I just got back from this resort, and I honestly don't know what to make of it. I have travelled a great deal but have never encountered the problems that I did at this resort. I should note that this was the first time I stayed at a 3-star hotel, so maybe these problems are normal for hotels of that class.

THE GOOD:
-Closeness to Havana. I really went to Cuba to see Havana, and to enjoy some beach time on the side if time permitted. The proximity of to Havana was a big plus for me. It's about a 25 minute ride on the shuttle and you get dropped off at a really convenient spot that is accessible to a lot of attractions.
-Very nice beach. Some jellyfish, but beautiful sand/water. No shortage of beds on the beach or by the pool.
-Food was really really good. Believe it.
-Tight security on the beach.
-The best coffee I've ever had in my life.
-Great drinks. Not watered down at all. They are generous with the amount of alcohol they put in them.
-24 hour lobby bar came in handy!

THE BAD:
-Staff was rude rude rude. I tried to avoid interacting with them at all costs.
-At one point we were told by the front desk that we could not get on the shuttle to Havana because the bus was full. We asked to see the binder with the list of passengers. We added them up and it added up to 24. The bus fits 30 people. When we confronted her about this she came up with some other random reason why we couldn't get on (something about seats being reserved for guests from another hotel...which we found out was not true as the shuttle does not stop at another hotel at all). Then she began complaining about the fact that we had not booked our spots the day before as we had been 'instructed'. We explained that this shouldn't make a difference because there is still room on the bus!!! Anyhow, we got on the bus to be sure, but we had to fight for it and get over several really pointless hurdles. This was pretty typical of our interactions with the reception.
-They are very...'frugal'...with their resources. If you run out of toilet paper, shampoo, soap, etc. then tough luck. You have to get through the day until the maid replenishes your supplies the next day. And the bathrooms in the lobby never have toilet paper in them.
-We were told that the shuttle was broken and would not be running on one of the days. We were told by other guests that there were 2 or 3 days during the previous week when the shuttle was not available.
-Very very LOUD entertainment team (who almost exclusively speaks Italian). I'm young, I go clubbing and I like loud music generally, but this became unbearable sometimes.
-My bed sheets smelled like B.O. the first 3 nights. 'Nuff said.
-If you don't speak Italian, you will feel largely left out of the events at this hotel. This wasn't a big deal to me.

Well, here it is. Decide for yourself. I hope this helps somebody to make the right decision for them.

We stayed at the Club Atlantico from Jan 22-29th, 2008. Having stayed at only 2 star hotels so far in Cuba, we were pleasantly surprised how much more you get with that additional star, for only a it of extra cost.
The Club Atlantico is located in Santa Maria, in the Playas del Este area outside of Havana (NE, Towards Varadero). It has 92 rooms, catering mostly to Italian families and couples. It is not a very good hotel to make contacts if you're traveling single.
The beach at Play del Estes, although not as good as Varaderos is still very good, running over 15km. The back of the hotel borders the beach. Boats and chairs on the beach are available as well as chairs at the pool. The pool has a snack bar/bar that was open till 6pm with food snacks (hamburgers, hot dogs, toasted ham and cheese sandwiches etc) till 5pm. Assume open later in summer, but in Jan it gets dark at 6pm.

The main bar is 24/7 and has much more to offer than just rum. They made a good Pina Colada the first days but then were unavailable (I believe their blender broke).
The buffet was good and varied. There is both a pasta station and evening plain pizza. House wine, drinks etc are brought to your table. Supper however isn't served until 1945.

They have 2 internet machines with cards costing 6 CUC/hour.
Room access is via a magnetic swipe card that carries no room info printed on it. For an additional charge of 2 CUC/day it also gives you access to your room safe. We had no trouble getting two room cards. Rooms were clean and comfortable. Nice balcony with view of the tennis court and behind that the beach and ocean. Other rooms over the pool can be noisy during the day as music etc is played quite loud (mostly Italian). Our room had a modern small refrigerator, but it is up to you to stock yourself. A reasonably priced store is on site for drinks, toiletries, clothing etc. Items I bought were reasonably priced (1.5 L water 1 CUC for example)
Hotel supplies a twice a day return free shuttle to Havana, and a late (believe it was at 2130) one way bus into the city. Taxi costs about 15 CUC to old Havana and 25 CUC to the Tropicana. Resort has a small gym and offers a 60 min massage for 15 CUC (next to gym)

For social life and clubbing Santa Maria is NOT the place to go - very little to non existent. Hotel has a varied nightly show at 10pm with dancing afterwards.

Did we enjoy our stay? - very much so and would go back any day. Can I understand recent engative reviews - not at all - but then each review is based on personal expectation and personal experience.

I was telling myself: "I want to see a lot of Havana so who cares about the hotel!". What a mistake...
I think the reason why this hotel has a fairly good rating on this website is because they won't publish reviews of profanity...
Well, I'm biting my thong right now not to write pages of it.

I just don't know where to start...

-Small room (the cover of the bed still had sand on it when we arrived) with a bad bed and a noisy Air Cond right by your hear.

-Food was 90% terrible. You need to find that 10% edible.

