I stayed at SRLM with my family on May 12 for a wk and i appreciated very much all the stay at this hotel. Nice location with a nice - wide - long and clean beach. Nice and friendly staff. Nice vegetation all around and the best daily activities ever.

ROOM: Mares Section-modest decoration and furniture but nicer as you found everything you need including: umbrella, iron, laundry bag, safety box, Tv has a couple of US channels with remote control, CD player, balcony with a flowers plant. The bathroom was a slight let down as when taking a shower the water leaked down the side of the tiles and onto the floor. Closet's door need a little fixing. Big room for accommodating 3 beds without space problem. Beach access from Mares is about 42 step down.
Luna Section - rooms are spaces as well, same amenities as Mares but modern lining because of the recent refurbish. Room's block are about 500 meters waling distance from main lobby and buffet restaurant. Recommended for wheelchair guest or guest with legs problems as not stairs but path direct to the beach.

STAFF: Always smiling and friendly employees. They star a conversation like if they know you before. If you have a problem, they will try to help you out with it.

BEACH AND POOL: Each section have a big pool. On Mares section, the pool is bigger with a kids pool area within. Aquatic Dance show is held in it. Also with a Pool-bar.

Gorgeous beach with lots of shade available and loungers are brought over to you. Sand is white and water is pristine clear on the right side. On the left side a litle beach of rock but is small area though.

FOOD and RESTAURANTS:
5 restaurant
9 bars

Buffet restaurant Colon on the main lobby area, is a big one for breakfast, lunch and supper with a variety of international and local menus.

Italian Restaurant - a la carte with Rendez-vous only. The seating area are with 4 or 6 seat table but also they have 6 Egypt style tents for a romantic or special occasion meal in the back of the restaurant.

Le Bistro French restaurant - this is my favorite one with a Harlequin style decoration. Very elegant accessories with a nice lining. Delicious menu and professional winters. I felt like i was in France. Nice wine too. Located in Luna Section. This is a la carte restaurant and is recommended you make your reservation as soon as you are installed on your room as this restaurant is very popular and no much seating tables.

Mexican restaurant - Located in from of the Mares pool. Food is good but services is very slow. Loved the typic roof and chair style. I was delighted with the tableware with a mexican design.

Snack bar - very functional for those who wake up early to go to excursion as Galileo snack-bar is open 24 hours. Also snack-bar at the beach.

Note: even if i read a lot of bad comments concerning the meal services, the A and B Supervisor make his best to go to all places and hep out in a rush hours. In many occasion he will go ask you if everything is okay.

Also be aware in Cuba coffee is served in a small cup for the expresso and smallers cup for the Cuban Coffee shot called something like 'cortado' so recommended to bring thermal flask.

ACTIVITIES AND EXCURSIONS:
I can complain about activities even if it is a SOLO guest, you won't be boring for a second because the list of activities is wide. starting with the aquatic sport , pool and beach program. Lobby bar and beach bar always crowed.

Many counters of local Tours Operator offering all kind of excursion including the Dine with dolphins, Catamaran ride, jeep and safari tours to the countryside area and Interactive with locals included. Santiago de Cuba Tours, Holguin tours, Guardalavaca Tours, Cayo Saetia tours. My favorite excursion: Cuba Inside tours with a Holguin Tobacco factory visit and lunch at the restaurant on Gibara fisherman's village. My favorite ride was with a horse carriage to visit a village near the mountain with local mango fruits.

Car rental counter at the Luna and Mares section. Boutique in each section.

A very rich nightly program activities at the Theater (including a bar) and at the Mares Lobby bar every day. Luna Bar also very animated with TV Screen with sport broadcast. Discotheque at the beach and kids program as well including mini-golf.

Fitness Center well equipped with: sauna, jacuzzi, massage room, doctor and pharmacy, beauty parlor, yoga exercise area and pool located in from of the theater and behind Mares Lobby.

In overall i can say we have a very nice week vacation at the Sol Rio de Luna y Mares hotel in Playa Esmeralda, carreterra Guardalava in Holguin. Just beside the Paradisus Rio de Oro ( a Sol hotel as well).

