“Fantastic Place – Highly Recommended!”

Thomas Cook flight
Depart Manchester. Long, long queues at where they scan your hand luggage etc. Make sure you follow all the rules re. liquids. Must be kept separate in a see-through plastic bag, etc. All details can be found on TC website. Flight on time both on outbound & return journeys. Service on board good & enough legroom – more than I have experienced in the past with First Choice.

Santa Clara airport
Is now finished, a small airport, but has all it needs to make your arrival & departure comfortable. On arrival again long queues for passport control, they like to scrutinise everyone’s passport & ask you a few questions. Cases were already waiting for us & we were on the bus within 5 or 10 minutes. I did not see any sniffer dogs, nor did I see anyone being questioned for a long time or any luggage being searched.
Return journey – T Cook stagger the arrival of coaches at the (small) airport, which is good, so you don’t get a queue of 300 people at check-in all at the same time. They charge you if you have exceeded your luggage allowance at 14 CUC per kg. They don’t check or weigh hand luggage so we put some heavier items in our hand luggage to keep the weight of the cases down.
My husband’s case was set to one side after scanning, because they detected a tube containing 2 paintings. They simply asked to see the paintings & the necessary receipts, it only took a couple of minutes & they were very friendly. Make sure when you buy any paintings or other art in Cuba to obtain a proof of purchase for customs (this is for paintings over 30 cm width).
There is now a departure lounge at Santa Clara with a small Duty Free shop (you can get your Havana Club rum here, very cheap, CUC 3.85 for a 1 litre bottle of the white rum, also the lovely and not much else. There is also aJCuban coffee, which I am enjoying right now snack bar & a smokers room. You can also change any left over CUC’s here back into your country’s currency before departure. All in all Santa Clara airport is now functioning very well & is very pleasant to travel to & from.

Hotel Layout – Grounds - Occupancy
Very beautiful grounds, it’s amazing how it all looks so beautiful after only being open 6 months. The Lobby is stunning, a nice place to enjoy having a drink from the beautiful Lobby Bar. Watch the marble floors or small steps here & there, it can get slippery when it rains. Once night after some terrible downpours the Lobby area got flooded in several places, so use common sense when walking round. I can’t personally see how anyone could walk straight into the water features as I read Jbefore, unless having spent too long at the Lobby Bar !

During our stay the hotel was only 25% full (about 500 guests). The adult side of the hotel had therefore been completely closed, and all guests were put up in the family side, which worked very well. It gave us the impression the hotel was ‘pretty full’ although only 2 or 3 weeks earlier they had 1800 guests.
Some of the restaurants were closed due to this low occupancy. We managed to have lunch in the Beach Ranchon on the 2nd day we were there, which was a very nice lunch, after that it was closed for the rest of our stay. But it didn’t matter as there were still 4 other places to go for lunch.

The a la carte restaurants – only the Italian & Romantic were open, but they alternated menus in each of these. The Italian served the Italian menu one night, and Steakhouse menu the next. The Romantic would do both Romantic & Seafood. Again we thought this was a good way to cope with the low occupancy & still offer the guests all or most of the facilities. You could book the a la carte restaurants as often as you liked, they were never overbooked, an advantage of being there in low season. There were also no queues for booking these.

Beach
Amazing, the water has beautiful shades of blue & green – Wish I was there still! We found walking on the beach towards the Sol hotel hard work at places because the sand becomes quite soft & you sink in it so walking becomes somewhat more difficult. Walking towards the other side where they are building the new ‘Star’ hotel is easier, you can walk for miles & miles, and not meet a soul. This hotel should be open in approx 1 year we were told, there is currently absolutely no disruption due to this – just the sight of some cranes which don’t blend in too well with the idyllic scenery of the beach & sea.

