We stayed at the Melia Cayo Santa Maria in May 2008 and had a fab time.
Outr trip was booked through All Seasons Travel and our agents was very knowledgable on this resort. We really enjoyed the fact that the resort is not Adults Only and it has been renovated to reflect that. The pool area is very romantic and there are many places where you can hide and enjoy your privacy.

The swim up bar was great and the staff was very fast.
We also loved the beach!! It was perfect for swimming and just relaxing in the shallow end. There is not much to see if you like to snorkel since there are no reefs or rocks, but otherwise, it is a beautiful beach. Very clean and swimmable.

The food at the resort was alright. It was pretty much the same most days, but the selection was great. Every day they served fish, chicken and at least one other kind of meat.
Drinks were international. Desserts were great as well.

I don't know if we will get a chance to go back soon, but we would love to.
We paid about 900 per person tax included and it was worth very penny.

We went to Melia Cayo Santa Maria over New Years.
I was there with my boyfriend, my sister and her friend.  We all had a great time! 
The resort was gorgeous, brand new (only 3 weeks old when we went), and the beach and pool areas were fantastic, and the hotel rooms were so clean and new, and were kept incredibly clean for the entire week of our stay.  We had access to the nearby Sol Cayo Santa Maria resort, which was only five minutes away and beautiful as well. 
My boyfriend and I went snorkelling, which was a great trip, and we all rented a Jeep and we drove off the island we were on to explore. 
The weather was great for the entire week we were there. 

Unfortunately, that is where the good parts end.  The food was adequate, although there was a lot of selection.  The service was what really surprised me.  For a 5 star hotel and resort, the service was far less than I had expected.  Little things, like calling for room service to order a cup of hot water because I was sick and needed to take some medication.  That cup of water required 2 calls to the front desk, and it took an hour to get to my room.  I once ordered grapes at the Beach bar, a simple things like grapes, and the waitress brought me shrimp and rice.  It seemed to me that many of the service people didn't care about what I wanted.  They just brought me whatever they wanted to give me, and it took an incredible amount of time to be served menus and water. 
I learned a little trick... get the menus yourself so you can be served a lot faster!  This was especially true at the Snack bar near the pool.

The Mediterranean restaurant was really great.  The service was great, the food was really good, and that was probably the best dining experience my group and I had all week.  The Italian restaurant was a totally different story.  The service was so slow, and very unprofessional. 
The food tasted like it was cooked directly in salt water.  Very disappointing.  Again, it seemed like the servers did not care. 

Another display of bad customer service was when we were checking out.  The front desk staff were in an all out argument with a couple over a silly 10$ charge, and after some time, the woman behind the counter turned to the rest of the vacationers and said "I'm sorry you have to wait because of these people".  What an incredibly rude thing to say!  And over 10$... they clearly have a lot to learn when it comes to dealing with people...

Overall, I am hoping that Melia Cayo Santa Maria can improve on a lot of issues, especially customer service, if they expect to live up to their 5 star rating.  I had lots of fun because I tend to have fun no matter where I go, so I would only recommend this resort when they have tied up all the loose ends and hired some people who are not so lazy.  After all, they have only been open about a month, they should have a chance to improve!

I stayed at the Melia Cayo Santa Maria Resort from the 15 th - 21 of December. 

Our group was one of the first to stay in the hotel and although last minute repairs were occurring, I can honestly say that I had an amazing time.  Once landing at the Santa Clara airport, the checkout process was fairly quick.  As I was carrying my luggage outside, I was immediately assisted.  I was asked for the hotel I was staying at, and then given a package which contained everything I would need for my trip - maps, info, bracelets, keys to get into the hotel room..etc.  Before I knew it I was on the bus, and on the way to the resort.  Prior to this trip, I had visited Cancun, and the service I received at the Santa Clara airport was far more than I had anticipated.  Everything was very organized and when getting onto the bus, I literally thought to myself "wow". 

The bus ride from the airport was kind of a long one (116 km), but interesting. 
A man at the front of the bus explained everything to us - agriculture (sugar cane & tobacco industry..etc), educational system, government, and basically how Cuba came to be. 
Our bus was escorted by a police car so we could travel even faster and it must have taken just about an hour, but like I said it was very interesting and there was lots too see. 
Also, we completed the hotel check in process right on the bus.  It was so simple, and when we finally did arrive, there was no need to stand in a long check in line (as I mentioned before, we had already been given packages which contained everything we needed for our rooms). 
We were told that our luggages would be brought to our hotel room in 15 minutes, so from the moment we arrived we were free to start our vacation.

The hotel is set up in such a way that instead of being one entire building, there are individual bungalows with roughly 6 rooms. 
The resort looks like a little neighbourhood and is really quite nice. 
The hotel rooms are beautiful and spotless.  The beds are incredibly comfortable and you feel like you're swimming in pillows.  It would be almost impossible not to get a good nights sleep.

There is a safe in the room (at no extra charge).   Ours would not open on the third day, but I called the front desk and they immediately sent someone up.  It was fixed in no time.  Our room also had a couch, desk, tv, nice bathroom and a beautiful balcony.  

The food was very good. 
There are many restaurants to choose from and there's also an opportunity to eat at the Sol Resort (next door) provided that you make reservations.  There was a buffet (that was opened every other day), a Mediterranean Restaurant, an Italian Restaurant/snack bar, and a beach snack bar. 
My favourites were the buffet and the Italian.  There are lots of choices at the buffet from fish (precooked, and grilled right in front of you), meats, pasta, rice, cold cuts, cheese, veggies, desserts..etc.  The only thing they didn't have that much of (despite where you ate) was fresh fruits.  Maybe it wasn't the season?

