Seamless

Very easy instructions that made traveling painless. Thanks trip central The beach is the best I have ever stayed at All the staff were extremely motivated to accommodate your every need I cannot wait to use your service again for my next trip

Amazing vacation!

Just spent a week at Sanctuary and it was amazing! The beach and pools were wonderful and so relaxing (with a great swim up bar). The rooms were beautiful and comfortable. Even the food was all delicious for Cuba... LoL. But the best part was definitely the staff! Everyone was so friendly and helpful, especially our butlers Zadys and Mercedes. We’ll definitely consider coming back in the future!

Hôtel était ok

- La chambre sentait trop l’humidité - en arrivant les draps ne semblaient pas très propre il y avait des taches dessus - pas une super idée de voyager seul je me sentais délaissé partout où j’allai : le Personne semblait plus occupé par les couples ou les groupes

Beautiful resort

The hotel appeared old and in need of minor repairs like painting,bolts missing from railings etc... The grounds were okay same as hotel,ground keepers need to be on top of things. The pool and the beach are beautiful and the staff (our butler,waiters/waitresses,bartenders and entertainment staff) were amazingly helpful and efficient.

Not bad... could be Great

We stayed at Sanctuary from April 2-9. Overall the stay was pretty good but with a few improvements it could have been great. The staff and the service they offer is probably the best we have received anywhere. Special to mention Orbee and Nayla who took such great care of us at the breakfast and lunch buffet, Carlos and Ray at the pool bar and Claudia and Glendy our butlers on the top floor of in building 60. These people made our trip. For the most part we had breakfast and lunch at the  [... read more]Sanctuary buffet, pretty good selection of food choices but not a lot of flavor. Kitchen staff pretty accommodating, one day my wife was looking for french fries and none was available until she asked and within 10 minutes she was presented with a plate of fresh cooked hot fries.. that’s service For dinner we ate at the la cartes and 2 out of the 4 were pretty good. Would recommend the Mediterranean and the Grand Memories Italian but would stay away from the Mexican and the Sanctuary Italian. The one complaint about all the la carts was that none served coffee/tea after dinner, designed Im sure to get the people out the door Couple of other things that could be done to improve the resort would be a badly need update to the rooms. Our bed, sheets, pillows were ok but a paint job, tub/tile caulking and some furniture replaced would have greatly enhanced the experience and if it was done Im sure the resort could charge more and people would pay for it. The other complain we had was that about 90% of the lounge chairs that are around the pool are being “reserved” the night before and in some cases if people were lucky and get the shade chairs they would keep personal items on them 24 hrs

Good resort, great beach

the resort is old and not well maintained service is a little slow staff is amazing and friendly but still service was slow internet is good but only available in the lobby (we stayed at Sanctuary) Pools are great, gardens are great, beach is great rooms don't get cleaned properly, towels, sheets, bath ropes are not clean. food quantity is great but food quality is average for Cuba.

Hotel santa maria was in desperate need of updateing and repair

the grounds were lovely and well maintained, beach was beautiful, people very friendly but when it came to getting service for things like changing rooms booze in room what was part of the package they kept making excuses and never followed through. we were suppose to have a bus boy or porter on our floor to book excursions, and alacartes. our porter had to be continually chased down and we often had to book with our friends porter on the floor above us, the pool was lovely. entertainment great. [... read more] food was satisfactory.

Good and bad

We both loved the beautiful beach /the great service/the staff. It was a wonderfu experience. We did not enjoy having to wait four hours to get our room after a very early start to the day.. It would be very helpful, if the rooms are not ready, to have a waiting space where we could have changed and made use of the hotel services. our first day never happened! Instead we sate in sweltering heat waiting. The food quality varied enormously but it was more than made up for by the wonderful servi [... read more]ce. Contrary to what was advertised tipping seemed to be a necessity.. We even had a driver demand a tip (which I refused to give on that occasion!) Love Cuba By the way HALIFAX is the ONLY SUNWING destination (apparently) where you can not confirm your bookings on the website.

Great staff!!

This resort was great , grounds are well kept, beach is spectacular! Food is ok you will always find something to eat just nothing wow. The rooms are kept clean by the maids and the added buttler service is great. The staff really makes for a great vacation!

