuniary tips (i.e., CUCs). The beach staff specifically asked us for t-shirts & hats which, I believe, cost much more in Cuba than in Canada. I was also asked if I had any pens. • I brought several bilingual magazines, containing the same articles in both Spanish & English. English-speaking hotel employees were very interested in reading them. • There are several Cuban farms on the other side of the road, just in front of the hotel property. One morning we took a sally, visited a few farmhouses, talked to the farmers and then took a different road back to the hotel. It would also be possible to bike there. • There are 3 or 4 private restaurants near the hotel, on both sides of the main road and while we were biking or walking near them, their Cuban employees/owners invited us to drop in (but we never did, truthfully telling them, “acabamos de comer en el hotel” (we’ve just eaten in the hotel). • We met a Canadian tourist who brought a fishing rod and often went fishing, catching plenty of fish. USEFUL TIPS • If you want to have a quiet room, get a junior suite in Carisol, but even if you have a room facing the pool in Carisol, it should be relatively quiet as there was no entertainment of any kind while we were there. Los Corales, ‘where the action is’, is much noisier (and livelier), yet the bungalows and rooms facing the ocean (vs. those facing the pool & and the entertainment area) are certainly quieter. • Bring your own favorite salad dressing and spices, especially if you like salads and greens. • Carry with you toilet paper or a roll of paper towel, especially outside the resort—but even the resort’s public washrooms were out of toilet paper. • Flashlights/headlights are very useful while walking at night on the hotel property or between hotels—some walkways/sidewalks are in poor shape, full of holes and cracks. My 1,000 lumen flashlight came very handy as we could see the horses & donkeys that at night knocked over the gate just in front of our room and entered the hotel property. Besides, due to the bad weather I spent a lot of time inside the room or on the balcony, reading books—and the headlight turned out to be perfect for this activity. • Consider bringing an umbrella—we did not and one evening we were unable to walk from our room to the restaurant because of heavy rain. • Big & insulated bubba mugs are a must—the bar cups are small and flimsy. • Whereas we were rarely bitten by any bugs on the beach, the mosquitoes were bothersome especially between 6:00 and 7:00 pm, while we were sitting on the balcony. You might consider bringing some bug cream or spray and a cortisone cream, as there were some tiny black flies biting too. • If you want a tasty, aromatic coffee in the morning… bring your own favorite coffee, mugs and a small coffee maker or at least an immersion heater. Consider using a multi-outlet power bar with surge protection—as I mentioned before, our coffee maker suddenly & unexpectedly died, most likely from voltage spikes occurring after the power was restored. • If you want a coconut in the morning, ask the gardeners. Also bring a sturdy spoon and a good knife in order to get the very tasty & soft meat. • Bring two lanyards for the keys to the door & safe. • Bikes are rented for a 24 hour period, so must be kept by guests overnight. If you do not want to carry them to the room, bring a bike lock/chain. Bringing a bike helmet (and bike lights if you are planning to ride after sunset) could be a good idea, too. • Sign up for the free trip to Santiago de Cuba as soon as possible (at the same place where you reserve a’ la carte dinners) since the number of seats on the bus is limited. • Take a bike ride (or hire a horse-drawn buggy) on the road towards the Hotel Costa Morena. On your left, past the aquarium, you will see blow holes. It is possible to go down to take a closer look at them. Later, before reaching the hotel, you will see Jardin de Cactus on your right. There is a pleasant guy in charge of the garden (who unfortunately does not speak English) who can give you a tour. It is also possible to walk up the hill (there are stairs), the view is quite nice. • There is a bar outside at the Santiago Airport, for 1 CUC beer (Cristal) and other beverages can be bought for the bus ride to the hotel. • The exchange kiosk at the Santiago Airport is located outside, close to the arrival area. There was only one other tourist at the wicket and the exchange rate was better than that in the hotel. The only problem was a small musical band that suddenly materialized next to me, playing loud music while I was busy counting & checking the money—they could not have chosen a worse time & place for their performance! Furthermore, they expected a tip—in your dreams! IN CONCLUSION Perhaps 20% of hotel guests were Cubans, who frankly could get noisy, but most were Canadians. We met several very nice, interesting and charming people from Ontario and Quebec and enjoyed dining, talking and even bike riding with them. It was a pity that we stumbled upon so many problems—especially that some of them were eventually rectified AFTER our (often repeated) interventions—meaning that they could have been fixed BEFORE! Besides, many other hotel guests we met had had similar (and even worse) problems, some had to change rooms several times, especially after the heavy rains, which caused inside flooding and leaking. I guess a proactive approach is not the hotel’s forte. Overall, I would give the resort 2.5 out of 5 stars. In spite of all the predicaments we encountered, we had gone to Cuba with a (very) open mind and we made our vacation enjoyable, taking whatever occurred in strides. Besides, we enjoyed the surrounding mountainous scenery, bike riding, visiting nearby villages as well as watching the ocean, mountains and the horses, donkeys, cows & goats from our balcony. Would we return to this resort? Incredibly, the answer is ‘yes’, provided that we could ensure getting a problem-free, ocean-view junior suite in Carisol.

Brisas Sierra Mar: NICE PEOPLE BEAUTIFUL SCENERY

IT COULD USE SOME UPGRADES. LOSE MANAGEMENT. MUSIC GROUPS OF THE PAST ARE MISSING. THERE ARE ALWAYS SOME FOOD SHORTAGES. MUSIC IS MOSTLY TO LOUD. THE MANY DIFFERENT MUSICIANS AND MUSIC GROUPS ARE MISSING.

