Melia Cayo Santa Maria 2010

Melia Resort Report 2010

Flight southbound: No problem at the airport. We were quite underweight and so no concerns there. No line-ups for the Club Class. That is good. Flight was a little late but we made it up. Smooth flight.

We arrived at 9:00 pm and got thru immigration very quickly. Luggage was very fast and we were on the bus with our bags in less than 15 minutes, giving us lots of time to sit and have a beer. Very nice not to be checked and questioned about our luggage. Dark trip across the causeway but we did notice about 3 detours. The road was under re-construction due to the damage from the hurricane winds 2 years ago.

The bus stopped at the Melia and everyone but us got off. We went on to the Sol and checked at the desk. They seemed very surprised to see our room voucher and then remembered there was a note left for us. We had been upgraded to the Melia and they were waiting for us.

They drove us over to the Melia and they were prepared for us. We were given a room in our favorite building. #17 is close to the beach grill and the boardwalk to the beach as well as the pool. We were in Judy’s room, 1723. There was a welcome note from our maids and a bottle of rum to welcome us.

Beach towels are waiting in the room for you. New place to change them. The building that used to be the child play center is now a games room and fresh towels. At the end of the stay you leave the towels in the room. If you have to check out and require the towels for the afternoon, you can hand them into the front desk when you leave and you will get your ticket for the bus.

Derek did the briefing. The mini bar refills are done using the same process. We did find this time that they did not come into fill the bar if you were not there and the time each day was not consistent. Some days it was early in the morning and some days late afternoon. You also get your coffee from the bar guys.

Derek will tell you the rest.

It was very nice to have both resorts to use. We got set up on the beach on day one and it was soooo beautiful. I keep forgetting how wonderfully wide the CSM beach is. There were 3 long rows of new chairs. All set up along the beach. They were plastic framed but with the woven bearing surfaces and were quite comfortable. There is now bar service on the beach. Amazing to watch the waiter pick up everybody’s mugs and orders and getting them all back to the right people with the right drinks in them. The beach bar very close to the beach is all finished and functions very well. It has all of the drinks available as well as little tables and chairs if you wish to sit out of the sun and have a drink. The posts are all hand carved like totem poles. Quite impressive!! I think Derek has pictures.

[Derek: very nice spot to sit in the shade and have a drink now. Only 6 or so tables, but never full]

The beach grill is very busy everyday and service is excellent and the food and beer and wine are also very good. They serve a basket of toasted, crusty bread with red tomato salsa and hummus or green tomato salsa. I had red snapper one day and it was very good.
You will be happy to know the boys in black are still entertaining at the grill. Same routine and lots of fun. Someone actually asked them to sing “Hotel California”. Lo and behold they knew it. I think it is part of their routine as they replaced the title words with “Hotel Cayo Santa Maria”.

[Derek: Though if you ask, as I did, they’ll play requests straight-up, without the comedy]

The 24-hour pool restaurant is serving breakfast and we ate there every day after the 1st day at the buffet. It is a very good breakfast and they serve cappuccino as well. Bacon and eggs and the bacon are crisp and they serve 3 slices. Toast is a little pale but we loved it every day. The tea water was boiling. What a treat.

[Derek: The one thing I missed from the buffet at breakfast was the thinly-sliced cured ham. Yum]

I have mentioned before how dysfunctional I find the buffet. When people are lined up the have something cooked, they completely block all of the pre-cooked food. So, if you didn’t want an omelet you still had to wait behind 5 to 10 people to get to the rest of the buffet. Only one person at a time has room at the toaster and when you are at the toaster and the line up is at the buffet, no one has room to pass through without bumping into one side or the other. AND

It is so noisy in the dining area. You can’t hear yourself talk, let alone listen. The acoustics are awful. The 1st day was the only meal we had for the whole week.

The 24-hour pool restaurant serves as the Caribbean restaurant at night. They dress it up and then reopen as the snack bar. They also serve pizza. Not as good as the Los Flamencos at the Sol but okay.

2 reservations per week

We walked the beach to the Sol and noticed immediately that the steps at the end of the boardwalk, near the beach grill were missing. The walk was blocked off at the shower and then there was a cliff. Also on the other path to the beach grill the steps were missing. We had to slog up the hill of sand beside the missing steps. Vivien (La Piqua) said there was a huge wind 2 weeks prior and the entire Sol beach went to the Melia. I asked if they would be trucking it back and she said, no, it would come back on its own. They have several new picnic tables in the sand.