Weather - Mosquitoes
May to October is rainy season, it usually rained early evening, which is nice & not disruptive to your holiday. It did not rain every night though. We were there for 2 weeks, and the last 2 or 3 days the weather was not so good, it became very windy so you could not go on the beach as it was just too windy, it also rained an awful lot in the daytime on our 2 last days, so most people spent those in the lobby bar! It was not a big deal for us as we had had nearly 2 weeks of beautiful sunshine but for some Canadians who were there for 1 week, they felt like they had had terrible weather on their holiday, it’s a shame, but Mother Nature …..
The rainy season also brings with it : the mosquitoes. We got bitten quite badly, we used all the repellents we brought from the UK, with 50% DEET, did not make any difference. They sell one there in the shop called ‘Repell’ I believe, which seemed to work better, and contains no DEET, and was a lot nicer to spray on your skin. But all in all there is no getting away from them. Avoid walking outside between 6 & 9 am, and approx 6 & 9 pm as well when they are worst, but they are around all day as well, but not quite as bad as dusk & dawn. A lot of the Brits ended up going to see the Doctor there, so did we. We were both given a Cortisone injection which reduces the allergic symptoms of redness, swelling & itching. It did make us feel much better, the Doc also gave us extra tablets to take, Camomile lotion & another cream, all this for 64 CUC for the 2 of us. The Doctor’s office is located at the back of the gym, no need to make an appointment, just turn up & take cash with you.

Restaurants
We found the buffet restaurants of very high standard, much better than most other holiday-hotels. The service was excellent (again due to low occupancy the waiters have all the time to give you the best service you can dream of). Choice & variety of food excellent, some food luke-warm as often in buffets, but there was a good selection of meat, chicken & fish you could choose to have cooked fresh for you. Also lovely prawns.

The a la carte restaurants were lovely in terms of deco, service & musicians, especially the classical music in the Romantico. The menus did not offer a lot, some meals were great, others pretty awful, especially in the Seafood restaurants, it was hit or miss whether you actually received the fish you ordered! The Italian menu only offered basic spaghetti’s & pizza’s – a little basic for a ALC restaurant, we thought. The Romantico food was nice, perhaps very small portions, but it’s not like you’re gonna go hungry in this type of hotel.

Wedding Anniversary
We celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary out there, which we had advised TC of at time of booking. Danirka, the lovely lady at Guest Relations arranged for us an extra 2 booking at the ALC restaurants of our choice, at one of the meals we received a bottle of Champagne, and a chocolate cake. Ruth, the TC rep, also sent a card to our room, which was a nice touch.

Room
We had a standard room in block 30 – this was a good location, not too far to walk anywhere. We did not find it far to walk anyway in the resort, maybe because only half of it was open. We enjoy the walks. We considered upgrading to a Superior room, which they showed us, as we did not find it much different to a standard room, slightly bigger, and with a walk-in closet, I believe the bath/shower was separated from the rest of the bathroom. There was ‘seaview’ but the sea looked so far away, it was not worth it, and with the mosquitoes you could not spend any time on the balcony anyway. The upgrade would have cost 20 CUC per night, we stayed in our standard room which was just as nice.

Entertainment
Daytime pool & beach entertainment was fun. They do play a lot of Latin music round the pool, mixed with other styles. But we did not hear any Celine Dion or Brian Adams at all as we read in some other reviews. They do some Salsa dance lessons & other styles which are good fun.
We found the evening shows quite good, they had a resident group of professional dancers, they worked really hard to put good professional shows on, and they did very well. The animation team look after the rest of the program, with some games, and further fun in the Disco after 11 pm, which is small, but has a lovely bar, and it’s so much fun to even just sit & watch the Cuban staff dance the night away!
There was always live music in he lobby bar early evenings & also in the restaurants at lunchtime & dinner, which is very nice.

