TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

Is our fourth time here at Santiary and we love this place as well,we like the most people....they are helpful,kind,warm,professional and friendly...we gonna mention Reinier,Roxans,the butlers....at the be...ach Carlos....at the entertaiment team Naomi is super cool the guy with a lot of characters...food is good and drinks super enough to be drunk all time...jajjjjj....barbecue at the beach awesome....room need some attention but are not bad....pool are clean as well and the beach is super,definitely we gonna come back !!!

We just returned from our week in Cuba. Overall the week was good but there were some issues - some I expected others were a bit of a surprise. First the bad... I had red a lot of reviews prior to going a...nd many mentioned that the resort is dated. I expected old, I did not expect broken. The cabinet the contains the mini fridge had doors that were falling off. The lock on the patio doors was a screw on a chain. The towels were clean but very dingy as was all the flooring. The bathroom door looked like something had chewed the bottom. There were beach towels in the room when we arrived, but the towel shack never had replacement towels, luckily I had anticipated that and had brought a couple of microfibre towels with us. The food - well its Cuba so my expectations were low. There were no menus at any of the al a carte restaurants - the wait staff would tell you what was available and you made your decision as they were standing there - since there were only usually 2 options it wasn't hard to decide between fish and chicken. All but a few meals were cooked to within an inch of their lives... We had paid for premium through Sunwing - don't bother as it doesn't really get you anything. We did have a 'special' dinner one night, which we later found out had the exact same menu at the Sactuary restaurant so not all that special. The dinner was lobster and mine was so over cooked that I was unable to cut it with a knife. My fellow diners had a little better in that while it was over cooked - they could at least cut theirs and eat it. We ordered from the snack bar a couple of times and agin the burgers were so overcooked that they were almost unrecognizable. One day we waited 90 minutes for our burger and fries before we gave up. Power went out but other than running out of ice, it wasn't too big a deal. Found out later that the generators were not working as someone had forgotten to clean the filters. We were in building 31 and had two butlers who frankly were useless. Other than having to track them down to try and get dinner reservations, I'm not sure what their purpose was. The day our dinner reservation was delayed due to the power outage our butler was supposed of have let us know, but we didn't see him. They take reservations from Sunday to Sunday, so if you arrive later in the week - all the a la carte restaurants are fully booked - it's a weird system. Now for the good... The beach and the ocean are incredible. We spent most of our time on the beach and enjoyed every moment. Alex and Carlos are there every morning to set out your lounge chairs for the day - unlike other resorts I have been at, the chairs are not left set out so you can't just grab a lounge chair. We tipped and gave them gift bags each day we were there. The manager of the Sanctuary restaurant and bar works harder than anyone. She as there at least 10 - 12 hours a day and when the power outage meant dinner reservations were all delayed and with no air conditioning in the restaurant, she very calmly and professionally let everyone know what was going on. She was great. Cappuccino from the Sanctuary bar every morning was great. Food in the Sanctuary. after the first night, was usually good. On the last day we went for a long beach walk and missed breakfast - we had read the times wrong - so we went to the buffet on the Grand Memories side. I wish we had done that earlier as the omelette was excellent and they had a much greater variety of toppings for your omelette that were not available at the Sanctuary. All of the staff were pleasant and tried to do a good job with what they had to work with. The shortages made their jobs more difficult. But there was always something to eat and drink, you just had a be flexible. Our housekeeper did a great job - we tipped $5.00 CAD a day and left a gift bag daily as well - she was so appreciative and left us a couple of nice thank you notes. We took a lot of gifts. There are many things that are hard for the Cubans to buy even with tip money. We took a ton of feminine hygiene products, children's Tylenol, Advil, reading glasses, pens, lined paper notebooks, power banks, colouring books, pencil crayons, bug spray, mascara, eye shadow, pantyhose, toothpaste and tooth brushes. I would go back to Cuba as the beaches are amazing. This trip was very inexpensive and you get what you pay for. I would pay a bit more and stay at a better resort next time. But this place got pretty good reviews and many people go back year after year so maybe I am too picky.

Today, we are going home. From another trip to Cuba . With gratitude to our Cuban friends and The sanctuary resort. The weather was great. The food was excellent. We were treated like welcomed guests to th...ere country. We felt like like family, every day. The smiles, hugs and kisses everyday. We had a taste of their life. Yea we had power outages. But the people of Cuba . Still gave us their best. We felt welcomed every day. It is sad to go home. We will see them again. If only for a short time. Here is a few pics of the resort, and food.. sorry I took a lot of food pictures. The food was so good. I ate more than I do at home. But I wanted to try something new . Love you all.

We were at Sanctuary at Grand Memories from March 4th to 11th. What a wonderful vacation. Staff are so accommodating. Prior to going, I messaged that we were coming on March 4th with two (2) other coupl...es and requested that we all be in the same building. Not only were we all in Bldg 30, but all on the same floor. The pool bar staff are amazing. Can't remember all their names, but a few that stood out are Yudi and Roxanna (they are the ultimate best!) Our butlers Diana and Noel were always on hand to help us out and make reservations at the al a cart restaurant for dinner. The pool guy is always working hard to have the pool area clean and safe. He even helps out the Pool Bar staff by returning dirty dishes. Very few food shortages this year, except that we had no bready for the last three days of our stay. Absolutely no shortages in the beverages available. Lime daquaris were the ultimate best made by Roxanna and Yudi! Spanish coffees at both Sanctuary and Grand Memories bars were always great. Sabrina took the time to talk with us and hear what we had to say about the facilities. They are always trying to improve things! Too bad we heard that Sunwing will not be going to Varadero from Thunder Bay next year!

With all the limitations, our butlers Alfredo and Daniella did their best to make sure we were comfortable and had what we needed. Alfredo went out of his way to make sure I had a towel to use after check... out while waiting the 3 hours before my bus left for the airport