On August 19th, 2013 our family had the pleasure to travel to Cuba. We stayed seven days at the all inclusive Memories Flamenco Resort in Cayo Coco, Cuba. This was our first time traveling to Cuba, so I have nothing else in Cuba to compare this resort to. My wife & I took our 3 ½ year old daughter with us. Before going to Cuba, I had a lot of questions about the country and the resort that never seemed to get answered. During our week, I took note of the things that I had questions about and have included them in this blog.
Cayo Coco International Airport |
Leaving the plane |
Front entrance to the resort |
Review
I would highly recommend this resort to anyone traveling to Cuba, especially with children. The motto at the resort is that Memories Flamenco is your second home. The staff is very friendly and the resort is very clean and well maintained. Everywhere you look are tropical plants and palm trees.
Lobby |
Lobby Bar |
We paid the extra money for an ocean view room and the Diamond Club, no regrets. With Diamond Club you get an extra a la carte dinner reservation, private area on the beach, beach towels in your room, late checkout on the day you leave and many more perks. The Diamond Club area on the beach was incredible and the private concierge service was top notch. There were never any lineups and we never waited long for food, drinks or service. Either at the beach or the pool, lots of lounge chairs were always available to use. No need to wake up early to reserve them.
Here is a video of what it's like to take the boardwalk to the Diamond Club area of the beach:
Boardwalk to the Diamond Club beach area
Bring water shoes for the beach. The beach is all natural and has lots of coral as you enter the water. The coral is slippery and in some areas a little sharp. This is not a complaint because the beach is beautiful as is and you don't have to enter the water very far to get past the coral.
The staff here works very hard and they all deserve any tips you may have. We tipped the bar tenders, the maids, the entertainment staff, the grounds keepers, the chefs, the banker, etc... They work very long hours and very hard, all for $20 CUC (Cuban convertible pesos) per month. Any monetary tips you give have to be shared with their fellow co-workers, but giving small gifts is also much appreciated.
I'm taking the time and effort to write this blog supporting the resort because it definitely deserves it. It's a very safe place and our family loved every minute of our trip. I'd say this resort was a 6 star.
The resort is only a short 20 minute bus ride from the airport. During the bus ride, you get a welcome package which includes your room keys. No need to report/check-in at the front desk on arrival, it's all done for you. This perk is for everyone, not just Diamond Club members.
Hydro - All the hydro at the hotel is 220 volts. Most modern electronics like battery chargers
and laptops have built in converters so you can plug them straight into the
sockets with no extra adapters or problems.
I took some electronics that only ran off 110 volts, so I bought a
converter. Below is the link for the
converter that I bought. It worked with
no issues. I also used a power bar for
charging multiple devices which worked great because all the devices were very low
drain. Read your electrical devices
before you go. My wife took her hair
straightener and it will only work on 110 volts at a max of 30 watts. The converter that I bought was powerful
enough and worked fine. A friend of mine plugged her
curling iron right into the wall and it was fried.
**Caution - power bars only work on 110 volts. If you plug them into the 220 volt socket
they will be fried.**
Bathroom - Toilet paper was supplied and there was always 2 rolls in the room. The toilet paper wasn’t the really soft stuff that we are used to but wasn’t too harsh either. We took our own toilet paper but it’s not required. Any of the public washrooms on the resort were very clean and had plenty of toilet paper in them as well.
The shower had awesome water pressure and constant hot
water. There was also a clothes line
over the tub to hang your wet bathing suits to dry. My tub at home measures 16” from the floor to the top. The tubs at the resort are just as deep as
our tubs but sit slightly higher off the floor.
Tubs at the resort were about 22” high.
The extra 6” you have to lift your legs to get into the tub is very noticeable. The tubs came with a plug. In order to use the plug you place it into
the drain hole and turn the silver knob located just under the water spout to lower or raise it.
Toilet seats were a little big for our 3 ½ year old
daughter. We took a potty seat for her
which worked great.
Room - Our room came with 2 large umbrellas to use for either rain or
shine. In the closet was a digital
safe. No keys required, just enter a
4 digit pass code each time you lock it. The
safe was big enough to store our cell phones, iPad, iPod, Nikon D7000 digital
SLR and full size laptop, plenty of room for everything. On a side note, anything we left in our room or around the
resort never went missing. There are lots of
hangers in the closet and an iron & ironing board.
