My Husband and I flew out of Gatwick on January 18th 2012 for our 2 week holiday here. It does take a 3 hour bus ride to get to Melia Las Americas but is well worth it. It's over 18s, 5 star, all inclusive and with a fantastic beach. What more could you ask for...well, I have only 2 complaints. I think that the staff could appear a little happier and when we ordered breakfast in bed on our wedding anniversary, it didnt arrive. We complained and didnt get a 'sorry'. but hey ho, this place still gets a 5 star rating from me seeing as almost everything else was excellent.
We didnt have a full 'sea view' yet we did have an amazing view of the golf course and half the sea with a bottle of champagne and chocolates waiting for us. My husband is a golfer but didnt play here yet took great delight in watching from the balcony.
We tried all the a la carte restaurants and the La Acarda was by far the best. I overheard some people say they had to pay the equivilent of £40 each to dine there....we dined there 3 times free (an extra invite included as we were celebrating our wedding anniversary) and had the best meals ever. The lobster was melt in the mouth. There is a string quartet playing there all the time and they also play requests. we bought their CD for approx £6.50 and I have played it a few times since returning last week.
The seafood restaurant - boring, no atmosphere, food good.Italian - no atmosphere, great food.
Japanese - great atmosphere, ok food. The deep fried vanilla icecream was delicious but when we went there a second time, we were given fried chocolate icecream which wasn't so good.
La Arcada (or international) - Fab Fab Fabulous! Had the lobster and the seapurse (mixed seafood in a flakey pastry purse). also had a smoked salmon starter as well as my husband having the steak. you can have the house red which is ok, if a little weak or buy a very decent bottle for about a fiver.
Buffet - great selection, you will NEVER go hungry!
Snack bar on beach - basic toasted sandwhiches and burgers etc. pleasant enough.
Lobby bar - need more staff for busier times but staff very generous with measures. well known brand of amaretto (my favourite drink) is free on the all inclusive as are some other big brand names. Be careful though as like I said, the measures are crazy!
Cascada bar - excellent, low lighting, bar staff entertaining, good singers and bands playing.
Beach bars - both slow, staff not very happy but good measures. We spent all our time on the beach with glorious blue skies and a gentle breeze all day.
It was like paradise. We both have great tans.The Pineapple man on the beach will try to sell you a hollowed out pineapple and fill it with fresh juice for a couple of quid. I had one and he came round afterwards and gave me another drink free. you have to try it once as its refreshing and delicious. Other sellers try to sell hats, coconuts, dresses etc but with a simple 'no' they were polite and moved on.
The pools were very cold and we only ventured into one when the beach got to breezy one day. Our room was well kept by Barby everyday. She works very hard and but was always cheery. it did have 2 kings pushed together but we didnt mind this at all.
The TV only has 2 English speaking channels and no BBC world news. we also didnt mind this as the TV was only on as we were getting ready each evening. Who goes to The Carribean to watch TV anyway? not us!
we were invited to a cocktail night with a few other couples celebrating their wedding anniversaries and honeymoon which was quite entertaining. The canapes and champagne went down a treat.
The internet is slow in the hotel so dont bother, just enjoy your holiday.we just spent the evenings outside drinking lovely drinks, playing chess and cards with the sound of waves crashing in the background.We did a couple of trips with Virgin through our Rep is Leonardo. Cayo Blanco trip. they take you snorkelling which was a bit disappointing as we didnt see much but we were then taken to an island which was beautiful to spend the afternoon before sailing back on the catamaran.
We also did Havana overnight. we did this on our last night here as didnt fancy the 3 hour bus journey back to Havana going home. we had a sightseeing tour during the day, an enjoyable evening at the Tropicana show and a nights stay at the Occidental miramar in Havana (very poor hotel compared to Melia). before we were picked up for a 20 min ride to the airport for our journey home, we spent a relaxing day by the pool at Miramar.
The hotel has lush vegetation so you are bound to get a few mossies. I got bitten a couple of times but just snapped off some Aloe Vera that grows freely around the hotel. I rubbed it on and immediately stopped itching. All in all, my husband and I had a thoroughly enjoyable holiday. Adults only is definitely the way forward for us. If you decide to go here you will have a truly memorable time. Ignore the bad reviews as some people will never be satisfied...even when it's 30 degrees, blue skies, free food and drink, glorious scenery....oh how I would love to be back there now!.

