Very nice resort

Just returned from this resort and we really enjoyed our stay. We traveled with our two kids ages 7&9. This resort is big so be prepared for lots of walking. The food was typical for Cuban resorts. We really enjoyed the pork and chicken. Don’t stress yourself out if they run out of something in the buffet, as there’s always something to eat. A lot of people complained when they didn’t have bread. However, it only happened for two or three meals the entire time we were there. So I don’t t [... read more]hink it’s anything to get to upset about! Remember your on vacation and the staff try’s very hard to make your stay enjoyable. Returning some courtesy to them is the least you can do. The service was a little slow in the main buffet as well as the beach buffet at lunch. However, if you have breakfast at the beach buffet the service is excellent as it is very quite in the morning. The staff at the beach bar really stand out as exceptional. It’s always busy but they are very fast and well organized. And of coarse the beach was the highlight! Beautiful white sand and clear water. Bring your snorkel as there are lots of fish to see right on the beach. There is some corral on the beach, so a bit of caution is advised when walking in the water as they are sharp on your feet when you step on them. Lots of cabanas for shade, and a surplus of lounge chairs. So there was never a need to reserve chairs, unlike some resorts we have been at. All in all it was everything we expected. Would we go back? Probably not, but only because we have never stayed at the same resort twice! However, for someone traveling with kids I would recommend it.

Would not return

Rooms were clean, the rest of the resort was not - yellowish-brown ‘gunk’ on the walls of the pool, I assume from people drinking at the pool bar and clearly urinating all day (it’s not humanly possible to hold your bladder drinking all day). Plates were left around the pool area for multiple days. No towels - luckily we read previous reviews and brought our own. A lot of mosquitoes. Half the resort was shutting down due to “low-season” which none of the guests I spoke with were to [... read more]ld about, nor were we (even upon arrival). Booked 3 à la cartes: ‘Tex Mex’, ‘Italian’, and ‘Seafood’, but ended up with ‘Tex Mex’, ‘Meditteranean’, and ‘Meditteranean’, as upon arrival to the ‘Seafood’ we were told “they did not have a ‘Seafood’ restaurant at the resort” (didn’t receive an explanation about the ‘Italian’). Did not get water the first couple of days. We lucked out (I think with being close to the lobby) and did not have any issues with our toilet, but many guests we met could not flush theirs. One group we met could not get toilet paper in their room for multiple days, and when they asked the desk they were told they should have some when they go back and if not to call ‘5’. They returned to their room shortly after to no toilet paper, and called ‘5’ four times to no avail. I witnessed 2 people slice their feet open on broken tiles in the pool. One of them was given stitches, antibiotics and a $200 bill, which he had to front(even though they did not have any indication of broken tiles even after the first incident). The shows were really well done and had the mosquitoes not been so bad I would have attended every one. Food was good, but the options were limited some days (i.e. no bread products at breakfast some days) and options also depended on which server you asked (i.e. one employee said they did not have butter, and another overheard and walked up after with butter). Also options became more limited after the ‘shut-down’ began! ‘Shut down’ also resulted in minimal staff available (the pool cleaner must’ve been laid off!). Beach was beautiful!! I would not return.

NiceResort

Nice resort. Grounds and public restrooms kept really clean. Stayed in building 19 close to the beach. The room attendend cleaning our room was very friendly and kept room spotless. Beach was amazing lots of chairs available. Buffet has lots of choices to choose from. Went to 4 a la carts all good. Servers and staff are awesome and work hard to help your stay be memorable. Bring fly spray lots of mosquitoes up at lobby at night time . All in all great place to go and relax.

A little disappointed

Our first impression was not great. We arrived at the hotel and got moved to a room, where a young man who did not speak English very well tried to explain to us why we were there and give us some important information. They asked for our passports which they then took and proceeded out the door, a few followed them of course as we were not use to letting our passports out of our sight. We did get booked in and baggage was placed into each of our rooms. A few of us were hungry so went looking fo [... read more]r the 24 hour snack bar, it was 9 p.m. however the people working at the snack bar where not prepared to have guests arrive. They ignored us when we first went in...so we left thinking that we were in the wrong place. We did go back when we were told by other guests that yes that was the place, however they had also been ignored in the past. We then find out that there were only a couple of items that you could get...one of the things they were serving up was a raw cold hot dog on a heated hamburger bun, which of course I didn't eat. I found the staff not your friendly "Cuban people" that I was use to when I visited Varedaro in the past. This was our first visit to Cayo Coco. We did give that snack bar another try on the second day, only to be served up a chicken sandwich which basically had three small pieces of chicken the size of my house key with peas carrots and maybe green beans...which of course I didn't eat. So enough about the food as we all know that you do NOT go to Cuba for the food. The weather was great and the beach was beautiful so on most days you could ignore the poor service, walking the unlit pathways at night, air in the water lines which sometimes made it a little hard to wash your hands (this was in the hotel rooms), getting your beach towels after the 5th day (this was a common occurrence as we spoke to a number of people/ the hotel was not at capacity so I would worry if you would ever get a towel if it was at capacity) I am not sure who the tall white guy was that walked around the buffet but my guess would be supervisor or manager. He walked around with a very sad/mad look on his face, not sure if he spoke English as he never spoke to us as we walked by and I never saw him speak to any of the staff. I almost felt like he set the mood for all the staff in the buffet...which wasn't a good thing. The hotel was clean and the little ladies that cleaned up the public bathrooms seemed to really work hard. If I ever go back to Cayo Coco I would not likely return to this hotel unless it makes the changes necessary to make it a welcoming resort..

