Be Live Collection Cayo Santa María — Hotel in Caibarién

Trip Date: March 5-12, 2020||Tour Operator: Air Transat||Departing from Ottawa at 6AM||Plane Reservation: Booked Option Plus||Room Type: Oceanview Room||Hotel: Be Live Collection, Cayo Santa Maria||||Anyone who has read my reviews knows they are long but I break it down in sections and put titles for each section for people to skim though and so they can get to the stuff they are looking for. ||Like most people we looked at videos online of the hotel and pictures to understand what to expect. This is not a gigantic hotel complex but it seemed to have what we were most interested in, beautiful beach, a few a la cart restaurants, small hotel complex making it less crowded and more relaxing. it can be intimidating so I do recommend you check out a few videos, many were really helpful and also check out the resort map. My review will be of a first-time visitor point of view. My husband and I have been to Cuba multiple times before but this was our first time in Cayo Santa Maria.|||||| Cayo Santa Maria Airport:||||We left the Ottawa airport at 6AM, we arrived on time just after 10 AM. The airport was much smaller than Varadero. After the planed rolled away from the runway, we were picked up by two buses and dropped off a few yards we could have walked. The lineup at customs seemed long but we went though in about 15-20 min at the most. Only one person can go at a time unless you have kids otherwise you and your spouse or partner must go individually. They will take your picture, stamp your passport and the card your filled on the plane. Once though customs you need to go through security again then your off to find your luggage but seeing as the airport is so small you don’t need to walk more than a few paces to determine where you should go next. The rest rooms only have 3 stalls so good luck there. I believe there is a bank window where you can convert your money but we were just in a hurry to get out of the area cause it was not big and we were not sure where to find the bus to take us to the hotel. As walked out of the airport doorway where we had to hand in out customs sheet ( the other paper you had to fill out on the plane) we noticed Air Transat people asking which flight we came from and telling us what bus to catch. There were beer and water vendors when you were walking outside.||||Bus Ride||The bus was air-conditioned. The ride was about 90 min, there was a washroom on board. We went though a few small cities the tour guide explained to us that this is where some of the cigars are made and some of the apartment buildings were built by the government for the people who work at the resorts for a small monthly fee. The guide offered refreshments ( beer and water) || ||HOTEL DROP OFF:||||The bus we were on was only making 3 stops, We were the 2nd stop only 4 other passengers got off with us. We arrived around noon, despite the sign indicating check-in was at 4pm our room was ready already. A bus boy came to pick us up in a cart and wheeled us to our room. ||||Room||The room we were escorted to was on the 3rd floor in building 8, At first glance it looked ok and the bell hop was tipped and left. We soon realize the fridge had a problem and was leaking all over the floor. The TV did not work, the phone did not work the couch had questionable stains and the drapes had mold. We took pictures and went to the front desk to see if anything could be done. We previously joined a FB site for the hotel and were told to contact Leidys Ruiz Montano in customer service if we ever ha issues. When I got to the front desk I asked to speak with her. She came to the front desk within minutes and we showed her the pictures we took and she was not very happy with the room we received. She told us to go back to our roo and pc and a new room would be made ready. In about 2 hrs we got our new room with an even better Oceanview room if that’s even possible. We were assigned room 1446 ( building 14, 3rd floor) We could see the ocean even when lying in bed. We had a king size bed, the mattress was comfortable not as comfy as my own mattress but not rock hard or lump like others I have slept on before. The room had a desk with a built in mini fridge, on top was flat screen TV, with a few Canadian channels. Just and FYI make sure you check the knob it turned to the coldest setting in the fridge otherwise it maybe be turn down low. The fridge was full stocked with local soft drinks, water and beer. The bathroom had the vanity separate from the shower and toilet which was very convenient. The closet had extra hangers, the previous room only had a couple. The safe was included in the room price. We were provided with a bottle of shampoo and bottle of body wash. The both smelled nice but we did not use seeing as we had our own.||||Beach ||||The beach was probably the most beautify I have ever seen no weeds what so ever! The sea was very calm the first few days, some people brought bread and manages to attract two different kinds of fish. The rest of the week, it was very windy and ocean was very turbulent but still no weeds! ||If you look up this hotel online you will notice that there are 3 beach sections. All of which are very nice. My building was right next to the main beach so this is where I hung out. It had a nice bar and normally had a nice restaurant but it was closed. Some say it was closed for repairs but I think it was closed because the hotel was only half capacity so there is no point in opening another restaurant for lunch when there are already two others open. To compensate the hotel always had a nice lady near the beach entrance making fruit kebabs and sandwich wraps. One day they had coconut drinks. ||Beach Chairs and Palapas. There were about 3 rows of tropical beach umbrellas with lounge chairs. These are usually all reserved by 6AM in every hotel I normally go to and who wants to get up that early when you are on vacation right? I have to say I was very impressed that at 10 AM there were still plenty of these palapas available, more were being built while we were there. I was told hurricane caused some damage a few months back which is why you could see many of these broken palapas still there but they were being replaced.