Trip Date: March 5-12, 2020
Tour Operator: Air Transat
Departing from Ottawa at 6AM
Plane Reservation: Booked Option Plus
Room Type: Oceanview Room
Hotel: Be Live Collection, Cayo Santa Maria

Anyone who has read my reviews knows they are long but I break it down in sections and put titles for each section for people to skim though and so they can get to the stuff they are looking for.
Like most people we looked at videos online of the hotel and pictures to understand what to expect. This is not a gigantic hotel complex but it seemed to have what we were most interested in, beautiful beach, a few a la cart restaurants, small hotel complex making it less crowded and more relaxing. it can be intimidating so I do recommend you check out a few videos, many were really helpful and also check out the resort map. My review will be of a first-time visitor point of view. My husband and I have been to Cuba multiple times before but this was our first time in Cayo Santa Maria.

Cayo Santa Maria Airport:

We left the Ottawa airport at 6AM, we arrived on time just after 10 AM. The airport was much smaller than Varadero. After the planed rolled away from the runway, we were picked up by two buses and dropped off a few yards we could have walked. The lineup at customs seemed long but we went though in about 15-20 min at the most. Only one person can go at a time unless you have kids otherwise you and your spouse or partner must go individually. They will take your picture, stamp your passport and the card your filled on the plane. Once though customs you need to go through security again then your off to find your luggage but seeing as the airport is so small you don’t need to walk more than a few paces to determine where you should go next. The rest rooms only have 3 stalls so good luck there. I believe there is a bank window where you can convert your money but we were just in a hurry to get out of the area cause it was not big and we were not sure where to find the bus to take us to the hotel. As walked out of the airport doorway where we had to hand in out customs sheet ( the other paper you had to fill out on the plane) we noticed Air Transat people asking which flight we came from and telling us what bus to catch. There were beer and water vendors when you were walking outside.

Bus Ride
The bus was air-conditioned. The ride was about 90 min, there was a washroom on board. We went though a few small cities the tour guide explained to us that this is where some of the cigars are made and some of the apartment buildings were built by the government for the people who work at the resorts for a small monthly fee. The guide offered refreshments ( beer and water)

HOTEL DROP OFF:

The bus we were on was only making 3 stops, We were the 2nd stop only 4 other passengers got off with us. We arrived around noon, despite the sign indicating check-in was at 4pm our room was ready already. A bus boy came to pick us up in a cart and wheeled us to our room.

Room
The room we were escorted to was on the 3rd floor in building 8, At first glance it looked ok and the bell hop was tipped and left. We soon realize the fridge had a problem and was leaking all over the floor. The TV did not work, the phone did not work the couch had questionable stains and the drapes had mold. We took pictures and went to the front desk to see if anything could be done. We previously joined a FB site for the hotel and were told to contact Leidys Ruiz Montano in customer service if we ever ha issues. When I got to the front desk I asked to speak with her. She came to the front desk within minutes and we showed her the pictures we took and she was not very happy with the room we received. She told us to go back to our roo and pc and a new room would be made ready. In about 2 hrs we got our new room with an even better Oceanview room if that’s even possible. We were assigned room 1446 ( building 14, 3rd floor) We could see the ocean even when lying in bed. We had a king size bed, the mattress was comfortable not as comfy as my own mattress but not rock hard or lump like others I have slept on before. The room had a desk with a built in mini fridge, on top was flat screen TV, with a few Canadian channels. Just and FYI make sure you check the knob it turned to the coldest setting in the fridge otherwise it maybe be turn down low. The fridge was full stocked with local soft drinks, water and beer. The bathroom had the vanity separate from the shower and toilet which was very convenient. The closet had extra hangers, the previous room only had a couple. The safe was included in the room price. We were provided with a bottle of shampoo and bottle of body wash. The both smelled nice but we did not use seeing as we had our own.

Beach

The beach was probably the most beautify I have ever seen no weeds what so ever! The sea was very calm the first few days, some people brought bread and manages to attract two different kinds of fish. The rest of the week, it was very windy and ocean was very turbulent but still no weeds!
If you look up this hotel online you will notice that there are 3 beach sections. All of which are very nice. My building was right next to the main beach so this is where I hung out. It had a nice bar and normally had a nice restaurant but it was closed. Some say it was closed for repairs but I think it was closed because the hotel was only half capacity so there is no point in opening another restaurant for lunch when there are already two others open. To compensate the hotel always had a nice lady near the beach entrance making fruit kebabs and sandwich wraps. One day they had coconut drinks.
Beach Chairs and Palapas. There were about 3 rows of tropical beach umbrellas with lounge chairs. These are usually all reserved by 6AM in every hotel I normally go to and who wants to get up that early when you are on vacation right? I have to say I was very impressed that at 10 AM there were still plenty of these palapas available, more were being built while we were there. I was told hurricane caused some damage a few months back which is why you could see many of these broken palapas still there but they were being replaced.

Pools
This resort had 4 pools, one of these was basically a 3 tiered pool, the first level had the bar, the middle was a nice quiet near the restaurant and washroom, the lower level had some sort of roc cavern with a water fall and infinity pool. All 3 pool decks could see the ocean. I have to say this was the first time I enjoyed a pool so much. The chairs were very comfy wicker lounge chairs and the view was wow! A few steps away from the middle pool was an ice cream parlor. There was at least 6 kinds of ice cream. I forget most, there was chocolate and vanilla and chocolate chip and then pineapple orange. This pool was closest to the lobby. There was also another pool closest to my building which was considered the family pool. It had the kids club building and some animal figures and a mushroom type waterfall.

