Sol Cayo Guillermo

Anónimo, CA, 2005-04-19
We booked our trip through Sunquest Vacations for 29 March - 5 April 2005. Our flights on Skyservice were smooth and uneventful. The travel agent called late in the afternoon of the day before our trip to say that, due to resort overbooking, we would be bumped to Melia Cayo Coco for the first two nights of our vacation. We were not thrilled about this but decided not to let it ruin our vacation. After two nights at the Melia, I was very glad to arrive at Sol Cayo Guillermo. And I must say, I much prefer it to the Melia, even though it is not rated as highly as that resort. It is much livelier and certainly a lot easier to navigate and the food is much better.

The layout of Sol is very nice, everything is within easy walking distance of the centrally located lobby and pool. The grounds are the prettiest I have seen in many Caribbean vacations, with stunning flowers and many little seating areas with statues and ornate benches.

I was in room 401, an oceanview room with easy access to the beach, and my friend was given room 402 right next door to me. The only negative aspect of the room was the number of small ants present. We asked that our rooms be sprayed on a number of occasions, but on the ground floor so close to the beach, it's difficult to keep the insects from coming in. If you want an oceanview room, I would suggest asking to be situated on the second level. A couple we had met were kind enough to lend us their can of Raid bug spray and we were able to get rid of most of the ants that way. Other than the ants, I saw just one spider in the room and one of the insects that are usually found in palm trees. There were some cute little geckos running around outside the room but none of them found their way in. Our maid, Jeanny, was absolutely wonderful and a delight to speak with. Do yourself a favour and get to know the people who work at this resort, they are intelligent, well-mannered and offer interesting insights into life in Cuba.

What can I say about the beach? The green water was absolutely gorgeous and is surprisingly shallow for about 400 metres, allowing one to walk out quite far from the shoreline in water that only reaches one's knees. The beach is rather narrow and gets more so in the afternoon with the rising tide. Having walked down past the Melia and Iberostar, I have to say that Sol CG has the best stretch of beach of all the resorts on Cayo Guillermo.

The food was good. Although we were told that we could eat at the a la carte restaurants for 4 dinners (rather than the usual 2) because of the overbooking of the resort, we were only able to get reservations for one night in each of the Cuban and International restaurants. They were both very good, with tremendous service. The buffet had enough choices to keep us happy - for breakfast we enjoyed the french toast, pancakes and eggs made to order. The best item for lunch at the buffet was the pasta station, where you chose the pasta you wanted (penne, spaghetti, macaroni or rotini), then chose from a number of toppings including tomatoes, mushrooms, bacon, peppers, etc. and three types of sauce -- delicious! Lunch is also available at the beach grill, where you can choose items from their menu or from the small buffet. For dessert after dinner at the buffet, don't miss the bananas foster - they are absolutely wonderful, as is the delightful lady who cooks them.

My only complaints were about service at the main bar, where I gave up on one occasion after having been ignored for about 20 minutes while trying to get a drink; and about the practice of saving chairs at the beach and pool. If one was not at the beach before 7:00 a.m., forget about getting a shady spot. I found that a lot of people reserve chairs both at the pool and beach all day, even though they may not be using them. I wish hotel management could do something about this, but I understand it would be difficult to control.

Overall, I enjoyed Sol Cayo Guillermo very much and found it preferable to the 5* Melia Cayo Coco due to its intimate size, lovely grounds, personalized service and stunning views.

Anónimo, CA, 2005-04-19
Last April 3-April 17, we stayed at the Sol Cayo Guillermo.

Trip: Cayo Guillermo is an island off an island off the main island of Cuba. Flights land at Cayo Coco. We had booked initially with Air Canada Vacations to go to the Sol Cayo Largo in October last but by mid-March cancelled the flights to Cayo Largo and offered the flight to Cayo Guillermo. We were very disappointed with Air Canada Vacations because they charged more money for a hotel of fewer stars and left us without seat reservation privileges and having to fly on a stand by, which meant taking whatever was left at the time of getting the boarding passes.

Currency: At the present time, the currency for tourists is the convertible peso equivalent to $0.72 Canadian. It s better to change at the Airport bank and not at the hotels where we have seen the rate drop to $0.70 or even $0.69 Canadian.

Beach: The four hotels in the island are in a row, and the Sol Cayo Guillermo is the one at the end. The water level is shallow for quite a good distance, making it not dangerous for children. The sand is white and powdery and there are palapas and beach loungers that people seem to reserve very early in the morning by leaving towels on them!! If it is not too windy the waves are not very strong. It is possible to walk North (turn left as you leave the Hotel) to playa Pilar about 2.5 km, it is a nice secluded beach in a bay.
At about 2.5 km East, on the sea is one of the best coral reefs in the world; you can get there by catamaran and further explore it. It costs 11 convertible pesos/person/hour.

Weather: Cayo Guillermo is facing the North Atlantic and receiving North East winds, so it can be relatively cool specially in January.
Hotel: This resort is small, with well groomed gardens; there are 268 rooms in total. All of the accommodation here is in one or two-story bungalows, with no more than 2-4 units per bungalow. We had a great room on the second floor, 1210, it was quiet with good sized bathroom with abundant cold and hot water at all times. If your travel agent can put in your room request (upper floor, corner suite, ocean view, king-size bed, etc) it's best to do this at time of booking. There is a congenial, good family atmosphere in the resort. The Hotel provides a Room Safety Box, hair dryer and 1.5 liter water bottle/day.