Nice Resort

Very friendly staff, especially pool bartender named Carlos. Front lobby staff very accommodating and easy to speak with. Can even exchange money right in front lobby without passport. Butlers always around to ask for help or to book restaurant reservations. Rooms okay. Stains on sheets and towels/towels not changed once during week despite good tips and gifts. Beds firm but I like my mattress like that. Amazing water pressure in shower! Beach very nice. Private adult only area. Was windy and  [... read more]a bit wavy while we were there but could have just been the week we went. Bad sand flies/mosquitos in evening; bring lots of bug spray and after bite. Many people had a ton of bites by the end of the week. Pool beautiful and clean. Bit cool but I was still in all day every day. Lots of chairs to choose from, not always in the shade but the shade moves anyways! Food poor but it's Cuba so what do you expect. Food cold at buffet, meat impossible to chew, buns stale. Fresh cooked meat was great and the A La Carte restaurant at sanctuary was better than buffet. It was international and changed every night which was fun. Could get reservations at all times of day from butler but never got the other restaurants because you had to wake up early and get reservation right away. Drinks were amazing especially the Pink Lemonade drinks from the lobby bar! Overall it was good and I enjoyed my vacation but I dont think I would go back. Have been to Cuba before and had a better experience in past.

2nd time and we will be back :)

This was our second year in a row at Sanctuary and the plan is to return again next year. We selected Cuba in 2018 over other countries because we wanted to support their tourist industry after the horrific hurricane Irma in September 2017. Most of the gardens were still empty of the beautiful flowering shrubs and plants of Caribbean resorts, but each day we saw the gardeners beautify a few of the uncountable number of gardens throughout the resort. Returning this year, we were amazed the ground [... read more]s are almost all done and flowers were blooming everywhere. We still see the gardeners working daily, creating gardens of love ... literally 💜 We understand the labourous work of gardening and so appreciate everything they do and we make a point of complimenting and thanking them. The staff at Cuban resorts go out of their way to please and serve. They totally understand their lives and their country rely heavily on tourism. But, you must keep in mind that any where in the world, vacation or not, you get back what you put out. All the staff throughout Memories’ 3 resorts are incredible people with excellent attitudes and service standards. You should arrive with that same disposition and keep it the lenght of your vacation unless you truly encounter substandard conditions or staff. It IS Cuba and if you choose to vacation there you should not be surprised by the “normal” things about Cuba. None of it is a secret. My biggest complaint about my trips to Cuba always involved co-guests. If you believe people will treat you with respect after you continually disrespect people with an entitlement attitude as if somehow you converted to Royalty on the plane ride down, you are sadly mistaken and you are affecting anyone around you who can hear and see how you behave and how you treat these loving caring people. Of course we have had moments of disappointment about food quality or quantity, toilet issues, or a server who is having an off day, etc, etc. But, we have a good attitude no matter what we encounter. We expect these things are likely to occur and we are prepared to adjust and work around the FACT it is not a Ritz hotel. We exhume love to that cranky waiter so he/she knows people are good and care and are not judging them. Have you ever had something going on inside you that causes you not to be cheerful all day? Would it be nice for people to smile and thank you as if they didn’t notice? That’s what we do and we get a positive response every time. I am sure that person goes on to have a better day to the benefit of everyone they serve after. They are human beings, not emotionless robots so PLEASE treat everyone with respect even when things aren’t going your way. You also bring down the poeple YOU are travelling with ... especially the children. Second co-guest complaint is to be more physically aware of yourself and your surroundings. YIELD, WALK ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF PATHS, MOVE OUT OF THE WAY. DONT STOP WITH YOUR GROUP IN ENTRANCES OR BLOCK PATHWAYS... FIND A SPOT OUT OF THE MOVING TRAFFIC OF PEOPLE AND SHUTTLE CARTS TO STAND AND CHAT!! AVEZ-VOUS COMPRIS? MERCI BEAUCOUP :)

Not as great as the reviews say.

Upon arrival we were not told that every Friday they have steak and lobster.{Found out from a server 4 days later.} Our rooms sink was not working.Moved us to another room the next day where we had to where earplugs because the air was freezing up and leaking on the floor.The maid said that there was an iron missing from the previous room.I didn't even look in the closet never mind ironing while I'm on vacation.LOL No maps of the place so it took us about 3 days to figure out where we were going [... read more].A lined up for the reserved restaurants even though they were half empty.Just don't get it.Food at the buffet was mostly cold and lets not forget about no toilet paper in most places even though they have it.We would not go back there if it was for free.Sorry.Just being honest.Gord and Eve.

Sanctuary at Grand Memories Santa Maria

We stayed at Memories several years ago. Being March break we opted for the adult only section of the resort. Had a great time. Rooms were clean and grounds were nice. Employees were friendly and nice. Service was slow at the restaurants and bar in the adult only section. Tables were not cleaned between customers-- just brushed off or in some cases blown off with their mouths. Lack of clean cutlery and glasses was apparent. Went to other parts of resort and had quick service with tables  [... read more]cleaned. (Don't know why staff in the adult only section didn't have the same work ethics as the rest of the complex). Food was good -- something for everyone. A large lack of shade around the pool and beach. If you wanted shade, people were placing their towels on chairs the night before under the huts--not acceptable. Bugs were bad this time--take spray and after bite with you. Had no problems with bugs on our last visit. All and all had a wonderful time.

