We stopped here for 10 nights in late November 2007. It is only just over 1 hour drive from Havana so if, like us, you are moving from there it is not too far. The hotel is on its own so the area is nice and quiet but if you like going out to bars etc. this is not the place to be. There is a powerstation in the distance up the coast but I didn’t notice the oil refinery next to the resort that some contributors have mentioned. Most of the guests seem to be Canadians getting some sun and avoiding the worst of the Canadian winter, the plaques at the beach bar confirm this.

We had a bit of room swapping on arrival as we were given a room overlooking the pool area at first, this included the ‘activities’ area and was noisy. We ended up with a much quieter upper floor room overlooking the gardens and views of the hills also it was near the beach. The large rooms are well presented and comfortable with 6’ beds.

The main restaurant did themed evening buffet meals most days and was pretty reasonable with a good choice and service by the staff. The wine was a bit ‘sharp’ but this discouraged you from having too much I suppose. Breakfasts were good and egg chef was great to watch, who says men cannot multi task. We had a couple of meals in the Italian, a nice change from the buffet and you even got a half decent bottle of wine there. We had most of our lunchtime meals at the beach bar, excellent service and freshly cooked snacks, the fish was particularly good.

The beach was nice and relaxing to sit on, plenty of shaded areas. The reef is very close to the shore for those of us not too confident at snorkelling, lots of fish within a few metres of the shoreline and calm safe waters. Equipment was free to hire as were Hobbie Cat rides. There were some jellyfish about when we were there and a few people did get stings but the red flags and warnings were put out as soon as they were sighted.

We followed the advice of others on tripadvisor and took some plastic glasses for the drinks, a good move as the tiny disposable ones they provide will only serve to keep you fit and familiar with the bar staff. The sunbeds on the beach do not have any cushions and can be hard after a couple of hours of ‘hard relaxing’.

Lots of guests were on repeat visits, this is a pretty good all inclusive hotel with friendly and helpful staff.

We chose this resort based on reviews from other visitors to this resort on Trip Advisor, and we were not disappointed. Everything from the moment we arrived, to the moment we left was top-notch. The staff was friendly and efficient, the resort was geographically beautiful, the facilities were clean and well maintained, and the food was very good. The location was perfect-isolated from the crowds of Varadero, only an hour from Havana, and near the very interesting city of Matanzas. We did the day trip to Havana, which included a trip to the Tropicana. It was incredible. Havana is a beautiful, vibrant city. There was a memorable picture at every turn. Next time I would like to go solo, to really get into the city. We also took a guided scooter tour to Hershey, a "model village" built by the Hershey corporation in the early 1900's. While people are advised against going on scooters at the resort, the guided tour was nice (and cheap) in that you had someone that knew their way around to show you the way and help you navigate the roads.
The animation at the resort was very good. Very talented people working there. We enjoyed it very much. The beach restaurant/bar was wonderful and the ala-carte restaurants were also very good. The buffet was above expectations as well. The beach was great for diving, but was a bit rocky in places.
This was our second time to Cuba, and we were amazed at how well they do with what little they have. They are a proud, intelligent, hard-working people. The future has a lot of question marks for them, and exploring their fascinating society makes a trip to Cuba more than just a rest and relaxation experience.

Flight
We flew SunWing direct from Ottawa to Varadero. The flight originated in Quebec City and was about half an hour late. Not too bad considering the weather. The service onboard was great. We pre-booked our seats and were allowed to book the emergency row seats; an excellent investment on a charter flight.

Bus to resort
The resort is an hour away from the Varadero airport, the bus ride was uneventful.

Reception
It was well organized; all the arrivals had an envelope waiting on the reception table with our room key, safe key, and beach towel cards. We had a cocktail in our hands before we even could say Hola. I’d read in some reviews of a front desk staff that was cold/unfriendly. They were very cordial with us at check-in, as well as when we changed money, and bought internet cards.

Room
We e-mailed the resort asking for a room on the second floor with a king-sized bed. We had booked a garden-view room, and we certainly lucked out. Our room was in building 16, the closest (non-ocean-view rooms) to the beach, we could see the ocean from our balcony and side window (we were the last room in the block). The rooms are spacious, have a mini-fridge, and small safe. The bathroom has a full bath and shower, as well as a hair dryer. The room also had an iron/board. The electrical power in the rooms is 220V, 60Hz (not sure why, 80% of the clientele are Canadian and the standard power in Cuba is 110V, 60Hz). The electrical sockets in the rooms are the standard North American outlets. The cleaning staff does a great job with the rooms. They were very friendly and appreciated the small gifts we left.

Restaurants
We understood why the food got such mixed reviews. Generally the breakfasts were quite good with a fairly good selection and good quality, especially Nelson at the omelette station. We ate all our lunches at the beach grill: choice of grilled fish, chicken, hamburger, or pizza. Suppers were a real mixed bag, some good, some not so good. The desserts were ok, they love their cakes, a bit too rich for me. We went to the a la carte restaurants; both were ok, much nicer than the buffet. The food was better and the service was fantastic. We liked both restaurants, but preferred the Italian one: Martino’s.

