I hate reviews like: “The hotel is excellent or the food was disgusting”. I will give you the facts, not my opinion. And you will decide if this is a place you would like to visit. Transfer from airport: The distance from Santa Clara to the hotel is about 110 km and takes about 2:15h Our stay: 14 days, Jan 6-20, 2023. This was our 15th visit to Cuba, but first in this resort. The hotel: Build in 2001 and located on Ancon Beach. The room, terrace and washroom are very spacious. There is a small fridge and they leave bottled water every day. There is no screen on the balcony sliding door which forces you to use the AC at night even though the night temperature are very comfortable to sleep. If you leave it open the mosquitoes will come. Cleaning service is excellent. The resort is very compact and everything is 2-3 min walk away from your room; Lobby, bar, restaurant, beach. The beach: Probably the best beach in Cuba. I am not counting Playa Sirena and playa Paraiso in Cayo Largo because there is no hotels build there. It’s 4 km long and it faces South/West. Watching the sun set is the best attraction of the day. The water is clean and warm. The sea was very calm, no waives. Another important thing it’s not windy. Probably the nearest mountain stops the wind coming from the North side. I am comparing it with Cayo Santa Maria which is on the Atlantic ocean and windy most of the time. You can go at 11:00 am and there will be a lot of free space. You don’t have to rush early in the morning to reserve a spot with your towels. The food: There was excellent choice of salads. Two kind of soups. Pasta place. Meat grill – always pork, beef , chicken. Fish grill – 2-3 kind of fish and some nights shrimps. So if you don’t like the cooked Cuban food, you can not go wrong with the grill. The drinks: Local drinks only unless you paid more for the upgraded package. You can not get Havana Club 7, only Havana Club Especial. The entertainment: Every other night there is a good program with music and dancers. On the other nights there is “participation show” which is a bit childish for my liking. The staff: Everyone is nice, friendly and helpful. The tourists: From all over the world: Canada, Italy, Germany, Spain, Brazil, Cuba. About 75% were 60+. The resort was below 50% occupied. What’s near by: The town of Trinidad - UNESCO World Heritage site is 10 km away. There are busses every 3-4 hours for the cost of $5 There are also two 3 star hotels which are closed at the moment; Hotel Ancon and Costasur. The new 5 star Melia Trinidad resort will open soon in 2023, but I don’t think the beach fits the size of the hotel there. Summary: This place is quiet and peaceful, for people who just want relax, swim, walk on the beach, red a book. When people talk about star rating in Cuba, usually say “Cuban Stars” which usually means minus 1. This place is rated 3 ½ stars by Sunwing and I thing fully deserves it. The ratio from what you get for the money you paid is superb. It is worth spending an extra 30 min, in transfer time to go to the South site on the Caribbean sea instead on the North site on the Atlantic ocean. Salute!!!…
Everything has been perfect, since booking, reception, checking, treatment of employees since PR to the restaurant, amazing comfortable rooms, also clean, I love the pool, it look like new, warm Caribbean beach so quiet and secure.....