Staff – Tipping
We found the TC Rep Ruth were pleasant & helpful, she loves Cuba. The welcome presentation on the 1st day was very well done (we usually find these very irritating) we did not feel like we were being pushed at booking excursions as we normally do)
The Cuban staff are so nice & work so hard to please everyone, a lot of the waiters/waitresses are students, but they all try very hard to do an excellent job, and succeed as well. The gardeners are always fun to chat with, and offer guests flowers, little bracelets, Aloe Vera leaves (to put the gel on your mozzie bites, which is a great relief).
I guess we spent more money on tipping here than we have ever done in any hotel in other countries, I was determined before I went to ‘only tip after having received good service’ as we (Brits) are used to. But as our stay went on, we just couldn’t help but ‘wanting’ to tip more & more as the staff are so nice & friendly, and it doesn’t matter whether you tip or not, they still love to be your friend & do all they can for you. They also return gifts to the guests – which is so touching considering they don’t have much money, but they do have a lot of artistic skills, and ‘make’ little things for you, which is so sweet, I will treasure my little gifts forever. Well, we became tipping addicts! Seriously we tipped approx 5 CUC after a meal in the ALC restaurants, once in a while in the buffet, not after every meal. In the lobby bar we chose not to tip every day, but to give a larger tip once every couple of days. We left a larger tip at the end of our stay for all the restaurant staff and same for the lobby bar staff. Please also tip discreetly, they are quite shy & sometimes a little embarrassed at receiving our ‘charity’

I will write a separate review about the excursions we did. If you have any questions on anything or I forgot things, please ask.

Pros: Everything ! (especially Cuban people)
Cons: Mosquitoes

Would we go back? When’s the next flight

We would highly recommend this hotel, it is classed here as a 4*plus, as we would agree with that rating. We only paid £1,320 for 2 of us 2weeks AI ( this is approx 2,800 CAD).

Stayed at the MLD between May 18-25th in building 20. This was our 5th trip to Cuba, and by far the most disappointing.

Positives: Beautiful beach, airport much improved since last year, food was satisfactory and available 24/7, hotel has a great ice cream parlour, rooms were new and well decorated, evening entertainment was typical for Cuba, grounds were well maintained, and music and activities on the beach and competitions and fashion shows by the pool were amusing.

Negatives: Bad weather half the time (clouds, heavy winds, cool evenings, and a lot of rain). But most frustrating was the gargantuan amount of mosquitoes. They were everywhere at all times of day. The only place you were safe was on the beach on a windy day. We couldn't even eat breakfast in peace without spending most of the time swatting ourselves. Tip: Stay home, or if you are already booked, bring a high deet content repellent -we liked the one at the hotel called REPEL; bring long sleeves and long pants; do not go out early evenings (between 6-9pm); insist that the hotel fumigate (apparently they sometimes forget) and when they do, stay out of the way because they have no consideration for passerbuyers; for those who were badly bitten the doctor offers cortisone injections to relieve the irritation ($55). Now, they are not always bad. By the end of the week we were seeing less and according to other guests there were very few during the prior week. It is just hit or miss. Good luck. Be sure to bring your own pharmacy products because this hotel has nothing. I couldn't even get a decongestant.

Maid service was also the worst I've ever experienced. She never swept up, never cleaned any of the bathroom surfaces, tub, or room surfaces. I think all she did was change the dirty towels we were advised to leave in the tub. I quickly gave up hoping for a decorative towel sculture. There were supposed to be umbrellas in our room which were not there and our fridge was empty when we arrived. We tried to phone home but the room phone wouldn't function properly the first night. The front desk staff was curt, unwelcoming, unhelpful, and never smiled. There is also a comminucaton barrier with a lot of the staff.

The resort is too huge. It really requires a map to navigate. We found our room too far from the main services so we often got a bellboy to give us a ride on a cart to avoid the long mosquitoe ridden trails. I advise you study the resort map which you can find on other review sites before going to avoid feeling lost. Also, on the west/left side of the beach you have to travel a long distance to get something to eat or drink while sunbathing. No beach food/drink service. When sun is a rare commodity and mosquitoes were waiting for you at the end of the boardwalk, this was a real inconvenience

Santa Clara Airport
We were part of a group of twenty staying from April 13-27th. Check-in was fast and efficient as we were the only plane to arrive. Expansions to airport are not yet complete. Bus took 1 hr 20 min to arrive at resort. Note: Duty Free shops in departure lounge is very small and although cheaper than resort, is very limited in selection and quantity for cigars, rum and coffee.

