Cayo Santa Maria

Great resort with great service and people (especially the "butlers" and the entertainment team). A smaller, quieter resort (which is what we were looking for). The brach and ocean were clean and beautiful.

This hotel is very nice, they just reopened under a new name, I enjoyed my week very much, the service was amazing, the food was so much better than I expected. The butlers, hotel staff were very attentive. My room was beautiful with an ocean view. Smaller resort which was what I prefer, adults only.

This was a quick getaway to beat the winter blues. Vila Gale was an interesting change to our trips to Cuba. Quite modern buildings with easy distances to the main lobby, buffet, beaches and pool. My understanding is that a large part of the hotel was undergoing renovation for the January-March crowd. We were a day late due to a plane cancellation, received an excellent room but alas the air conditioning did not work. The following day we were moved across the hall. We received immediate service for repairs. We were asked by staff, several times in the lobby, if we had air conditioning. I cannot describe the wonderful service we continued to have throughout the week. It was our first time and we felt like we were old friends. The aquagym instructor sought me out to see why I could not come to the session. The assistant manager stopped to chat with us multiple times. The bar service employees were so nice and non-intrusive. The food was excellent although repetitive. I would have loved some more fish. The pastry chef shared his cookie recipe with me. There were tons of chairs at the beach and the pool. Lots of shade and areas to relax outside of the rooms. (too bad for those biting insects). We only attended two shows. The bugs were bad, it takes almost an hour for the young ones in daycare to get through their show and the night show was quite late. All in all it was a good holiday.

Many times at this resort. Amazing staff !!! There is always something to eat. Mosquitoes they sprayed twice a day. The ocean is amazing. I shall return next year.

Excelent beach, excelent service, not bad food for Cuba

This review reflects mixed feelings, with both positive experiences and clear disappointments. The hospitality, kindness, and service provided by the hotel staff are truly unmatched. From the front desk in the lobby, to the cleaning staff, and even those who gave us coconuts, everyone offered excellent service. The hotel has very clean and well-maintained areas, along with a beautiful design that I truly loved. The pool was always clean, with a reasonable amount of chlorine, and the lounge chairs were in good condition and always available. However, there are also some negative aspects that must be pointed out. One of them is the high level of tolerance for smoking throughout almost all areas of the hotel. There is no designated smoking area, which is very uncomfortable for non-smokers. My family and I were constantly exposed to secondhand smoke, even in indoor areas such as the lobby. Another issue is the noise. The music played during the day is entirely based on the animators' preferences and includes a genre known as “reparto,” which I would describe as vulgar, loud, irritating, and difficult to understand. Many of us travel to Cuba for the charm of the island, its culture frozen in time, and its traditional music: Buena Vista Social Club, Benny Moré, Eliades Ochoa, Cuban son, son montuno, salsa—music that represents Cuban pride. No reggaeton, no reparto. The beach was disappointing. It was not what I saw in the photos: little sand, many rocks, a lot of seaweed, and a muddy shoreline. I understand this is something the hotel cannot control. That said, the common areas were always clean. The buffet food was not very varied. I would describe it as simple and mostly bland, with many dishes tasting like egg or fish, which is ironic since there was no fresh fish. It caught my attention that, being surrounded by the sea, there were no shrimp or fresh seafood, yet tilapia was served, which I found contradictory. Additionally, we all got sick on the third day, experiencing vomiting and diarrhea. I believe this may have been related to the food or water served at the restaurant. Please take this review as constructive, not destructive. If it helps, thank you. In conclusion, we had an okay experience. Not 100%, but as the saying goes, give credit where credit is due. Finally, I would like to thank all those who helped us whenever we needed assistance during our stay.

We resided at the Iberostar Coral Ensenachos, Cayo Santa Maria mid November. There are different types/sizes of villas. Our 2 bedrooms bungalow style villa was nice & clean. When you enter you have a powder room and a small kitchenette (no plates, utensils or pots). Then you have a living room with 2 sofas, a TV and a dining room with table & 6 chairs. There is two doors leading to a Jacuzzi on your terrace. The bedrooms were big in size and each had a ceiling fan. One had two beds and the other had a King size bed. The beds were comfortable. Each bedroom has: a walk-in closet with a free digital safety deposit box, a TV and many drawers for your items. The maid service was excellent, all items were replenished when needed. You receive two glass water bottles each day, no soft drinks or beer in your bedroom fridge. The Wi-fi worked fine everywhere. The main pool was always clean and very quiet. There is a pool bar. There are many long chairs and a man will bring cushions when you arrive. In the main building you have a small reception area with butlers always available to assist you. Also there is an AC restaurant for breakfast and dinner. We enjoyed the friendly, smiling employees and we found All the food offered delicious. During our stay there was a poolside entertainment dinner. We enjoyed our served seafood dinner with a female singer that was excellent. It is a short walk to the beach area. There is an employee who will assist you in setting your beach chairs under a palapa. On this occasion the ocean was agitated which is unusual for the beach in the Coral section. Usually the ocean is very calm and of a beautiful turquoise color. The sand is very fine and of a white color. Hector is very good at the beach yoga/stretching and entertainment at the resort. For lunch there is a beach open patio (with a roof) or a restaurant next to the pool area. There was always an excellent variety of very good food offered. When you stay in the *Coral* section you can go to the family *Selection* section and enjoy the restaurants and buffets in their section. Shuttle buses do the 3 Kms ride and the wait for them is short. We never tried them as we were very satisfied with the food and quietness of the *Coral* (adult) section. The evening shows are in the *Selection* section. There is an AC auditorium with comfortable cinema type seating. The Spa is located in the *Selection* section. We enjoyed the peaceful ambiance and the relaxing massages. On a daily basis you will see the managers of the *Coral* section *Aniram* and *Khalid* walking around the resort to ascertain All is perfect. They are very friendly, smiley and wish your total satisfaction. All the employees were friendly, smiling and very helpful. The average age of the guests is 55-60 . We will be returning to this resort for another very relaxing vacation.

