Meliá Buenavista — Hotel in Caibarién

Buena Vista =beautiful Sunsets and Sunrises||I have not travelled the world . This opinion is based on my travels||In Santa Maria I was taken away by the sunset . Stunning . And it costed me about 2100 insurance included and I even had a budget to recognize great human effort (tips)||We stayed for 7 days . Sept 3 to Sept 10 .|I believe there was just one other couple who left the same day for Montreal . ||During our stay both concierges encouraged us to discover two other resorts that carry the same brand “ Meliá”. We went to both and|Both shined too. We loved their beaches and the beach entertainment ( dance lessons and tai chi)||The best lunches we ate were at the Cayo Santa Maria resort in a beach hut restaurant that made outstanding fried calamari and the fried chicken was good too along with the vegetable and rice . The service at this hut restaurant was better than all the lunches we had a Buonavista and Dunnas and St Maria that ||The best supper meals at BUENAVISTA took place in the two restaurants that face the main pool area . I did not like the way the menu is shared via QR code. Sometimes the wifi would not stay and I would be bumped off the page until I discovered that the waitresses and the waiters know the menus by heart. ||The best dessert was the strawberry ice cream. My favourite main dish were tortellini with a carbonara Alfredo style sauce. My favourite starter was fried Bacala and the cream patato soup with Parmesan quite good too. ||I won’t give the food at Buenavista a 5 star because no restaurant down south ever succeeded to deliver flawless recipes day in day out but given that the variety of produce is limited in Cuba I would say that 5 out of 7 suppers were better than 4 stars and 2 out of 7 were 3 .||The breakfast buffet selection was typical Cuban style . The eggs or omelet you order it from the waiter along with your cappuccino or espresso which by the way the barristo did a fine job on my cappuccino .||Entertainment during the day .. Yoga Pilates at the beach and swimming pool style stretching jumping.|4 30 at Buenavista cha cha dances course or salsa or any other Latin dance.|Great great teachers ||About installation: Buonavista was rated 5 stars for its installations and the amenities for years but 15 * years later there are signs of wear tear but daily we see the workers trimming and painting and upgrading lights etc etc|The beds were done everyday and|sometimes while we were having supper the maids came in to make them pretty just for bed time . Beds were comfortable but one showed signs of age .||About water pressure :|We had a slight problem with hours and the resort offered us another room same junior suite category with better pressure. The better room had enough water pressure for a decent shower.||When we encountered issues like the water or slight ventilation noise concierges were very fast to act and put a crew to work and we were informed . Really appreciate it. Maybe every room should be inspected regularly so that customers never face this or that…||The 24 hours bar that serves a pita dough pizza ( yes I said a pita dough pizza ) they were ok as a very light snack , and the coldest beer and burgers were also plus||The strength of any restaurant hotel or resort lies in the effort the real effort by all the staff including the doctor who was on site and helped my sweetie with allergy symptoms ||People do not go back to any hotel because the amenities are perfect . They go back because of service plus more service plus more even more service when the pressure is on.||Given that employees in Cuban resorts do not earn a large monthly salary , it takes very special leaders to groom employees into responsable experts . I watched crews under pressure and they executed ||Great leadership only works if the new employees are taught to do the same. BUENAVISTA staff impressed me . ||They always did their best .|I do not know when our next trip will be but if the service will match Buenavista we will be content as will all clients ||BuenaVisa is not a 5 star resort anymore. Improvements will...

Arrival on December 22 / 2023 at Santa Clara Airport where my wife and I were greeted warmly by Larazo to guide us to our bus.

The ride to our resort was amazing. Our driver was excellent and careful on the road and courteous to other traffic or pedestrians. The tour guide on the bus always making sure we were comfortable with cold drinks and always pointing out the beauti of cuban culture. The old cars made the trip to our motel a classic touch.

Upon arrival we were greeted warmingly by the bell staff who took care of our luggage with great care and professionalism. As we were checking in a hostess brought my wife and I a fabulous cold mix drink, while we sat in the air conditioned main lobby. Rey our butler came and introduced himself. A very professional and punctual young man who brought us on a small tour as we went to our room. He mentioned our reservation at the Los Navegantes for this even with the time which we were very grateful for taking the initiative to accomidated us for our first dinner. Our room was amazing with a breath taking rustic look and a balcony view of the garden, the ocean and beach which seemed to called our names. The a la cart menu at Los Navegantes was fantastic and flavorful and perfectly portioned and presentated. The Caribes was the other restaurant availble which we were able enjoyed the coming days ahead. Which was also well put together with very nice a la cart menus and presentations of perfection. Finishing our evening at the main bar La Notte where Oro our evening bartender of superior skill and professionalism mixed our drink. With his co-worker Anis who smiles and professionalism also made our evening complete.