Resort Check-in
Check-in was done at room behind reception desk and was quick. Baggage was unloaded from bus during this time. While we went to the lobby bar, porters took our bags to our room, which took about 1 hr.

Resort Complex
The resort is huge and there is a lot of walking to do if you are not central to the main lobby and pool. It is easy at first to get lost, as paths and buildings all look the same. It takes a couple of days to get your bearings. Signage is small and indicating landmarks such as beach, lobby and pool are small and hard to notice. Bigger signs are needed. The grounds are beautifully landscaped and lit at night. There are also many fountains and sculptures onsite. During the first week, the resort seemed to be busy with guests but the second week was almost deserted.

Lobby
The lobby probably has the largest marble floor we’ve ever seen. You have to be careful as there are hard-to-see small ramps and steps in which you can twist your ankle. If it gets wet, the floor no doubt, becomes a hazard. There are also a number of small pools with water sprays in various areas of the lobby. As a couple of people found out, you can easily take one miscalculated step, fall in and get soaked. The lobby is the centre of attraction day and night and can be quite busy as is the large U-shaped lobby bar. There is often a jazz duo or trio performing evenings. Many chairs, tables and couches are available for people to sit and chat.

Stores and Other Amenities
The cigar shop in the lobby has limited supplies and cigars with no visible prices. It has a humidor that is sometimes unbearably hot and one staff member that is either on the phone or serving a line of customers. To get prices you have to wait in line. The Internet Café has very slow working “high-speed” internet access (6 Pesos per 1/2 hr) with hotmail not working during our two weeks stay. It often took anywhere from 15 to 20 minutes just to log in or access. This was an issue for us contacting family members. They didn’t want to sell us internet minutes for the hotmail problem which we didn’t use anyway. Our rep said was best to avoid the telephones as it is very expensive to phone home. The Currency Exchange, at times, had line-ups but the employee was friendly. The gift store next to the Coppelia had very limited selections of coffee, rum and other things. The Parque Central near the lobby had artisan stalls with the usual beads, earrings and other limited crafts. Tennis courts, though nice, were empty and the gym and spa seemed deserted. We only tried archery at the Sport Club but it also wasn’t very busy for other games. There is an excursion desk, but we rented an 8-passenger van with a driver for a 5-city tour through the car rental agency at the resort entrance. It was cheaper and more extensive than the organized tours though we didn’t get the commentary.

Room
Our room was in building 06 on the “family” side for which we were grateful as we were close to most things. The room was spacious, nicely decorated and the air-conditioning worked well. The king-sized bed, though firm, was comfortable. Bath was spacious though getting out of the shower is a bit dangerous as the tub is rather high and you have to reach over quite a bit to get out. A walk-in closet safe was free and you should take advantage of it to store your valuables. We did have a mould and water stain problem underneath the sink and a patio door malfunctioning lock that, despite maintenance looking at it, remained a problem during our duration.

Room Cleaning and Room Fridge Service
Room cleaning was spotty at times as were replacement of some towels and facecloths. We left small gifts for the maids. I often saw the maids counting their gifts in the room they had by our door. They do well, which is not necessarily the case for other workers on the resort. Fridge replenishment was for the most part good and we got extra beer, pop and water by leaving a little note and small gift. Bottled water is not available at the bars or restaurants though it should be should you run out. Although we had reasonably good room cleaning another of our group on the adult side had horrendous maid service. Note: when you arrive you are given a checklist of the towels provided for your room. If you lose or misplace any, and that goes for beach towels or room key as well, you are charged for it.