Poorly managed facilities

This resort was quite below my expectations considering that is operated by such a reputable chain " Melia Hotels" lots of attitude from staff and poorly managed, specially the food & beverage department.

Lovely property

Enjoyed our stay. Great beach. Food was good. And rooms were clean. Only negative was the mosquitoes at night. Could not sit outside for long. Staff were very friendly and efficient. Preferred the buffet to the a la carte. Great breakfast.

Very nice

We loved the hotel, the staff was friendly and accommodating, the rooms were clean and spacious.We enjoyed a sailboat ride and a trip to Lenny"s for lobster and shrimp.The Japanese restaurant just off the resort was excellant.

Believe the negative reviews

We would only recomend the beach that by the way was the best we have ever seen, just unreal nice looking!!!The room was clean ! The staff looked overworked but friendly! Just read all the negative reviews, that how it is! The only reason we did not move to another hotel was the beach and the fact that the room was nice and clean and we were only there for 5 days! PS pools are not clean, buffet is not clean, beach restaurant had constant smell , food is not labeled at all!

The resort is in a good location, beach is great. The pools are well kept. Need more towels.

The grounds and resort was well kept, clean overall. The beach was clean. The staff went out of their way to accommodate us. Manuel (Mohammad) as his boss refers to him, great curtious polite went out of his way to help the guest. Wish him and his wife the best of luck with the journey of starting a family, he will make a great dad. Ernesto part of the entertainment was a fantastic individual who always had a smile on his face. This is one person who enjoys his job. Entertainment was gr [... read more]eat. Only thing I can suggest is improvement on food and fruit.

Wonderful Experience

First, the hotel staff were amazing! Accommodating is an understatement. Second, the food and amount was really great. The servers and hosts were for the most part, smiling and helpful. Third, the cleaning staff and fridge attendant were very pleasant and helped with our needs and getting us in our room when we were locked out. The beach itself was beautiful. One side of the ocean was smooth and clean. The other side to the right had some coral, grass patches, great for sea life to view [... read more] if you snorkel. The Grounds were well kept and the workers always doing something needing done. The palm tree hats and hand made creations were darling. Most of the entertainment were of dance groups. They were talented, colourful, but not my preference. To each there own,. The only things I would change/ improve; the notifications boards were at the entrance of the buffet and we did no see them until day 4 of our 7 day trip. We missed out on a lot of experiences. The bungalows were in need of some visual repairs as well as the huts on the beach, and the wooden walkways to the beach. There were missing boards in the walk ways that could have caused serious injuries. We did have water issues for the first 3 days, little to none in our bungalow (21). It took 2 days to have our toilet repaired so it would flush, without using a bucket of water. All in all, great trip for a first time to Cuba and first trip/adventure outside of Canada! Cheers or in Nova Scotia, Sociable! See you again

Amazing 2 Weeks of Paradise! 🌴🌞

Check in was fast and Efficient. Rooms were large and clean, fridge was stocked daily with Water, pop and beer. Food was plentiful. Pools were nice the Ocean was AMAZING! Entertainment was also Great! The People working are Always Smiling trying to make sure Everyone has a great Vacay! Drinks are plentiful my Favorite would have to be at the Lobby Bar “Spanish Coffees”. Till next time thank you for your Hospitalty! 🌴🌞

Melia Jardines Del Rey

It was my first trip to Cuba. The weather was beautiful, the beach was breathtaking, the grounds were amazing, the rooms were clean and comfortable. The staff were courteous and friendly and always said hello. The food was good. The only thing I would say was a problem was hot water. Sometimes there was none. Overall I had an awesome trip.

The BAD out weighs the Good

We just got back from Melia Jardines del Rey and I will give you the good first. Good: beach is amazing, grounds are kept nice from the hard working groundskeepers. Housekeepers are always working to keep main lobby clean. Most of the staff speak good English and are friendly, Roberto in the buffet was awesome greeting us with a smile every morning. The cook making our eggs remembered what we liked each morning. The was always lounge chairs available and shade shelters at beach and pool.  [... read more] BAD: mosquito's are very bad at dusk and dawn, the first four days they ran out of beer at times through out the day, they only served slush drinks at certain times and certain bars. buffet was pretty much the same every day. Beach towels were hard to get let alone replaced. Customer service was very friendly but not helpful in any way. MOST of all what ruined it for us and a lot of others was No running water for the better part of two days, 12 hrs on the Wednesday and 8 hrs Thursday, couldn't flush a toilet wash your hands. I hope this review helps We will never go back

Good Vacation

This was my second time at this Resort and I'm sorry to kind of say that it has gone downhill in a year. The beach was amazing our room was okay the food was not as great this time. The food literally was the same thing for lunch and supper for the whole 7 days that we were there. The drinks were never consistent and they also ran out of beer several times. We were looking so forward to returning to this Resort as we were there before, but we will not be returning to this Resort again.