Beautiful beach!

We enjoyed Sanctuary very much. It had a smaller quieter atmosphere. You could walk out in the crystal clear water and feed the fish, snorkel or swim. The food was okay but we Didn’t starve- there was always something to eat. The service was excellent! We would definitely come back!

Enjoyable for the most part

The ride to the hotel was lovely. Like a mini tour guide as we traveled through 3 small communities. We arrived at the hotel Grand Memories (12:30) and was transported by cart to Sanctuary (2 minutes) away. We were given a mamosa and wristband on arrival by our "Butler" (they have one for each floor of the buildings). He did not speak very much English. We were told to have lunch and that our room should be ready by then. The lunch buffet was ok - not many labels as to what some of the it [... read more]ems were. Cold cuts, cheeses & breads were great. After lunch (1:30) we were told the room would be ready in 1/2 hour - 1 hr. Ok, we would wait. Then we were told (by our butler) that the guests had a late check-out of 2:00. I was not happy. I kept checking with the fellow at the desk to see if they had checked out yet (this was after 2:00 now) and he said, "Oh, any minute now". One other butler saw that we were frustrated and he went to check on the room. Our butler then said "Oh, check in is 4:00". I said, why did you lie to us thinking our room would be ready soon? He just walked away. Terribly rude! Anyway, I guess our original room was cleaned at some point but they finally gave us another room (different building & butler) at 4:00. The toilet seat was not attached to the bowl, no bolts or screws. The sliding door to the closet came of the track. There was no hot water and very low pressure.The butler on that floor (lovely lady) showed us the trick to use the sliding doors and she noted the toilet seat problem. That was solved with a new seat on the 3rd day. On the positive side, the safe and the air conditioner worked. The bed and the pillows were very comfortable. The buildings need some TLC which I don't think is a priority for them. The staff was very friendly on all levels (except that one butler). The beach is spectacular. We went to the Grand Memories section because there were not as many palapas at our end. Getting up early to put your towels on the chairs is a must. The toilets at the beach are disgusting. Never any toilet paper so bring your own. They ran out of beer one day and mohitoes most afternoons. The entertainment was great, especially the Cuban bands. The grounds were kept very well. Lovely flowers and shrubs. So other than that first day, it was a great trip.

Disgusting

Cockroaches in room. Mould on drapes and furniture. Stained bedding, walls, furniture. Water damage everywhere. Stay away! These rooms are a health hazard.We refused to stay in our room so they moved us to the Royalton next door. Vacation saved! Lucky for us but I'm sure others are not. Read reviews carefully. You have been warned.

An OK Resort

I have been to Cuba 17 times and this resort falls into the okay resort. Pay for what you get! First day was a little mixed up.never met our butler nor did we get water nor the fridge restocked. Biggest issue when we got there was that they had no Cristal beer, tonic, soda water for days and our air condition did not work for 2 days. Once we got ahold of our person that fills the fridge he gave us 10 beer in our fridge for 10 pesos. The only way to insure we had beer. Wine was also hard to get. [... read more] We had to buy our own and bring to the buffet. There was plenty of food and it was good. There was very little service and you had to get your own drinks unless you tipped well.

Great resort, not so great food.

We thought the resort was well layed out. It wasn't very far to walk to everything. The beach was absolutely beautiful. As well as the pool area. Everyone bends over backwards to make sure you feel comfortable. The food however is very bland tasting. It's the same foods day after day. We both ended up sick before it was time to go home. If it wasn't for getting sick it would've been a grand trip but being sick just ruined it.

Amazing resort, best vacation ever!

We were there as a couple from Feb. 12th to the 19th Amazing resort, best vacation ever! Beautiful grounds and pools, beaches, amazing landscaping, lush vegetation, very clean, lovely dining rooms, excellent food at all meals, most friendly and helpful staff always ready to help, always asking what more they can do for you, always great entertainment, very efficient check-in at the reception, all in all, excellent service and we can see why this resort has the Certificate of Excellence. The r [... read more]esort is in need of a little TLC maybe still recovering from 2017 hurricanes (ex. repainting balconies) but when equipment breaks in your room, they tend to get fixed very quickly in general. The service and the staff are so amazing that you forget that this is not a top notch 5 star resort. Definitely planning to go there again next year and will not hesitate to recommend to all my family and friends.

Great staff, awesome beach

Grounds are beautiful, pool is great, beach is incredible and entertainment staff is very good. Food is average, breakfast and lunch buffet offer enough choice, but buffet area could use more cleanliness. Butlers are welcoming and helpful, rooms could be updated