Food: Adequate, it may be lacking in spice or variety, but there is always a good selection, great fresh fruit, fish and seafood, yogurt and cheeses. There is a pasta bar where a chef will make pasta and sauce from scratch for you, and there's always rice, vegetables, fruits, and good homemade ice cream. There are lots of dessert options and delicious fried bananas. The coffee/espresso/capuccino is very good. You can book 2 a la carte dinners/week and eat at the buffet the rest of the time, the main bar and snack bar are open 24 hours which is standard in the better hotels.

Tipping: Much appreciated, but not expected. We found the staff to be very friendly and helpful in general. We did not find that the service altered depending on whether you tip or not. Sometimes you just come from the beach and you're not carrying cash.

Shopping: The government owns and controls stores, so the content from shop to shop between tourist hotels changes little. If you want to bring back Cuban goods (rum, cigars, coffee) it's best to get all that at the large duty free stores at the airport when you leave. Prices are a bit lower than at the hotels, and the selection is greater.

Our great Sol Cayo Guillermo trip was done for under $1200 per person/week, all-inclusive (including taxes, service charges, and other fees). We would go back to the Sol Cayo Guillermo; we loved this resort and would return, we highly recommend it.

Anónimo, CA, 2005-04-14
My wife and I stayed at this hotel for two weeks. Based on the numerous very good comments outlined earlier in TripAdvisor, we were also not disappointed. We were looking for a small, quiet, nice 4-star resort and we found it! This 250-place hotel, dispursed in 2-story buildings or bungalows, is not new but very well managed and in good condition. The beach is not wide (8-10 meters) but at low tide you can walk 500+ meters in the sea at knee-high level. Being on an island, it is very windy at times but great for suntan. Unfortunately, if you wanted some chairs at the beach, you had to be there very early. Staff is very friendly and day/night activities are OK. With only two restaurants other than the buffet, you get tired easy with food but is it not the case elsewhere also?

We took the "Jungle Tour" but beware, it is more a "Sea Tour" with 40 minutes riding a 40HP boat and 20 minutes diving in a cold lagoon. We also rented car and visited Moron (very poor) and a wonderful lagoon (San Jose), 50 km North of Moron. We saw wonderful palm trees and flamingos. For those afraid of driving, I must say that roads are in better conditions than in Montreal- just beware of pedestrians, cyclists and animals on the road! Take the catamaran at the beach for $11 pesos - you will see hundreds of colorful fishes you feed yourself.

We loved this small resort, just the right size. We visited other resorts at Cayo Coco, stacked with people near the pool or in restaurants. Not worthwhile! Lots of people mostly from Québec and Europe - easy to make friends with. We have been to Cuba for the 7th time and we always love the island and the wonderfull people there.

Anónimo, GB, 2005-04-12
Well, not sure where to start here. was supposed to a dream wedding for my neice, but sadly turned out to little less that this.
Started terribly at Gatwick Airport, this is a wedding me and most of my family are going to remember, but guess what??, yep the BRIDE not even on Thomas Cook's flight list!!, good start?, ok we finally got her, and the rest of party on plane, after one or 2 tears from poor girl.
Flight very cramped, but crew pleasant enough, arrived at Sol Cayo Guillermo, problem 2!!, hotel is over booked!!, 8 of our party had to stay in hotel next door, so far so good??.
Receptionist even suggests that one of the bridesmaids share with impending bride and groom, now this should be some wedding you not think?.
Ok, so wedding day finally arrives, Mykal and his team perform miracles, thanx Mykal, it went a long way to making trip happier, happy couple now married , all of us had good excellent day.
Ok, so what did i really think of this hotel, i have to say that we were little worried by some of the reviews left on this sie about this hotel, sadly some of them turn out to be well founded.
Accomadation: Excellent, maids too, thanks Maria for looking after room 213.
Food: erm, breakfsat fine, nice fresh omelettes
Lunch: rather later timing?, choice not good, and rarely hot
Dinner: little change here i am affraid, gets very repetitive if ataying 2 weeks, do look out for banana lady, great laugh!!, wicked smile too!
24 hour snacks:, well, i do not think they are using same clocks, watches as rest of us here, although tea, coffee always available.
Make sure you get dinner bookings in International, and Cuban restauraunts, good quality here, we were a little lucky and managed it more times than most, guilty conscience by hotel?, maybe.
Service: sadly, it was difficult at times to get service in main bar, unles you just happen to have a spare peso or 2!, i was under impression that tipping was done AFTER good service, not to simply get served, Yamilla, lovely girl, an exception here, thank you darling always had lovely smile too, a bonus here!!
Entertainment: Excellent, look out for waitresses serving you dinner, then racing of to lay on some great dancing!
Pool, Beach: Excellent, make sure you are up early tho to get sunbeds, seems to not enough when hotel is full!
Overall impression, this is rated as a 4* hotel, i do not know how Thomas Cook, or any other tour operator arrives at this rating, i would rate it as 3* at BEST, maybe a little less.
We all at the end of the day had a great time in Cuba, mainly because we had no choice, after all we had come to celebrate a family wedding, i loved the country as a whole, and the people, and would return one day in future, but definately NOT to this hotel, sorry but they let us down on this occassion, maybe it is not always like this, but we did not see it.
Any questions?, please do feel free to e-mail me, will reply to all recived.