Resonance Santa María — Hotel in Caibarién

Unfortunately with the passing of their former President, the resort lacked any forms of entertainment the week we had chosen to go... As well as possible menu shortages, (so we heard from other previous guest). .. Apparently a better selection was usually offered, ... very little music was ever played, when it was,..it was only for a hour or two, then it went back to the atmosphere of a library' .. It is a very nice resort,.. Very badly lit at nighttime, .. my girlfriend almost stepped on a big snake that would of bit her' Big lack of signage as well ! ..this is just on the walkway from our room to the lobby .. many steps on bridges were falling apart, Over the pool and down to the ocean.. many light fixtures looked broken as well... LOTS of gardeners though' !!.. We had an important light bulb go in our bathroom, the ONLY light bulb, that took almost about 20 hours for them to do... That night & the next morning we had to shower in the near dark'... Very little water pressure as well ... almost a dribble most mornings'... (think they require pumps?) Menu always seemed the same day to day, .. by day 4 it was like "Ugh" again.. Although they had no issues in charging us to move our room, late check out & daily wifi cards... With all of the shortages, some of that would of been nice to have some of that been overlooked in cost. Don't get us wrong' it is a very nice place ' !!.. Its just the little things' a lot of them.. Maybe wheel the crepe cart out to the lobby sometimes ? thats where everyone seems to Go when not under he sun.. Our building was very nice & soundproofed '..although our room's floor always felt sandy daily' even after the maid was there 1? ... . It was nice that we heard no people in the halls or their doors' it was quiet... that was nice !! No vendors bothered us on the beach or anywhere else' ... For shade at the beach' make sure you get down there EARLY !! Otherwise you'll have to wait for some to leave for lunch .. Most of the staff was nice', most understood english quite well ... Except for the words ( Hot Tub or Jucuzzi ) ..and for which we learned ..they do not have ! i dont think we would go back, but we may recommend. ... it would of been really nice IF they tried to make it up to us, the fact that they had a huge lack of any entertainment or nightlife ,.. we assumed we had paid for that ...SO' if they could not entertain us' Give us something else ( upgraded room, voucher, free wifi, etc.. something) ,,.. many couples do not just wanna sit & drink every night' .. the Grill by the pool was nice & staffed' but nothing was really doing in there.. just warming up sandwiches upon request.. A few people told us that it was suppose to be much better than it was !? .. i recommend making the lobby / cafe area more entertaining' w/ food, talent,etc ... Also' maybe have some of those gardeners make signs, fix lights & steps,.... ( we had to pay apx an extra $200 to change our room to the other side "pool sides where they were putting us,tended to lack privacy & be very noisy" , Late check out "check out 3 hours later because our bus wasn't coming until 5pm" & numerous wifi cards because of the lack nightly things to see & do ) in exchange for no entertainment, lack of menu, dangerous steps & lighting .. + no bananas ? we are still trying to figure that out !? unripened pineapple, unripened watermelon .... many signs in the restaurant are incorrect as well... pool bartenders didnt see too friendly. bus boys were very nice, servers were very nice, .. It has great potential ' once they fix a little bit of everything ! This things make it go from a 5 star to a 3 star in my world' .. if they had tried to help make up for some of these lacks'.. Instead of still' having their hand out for more $... we would of likely been repeat'ers & recommend'ers .. We are also contacting Sunwing...

This resort is identical in layout and design as the one next door "Memories/Grand Memories" which we spent a week at in 2018 and had an amazingly good time there.

However "Starfish/Starfish Tropical" this year February 2020 was a disappointment in many ways compared to our experience in February 2018 at "Memories/Grand Memories" it's twin.

Negatives...

For starters their were more russian guests/tourists at "Starfish" this year than we had seen in the past 3 years combined at other resorts, including "Memories" at least 50% of guests were speaking Russian. In itself that is not a problem per say if you can accept rude, selfish behavior and entitlement with ZERO "social grace". The biggest part of having these russian guests there was that some of them actually saught out conflict and physical combat. I personally had a run in with a Russian man/family and met two other people who had a similar experience with other Russians misbehaving and looking for a fight.

We do not want to pay thousands of dollars to take our family on vacation to Cuba only to experience the "Russian" culture and lifestyle or to engage in combat for any reason, or with anybody.