Power Outages
This happened twice during dinner at one of the buffets and a few days later around 6 am when the TV came on a few times when the power went out came back on.

Beach
The water is a stunning aqua blue, the beach long and sand at times is both easy to walk and difficult at different parts. You can wade out a long way up to your waist. Snorkelling is about a 20-minute walk towards the nude area. The other direction takes you to the newest construction – a 2,000-room resort being built. There were a few red flag days, but mostly they were yellow or green. Heed the red flags as we heard one person almost drowned. Even though our rep said that reserving of chairs at pool or beach is forbidden, it is a fact of life in Caribbean resorts and you have to live with it - so get there early. There is a severe shortage of palapas on the beach and the resort should correct this. There was no shortage of chairs though and we made use of these by creating makeshift umbrellas with two chairs for much needed shade. There is only one beach bar near the middle of the beach. Watersports were available, but the only ones that seemed to get used were the Hobbycats.

Pools
We used the family side pool often. For the most part it wasn’t that busy and there weren’t as many kids as we thought there’d be. At the deepest end, water was just past the waist. There were lots of chairs, palapas and umbrellas for shade. Activities were the usual dance lessons and aqua-aerobics and competitions. The pool animation team (Lisi, Victor and Ernesto among others) were always enthusiastic even though patrons may not have been. Swim-up bar is great and the menu selection there seemed more extensive than the lobby bar. Nearby is the San Salvador snack bar with great burgers, pizza, sandwiches and poutine. Note to management: replace the 2 CDs (one of which is Celine Dion) played all day long, every day, at the pool and swim-up bar.

Staff
We met some of the friendliest and helpful staff members. Many of them multi-task and put in long hours in order to tend to people’s needs. We found two of the most professional and friendliest waiters/waitresses ever, named Kin, in the Italian restaurant and Yaneisy in the Caibarién buffet. If you take the time to say “Holá” in Spanish they reciprocate. We’ve heard some ignorant comments about the lack of English spoken. Well, guess what? You’re a guest in a Spanish-speaking country – duh! Contrary to other reviews, we never had to tip a bartender in order to get served -ever. There were ignorant, self-important guests who expected personal service for the week by waving a 5 Peso bill in front of bartenders– insulting to say the least. We did tip our favourite bartenders later in our two-week stay as a thank you.

Washrooms
Poorly marked signage and often only seen at the entrance, toilets are few and far between and are small. Most, with the exception of the suites, do not flush properly. There are no washrooms near the beach. The odd thing about some of the resort washrooms is the installation of toilet paper holders instead of paper towel dispensers on the walls in addition to hand dryers. Garbage cans are miniature versions of kitchen ones.

Entertainment
Some of the entertainment was excellent – others amateurish. We would rather see Cuban bands and music than imitation Broadway shows. Some of the costumes were nice others looked cheap.

Restaurants
We ate mostly at the buffets. The food does get repetitious after awhile. For the size of the resort the selection, although some of the best quality food we’ve had in Cuba, is surprisingly limited. There were no food-themed nights like other resorts we’ve been to. The Romantica, Italian as well as the Steak House restaurant (despite other reviews) had some of the best food during our stay. The Coppelia ice cream parlour was not very busy though the ice cream was good. The Mi Conuco restaurant had limited food and did not seem busy. The Beer Garden, often busy, had limited seating but good food. Next door, the Beach Ranchón restaurant, although large, had limited food and wasn’t very busy as well.

Pet Peeve
The biggest issue we had was the spraying for mosquitoes. We had read about this in other reviews and it is a huge problem. There is no warning when two guys on a motorized bike whiz by you enveloping you in huge grey clouds of kerosene-smelling smoke, or you get a taste of it while you’re eating in one of the buffets. There is no reason why they cannot spray between midnight and 6 am instead of making people ill while walking or eating. The first week we had no problems with mosquitoes and we did not see or hear them spraying. Not only is the smoke nauseating, it only serves to drive the mosquitoes out of the bushes and twenty minutes later you are trying to swat them by the thousands for the rest of the evening. Our last night waiting for the airport bus was the worst we encountered. We couldn’t wait to leave. This was the first time we had ever encountered them in Cuba. Employees said it would only get worse because of the rainy season arriving.

