Memories Cayo Largo — Hotel in Isle of Youth

As always, let me start of by saying I am a seasoned Cuba traveler, and with that I have a lot to compare to...over 20, 3 and 4+ star hotels within the last few years. Since November of 2021 (pandemic times), 6 hotels in Cuba. I am comparing Cuba to Cuba. I’ve never been to Mexico or Dominican.

Rooms: The airline pics are not accurate, they are what the prototype for the new rooms. Resort is 20 years old. It’s not a pleasant vacation when the sheet/blankets smell, water is only cold, or like us, burned us cause out of no where went super hot! Super loud AC, can’t sleep. No fan, super dark. Rusty old lamps that are enough light of a candle, hard to find stuff in the dark. The electric sockets also came out of the wall. One lady had the sliding door fall on her, one lady claims she was electrocuted in the shower. Safety stuff like that is pretty important. This was the biggest “Con” of the resort. Lack of sleep due to AC noise and smells.

Entertainment: I wish they had an on site disco. The shows were great. Some of the staff were great, some bothered us (chasing us down the beach) about leaving “gifts” even though I hadn’t interacted with them all week.

Buffet: Note that we went 1st opening week. Management puts out the best of the best so that word gets around how great it is, and more people book. I spoke with them about this, it won’t always be the same food. It was a good variety, good pastas, but again…I don’t want people booking in say Feb, and being disappointed that “They said the food was good!”. The 1st and 2nd day staff were pretty good, on it if we needed water/coffee/wine. We tipped. Then 3rd day on, we noticed service getting worse and worse…maybe because we weren’t dropping $20 per meal (which is what we saw some people were doing, that’s a months salary, no wonder now $5 bills get laughed at, what did some people create?!) they started ignoring us. Meat grill guy was nice the first day, then day 4 told us we need to pay for lobster $20 per piece or give him our clothes lol. Management said everything in the buffet was free. We got the lobster, and it was surprise….raw.

Lobby: The 3 gentleman that work there are amazing, such hard workers! They made fabulous drinks, always quick.

Beach: Day 1 the water was up to the rocks, no sand visible. By day 6, 20 ft of sand. It changes according to the moon/winds/tides. If there is no beach, you can take the train to Playa Sirena or Paraiso, however…we were told it won’t always be free, or drinks, shade spots, foot. FYI: it’s about 20 minutes and goes over very bumpy sand roads. If you have back issues, are senior avoid. Taxi one way for 2 people was $8USD on credit card, and goes much faster.

Beach note #2: Both the beach in front of the hotel and sirena/paraiso are clothing optional. Most are respectful, but some were walking around the lunch buffet/bar area drunk while, well...swinging it around. Not a place for kids.

Pools: Great layout, I like a good pool vibe after the beach in the PM. Not a whole lot of shade, spots get taken. Somewhat clean, although some people mentioned the pool bar pool was a bit smelly.

Bathrooms (lobby and snack bar): There's no locks on the doors. None. You have to squat and hold the doors. Please install locks, the poor girl that I walked in on :(

Snack Bar: Amazing service, had a few things on the menu each day. Note: I don’t go to Cuba to make friends with staff. I don’t go with rose colored glasses and ignore the bad because of the friendly people. I will still review the “negative”, people have a right to know before they spend their hard earned $ on vacation. I don’t bother reading reviews that state “I’ve been coming here since 1941, it’s the best! I never go any where else”, why? Because they don’t have anything to compare to. How do you know it’s the best when you’ve never been anywhere else?! Lol.

Overall, I had a great vacation either way! Would I go back? Sure, if the price is under $700 out of Toronto for a week,...

I just returned from Sol Cayo Largo with my 8 year old daughter and girlfriend. Let me first just say we all had an amazing time. I've been and stayed at 4/4.5 in Jibicoa, Cayo Coco, and Holguin in the past; Sol Cayo Largo was like a private paradise island experience. LOVE.

Hotel 4.5⭐: we were told by another traveller at the airport, who walked all the resorts during his stay, that Sol had the most beautiful grounds of all the resorts. I can't confirm this but I have left some pictures. The pool, resturants, scenery greenery, flowers, palms trees, and little bridges connecting paths were nicely maintained. Our room was 1611 by the games area and towel service. It showed a bit of age in the bathroom but otherwise beds were very comfortable, there was running hot water, and air conditioning worked very well.

Beach: the beach was never too busy. There is a bar and restaurant that was always accessible and never waited long for service. You could easily find a beach chair and shade. Lifeguard is always on duty and you see him frequently patrolling the beach. Water is incredible. Expect to see seaweed on the hotel beach area (was not an issue for us but might be for you, just a warning). They do their best to bury it.

Food & Service: no complaints. It is Cuba so you have to expect the food to be pretty mediocre. They had short supply of French fries and ice cream when we were there but not a vacation breaker. Breakfast was omelets and crepes at the buffet. Lunch was usually at pool snack bar Solazul. They have ham & cheese sandwiches, pizza, hot dogs, chicken, and calamari. We tried dinner at the Cuban al la carte resturant Ranchon Lindarena but left as the menu selection did not appeal to us. It is also at the beach and musqitoes were too bad for us to stay. The International al la carte Las Tarinas was amazing, recommend booking that one twice instead, it is inside and the service is wonderful. Lobster dinner is an additional 20cuc each. Overall all the staff is very friendly, warm, accommodating and approachable.