The resort... in itself a beautiful, visually pleasing resort and above average beach. Problems were they didnt fulfill their end of the bargain by A) giving us a room for two with one bed when we paid for a room for three with two or three beds. B) not making the beds and cleaning the room daily without having to make multiple complaints that simply were not acted on. C) having to chase down for everyone of our 7 days, our toilet paper, bottled water, and both beach towels and bath towels that we were entitled to and was supposed to be automatic. Just an overall display of Cuban slackassness and careless attitude. Even when tipped, the room service and front desk/customer service did nothing but patronize.

Positives...

Imho, A) the large food choice was impressive for all 3 daily meals at the buffet. The food was quite tasty. B) most of the food/drink servers worked hard and earned their tips(the ones that didnt, we didnt tip). C) most of the rest of the staff, gardeners, maintenance(who fixed our hot water shortage rapidly), golf cart drivers, etc were good and did good work. D) finally the Cuban people are really friendly and curtious and represent their country well.

In spite of everything we managed to have a great time and do not resent all Russians because some of the Russians that were there definately were like us, respectful towards others and kept to themselves. But I would not return to "Starfish" and would attempt to find a resort the next time we return to Cuba that has a low percentage of russians. Just to increase our odds of having a good time in Cuba like we used to.

My recomendation is pay a little more and go to "Memories/Grand Memories" or one of the other resorts at Cayo Santa-Maria. The beach there is beautiful and I heard from other people from these other resorts during my stay at "Starfish" that their was not many Russians at their resorts and so they didnt have the experience we had at "Starfish" feeling overrun by rude,...

We stayed at Starfish from Jan 10-17,2019 Got an amazing deal booking on boxing day with Air Canada This is my third time in Cuba, twice in Cayo Coco and first time in Santa Maria. Was hesitant on Santa Maria booking any resort due to the long bus ride from the airport, but the tour guide that met us at airport and on the bus had cold beers and literally keep us entertained and gave us a lot of insight of Cuban life. So the hour and half bus ride went by fast. In addition we got to see the beautiful countryside, towns and villages along the way. (Some people pay for those types of excursions) When you travel to Cuba you can't compare it to any other country as each has their own uniqueness and culture. first with the positive. The resort grounds and pools were beautiful and well taken care of The beach water was turquoise and breathing taking blue, white sand. You didn't have to wake up at 5 am to claim a lounge chair. ( my biggest pet peeve)They had resort staff that would clean and place your charis anywhere you choose to and at anytime of the day lounges were available.. Staff member, Hector was in charge of the entertainment for the resort and did an awesome job. lobby bar had lots of action with nightly entertainment of singers, guitarist and much more. The night theater entertainment was good. My favorite was the retro party dance night. During our ala carte we had singers sarante us with their beautiful tones. We enjoyed the coffee bar nightly with speciality coffees and Cuban cigars THE RESORT STAFF ARE HONEST, FRIENDLY AND DO NOT ASK OR BUG FOR TIPS! I dropped my wallet without knowledge in the lobby bar chair and within a short time the waitress approached us stating she had found and returned the wallet to the front counter staff. All credit cards and money was in this wallet and all was intact. AMAZING!!!!! Those things don't happen often in any country. Food- I don' t go to Cuba for the food, I go for the beautiful beaches The food was good, and a variety, you just have to be patient with the line ups if you are going to have something freshly grilled ex omelettes, salmon, but this is where and when you meet people! in the line up. Negative There were issues with the water pump, there was a full day without any water supply. No shower, couldn't flush toilets, they cancelled the housecleaning staff ( I felt they still should have tidied the rooms and provided clean towels, but they didn't') We requested clean towels and sheets from customer service twice and they did not provide them. Public washrooms (lobby, restaurants, and poolside) were disgusting every day. The worst was the poolside, broken doors, overflowing toilets . Had a hard time getting clean pool towels. Definitely a shortage of towels. After the water issues the manager was onsite. He had just started within two weeks and hopefully with his experience the resort will improve on the negative remarks above. He was very interactive with us and discussed our concerns and comments with regards to the resort itself. Overall out of the three resorts I've experience in Cuba this one was the...