I recently stayed at Grand Sirenis Cartagena in January 2026, booked through Air Canada Vacations, where the property is advertised as a 4-star resort. Based on my experience, that rating is generous. This is a 3-star hotel at best.
First, the beach situation. The hotel is not actually on the beach. It does, however, have access to the public Manzanillo Beach, which is about a two-minute walk away. There is a small area reserved for hotel guests with loungers and a bar, but it sits behind all of the public beach installations. These public installations consist mainly of tarps propped up on sticks, which gives the area a very rag-tag appearance, despite the beach itself being a lovely stretch of well-packed brown-golden sand.
I should clarify that I fully support the principle of keeping beaches public so local populations retain access to their natural resources, and I do not believe foreign tour companies should block locals from their own coastline. That said, if a hotel wants to project a 4 or 4+-star image, being visually surrounded by tarps on sticks does not align with what is being marketed.
The food ay the hotel was not terrible, but it was also not particularly good. We consistently ate much better outside the hotel. The buffet was mediocre at best. Two à la carte restaurants require reservations, which can only be made at 10 a.m. on the same day you want to dine—no advance reservations are allowed.
This restaurant reservation system caused us some frustration early on. On our first day, we stopped by specifically asked about the need for reservations at the Fish House and were told it was walk-in. When we arrived for dinner, we were then told a reservation was required after all. We tried to reserve for the next day, but they would not take the reservation and told us we had to return at 10 a.am the next day to reserve. Dinner there was just okay; they were out of several items on the menu. We never bothered with the Merkado Grill restaurant which had a similarly restrictive policy on only accepting reservations at 10 a.m. for the same evening, opting instead for better food off-property.
The rooms are also underwhelming. We had upgraded to what was sold as a “Superior Deluxe Double,” on Air Canada Vacations, but received a room with one bed and a fold-out futon that essentially amounted to a mattress on the floor. When we asked to be moved to a room with two double beds—as advertised—we were told the hotel has no such rooms. The best they could do was bring in a single bed to our room. It seems there are only two types of rooms at the hotel; premium and standard. It was described to us at reception that the beds are the same in both and the only difference is that the premium rooms are larger and farther from the main pool area.
The room itself had multiple issues: a broken shower, loose floorboards, and air conditioning that barely worked. Despite lowering the thermostat, the room temperature hovered around 24°C and never cooled properly.
We contacted the Air Canada Vacations representative for assistance in resolving the room issue. While it was convenient that the rep was available via WhatsApp, they were ultimately unable to help or facilitate a room change, which was disappointing given the discrepancy between what was sold and what was delivered.
There is construction happening near the hotel, which made the main pool area noisy, so we spent little time in that area. The main pool does have a number of tiles that have fallen off, making it feel a bit worn down. There is also a small pool near the beach bar, which was convenient for switching between beach time and pool time. One day, none of the beach loungers at the beach area and small pool had cushions because they were “being cleaned,” and we were told they would be back the next day. While I appreciate that cushions are cleaned periodically, having them unavailable for an entire day makes little sense. Adding to that, one available lounger frame was clearly not cleaned at all, with discarded dental floss picks left in the corners (ew!).
The private hotel area at the beach does not prevent walking beach vendors from entering the defined space. If that type of sales interaction bothers you, you may prefer to stay by the main pool or the upper pool areas. That said, the vendors we encountered were generally pleasant and not overly aggressive. A polite “no gracias” (sometimes repeated two or three times) was usually sufficient.
While the spa photos on the hotel website look encouraging, we were not able to experience it. We found the spa doors closed most of the time we were there. The spa menu QR code was available outside the spa, with pricing for services which more or less being similar to what you would pay in Canada for mainstream (budget, not luxe) spa services.
The hotel is located about 30 minutes outside Cartagena, so there is not much nearby beyond Manzanillo Beach. There is, however, a mall called Las Ramblas about a 10-minute drive away, with good restaurants, pharmacies, a supermarket, and ATMs. Surprisingly, when we asked at reception about nearby bank machines, staff did not seem to be aware that these existed (or perhaps they thought the 10-minute drive was too far).
Spanish language skills are a definite asset if you stay here. Reception and bar staff have limited English or French, which aligns with the fact that most guests we observed were Spanish-speaking. The hotel appears to be geared far more toward domestic travellers than international ones.
One additional note: during our stay, Google prompted me to select a star rating when it detected that I was at the hotel’s location. I quickly entered a 3-star rating without additional commentary, which reflected my overall impression at the time. I was genuinely impressed by the hotel’s response to that review. Their reply was professional, measured, and demonstrated a sincere interest in understanding where improvements are needed:
“Dear Jocelyne Smallian-Khan, thank you for taking the time to share your experience with us. We are sorry that your stay did not meet your expectations. Your feedback is very important to us, and we will use it to identify areas for improvement in our service. We are committed to providing a memorable experience for all our guests, and your opinion helps us achieve this. We hope you will give us another opportunity in the future to demonstrate the improvements we have made and provide you with a more satisfying stay.”
That thoughtful and professional response deserves recognition, even if the on-the-ground experience did not fully live up to our hopes.
Overall, Grand Sirenis Cartagena did not meet the expectations set by its 4-star positioning. With more accurate advertising and some operational improvements, expectations could be better aligned.
Final thought: Cartagena itself is a vibrant, compelling travel destination with a great deal to offer; history, culture, excellent food, sun, beaches, and yes, even a lively party scene if that’s what you’re looking for. I would absolutely recommend visiting Cartagena, but I would think carefully before booking it as an all-inclusive package.
Stay tuned for separate reviews of the activities and restaurants we sampled during our Cartagena visit in January 2026.
This photo is from the hotel website. There is now construction of a large building happening behind this building.
Small pool near the beach