-The mood of the hotel is bad. Clients are in a bad mood for being stuck there, staff don't like their job and don't care about the clients (there are some exceptions).

-No place to chill outside after dinner. You have only the little bar inside with no music and bad chairs.

-Pool is small and dirty

-No bar on the beach, you need to go back on the hotel's property to get a drink. Good thing a don't drink much...

-There was water in the hallway after that rainy day we had. That's right, the roof was leaking right in front of my door! We had to jump to get in the room.

-So complicated to get a beach towel...

-Waiting in line many times for the one staff at the front desk.

My expectation were very low since I paid less that $800. But it fell WAY BELOW my expectations.

We ended up spending LOTS of time in Havana because of that so I was glad but I came so close (twice) to pack up my things and book an hotel in Old Havana. My wife stopped me. There are some incredible hotels there. Not all incluse of course but who cares, the food is cheap and much better than at the Atlantico.

Atlantico has a nice beach it's true.

I wasted my life there. Even for free, I would not go back there. Really. Pay me and I'll think about it.

Three star hotel... Who are you kidding?! I've been in a three star and a half in Santa Lucia Cuba and it was at least 4 times better overall.

I just wish there was ONE review reflecting the reality of that hotel before I booked it...

Stayed one week at this place in Santa Maria Del Mar, east of Havana. We knew it was mainly booked by an Italian operator; we didn't know this would mean Euro-disco blaring by the pool and beach for most of the day, interspersed with the activities co-ordinators talking, talking, talking - shouting, really. So don't go here if you want quiet, that's for sure. But do go if you are a single woman looking for buff young Italian guys.

Food was decent, cafeteria level stuff. Fresh pasta and pizza every day, fish was good, I don't eat meat so can't comment, loved the black beans and rice, lots of citrus and pineapple but no bananas, for some reason. I avoid desserts so can't comment on them either except the one I did try, a cake of some sort, was very sweet and pretty good.

Modest tips to bartenders ensured lots of booze flowing. Espresso/cappucino all good.

Activities were rather limited; they did do salsa lessons on the beach, but instructions were all in Italian (not that it would have helped my two left feet much). Evening shows were kind of cheesy, but the performers were actually pretty talented; they had a small-scale cabaret show, a beautiful Cuban folk dancing show, a water show. Kayaks and catamaran were fun. Scooters across the road for rent, but all were broken with no sign of repair forthcoming, and the scooters in Guanamo were pathetic; I rented one and it died trying to climb a hill (several times), the tires were really on their last legs, signals and mirrors were broken. You'll have to do some searching for a decent scooter.

Room was modest and a bit run down, but had a nice view and was cleaned and linens changed regularly. They have a utility area accessible through the bathroom with a vented door on it, and awful sewer gas smells came in (unless you kept the bathroom door closed and the air conditioner/fan on full, so the net pressure of the room pushed air the other way). Take a bag and some duct tape and seal up that vent.

Three shuttles to and two from Havana every day, for free, mean good access to Havana if you like that. The last one takes you in during the evening but you have to get a taxi back, which is probably going to set you back about $20.00. I was not as enamoured of Havana as I'd expected; there is a fine line between "historic run down" and "decrepit slum", and a lot of old Havana crosses that line. Although traffic is lighter than European cities, pollution was no better because of the ancient American and aged Russian cars belching oil in their exhaust. Museum of the Revolution was amazing historically; clearly lots of propaganda, but no more skewed than you'd get in a Washington or Ottawa military museum.

Beach was lovely - lots of fine off-white sand, clear blue and turquoise water; it can get rough though and they closed it down when a decent swimmer would still want to go in and have fun. Jellyfish were nasty, but far enough between you could spot them fairly easily.

A bigt storm washed up a lot of jellyfish (and knocked the hotel's power out, and flooded the pool), but that was good because after there were no more jellyfish in the water, although you had to dodge them when walking on the beach until they were cleaned up or eaten or decayed. Kind of disturbing that it also washed up a dead goat down the beach, but hey, it's Cuba and goats run around freely. You can walk either direction for miles and it was lovely. A few people try to sell you stuff, but they were not pushy like they can be in some places. Staff were generally friendly, tip or no tip. I tipped generously (for there; peanuts for here) and they genuinely appreciated it. Lots of police around, and the hotel itself had lots of security.

The same can not be said of Varadero airport or Sunwing. I tripped the metal detector at the airport; they asked to see if I had a belt. I did not. They waved me on anyway - ??

I also have to comment that I booked with Sunwing and would not do it again. After checking my luggage in Varadero some contents were stolen; they won't compensate without a police report, and likely won't anyway because the baggage was not locked. But baggage can't be locked since it has to be available for inspection. Top it off, the flight was 7 hours late; they knew it would be late before we left for Varadero airport, but they offered absolutely nothing - not even a later bus ride so we could stay at the beach and get a decent meal while waiting. Vouchers for food issued by Sunwing at the airport were not honoured by the food vendors at the airport. Book and fly with someone else, I'd say - they should at least warn you to lock your luggage (others at the resort had missing luggage on arrival which never turned up) and their casual attitude towards the delay (which may have been unavoidable, but which could have been seriously mitigated with proper notice and procedures) sucked.