Melia Resort, Cayo Coco, Cuba

This past February we headed off on our first adventure of 2015: Melia hotel in Cayo Coco, Cuba. Having gone on an “all-inclusive” vacation last year, we had a vague idea of what to expect. We arrive, of course, past midnight, after being shuffled like a heard from the plane to one of the resort buses. Our bus trip was interesting, to say the least. Our bus group was full of other Canadians, who were rowdy, to say the least. They quickly drank all the beer for sale on the bus (yes, as it turns out selling alcohol on the tour buses is a normal thing), and loudly demanded more. While I’m not passing judgement on the vacation behaviours of others, it does make me question how the rest of the world sees North Americans. Do Cubans have the impression that we are all gluttonous alcoholics? I wouldn’t be surprised.

We arrived at the hotel lobby and were pleasantly surprised by how beautiful it was. After waiting in line to check in, which of course seemed to take forever, we were lead to our suite. Despite paying for three people, we were presented with one queen-sized bed and a playpen. Now, had we been a couple with an infant this would have been fabulous, but as we were too women and a child, this was not exactly ideal. Some negotiations and numerous calls to customer service later, another bed was delivered.

The Pros:

1.     The beach at the Melia is by far the nicest in the area. Throughout the week we explored the beaches up and down the resort strip, and decided happily that we had chosen the best one. White beaches, beautiful ocean scene.
2.     The staff! The staff really made the trip. Every employee was incredibly helpful and friendly, and quickly learnt who we were and my son’s name. (Granted, he’s a toddler and a runner, so I spent a fair amount of time chasing after him calling his name.)
3.     Tons of food selection. We are striked vegetarians and the buffet always had a wide variety of vegetarian options, a fantastic salad bar and numerous vegetarian proteins—mainly beans. That being said, as vegetarians by the end of the week we had eaten most of the options and were repeating a lot of them. According to my mother, our travel partner, meat options were decent. She strongly recommended the seafood while commenting that some of the beef was quite tough.
4.     Breakfast: DONUTS. This was honestly one of my favourite aspects of the resort. Every morning a cheerful man would stand before his oil vat and make fresh-to-order donuts. Now, I’m not going to lie, I would often order 3 or 4 and pretend I was taking them for the group so I could indulge my carb craving.

The Cons:

1.     At no fault to the Melia, our weather the week we were there was subpar. Temperatures average at 16 degrees celsious with serious winds most days. Being the troopers we are, however, we still spent most days at the beach, with the added bonus of being the only ones there.
2.     The excursions: the only excursion we went on was a trip to Moron, the nearest town to the Melia. As it turns out, when excursions advertise a trip to down, they also mean numerous stops along the way to different “attractions” that while sometimes interesting, come across as just a money grab.
3.     Tipping. This is necessarily a con, but something I didn’t think enough about before we went. I spent far more money on tips than I predicted (note for the budget), and am honestly not sure where the money goes. In Cuba there is a difference between the Cuban peso and the tourist peso, so I am not sure how much use the tips are to the workers.

The worst con: the leaving experience. Checkout is at noon, unless you pay to extend it and our flight wasn’t until 10pm. That meant a whole day without a room to leave your bags, to change, to shower or to have your kids nap. Major con. We ended up paying for an extension to avoid this. Waiting for the bus to the airport was, by far, the worst part of this resort vacation. Getting on the bus is done with urgency and makes you feel significantly like hearded cattle. Rush to line up, rush to get on the bus, rush to the airport lines, rush through security… then wait. For hours. I’m not quite sure how resorts could improve this (this happened in Mexico last year as well), but it leaves a bad taste in your mouth about the end of your trip.

Despite the minor bumps, we had a fabulous time at the Melia Cayo Coco. Much of that credit goes to my travel companions, but the resort really did a great job at making it a fun vacation spot. In the future I think I will avoid the “all-inclusive” type vacation—I’m not sure I’m cut out for such large group travel.

 Verdict: Go for it. Beautiful resort, beautiful beach, beautiful people.