Meliá Cayo Coco

Anónimo, GB, 2005-04-14
Just arrived back from my hols with my husband this week and what a truly fab time we both had.

This is our second visit to Melia Cayo Coco and we found that it had improved greatly since our last visit 2 years ago.

The food was heaps better, tastier, more variety and lots to suit everyone, I personally loved the 'Red Snapper' fish which was fresh and tastey.

The staff were great and the tipping seemed less frantic as we were no longer dealing in dollars but concertible pesos, which incidentally is around the same exchange rate as the dollar - clever move.

The trips out were fascinating, though be sure you have a stomach for old buses, full to the brim with tourists (like us) and going 90 MPH! We only travelled this way once, we found taxis, if shared very reasonable.

A few things you should do:

Take a taxi to Pilar Beach by Cayo Guillermo at around 7.30am to watch the flamingos fly off in the morning - an amazing site! This beach also has fantastic snorkling, lots of different fish and dolphins too if you are lucky.

Do the 'Glass bottom boat' trip, its nothing like you would imagine, you get 45 minutes snorkling on the small ref about 1 mile out from the beach - amazing and for all the family too - very safe.

A few things to take:

Mossie repellant - we used the plug ins in the room and that really helped, dont panic, they are not that bad, but if you are anything like me - one bite is enough!

Immodium - our tummies were fine this year but you need to be safe, Cuba does have great medical facilitied but they dont have alot of medication so its best to take your own.

Guitar Strings - For the wonderful house band, they cant get any out there, not the sort we use anyway!

Sunscreen - You cant get much there! there was factor 2 and 50 in our shop!

The rooms on the lagoon are well worth fighting for!

If you chose to go, you wont be disappointed, its an amazing cultural experience and a great holiday.

We loved the small bar on the lagoon, if you go, say hi to Orlando and Joseph - possible two of the best barmen around.

We visited all of the hotels in our area and none came up to the standards of ours!

Have fun!

Anónimo, CA, 2004-04-22
My husband and I stayed at the Melia Cayo Coco from April 10th to April 17th 2005. This was our first vacation of this kind and we didn't really know what to expect. We picked Cuba because of the short flight from Toronto. We were only 4 1/2 hrs from the time our flight left until we were in our room. We chose the Melia because of the 'adults only' listing . That was the best part. The resort was very quiet and relaxing.
We had five green flag days in a row at the beach and two yellow.
The beach was fantastic. We didn't spend much time at the pool but it was quiet and most times no more than a couple of people in at any time (again the no kids rule was great)
The room (standard) was large and clean-spent very little time there anyway
The food - we certainly didn't see any merit to the complaints we've read. As my husband says-have we had better-yes, have we had worse-yes
was it fair value for the money-yes.
We certainly didn't go hungry-The buffet was great-beef, pork chops, chicken, turkey, sausages, lamb chops, lots of salads, rice etc
The breakfast was super-our favourite meal of the day-We really miss that Cuban coffee
The International and Italian restaurants were OK - our favourite was the Cuban restaurant-didn't go to Cuba to eat Italian!
Our reservations were made for us before we arrived at the resort by the tour company (Sunwing) so that was one thing we didn't have to deal with.
As for the extra activities-we decided not to take part in any of them and really enjoyed our days relaxing. We had planned to horseback ride, snorkel and go on the jungle tour but one visit to the beach and we knew how we wanted to spend our week.
The staff was terrific-we were treated great. As for tipping-we handled it like we do at home-after service is provided-not before
One tip-toss a handful of band-aids in your lugguage-we needed one for a blister (take comfortable walking shoes ) You can't buy
anything like that in the shops but a quick visit to the clinic and one peso later we had our bandaid.
We would definitely return to the Melia. We did not have one disappointment. We looked at our photos when we got home and as the week went on it seemed that the smiles got bigger!!!!!

Anónimo, GB, 2004-04-21
This was an excellent hotel. Not over crowed in the slightest and very friendly.

Yes, the mini bar was not stocked everyday, but with a little persistance it would be! I would have given it all 5 dots was it not for the lack of vegetarian food choice. They seem to put meat in everything, just for the sake of it. Even the potatoes! You have to book in advance for the restaurants (with the exception of the buffet), but they are worth the wait. The pasta freshly cooked to your specification in the buffet is excellent, even for us veggies! I was pleasantly surprised not to be ill during my 2 week stay (only one of our party was, and that appeared to be due to too much sunbathing!).

The staff are really friendly, and even in the middle of August the hotel was quiet (especially so because no children). We were meant to be staying next door in the Sol Cayo Coco, but were upgraded because they were over booked and our party was all adults. We visited next door for comparison, and found it to be very noisy and full.

Despite the little-stocked mini bar, the main bar was excellent, as was the pool and beach bar. Plenty of choice, and slow but pleasant staff. The bar on the beach was handy, although frequently ran out of ice. There's a piano played in the main bar every night, which is lovely, but we got a little bored of music after a while, as there is usually a small band playing wherever you are in Cuba. Although, saying that they usually are very good.

The pool is shallow, but great to just float about in, but we spent most of our time on the beach. Its heaven!! White sand, hardly any waves, lots of free sun loungers and most importantly PRIVATE. There are security guards on the beach keeping the locals out. Seems a bit mean, until you meet them in the cities on trips and realise that you can't go anywhere without be very badly harrassed. The people are so poor, and the send little children to beg you for money, so I was glad to not have to contend with this on the beach.

Only thing I can say that is not great was the trips and the mosquitoes. We went with Thomas Cook, and went on several trips. The speed boating was excellent, but the city trips weren't great. Havana was rushed around, giving us no time to see anything. We were given just 30 minutes of free time, which we had to use to get a drink, considering the 34 degree heat. The swimming with the dolphins was great, but we were waiting around a long time. The mosquitoes were a problem just because the whole island was having a boom. The hotel was doing all it could to get rid, and by the second week, there were considerably less. They were only a problem on the balmy evenings and a particular problem around the lake (especially in the a la carte restaurant).

I cannot really say anything bad about this hotel specifically. The rooms were clean (although the bathrooms were simple), the staff friendly and the food good.

Its a romantic place to visit, we even came back engaged! Definately would consider going back.

Anónimo, CA, 2004-04-17
We stayed at Melia Cayo Coco from April 5-12, 2005. It was a wonderful vacation. The Cuban people are beautiful, we were treated like royalty.
The weather was perfect, plenty of good food and beverage.
We were kept as busy as we wanted to be, but no lack of activities. A must is to see the nightly entertainment, very well done.
a comfortable clean resort.
We will return, and definitely recommend this resort.