Great Staff Great Hotel

ExaWe stayed at the Colonial from May 5th to the 12th. We enjoyed everything about the place! It was low season and a lot of things were shut down, but that suited us just fine as we are not fans of big crowds and line ups. The staff at this resort were the best we have ever come across. Everyone was kind, helpful, funny and friendly! (Not just a few but everyone). The Front desk staff were very kind and accommodating even when we asked to change one of our rooms just so we would be closer toget [... lire plus]her. The piano bar was a great place to relax with a great bartender. We spent most of our time at the beach and ate lunch at the beach bar every day. Great fish and chips! The Beach Bar staff were great especially the always smiling, ever patient Laudia! The Gentleman who looked after the beach was very friendly and helpful. The saltwater pool (and bar ) were clean and relaxing. We defiantly would return to this resort! Two thumbs up!

The beach is the best part

Gorgeous beach and water made me want to cry on first look it's so beautiful. Resort is quite nice in general, but certain staff members can be a bit off-putting, others are very nice. Food was really dull, for example, the meats always had tendons and chewy fatty bits, and the chicken sometimes was sketchy tasting. Bar tending staff at the pool was fair, serving people in order. Pool was nice, though at some areas needed cleaning. The coffee was excellent. Went on a jeep excursion, was very exp [... lire plus]ensive considering what we got out of it, I wouldn't recommend it. Also took a bus ride to another beach, also wouldn't recommend as it ate 4 hours just being on a bus ride in the heat, not worth it. I probably wouldn't go here again because of the food, I'll look for something in Jamaica as people tell me the food there is excellent, although the cost is higher, i think it would be worth it. Also, my room was ok, but the toilet seat was broken, and the toilet roll was so close to the seat that it made it hard to sit down.

Hotel with a charm of its own.

The hotel is getting old...needs some repairs but they are constantly working to repair around the resort....it is so charming...like a little Cuban/Spanish village with cobblestone walkways, arched doors and windows, amazing vegetation, nice beach with sandy bottom beach, rooms were kept clean, service was very speedy...loved it all except the food ...there wasn't much to choose from..very limited but half the resort was closed due to low season.

Awesome resort!

We have been to this resort 5 times and love it! The best beach, awesome pools, the resort workers are bar none. Small resort but you can walk the beach for hours. If your going for the food....stay home. What they do have is great! The grounds are suburb,resort is 15 minutes from the airport.

Beautiful

Stayed in building 14 and the location was perfect. Close walk to everything. Room was spacious and comfortable. Had an issue with a flashing light in the bathroom. Was fixed the day after I mentioned it, but started flashing again. Pools and beach were amazing. Always lots of chairs. Friendly staff. Food was fine. Loved that at breakfast the carafe of coffee was left at the table. Never had to wait for a refill. I would recommend the resort but NOT Cubana air. Our flight was cancelled last minu [... lire plus]te without much explanation and the whole ordeal was handled terribly by the airport staff. Lost a whole day of relaxing in the sun. If Hola Sun and Cubana air don't have representatives working on Sundays, then they shouldn't fly on that day. I left my house at 1am Sunday morning and didn't get checked in to my room at the resort until 5am Monday morning. Not a good start to my hard earned vacation!. Not Hotel Colonials fault though and I enjoyed my stay once we got back on track. Andrea Brymer

Hotel Colonial Fantastic!!!!

Ole,The Hotel is being updated, lush grounds, beautiful pools , gorgeous beach. The staff amazing. Travelled from March 25 to April 1 2016, Will be going back to this resort only from now on. This is a quiet hotel for people wanting to relax and bring their families. Musicians play at your table during dinner and then there is live music and entertainment until 11pm. We really enjoyed our time. I went with my mother and upon arrival met more mother and daughters traveling together. We all had a  [... lire plus]great time and met new friends. I recommend when it comes to food, do what I did, breakfast; there's a pancake/ frenchtoast grill, they will also make grilled cheese. You have to gather the ingredients and tell them how to cook it. Or don't be creative. :-) Lunch time, there's a big BBQ outside the buffet . Dinner time; I was obsessed with the pasta/pizza station. Again I would gather the ingredients on my plate from whatever I find in the buffet, pick my pasta, ask for tabasco or wine or balsamic vinegar and get them to cook it. They would all laugh at me think i'm crazy but all the people at our table kept saying omg soooo delicious. So I enjoyed my food. There are no chefs at resorts even the five stars! The ketchup, pepper, jams, does not taste like ours because ours is filled with a lot of sugar, the pepper is white so be careful pouring it lol. They also make delicious donuts in front of the café every evening.....who wouldn't gain five pounds! I have been to many resorts in Cuba, this one is my favorite, oceanview room #3335. Building #33 oceanview all are great. So is building #16 oceanview. We also loved all the rooms around the salt water pool, really beautiful. This was the first resort built in Cayo Coco in 1993. It's Spanish Colonial style and everyday they were working on the walk-ways. ( the entire area around the salt-water pools is finished and beautiful). It's grand and affordable. Ask front desk for a renovated room, and tell them it's your first time there. :-) I miss it! I want to go back already!

