TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

Lovely, spotless resort. Amazing, friendly staff with great food and drink. Nice rooms, very clean and very well kept by staff. We were on the first floor (building 19, room 1905). Our room faced the road where the golf carts travelled to/from the beach and pools but it was very quiet. Rooms have (wall mounted) shampoo, conditioner and body wash in the shower, body lotion and liquid hand soap by the sink, a great hair dryer and a small bottle of bug repellant. Mini bar stocked daily with a variety of colas and 2 beer. But if you want more cervesa ?? (or anything) slip some cash in the fridge and ask for more. We did and she supplied us with a fridge FULL of beer! (we don't drink cola) And on my birthday they surprised me with a tray of chocolate covered strawberries and a bottle of bubbly in the room. ???? There is no bottled water in the rooms but there are 2 large glass bottles (that must stay in the rooms at all times) that you refill at a water station just outside the rooms. I think 1 fill station per floor. Our building had 3 floors, no elevator. All buildings along our section Del Mar were the same (buildings 10 to 20). Air conditioning worked great but is preset to 20° as the lowest temp upon arrival. However once you arrive and check in ask them at the desk to lower it (lowest is 18°) as they control that part from the front desk. You can then change the temp higher if you prefer from your room. Amazing food and drinks with a number of restaurant choices and a couple buffets and snack bars. Wifi throughout the whole resort, beach included. Download and use the Iberostar app to check out restaurant options and events going on throughout the resort. You can check the app out ahead of time but once you get your room number you can access more via the app. We did not attend any shows or the theatre shows nor do any excursions to comment on that. Large resort (long from beach inland to the lobby), a lot of level walking but easy to navigate once you find your way around. And many golf carts to get you around from the lobby to as far as the beach. Our building 19 was the second building from the lobby but further from the pools and beach. But for us it was an easy walk to either (maybe 8-10 minute stroll from building to the beach/pool; a quick 2 minute walk to the lobby/lobby bar). However there are stops along the way where golf carts pick you up if you prefer or cannot do the walk. The pool we hung out at was near buildings 11 to 13. Beach was near the pools but not visible from them. Resort is wheelchair friendly/accessible and service-dog friendly. Beach was very nice, soft white sand, lots of chairs and palapas but loads of sargassam (volume changes daily) which is typical for Mexico so we didn't hang out there. Food (burgers, fries, nachoes, etc.) and drink bar and picnic tables on the beach too but beware of the coatis! They hang out to steal unattended food so use the garbage cans available when done. We spent our days at one of the very large pools (4-4.5 feet deep) also with lots of palapas and shade if preferred. Pools were very warm in mid-May (bathwater kind of warm). It was an active pool during the day. The pool that backs onto it is slightly shallower (3.5 feet) and quieter but is where they had the fun foam party on Friday afternoon. The Del Mar shares access with the resort next door, Beach. There are 5 resorts in this Iberostar complex (Del Mar, Beach, Lindo, Maya and Joia [adult only]). The Del Mar is very kid friendly and there is a water slide at the Beach side for them along with a kids club, Star Camp. There are many other options the higher up you go in the resorts (closer to Joia direction) which has a shopping center and many other exciting places. Check our the Iberostar Waves Paraiso site! Del Mar has a gift/clothing shop (very expensive) and jewelry store. Lots of wildlife around which I truly enjoyed! Many coatis and agoutis everywhere, iguanas, a couple peacocks, 2 monkeys (mom and baby) but I only saw them once as they ran by the pool, 5 pink flamingos always roaming the resort but hang near the lobby during the day (loved seeing them every day), a white and a black swan and 2 parrots near the same lobby. It was very enjoyable to watch them each day. All in all we absolutely loved the the Iberostar Waves Paraiso Del Mar and would absolutely return.

Food was excellent and pool was warm. Could spend hours watching all the different animals running around. Accommodation could use an upgrade but was always kept neat and clean. Thanks to certain staff, the maid who looked after room 1101 also, Jorge Cabrera, Josue Torres and Fredy Kauil at the theatre bar who looked after us so well. Will be back next year.

