Myself and my husband (were 25&30)visited the Melia Cayo Coco back in 2002 and had such a great time and fond memories of the people & place we decided to visit again, this time with my parents. I was exactly as we had remembered it, and alot of familiar faces!

Do not expect 5* as it would be in the UK but you have to remember you are in Cuba! The hotel is fantastic as are most of the staff.

Flew with Thomas Cook airlines which were as we expected - cramped but ok!

The standard rooms are clean and spacious, maids do a great job and go out of their way with little touches. Tipped them most days which goes along way.

The pool area is also very nice, a little cramped if you chose to go a busy time of year. The beach is fantastic and goes on for miles. The food is also nice and fairly consistent.

There is alot of choice for breakfast including fresh pancakes & omelette's which they cook for you whilst you wait. Lots of cakes & pastries and also the usual of eggs, bacon, sausages, yoghurt's etc. Lunch consisted of either the buffet, the snack bar of the beach BBQ.. all great. The international restaurant overlooking the lagoon is by far the best for dinner, great setting,service & food. The Italian leaves a little bit to be desired!

We all went on the overnight trip by plane to Havana, good value for money and gives you a proper feel for Cuba. Cayo Coco is beautiful but without going onto the main land you could be anywhere! Also visited the local village of Moron, certainly worth a look, it was very fascinating, especially as alot of the Melia Hotel workers live there.

The entertainment is there if you wish to watch it. Only saw the shows twice as we tended to go to the bar overlooking the lagoon as the atmosphere in there was always good.

All in all a fantastic trip, very good value for money.

Arrived after 29 hours delay (Thomas Cook) met at reception by staff and given a glass of champagne.. we had a lagoon room very nice big and bright and spotless.. all staff are excellent from management-gardeners ...beach wow great lots of sunbeds no kids water warm and the fish swim around your feet.

The entertainment staff are 1st class...maids decorated rooms most days(swans etc).

The gardeners hand out little gift(flowers etc).

Food...I am a very fussy eater but managed most night to eat something. Cant wait to go back but NOT with Thomas Cook.

Firstly you must remember that you are going Cuba!!!Remember folks there are certain restrictions & embargos on this country so please go with an open mind!!! If you do this then you will enjoy your holiday.

Tourism is virtually a new thing on this island so keep an open mind. We did this and had an amazing holiday.

The hotel is very comftable set in beautiful gardens. The beach is picture postcard.

We were told that that due to the influx of guest the Melia was able to settle their bills pronto. In other words it`s the only hotel in the area that get`s avalible produce. But remember kids this is Cuba so some days you won`t get yr basics i.e Tomotoes, spuds, banannas etc!!

If you book with Thomas Cook & you have any issues, don`t expect too much help from the rep. In fact you`d be lucky to get a smile out of him. We had no reason to complain however other guest really found him inconsiderate!

If you fancy the trips beware if they go by coach. The roads are uneven & would you really want to spend 8hours there 8 hours back in a coach on holiday? no no no!! so be sensible, book the plane! It`s 10pesco cheaper, the airport is 15mins away. The flight takes 30minutes and you don`t loose a day!

Swim with Dolphins!!! Amazing!! Very well treated in their own enviroment. My fiancee is preggers so she got plenty of attention.

The only grumble was the Mossies!! Although i didn`t get attacked the crop spraying plane used to wake you up around 6 am.

Oh and do tip. Even an odd pesco (.70p) really helps as the locals on average get paid 16pesco a month!!
Take plenty of stuff (t shirts, first aid stuff) to give as they`ll appreciate that more!!

However beware on your last day. They really do hassle you & make a point that they looked after you, so save some pesco`s for your last day!!

Verdict: Go before the country becomes overcrowded with Big Mac outlets!!

It trully is an amazing country!!

The hotel is advertised as a five star and this by cuban standards is definatly the case. However if you are expecting the Ritz you will not be very happy.

We were told by various different people even other holiday makers that had changed hotels that the Melia is one of the best hotels in the cayos.

If you visit the local towns you could well believe that you have traveled to a different and much poorer country that that which the hotel is in. It is a world away form the hotel.

The food in the buffet consisted mainly of fish dishes which I am not a huge lover of so i stayed away for here although I never went hungry as the pasta and meat grill was very nice.

