We've just returned back from yet another fantastic two weeks at the hotel. We can only endorse and repeat all the positive and wonderful comments about this hotel. The staff are flawless and have to be rated as one of the best in the world when looked at overall. Nothing is too difficult for them and their courtesy is beyond reproach. Paco - thank you once again for a great holiday. I did thank you personally on our departure day last Thursday and now I'm publicly doing it - you and all your staff deserve a gold award - it's your commitment to providing an excellent service all the time that makes a holiday at the Melia a wonderful experience. We will mention some of the staff because they were the ones that we more often than not had the pleasure of being served by but ALL the staff are just so brilliant!! Ok, so in the lobby - Edgar (always looked calm and never phased by anything), Arlent, Yosvaney, Serguey and last but definitely not least - Mayelin (how do you manage to maintain such a bubbly, happy attitude ALL the time??). Main restaurant - Abel, Edel, Pedro and Milay (all our love and best wishes for a beautiful baby in June). Italian restaurant - Vania (what a wonderful and charming young lady. Sorry we didn't get to see you prior to our leaving this time Vania - it wasn't intentional! Lastly our cleaning lady - Sahily - -you were wonderful - thank you for a very efficient service and always with a smile! The Thomas Cook rep (Norma) - what a fantastic lady!! Very knowledgeable, charming and helpful. Thank you so much Norma, you are a credit to Thomas Cook and to Cuba.

Ok, so as for the hotel's facilities etc: We had one of the chalet type rooms down near the "Marlin" lodge (Room 1004). Excellent room although we did have a few problems with the door lock. It was very intermittent with its recognising the card when trying to enter the room. Even the cleaner had problems trying to get in on most days. I did report it a couple of times but the problem still existed on the last day - but it didn't spoil our holiday at all. As always the food and drink was excellent, for those of you who complain about it - get a life!! There is always plenty of choices and we were never bored with any of it. The pool and the beach are fantastic (as always) and the weather typical for this time of the year! I'm not complaining about my suntan!!

Now, the only downside that we noticed this time and it has absolutely nothing to do with the hotel or the staff was the behaviour of some of the guests. There was a large group of English people who travelled the same time as us and stayed at the hotel. Many of the other English guests that we spoke to had also noticed this group, initially at Manchester airport on the day of departure. Suffice to say that their overall behaviour and language could have been better. On one occasion, one of the male members of the party called another male guest at the hotel (not English) a d***head and made the visual indication as well!! We, along with other English guests were embarrassed to say the least. The other guests that caused a bit of a problem were the huge number or Portugese Canadians that suddenly appeared at the hotel during our last week there. A lot of them were downright rude and arrogant, not only to other guests at the hotel but to the staff as well. Their manners at the various restaurants were not acceptable either! However, I will not dwell on that, it had nothing whatsoever to do with the hotel staff and I don't want to give the the wrong impression of the hotel.

Once again Paco - thank you for an excellent holiday - we would love to come back again but because it appears that Thomas Cook have pulled the plug on your hotel (that's another story - what the heck are you playing at Thomas Cook??), we might find it difficult. We are looking at alternative ways but the cost could be a deciding factor. Keep up the fantastic work, you have a great hotel!!