Let me preface this review by letting people know that I travelled with myself, my husband, and our very active 23 month old.

To start, I highly recommend this hotel. It is lovely, the rooms are great, the staff is AMAZING. The food is... well, I gather food in Cuba is not known to be very good, so the food was to be expected.

Flight - We flew Air TransAT from Toronto (a very humane flight time of 2:30pm depart from TO, and 7:30pm depart from Santa Clara). Both flights to and from Cuba arrived on time, with no problems whatsoever. My husband (who is a very large man), found the seats to be quite spacious by comparison, and both of us were plesantly surprised by the leg room. We prebooked seats, and got the bulkhead seats (aisle 4) on the return trip home. These seats were fabulous, not only for the leg room, but they were also somewhat wider, had storage under the seats ahead of, and as they were right behind "Club Class" the trolleys didn't go by. This was very nice as baby was on our laps, and he was able to sleep without getting beverage carts in the head.

I have heard very bad things about AirTransAT, but based on our experience, I would fly with them again in a flash!

Check-in - This was done before you got on the bus in Santa Clara. While it made for a tiny bit of a delay in loading the bus, it meant once you arrived at the resort, you could go straight to your room, no waiting to check-in at the airport, no over worked staff, etc. We had requested a specific location in Building 18, with a king sized bed and a pack n' play and we got exactly what we asked for.

Bus - The bus ride is fine. It's the price you have to pay to get to this more remote area. The travel agents are fun, and I liked that we got to do the ride at night (therefore able to see the nightlife in the various towns you drive through), and during the day so as to see the daily life.

Rooms - The rooms were perfect for our needs. We requested a second floor (non-oceanview) unit in Block 18, which is perfectly located to everything, but still far enough away from the action so as to be quiet). We got 1825, which was a corner unit (if you peeked around the side of the building you got a great ocean-view with lovely ocean breezes). It had a king-sized bed that was comfortable enough for a weeks stay (though very hard, and we did have a problem with sheets - see the complaints section). The bathroom was clean, and we did have tiny ants (that did not bite), but keep in mind this hotel is over ten years old, and insects thrive in hot, dry climates.

A note for parents of young children: We picked the MCSM for three reasons, first and foremost, we had thought the areas (bathroom and foyer) that could be closed off with curtains would work perfectly for giving our very light sleeper son his own dark and quiet space. Again, we get exactly what we wanted. The hotel's Pack N' Play (a larger size than North American models), fit perfectly in the foyer, still with room to open the door. The curtain could be closed between the main bedroom/living space and his "room" was dark and mostly quiet (again, a small note in the complaints section on the noise level). Hind sight being 20/20 though, if we were to stay at the MCSM again with a light sleeper in a pack n' play, we would ask for a ground floor unit (although apparently there are more insects) as we could then come and go through the patio door if one of us wanted to go out while our child napped.

Food - The food was not something to write home about. For the most part it was very oily. Very. It all had a bit of a chef boyardee style of preprocessing to it. But you did find items well worth while after a time. I was disappointed in the lack of variety, especially in fresh fruits and vegetables. However, there were freshly made items available such as grilled meats and fishes, eggs, crepes and french-toast (the f-t was too good); and the Beach Restaurant had wonderful lunches such as Snapper (be aware, it is not a fillet - it comes full head and tail) and calamari. The pool restaurant however, we tried a few times, but failed to be impressed, though not necessarily by the food...

The a la cartes were fine. Your reservatoins are also pre-booked, and they are sensitive to families with young children. We got four reservations, all at 6:30 (the first seating of the night). We ate at the Mediterranean (we had the fish, it was fine - the people next to us had the beef and they said it was tough as rubber - I would hazard to say if you want a nice steak, go to Texas, not Cuba), the Japanese (it too was fine, but we live in a small town that has one of the top 10 Japanese restaurants in Canada - it's called Wabora in Bracebridge - check it out, so we are very spoiled), and the Italian (it was mediocre at best). We had a reservation at the French restaurant as well, but had to miss it as my husband was ill.

The cafe con leche at the lobby bar is brilliant! The liquor is not watered down and is doled out very generously (we brought travel mugs as the bar cups are tiny and plastic - we asked for a black russian and got a cup FULL of 1/2 vodka, 1/2 kalhua). Heavy or irresponsible drinkers be advised, they do not cut you off, and the drinks are poured very strong!

Beach - The beach was beautiful. The colour of the sea, amazing. The sand is very rough, it is more small fragments of shell than silty sand, but that's just a point of note. It was also very soft when walking so if you like to walk/jog a long way on the beach, this would not be ideal for you. We hade three red-flag days, two yellow-flag days and one green flag. The green flag day was amazing. The water was like glass and if you walked in to about chest height, you would get swarmed by these (roughly) one-foot long silver fish with yellow fins. People feed them, so they are very social; but they also hang around you if you don't have food, possibly to take refuge from the pelicans. We never had any problems getting chairs by the beach or pool, but we did notice that late risers did (keeping in mind, we were at the pool/beach by 8:30am with our son).