||||Pools||This resort had 4 pools, one of these was basically a 3 tiered pool, the first level had the bar, the middle was a nice quiet near the restaurant and washroom, the lower level had some sort of roc cavern with a water fall and infinity pool. All 3 pool decks could see the ocean. I have to say this was the first time I enjoyed a pool so much. The chairs were very comfy wicker lounge chairs and the view was wow! A few steps away from the middle pool was an ice cream parlor. There was at least 6 kinds of ice cream. I forget most, there was chocolate and vanilla and chocolate chip and then pineapple orange. This pool was closest to the lobby. There was also another pool closest to my building which was considered the family pool. It had the kids club building and some animal figures and a mushroom type waterfall.||||Buffet and a la carte Restaurants ||||There appeared to be 3 restaurants when my husband and I checked in we notice 3 restaurant reservations. We thought these were made by our Transat rep but after meeting him the next day we learned he was not the one. We also know that others we spoke to did not get these unless they made reservations on their own. So we are sure who to thank, perhaps Leidys Ruiz Montano from customer service||Our first reservation was at the international restaurant we both enjoyed soup, steak but we did ot like the chocolate mousse. The 2nd restaurant was the Cuban, there were only 5 couples in there the food was amazing, we ate every last crumb. There were musicians who sang beautifully while we ate our delicious meal. The 3rd was back the Italian, we knew from pictures and comments they served lasagna and steak. We both enjoyed every bite.||The main buffet, well it was ok my main concern was not that it did not taste good but more that there very little variety. There were multiple stations with hot platters not matter what station you went to it was exactly the same thing at each station so essentially you had about 8 choices, out of these 8 choices it did not change much from one day to the other. The morning had 2 omelet stations and lunch and dinner had pasta and meat. I experience this repetitive food when we went to another Be Live so I was not surprised. The best thing at the buffet was a sweet lady called Claudia, every morning she would grab my coffee cup and disappear for a few minutes and she would come back with a coffee with a beautiful design on it. Due to a shift change and restaurant reservation I never got to say goodbye to little lady. ||||The 24 hr buffet had less of a variety but I strongly suggest you go check it out. I has a beautiful view of the ocean. They had BBQ items like quarter chicken, burgers, hot dogs, polish type sausage and fish, rice and seafood dish, there was small buffet area there was a variety of salads and of course they had a pizza station. We did not see fries all week but on our last day after we had already we noticed people eating fries. I asked them where they got it from and thy said you had to ask the bartender….who knew!!!||||Entertainment||||This resort’s designated Theater near the lobby but it was not being used. We heard though the grape vine that it was being renovated but we could not see any renovations underway in that section. Almost every night there were musicians in the lobby that kept us entertained. I never got to see the shows other than the kids shows one of which had a magician. The other shows we waiting until 9:30 but we were tired and seeing as the seating in the lobby was not really made to enjoy a show we would not have been able to see anything so it did not encourage us to stay longer. ||||Lobby Bar||The lobby bar seems to be where everything happens. People arrive to the hotel in at one and in the middle you will find the desk for your tour operator in case you have any questions. You will also find the lady that sell internet access cards. Then there is the busy bar, we were first greeted by Adis Gonzales Leon with these very yummy drinks. The next day I met another very nice lady who convinced me that I should try a Cuban coffee and now I am addicted thank you Yudenis Guevara. These ladies are the best and always made sure my drink was full, I was always greeted by my name with a big smile and a hug. I miss them already. The bartender I think his name was Cecil made me some very tasty drinks and always greeted us with a smile or wave when we walked by. ||||On our last morning, we left at 6AM that lobby bar was open 24 hrs and served us our last coffee. It was a sad morning but we got great service from beginning to end||||Shopping|| The hotel had 1 convenience store, there really is ot much in there so I strongly recommend that you bring your own snack. Some people said you could by chips and chocolate bars but there was nothing but soda crackers. There is a flea market type of complex nearby. You can take a taxi it will cost you 5$ Walking can also be done but it would take you a good 20-30 min walk. They had a little bowling alley and a dance bar and multiple restaurants and souvenir shops.