Crowd: was a really good mix of people. Families, couples, small children, older mature groups, all friendly/respectable, and from all over the world (we met people from Montreal, Argentina, Italy, Brazil). If we wanted music and watching volleyball/pool activity we would hangout at pool connected to swim up bar and snack bar. If we wanted relaxation and quieter surroundings for reading or napping we hung out at the other pool area.

Things to do: Day 1 - we did the turtle farm for 2cuc per person (recommend bringing turtle food from home like we did). Day 2 - hotel beach was red flag so we jumped on the bus (5 cuc per person includes boat ride) to marina to catch the boat to Playa Serena Beach. Most beautiful beach on the island and ocean is usually calmer for swimming. Beach chairs (2cuc each) and plenty of shade. Day 3 - hotel beach green flag yay. Day 4 - catamaran tour which took us to two coral reefs for snorkeling, a natural pool, and iguana island. Includes lunch. Price varies, expect to pay about 95cuc per person & half for children. Day 5 - hotel pool and beach. Day 6 - rented an ATV (35cuc for all day use). You can take a road that takes you to Playa Paraiso and Playa Serena beach. Roads were easy to navigate and safe. You can request a lunch to take with you at the concierge desk before 8pm previous day (nice added touch by the resort). Day 7 - all day at beach and pool before catching bus to airport. Hospitality suite is available to freshen up or you can choose to extend your hotel room by the hour. Expect long delays at the airport for departure.

Honestly the only negative thing I could say is the flies were a bit annoying when you were eating in the open areas, buffet and snack bar. Musqitoes will get you, bring bug spray. That's it, hope this helps. XOXO Sol Cayo Largo. Can't wait...

This was our 3rd visit back to the Sol at the beginning of March and I'm back to giving it five stars. We had a beautiful view of the ocean and morning sunrise from our second story unit (28xx). Thank you to América (Sales) for replying to our email and for all her help :) She's awesome! We enjoyed a delicious return dinner (3rd visit) and since my wife and I were celebrating our 7 year wedding anniversary, we were invited to a small (traditional) ceremony, champagne, refreshments... during one of the afternoons. During our stay we also rented a 4 wheeler for six hours (CUC26) and rode to the #3 rated beach in the world Playa Paraiso, as well as to Playa Sirena (they are side by side). Somebody mentioned that they are charging (at Sirena) 2 CUC per beach chair. Not sure about that but we were brought two chairs at no charge. I did give the young man a tip though.

Which brings me to the next point, we've been noticing that year after year, less and less guests are tipping the staff. Italians, South Americans and yes, even some Quebecers are very cheap. My question is, if you eat out back home at a nice restaurant or you receive good service somewhere, do you not leave a tip? You're walking around with the most recent iPhone, Digital Cameras, Watches etc... and you can't leave 2 CUC on the table for a little service and smile? ALL INCLUSIVE doesn't necessarily mean don't bring some extra change. Especially for the bar staff, dinner/breakfast staff and even the cleaning lady. She's cleaning up your garbage. Don't be cheap or else stay home! The wages in Cuba, along with the long hours these people put in to serve you deserves a couple extra dollars or euros. The band works hard to entertain you, buy one of their CD's. I have it playing in my car while I'm sitting in traffic back home. Wonderful!

But if you're still too cheap, no worries, I'll have my morning coffee from the bar staff while you still wait there, even if you arrive before I do. Trust me, they remember the good guests, and the bad.

A quick hello to the following and apologies if we missed anyone:

Dunay and Lliomar - Dining with fantastic service and always a "Hola Nice Couple" Bar: Echenique, Miguel, Oscar, Reception: Yamile Thank you for all your help and warm welcome Noel at the Solazur snack bar is awesome. Always dancing to himself, in a good mood and friendly

Cons:

Careful about booking an excursion, regardless of tour operator. They all use Cubatours in the end and the prices are the same. However, if something happens, bad weather, not enough people to fill a catamarang day tour etc... they are quick to take your $$, not so quick to issue a refund. You might not even get your funds back so ask plenty of questions. Yoismar, Carlos at the daily snack bar (Solazur) could use some training on providing service instead of watching the soccer game on the big screen. We waited 20 minutes and I eventually went over to ask if we can order some food. There was no water coming from the tap (shower or sink) on the last day but who cares. We brought the beach and sand back with us :) They're working on the system. If you own a Samsung ver.5 or 6 phone, Internet does not work. Internet cards are available at the front desk for 2 CUC (much less expensive than previous years) but it never worked for us. We even asked and for some reason, our phones were not compatible. So we stuck with roaming on Rogers which wasn't terrible. CDN $10/day and we only used it twice during our vacation.

One final note, everything will get resolved, everything will be fixed, just be patient, let the hotel know, give it time, have a beer and enjoy the sun, sea and pristine beaches.

See you next year (maybe later...