TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

I have been to Cuba several times and I must say this is one of the best resorts I have been to! The staff, the beach, the drink drinks, the food and the rooms amazing! The entertainment team, one of the b...est, especially Leo the Showman! Highly recommend this resort for vacationing.

In my opinion, after having been to Cuba 7 times at different resorts, Sanctuary has been my best experience by far. From the pool entertainment crew, Carlos, Rainer, Anays and Naomi - they are the best! ...Great smiles and beautiful personalities every day and night! Golden teeth at the pool is a wonderful individual, always smiling and having fun. The pool is so nice, well kept so kudos to the pool person! The snack bar employees are beautiful, always smiling and very helpful - make excellent drinks too, pina colada, daiquiris, iced coffee in the morning (don't forget to get liqueur added!) I recommend you bring a bubba cup as their paper cups aren't the best but do the trick. For snacks, we had deep fried french fries 6/7 days. Fabulous. Chicken Sandwiches are wicked good and my husbands had double hamburgers with cheese. Plenty of salt/pepper/mustard and ketchup at the snack bar. No need to bring your own. The Sanctuary restaurant - excellent food! Some days, some service was slow - but who cares, is anyone keeping a schedule on vacation, no! So we didn't mind the little wait. Great buffet selection in the morning, lunch and evening! Lots of fresh seafood. If you have an opportunity and love mussels (like me), try them! They are delicious. The fresh salmon salad was so good, my husband and I went for seconds. All of the a'la carte menu was also fantastic. We also attended the Oriental, Italian and Gourmet restaurants on the Grand Memories (GM) side, Italian - fantastic - recommend! Gourmet - fantastic tasting food and service - recommend! Italian - meh - it was ok, and it is WARM in there so be aware. We also tried GM buffet for lunch and dinner on different days, delicious hot food (lots of pasta dishes). The stuffed peppers at dinner were awesome - try em! We also ate at the GM snack bar, great chicken salad and hamburgers - hello Yarimehy! Awesome lady. There is a BBQ at the beach every day, hotdogs, hamburgers, corn on the cob (select days when they can get it), all great condiments too. The beach itself, great thanks to Alex the Sand Tiger - who provides awesome service there. Quick to grab you beach loungers and brush them clean for you. He also goes to the beach bar and will fill up your cups with your choice of drink for you, no need to get up while he is there (leave him a tip and he goes above and beyond). Great nice guy. Our room was standard, but we didn't mind. Full bath/shower combo and a stand up shower. Tiles are old but who cares? We didn't go there for the bathrooms. We went for beach/pool/sun - and we were not disappointed. We had one of the best trips of our lives and we are going back in October - the Sanctuary will be our forever

This was our 3rd visit to Sanctuary- we absolutely love this place. While the rooms are a little dated, the sheets were clean, the rooms were clean, our room was tied every day, clean towels when requested.... The food was very good, no shortages at all- while we are not picky eaters we were never hungry. The staff go above and beyond for the visitors- I cannot praise them enough! We have travelled to several different countries and resorts- this one makes you feel like you are coming home:) From the moment you arrive you are welcomed- they recognize you from day to day and year to year. There are a few people I wanted to highlight from our visit this year that made it even more special- Yamaysi- the event specialist- that she is! wow- we celebrated our 25th anniversary and she went above and beyond- truly a special, caring, amazing lady. Always Carlos on the beach- our "Cuban son" he works so hard to make your beach visit pleasant- always chatty, smiling and will do anything for you. Albert and Mily in the bar- so so sweet- can whip up any cocktail or Spanish coffee- so delicious! Elizabeth in the Sanctuary restaurant- such a beautiful young pleasant girl- will go above and beyond as well. The pool bar gals- what can I say- so fun, don't know how they do it- but they remember your drink every time- and are so great at making fun variations- so yummy:) The new manager- Sabrina- very present- I think we saw her at some point in every day- she would be chatting to the guests, dancing with the staff, serving food at the special events- nice to see. Our butlers- Dayana and Noel- "like Christmas lol" very helpful, informative, tried to make your stay the very best. In regards to the food, yes, there is a shortage on many things in Cuba right now, esp since Covid. We mostly would go to the buffet for breakfast on the Grand Memories side, just because it was easy, and there is one cook who makes the best omelets there- those who have been there know who I'm talking about. We would have lunch at the Sanctuary- either at the special event or from the pool bar- yummy chicken sandwich and fries. And we always had our supper in the Sanctuary- something different everynight- the menu is posted outside the restaurant. The entertainment we enjoyed was mostly at the Sanctuary in the evening while having a nice cocktail in the bar. I can't praise this resort enough- the staff make it that you want to return year after year.