Very nice Resort

The resort was very nice very good service the beach was beautiful the entertainment was great the rooms were OK the ocean was beautiful we stayed for 10 days every day was beautiful we loved The ice cream parlour and we would come again for sure next March

Potential but a long way to go!

2 weeks I’ll never get back. Thank goodness for the friends we made while we were there. I’m blown away by all the positive reviews. We’re not hard to please and being military, have stayed in some pretty deplorable places but none we’ve had to pay for. Don’t get me wrong, the beach is out of this world, the pool is beautiful and our room was okay but the service, cleanliness and food were beyond disgusting, with the exception of Alberto at the Snack bar. He seemed to take everyth [... read more]ing personal and done his best to please everyone. We’ve been to Cuba 7-8 times and really don’t expect the food to be great but eatable would be okay. (Check pics ) While we were at this resort, we had so many complaints that I decided to make a list. - Raw chicken - no water or drinks in our room for 3 days - Run out of beer at 1400 every day, switch to vodka and sober up! - Bugs all over the table and wall at the international a la cart. (If someone would explain how to upload a video, I would be happy to share!) - Offered a steak and lobster meal for compensation, explained that compensation wasn’t necessary we just wanted things to be fixed. We decided to take the offer and booked for Steak and lobster for Saturday evening at 1930, show up, no record, looked like fools. Practically said we were lying! Spoke to the manager and staff on Monday, they apologized for the misunderstanding re-booked for Monday evening and low and behold, they changed their minds again. Now it was steak or lobster! Needless to say, we had the buffet. - Same thing for lunch and dinner every day and night for 14 days. - Waited 1.5 hours at snack bar for a burger. Still didn’t get it. - First 3 days no entertainment (even music) at the pool - Evening entertainment always same routine with different costumes - First change in evening entertainment was 29 March, live band( outsourced) - 30 March at the pool was a great day, actual interactive entertainment - Rarely a clean table in any restaurant between 19-27 March - Very noticeable when management was around, staff actually tripping over themselves to clean a table or help you. - Noticed a waiter pick up a water jug have a big drink out of it and continue to serve customers from the same jug. - Smells like raw sewage everywhere. I could go on but I know what most people are thinking, “can’t please everyone!” “ complainers!” I know this because that’s what I said when I read the reviews before our vacation started! If I can change one persons mind about this resort, I’ve helped someone save a little money and hopefully have a better vacation somewhere else. Happy Vacationing somewhere else🌴

AWFUL!!!!!!!

The only thing nice on this resort is the beach. but don't go there after dark or the wild dogs will try to attack you! Check in: AWFUL Customer Service: AWFUL and UNPROFESSIONAL Food: Awful (nothing labeled. every time you go to the snack bar the food is different even if you order the same thing as the last time) and always cold Accommodations: AWFUL (unless you enjoy a room full of bugs, dirt, no towels, no running water at times, toilets that don't work, and the smell of sewage!) Med [... read more]ical: (YES HAD TO VISIT HERE DUE TO BUG BITES and so did my friend who was staying in a separate room!) Friendly WORST RESORT EVER!!!!!! WOULD NOT SEND MY WORST ENEMY HERE!!!!!

Big fun resort!

This resort is very clean and well kept. It is on the large side so you have to enjoy walking. There is always something to do and we found the lobby a happening spot...lots of people congregate here and have drinks. We brought music and had a blast. The only downside to this resort are the line ups in the buffet....and the week we were there I think all the guests left their manners at home. Really rude people pushing and butting in line. This is not the resorts fault but I felt I had to me [... read more]ntion it as it was my number one pet peeve here. The staff are lovely and hard working. Many guests were repeat and I noticed a lot of the staff were sought out and hugged and given gifts by them. We had a plumbing issue (toilet on third floor was plugged) so they shut off water on the second floor to resolve this...however it took longer then we had hoped and we were without cold water and a toilet for a day/night. This was unfortunate but it is what it is.

Great time!

It is a large resort but you will never feel crowded! Food was great and yes the buffet can get a little crazy but nothing that you can't live with. The resort is large so if you have mobility issues that may be a concern! Overall great time!! Would go back again!

Awful!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This was the worst vacation i have ever been on. I got really sick for all the bugs that was at the hotel. I have to seek medical attention from the staff at the resort and believe me it was bad. The medical staff was the greatest but the hotel staff was not so much. I found myself shaking my head at the disrespect i seen in how the staff treated not only other guests but each other. I will never return to this resort because of this experience. I know that this has nothing to d [... read more]o with you or your company but you need to know this is not a great place to stay.