Iberostar Waves Paraiso del Mar

Karo

Just came back from Del Mar. It was an amazing 7 day stay, our room was very clean, 15XX in the middle of the resort, 5 minutes from the beach and 5 minutes from the lobby. The hotel grounds and the greenery are absolutely beautiful, the variety of animals is amazing - racoons, coati, parrots, flamingos, peacocks, 'the tiny capibaras' 😆, swans, iguanas, monkeys (do not feed them!). We enjoyed the food in both Del Mar and Beach. Breakfast in buffets was amazing, no complaints here. For lunches we either weren't there or had a cheeseburger at the beach. One day we managed to get tacos and burrito in the shopping centre, it was nice but I had better. Dinners in the buffets were good, our favourite one was Spanish evening, our least favourite was American. We've been to three a'la carte restaurants: Mexican - the appetizers were great especially pulled beef 🤤, chicken quesadilla as a main wasn't great and tacos were just fine. Smokehouse - we didn't like it at all, the only thing good was coleslaw. Star rock cafe, American - fried chicken tasted very weird, I wasn't happy. My husband ordered ribeye and was quite happy with it. The atmosphere was weird, no music, half empty, very quiet. No vibe at all. Crepes and coffee at the shopping centre were very good. The entertainment was great, all the shows were very professional, the circus was our favourite. Sadly we missed the fire show :( The app was a great help to find all restaurants and carts, there was no problem with reservations. The resort is huge so it was very useful to navigate, as we were lost a couple of times. Now, what we didn't like - after a very long trip, 3h to the airport, 10h flight, 2h wait for luggage and drive to the hotel, after check in we were immediately stopped by the concierge about "free breakfast at Maya, spa, etc" iberostar club. This is the last thing we wanted to listen about and we weren't interested at all, we were hungry, tired and wanted a shower. We said no thank you multiple times but they weren't taking it as an answer. The next day or so we had a call to the room and then a note was left under our door. We were also approached by a couple of different people on the beach. The beach was amazing! So beautiful, but the chair reservation at 7am was ridiculous🤦🏼‍♀️. The 30 minutes rule "you are not there we'll take your towel" is not existent. We were at the beach quite early for a coffee, sunrise and to read a book, the reserved chairs were often empty until 11am-12pm. Same with the pool chairs. It was our first trip to Mexico but it was too short and we want to come back! The culture, the people, the food - we loved it all. 🇲🇽❤️ Just to add, we've had one early trip (pick up at 4.20am), there is no breakfast at that time so we've asked for breakfast/lunch box - they are not providing it. We were told by the reception lady that breakfast starts at 6/7am. Not very helpful.

Flor A

I came here to meet my best friend and celebrate my birthday! This was the biggest resort I've been to. The location is close to the cancun airport, 35min. Everything was great, the views, room, food, service you name it. We only ate at the buffet and the beach grill. Didn't feel the need to try one of the MANY restaurants they had on site. The only thing I would say to improve is to make the map more user friendly, but that could have just been me. Definitely bring RUNNERS to walk the resort, or get a ride on one of the MANY golf carts/shuttle they had. Overall loved my stay here, would definitely recommend and would love to come back!

Lisa Coles

Very clean, friendly, jose very helpful from the lobby. Food & entertainment excellent. Japanese restraunt entertaining, definitely recommend it. Chef from the main pool very friendly and will notify everyone what the dish of the day is and when it will be ready. Spa was very relaxing. Be aware on arrival time share will be pushed for a hard sell.

Madison Freeman

Very energetic and fun! The entertainment team does a wonderful job keeping the energy up and making the activities fun for everyone. My favorite game so far they played was the basketball. The shows at night are wonderful as well. Cannot say enough good things about the entertainment team.

Mike P

Riviera Maya is a nice quiet place with nice beaches. However, the cost to go to playa del carmen or Cancun is too high for a 30 minute car ride. The hotel amenities are nice. The room were in order and clean. We were given a gift of better rooms without paying when checking in. It is a good first impression since every upgrade which doesnt feel like an upgrade will have to be charged. Foodwise, the buffets are solid, the lobby and beach bar are perfect, the burger bar (beach and shopping center) are excellent, the french restaurant was very good (even if some of the plates were open to interpretation as a french version), we did not like the smokehouse, food was okay at best. The pool is great and the beach is good too when you find chairs. Beware of the rocks in the water.