While we were there we only tryed the cuban al a carte and was not impressed so never vistited the others as I would rater see how my food is being cooked and handled plus you have much more choice.

We did hear horror stories about the international over the lagoon and mosquitos.

The choice of 4 bars were good although we visited orlandos biliard bar almost every night there is no entertainment in here but orlando has a great sense of humour and we often found him dancing around behind the bar.

This is the place where most of the animation team come before they go to the disco.

To be honest I cannot realy fault anything about the hotel the staff work so hard there are cleaners averywhere night and day.

When we arrived at the hotel our first impressions were that it was very clean and the staff were very helpful.

We got checked in relatively quickly and taken to our room which was clean, light and spacious, plenty of room for the 3 of us. The air conditioning was a god send!

The food in all the restaurants was of a good standard, enough variety to have something different every night.

We were only a 2 minute walk away from the beach which was nice if we wanted a change from being around the pool. Because we were only there a week we didn't really venture very far.

Most of the hotel staff were very chatty and friendly apart from the odd one or two.

General - For a 4+ star this was very basic, the brochure should make it clear that this is not a comparative rating against the rest of the Caribbean. This would struggle to get a 3+ anywhere else.

Location - There really is nothing here, don't think you will discover a locals bar (you won't). Take lots of medication ie Immodium, Paracetamol, you will not be able to buy this. Ditto suncream, aftersun.

Accommodation - We booked a standard room. There was no view apart from trees and bushes. Very basically furnished. Nice bathroom area and shower and very comfy beds. No kettle in standard rooms. Mini Bar consisted of 4 soft drinks (no diet), 2 lagers and 1 bottle of water. Refilled if it was empty (lock your door because we had people milling about in our room the first morning).

The room was kept clean, we tipped our maid on the first day and every other day and we had bow tie beds, swans and she even tidied up for us! TV shows Canadian and Cuban channels, you can normally catch a film or Friends if you are staying in.

Food - In the buffet restaurant was poor. I am a very fussy eater and struggled here. Hubby isn't and didn't. In the buffet found it disturbing that nothing was covered and flies were landing on everything. Everything was served lukewarm and was left standing, there was no air con either. Staff ignored us until we started to tip on third day, then couldn't do enough.

The buffet did nice fresh eggs for breakfast, and we found the pool bar best for snacks in the day. At night, again buffet restaurant poor, although if you wanted to queue the freshly cooked meat and pasta was nice, Al a carte (esp the lagoon restaurant) was lovely.

Room service is available but it costs

The hotel was absolutely amazing - we couldn't fault it in any way!

Everywhere was immaculate: The hotel is set in extensive gardens, which are tended daily. Maid service is also daily, with clean bed linen and towels.

Being a fussy eater, I was a bit apprehensive about the food but again we had no complaints. The main buffet restaurant was probably the best although we avoided the area where food had been lying out - there is also a grill area where you can have food cooked to order. Pancakes, omeletts, fried eggs, bacon etc for breakfast. Lunch was burgers, steaks, seafood. You could have virtually anything for dinner - a thousand varieties of pasta, meats, seafood. They also have someone to mix salad to order, someone who makes juice from fresh fruit in front of you.

Of the 3 a la carte restaurants, the Italian was the best by far. The International restaurant, built on stilts over the lagoon, is amazingly romantic but the food was a bit iffy - I had chicken but tasted of fish. The Cuban restaurant down on the beach was better, with a Cuban band and lots of cute little kittens running around.

The beach is beautiful but very windy - nice for a walk or a quick swim but the pool area is better for sunbathing.

We had a superior room (bigger, nicer and on stilts over the lagoon!) with a huge balcony and two sun loungers for sunbathing, ideal if you like your own space!

The entertainment team are fab, very friendly and dedicated to making sure you have a good holiday.

Like the rest of the holiday, evenings are very laid-back. The lobby bar is nice but quite windy due to the open plan layout of the hotel. It's a good idea to make friends with some of the bar staff, you'll always be first in line for drinks - Yamil and Idalberto are probably the nicest!
The Billiard Bar was our favourite, special mention to Orlando, the best barman in Cuba - and it's not just me who thinks that, he's won awards to say so! His strawberry daiquiri is a must!