This was a great resort! The reception area check-in was smooth and quick. Food was above average. I ate at all the a la cartes and they were good. Lascada, the international was by far the best. I've heard grumblings about luke warm food. If your food is not hot enough at the buffet there are 4 microwaves to heat it up more.

The pools and beach are spectacular and clean. The golf next door ( a two minute walk) was wonderful. I had 4 1/2 rounds and the course was excellent for a resort course. There a few magnificent holes on this course.

The best part of the trip was the service. I have travelled to most of the islands of the Caribean and Mexico (both Pacific and Mayan Riviera). The service here was by far the best I have ever had. One other poster mentioned that they didn't want to tell too many people how great this resort was because he wanted to keep it to himself. I also feel this way!!

We met some wonderful people while we were there and will stay in touch with them. If you want to go party, this isn't the resort for you. If you want to go and relax and have some cocktails and be in bed before the next day, then this is the place for you. We will definately return next year! I miss this place already!!!

I would recommend this hotel to anyone who wants to get away to relax in the sun with no fuss or worry. The hotel is very comfortable and the staff are great. Its an older hotel, but very charming and the mature coconut trees and location next to the Varadero golf course adds to the ambiance and peacefulness of the setting. From the lobby guests can walk straight out to the beautiful beach.The pools on the property are well maintained and super clean. The cleaning staff do an amazing job given the number of guests that go through the hotel.The tour guide on the bus quoted close to 50,000 Canadians travel to Cuba every week. I found it very nice that alot of the staff at the hotel spoke several languages. This is a very international hotel and the guests come from all over..Spain, France, Russian, Italy, Germany, Brazil...the hotel has a bit of a European feel.

Given that this is Cuba, the food at the resort was pretty good. A tip to making sure the food doesn't get too boring and repetitive is to eat like you would at home and not eat everything at once at each meal. There was quite a wide selection of food available, although I would have like to see more fresh salad greens. The chefs at the food stations were great and so organized given the number of orders they had to prepare ala cart/grill. The food came out perfect. Aldo Lee, Charlie and the Juice Ladies were super nice and would remember my food preferences. How super service is that! The two ladies at the lobby bar during the day were also super sweet and very attentive to their guests needs. In terms of tipping, tip for good service as you would in Canada.

Next time, I would upgrade my room to the ocean side as the buses coming in during the night and day are noisy and the sound travels to the rooms at the front of the hotel. Overall, I really like this hotel and would definitely recommend it.

We spent an extremely enjoyable Christmas and New Year at las Americas and it proved, as promised, to be a fabulous holiday.
Almost all the staff were extremely helpful, tipping definitely helps but not always necessary.
What was nice, apart from it being child-free, was the different areas available to relax in - if we did not want to go to the beach with it's entertainment and activities there was always somewhere within the grounds that was quieter and more secluded, a refreshing choice, depending on our mood.
All the resaurants warranted visiting and all delivered better than expected results. We liked all of them for different reasons but we were lucky to book in to them all on our first full day, and then did not have to worry where to go for the rest of the holiday.
Because it was the Festive Season a classical quartet accompanied some of our evening meals as well as at breakfast on occassions and that was truely exquisite.
Now to the important stuff - which was the best bar? Too difficult to call, but Raul in La Cascada (Smokers' Bar) is the consumate professional and his "Special Mojitos" are to die for! Conversely Emilio and Leslie in the Piano/Lobby Bar also need mentioning as they ecouraged us to sample as many of their products as possible (and only one serious hangover - although it did last 10 days!) and conversations were always very interesting with an exciting mix of many other nationalities
Lastly I should mention Irmita, who popped up everywhere but especially in the seafood resaurant, she had such a magnificent smile! She was always very helpful and so cheerful, you couldn't help but smile in return.
Do visit the old Dupont Residence next door. Apart from being an unusual building the sunset from the cocktail at the top is spectacular.
All in all we had a great holiday - there was as much or as little to do as you wanted and the location couldn't have been better.
Thanks to everyone at Las Americas.