In the sink area was a hair dryer and a makeup mirror. The sinks were very big but the taps were
small. It was hard to wash your hands
under the small taps without getting water on the counter.
Our room had a door leading into the room beside us. If you travel with a large family, joining rooms are available.
The curtains covering the balcony door were great for blocking out light. You could make your room pitch dark in the middle of the day if required. The balcony is equipped with a screen door. The first time you open the screen, it will fall off the track - GUARANTEED! Don't worry, as you walk around the resort you will see every other screen door off the tracks as well.
The TV in the room was LCD. The rear had an HDMI port so if you wanted to play movies from your laptop or view photos from your camera just bring a cable with you.
Most of the TV channels were American. They had A&E, CNN, CTV News, TBS, HBO, Cartoons and more, all in English.
When we booked our room, we picked a room with a king size bed because the other option was two twin beds. It turns out that the twin beds in Cuba are almost the size of a Canadian double. We switched to a room with two twins so our daughter didn’t have to sleep on a cot. The twin beds were plenty big enough for my wife & I to sleep in. I found the beds to be a little hard but my wife had no complaints - everyone is different.
If you have a baby, I did notice that cribs are also available. There are no elevators anywhere at the resort, so if you have any disabilities or hate stairs, book a ground floor room.
Our room had a door leading into the room beside us. If you travel with a large family, joining rooms are available.
The curtains covering the balcony door were great for blocking out light. You could make your room pitch dark in the middle of the day if required. The balcony is equipped with a screen door. The first time you open the screen, it will fall off the track - GUARANTEED! Don't worry, as you walk around the resort you will see every other screen door off the tracks as well.
The TV in the room was LCD. The rear had an HDMI port so if you wanted to play movies from your laptop or view photos from your camera just bring a cable with you.
Most of the TV channels were American. They had A&E, CNN, CTV News, TBS, HBO, Cartoons and more, all in English.
When we booked our room, we picked a room with a king size bed because the other option was two twin beds. It turns out that the twin beds in Cuba are almost the size of a Canadian double. We switched to a room with two twins so our daughter didn’t have to sleep on a cot. The twin beds were plenty big enough for my wife & I to sleep in. I found the beds to be a little hard but my wife had no complaints - everyone is different.
If you have a baby, I did notice that cribs are also available. There are no elevators anywhere at the resort, so if you have any disabilities or hate stairs, book a ground floor room.
The AC in the rooms worked great, especially for
sleeping. Some mornings I had to take a
hot shower just to warm up.
There is a small fridge in the room. It was usually stocked with a variety of
canned beer, a large bottle of water and the Cuban versions of Coke and Sprite. There was also a coffee maker in the room.
I only drank bottled water, however, there were no issues with using the tap water for brushing teeth and bathing.
None of us got sick or had any other issues like diarrhea or constipation.
Internet and phones - THERE IS NO Wi-Fi OR FREE INTERNET
There is a computer room in the lobby to get internet access. It costs about $1cuc per 10 minutes of use and it’s VERY slow. I never used it so I can’t comment on it.
There is a computer room in the lobby to get internet access. It costs about $1cuc per 10 minutes of use and it’s VERY slow. I never used it so I can’t comment on it.
Bank - Just behind the front desk in the lobby is the bank. If you need to exchange your Canadian money
to the Cuban convertible peso (CUC) this is where it’s done. Following are the conversion rates that I was
charged:
For $115 Canadian I got $101.20 CUC in return
For $100 Canadian I got $88.55 CUC in return
For $20 Canadian I got $17.50 CUC in return
For $40 Canadian I got $34.80 CUC in return
For $100 Canadian I got $88.55 CUC in return
For $20 Canadian I got $17.50 CUC in return
For $40 Canadian I got $34.80 CUC in return
It’s approximately 13% conversion fee to buy the CUC with
Canadian money.
Bank is located just behind the front desk. |
Restaurants - All restaurants were very clean and the food was good. The ketchup in Cuba isn’t the same as in
Canada but it wasn’t terrible. There is
no peanut butter. Our daughter loves
peanut butter so we took those little restaurant sized packets, that we bought in Canada, with us each day
to breakfast. I did notice that a lot of
the tables never had salt and pepper shakers.
