For the price, the resort is very, very good. I traveled there with my girlfriend for 7 days in the last week of June. I read almost a hundred reviews on here, so I was both prepared for the bugs and made sure to bring something special for the maid.

ROOM: Our room was in block 57 on the ground floor. We were lucky not to have any unwanted visitors to our room, outside of a little army of ants that came to pick up after the cat [more later]. The room was clean, although slightly humid when left without A/C for long. The patio is amazing, especially on breezy afternoons when you want to escape the sun. The foliage provides shadow and you get to relax without getting sunburned.

FOOD: It's true, the food for the most part is rather bland. There are a few exceptions in the buffet, with the roast and rice dishes as the guys who cooked for us were great. The roast chef even made a special surprise roast for me one night. If you want something really good and don't mind the carbs, try the Pizza at the restaurant by the beach. Delicious. We only managed to go to one a la carte restaurant, the Fontanella, and thought it was standard fare. The selection of fruit and juices in the morning is also very, very good.

STAFF: For the most part, the full spectrum of people working there were great. You'll obviously see some slightly jaded characters in the buffet or in the carts, but it's expected. I get worse service at 5 star hotels in Europe. The Entertainment kids were very nice, while at the same time very forward. I've never had anyone ask me to trade cellphone/shoes/shirts for cigars before. Front desk goes both ways too, I found one girl whose name escapes me right now [she is the smart looking one with glasses] to be very helpful, while some other people didn't seem to care much.

ROOM SERVICE: We made the mistake of not leaving a tip on our first day by accident. If you don't tip you can except the basic service, and you can forget about an extra water bottle. We felt terrible and made up for it with some things we brought from Canada as well as a personalized note, and you can most definitely see the difference. I know some people on here had a problem with this, but you have to understand that the people working on the resort, especially in housekeeping, have fairly low wages and rely on tips in the same way barkeep does in most Western countries.

BEACH: It was my first time playing in the ocean like this, and I thought it was spectacular. We had rough winds for three days, which left the beach a bit dirty in the mornings. All of that was taken care of by an army of six workers who sweated in the wee hours of the morning to make it "tourist worthy".

NAUTICAL CLUB: These guys are really, really nice. Jorge especially. Bring these guys some treats and you'll be sure to get something special in ways of the Hobbie Cat or tours. I lost the mouth piece from the snorkel in the water one day and they actually wandered the beach trying to find it before reluctantly making me pay for it.

NIGHT SHOWS: I only managed to catch one. It was pretty great in a "don't take it too seriously" way. Personal taste is probably the reason. The costumes were great. And all the dancers looked like giants, until I stood next to them and realized how tiny they were.

DISCO: Went there only a few times, it was mostly dead except for our last night when for some reason it really picked up. Karaoke was awesome, if you want to get the party started do Backstreet Boys' "Everybody", seems really popular.

BUGS: The mosquitoes are relentless inland, I don't think I've ever been bitten on the inside of my hand. It's as if they had a personal vendetta against me. Come prepared. It's not insane, but if you're from Canada and like to camp, it'll be the same amount you would normally expect. On breezy nights you can move near the beach or go on your patio where they tend to avoid the wind. Indoors, avoid eating in bed as the tiny housekeeping will most likely find their way into wherever the crumbs lie. Cockroaches, although we didn't have any, will probably do the same thing. I made sure to keep all open foods and snacks in the fridge and threw any "edible" trash into the bathroom bin. No problems.

CATS: Ok, so a lot of people had problems with the cats. Yes, some of them look like they were in a lot of fights. We were lucky to be there when a few kittens were roaming about. One of them lived around our block, 57, and he was very adamant about hanging out and playing. He ran into our room one of our first nights and ran straight into the bathroom. I realized he was thirsty and gave him some water, he drank half a cup! After that we bonded and allowed him to come in for little bits of time for some TLC and food when we snuck it out of the buffet. He is very fond of the roast, as I was, and is definitely worth checking out if you're a cat person. As a thank you gift, he left a frog [slightly dead] on our doorstep one day. How thoughtful!

TRIPS: Take the Katamaran tour, day or night, it's a nice break from the routine of the resort. I wanted to take the daytime tour but it didn't work out, so we did the sunset one instead. Lots of fun, the captain and skipper both were very nice. Lobster dinner is fabulous.

The Santa-Clara/Remedios tour, which we took, would probably be good for those who want to really learn about Che Guevera and see the surrounding area. I am not a fan of guided tours, but it was nice to be ushered around like a tourist and not have to worry about anything.