Have just returned from a week at Melia Las Dunas - March 16-24. Because I use various review sites a lot, thought it only fair that I record my impressions. This was my third trip to Cuba, having been to the Melia Varadero and the Iberostar Dacquiri in Cayo Guillermo. In case you don't want to read the whole review, I've offered conclusions at the beginning.

After my experiences at other Cuban and DR resorts, I believe that it is in the area of food and bar/food service that MLD must work if it hopes to be a 5 star property, or even 4.5. Being new, and still building, they may be struggling with staff and not quite working out the glitches. Physically, it's an outstanding property, in a superb location, and it really could be one of the best resorts in the country. I hope they work out the kinks and reach their potential.

Would I go back? I tend not to return to the same place no matter how good it is, so probably not. MLD wasn't excellent enough for me to tell others that they must go there, nor bad enough for me to suggest that they shouldn't. All in all, we had a wonderful week, and I would certainly return to Cuba

We were four senior ladies, travelling with Transat Holidays from Halifax with Westjet. No problems at either end - flights were smooth and on time. Airport in Cuba is small, but we didn't have much of a wait for luggage, and were on our way pretty quickly. We were the only flight, late at night, which I'm sure helped. At the resort, the Transat rep was around a lot - very helpful and seemed very concerned about how things were going. Again, no problems when leaving - a bit of a wait in the line to check in, but nothing major, and no problems with immigration.

MLD is physically stunning. The lobby is huge and beautiful. One concern - large expanses of marble tile in the same colour, with nothing to mark changes in elevation or edges of ramps, etc, were somewhat dangerous. Several of us almost walked into ponds or over the edge of the wheelchair ramp, and continually warned one another to "watch the edge." And no, we weren't tipsy!

The whole area around the entrance, with restaurants, ice cream parlour, beer garden, etc, is lovely, as are the grounds in general. Impeccably clean - and everyone seemed to help by putting garbage in one of the many containers at the pool, on the beach, and on the grounds. Even though the resort is new, there is a good deal of mature vegetation, and the flower beds are already really nice. I can imagine that in a few years the whole resort will be spectacular. The newer side (right side of a map) is still not completed, and we were only there at night when one of the staff gave us a little tour in "the limo" (stretched golf car, used for moving people around the resort if they didn't want to walk). We were told that not all rooms are open, and the landscaping was obviously still in progress. The plan is to make it adults only, but I got the impression that this is still just a plan - and that at the moment there is no differentiation.

We had requested adjoining rooms on the second floor, near the pool and beach. We got rooms across the hall (2413 and 2414) on the ground floor, very well located just at the end of the boardwalk to the beach, and very close to the pool. They would have moved us to second floor suites, but they were in the new side with king beds, so we chose to stay where we were. We had a bit of a walk to reception and restaurants, but not really far, and we needed the exercise. Don't be put off by people writing about having to walk for great distances. Not true - I'd guess not more than three or four minutes, and we were among the farthest away. Rooms are really nice - big and most attractive I've seen in Cuba - with comfortable beds, table and two armchairs, nice little patios with comfy chairs, screened patio doors, effective air conditioning, and everything in them that one could reasonalby want. Our only concern was with the bathtub, which is very high and somewhat scary to get in and out of. Grab bars helped, and there was a rubber mat, but still a little daunting. Anyone with real mobility problems would find it very difficult. Contrary to the Transat brochure, the rooms are not what I would call a suite, but rather the standard double pictured on the MLD website. Maid service was great, and there were lots of towels and toiletries.

