Memories Paraiso Azul Beach Resort in Cayo Santa Maria

Despite having some sort of stomach bug for the final three days, I have to say that Memories Paraiso Azul Beach Resort in Cayo Santa Maria, Cuba was well worth the money. For less than $3,000 Canadian, we had nine days of all-inclusive fun from Toronto for two adults, a three year old and a three month old.

The trip didn’t come without its shortcomings. However, this article will address the positive. There will be a follow-up that will serve as a rant.

Memories Paraiso Azul Beach Resort

Memories Paraiso Azul Beach Resort is located on the northern coast of Cuba along the shores of the Atlantic Ocean. Cayo Santa Maria is one of many islands that belong to the Jardines Del Rey Archipelago. To the east are the popular Cayo Guillermo and Cayo Coco.

However, unlike Cayo Coco, Cayo Santa Maria is not directly serviced by an international airport. Instead, you must fly into the centre of the island and land at Abel Santamaria Airport (SNU) in Santa Clara. This airport services both sides of the island and is where I flew into when I stayed at Rancho Luna Resort on the Caribbean side, near Cienfuegos.

The result is that there is an hour and half bus trip from the airport to the resort. Contrast that with the ten minutes from the Cayo Coco airport to any of that island’s resorts. This is not necessarily a bad thing. If you are lucky enough to arrive during daylight hours, you get to see a pretty impressive stretch of Cuban countryside. As well, there are some pretty spectacular views as you cross a 48 kilometre long causeway from the mainland.

As for the images above, the first is of the fountain in front of Lobby 1 – the main lobby. There are two lobbies that are nearly identical but one stays basically empty and the staff that sits around in the second lobby can do pretty much nothing for you.

The second image is of the beach at the ‘Azul’ or east end of the resort near sunset. The beach is outstanding with powder soft sand and sandbars that allow you to walk out a fair distance. However, when the water gets rough, those sandbars turn against you pretty quick.

The third image is the view from the third floor of building 54. Each building has three floors that are open at each end. While we were there, 54 was empty as it was undergoing renovations. It just so happens that this is the high point of the property and offers the best views.

Above and below are views from a three story walk up observation tower located in Puebla Estrella. Puebla Estella is an outdoor mall, despite the fact they call it a town. It is located at the far west end of the resort and connects Memories Paraiso Azul with The Royalton resort. The town is full of shops and restaurants selling the same cheap crap found at any other resort in Cuba.

As for the resort, this is a large place to spend time. As the crow flies, it is nearly a full kilometre from east to west. The east or ‘Azul’ side is a bit hilly and a bit more strenuous of a walk home from the main buffet and theatre area.

There are 1,386 rooms, all located in three story ‘bungalows’ – which sort of goes against what I thought the word bungalow meant. There are eleven restaurants and nine bars listed. However, each guy serving hot dogs and hamburgers pool or beach side is considered a restaurant.

Below is another view from the empty, and spooky, building 54. The resort is great for families, especially with young kids. The kids programs are great and plentiful. This is probably not the party resort you want on spring break but the Paraiso side did seem a little wilder than the Azul.

Exchanging currency is fair but a bit of a pain in the ass – because, well, it’s Cuba. There is a bank in each of the lobbies and they are manned seven days a week and from 9-6. They are manned by just one person. Yes, Cubans still are very slow when it comes to counting money.

The thing that caught a lot of people off guard was the fact you had to show a passport to exchange money. I’ve been to the country several times and, as far as I can remember, didn’t have to worry about that. According to the ‘banker’, it was a very old and very serious rule in Cuba. However, ‘just this once’ he let me exchange cash without having to walk all the way back to the room.

For the first time ever, regardless of country, I did not have to wear an annoying plastic bracelet at an all-inclusive resort. The only customers who did were those who paid extra for ‘Diamond Club’ privileges. I saw it written many times that the Diamond Club benefits were not worth the money. I saw nothing that would prove that opinion wrong.

I had photography projects in mind but with the two small kids did not get around to much. I got into a little bit of long exposure, as seen above. This is a rocky section at the far east end of the resort. I also did not snorkel but apparently the only place where there’s anything at all to look at is directly off this point.

I had aspirations of star trail photography off the beach at night. The beach is accessible but they put up no lighting whatsoever on the paths that take you down. Over our stay, we really only had one or two nights that could even be considered starry anyway.

Not quite eligible for the upcoming rant article, there’s no picture like a 19″ ChangHong tube television. You do get HBO and TBS, but the picture’s a bit grainy. They actually had CTV from Canada but I refused to watch it.

Cayo Santa Maria, Cuba

Cuba is still 60% or more Canadian tourists. However, the hopes and dreams of these people seemed to be counting on the impending relationship with the United States. A tour guide on an excursion we took emphasized that Cuba and the U.S. would be equals, seeming to want to throw Canada under the bus despite us supporting their tourism industry for the past few decades. They’ve got another thing coming. The U.S. will walk all over them and they’ll regret pushing us aside.

But, for now, it’s a bunch of dorky Canadians wearing a Canada flag on every patch of clothing like they’re the only ones in this far off foreign land that’s all of a 3.5 hour flight away.

There was an Eastern Airlines plane sitting on the tarmac at SNU when we were departing so Americans are arriving. Eastern is operating flights from Miami on behalf of Havana Air.

Another thing worth mentioning is that the resort is pretty much exclusive to SunWing for Canadian visitors. SunWing gets a bad rap and does not quite escape the upcoming rant article. However, they were great to us on both flights. I cannot stress enough that the extra money for their ‘Elite Plus’ service is so well worth it.