If they did, they barely worked because of the humidity. The restaurants have AC but I think they only turn it on just before dinner, so dress
lightly when going to eat, it gets a little warm. The buffet
had a very relaxed dress code. You could
go and eat breakfast & lunch while wearing your bathing suit, dinner time you had to wear clothes.
We always dressed up to eat at the a la carte restaurants. It isn't mandatory that guys wear long pants, I wore shorts on most occasions.
The food was good and the presentation was nice. If portion size was an issue, all you had to do was ask for more.
Shrimp salad |
Chicken |
Dessert - flan |
Butter |
Shrimp & lobster appetizer |
Pork |
Chicken & shrimp |
Chicken |
Cheesecake |
Shrimp & rice |
Chicken |
Flan |
Pulled pork |
Prawns |
Asian appetizer |
Asian beef |
Chicken & noodles |
Fish & shrimp |
Cream puffs |
Each restaurant has a high chair for babies. They look to be in excellent shape and appear
to be very clean.
The snack bar was open 24 hours a day for food and drinks.
Snack Bar |
Cuban Catsup |
Cuban Mustard |
Menu from 10am to 10pm |
24 hour menu |
Cuban hotdog. Hotdog wiener cut in half between two slices of bread |
Cheese burger - tasted way better than it looks |
Service - There is a Sunwing rep at the resort every day to book
excursions through. We even pre-booked our
seats home on the airplane through the rep.
VISA and MasterCard were good to use.
If your credit card is associated with an American bank they won’t
accept them.
Always carry a pen with you.
On the plane ride there you will have to fill out the forms for your Cuban VISA’s
before you land. On the excursions, the
tour guides will have you fill out comment cards as well.
Airports - We had no issues getting through Cuban customs with all our
electronics.
At the airport in Toronto, they
weighed our carry-on bags. You are only
allowed 5kg, plus or minus a bit. They
never weighed my wife’s purse or my camera bag as they are considered personal
items. My camera bag weighed about 6kg
on its own. In Toronto they weighed our
checked luggage one at a time. On the
way home, in the Cuban airport, they weighed our check baggage all at once. In Cuba they never weighed our carry-on bags.
The nightly entertainment was
great. At 8:30pm there was a 30 minute
show for the kids to participate in, next was 30 minutes of
intermission/entertainment and from 9:30pm to 10:00 was the show. Each show was incredible, especially the
Michael Jackson one. The shows are very
well put together, costumes, props, music and lights. The shows are all FREE but they are all worth
paying for.
A list of the shows during our stay |
Michael Jackson Show |
The maid was great and always did a fantastic job cleaning our room. Everyday, she made our blankets and towels into different animals which my daughter loved. The maid even used my daughter's stuffed animals in her daily creations.
Here are some general photos from around the resort.
Pirate ship near lobby |
View from our ocean-view room 3202 |
Pool with swim-up bar |
Lobby |
Building #3 - where we stayed |
Boardwalk to beach |
Pools light up at night |
Hermit crab |
Gardener with his pet bird. He let my daughter hold it. |
Restaurant photos
Buffet |
Creole Restaurant |
Italian Restaurant |
Asian Restaurant |
There was also a kids club area at the resort. They offered babysitting services and had 2 very shallow pools and a playground. We never used their babysitting services but the pools and playground are open for anyone to use.
Kids club area |
Playground |
The store at the resort has a large variety of items for
sale and the prices are very reasonable.
We forgot water wings at home and bought some at the store for $2
CUC. They have a large walk-in humidor
with a variety of cigars. A lighter only
cost $0.50 CUC. I don’t smoke cigars but
bought two of them. I bought a Punch in a
metal tube and a Romeo y Julieta (bulk) for around $6 CUC each. They sell toiletries and baby diapers as
well. A pack of diapers was around $8
CUC and a big bottle of shampoo was $6 CUC.
If you see something at the store that you want to take home, buy it as
soon as you see it as stock goes quick.
I saw some honey and they had 20 bottles of it. Went back a few nights later to buy some and
it was all gone.