The beach is gorgeous, with lots of lounges, but somewhat lacking in shade. There is one row of palapas, but no natural shade from trees. You have to find your spot early if you want shade. Sand is very soft and hard to walk in for long distances - might be OK at low tide - and if so, one could walk for a long way both directions. Lots of little bits of coral and shells at the edge of the water, and because of the wave action, high and low spots as you go out. We had lots of wind, and lots of waves. The water was beautifully warm, clear outside the riled up area, with very little seaweed. Hobiecats are new and readily available. We sailed three times in very wet but wonderful conditions.

The pool is big, and was a comfortable temperature when we were there. Some palapas, some umbrellas, and some natural shade from palm trees. When it was windy at the beach (which it was about half the time) there appeared to be a shortage of lounges at the pool - complicated by the fact that, as usual, some inconsiderate souls would claim them and then not show up. We often spent the morning at the beach, then had lunch, then moved to the pool. We did claim lounges early in the morning wherever we planned to set up camp, but when we left for any more than a short time, we took our stuff and hoped for the best later. We were always able to find a spot, but not always with the most comfortable lounges. No big issue! Towel service was great.

Service for the most part was good to excellent. One of our group had a birthday while there, and we got the full treatment - rum and champagne in the room, reservations at all the a la carte restaurants, brandy-soaked birthday cake, etc. Danika (spelling?) at Customer Service was outstanding!

Otherwise, we found service at the pool bar (no pool deck service - had to go to the bar- no big deal) generally good, but less so at the lobby bar. Tipping or not didn't seem to make a difference. We had mostly great service in the buffet restaurants, with some of the most handsome and friendly and accommodating waiters ever. Mini bar service was mixed - always got the water we requested, but bar was not stocked every day. Maybe it wasn't supposed to be - not sure on this one. We had good food and good service in the Italian restaurant, mediocre to bad food and great service in the Seafood Restaurant, great food and very poor service in the Romantica restaurant, and not bad food and good service in the Steakhouse. Food in the buffet restaurants was mixed. We had no trouble finding enough to eat, but rarely felt like raving about the food (except for the roast ham, roast suckling pig, and maybe the turkey.) They seemed to run out of stuff at the carving stations, and if you weren't there early, you missed out. Hot food was generally not hot, except when grilled on the spot, and there were some concerns about the cold food not being kept cold enough. Bread was great, as was cheese. I love Cuban coffee, but it was usually lukewarm. Had to work at getting hot tea. Wine was plentiful and pretty good.

The hotel lobby is huge and very well laid out. The staff friendly, the rooms very comfortable, but, as is often the case in Cuba, the meals bland.

returned from my two week escape a week ago tomorrow and held off writing the review for a week to see if my impressions changed after I had been back in the real world for awhile. Although I am not thrilled with the snow outside my door right now, I have to admit I have never before experienced the snow white sandy beaches I enjoyed during my two weeks in Santa Maria.

I am not much of a traveller. In fact this is only my second tropical holiday in 23 of my 45 years on this planet. Keeping that in mind, I may come across as 'just happy to be anywhere that isn't winter!'

We were not able to get much information on the Melia Las Dunas resort from the internet because the facility is so new. We stayed in building 38 on the 'new' side of the resort. It has only been open (depending on what building you are in) since November of 2006. Some of the buildings were still opening during our stay. The 'old' buildings have been open since April!

We arrived at night, to a light mist of precipitation. The second we stepped off the plane the humidity and the cleanliness of the air hit you like a hurricane, (in a good way) after being locked in a sealed projectile for almost five hours!

The airport has undergone some expansion (or so we were told) so it is reasonably capable, but not expediant, at processing the 260 short term residents. In my case, they paid particular interest in the fact I was a police officer which, for some reason, quickly put us from the first to arrive, to the last to leave. I also have a disability that requires a large quantity of medication which did not help speed things along.

Drug dogs wander freely among the passengers and are friendly and unobtrusive. The security personnel did their jobs and despite the fact processing was slow, the staff was professional and friendly, and in fact apologetic when everything was finally straightened out.