A point of note. BRING YOUR OWN SNORKELLING EQUIPMENT. The watersports center has none, and there is no where to buy any.

Pool - The pools were great. Big, clean and by afternoon, plenty warm enough on a nice day. We had mostly 30 degree sunny skies, but a few days of high winds. By mid-afternoon, the best area for kids (a walk-in section) was in the shade.

The kids pool by the kids club was a dud. Shallow so it was warm, but it had a drop-edge so little kids can't walk themselves in and out.

We visited the kids club once or twice. It was fine, but we didn't go on a family vacation to have our son in daycare.

Staff - Amazing! Amazing, incredible, fantastic! How these people do what they do, day-in and day-out (for many it really is, 24 hours a day on call for days on end), for so little money, surrounded by strangers with very few honest connections. They are amazing! Obviously not everyone, but those that were great were so great!

Everyone was attentive, curteous and caring towards our son. They appear to love kids and (maybe a line or maybe the relatively youthful age of the majority of the staff), everyone seemed to have young children themselves, or a child on the way.

Of course it was easy to find the lovely personalities of the front line staff, but the people that really amazed us were the often overlooked workers like the gardeners.

A few people really stood out for us: Alexis at reception, Eduardo the room service man, Juan Guillermo with activation, a gardener by the name of William who was very hard working, but warm and an excellent conversationalist, and another very handsome gardener with a big smile but whose name we did not catch. My husband was also very fond of Ossie at the pool bar, but he saw more of him than I did ;)

Tipping - We believe in tipping for good service. Some people feel that at an all-inclusive resort you should not tip. Whatever you feel is right, is the right thing to do. With that said, we did tip both in cash, and in gifts. Both are greatly appreciated.

To give a little perspective on the Cuban economy, the average salary in Cuba is 17 CUC a month (1CUC=1CAD more or less). A pack of 24 diapers is about 5CUC, in local shops, not in the hotels; an average-sized tube of sunscreen is 10CUC. Etc. So, we tip.

The most appreciated items are children's items. Especially children's medication, tylenol in particular to fight frequent fevers. Other items include clothes, functional toys (such as books, markers, paints, paper), and of course bigger items like strollers and cribs. We have more strollers than we know what to do with, it seems one for every occasion. I had earlier in my sons infancy purchased a used beater stroller from the ReStore for $25, my son is now too busy to give a stroller the time of day and when we left, we gave it to a previously mentioned staff member who made a significant effort with both us, and our son. We did not need it, and I know it will get good use, and probably a number of repurposes before it sees its end. Further, our son is just about out of his size 18-24month clothes, by summer it will not fit and we have plenty via hand-me-downs, so we gifted it as well leaving more room for rum and cigars.

We also gifted adult items such as feminine hygene products, gum, medication, razors, etc. A tricky way is to watch your local drug store flyer for triple point days and such. I bought a great amount of stuff on sale at Shoppers during a 50x Optimum points day. Afetr the points I got on the purchase (which you can trade in for cash discounts on purchases), I wound up breaking even (ie. I bouth roughly $30 worth of products, and I got roughly $30 worth of points).

Complaints - Okay, now the nitpicky stuff.

Our main complaint was in regards to the hours the restaurants were open. Our son eats at 7am, 12pm and 6pm; but the bffet at the hotels is only open from 7:30-10ish, 1-3 and 6:30-10ish. Breakfast was not a problem, luch was a major issue as the beach restaurant opened at 12:30, and it was often 1pm or later before you were able to get a meal. Dinner was the most frusterating as the buffet is supposed to open at, and is advertised to open at 6:30pm. On the last day (as an example as this happened on more than one occasion), a crowd of us wound up storming the restaurant at 6:55pm after being told "5 more mins" one too many times.

Other minor concerns, the mosquito fogger would go by at 7:30 in the morning, just as families with young children were on the way to the restaurant. There was no snorkelling equipment available. The bottom bedsheet did not fit the bed (leaving matress exposed when sleeping - yuck). There are no change station in the public washrooms leaving for very public diaper changes. There are only highchairs in the buffet, not in any of the other restaurants. The maids move all the furniture around when they clean (which is great, but means large heavy furniture dragging and thumping across the floor every day through nap time). The snack bar never really had any snacks. The employees drive golf carts around at very high speeds and do not watch where they are going. It's like j-walking across the QEW when they are on the paths. This is not a place you go if you want to see Cuban culture as it is so remote and no Cubans actually live on the Cayo.

Summary: I would definatly return, and I would definatly recommend this resort to singles, couples, people with older children (3+), and mature individuals who want to stay at a lovely, quiet resort for a time away from the world. If you feel like going to a resort where you can savour the nightlife and culture of Cuba, best head to Varadero or Havana.

That said, we were hugely impressed with Cuba, and feel we got significant value for our dollar. However, I would only return with young children if the hotel was better able to accommodate them with suitable "family" mealtimes, and amenities.

If you have more specific questions, feel free to message me; but my response is likely to be: yes, go! And tell Alexis Isaac says hello :)