Take bug spray for at night, the bug bites are brutal. There aren’t a lot of bugs but when they bite
they BITE! Also take a small flashlight for walking around at night. The pathways are well lit but none of the stairwells are.
Because of work, I downloaded the app Google Translate. It’s available for iPhone and Android for
FREE. Each of the language packs can be
downloaded for offline use. I downloaded
the Spanish language pack and it worked great when communicating with people at
the resort that had poor English skills.
The audio doesn’t work offline but you can have the other person read
the screen. It worked great for me at the
resort and at work.
On a side note, we paid extra for the Sunwing Elite-Plus service for the flight to Cuba. The main reason was for the extra weight allowance, 30kg instead of 20kg for each checked bag. The Elite-Plus has no bearing on your carry-on bags, you are only allowed 5kg for each bag. We chose our seats to be right up front on the right side of the plane. I believe our seats were 2D, 2E & 2F. They were great seats for the extra leg room and no one was in front of us. The disadvantage to these seats was our carry on bags had to be stored further back because directly above our seats is where they stored all the first aid items. The other problem was with the tables. Because there are no seats in front of you, they are stored in your arm rest. When the tables are out, they are very flimsy and have to be supported by your knee or hand. Because the tables are stored in the arm rest, the arm rests don't fold up like they do in every other seat. Usually on these late night flights when my daughter wants to sleep we usually just fold up the arm rest and have her lay across us. This wasn't possible on the flight to Cuba. These were very minor issues but nice to know for next time.
On a side note, we paid extra for the Sunwing Elite-Plus service for the flight to Cuba. The main reason was for the extra weight allowance, 30kg instead of 20kg for each checked bag. The Elite-Plus has no bearing on your carry-on bags, you are only allowed 5kg for each bag. We chose our seats to be right up front on the right side of the plane. I believe our seats were 2D, 2E & 2F. They were great seats for the extra leg room and no one was in front of us. The disadvantage to these seats was our carry on bags had to be stored further back because directly above our seats is where they stored all the first aid items. The other problem was with the tables. Because there are no seats in front of you, they are stored in your arm rest. When the tables are out, they are very flimsy and have to be supported by your knee or hand. Because the tables are stored in the arm rest, the arm rests don't fold up like they do in every other seat. Usually on these late night flights when my daughter wants to sleep we usually just fold up the arm rest and have her lay across us. This wasn't possible on the flight to Cuba. These were very minor issues but nice to know for next time.
Overall, this resort is heaven on earth. We really enjoyed ourselves and would definitely return.
Thank you Memories Flamenco for such a great vacation! Hope to see you soon.
Any questions about the resort please don't hesitate to ask.
Excellent Review
ReplyDeleteAndrew,
ReplyDeletewhat about the beach? I have been told it is no so great...
Any feedbacks would be helpfull as we are booking our trip within the next two days. I'd like to also know if the access to the water is easy and smooth and if there is enough beach to talk long walks. Is there kitesurfing ?
Thanks
I just made a small update on the blog in regards to the beach. There is a lot of natural coral that covers the top portion of the beach. In one spot there is a boardwalk that takes you far enough out into the water to bypass to coral. The boardwalk is located at the "regular" beach but no boardwalk at the Diamond Club beach area. Anywhere else you will need water shoes because the coral is sharp and slippery. You don't have to walk far into the water before you are walking on sand. From our ocean view room I saw the kites for the kite surfing but I never saw them while at the beach. Not sure if it's available at the resort, we never took advantage of the free water sports. The beach is plenty long enough for long walks.
DeleteHope this helps. Enjoy your trip.
Here is a video that I just added of the boardwalk to the beach.
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LdY7fiAe2M&feature=youtu.be
Btw in the beginning of this year (2015) most of the coral reefs on the beach have been removed.. ;) so it should be nice sandy beach now
DeleteHi Andrew, thanks for the great review. One more question: Do they have same milk as we drink in Canada? Like 3.25% for baby and 2% for other people.
ReplyDeleteThey do have milk but I'm not sure as to the variety. My daughter drank the milk but when we ordered it they never asked if she wanted 3.25%, 1% or 2%. Sorry I can't give you a solid answer.