If you're not licensed and wish to scuba dive, do the intro Tuesdays or Thursdays 2:00 at the pool and book a session. Do it quick too, I ended up losing out because of scheduling.

AND FINALLY,

Remember to have a good time, no matter how things end up for you. Come with an open mind and make sure to say "hola!" to everyone you see. It helps.

This hotel is fantastic, we travelled as a party of 4 adults 1 3 year old and a baby of 10months. The staff couldnt do enough for you and they really deserve the tips as they work such long hours for very little pay. The rooms are very basic but they are clean and we emailed the hotel direct to request 2nd floor rooms which we got.

The mossies are really bad and are out 24/7. June,july and aug are the months when they are worse. Be prepared for them.

The food was great. We loved the pasta bar and the fried rice. The breakfast was good too. They do amazing crepes and the fruit is so good.

The beach is the nicest beach ever its so white and the ocean is so green.

The entertainment staff are great and they work hard to entertain you from morning to night. They are there when you arrive at the hotel in their costumes and when you are leaving they put on a show .

Dont listen to the bad reviews everyone that was there the same time loved it the only thing that put people off were the mossies which is not the hotels fault.

We would go back but not in our summer months.

had a fantastic time at this hotel!!!!!! i went with 6 others including my partner and i can honestly say it was one of the best holidays we have ever had. The people who work at the hotel are brilliant.... they cannot do enough for you and they really made our stay welcome and enjoyable. I wouldn't reccomend this type of holiday to people with small children, it gets very hot around 11am and the mosquito's are quite a pain. I saw a few small children with mosquito bites on their faces and it must of been uncomfortable for them! there is alot of mosquito's, especially at night. we used insect repellent and tried to cover up but we still got bit loads. there is a repellent called repel 100 and we used that towards the end of the holiday and found it to be really good. we would definatly return!!!

ps makek sure you tip the staff.... they work hard!!!!

SUMMARY

Cayo sol santa maria is a beutiful resort with extremely friendly staff and everything you could need. The watersports (all free) included pedal boats, windsurfing, laser & hobbycat sailing boats, canoes 1 & 2 man and snorkling gear.
The restaurants were varied and had a good selection of foods and the bars catered for all different needs I.e relaxing atmosphere, inside away from mosquitos, pool bar and night club.

FOOD & RESTAURANTS

There is 4 main restaurants 2 of which you have to book in advance at the reception for which have full silver service and excellently presented food. There is the main buffet area which was also very nice but service for drinks during busy times could be a little slow sometimes and there is a small restaurant located between the resort and the beach which was al fresco style thatched roof and outdoor seating which was excellent at lunch times. Also in addition to these there is burgers, fish and basic meals served down at the beach bar which is a nice change and quite tasty.

LOCATION

The beach and resort are beutiful and there is perfect snorkling places approx 1.5 miles down the beach (can be got to by path if you prefer) which has an island 5-10mins swim from the main beach the variety of size, coulor and type of fish is quite amasing and even saw a lone baracuda hovering on the ocean side of the island . The resort Cayo (island) is a little isolated and takes approx 35mins in a coach to get to the nearest town but beween the activities available and the trips on offer this isnt an issue in the slightest. (SEE PHOTOS)

TRIPS

There are 3 trips to havanna on offer nthe first is by plane which takes 50mins you spend the day seeing some of the touristy bits and get back to resort for 7. People who did this trip said it was ok but was a bit rushed and didnt really feel like they had seen much. The 2 other options are a coach ride there (5hrs) an overnight stay in a lovely hotel seeing new havanna on the first day and either the cannon shot (which we did) or the tropicana show which everyone said was great but is strictly a tourist thing and no cubans are allowed in so we gave it a miss and headed out on our own after seeing the historic canno firing over the port symbolising the start of the night and the closing of the harbour.

We also went on the "Forest adventure" which takes you up ionto the cuban national park your dropped of by the coach and get a russian military truck up dirt tracks and roads to were you start the walk. there are 2 routs on is all down through patchs seeing the sights the other which we chose was down through waterfalls, swimming across big ponds and streams and was genuinly very enjoyable after this you walk another 10mins and go to a restaurant in the middle of the forrest for a slap up lunch the food was great and we were ready for it by that point then trucks back to coach and home VERY ENJOYABLE !!! (PHOTO ATTACHED)

Remedios by night is a Coach journey into remedios the closest town to resort you have a fresh lobster or chicken meal which is fantastic then go to a club for drinks, a bottle of rum is included in the price and they put on a show which is alright but after a bottle of rum between 3 of us i have to admit i dont really remember much about the show Sorry !!!