Saw some old friends who questioned why we have been away so long. Makes us feel guilty. Also visited the Los Flamingos, where Elsa presides. It now serves pizzas only. Very, very good ones I might add. We enjoyed walking through the Sol Grounds. The vegetation is fully-grown and quite beautiful all in bloom.

To the east of the pool there is a cleared area where they have put up several hammocks. It is in a quiet shady glen and very inviting. Everything else appears to be the same.

[Derek: It was lovely to be back there, felt like coming home, but while everything works and is far from decrepit, things have faded a bit. But even so (and without having seen any of the rooms) I would be happy to find myself there for a couple of weeks. ]

AT THE MELIA????? The lobby bar had entertainment at various times. A 3 piece band played one evening and people danced. The champagne table was set up but not always kept stocked. You could order from the bar, however. Did not try the disco. Also did not attend any of the late shows.

La Fontanella at the Sol has had a new face. They now have seating outside. One evening there was a table made up for a group of 12. They have a self-serve antipasto table that was very appealing. Menu has changed a bit. Staff has also changed. Vladimir (formerly Melia lobby bar) is now Captain. Derek ordered rare steak and got rare steak. He was thrilled with that.

Piano Bar at Sol is well preserved and we spent several evening there. It was a week of students and they are always fun to get to know. University students back to school to take a 3-year tourism course. They are trained in every aspect of the field, from chambermaid to bartender and everything in between. There were students at the piano for a couple of nights as well. The regular pianist was back on Thursday and told us she is playing 3 nights a week and the students are playing the other nights.

[Derek: The fish in the ponds seemed to remember me as whenever my shadow hit the water they came running…err…paddling up]

Spent some time at the Spa. Beatrice, hairdresser and cosmetician just had a baby on April 9th and so was on maternity leave. Some new and some old staff at the Spa. We enjoy the pool there as it is so quiet and is usually quite warm. Derek worked out at the gym and I lay around the pool. He would join me for a swim and some sun.

On day 3 the wind came up on the ocean and it was quite rough. Derek though it was a lot of fun to challenge the waves. I watched. I watched him go for a header and come up with no glasses on his face. Very expensive ray ban prescription sunglasses gone forever. We do have a rule to leave our glasses at the chair, as they are so expensive to replace but Derek likes to see the waves coming sooo.

Red flag for the rest of the week. I am always so sad when I can’t play in the ocean but it did give us a chance to enjoy the pool and use our floaters. We would go down and you can actually watch the beach change shape. It pushed a lot of sand onto the beach and created sand bars in the ocean. You never know what the beach will be like for one week to the next or in fact one day to the next.

We were quite surprised to see a young couple with 2 very small children wandering around the resort. I thought they may have just taken a walk over from the Sol, but then we saw them for several days. Many people commented about it.

Note: Jose Carlos, who is working at the Sol and Melia, mentioned that they were allowing liquids in your carry on. I was surprised but he said there was no official declaration but he knows they are allowing it. This was in regard to a question by a client regarding buying rum at the airport. I took that to mean all liquids and packed our carry on accordingly. Needless to say Derek was stopped and had to show the liquids were within the limits allowed. Thankfully they were okay.

The airport on the way home was chaos. There was a full planeload of people waiting in line, unable to check in because the passenger manifest had not arrived from the airline. Another line was Sun Wing and they were very late and so our line up had to give way to any Sun Wing passenger, including Transat Club Class.

[Derek: Even so we had only a brief wait. It really does pay to pay for Club Class with Transat]

Once they were all checked in, our bus passengers had lined up behind them as it appeared the line was moving quickly. It was one line but all desks were checking in only that line. Once all Sun Wing passengers were checked in, they closed the desk. Anger broke out as passengers did not then want to go to the end of another line, even though the sign above the desk clearly said Sun Wing. I am always amazed at how little attention people pay to signs and instructions. No matter how many times we are reminded there is a departure tax and that it must be cash, someone ends up at the airport unaware of the tax or expects to pay by credit card.

There was no VIP check in. We were okay as there was a club class line.

[Derek: again – it pays to fly Club Class.]