DeleteHey Andrew,
ReplyDeleteFantastic review! Just what my wife and I were needing since we're going with our almost 2 yo in a few weeks.
Just one question, we paid for the seat selection and choose the exact same seats as you guys did. Now we're a little concerned about the whole tray/arm rest not moving thing. Would it be better to get the row behind row 2 instead? Does it still have the same extra leg room?
Thanks again for the terrific review and pics.
Nick
Hi Nicholas, thanks for the questions.
DeleteThe first couple of rows offer the extra leg room, I believe you get an extra 6 inches. You could see about moving further back but it's totally up to you. The seats we sat in weren't terrible. I think we even had a little extra room by not having seats in front of us. Our daughter was almost 4 years old and she managed to sleep comfortably in her seat, she just couldn't spread out and lay partially on my wife's lap. Another bonus was being able to see into the cockpit while the pilots were getting ready to take off, your son might like that. As for the tables, you either have flimsy tables sitting in the front seats or you have tables attached to the rear of the seat in front of you that can be reclined back and forth at any time, you can't really win either way.
Hope this information helps and hope you have a great vacation!
Take care.
WOW! great job Andrew. My family and I had booked this resort and we are scheduled for December 17th. You just guided and prepared me like no one else could have. Excellent review BUD! and thank you. I just added to my list of required items things that I would have normally never thought of. Thanks for taking the time to do this. I'm convinced now that we did book the right resort for our three daughters (5, 10, 17)... perrrfect!
ReplyDeleteSteve...
Do you know if we can upgrade to Diamond club at the resort itself?
ReplyDeleteSteve
Hi Steve, thanks for the positive comments regarding my blog.
DeleteAs for upgrading to Diamond club at the resort I'm not 100% sure if you can. When the plane lands in Cuba and you get all your luggage the buses to the resort arrive. Before you get on the bus they hand you an envelope that contains your room keys and colored bracelets that you have to wear during your stay. The different colored bracelet indicate if you are Diamond club or not. Also, when you arrive at the resort it's quite late at night. If you booked your trip through a travel agent you can call them and they can fix it for you.
I'm sure your daughters will love the trip. The night time entertainment was great and the staff were very friendly. We also booked some day trips through the Sunwing Rep at the resort. My 3.5 year old loved swimming with the dolphins. Make sure to pack water shoes for the beach!
Thanks for the feedback Andrew.... the water shoes are packed and ready. I am also glad you posted the power converter you had. I noticed the one I borrowed off a friend did not have the ground. I would not have been able to plug my power bar, at least not without removing the ground from the cord.
ReplyDeleteSo OFF I go to Best Buy now.... lol
Thanks again.
Steve L.
Hi Andrew,
ReplyDeleteHopefully this is the last time I bother you before we go, somehow I feel NOT. lol
Question; did you have to travel far to get to the " swimming with the dolphins"? or is it relatively near the resort? I did google it (youtube) and I think they recently opened a park near Cayo Coco because there didn't use to be one. just confirming with you since I know you did it.
Thanks
Steve L.
p.s. we upgraded to diamond club today. We actually bargained with Sunwing to get a better rate, again thanks to you.
Hi Steve
DeleteOur family did 2 day trips. First we did the day trip to the city of Moron, which started off visiting a crocodile farm, horse and buggy ride through the city of Moron, a quick visit to the house of music and ended off with a speed boat ride through the mangroves. The crocodile farm was cool because they let you or the kids hold a baby crocodile. The horse and buggy ride through Moron was nice but they drop you off down town for about an hour on your own and everyone is begging you for money. Next, the house of music was kinda lame, it's just a bar that you have time for a quick drink while listening to some live music. The speed boat ride was AWESOME! Boating through the mangroves was such a neat experience. Apparently they shot part of a Rambo movie there.
The swimming with the dolphins trip was great. We only paid for the swim. There is another option where you can ride the dolphins or have them throw you into the air. During our swim, you get to touch the dolphins and swim with them. My kid loved it. After swimming you take a short bus ride to Pilar beach where you spend the rest of the afternoon. The beach is gorgeous.
Now, to answer your question about locations. I bought a GPS adapter for my camera and below I will list all the locations that we visited. Copy the locations into Google maps and it will show you the positions and distances if you plug in two of the coordinates.