General
The grounds are beautiful: greenery and flowers everywhere. We only participated in one organized activity, my wife walked up to the top of the nearby hill to get some pictures of the resort. It was somewhat steep and strenuous going up and they walked down through a local farm; you should bring along a peso or two or a small gift for the farmer. We went to several of the evening shows. As many have mentioned, they are very amateurish, but with a few drinks most seemed to enjoy them. We did enjoy the one show with the two dogs doing tricks. The resort has a huge pool, but it is quite shallow throughout. We found all employees to be very friendly and tried very hard to speak English with us. We played pool ever night before supper, it was a lot of fun and the tables and cues were in good shape.

Beach
Like the food, I’m sure this can be a love/hate point about SBJ. If you want kilometres of soft white sandy beach with lots of swimming and body surfing, you’d best go to Varadero. The beach here is relatively course sand with some rocks and old coral. It only extends in front of two resorts, SBJ and the one to the west. It is difficult to swim because the reef is so shallow; however, that makes for excellent snorkelling. Essentially the entire front of the resort is one big reef. There are hundreds of species of fish including: lots of snapper, grunts, squirrelfish, butterfly fish, wrasse, needle nose fish, sergeant-majors, etc. We also saw a few smaller barracuda (up to two feet long), several yellow stingray, and on the last day a small spotted moray. The best place to snorkel was about 30-50m straight out in front of the beach grill. A few times the beach was closed, not because of waves/weather, rather several Portuguese man of war blew in. These jellyfish have barbs on their tentacles that are venomous. We met one man at the restaurant that ran into one and was stung on his cheek, arm, and leg. They left one heck of a mark, even a week later. He said the stings were extremely painful; he went to the doctor to get them cleansed in a vinegar solution and he also received an injection (anti-toxin maybe?), pain killers, and topical calamine. Stay clear of these jellyfish.

Diving
I went on five dives while there. One free dive is included and subsequent dives are CUC25 per dive if you have your own equipment. The rental equipment available looked pretty decent. The o-rings in a few of the tanks were rather worn and had slow leaks, not enough to affect bottom time by more than a minute. The water temp was quite warm, 82F each day I was there. There are typically two dives per day (closed Sundays, no night dives), the first dive at about 20m and the second about 15m. The dive masters are excellent, lots of experience and do everything by the book. We had a 5m safety stop on each dive of about 3-5minutes. They have a small 20’ boat at the resort and don’t overbook it, a maximum of eight divers plus DM and safety diver. The coral reef isn’t a wall like Cozumel, but it is almost as pretty and I think there are even more species of fish. We also saw quite a few morays, yellow stingrays, lobsters, and one very large crab. I would go back to this resort just for the snorkelling and diving.

Havana
We took a daylong tour of Havana including the Tropicana Show at night. Beforehand I was a little sceptical about the value of the Tropicana show, but I was very impressed. We loved our day and evening in Havana. On our free time we went to the Museum of the Revolution. It was nice to see the Granma and parts of the U2 shot down during the early 60’s, but the museum itself is a series of photos and explanations of the revolution of independence from Spain in the late 1890’s and defeat of Bataista in the 50’s. There was nothing that couldn’t be read in a history book. The market was very good, great prices on local handicrafts.

Just got back Dec 1 from one week at Breezes Jibicoa We travel one to two times a year to islands or Mexico for about 10 years now. We have stayed at a couple of 4 star before in St Martin, and San Andres. We stayed at Sandals Veradero when it was about 6 months old so I belive I can make an informed comparison. Our experience in all 5 stars was excellence in everything (food, service, beach, pool & bars) In the two previous 4 stars also no faults, but as expected a bit less in some areas. We felt that variety of food or number of restaruants, or number of bars or again variety in alcoholic drinks, number or size of pools etc was the difference in 4 - 5 star. Never did service seem less as that is one thing all staff can control. We were a group of 24 down for a wedding and so this was a group oppinion. BEACH, 4, chairs hard plastic, some papalas in need of repair, a bit stoney along water edge, pretty good for snorkling. POOL, 3 - more then 1/2 only 3 feet deep, and 4 foot part was divided by volley ball net, lots of missing tiles to catch a toe on, chairs were better then beach and some nice sun shade but only a few. BARS- 4 1/2 one each at pool, beach, lobby and piano. Faster to self serve, pretty good on variety, quality and close to some point. Did often run out of some mix. All bartenders were friendly and provided quick service. FOOD - 3 - Very limited in choice and variety in buffet for all meals. The Mexican Theme was a joke, it was the same food with few taco chips, and the seafood night only added 1/2 lobsters. The lobster and Shrimp cocktail (in Martinos) were both over cooked beyond rubbery, they were like dried rubber,
Ice cream was only availble on some lunch times. The beach bar did serve a nice homestyle hamburger and single size pizza, but I don't go away for burgers and pizza. SERVICE - 3 - this is a bit tough as most staff did work with a pleasant attitude, smiled etc, but that is a minimum expectation. In the buffet for any meal it was hit or miss to get glass of water, wine, or coffee and a second one was a contest to get someone's eye, without having to wave. They seemed to be in a hurry to clear your table, but no rush to replace utensils, glasses, etc. Also Service includes keeping enough soup bowls, plates etc availble for the line up ( they ran out 15 minutes after opening 3 times) The design of the buffet creates one line to go by all the stations, there should be a better placement of the serving stations so you can enter one of several smaller lines. Lobster night took 40 minutes to get through.. We ate as a group in Martino's ( Italian) and gave it a 5 but the Cuban (also as a group, had mostly the same dishes and we were in two long tables, one table got their soup and the other table got none. 3 star
So as a group we gave this Hotel an overall THREE STAR, and most of the group are extensive travelers.