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Melia Rio De Oro @ Holgiun/Guadalavaca 04/09/02
Reviewers Rating:  Excellent
Our family of four(two boys 9+10)flew from Labrador, Canada to this beautiful resort through Toronto. We booked using Air Canada vacations for one week. An absolutely fantastic resort and family vacation destination. ROOMS & GROUNDS: The resort is top notch and deserves it's 5* (Caribbean) rating. Check in was efficient considering the large number of guests, one quickly becomes orientated and we found the briefing provided by the Air Canada representative at the resort was informative. We were pleased with our hotel room (your only sleeping and changing there) and the facilities overall. The photo's in the vacation brochures accurately depict the resort, pools, beaches-all superb ! The grounds are well maintained. The rooms are air conditioned and has a small bar fridge which is stocked with beer, water and pop daily. A safe is available for $2 US but if you've got a good luggage lock - your set. You can drink and use the water from the tap ! It was a pleasant surprise to experience the 'civilized' atmosphere and not to see empty glasses, cig butts etc collecting around or in the pool as we had experienced in our resort in the Dominican. This resort is much less of a 'party' hard type resort which was a welcome change for us and our two boys who we felt quite safe to let have the run of the resort. There is a kids club for them and plenty of staff & activities to keep them entertained. Again a lot of staff at every corner and it was apparent they had the organization of the resort well in hand. BEACH & POOL: There are three private beaches in addition to the main beach at this resort. The private beaches along with the main beach are gorgeous and the water an alluring green&blue. Fine white sand. The main pool area is very large, pool bar, plenty of chairs, sun & shade. If you want a chair though you must put a resort towel on it to 'save' it by about 8:AM or you'll be out of luck for the day. Once you've got a chair it's your for the day if you wish and you can go swim at the beach or go for lunch and return back to the pool. The resort has diving masks, snorkels, and flippers for use in the pool and ocean. The snorkeling in the ocean near the coral reef is unbelievable. Bring a disposable underwater camera for photographing the variety of fish you can hand feed. I used a small water bottle, stuffed it full of bread from the buffet and mixed it with water creating a 'chum' and squeezed it out underwater bringing ALL the fish front and center! I am a good swimmer and one does not have to worry about undertows, rip tides or dangerous sea surf or sharks at the beaches. Included in the all inclusive package is kayaking, windsurfing, and catamaran which all in good repair and fun. THE FOOD : There is a main buffet which serves breakfast lunch & supper daily. You need pants for lunch and supper. One will not be disappointed with the food or beverages at this resort. You can drink champagne or top shelf liquor all day if it suits you. The buffet is very good for all meals, they will grill cook for you omelettes, steak, shrimp, fillet mignons, pork, chicken, squid, salmon, and fish, broad variety of pasta dishes, vegetables, fruits, juices, cheese etc etc etc. The ice cream is VERY good. There are also three (3) restaurants which you reserve after arrival and can only eat at each once per week. We booked early sittings @ 6:30 PM so as not to miss the nightly entertainment on stage that starts at 9:45 PM which we never missed. All these restaurants require long pants for men and are all very good. No one in our party got sick. ENTERTAINMENT & SERVICES : There is a nightly show on stage at the resort of a different theme every night starting at 9:45 PM. Get a chair about 8:00 PM and enjoy a cool beverage & piano music by a talented local who bangs out some remarkable music from an old upright piano (a tuning feat, trust me, in such humid country). The stage show titled are posted and indicate the shows to be presented throughout the week. If you stay a week you'll never see the same show twice. Very good productions which are choreographed, lip sync'd but presented in English, French, German, Italian and Spanish for the audience. These guys and gals work hard in the performances! Shows usually wind up about 11:00 PM and we found it just the right time to hit the bunk ! Kidz can also participate in two shows through the week and ours did so in costume and enjoyed the production and presentation. My wife and I both had massages at the resorts massage booth that has you lay down on the table over looking the ocean through a glass floor. One hour is $18 US, which is very cheap, we charged it to our room which you can settle later on Visa. Check to make sure the Visa device is in fact working, it was not for us at the time. Every service is available at this resort from room service to 24 hr doctor. EXCURSIONS : We took an excursion to the Aquarium and swam with the dolphins which was $65 US adult and $35 US child and took most of the day from 9:00 AM to about 2:00 PM. There are all sorts to choose from however our tour guide does not suggest any excursions involving flying (helicopters/air taxis etc) since the recent air crash in Cuba. We heeded her advice. Guadalavaca is a town about 10 km from the resort. We went twice to look around and shop. Once by horse&buggy for $12 US (driver waits while you shop) and the 2nd time by taxi for about $4 US each way. There you will find the best and cheapest shopping. The is a market that sells wooden, leather, ceramic and clothing and nick knack items and you can barter somewhat. A store nearby sells cigars, rum ranging from $3-$10 US bottle depending on age. You can take back to Canada two (2) 750 ml bottles per person 18+ for a week long visit. We never saw any overt crime and felt very safe to walk, browse and navigate the town streets. No guards with guns as one would be conditioned to think. You don't need to take your passport for this visit. The people we experienced were very pleasant and helpful. On the first trip we stopped at a school and my wife gave the teacher pens, pencils, paper, crayons and similar items for the students who really appreciated the gifts. TIPPING & MONEY: US dollars are accepted everywhere in and out of the resort. They take CDN Visa and travelers cheques at the resort and you can get cash advances from the resort on your Visa for US$ however there is a 4% resort commission collected for the service. My wife brought a number of items to leave on the pillow for the maid as a tip each day(ie: lipstick, nail polish, berets, nylons, etc etc). Cash is always an option but given the sparse shopping it's really not as valuable as variety. She also took good used clothing our boys had outgrown and gave it to our maid who had children it would fit. Out of practicality we tipped staff in the restaurant(s) and bar(s) for good service. CLIENTELE : This resort is frequented mostly by Europeans and good number of Canadians. As is anywhere and touched on in previous reviews, some guests are not necessarily shall I say the best "ambassadors" for their particular country. This annoyed my wife somewhat but I was quick to remind her as the Travelers 10 Commandments suggests that one does not let that cloud your vacation. SUMMARY : Regrettably we chose to go only for one week, and now that we have had the preview, our next stay will be for 2 weeks and likely further explore the countryside. We enjoyed the meeting many guests and the collective comment which arose was that it was difficult to find any unbecoming or negative of this resort. We had sun every day & a wonderful 1st Cuban vacation experience !
The Derry's
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