Excellent resort. Lots of activity, good quality food and drink. Very friendly staff. Live entertainment at night.Resort was overbooked( a good sign) and was offering money($30USD pp/pn) to guests to switch to another hotel.A little secluded if you want to experience other things than what is offered at the resort.Interesting mix of guests, different age groups, mostly couples. Holla to the tequila girls!!!!

I have been everywhere,but this resort is DREAM VACATION! Staff,food,cleanleanes,activities,beach and atmosphere just great.I will be back!!!

Well, it's hard to know where to start, the previous reviews pretty much tell it all, we chose our vacation destination based on the great reviews for this resort and we were NOT disappointed!!! The Cuban people were fantastic and the resort is absolutely beautiful....by Cuban standards it is a 20* resort, but North American standards it would be a 4* - but it really cannot be rated based on our standards!!!
It is clean and beautiful and the staff is accomodating and friendly.
The cocktails are great, the coffee is to die for! The buffet is very good - it took me a couple of days to try this and that and find the things I liked and I stuck with what worked. The Italian a la carte restaurant was a huge disappointment. Some people loved it...my suggestion is this....if you have tasted good italian food..DON'T GO....because you cannot help but compare and it will not measure up...but the buffet is great and always has something new to offer!!!

The resort is a little remote which makes you feel like you are on your own private island...the trip from the Varadero airport is painless on an air conditioned bus for 45 minutes through their countryside and villages. We did not have great weather unfortunately so snorkeling and scuba was out but we still relaxed by the beautiful pool and beachcombed and enjoyed all the other excursions to Havana etc.

We did Havana by taxi, not with the tour and we loved it....the driver Ramone was a sweetheart and he spoke some English, enough to explain the sites and take us around! We had a typical Cuban lunch in a lovely restaurant - grilled fresh lobster for $17US - couldn't be beat!

Not many stores and obviously NO free enterprise under Castro's rule but if you want to buy typical fair, the coffee, rhum, cigars and wooden sculputures are easy to find everywhere!!! And the prices are all fixed (because there is no free enterprise).

GO TO JIBACOA....YOU WILL HAVE A BLAST!!!

Two thumbs up for this fabulous resort nestled within the Cuban country side. I did a little bit of research (after purchasing our tickets) and am happy to say that it beat my expectations. Definitely a couples best bet if they are looking for friendly staff, a little r-n-r, and beautiful surroundings. This being our first trip, I have nothing to compare it too, however I would recommend it without question. The majority of the staff were very helpful (maybe the $1 tips helped) and we were always pleasantly surprised with the creations found in our room after the daily clean up. I came across a couple of disgruntled guests who complained about the lack of nightlife along with the food but you will always find "one of those" in every bunch. Buffet in my opinion had good offerings, the Italian restaraunt was a definite treat, and, yes, nightlife is far from being a major party but that isn't something that is a high priority on everyone's wish list.
(Suffered a good hangover myself one day - so it wasn't that bad. Ha Ha) Alcohol is plentiful (I liked the Cristal beer) but a word of advice is to bring along a travel mug as the drinks can be rather small when in the "to go" plastic cups. Resort also offers a variety of day tours which are quite reasonably priced ($7-$84US). Take a couple to get a true taste of the country itself. Havanna tour is a must but watch out for the beggars. They are like vultures and the tour operators do very little to discourage them. A nice idea is to bring along a variety of gifts (soaps, nailpolish, razors, toys, clothes,etc) for both the staff and residents in the surrounding communities. Cuba is a very poor country and you would be surprised at how those little things that we take for granted can make a person's day over there. The smile that I received from a little boy in Santa Cruz (when I presented him with a little token) will stay with me for a very long time. It was priceless! Also, check out your credit card before leaving to ensure that it is not affiliated with the US. I found out the hard way that my Canadian issued MC was no good down there as per the above. Good thing I had taken cash but we missed out on bringing home the cigars/rum and so forth. No bank machines either so bring those traveller cheques!
While there are individual safes in the rooms, I felt better leaving our tickets/passports/cash in a safety deposit box behind the reception counter. Finally, the best word of advice that I can give is to be pleasant to the staff; remember that you are a guest in their country.
Many of the staff members work 14 hour days and you'd be amazed at how quickly the word gets around about your character. I had many people know what room number I was in before even telling them. Good thing that I was one of the "nice" Canadians. ;)