There was a lot of confusion there as well. The staff had to make the switch to Transat passengers. That took several minutes as tags etc had to be changed. The supervisor was on the club class desk and so had to go and set everyone up for the change. We were 1st in line and so had a good view of the chaos and tempers flying. Apparently there was some kind of upgrade or special seating offered and people paid an additional price to choose the seats. Not sure what that was all about, but people had to show confirmation of the reservation made on-line and there were duplicates and they all thought they would be traveling 1st class. We were sitting on the plane and they were still fuming as they passed the club section and moved to the rear. Once the attendants checked a few reservations they explained it was not for club class but some additional privileges were included. There were seats available but they remained empty.

[Derek: the confusion was over Club Class (Transat’s first class seating) and something called Club Privilege I think. The latter is supposed to get priority check-in and a drink or two on the flight itself, but regular seating. The last bit seemed to come as a surprise to people. Which is odd unless they only paid for it on the return leg as they must have been in

What a different airport. WOW. I recall our 1st trip to CSM and the tiny inefficient airport. This is 1st class.

VIP lounge is beautiful. Pastel coloured lounges and small and large couches. Chairs and small tables. The service was great. Only complaint was the sandwich was not grilled but miked. I love those grilled sandwiches. No champagne, no wine. They had a sweet rose but that was it. Disappointed.

Random notes from Derek:

1. Geri makes the point that we ate breakfast at the pool grill. It was very nice, all a la carte. A better choice we think. Can’t see why anyone would use the buffet unless for the cured ham. Next time, now that I think of it, I will leave the room early and grab some ham, ask the chef at the poolside grill to do me a prosciutto omelet. J

2. The band in the lobby bar was very good, especially when they got off the muzac playlist.

3. MAS cards are no longer accepted at beach resorts.

4. Tips for non-direct contact staff (i.e. gardeners, maintenance and cleaning staff other than room maids) are clearly not common given the reaction. Remember these folks when you tip, they have as much to do with you fine vacation as the wait staff and room cleaners.

5. Parts of the Sol, like La Fontanella, have clearly been recently reno’d and the railings and latticework on many of the buildings was being replaced while we were there.

6. Obiel at the pool bar makes very fine pina coladas from scratch. All the other bars seem to use the pre-mix.

7. Back of the spa/gym is a nearly-complete Centro Commerciale.

8. Also nearing opening are an Asian and a French restaurant at the Melia, both just south (beachside) of the Mediterranean restaurant.

9. Vivian (whom we’ve known for 9 years now), knows and mentions an assortment of Happy Faces.

10. Geri mentioned beach bar service as she is a beach person. I’m a little more eclectic, so I would also add there’s poolside service. As with the beach, Elvis the pool server has a remarkable memory for what drink goes in what mug and is returned to which guest.

11. Barefoot lunches are still possible in the sand at the Sol’s beach grill. Still a really lovely spot with decent food by any standard. Though the days when you got a large half chicken with the skin done JUST right are gone I guess. Quarters are the rule. L

12. The pool bar at the Sol is still the best place to spend time out of the sun. Nice and high, it catches a good breeze off the ocean.

13. The surprise disappointment at the Melia was the Mediterranean restaurant. I thought it had faded a bit fancy-service-wise, but as well the menu just didn’t grab me. Resort food being what it is the Melia was unusual in that there were actually a couple of things on this restaurant’s menu that I recalled with fondness. They’re gone. And what’s there is fine, but…’

14. Near the Barceló is a craft market. We didn’t visit, but there’s a shuttle bus for $1CUC each way and it’s possible (though very hot I should think) to walk it.

15. The Water Journey at the Spa was still a freebie for all Melia guests. But needed to be booked.

16. Melia guests can visit the Sol and drink, but technically can’t eat. Ahem.

17. There’s a pay-for gourmet meal option. Served by the pool in one of the curtained gazebos.

18. Standard are two a la carte reservations per week. But show without and if they have an
empty table…

19. Internet access was a whopping $6CUC per HALF hour. I resisted mostly but o the day I tried it was down. I was warned that when up it is slow. No change there, but the price is a little hard to take.

20. People with mobiles seemed to get seamless roaming service, so I guess the days when you had to set up a roaming account are gone. Gotta say I could do without the ring tones by the pool or the guy shouting at his kids back home.

21. Can hardly wait to go back, but am torn between the Sol and the Melia. The former a sentimental favourite, the latter has bigger rooms and more restaurants to choose from.