The MLD is in our opinion outstanding; it offers everything you could want in a hotel, with pueblos nearby, a stunning beach and the nicest staff possible.

As soon as we got out of the airport, we were greeted by a member of staff to inform us of our coach, our tour guide Ariadna and the coach driver were fantastic! Ariadna was very knowledgeable of Cuba and spoke fluently in English!

On arriving at the hotel, we received a welcoming dance into the hotel from the entertainment team, we headed straight to the lobby bar for our much anticipated Cuban coffee!

Prior to our trip, we emailed the hotel to ask for a room on the adult side ideally on the 2nd floor, we received this well beyond our expectations... and this year was by far the nicest room we had ever been allocated! Lian works for customer relations, and she really made our holiday special beyond words!

The following morning, we met Jorge-Luis in the buffet, he served us our coffee and orange juice every morning (and helped me a lot with my Spanish!) We had a beautiful breakfast cooked by Mildrey... she made us the most beautiful waffles ever and while we waited she made some amazing art on the plates with chocolate sauce.

I must also give a shout out to Frank, who also works at the buffet as a waiter, he was fantastic every day served our evening meal! Also Milagros who made the most beautiful flambé bananas in the buffet.

The buffet had a good selection of food on all 3 meals (some days it had sushi) We had some tummy trouble as mentioned but it can by no means be the fault of the hotel as good cleaning was consistent throughout the grounds and dining places (it could possibly be due to the fact that I over induldged on the tropical fruit!) This was delicious!

Our favourite bar staff also deserve a shout out; Guillermo, Liliana, Ysini, Yrenni, Kenya, Daima were all fantastic, there were no queuing issues at the bar, everyone was served at exactly the right time!

We did visit the Mexican, romantic, and Italian a la cartes, we were served by Nali in the romantic a la carte, she was fantastic!
The hotel is right on a beautiful beach, we spent a lot of the holiday at the beach, we did spend some time around the adult pool but a load of guests seem to think that the rules of "quiet pool" do not apply to them or their children! Considering that many people were 'ill' they did so well to spend 10am to 7pm in the swim up bar drinking and then all evening in the lobby bar (again drinking.)

The animation team were fantastic, we had Spanish lessons from Wally who was brilliant, so friendly and of course Teo, who is the most fantastic entertainer in all of Cuba! We did watch the fantasia show which was breathtaking!

A few days before going home, we were on tropical storm watch (the exaggerators managed to upgrade this to a major hurricane!) The staff at the hotel did a brilliant job of keeping everyone as calm as possible, their professional reaction to the tropical storm and keeping everyone entertained made sure that guests were as calm as possible.

Our Thomas Cook rep, Suzie, was fantastic... by far the best rep who has ever worked at the Las Dunas! She worked solidly throughout the 2 weeks even through her days off to make sure that the guests were OK. I've written to Thomas Cook separately to make them aware of what a gem they have! We also had a Cuban rep (also called Suzie) who was also excellent!

Our maid's name was Mattie and she made sure that our room was spotlessly cleaned every day consistently! I have never received substandard treatment from this hotel especially from the maids! We had towel art every day, and before anyone asks, no we are not big tippers! We also managed to talk to Yani, who was our maid a few years ago... she does such a good job too!

We will be back next year for our 5th visit

The hotel complex is massive, but very well managed and maintained throughout.

The gardeners are busy on the grounds and there are cleaners everywhere all day long.

The food at the 2 buffets was very good and always a vast choice fresh fish and meat cooking stations included.

There are 6 A la Cartes to choose from and you can book 4 each week, and we dined at the steak house, Italian, and Romantico restaurants and they were all top notch, with a fabulous choice of wine albeit that the upgraded wines were chargeable, as the house wine was very good we did not try any of the others.

The hotel location is ideal if you are in need of a relaxing holiday as it is nestling on a small 12 km by 2 km island which by the way is uninhabited, there is nothing on here other than 5 hotel complexes with plenty of distance between them all.(

The complex is split in to 2 sections centred by the main reception and theatre, adult section and family section, we were on the adult side and rarely saw any children around that side, both sides have 2 large pools plus a smaller childrens paddling pool on the family side.

There are 4 places to eat lunch as well as the main buffet, there is also a very nice ice cream parlour on the complex we didn't try it but it looked lovely.

In the main part the staff are very friendly but as always we did come across a small handful that weren't so, but we did receive exceptional service from many of them.

The entertainment team seemed to work hard we only saw some of their shows in the evenings but all of those were executed very professionally, we assumed that they entertained the family side during the day also as they did not come to the family side, as a matter of fact there was generally no noise over there at all which made it very relaxing to lie and read in the peace and quiet.

Another nice touch here was the last evening farewell reception that the management put on with some entertainment, drinks and a buffet attended by the general manager (Manolo) who would be seen all over the complex every day.

Notes before I start:
This was our 4th visit to Cuba, our first to the Melia Las Dunas. I travelled with my mother from Manchester on the 14th August til the 28th (I am 23, mum is 66.)

Prior to our holiday (about 3 weeks in advance) I emailed the hotel to request a room on the adult side, I also quoted my MAS card number (Sol Melia club card) some people say this does not work, but we found it did. Our room was allocated and they had pre booked our a la carte reservations to avoid queuing.

I use holiday forums a lot, and have been in contact with a member from another holiday discussion forum, who is actively involved in a project called