Excellent experience right from the check in staff. Hotel was clean throughout, gardens beautifully manicured. The bar staff exceptional. Omar was quick and very welcoming . Lots of students in the tourism program are very polite and professional. Miguel, Fabian and Gratiel were outstanding. The dining has improved with the addition of a pastry chef from Dominican Republic. Also with fresh fish, shrimp, chicken beef and a fresh to made pasta every dinner. Our service was great with Yaima and Amalia being my favorite. They help with anything you need , excellent servers. Entertainment was decent with a live show almost every night with dancing and music. There is a snack bar with 24 hr pizza and open bar... awesome Omar ! The upgrade to diamond club is good. Including a good selection of drinks including 7 yr Havana Club. Our room was nice with ocean view, a king bed, fridge, safe, hot water, balcony and AC that worked perfectly. The hotel has had many upgrades and maintenance over the last couple of years. The management is very attentive to any requests and is available and visible all the time. Our public relations representatives was welcoming and helpful for any questions. Osmany helps book the a la carte restaurant that was nice touch of class and food fresh and staff slow but acceptable. The beach is exquisite. Directly on the Ancon peninsula. Soft sand ,wide beach and a nice tiki bar with full bar service with cold beer, blender drinks and a wide selection of cocktails . The main pool is winding and quite large .not deep but comfortable for lounging and impeccably clean. The poolside bar is handy with friendly service from Alexi. Always a smile and laugh from him as he serves your drinks with premium service. When coming to Cuba to see the historic city of Trinidad this hotel by far is the best in the area and will be a memorable part of your stay.…
This was the 19th time i stayed at this hotel,there are many improvements,renovations etc since they changed from Brisas trinidad del mar to memories trinidad del mar.Alway's have loved this hotel and beach!! The staff is very helpful,friendly(wonderful people) but they would like to be treated with respect(just as us tourists do) no need to treat them like slaves!I have made many cuban friends,they are like my family! The food was good,lots of choice,just remember things are very bad in cuba (since covid) so it's more difficult to get certain foods and supplies right now,same as we've experienced at home(but worse for them)!Ancon beach is the best beach for me,absolutely beautiful and not crowded(except on the weekends when the locals come to the beach but they cannot use the hotel loungers(alway's lots available)Osmany(my friens) the public relations guy that you can go to for any problems you have and he and the staff will take care of it immediately!Love this place and the people and alway's come back with friends and family!…
I just spent a really nice week , with my girlfriend, we had really good vacation , course I have to mention, Sara , she makes a really good job 👏 , and the girls from the lobby bar , Rachel and the rest of the team , in general really good hotel thanks to everyone to make our stay much better than ever , if you want to visit a good place and have the best experience, come to memories Trinidad del mar
Very clean and freshly painted rooms. But never had hot water during our week stay (and same thing for friends of ours). Cleaning of room and grounds excellent. Beach superb. Food quality sometimes horrible: got stomach flu on Day 2 until the end of the week! Dried up egg dishes, overcooked and dried up veggies, shrimps overcooked and reheated times after times. The locals, in great majority at hotel, piled up huge amounts of food and throw out a lot of uneaten food. They also hid bottles of rum in green garbage bins on the hotel ground so much so that the bars had no more rum to dispense! Poorly organized reception with no orientation to facilities whatsoever. We have seen friendlier service in other resorts. We will not return to this hotel.
Great experience, we stayed for 10 days. Notably enjoyed perfect beach, snorkeling experience, available shuttle to Trinidad (5 usd round trip), a-la-carte Christmas dinner and attentive staff. Special thanks to Yanet and Alexis S. at the restaurant and Rachel at the lobby bar. Also, room cleaning service was excellent. As a room for improvement I suggest fine-tuning Diamond Club processes. We were supposed to get soft drinks at the room minibar on daily basis and despite multiple inquiries, it happened only twice in 10 days. Overall, huge thanks to the hotel team for successfully managing the resort under difficult circumstances Cuba faces at the moment.
