We (myself, husband and 2 sons)were at nh krystal cayo coco from 8-22 April and we had a ball!
I'll start from the beginning... check in took about 30 mins and we could then go straight to our room, which was the Emperador side very near to the main pool. The location, for us was perfect, not far from the pool or the buffet restaurant for breakfast.
We had booked a Junior suite, my oldest son was 13 and was classed as an adult, because of this we were unable to have a room (2A & 2C). This was a minor complaint because we paid extra for the suite but then discovered that almost everyone had a suite and had not paid extra! Don't know if this was the hotels fault or the travel company, however, we didn't let it annoy us, we liked our room and location.
The pools are lovely, but the beach is amazing! We have travelled alot and knew this beach was going to be good but it really is fantastic. We spent some time at the pools but most of our time was on the beach. Everywhere we go we have lovely pools but we've never had beach like this one!!
It was about a 5-10 min walk to the beach but we enjoyed the stroll there in the morning and could break the journey in the afternoon at a bar for a drink.
The lagoon had a fishy smell which was not too bad when walking past, however, personally I would not have liked to stay over the lagoon. I think the smell could have got too much.
The buffet was a bit repetative but there was never a time when we couldn't find something to eat. The a la carte resaurants were all very good. We didn't go to the seafood, apparently children are not allowed, that didn't worry us as we're not fish eaters, but I suppose that could be problem-not for us though. The Cuban restaurant was our favourite, but they were all good.
It was my 40th birthday and my sons 14th when we were there. My husband asked for champagne to be served to me at breakfast on my birthday, a chilled bottle was brought to our table, which was lovely. At my sons birthday, he wanted to go to the Italian rest. for his meal, when I booked it I mentioned it was his birthday and they offered to make him a cake. Both these things made our birthdays special but when we checked out there was nothing to pay, the hotel provided the champagne and cake free of charge. This was a lovely gesture.
I think when travelling to Cuba we must remeber that it is a poor country and things are not the same as they are in many other places but going with the right frame of mind and aiming to have a good holiday, I cannot understand why people would not enjoy this resort.
My complaints are very few... there is no balcony with the Junior suite. We all really missed a balcony to sit and chill on(even to dry wet shorts!)
There is no coffee making facilities in the rooms! I really missed this first thing in the morning.
In the games room, only children over 16 can play pool! My boys love pool and were unable to play it when the attendant was there(they did play a few times when no one was duty but as soon as a member of staff arrived they were told that they must read the signs that informed them over 16's only!) I felt this was quite unfair, but rules (no matter how ridiculous) are rules.
The mini bar is only a fridge in the room with water, if you want alcohol/soft drinks you have to pay, being all inclusive that seemed abit ridiculous.
However, we did have a great time and would love to go back but, hey it's a big world out there to be expolred, who knows where we'll go next.....

this being our fourth time at this resort we were hoping things were the same as prior trips.there were no surprises.the main differences were the selection of alcohol from when it was the el senador.my husband was dissapointed that he couldn't always get his motts clamato but this is the only resort in cuba that he had that luxury.we have been to cuba thirteen times and will continue to return for vacations.n h is a wonderful resort the staff is always friendly and willing to talk.food has changed a bit but we still managed to fill our stomachs every day .anyone who has a complaint about this resort should not be going to cuba.we always had hot water and towels and water in our room and this was the first year we stayed in a regular room.the three years before we had a suite but honestly the room was more than adequate.wish we could go back already even though we have good weather here.

Me along with my boyfriend and a friend traveled to the NH Krystal resort on Apr 13 - 20. I must say it surpassed our expectations. I read every single review prior to leaving and do not agree with anyone that has something negative to say about the resort.

Flight
We flew with Skyservice out of Toronto, our flight was at 6:00AM. We took a About town van to the airport and arrived very early, 2:00AM, they started checking us in at about 3:00AM and we were one of the first people to check in, which was good because we had the opportunity to choose our seats. The flight was good, we got something small to eat. We arrived at about 9:30AM, we picked up our bags and took the bus to our resort, it took us about 15 min.

Check in
The hotel is amazing, I loved the architecture in the lobby. We stayed on the Laguna side. Check in was a breeze but we could not check into our room in till 2:00PM, so we left our luggage at the front counter, changed into our bathing suits and went to have something to eat. At 2:00PM we checked into our room, the room was great, 2 big beds, a TV with many English channels, a little area to sit, a safe and a nice bathroom. For all of you that changed their room several time because of the smell of their room well let me tell you that you were in Cuba, that is how the air is there, it wouldn’t matter how many times you changed your room it would have always been the same smell! The maid was great, always cleaned our room very nice, before we left for our trip we went to the dollar store and bought many little things so we could leave her something every day.

Pool and Bars
There are 4 pools on the resort, they were always clean. We spent most of our time at the Laguna pool. There is a swim up bar at 2 of the bars.

Restaurants
The food was great, I don’t know how anyone could have complained. We always ate at the Emp side of the resort, their buffet was much bigger. For our A la Carte we choose Cuban, Ital and Steakhouse. The steakhouse was the best. We also ate many times at the pool bar, it says that it is open from 11AM in till 11PM but we went there many days after 11AM. They serve hamburgers, hotdogs, fries, poutine, chicken wings and the best pizza I have ever ate.

Grounds
The grounds are beautiful, many palm tress, flowers, plants and bushes. They are always workers doing something to improve the grounds. We did see many mosquitoes, I got bit maybe 4 times our entire stay. Make sure you take a walk around the resort, it is so big that you will find things that you never knew were there.

Beach
One word, AMAZING! The water was so clear and warm. There were always chairs for us. While on the beach we went on the banana boat witch was 5 pesos and sooo much fun and we used the pedal boats and the catamaran. The beach bar served some yummy drinks. There is also a beach bar that served food at the end of our beach resort.

Entertainment
We loved the Ent staff, Luis and his staff were soooo funny. We took part in every competition. They had pool games every day, a mini disco for the kids, bingo (our favorite, Luis was hilarious) and at 9:45 they had a show, either a live band, dancers, a comedy show, or games where guests take part. The best part is that if you win you get a bottle of run, me and my friend won 3 bottles! We went to the disco every night at our resort, it was fun, they played all kinds of music. One night we went to a bar called Salsa Tec, it was at the resort next to us, there is one night out of the week where guests from all the other resorts could come to the disco, it was lots of fun, a live band played salsa for about a hour, they were great and then they played reggae and R&B.

So, as you can see, I did not have one bad thing to say about this resort, it was great! Me along with my girlfriends are planning to go back to this resort in June.