Throw back to the Old

Had a wonderful stay at the Hotel Colonial Cayo Coco, The resort is 10 minutes from the airport and looks like a small Spanish village, amazing looking architecture through out. The pools where clean, the drinks were cold and the beach was stunning. The food was meh, expected for Cuba so no disappointment here and the staff were very pleasant and helpful. I'd recommend a stay for anyone looking for a cheap place to relax.

Very friendly and efficient resort

Hotel very nice with good outlook over the ocean. good food and the staff extremely friendly and efficient.only drawback..the mosquitos,but sadly that goes with the area ! Facilities are good and family friendly.Also,nicely quiet

Amazing spot

This was our 7th trip to the Hotel Colonial - the best yet....lots new renovations, clean, wonderful. Hope to be back next year. Can't beat the beaches in Cuba, the water crystal clear and the sunshine amazing.

Great Resort

I'll start with the bad first: The food wasn't great. Apparently that's just Cuba though. I was always able to find something worth eating, but it was hit and miss. The a la carte restaurants were good though as well as the live stations at the buffets. Somethings were better than others, and the bread bar was actually pretty good. Half their stuff wasn't open. This is likely because I went during a slower time of year and just before March break. This wasn't all bad though because a lot of it [... lire plus] was redundant, like half the beach bars not being open isn't a big deal, those are just there to deal with higher occupancy. Some of the activities like the boats and archery at 11:00 weren't open though, which was disappointing. If those things are important to you it might be better to go a little later in the year than I did as it looked like they were in the process of setting that stuff up. Now the good: The style: I loved the old colonial style. Everything had a very open air feel to it, all the buildings were little 2-3 storey affairs. Very interesting feel to the place. The rooms themselves were spacious and well maintained for the most part. There were some imperfections here and there, but were well cleaned and looked after. There were plenty of great pools. The spread out nature of the hotel lends well to this as well as making it seem less busy than it was. I could walk out my door and go to that pool, or go to the salt water one near the center, or all the way to the other side of the resort and see that pool. All with their own nearby bars and snack huts. The beach was awesome. Big beautiful stretch of beach along the whole north side of the hotel. I was always able to find a chair and a spot, even with half the beach bars not open it was always easy to get a drink. Weather was great while I was there too so that helped a lot. This hotel seems to be actively improving itself. The whole time I was there workers were building, or repairing, or refurbishing things. I saw them building stage platforms for pool side performances, there was a closed boat dock beside my building they were working on, painting and repairing buildings, grounds keepers everywhere, even saw them bringing new mattresses into buildings. The work was never disruptive or in the way of my resort experience either. All in all a good resort. It calls itself a 4 star and I would agree.

Hotel Colonial

Amazing place! Loved the week we spent there with friends. We all love to laugh and have fun and the staff made sure that it was possible. Cant wait to go back. Great service, and amazing beach. The staff went above and beyond to serve us.

Cayo Coco

Nice resort for a 3*, beautiful old architecture. Great staff, front desk, wait staff, cleaning staff. Meals - typically Cuban, nothing fantastic but sufficient. Room was nice, lots of space, clean. Sunwing counter staff at the airport put us in separate rows on the plane and the plane wasnt full. They let us move once the plane was all loaded.

Good bang for the buck!

beach was well maintained (raked) and pool clean rooms clean but walks and buildings getting need of repair food was OK and but you always got something good to eat and drink. bartenders, waitress, & cleaners ALL great!

Amazing Resort

Hotel Colonial, Cayo Coco is a WOnDERFUL resort. Great rooms, good entertainment, great food choices, fabulous customer relations, wonderful staff. Will go back again and again and again. You get hooked!. 15 minutes from the airport!! Very safe, even for women travelling alone.

Fantastic

They are working every day at keeping this beautiful Hotel to its original quality. All in all everything about this Hotel is wonderful. The beach is kept very clean. The Gardens are beautiful. All areas are looked after always. Friendly people make the resort and great food......

Amazing Service

Overall, this resort was great. The staff was awesome. Rooms were clean, food was good and entertainment was a bonus. The only down fall, was the hot water situation, but this can happen at any resort..

