Shaun Guthrie

Review of Melia Las Americas Golf Resort...

First before I even start on a review of this hote...

First before I even start on a review of this hotel, you really need to have the proper expectations set when coming to Cuba. This is my second time to Cuba and one must realize that if you are looking for 5 star food or 5 star resorts, this is not the country for you. You are coming to Cuba for the culture, the beautiful sandy beaches and the warm weather and for most of us Canadians, to escape the frozen tundra.

We choose the Melia Las Americas resort based on the previous reviews with Tripadvisor as well my in-laws stayed at a Melia property (Melia Varadero) two years ago and they had nothing but good things to say. This resort however is an Adults only and that also appealed to us when looking for a place to stay.

Our arrival was welcomed with a beverage which was great after the 45-minute bus ride however the lady behind the desk really didn t make us feel welcome. We were offered an upgrade which another person happily showed us our original room and the upgraded room. We choose the upgraded room as they bed was an actual king and not two doubles pushed together. The bed still wasn t like you d expect back home, quite firm and this is pretty typical of resorts in the Caribbean

The buffet was not bad compared to all the other options. We went in with an open mind to the buffet and while not wowed, we were surprised at the offerings in the buffet with the various stations and the food wasn t that bad. It was quite bland as you ll read but it wasn t horrible, and we were able to find something to eat from a few different stations such as the grilling station which has choices of meats and fish.

One tip is go visit the concierge on your second day early in the morning (9:15am) to book your ala carte restaurants. There are four of them here, Japanese, Caribbean BBQ, Mediterranean and International.
We ate at all four of the ala carte restaurants and they only slightly varied in quality. The International was the best one so make sure you book this first as it books up.

The beach is amazing, one of the best amenities of this hotel and for us is one of the major reasons why we decided to come to Cuba. The almost white powder sandy beach is glorious and doesn t disappoint. There are lots of chairs, lots of huts for shade and you don t really need to wake up early and rush down to put your towels on them to save yourself a seat. We went down between 730-830 am each day and had plenty of choices to park our butts and chill out.

As for general stuff, there is a guy who walks around the hotel and beach area dressed up as various characters each day. I think it might be the entertainment manager however not sure. Slightly annoying. The Varadero Plaza America (Mall) is a 5 min walk from the hotel and the prices of liquor are the same as if you were to buy it from Havana.

As we came to the end of the week I was about to finish this review off without any real complaints, however, on our final full day we had something that just couldn t go unsaid. We booked this holiday to celebrate our 10-year anniversary and we purposely left our four kids at home, so we could celebrate properly. We also selected an adult only resort to further that celebration however on our final day the two life guards who were on duty must have had their family and friends join them on the beach. Not only were their kids running around in-between all the guests, they were utilizing the lounge chairs and permanent shade structures that are supposed to be for paying guests. We paid a lot of money for the resort and atmosphere and having this family and their kids just randomly join the resort was not cool. Not only that, the two life guards were not doing what they should have been doing, which is watching over people.