Buffet and a la carte Restaurants

There appeared to be 3 restaurants when my husband and I checked in we notice 3 restaurant reservations. We thought these were made by our Transat rep but after meeting him the next day we learned he was not the one. We also know that others we spoke to did not get these unless they made reservations on their own. So we are sure who to thank, perhaps Leidys Ruiz Montano from customer service
Our first reservation was at the international restaurant we both enjoyed soup, steak but we did ot like the chocolate mousse. The 2nd restaurant was the Cuban, there were only 5 couples in there the food was amazing, we ate every last crumb. There were musicians who sang beautifully while we ate our delicious meal. The 3rd was back the Italian, we knew from pictures and comments they served lasagna and steak. We both enjoyed every bite.
The main buffet, well it was ok my main concern was not that it did not taste good but more that there very little variety. There were multiple stations with hot platters not matter what station you went to it was exactly the same thing at each station so essentially you had about 8 choices, out of these 8 choices it did not change much from one day to the other. The morning had 2 omelet stations and lunch and dinner had pasta and meat. I experience this repetitive food when we went to another Be Live so I was not surprised. The best thing at the buffet was a sweet lady called Claudia, every morning she would grab my coffee cup and disappear for a few minutes and she would come back with a coffee with a beautiful design on it. Due to a shift change and restaurant reservation I never got to say goodbye to little lady.

The 24 hr buffet had less of a variety but I strongly suggest you go check it out. I has a beautiful view of the ocean. They had BBQ items like quarter chicken, burgers, hot dogs, polish type sausage and fish, rice and seafood dish, there was small buffet area there was a variety of salads and of course they had a pizza station. We did not see fries all week but on our last day after we had already we noticed people eating fries. I asked them where they got it from and thy said you had to ask the bartender….who knew!!!

Entertainment

This resort’s designated Theater near the lobby but it was not being used. We heard though the grape vine that it was being renovated but we could not see any renovations underway in that section. Almost every night there were musicians in the lobby that kept us entertained. I never got to see the shows other than the kids shows one of which had a magician. The other shows we waiting until 9:30 but we were tired and seeing as the seating in the lobby was not really made to enjoy a show we would not have been able to see anything so it did not encourage us to stay longer.

Lobby Bar
The lobby bar seems to be where everything happens. People arrive to the hotel in at one and in the middle you will find the desk for your tour operator in case you have any questions. You will also find the lady that sell internet access cards. Then there is the busy bar, we were first greeted by Adis Gonzales Leon with these very yummy drinks. The next day I met another very nice lady who convinced me that I should try a Cuban coffee and now I am addicted thank you Yudenis Guevara. These ladies are the best and always made sure my drink was full, I was always greeted by my name with a big smile and a hug. I miss them already. The bartender I think his name was Cecil made me some very tasty drinks and always greeted us with a smile or wave when we walked by.

On our last morning, we left at 6AM that lobby bar was open 24 hrs and served us our last coffee. It was a sad morning but we got great service from beginning to end

Shopping
The hotel had 1 convenience store, there really is ot much in there so I strongly recommend that you bring your own snack. Some people said you could by chips and chocolate bars but there was nothing but soda crackers. There is a flea market type of complex nearby. You can take a taxi it will cost you 5$ Walking can also be done but it would take you a good 20-30 min walk. They had a little bowling alley and a dance bar and multiple restaurants and souvenir shops.

Ice Cream shop
A few days before we were scheduled to leave we noticed they opened the ice-cream booth. It had at least 6 kinds of ice cream. Vanilla, Chocolate, chocolate chip, pineapple orange and I fogged the other two

Internet
The hotel provides you with 1hr of free internet per day per person. The nice lady handling this was able to provide us a code with 7hr which was helpful because we did not have to walk over everyday to get a new id and pw. We could access the internet from our building and seeing as our build was close to the beach we noticed we could access it in certain spots as well The connection was fast but we would get kicked out from time to time and had to log back in

Service
My husband and I have been to many hotels in Cuba all of which had something they were best at.. From the really great people at the buffet Desoleil and Augustine, and many others who kept coming back to our table to check on us. The front desk person called Saint who wears his name so well. This guy was just amazing, he was able to change our room and even get us a late check out which we were aware others were asking and were told NO. Saint took care of us like I am sure he was taking care of multiple other people but we felt like he was taking care of us only we felt like VIPs instead of first-time visitors.

Summary

I think this was a beautiful Hotel, there is some work to be done and we noticed a lot of work was happening while we were there. It was not a huge resort but it had everything we enjoyed, beautiful beach, quiet pool area with beautiful ocean views, comfortable room, great people and service. There was no rush to get up at 6AM to reserve a beach chair.

PROS
- Pros the hotel is located on an incredible part of the beach with no weeds
- Pros the a la cart restaurant food was amazing
- Pros the lobby bar people so friendly and welcoming
- Pros the oceanview was to die for
- Pros the oceanview from the pools
- Pros never ran out of anything hot water, food, toilet paper or electricity
- Pros There was always something happening somewhere
- PROS the pool area near the 24 hr Buffet was quiet and relaxing

CONS
- The hotel is showing signs of wear and tear. There were many holes and cracks
that need to be mended or serious accidents could occur
- None of the employees were wearing name tags. This does not seem like a big
deal but they hardworking people count on our reviews as part of their performance review. How can we do that if we don’t know their names.
- The nicest place to eat by the ocean was not open
- The theater was not open
- Employees should always open the door at the buffet to make sure customers are not touching the door then touching the serving spoons. They should also greet people with had sanitizer to ensure their dirty hands don’t contaminate the buffet area