Iberostar Coral Ensenachos

My husband and I were back again at our favourite resort, the Iberostar Coral Ensenachos, our home away from home, on July 22nd to 29th. This was our fifth visit to this paradise resort and we had another glorious week there. Words cannot truly describe how relaxing and fantastic a week we had, enjoying the beautiful beach, the food, and most of all, seeing the wonderful staff, some of whom we know from previous visits and also getting to know new ones. These lovely people and the beautiful beach are the reasons we keep coming back! Although our week was glorious, we missed seeing some of our favourite people who were away on vacation. Butlers Diana, Yandry and Anita, and also Yaquenia (Jacquie) from the El Colonial Dining Room, we missed you, but we will see you the next time we come back! Thanks to our other special Butlers, Dismar and Michel, we were well looked after and taken good care of, and also by all the other fantastic staff. Our compliments and many thanks to the following staff who made our stay such an enjoyable, relaxing and memorable one: • Butlers Dismar and Michel, who as usual went above and beyond, were always pleasant and cheerful and willing to help, considering they were short staffed and were working alternate days of long shifts each. • Jacob, the Food and Beverage Manager, who greeted all guests in the restaurants with his friendly smile and personality, to ensure that all was good with everyone. • Restaurant staff - Yasmany, Yahimi, Amanda and Livan who attended to us at Breakfast in the El Colonial Restaurant and Lunch at the Beach Restaurant. Jany, Leinel, Javier, Beatrice, Giselle, and Wagner who attended to us at Dinner in the El Colonial Restaurant. • Bartenders in the Lobby - Ivan who kept my husband entertained by introducing him to all the exotic Cuban rums. Alejandro and Juan Carlos who were there on Ivan's days off. • Beach Bartenders - Agustine who is the best, walking the beach in the hot sun to get drinks for the guests. Diannie who filled in for Agustine on his days off. • Beach Attendants - Ariel who greeted us every morning on the beach and got us settled with our beach lounge chairs under a palapa. Adolfo and Alberto who filled in for Ariel on his days off. • Housekeepers - Diana (at nights) and Milexys (at days) who kept the Main Lobby area and public washrooms spotlessly clean. • Chambermaids - Rosanio, Yabo, Lisandra and Wendy kept our suite clean every day and at nights while we were at dinner. We love your towel artworks! • Chambermaid, Drosario, who was very pleasant, friendly and efficient when she had to come to our suite to clean up a broken bottle of water. • Hector, our Entertainment person, who did stretching exercises on the beach every day with the guests and afterwards trying to engage the guests in participating in games and activities on the beach. • Shuttle car drivers - Duvier, Mowgli, David, Alberto (Cookie), and Elvio. • Air Transat Representative - Yunier, who g

Firstly, it has a serious transportation problem, there are only two cars available and it cannot cope with the number of guests. Secondly, it is better to eat at the buffet that is near the central lobby where check-in takes place, they have practically the same variety and quality. Sometimes you have to wait more than an hour for them to bring your orders and sometimes they even forget. Finally, personalized attention was scarce or non-existent in our case.

We stayed at Iberostar Coral Ensenachos in a group of four in August 2024. It was our second time at Coral Level and the third time at this resort. We lived in a spacious villa with two bedrooms. It was clean and very well maintained. Customer service was excellent, all our requests were fulfilled in a fast and precise manner. The food was very delicious, and the food selection was very decent. There were two restaurants at the Coral Level part of the resort: El Colonial (for breakfast and dinner) and Pelicano (for lunch). There were options to eat at the family part of the resort but we chose not to as the food at Coral Level was so good. All personnel at Coral Level including administrators on call and restaurant staff were very professional, helpful, and well-mannered. The main attraction of this resort is its beautiful Ensenacho beach. Our part of the hotel had its beach restricted to the Coral Level stayers only which was nice because it resulted in fewer people on the beach even at prime time. We never used a pool, so I can’t comment on this. Another thing that we admired was the resort’s garden - it was just awesome! Now, what I would improve on this practically perfect resort: I would add more electric cars because there were not enough of them this year and waiting time was sometimes annoying. Also, it would be nicer if more palapas were added to the beach and the distance between palapas expanded. In all other ways, Coral Level at Ensenachos was a great value for the price and we would highly recommend this to our friends.

FOOD: Food is important to me because I love to eat. It’s part of having a good vacation. Food at Iberostar Coral Level is terrible. We might as well be eating Corals, because this is another Level of terrible. I was wishing there was a McDonalds nearby, or any other food, really. They only served terribly prepared, unseasoned, cheap quality food. They cannot cook, whatsoever. I also went to the buffet at Iberostar Selection (the main hotel building) and it was equally terrible! In this review, I will tell you about each food category: Carbohydrates: Overcooked, unseasoned rice and beans. The rice had fragments of seashells in it, which I found out by hearing loud crunching sound when chewing. It was awful. No potatoes. Where are the potatoes??? Fries??? Mashed potatoes??? Nope. Sorry. There was some bread, but even the bread tasted hollow. It should come fresh out of an oven, baked to perfection, but instead it’s dry and hollow, with no flavor. How do you mess up bread? The pasta was also cold and drenched in terrible tomato sauce that didn’t taste like tomatoes. Protein: The meat was not cooked well; it had no color, and no flavor. Cheap cuts of beef were unchewable. There was unseasoned, bland pork, and overcooked, dry chicken. For some reason, the chicken is chopped up into nonsensical pieces. Why can’t they have thighs, drums, breasts? Seems like it was cooked by Freddy Kruger. No shrimps, crabs, lobsters, nothing! Are we in the Caribbean? Is there an ocean here, maybe? The only seafood they served was black mussels, but they taste like fish oil. Also, the mussels and clams were covered in flies at the Selection buffet, which was repulsive. It is the worst cooking and management I have ever encountered. Ham and cheese? Kill me, please. These terrible ham and cheese sandwiches are served all over Cuba—at the airport, at the hotels. They all have the same bland, terrible taste. Plants: They had pickled jalapenos, which tasted good, and were surprising to find. There were fresh cucumbers as well, thankfully. There were no other vegetables. No tomatoes, no potatoes, no onions, nothing. It was just sad. I don’t remember seeing any fruits, except papaya. Desert: The desert was bad too, lacking any moisture and sweetness. It was like eating dried bread. I am not kidding. Snacks: The store had no snacks to buy (no chips, no chocolate), but only terrible cookies and soggy waffles. Drinks: The coffee was good, but the sweet drinks were made out of cheap powder, knockoff of real Coke and real fruit juice. Awful taste, too sweet. I don’t drink alcohol, so I can’t comment on the cocktails, but I am sure they are just as bad. Cigars: While cigars are not a food, they are technically a gastronomic indulgence. I expected at least to find cigars at a Cuban resort. The cigar shop was closed, and there were no cigars to be found anywhere. Overall, I cannot stress enough how bad the food was. Someone needs to do something about this. I would g