Resort: 22°32'24" N 78°26'5" W
Airport: 22°27'55" N 78°19'46" W
Crocodile Farm: 22°5'21" N 78°32'38" W
City of Moron: 22°5'44" N 78°37'42" W
House of Music: 22°6'46" N 78°37'36" W
Speed boat ride: 22°12'49" N 78°34'14" W
Dolphin swim: 22°34'8" N 78°38'46" W
Pilar beach: 22°36'39" N 78°41'50" W
Both trips were all day adventures. During the speed boat ride they let my daughter drive the boat while it was going as fast as it could go, she LOVED it!
If you want any more pictures or any other advise let me know.
amazing review , i leave in march for memories , and this made me even more excited ! Very well put together ! Thank you so much !
ReplyDeleteThanks for the feedback, enjoy your trip!
DeleteHello, amazing review, I wish it was for the resort I was considering, but I came across it looking for info on the Dolphin Swim, I notice your daughter is 3.5, there was no problem letting her swim? My 3 year old wants to do everything my 7 year old does and I would hate to see his disappointment if his age barred him from the swim.
ReplyDeleteThe dolphin encounter we did was called Delfinario Cayo Guillermo. They had no problems with the age of our daughter as long as she didn't freak out or get scared while in the water. They warned us if our daughter was scared there were no refunds. We brought our own life jacket from home but they had lots of children sizes and they were in good shape.
DeleteThere are two pools, the first was for the more expensive encounter and the second pool was for the cheaper encounter. We did the cheaper encounter for our daughter. If you are a spectator you stand on the far end of pool #1 and can't see pool #2 all that well. Also, if you are a spectator no photography allowed.
The whole time you are swimming with the dolphins they have a guy who takes all the photos and videos of your encounter. We bought the disc for around $50.
To my surprise, all they do is burn all the images of your session to disc, that's also including all the other people you are swimming with. They don't separate the photos and videos by family. One of the families we swam with forgot their money at the resort so I offered to pay for their disc in the meantime. They said it was fine so we left. When I found out about all the photos and videos on the disc I burned them a copy and gave them the disc. Yes, I was a nerd and took my laptop and a bunch of empty DVD's.
Hope you have as much fun as we had. Good luck and have a great trip!
Hey great blog/reviews, much appreciated, heading there in 10 days!!!
ReplyDeleteGreat Cayo Coco trip report and thanks for sharing beautiful pictures. After watching your images I am also planning to visit cuba with my family. Can you please tell me some more information about Cuba?
ReplyDeleteThanks for the detailed and useful review!! Going to flamenco in 5 days!!!cant wait ;)
ReplyDeletei have been there 3 times and it is my number 1 resort in cayo coco,maybe being were humanitarians and helping out 3 families and some work at the resort,my husband and i have stay at several on the island and wouldnt consider any other place to go,cubans are so friendly.i myself have travel alone 2 times and 1 coming up the end of aug and feel very safe,i even travel alone by taxi to our cuban families in ceigo de avila which is 2 hours away and have a private guy who takes me and then picks me up later and returns me to the resort i am staying at.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the review, Andrew! One question: my daughter is allergic to peanuts. Is this going to be a problem in this resort? Do they have restrictions for children who have peanut allergy?
ReplyDeleteHow much was the dolphin swim for the two of you and the price for your daughter? We are leaving this Friday! 2 days!! Yahoo ! Thanks for the great review!
ReplyDeleteHow much was the dolphin swim for the two of you and the price for your daughter? We are leaving this Friday! 2 days!! Yahoo ! Thanks for the great review!
ReplyDeleteI don't remember what we paid, but my wife just looked online and it's currently $55CUC ($80CAD) per adult and $30CUC ($50CAD) per child. We did the dolphin encounter and not the swim. Hope this helps and hope you have a great trip.
DeleteI don't remember what we paid, but my wife just looked online and it's currently $55CUC ($80CAD) per adult and $30CUC ($50CAD) per child. We did the dolphin encounter and not the swim. Hope this helps and hope you have a great trip.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHow much is it to upgrade to diamond club and when can you do this only on arrival or before hand. Is it really worth it. I'm ftom England and going there for the first time in october.
ReplyDelete