If you want something a bit livelier, you can head next door to the Sol Cayo Coco to the disco.

We would also recommend a trip to Havana, the Jungle Tour if you like snorkelling, and swimming with dolphins. Felix, the Thomas Cook rep at the Melia, will be able to book all these and many more for you - just make sure you attend the welcome meeting.

All in all, a fab holiday! Would definitely recommend and we'll definitely be going back!

On arrival at the Melia the staff are organised and friendly, we did not have to wait for are room. Our baggage was delivered by a reception porter as it was collected by one at the end of our stay.

The room was spacious and well furnished although some of the fittings were a little shabby looking. The water was cold one day but was fixed immediately. The staff in general are very friendly and helpful, they are very hard working.

The hotel is an adults only resort and apart from the odd boisterous person was relatively quiet and relaxing. The grounds are well maintained and generally clean a host of gardeners constantly working all day.

The beach is fairly narrow and because of the almost constant wind the sea rough. For most of the two weeks we were there we were unable to swim in the sea because of the currents. This meant that we were also unable to use the water activities equipment ie.sail boats, windsurfing, snorkelling, kayaks, diving etc.

The pool is quite small for the size of hotel and was swamped with sunbeds, this was a little disappointing. There were other activities to do through the day and we did go horse riding.

The food was very good, the a la carte International Restaurant and Italian Restaurant were fine but nothing extra special, We did not visit the Cuban Restaurant we just did not fancy it. The Buffet restaurant we found to very good epecially for breakfasts with food freshly cooked.

Lunchtimes we used the beach restaurant which had freshly barbecued fish and set menu meals of prawns, squid, pork, chicken and so on. One could have eaten themselves to death. There were several bars, a small beach bar which due to the weather was not very busy, the pool bar, the billiard bar and the lobby bar which was 24 hours. We preferred the lobby bar and sometimes the billiard bar in the evenings.

The entertainments was varied in the theatre and the staff are very enthusiastic, unfortunately the backing band is very loud(amplified) and the singers are sometimes drown by them . Generally everything is too loud and distorted by the sound system.There is some limited entertainment in the lobby, a background pianist who is quite good but unfortunately the piano is so badly out of tune being exposed to the humidity of the climate.

On a Thursday night a male singer comes in at 10:30pm who excellent, by any standards. The lobby is open plan and it does get quite cold and windy in there. There are plenty of excursions to break up your holiday if you so wish. Top of our list was the Jungle Tour where you drive speedboats through the mangroves, this was excellent you get to snorkel in the mangroves (the only opportunity we had to snorkel on our holiday).

This trip is very professionally supervised and I would thoroughly recommend it. We also went on a swim with the dolphins excursion to Cienfuego on the south coast of Cuba, this was also a very good excursion although I did not particularly like being herded around the town afterwards.

We were due to go on a Catamaran excursion but this was cancelled both times due to the weather(disappointing)and some of the excursions to Havana were cancelled because the plane was Russian.

Thomas Cook will not allow you to fly on these planes. We did hire a car twice and travelled to Pilar Beach which is worth a visit and to Cayo Guillerma Melia Hotel, We also went to Cayo Romano and Cayo Peradon were it is just mangroves and a little desolate. The roads are very quiet if not a little bumpy.

The nicest thing about our holiday was meeting so many friendly people, it really made our holiday great and combined with the staff who were so friendly and helpful.

The hotel was spot on.
We had heard many reports about the food in Cuba not being very good so were very wary. The food was fantastic in every resturant, apart from Breakfast which was slightly disappointing(food choice never changed).

Hotel Staff varied in friendliness - 99% could not do enough for you and this was with or without tipping.

Grimmy in the Italian resturant is superb
Daytime Enterainment could not be faulted,though night time was a little poor.

Location was right on the beach,weather was fantastic.
We had a lagoon room and would recommend the upgrade. Standard rooms have only single beds.

Wonderful holiday, wonderful location, wonderful food, entertainment acceptable. Have as busy or as quiet a holiday as you want.

Staff were wonderful in their preparations for the possible visit of Hurricane Ivan - especially when they must have been worried about their own families.

First Class.