Lovely vacation

Hotel is in excellent condition after having been neglected at the end of its Blau days. Magnificent beach, great pools. Best part is the location, just 15 minutes from the airport. Overall good trip, I would go back

Older resort, rooms were kept exceptionally clean

Maintenance of grounds is above other resorts in area. Beach area was cleaned, raked daily, lots of new shade palapas were being built. Excellent beach area, lots of nice sand. Older resort just needs a little extra maintenance for small details, eg. fixing of some sidewalks, paths. A la carte restaurants were exceptional.

Wonderful Resort

This is our second stay at the Hotel Colonial and we have had great experoences both time. The Hotel is clean the food is good and the grounds are kept immaculate. The employees are the best at this resort.

Awesome two weeks at the Colonial!

It was our tenth trip to Cuba and first to Cayo Coco. After posting several questions on TA’s forums and doing further research, we selected the Hotel Colonial, as it appeared to be quite charming, was close to the beach and offered a variety of upper floor rooms. ARRIVAL Our carrier was Sunwing. When we arrived at Toronto’s Pearson Airport, it turned out the baggage allowance had just been increased from 20 to 23 kg, yet the personnel was quite strict with the carry-on’s 5 kg limit and  [... lire plus]I had to transfer some of my belongings to the check-in luggage. For the first time my backpack was also weighed and I also had to remove some stuff from it and put it into the suitcase. The plane took off at on November 09, 2015 at 07:40 pm and after 3 hours and 19 minutes we landed at Cayo Coco. During the flight we had complimentary food/beverage choice including pizza, wine and coke. Cuban customs officers questioned Catherine’s supplements which were in hand, but eventually let her keep them. We got on the bus, which dropped off tourists at two other hotels before coming to the Colonial. It was a short, 20 minute ride. We were given room number 1609, on the lower level, despite having emailed the Hotel beforehand requesting a quiet upper level room. Unfortunately, we were told that there were no upper rooms available, but advised to check back in the morning. That very night we had dinner (served until 10:00 pm) and after wandering on the hotel property for a while, we went back to the room. It was a nice room, across from the pool, yet for us it was very important be on an upper floor, so the next day we went to the reception and managed to get another room (number 1836) on the second floor. HOTEL The Colonial was the first hotel built on Cayo Coco and was opened by Fidel Castro on November 12, 1993—during our stay it was celebrating its 22nd anniversary. It used to be called Guitart Cayo Coco, Blau and at one point was part of the adjoining Tryp Hotel. In 1994 and 1995 a Cuban exile group attacked the resort with machine guns, without causing any injuries. As it had been built by the Spanish, the architecture was very pretty, it was very cozy, had a character, atmosphere and style, resembling a small, colonial town. • The reception area was lovely, there was a fountain in the middle—and the reception staff was always friendly and helpful. I got two English issues of “The Granma”, one had an interesting article on the friendly and playful dogs used by Cuban customs officers at airports. • There were a number of swimming pools, including a large salt water pool, yet half of them were under construction/being renovated. • There were plenty of coconut trees on the property and it was possible with private arrangements to have fresh coconuts upon request. • The beach was narrow, but nice and sandy, with plenty of lounge chairs available. The width of the beach kept fluctuating (quite significantly, I must add) due to tides and it almost disappeared during high tides. For about 50 meters the water was very shallow. Much of the main beach was somewhat hand-raked daily for seaweed, yet manmade ocean debris and garbage was ignored which was a head-shaker. • There were several stores (‘tiendas’) across from the lobby building, selling cigars, beverages, beer, rum, souvenirs, clothes, etc. There was also a hairdresser as well as a dental clinic, offering various dental services at competitive prices. • There were plenty of big blue and Halloween crabs everywhere, especially in the morning and late afternoon. It was fun watching them emerge from the holes or even eating something. They were very shy though and scurried into their holes at the slightest sound. • Behind the Plaza buffet restaurant and the El Caribeno Restaurant (which was closed) there was a pond with a live flamingo. It had apparently arrived at the hotel several years ago with an injured wing and had been there since then, regularly fed by hotel employees with raw veggies/bread. The pond also had turtles and fish. • Beach towels were available from the Club House, after obtaining a voucher from the reception; there was a fee of 15 CUC for a lost towel. Supposedly tourists who lose them, steal from other tourists, so it is best to bring cheap towels from home and put them on the beach loungers to reserve them. • We spotted 4 black cats, usually hanging around the back of the main building. I think they were