A 'tour guide' accompanied the 90 minute bus ride to the island. Unfortunately, his English was weak as was my Spanish, so information came in small bytes. Half way into the shuttle darkness overcame the countryside and we were unable to see where we were going or what we were going through. That was corrected on the return trip to the airport, and quite frankly, part of me wishes it had have been dark then too. This is a poor country and the living conditions of the people that take care of us at the resorts made me feel somewhat uncomfortable with how spoiled we all were.

The resort itself is everything you will ever want in a holiday village. Everything was kept impeccably clean. There is marble tile as far as the eye could see. You were greeted at the entrance by the energetic entertainment staff and your first "all inclusive" drink. After quickly signing everyone in, you are given a map of the resort and sent out into the darkness to try and make sense of it. This is a large resort divided down the middle by the main lobby and piano bar. I never did know which way to turn and would still be wandering around in circles if not for my wife's uncanny ability to get me out of trouble.

There are golf cart shuttles scooting people all over the place so you have to pay attention both in front of you as well as behind while you maneuvre around the grounds, as the electric motors come up on you almost unnoticed.

Our room (#3821) was a spectacular corner unit with a whisper of a view of the ocean on the horizon to the left on the balcony, and spectacular sunrises from the comfort of our king size bed every morning. One canary in particular, composed original scores for each day as it dawned and my wife would be mad at me if I failed to mention its daily serenades.

We were situated a very short distance to the 'quiet' or 'adult' pool/bar/restaurant snack bar, and far enough away from the nightly entertainment so as not to interfere with our enjoyment of the quiet in the evening.

The piano bar was the place to meet everyone in the evening and also the best place to start every morning with a capuccino made by the coffee gods themselves!!

We didn't take any excursions during our two week stay partly because the 45 minute drive off the island just wasn't appealing to us, but mostly because we came in search of beautiful beaches and there was miles of them at our doorstep. We walked from one point to the next every day, which was a good 80 minutes from one end to the other, and would only occasionally come across other beach dwellers (with the exception of a few hundred metres of beach directly in front of the three resorts. If you wanted hard packed white sand go to your right off the boardwalk. If you want to snorkle or walk in a looser more difficult sand to walk in, go to your left for a bit of a workout.

Overall, the resort was going through some growing pains being as new as it is, but there were signs everyday, that they were working on improving service and the grounds. They ran out of towels at times and for about 24 hours, hot water was only available in tea pots.

A la carte restaurants were opening during our stay which was a blessing due to the fact the buffet was mediocre at best.

The booking system for the a la carte restaurants was unnecessarily prolonged (over 90 minutes in line on any given morning) but worth it just to get away from the routine of the buffet.

The music of the islands was around every corner with live performances at the beach restaurant during the afternoon, the piano bar every night, and all of the a la cartes every evening. I would have much preferred to hear recorded latino music of cuba poolside to the overplayed drones of Celine Dion. God bless her gift, but if I wanted to hear her day in and out, I would have gone to Vegas. Cuba is loaded with talented, gifted and passionate musicians like the trio Alter Ego that played classical spanish guitars almost nightly at the Romantika restaurant. With so many talented musicians I question why they play canned music at all.

I know this is getting long winded but I can't close without mentioning the beautiful souls that make Cuba a place you want to come back to. I know most people take notice and reward the waiters, chambermaids and bartenders, but please take notice of the gardeners, security guards and the laborers that can't help but sing while they hoe their impeccably kept gardens, that offer you a fresh coconut drink while they are obviously on one of their own short breaks during the heat of day, and especially the crews that work through the night digging holes to plant palm trees in so that they can be ready for you in the morning. These people are sharing their piece of paradise with us, offering endless friendly greetings to passersby and heartfelt handshakes and occasional hugs when you express your gratitude for their hard work.

Some solid travel advice you may take away from this note is this: Make sure you bring everything you will