I rely heavily on TripAdvisor reviews when selecting resorts, so I like to give an honest review after my stay for others. I traveled solo for some alone R&R over Mother's Day weekend. Check in was quick and friendly. I then met with the Concierge who shared some useful information about the resort and made a reservation on my behalf for dinner the evening of check in. He briefly mentioned the "time share" breakfast and offered me free services for attending but I declined and we moved on quickly. Start of check in until I was delivered to my room, was probably 15-20 minutes total. I was never approached by anyone else about the time share for the remainder of my stay. I downloaded the app and it was very useful throughout my stay. The room was a bit underwhelming but perfectly adequate and the decor fit the aesthetic of the resort. The room was clean upon arrival and thereafter, it was cleaned daily. I was notified each day via the app when my room had been cleaned. The refillable water bottle was nice and it was easy to locate the refill stations. The drinks in the mini fridge were replenished, as needed. AC worked great. There was an umbrella and bug repellent but I never needed either. There is a drying rack on the balcony for wet suits. I never had any issues with making dinner reservations via the app or getting into any of the first come first serve restaurants. I ate at Smokehouse, Mediterranean, French and Japanese. All were very good!!!! Just check the app each day to see which one will be open and plan accordingly. Breakfast buffet was wonderful at both Beach and Del Mar side. The Beach side opens a little earlier. You can get lattes/cappuccinos at the lobby bars also. The lunch buffets on both sides were just ok. Typical resort buffets. I went down one afternoon and grabbed a burger at the beach to take back to my room for a late afternoon snack. It was good. I did not try the tacos or burgers at the shopping area because they had the same offerings close by in the buffets and beach restaurant. There was Ice cream by the pool bar. They also did daily food in that area such as tacos and paella, but that food went fast and there was a long line to get it. I did spend some time at the shopping mall but just didn't eat there. It was a nice area to visit. I got a latte at the coffee shop before my spa appointment. The spa was wonderful and well worth the money!! My Babor treatment also included meditation rooms before treatment, the juice bar and the hydrotherapy areas. I did receive resort credits a few days into my stay via the app and used one of the $25 credits towards the spa. I also made my spa reservation before arrival but I'm not sure if that was necessary. I walked there and it wasn't a long walk, in my opinion. The beach was typical for the Riviera Maya area. Lots of sargassum and tractor clean up. I didn't spend a lot of time at the beach but it was nice despite the sargassum. I read some reviews ahead of time about difficulty getting a chair at the pool and this was indeed an issue if you arrive after 10:00 am. I ended up renting a Bali bed for $17 on my last day and wished I would have done that for my entire stay. It was wonderful and well worth the money! I also read that the pool was dirty, and it is! I'm sure it's hard to maintain with the size of the pool area, but it was not clean. Lots of debris and just overall felt very dirty, as if the filtration system might be an issue. The Bali bed that I rented was near the Privilege section and volleyball/basketball pool area. I specifically chose that area because the water was clean there. Towels are picked up and returned but no towel card is required. There is basically no pool drink service. I did get drinks a few times but definitely don't count on that service to be constant. It was very disappointing. I am used to getting full drink service , often, at all inclusive resorts. You have to go to the swim up or the walk up pool bar to get a drink. I did notice slow to no drink service in the lobby and theater area also. However, it wasn't hard to go to the bar myself and order a drink. The resort is large but very easy to get around and navigate and while there is a lot of walking, the grounds are absolutely beautiful. If you don't want to walk, it was fairly easy to jump on the tram/cart. Especially to and from the lobby. The animals are everywhere and a great part of what makes this resort really special. Activities are often at the pool, lobby bars and theaters. Again, check the app for schedule of activities. I called for a cart when I was ready to check out and they arrived promptly to take me to the lobby. Check out was easy and I had no surprises with my bill. My sole complaints are the cleanliness of the pool and lack of drink service at the pool. This resort is definitely not as high end with high end service as some places that I have visited before but I wanted a true Mexican vibe with lush grounds and tropical animals and that is exactly what I got. All in all, I had a wonderful time at this resort and would come back again.

Booked at the hotel for 7 days. Upgraded to beachfront room upon arrival. First mistake. Patio doors didn’t seal obviously quite old. That allows bugs and heat in. Upgrade was $500.00 definitely not worth it. No real extra amenities included. Greeted by you guessed it the “ timeshare people”. I don’t care to deal with this at all. Up very early, planes and airports, warm, thirsty, just wanted a little lunch a a seat at the pool not over an hour with Ricky who said he was not a time share concierge. Turned me off of ever returning to Iberostar. No means no Ricky… Food was ok. Some days better than others. Restaurants were not as good as the buffet. First day in the pools, pools were pretty but a lot of what looked like tobacco floating all over. The problem remained most the week but they we’re trying to work on it. Pools are huge many to choose from. Lots of lounges, many with covered spots out of the sun. Beach was quite eroded, full of sargasso but that isn’t the resorts fault and they kept up with it as best they could. There seemed to be no security walking around anywhere. No lifeguards except at the beach. People were also feeling the need to compete with each others groups using portable music daily. It even was in competition with the resort party pool. No one there to stop it. 2 days in a row there were some quite aggressive patrons obviously had a bit too much to drink who started fighting with each other. One approached and nicely asked to please turn it down.. it took off from there. No reason for so many different kind of obnoxious music to be blaring, yet no one to take care of such issues. In 35 years of Mexico resorts I have never been to one without the presence of security or lifeguards for that matter. We usually take care of ourselves. Don’t mind getting our drinks, cleaning up after ourselves at the pool and keeping our room fairly decent. The biggest positive was our maid Martha. She was fabulous! Always a smile always very very helpful… but the time share greeting, slow check in, bugs and old room at a cost, and the dirty pool … we will go back to one of our usuals…

Great place! Huge thank you to Alejandro at the beach bar! best coctails ever!