Breakfast at the Los Marinos was fantastic. With the options of a buffet of cold meats, olives, cheese, fresh fruits, yogurts and breads or pastries. Accompanying this buffet was an a al cart menu with crepes, eggs, omelets, bacon or ham.

Pool side at La Caracola and Parrillada was amazing. The professionalism of Lester and Yairkel are top notch. With a clean and well maintained, organized bar the drinks flowed on request with ease. Pedro at Parrillada always there to please by making fantastic snacks of pizza, burgers or salads and other option when available to keep you content until dinner.

Pool side energy Wow! the energy of the dance instructors are by far superior. Keeping the guests and us entertained and energized with dancing, pool aerobics or just making us and others comfortable being pool side. Thank you

The cleaning and ground maintenance staff are always busy keeping the rooms clean and organized and the grounds beautiful to add the extra touch of paradise to our stay. Special thank you to our cleaners who took care of our room and made beautiful decorations with towels and flowers for us❤️🌺. Enrigez - snorkel instructor All I have to say is... total respect. This man has the love of the ocean. Not only did he bring us on a breath taking snorkel tour not once but twice. Not only concerned for our safety while in the ocean. He really showed us the beauti around the ocean and aquatic life within. Great respect for this man doing his best to keep the beach and ocean clean of garbage.

I'm sure we could go on about our fantastic vacation experience but we'll just finish with a special list of people who made everything extra special for us. Amaury Romero - food and beverage Rey and Eliney - Butler Oro , Anis and Leydi - Main bar Pool bar and restaurant - Lester , Yairkel and Perdo Pool dance and water aerobic team. Room cleaning, ground maintenance and restaurant service staff. Enrigez - snorkeling, for showing us the beauti of the ocean that we will cherish Lastly but not forgotten Melia Buenavista and cuba for allowing us to partake in your exquisite culture and hospitality which we'll definitely be returning in the future. Thank you and...

We were at the Melia Buenavista for a week on mid January 2024. We have been to seven different resorts in Cuba in the past and rate this one as one of the top two contenders. We found the grounds and beaches to be beautiful and relaxing. The property was undergoing lots of upgrades and there was a noticeable difference in just the 7 days we were there. The maintenance staff were hard working and very respectful of us as guests.

We had two butlers who took care of us and took care of any issues we had And answered any questions. We had a broken toilet, that was fixed immediately, and they followed up a couple of times to be sure we did not have any further issues.

We found this resort to be quiet, which is what we were looking for. We did take advantage of going to the other resorts a couple of times to the other restaurants The other resorts were not as quiet. It was nice to have the choice. All The staff on the resort were friendly, pleasant, polite and very helpful. I had asked The young man who stocked my fridge a couple of times about things I was curious about, and he went out of his way to take care of them, even though it was not part of his job. The entertainment staff were of the highest calibre that we have experienced as far as being pleasant engaging and respectful. Anderxon Coll would be at the lobby bar every evening as part of the entertainment or just overseeing it. He made it a point to go to every person there and thank them for coming out and was always willing to chat. He also took care of the dancing, giving instructions at the pool, at the lobby, and even in the pool one day. He was involved with guests most of the day and usually available. I saw him playing board games with guests in the afternoons by the pool. The other members of the entertainment staff Marcos and Navi were just as professional and pleasant to be around, always smiling. I had some communication issues with Marcos, as I don’t know very much Spanish, and he is learning English. He was quick to find a fellow staff member who could translate for us and we all had a great laugh together. We were always respectfully approached by the entertainment staff to be made aware of the activities that were available. They were never pushy, or demanding, but made sure we were always personally invited. If we did not feel like we wanted to do the activity, they respectfully smiled and carried on. As I mentioned earlier this was a quiet resort. There was never anyone screaming into a microphone during any of the activities. Pedro (my buddy) as he calls everyone, and Aerial were the pizza and snack chefs. Always a good time to order pizza.

We are aware that Cuba is going through some very rough economic times right now and some items were in short supply, however it did not effect us. There was lots of food to eat, and we had the ability to use the other two resorts for food as well. The food at this resort was in our opinion the best that we have experienced in Cuba. There were areas where I think food could be improved, or with the spices available could be made to taste better, but I have no complaints about our food experience. Lusy was one of the waitresses that took care of us, and would always come to say good evening with a big smile on her face, and ask about our day, even if she was not our waitress.

I would highly recommend this resort for someone looking to have a good quiet relaxing time. But also the animation team has it in them to take the energy up a level as well. They are very accommodating to the needs and energy level of the guests.

If you do go to this resort, and you want to bring a huge smile to Anderxon’s face, ask him to explain all the different good meanings to the word “catastrophic”. It was an absolute pleasure getting...