This resort is not as advertised. It's advertised as a large resort with 1100 rooms. They don't tell you that half of the resort is closed and only at 25% capacity. There was maybe 100 people or less there. Because of this only 1 a la carte was open, and they are not using the theatre. They had entertainment in the lobby each evening, but it wasn't the same as a theatre show. Pools: there were 3 rectangular pools beside each other. The one with the swim up bar was filthy. The water was freezing in the only clean pool we used. I've never seen so few people in a resort pool. Some days the towel hut is open, some days not. No activities (could be due to the lack of people as there was maybe 6 people at any given time). Half the pool loungers were broken. Bars: the only place to get a decent drink is the lobby bar. The beach bar basically only has rum. No slushie drinks and no beer for 2 days. The pool bar slightly better but not great. Beach: the nicest thing about this resort. However there is no washrooms at the beach! Be prepared to use the ocean or walk back to your room. Food: the a la carte was pretty good. The buffet was hit & miss, typical for Cuba. Made to order omelettes in the morning and made to order pasta at night. The sandwich shack at the beach was awesome. He makes either a chicken or pork sandwich each day and both were delicious. Facilities: this resort feels unloved and lacking general maintenance. The public washrooms are dirty, no toilet paper, toilets that don't flush. The walkways are not light up properly at night, everyone was using their phones as flashlights. The internet is not good, except in the lobby bar. Rooms: Adequate. Our first room smelled really moldy so we were able to move the 2nd day and it was better. You get 1 bottle of water in your fridge and it's not restocked again, no beer. No coffee maker in the room. But the shower was hot with lots of water pressure. Pros: The staff are wonderful, caring people. They were very helpful & friendly and made our trip enjoyable. The lobby bar is the best place to be. Great atmosphere if you can avoid the smokers. Even with our disappointments, we still had a good time but I will not return to this resort.

The Buenavista is a small adults-only all-inclusive resort with beach front on 3 sides. And in July, this small resort was maybe 25% full at that. There is one breakfast and lunch-only restaurant, and 2 x a-la-carte restaurants for supper. If you stay on the resort grounds for supper, you must make a reservation through your concierge for supper at one of them. However, a major advantage offered by this hotel is full access to the 2 other Melia properties in Cayo Santa Maria, the eponymously-named resort and Las Dunas. You can go to the beach or the swimming pools there, dine at any of their buffet or a-la-carte restaurants, generally use and take advantage of any facility there, just as if you were a guest at these properties. The room was great - ocean view, spacious, very comfortable (bed, AC, wash facilities), and impeccably kept by the cleaning staff. The beach - the reason we go to Cuba - was great, with small colorful tropical fish swimming with you and around you. A word of caution, there's lots of coral there, so beach shoes should be packed although they're not essential. The Buenavista has 2 small relatively unshaded pools, more for soaking and cooling after a day at the beach than for swimming. There's a bar and a 24 hour grill poolside by one of them. The grounds are extremely-well kept. The staff was amazing, always very friendly and very accomodating to anything we needed. If I could give them 6 stars out of 5, I would. I guess it helps though that there weren't that many other guests to attend to while we were there. I thought the food was good and well-prepared - disclosure, I'm not a picky eater - and again staff there was extremely accomodating to any food or dietary requests that we made. But, by the end of our week, the meals started to have a sameness to them that took away from the experience. And caution, anything with "tomato" sauce actually contains BBQ sauce. However, again, the staff came through for us in this regard by offering us a couple of excellent going-away meals that saved the experience. Bravo. Internet connection was (still) choppy at best, but when I go to Cuba this is more a plus than a negative. There's a gym and a spa on the property, but we didn't use either. The beach was our focus. Overall, we very much enjoyed our experience here. If you want an intimate, quiet, beach-oriented vacation, with the option of more activity and "noise" offered with the aceess to the other 2 Melia properties, this is a great place to go.

Had an amazing vacation. The beach was beautiful, nice powdered sand. The beach we had dancing lessons and games the pool we had games and dancing lessons as well. The staff are nice and friendly, especially the entertainment team WOW amazing. especially Manuel,Tito, Danny,Ray and Julio. Manuel was coming to see me on the beach to get me to come do the dance lessons on the beach what a nice touch and they know i loved dancing so that a plus.Did some activities that they were doing on the beach like volleyball yoga dancing. At night there would be dancing at the lobby bar. Even the performers would come dance with us. I thought it was a nice touch. I would definitely go back again. I had so much fun at the beach and dancing at night at bar. I was actually planning to maybe go again in March