||||Ice Cream shop||A few days before we were scheduled to leave we noticed they opened the ice-cream booth. It had at least 6 kinds of ice cream. Vanilla, Chocolate, chocolate chip, pineapple orange and I fogged the other two||||Internet||The hotel provides you with 1hr of free internet per day per person. The nice lady handling this was able to provide us a code with 7hr which was helpful because we did not have to walk over everyday to get a new id and pw. We could access the internet from our building and seeing as our build was close to the beach we noticed we could access it in certain spots as well The connection was fast but we would get kicked out from time to time and had to log back in||||Service||My husband and I have been to many hotels in Cuba all of which had something they were best at.. From the really great people at the buffet Desoleil and Augustine, and many others who kept coming back to our table to check on us. The front desk person called Saint who wears his name so well. This guy was just amazing, he was able to change our room and even get us a late check out which we were aware others were asking and were told NO. Saint took care of us like I am sure he was taking care of multiple other people but we felt like he was taking care of us only we felt like VIPs instead of first-time visitors.||||||Summary||||I think this was a beautiful Hotel, there is some work to be done and we noticed a lot of work was happening while we were there. It was not a huge resort but it had everything we enjoyed, beautiful beach, quiet pool area with beautiful ocean views, comfortable room, great people and service. There was no rush to get up at 6AM to reserve a beach chair.||||||PROS||- Pros the hotel is located on an incredible part of the beach with no weeds||- Pros the a la cart restaurant food was amazing||- Pros the lobby bar people so friendly and welcoming||- Pros the oceanview was to die for||- Pros the oceanview from the pools||- Pros never ran out of anything hot water, food, toilet paper or electricity||- Pros There was always something happening somewhere||- PROS the pool area near the 24 hr Buffet was quiet and relaxing||||CONS||- The hotel is showing signs of wear and tear. There were many holes and cracks || that need to be mended or serious accidents could occur||- None of the employees were wearing name tags. This does not seem like a big || deal but they hardworking people count on our reviews as part of their performance review. How can we do that if we don’t know their names. ||- The nicest place to eat by the ocean was not open||- The theater was not open||- Employees should always open the door at the buffet to make sure customers are not touching the door then touching the serving spoons. They should also greet people with had sanitizer to ensure their dirty hands don’t contaminate...

Let me start by saying my husband and I have been to Cuba 20 times and this was our 3rd time to Santa Maria. We normally vacation to Varadero or Cayo Coco and stayed at the Melias Las Dunas in Santa Maria twice in the past. We were expecting to stay at a 4* resort but we were on the fence about this resort and what it provided during our stay. We came to conclude that this was more of a 3* resort. We understand that the resort is under new management but it's not picking up as quick as it should providing all the staff that were working at the resort. Now... I will start with the POSITIVE points; Great beach with lots of Palapas, shade and chairs. The rooms were fare and the food was good at the 24 hour service restaurant next to the pool. There is 3 pools and the resort and pools show well when they're cleaned. The lobby is exquisite and the Spanish coffees are to die for. Everyone gets 1 hour of free wifi/daily which is a BONUS as we've never seen this at any other resorts. They provide you with a bottle of water/2 beers and 2 pops daily in your mini bar fridge which again is a BONUS for a 4* resort. The spaghetti at the Italian restaurant and at the buffet is very good as well. Now for the NEGATIVE points; We were greeted with 2 Cockroaches in our room as soon as we opened the door, and the very next day we had a big Beatle and a baby salamander in our room. We complained to the front desk and they immediately sent someone to spray and clean our room and that took care of the bugs for the next 6 days of our stay. The beds are very hard so if you have sore joints or muscles this is not going to be comfortable for you. The pillows are flat and again if you have a neck problem this will not work for you. The patio doors do not lock and even tho we were on the second floor this was a little bit of a concern for me. The beach towels service is almost not in service as we could only change our towels on the 6th day of our trip. NOW with the buffet!! This is of a 2-3* at the most we have never encountered such poor quantity and quality of food like this resort it was the worst experience as of yet... There was 1 young man in the morning making omelets and eggs for all the people for the first 4 days of our stay there. No pancakes, crepes, no station with fresh fruits or anything!! and for dinner it was SPAGETTHI every night as well. We gained a lot of weight from eating CARBS for 8 days. By the time the weekend rolled around the LOCAL people started to arrive.... it seemed to pick up and then and only then... did we see a few more stations as to where staff were cooking fresh pancakes, crepes for breakfast and meats at dinner. DO NOT go to Santa Maria in OCTOBER! for the first time vacationing in Cuba I was stung by a huge jellyfish and this was very painful. They have a double decker bus that will take you to the flea market for 2 pesos each one way but don't believe the 10 minutes bus ride when the bus driver told us that... it took him well over an hour as he stopped at numerous resorts to pick up people on our way there. Then he abandoned us at the market and told us we had to split on a taxi with some "stranger" to return to the resort and this was 5 pesos/each. I was not impressed with this service whatsoever as I got a "heat stroke" from being exposed to the sun in 32 degrees and was sick in bed for the remainder of the day. We've never seen this kind of treatment before either. The pools had algae and one was drained for cleaning during our stay, but we are beach people anyway. Other than that... it was an okay vacation... but one of our worst stay ever... and we would not recommend going to this resort until it's back up and running and up to par with...