While this resort has improved some since our visit last year, there isn't much great to share about this place other than great people who try so hard to deliver a great vacation. This resort is part of ...the the larger "Grand Memories" resort & is an adults only location. That's the only saving grace. While staying here you have access to the larger portion of the resort but do yourself a favour, stay at the Sanctuary side. The Grand Memories portion has been sadly neglected since our last visit which was in 2024. A recommendation to management of this facility - it would not take a lot to visit each room & look for things that are broken & needs to be repaired. Some things in the several rooms that our group had could have been so much better such as: - Closet doors that are not attached & will not open; - Sink faucets that were hanging off, rusted or broken; - Noisy air conditioning fans; - balcony doors that won't lock or that leak during periods of rain; - beds with mattresses that fit the box springs; - linens that are torn & blood stained; - toilets with constant running water; - Safes that are not attached to the walls or that have working batteries; - No hangers in the closets; - Hair dryers that work; - Showers that do not leak with working drains so you do not flood your bathroom; It would only take a little bit of time & effort to address this but the management doesn't seem to care. The butlers in some instances had to try to fix things themselves because again, management doesn't seem to care. Check-in was relatively easy & non-eventful, facilitated by the butler in our building (Renier/Roxanna). This individuals is an amazing individual, as are the remainder of the staff in and around the pool. They work with what they are given and go beyond what one would expect. If it was not for these staff members, I would have rated this visit a 1-star experience. Our group in other buildings had similar experience with their butlers & the same complaints/issues that you will read about below. The ladies at the pool bar were AMAZING but you could see their own personal frustration for what was happening at this once great resort. We had access to several a la carte restaurants throughout this resort. By far the best was the Sanctuary on our adults only portion, followed closely by the Gourmet. The Cuban restaurant was closed during our visit. The Chinese restaurant has NO AIRCONDITIONING & the staff there didn't seem to care that the heat was unbearable during our visit there. There was also nothing on the menu that you could consider "Chinse cuisine" & you were offered beef, pork, chicken & fish meals only. Our group tried all but the fish & the food was mediocre here & served COLD. The Italian restaurant had an extensive menu but NOTHING was available on it. We were given a choice for mains that included spaghetti & pizza. The spaghetti was cold & without any flavour. The pizza was horrific & I'm pretty confident that it was a frozen pizza that they just warmed. The Gourmet restaurant offered beef, pork, chicken & fish meals and they were delicious. The food was served "warmish" but it was edible & very tasty. We enjoyed the flavour & presentation. The food at the sanctuary restaurant for all meals (breakfast, lunch & dinner) was amazing in flavour & presentation. Sometimes it was served a little colder than we would have liked but the taste made up for it not being hot. One concern we had during our visit was the length of time to get served & to receive your food. One one occasion we waited for over 30 minutes to receive any water or drinks and then over an hour to receive our meal. Despite our reservation being around 6:30ish, we finally finished our meal & left the restaurant at around 9:45pm. That was unacceptable. We had similar experiences for the occasional breakfast & lunch that we ate there. During a few visits to this restaurant they had live music playing & it made for an extremely frustrating experience. The room has terrible acoustics & the individuals playing music were just way too loud. We could not hear the staff talking, we were unable to have any conversation at our table. A lady who identified herself as the "manager" didn't seem to care when we complained. We all left after our meals with ear & headaches. THIS SHOULD BE ADDRESSED BY MANAGEMENT & the manager that refused to remedy the situation should be ashamed of herself. Staff were just as frustrated as many of the guests & despite them even voicing their concerns, this situation was ignored. Even though the food was absolutely amazing, this situation created a very harsh environment that at times, felt like torture when trying to enjoy an evening out. The buffet was a typical buffet. Great selection of food & it was as expected. One major issue we experienced was the lack of towels (both bath & beach). When members of our group put their towels in the bathtub hoping to receive clean ones, that didn't happen. The towels were removed with no clean ones returned. There was nowhere to exchange beach towels. We asked several times & were just given blank stares without any suggestions or solutions. Pathetic. There was also NO ENTERTAINMENT for most of our visit. On previous visits, there was an individual who used to dress in costumes, tell you about all the entertainment that was happening. He no longer works there apparently & we were given multiple reasons as to why. We were left roaming through a large resort to find some nighttime entertainment which out of our entire stay was almost non-existent. Sure, they had some people dressed as "statues" roaming the resort begging for "tips". There was a band that played one evening that was amazing but we stumbled upon that by fluke. We were told there was a magic show - nope. We were told there was a beach party at 9:30 pm - nope (it actually started closer to 11:00 pm). There is a small disco at the resort but it's pointless to visit. The DJ sucked & would not play any requests. He was more focused on trying to perfect his skills by scratching, adding effects to music & adding effects to songs. When he did play a decent piece of music, he quickly spoiled it with his antics & then abruptly switched to a different song. The music was also TOO LOUD. TURN IT DOWN, WAY DOWN. You are there to entertain & assist people in having a good time. You are not trying to blow the eardrums of everyone in the facility. The room is small and there is no need to have the music so loud. Just think of taking all the speakers from a large rock concert at a stadium holding tens of thousands of people, putting all that in your living room & then turning the volume all the way up. TO THE MANAGER RESPONSIBLE FOR THE DISCO: WHAT YOU ARE OFFERING AT THIS FACILITY NOW SUCKS, BOTH YOU & THE DJ SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF YOURSELVES. If you like to visit the shows & be entertained, Sanctuary at Grand Memories is definitely NOT for you. One final note for the management here at Sanctuary. TELL YOUR EMPLOYEES THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO WORK, NOT SIT & TEXT ON THEIR CELLPHONES ALL DAY LONG. I've said this many times - cellphones have ruined Cuba. The workers are more focused on texting, talking, taking selfies & scrolling Facebook than they are doing their jobs. Horrible. Would we go back - Nope. Not a chance. It's a shame. We visited this resort several times & while we have seen some improvements post COVID, the negatives really outweigh the positives. This facility needs new management, some new employees & a complete overhaul of attitude of a majority of the employees.