Stayed here end of april to 13th may our third visit here, first four days weather pretty bad a lot of rain but after that weather was very good.Nice to catch up again with our cuban friends on the beach,overall a very nice stay, hotel about the same as last year it does need a facelift as mentioned by others but was very clean and staff were quite helpful.
special thanks to lina guest relations manager who sorted out any arrangements or problems we had,foodwise our favourite this year was romantica over the french but again sevice was good in both.Buffet resturant was quite hit and miss,gala night the food selection was the best we have had in all the visits but then other times my wife who is vegetarian was really struggling with meat been added to the veggies?.That aside we will be returning again next year for our tenth visit to cuba so i think that speaks for itself so all in all we would recommend this hotel but anybody just do some research see what you think and keep an open mind.

We stayed at the SRLM 1-15 May. I travelled with my parents, hubby and 2 children aged 10 and 14. I celebrated my 40th during my stay.... no other birthday will ever compare!!

ROOMS
I won't lie, when we first arrived it was late evening and it was a drab, damp day (not the sunny paradise I had imagined). When we first saw our rooms, we were initially slightly disappointed as we'd hoped to be looking out the front (Mares side) and not at the gardens around the back. Having said that, I hadn't paid extra for a Sea View Room and others had - no grounds for complaint, just slight disappointment. The rooms were dated but everything worked sufficiently and it was clean. My parents had a problem with their air-con unit dripping - we reported this and it was sorted immediately - can't ask for more than that!! We asked at reception if there was any chance of moving to a sea view room - we were told it would not be possible to move until the 5th day and then we could move to the rooms directly opposite. We decided to live out of suitcases until then and, on the day of the move, our Maid and 2 male staff busied around us, helping us to move our belongings into the new rooms - they couldn't do enough to help and we hadn't even paid for a Sea View! (we gave them well deserved tips). Our new rooms were identical inside, no problems at all but the views...... WHOAH!!!! AMAZING!! ~Well worth waiting for and totally made the holiday.
STAFF
The staff continued to impress us with their friendliness and helpfulness - nothing was too much trouble and nobody walks past you without an "Ola!". Our Thomas Cook Rep, Nancy, was amazing - so cheerful and helpful, a real Gem and a credit to Thomas Cook.
EXCURSIONS
We did Swimming with Dolphins (on my Birthday!), The Jeep Tour with Jet Skiing/horse riding/visit to local farm and a Catamaran cruise to a Paradise Island. Loved all the trips - the Dolphins was an experience I'll never forget, The Jeep Tour really gave you a feel of Cuban Life and the Paradise Island trip was a great tanning opportunity and the Island is beautiful (some great Snorkelling too).
FOOD
The main Buffet restaurant (Colon!!!?) is great, plenty of choice, food cooked fresh while you wait if you want it. We tried the French Restaurant which was my favourite, The Mexican which was very good (despite hearing some not so good reports before hand, which I'm glad didn't put us off). However the meal of the holiday which I'll never forget was my birthday meal. My family had secretly arranged for us to have dinner on the beach under a beautifully decorated gazebo - we were given a lovely Lobster Meal, waited on by our favourtie waiter Marcos, we watched the sun go down while we ate our meal - it was the stuff dreams are made of, unforgetable.
WEATHER
As you'd expect - hot, humid, lots & lots of glorious sunshine and we didn't see a single spot of rain for the whole 2 weeks!!
TIPS
Definitely make sure you take an insulated cup/mug for drinks. It's so much nicer as you're often given drinks in silly little plastic cups - not only are they too small and gone in seconds, but the ice is melted on the walk from bar-table!! You won't feel self conscious using them as literally loads of people have them. We were lucky enough to be given some by a group of Brits who left after our first week.
Take PLENTY of Sun Cream, especially the high factors. I'm normally very lucky and don't burn at all after a few days in the sun but you'll just keep burning even when you think you've got a good enough 'base' colour - the sun is so much more powerful than we're used to and it really isn't worth getting uncomfortable.

Basically, if you're planning a trip to Cuba/SRLM, remember it shouldn't be compared to other parts of the Caribbean - it's buildings are shabby, there's nothing high-tech but Cuba and it's people have a certain charm. We said the same as alot of people we met during our stay - you find yourself falling in love with the place more & more every day. I can totally understand why so many people return over andf over again - we certainly hope to.