The beach was GORGEOUS!!!! 
The weather was not the greatest when I went, but the two really nice days we had were spent on the white sand beach right next to the crystal clear water.  The water was a little deep though, so I never went out too far.  There are many fish in the water, and one day I could see them swimming around me.  There are also jellyfish there so keep your eyes open.  If you're not a big beach fan, there are 2 big, beautiful pools. 
Dancing lessons, Spanish lessons, and stretching classes  take place right by the pool, so on the cloudy days when the beach isn't at it's best, there are other ways to pass the time.   I went with a very small group, so getting a sun chair was never a problem.  If you like the shade, there were lots of umbrellas by the pool and there was shade on the beach as well.  Paddle boats and other water activities are included in a package deal.  I took out the paddle boats one day and it was so fun.  We went out pretty far, and the water was still so clear.  I could not believe it.  There is a place to get life jackets, so if you cant swim, no problem.

Every night at about 9:45 there was a show.  They were pretty good and at the end of them, guests are invited to dance on stage.  I had trouble keeping up with the professional dancers, but it was still fun. 

At about 11:00pm , people from our hotel would head off to the other hotel to go to the disco. 
We were driven there and back every night in these golf-cart like cars.  It was really amusing b/c the drivers go really fast and when they turn, you feel like you're going to fly out of them.  The disco was really small, but fun.  There are all kinds of people there - older and younger.  Everyone did their own thing, and everyone had a good time.  They play a lot of Spanish music there and some nights the professional dancers (from the night shows) would come there and dance also.  They tried to teach us how to dance like that but I've yet to master it. 
The club scene is very different from that of Toronto . 
In Cuba, no one would dare come up behind you and start grinding with you - instead they'd come up to you and ask you if you'd like to dance - I felt it was classier than the clubs I've been to.

Overall, I had a really great time. 
I loved the people, the hotel, the food, the beach..everything!!!   I'm in my early 20's and I had  a good time.  It's a pretty secluded area so if you don't go with the right people you may find it a bit dull.  I went to relax (not to party) and it was perfect for that.  If you want to go down there for some hard core partying, then this place might not be right for you. 

All in all, I had a great time and am planning to go back

I went to Melia hotel at the beginning of December '03.

I have to say that the property is absolutely amazing, with an excellent beach,
superb dining and excellent location. If you are looking for a hotel where you can go and relax, without hustle and bustle of the mass resort areas, then this is the place to go.
With Sol cayo Santa Maria next door to it, you will find true serenity on the north coast of
Cuba. The only thing that I noticed that needs some work is the land area of the hotel. This being a new resort that opened after my visit still needs some final touch up.
You might find that landscaping is not finished yet, however that should not be a reason to try out this
property that is bound to be a hit in the future.

Rooms are almost like junior suites with lots of space, excellent bathrooms etc. As mentioned above, dining is excellent with a vast variety of seafood dishes. I hope you give this property a try, as it will most certainly amaze you.

The Melia Cayo Santa Maria is scheduled to open on Dec 18th/2003.
The resort is next door to the Sol Cayo Santa Maria and the share the same beach. If you stay at this resort, you can use all facilities of the Sol Resort - the pool, the bar, the kids club, restaurants and many others.
To use the a la carte restaurants in both the Melia and Sol, you have to make a reservation.

Both hotels have a buffet restaurant that you can use for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Besides that one, the Melia has two a la carte restaunats - Italian and Mediterranean. We are at the buffet and the food was great. It is a great place for seafood lovers as they had lobster, about 3-4 different kinds of fish (also fish soup), calamari, crab meat (crab legs as well as crab sticks) and different seafood salads.
For vegetarians there was soups, salads, patatoes and 3-4 different kinds of pasta.
I thought it was intersting that they had a complete section of different kinds of cheese.
Ice cream was amazing:) Other desserts included cake, pudding, cookies and a lot of fruit.
All in all, a great selection when it comes to food.

Rooms all resembled Junior Suites. The beds are huge (with mosquito nets , although I didn't see any mosquitos).
There is a separate sitting area with a couch, chairs and table.
The bathroom has a separate area with tub and shower as well as a walk-in area with a huge sink, mirros and closet.
All rooms have a safe, an ironing board, hairdryer, umbrella and a small hallway area when you walk in. Very nice.

The pool area is huge and one of the pools also has a big swim-up bar.
Next to the pools there is a small kids section (with a separate kids pool) and also there is a nice jacuzzi.

On the way to the beach there is a clup house where you can take your beach towels and also get different games sucha s cards, chess and board games. The sports center is on the beach and it inlcudes catamarans, kayaks, peddal boats and snorkelling gear.

The beach is very nice. We had some high winds and overcast while there, but regardless, the beach looked very nice. the waves were very big at the time, but we've been told this happens if they have wind and rain, otherwise it should be very nice. I know of peole that have been to this beach and loved it. It is supposed to be one of the nicest beaches in Cuba. There isn't any natural shade (it sort of lokks like Varadero) but there are plenty of palapas and sun umbrellas on the beach. The beach is narrow but very long, so if you like to walk it is great. The water is quite a bit deeper than Cayo Coco (many people might think that it woudl be the same, but no) but it's gradual - so you get both a shallow and deep end.

I liked the resort but I feel it will take another few months to be completely finished. Everything is great, except the ground are not yet done - the palm trees are small and there is very little vegetation around the resort. However, since you get to use all the facilities od the Sol Resort next door, it makes more sense that you stay here. The perfect option would be if you ask your travel agent to request a room that is located ner the Sol Club - that way you will be in between the main areas of both and use whichever you preffer out of the two.

If I remember anything else, I will let you know:)