Avant de lire mon commentaire, prenez note que ceci était un voyage comprenant 8 adultes et 3 enfants. De plus, je sais que ce n'est pas toujours évident se fier aux commentaires des autres, mais je tiens à vous dire que nous n'avions aucune attente avant notre arrivée, nous étions au courant que c'était Cuba et nous ne sommes pas une famille difficile dans la nourriture, confort, propreté, etc. Le resort n'était pas à sa pleine capacité de voyageurs, donc pas besoin d'aller se battre aux petites heures du matin pour se réserver une chaise à la plage ou faire la ligne au buffet pour une omelette!||||Accueil : À notre arrivée, nous avons été accueilli avec un cocktail de bienvenue qui était délicieux. Le check-in s'est fait assez rapidement. Point négatif : nous n'avons pas reçu beaucoup d'informations concernant les modalités du resort (carte du resort, accès à la plage, les restaurants, piscine familiale vs adulte, etc). Nous avons pu changer notre argent canadien pour les CUC durant le check-in. Si non, la banque est juste à côté du comptoir d'accueil.||||Chambre : à notre arrivée dans la chambre, l'air climatisé ne fonctionnait pas, mais qui a été réparé dans la même heure. Nous avions deux lit (entre le simple et le double) qu'on a pu coller ensemble pour se faire un lit queen maison. La chambre est assez ordinaire, toilette et bain-douche séparé. Petit coin lavabo avec comptoir pour installer les produits. Bureau avec petit frigo et téléviseur (que nous n'avons pas ouvert de la semaine, mais il paraît qu'on pouvait écouter TVA), petite table à café avec deux chaises, une chaise longue de lecture. Nous étions au rez-de-chaussé et sur notre petite terrasse il y avait deux chaises avec une genre de table en osier en forme de carré. Le ménage était fait à tous les jours et c'était très propre. Par contre, la petite corde à linge dans le bain-douche qui est accroché avec le rideau était un peu moisi. Ça nous a pas empêcher de faire sécher nos choses quand même. Nous n'avons pas eu de fourmis, lézard ou coquerelles, mais ... c'est Cuba, ça peut arriver, surtout au rez-de-chaussé lorsque la femme de chambre laisse la porte ouverte durant son ménage.||||Piscine : Deux grosses piscines. Une qui comprend le club kids avec un bar hors de l'eau, et l'autre près du snack-bar (ouvert 24h) avec des chaises plus luxueuses, un bar dans l'eau et de l'animation. L'eau des piscines n'est pas réchauffé, donc ça peut sembler froid au premier toucher, mais une fois à l'intérieur avec un soleil plombant, c'était très rafraîchissant. Nous avons passer la majorité du temps piscine à celle près du club kids en raison des enfants avec nous. C'est arrivé des jours où nous étions seulement nos 11 à cette piscine et le bar était juste pour nous! Nous n'aimions pas l'eau piscine dû à l'animation qui est chaotique par moment (l'animateur répète tout en espagnol, anglais et français) et c'était moins relaxant.||||Buffet : le buffet était ok. C'était ma troisième fois à cuba et je peux vous dire que c'est le voyage que j'ai le mieux manger. Non pas à cause du buffet précisément, mais bien grâce au station avec cuisiner pour la viande (poulet) et les pâtes. Nous avons toujours su trouver quelque chose à se mettre sous la dent. Ça m'est arrivé de manger la même chose trois soirs de suite, mais on s'en fou! Tant que c'est bon et que nous sommes en vacances! Les patates hash brown sont délicieuse et le ketchup du resort est TRÈS mangeable !! Des fois il y avait de la crème glacée, des fois non. Pas grave! C'est les vacances!