We stayed in this hotel from May 8th to May 15th 2012. As my first trip to Cuba, I have to say that I wasn't disappointed in the least. Although the trip started off shaky (our flight was delayed two hours and the King bed in our hotel room was two double beds pushed together), I didn't want to leave by the end! The drive from Holguin airport is only an hour long, so we got to the hotel pretty fast as compared to alot of other resorts. Since we had an early flight in, we simply left our luggage in the front lobby after checking in to go eat lunch in the buffet (restaurant's conveniently located in the same building just a stone's throw away from reception) and explored the resort. Our first room was 7102, which was in building 7, first floor. We were very disappointed with the room at the beginning, as the room was a bit rundown, they didn't even put in the effort to remake the bed to have it appear as a king, they just pushed the two pre-made beds together. On our second night, we switched rooms to 8304, which was much better. We even got a nice view of the ocean even though we technically had a gardenview room. Reception was quite helpful throughout the trip (even helping us find the shoes we left behind on our first room), and they always have a smile.

The first lunch we had was late, so alot of the food choices were already gone, but by dinner, everything had improved drastically. The grill had so many seafood and meat options, I didn't even get to try them all. I recommend that you try the fish, the chefs were amazing, nothing at home could compare. It's such a pity that so many people go for the hamburgers or pasta when there are so many other choices available, even if you're not a seafood fan. Make sure you save room for desert, they have a delicious caramelized banana crepe style dish that you'll happily line up for, and I've never tasted such sweet papaya or mangoes before. Don't worry too much about traveller's diarrhea or stomach problems; my travelling companion's usually plagued with both, but she was pleasantly surprised that the food gave her no troubles all trip.

The beach was amazing, with sand so soft it was almost like dust. Sol Rio shares the beach with a 5 star resort just next door, but you definitely get the better deal as the other resort only gets rocky coral. Speaking of coral, we spent hours out in the water snorkeling and saw schools of fish, so don't be afraid to get wet. Definitely try the Hobie Cats, and don't be afraid to tip them a few pesos, they'll go to the extra trouble to make sure you have a really good time.

The only thing I didn't like about this resort is that they never seem to actually have the activities they schedule. We spent the first few days waiting around the designated areas for activities like waterpolo in the pool or dance lessons to start, but none of the staff ever show up. Even for beach volleyball, we ended up just meeting every day with a nice couple who were smart enough to bring their own ball and enough guests would eventually show up for us to play a game or two. If you like organized activities or sports, this resort seems to be hit-or-miss. On the bright side, their entertainment is always on time, I highly recommend watching the water ballet performance, it's very impressive and I think it's what the performers put most of their effort into. If you like talking to the staff, look up an entertainer named Eddy, he's a really fun guy to be around.

If you like little gifts or trinkets to take home, they have local artists and craftsmen who bring in their goods to sell every day, don't be afraid to bargain with them, but try not to rip them off either, since they only get to sell once a week; One of them told us that this was his family's job, that they made the items together so he could go sell them on the 7th day. On that note, also don't be afraid to tip; I actually thought I'd be tipping more than I did. One CUC peso a day on your bed for the maid is pretty standard, and I recommend tipping the grill chef at the buffet a few pesos throughout your trip, they'll remember you. Others that we tipped on our first and last day were servers (they work their own parts of the restaurant, if you sit in the same area every day, you'll get the same server) and barkeeps. If you favor going to one bar in particular, it doesn't hurt to tip them once per night. We regularly went to the Luna side piano bar and the barkeep and waitress were always happy to serve us regardless of how many customers they had, even going to the trouble of mixing us their own creations to try. Other things that the staff appreciates as gifts are items like toothbrushes and toothpaste, medication like tylenol or advil, even shampoo or soap. If you've got alot of old clothes that you want to get rid of, keep in mind that a shirt in Cuba costs around 5 CUC pesos when their monthly salary averages around 20. If you've got extra room in your luggage, toss in some clothes you don't need, you could really make a difference in their lives.

In conclusion, I have to say that if you're looking for a good place to relax, decent food, great service, and you're not too picky about organized daily activities, Sol Rio de Luna y Mares is the place to be. I can't wait to go back next year.