Memories Trinidad del Mar – December 16, 2022-12-27 via Sunwings The hotel rests on a long beach which invites for long walks. Around the hotel beach area, there are numerous lounges, which are fairly new and in good shape, with plenty of shady areas. The beach is kept clean. The water becomes deep very fast, which allows for fine swimming close to the shore – no long ways of wading towards deeper water required. The building must have received news coats of paint, looking pristine. The hotel appears to be very popular with local (and rich?) Cubans: 95% of guests were from Cuba, we were about 8 Canadians, 4 Germans during our 7 day stay. When we arrived at Memories Trinidad from the airport Santa Clara (a 2:45h drive), check-in was difficult. The staff was very slow processing our travel documents, assigning rooms (a clip-board had to be consulted repeatedly) and we were told to return to reception at 16h because the rooms were not ready – at which time they started the same check in procedure again. Although the Sunwing description of the hotel refers to many amenities, we received no information whatsoever about the layout of the hotel, opening times, tours, excursions … nothing. Meaning: you had to “discover” on your own what is available (and what not). While waiting for the room to become available, we went to the 24h snack bar for a beer and “pizza”. The food (pizza?) was terrible, beer was fine. Our room (block 6) faced the Caribbean sea, was very spacious and clean. Unfortunately, there was no hot water during our 7 day stay (meaning: cold showers only), with very low water pressure (at times just a drip coming out of the shower head) and most of the lamp fixtures not working. The buffet restaurant offered the typical Cuban food, which the Cuban hotel guests seemed to enjoy very much given the amount they heaped on their plates (and the kitchen running quickly out of food items for that reason). However, it was disturbing to see how much of the food was left uneaten on these plates, especially given the dire food situation in Cuba. Although there was a lot of serving staff (no self-serve allowed due to Covid precautions), they seemed to be very inexperienced, or unable to multi-task (the cook would only prepare one omelet at a time on a large grill, with 10 people waiting in line, for example). Most of the food items were barely warm, if not cold, with some items not fully cooked. On numerous days, we were unable to attract staff to our table to get water, coffee or drinks – in short, the service was very disappointing. Early on, we both developed stomach problems, which lingered throughout our stay. Fortunately, we brought enough Imodium to last through the stay. There was supposed to be one a-la-carte restaurant. It remained a mystery to us. Based on the comments by our fellow Canadian and German travelers, entertainment was a hit and miss, or “more miss than hit” to non-existent. We played beach volley ball once – after that the person in charge of the ball was not working, hence no ball. There is a beach bar, serving drinks. At times they were short of supplies for some reason. There is no food available at this beach snack-bar. We did not use the pool. It is a small one, and very shallow, not really for swimming. Checking out in the morning at 5 am, we tried – and eventually managed – to get a coffee at the 24h snack bar (though no snacks). We had to wait a while; the bartender was busy chatting and pouring numerous beers to a few young men (not guests of the hotel). In summary, would we go back? The answer is no! We would give the beach/lounges 5 stars, the hotel room 4 stars (for its cleanliness and decoration), but overall only 3 stars for this hotel.…
Pros 24 drinks Decent pool Nice beach Nice property Cons The money exchange is weird.. don't get pesos.. bring euros or a credit card Bad service As they say don't go to Cuba for the food Expensive taxis No one speaks English including staff Beach beggars are aggressive
I stayed in hotel 2 weeks as my first stay. I can say that overall everything is great. First of all staff and management try to their best to make your staying great. They deserve credit given Cuba's ongoing problem, yes if you are luxury person it may not good for you, but very safe environment, great culture, music, dance, history promise a lot for people interested . Lobby personal were very helpful friendly, I remember Santiago 's name but all other lobby staff was great. I got internet anytime I want very frequently, they never show any attitude, remember you receive unlimited free internet in Cuba, that was new to me. Entertainment team was like my friends, they always tried to make me participate to activities. Yuni , sanders, Ross were always around make you do something. I need to mention dance group, I watched them in every 2 days when they performed, great Cuban, Latin and modern dances. Amanda and Vanessa were great dancers which ignite me the salsa lessons soon. Other dancers were great too. Especially woman singer was singing perfect. I jumped to bus many times to get Trinidad , bus schedule is very convenient all both side by $5 usd. I always eat in main open buffet restaurant, you can find variety of food, drinks, desserts, taste may not very good but you always find something to eat. Cheese pizza is always available in late night. Staff in restaurant is very friendly and helpful, I made many friends from them. I tip the as can as I can, these wonderful people wel deserved this given their economic situation, empathy is key to understand their situation. My room so big and looking beach in third floor at section 6. I spent time greatly while smoking my cigar with rum. Cleaning lady did great job for cleaning. I buy cigars in cigar store, mercedes who works there knows very good about original cigars. I really enjoyed my staying and I like to Thank to all staff to make this happen.…
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