Brisas Los Galeones: Beautiful

The resort itself was well kept, clean. The town itself boasts amazing views and wonderful people. The food and amenities were okay. But what makes this place special was the scenery and the people

Brisas Los Galeones: I'd go back again.

2018 January 10-17th - My 4th trip to Cuba and this resort. Other trips were in 09,10, and 2011. Many of the same people were there: both guests and workers. It is small and "homey". Not exactly roughing it as the rooms have vaulted ceilings, nice large balconies and views, but this place is not high end. I go for the views OMG, mountains and sea and lagoon, and sunsets. The beach is picturesque with shade trees when you need to get out of the sun, and a lovely "small" bar/resaurant right there  [... read more]with a real wood fired BBQ. Be prepared for the 293 steps up to the resort. Oh yes. Benches offer a place to rest half way up. I am almost 70 and had no problem but the resort is built on top of a high hill the sticks out into the ocean. Watch for the strong undertow if you snorkel. I went out too far and had quite a time getting back in one day. Alert the life guard if you are going out. The music is fantastic and varied and of very high caliber. The 100 and 200 blocks face south and are furthest away from the "centre" of the resort so have the quietest rooms. Sunsets are seen from the 300 and a little from the 200 blocks. North views from the 400 and 500 blocks have additional views of Chivirico, the town at the bottom of the hill, and the ocean lagoon and the beautiful mountains. Can't go wrong. No wonder there are so many repeaters. It will be difficult for me to go somewhere else but I know I should.....

Carisol los Corales: Fun family time

2nd time here and had a good time.There have been some renovations done on the rooms and grounds.However more are still needed since in a very heavy rain we had some of the rooms flooded and numerous roof leaks in the buffet and elsewhere. As usual staff overall is very friendly and helpful with Francesco at the pool bar being particularly awesome! Also had a great time diving with my newly certified 12yr old daughter.Everyone at the dive shop was great with some really nice dive sites.Food is  [... read more]average 3 star Cuban and none of our party got sick or any stomach upset.Will be back and recommend this hotel for the budget minded easy going traveler.

Carisol los Corales: GREAT Resort

We stayed at Carisol los Corales from December 25 to January 1. I must say that I was pleasantly surprised how clean and tidy the resort looked and felt. Staff was very friendly, the beach amazing, food was quite good as well! I loved the views- you are surrounded by mountains!!! I loved the fact that kids were able to roam free (as the resort is small) and we were not worrying about their safety at all! no matter where you stayed (cafeteria or your room) everything was literally few minutes wal [... read more]king distance! A la carte were great as well (my favorite dish- fish in a curry sauce!) delicious! I thought the resort was greatly situated and I would definitely recommend to those that want to get a feel of "real" Cuba! I actually loved the fact that you have dogs and cats, sheep and horses roaming the property! Our boys were so occupied with the animals (both 6 years old and one 9 year old) The only negative aspect were the rooms. Don't get me wrong-they were VERY clean and spacious and no smell of moisture or mold whatsoever!! BUT they are so outdated to the point that some fixtures and renovations would be recommended! the grouting job in the bathroom was very bad..LOL... Generally I would recommend this resort greatly! For a 3 star resort I must say that you get everything-the views, the beach, the food....

Carisol los Corales: Beautiful beach

The resort is outdated and needs TLC big time! My room was decent, but more like a two star room. Definitely bring your own pillows as the ones provided are tiny:( also I would recommend to bring your own hand soap and kleenexes. The food was ok, plenty of meat and starchy foods but no much of veggies except for cucumbers, white and red cabbage and carrots and peas...so don't expect variety, same for fruits...grapefruits, pineapples very little of papaya. The staff were friendly and helpful. The [... read more] beach is beautiful with mountain view, great for relaxing, snorkelling and kayaking (no extra fee) I would suggest to bring water shoes as the shore and water is rocky and full of urchins.

Carisol los Corales: Summer camp style

The hotel grounds were well maintained (keeping in mind that there was a hurricane there recently) and the bungalow we stayed in was clean and we always had hot showers. Instead of Oceanview, we had parking lot view with idling buses. Since it was during Christmas holidays they were fully booked and could not offer us another room. The food was very basic. We had either a custom omelette or hard boiled eggs, toast and coffee. If any fruit was put out it was quickly absconded by whoever was  [... read more]there first. For lunch we often had a mini pizza in the Italian restaurant next to the main food hall. Dinner was pretty much always the same. Cucumbers, cabbage, lots of white rice or curried rice with a variety of stewed meats to put over the rice. There was often pork and fish being grilled if you were willing to wait in line. We had a la carte twice ( both times there was no seafood available.). They tried hard to give a good service but they just don't understand efficiency. Ie. Bring bottle to the table to refill wine glasses!! No, the waitress has to carry them to behind the counter, refill them and then try to remember whose glass it was! Desserts looked okay and the ice cream was very popular. We were disappointed with the lack of fresh fruit, and were told that the fruit trees were damaged and that they could only serve up what was delivered to them. 3* Cuba..understandable. We had to go reserve our chaises at 7:00 am orelse there would not be enough. Luckily people respected our towels to reserve. Our neighbours had a blue towel stolen and were charged $35 to replace it, even though they had been tipping excessively throughout the week. The resort was full of Cubans, and we felt that they got preferential treatment. (We were told that there was no shrimp at the Cubana a la carte). The Cubans at the next table not only had shrimp, but they had a lot of it. That's blatant discrimination...if you say there's no shrimp, there should be none on other tables!

Carisol los Corales: Nice resort

Nice hotel with a nice beach. Many small things that need improving but overall pleasant place to stay. Activities are scheduled every day however only few are played. Stray dogs and cats in the restaurants I don't think are appropriate. No Wi-Fi on premises a big minus. Staff is friendly.