||||Restaurant : trois soirs de restaurant. International : personnes n'a aimé dans les 11 personnes. La crème d'oignons en entrée aurait été succulente si le pot de sel n'avait pas été versé dans la recette! Le Griollo : restaurant cubain, ce fut assez bon dépendamment des choix des personnes. L'italien : nous n'avons pas été parce que nous trouvons que c'était difficile de manger au restaurant avec 3 enfants en bas de 6 ans à 20h, mais il paraît que la lasagne était succulente! ||||Plage : la plage fut très décevante. Tout dépendant de l'unité que vous êtes, il y a deux entrées différentes pour se rendre à la plage. Une avec une minuscule plage entre des rochers. L'autre près de la piscine "club kids" avec le bar sur la plage. Quand tu penses à Cayo Santa Maria, tu penses aux belles longues plages pour faire de longues marches au soleil à contempler les paysages et la belle mer. Pas sur ce resort. La plage en longueur ne se marche pas plus de 5 minutes. À une extrémité, c'est des rochers qui nous bloquent et à l'autre, c'est un gardien qui nous demande de rebrousser le chemin vu que ça devient une section "privée". Donc pas de resort qui sont proches et qui partagent la même plage pour pouvoir marcher longtemps. Ça nous a pas fait détester notre voyage non plus. Juste déçu un peu. Moins de marche, plus de cocktail! Il y avait assez de chaises et de petites huttes pour tout le monde, mais des travailleurs étaient sur la plage à tous les jours pour en construire des nouveaux (ouragan Irma peut-être?). Le snack bar de la plage est magnifique et spacieux, mais fermé depuis l'ouragan, donc pour manger, nous devions aller au buffet ou au snack bar de la piscine avec animation près du lobby. Durant notre séjour, il a venté tous les jours, donc le drapeau était toujours rouge! Beaucoup de vagues dans la mer, mais ce fut quand même plaisant se faire ramasser par les vagues .. un peu moins pour les enfants. L'eau était magnifique, chaude et sans algue. ||||Snack-bar 24h : Wow ! Ça vaut la petite marche de 2 minutes de la plage pour aller dîner, ou y aller en fin de soirée arrosée pour grignoter! Sur l'heure du midi, gros BBQ avec hamburger et Hot dogs (c'est les meilleures hot dogs que j'ai mangé de ma vie!), poulet, poisson et casserole de fruit de mer sur riz. Un coin pizza + un coin bar avec service + frites ou patates hash brown comme accompagnement. En soirée, c'était les sandwich au poulet, fromage, jambon, thon qui était disponible avec accompagnement de frite. Très bon à toutes les fois!||||Bar à crème glacée : dans les trois journées plus venteuses et nuageuses c'était fermé, mais si non ça se prend bien en quittant le snack bar 24h !||||Activités : Nous n'avons pas suivi les activités journalières du resort, mais nous avons assisté au spectacle de fin de soirée. Les danseurs sont excellents, mais c'est toujours la même chose malgré le changement de thème. Une troupe professionnelle est venue pour celui de "Michael Jackson" et ce fut le meilleur! Après le "spectacle" il y a de la musique selon le thème. Pas de discothèque sur le resort (possible d'y aller en autobus mais rien d'inclus (transport, entrée, alcool). À 23h30, le lobby devient sans musique, assez ordinaire quand tu souhaites danser un peu près du bar du lobby. Mais bon, on terminait le tout dans une chambre! Nous avons fait l'activité du catamaran pour la journée. C'était très bien. Nous avons moins aimé l’interaction avec les dauphins qui était incluse, mais le repas au restaurant était DÉLICIEUX!||||Service à la clientèle : nous avons eu que des bonnes expériences avec tout le personnel. La femme de chambre, le chauffeur de navette, les serveuses, les barmaids, les jardiniers, je leur lève mon chapeau. Par contre, c'était le premier resort ou j'avais l'impression qu'il manquait d'employé. Pas de serveur sur la plage, pas de personne qui nous assoie au buffet, service lent au buffet pour eau/café/alcool, mais on s'est débrouillé tout le temps sans chialer et ça n'a pas gâcher notre voyage comme d'autre aurait pu penser. ||||Est-ce que je vous recommande ce resort ? Oui ! Certainement. Plus de point positif que de négatif. ||||Est-ce que je vais y retourner? Non ! Non parce que j'ai déjà mieux apprécié à Cayo Santa Maria comme j'ai déjà moins apprécié aussi. La plage fut ma plus...