well fed by tourist as they were quite picky! We also some a couple of dogs sniffing around. The hotel’s staff was very friendly. We had several long conversations with Daniel, a travel rep (trained as a lawyer), who told us about many interesting places in Cuba (some of them we had already visited). Señor Prado (first name Andreas, I think), an engineer responsible for the hotel’s telecommunication (phones, television) is certainly the person to talk to if you encounter any problems with your phone or TV! Last, but not least, I would like to thank Viviana from Public Relations, a very charming lady, who was very helpful and always ready to resolve our problems. OUR ROOM # 1836 It was on the second floor, had a balcony with a view of the ocean (we had paid for an ocean view room) and plenty of coconut trees. It was the furthest building from the buffet and a bit of walk on cobblestone surface for those with mobility issues; the Tryp’s property was just several meters from it. The room had nice furnishing, safe (free!), bathtub, bidet, hair dryer, closet, one big, king size bed, small fridge and perfectly working air-conditioning. The HD TV was nice, but there was no English-language channel from Canada. We mainly watched CNN (the other main news channel, CCTV, was Chinese and as I had been able to determine in the past, quite biased and boring). I wish it had had a CBC and/or CTV channel. Although we do not have and do not watch TV back in Canada, we ended up watching the news a lot: it was during our stay, on Friday, November 13th, 2015, when the Paris attack took place. We did not notice any bugs in the room, just an occasional mosquito—quite often we turned off air-conditioning and kept the windows open and just drew the curtains. RESTAURANTS AND FOOD The main restaurant (Plaza) served buffet-style breakfast (from 7:00 to 10:00 am), Lunch (from 1:00 to 2:45 pm) and Dinner (from 6:00 to 10:00 pm). The servers were very polite, fast and efficient. Tables were indoors but supposedly in high season there was patio dining. Breakfast Two egg stations were preparing excellent omelets and fried eggs as well as there was a pancake station. Plenty of yogurt and juice was always available. Really good selection of fruits, vegetables, cooked sausages, meat, eggs, tomatoes, cheese, bread, buns, etc. Coffee was so-so, but at least servers brought the whole pot to the table so we did not have to get up to get a refill. Lunch I only had one lunch, otherwise we skipped it. I had a tasty hamburger with fries, tomatoes and beer. There was also beef and pork made to order. I think that the food was more-less similar to that served for dinner. Dinner We never had any problems with the variety of food. There were various kinds of meat (beef, pork, chicken) and fish, grilled by cooks, as well as shrimps (excellent!), rabbits, several salads, vegetables, desserts, ice cream and many others. One station was preparing ‘made-to-order’ pasta. Passable red wine (and good beer) was also served. Oftentimes bands were playing during dinner, some of them quite nicely, and they were never pushy. The La Placita snack bar, located in front of the La Fontanella, served drinks as well as very good sandwiches (we had tuna and ham sandwiches just before departure) as well as French fries. Several times we had very good Spanish coffee at the Lobby bar. Except for an occasional beer, we did not have any alcoholic drinks at the bars, so I cannot comment on them. We much preferred to purchase juice, coke, rum and liqueurs at the store and later enjoyed them while sitting at our room’s balcony. A’ LA CARTE RESTAURANT We had 5 a ’la carte dinners at the Fontanella Restaurant—which also had the live piano/flute/singing bar—every evening different performers were there. We went to the Italian, Cuban and Caribbean-style dinners, they were excellent! We had a choice of any starters and any main courses, plus a dessert. The presentation was outstanding and so was the service. They were served with Spanish red wine. After dinners we usually spent some time at the piano bar (located in the other part of the Fontanella restaurant). Several times Augusto was our waiter; he was very fast and worked like a ‘workhorse’! Incidentally, we met him during our visit to Morón. In fact, all the servers at that restaurant worked very hard and professionally, we did not have to wait long for the dishes to be served. And of course, kudos to the ‘invisible’ chef and the kitchen staff who did a wonderful job-THANK YOU! How to book the a ‘la carte restaurant: go to the Fontanella a ‘la carte restaurant, between 4:00 and 5:30 pm and make arrangements for which sitting and which menu—3 dinners per week are allowed. ENTERTAINMENT Each evening featured a different show. We only went to the Michael Jackson Tribute which was quite good, yet we found it too loud. Another night a band was playing in the lobby, but again, it was so loud that I just left. That was why I really enjoyed the Piano bar—that was my kind of music! CONCLUSION It was an excellent trip! The hotel was very good, the staff very friendly, pleasant and helpful, the food tasty and abundant. There were several rainy, cloudy and even cool days, but they did not spoil our vacation. We wish we could visit the hotel again in the future!