Iberostar Waves Paraiso del Mar reviews
8127 TripAdvisor reviews
Amazing vacation
Cinthia K on Jul 07, 2026
We had an amazing vacation! The food was delicious, the pools were beautiful, and the entertainment every night was fantastic. We especially want to thank Cinthia Saucedo for her outstanding service. She was always friendly, professional, and genuinely cared about making our stay unforgettable. Her positive attitude and warm hospitality made us feel at home. We can't wait to come back!
Gorgeous Setting Undone by Poor Service
gtalaric on Jun 28, 2026
We booked nine days at this resort and left after five. It's the first place we've ever wanted to leave early rather than extend, and here's why. Early in the trip, our kids were watching a large iguana by the pool when a staff member walked over and grabbed it by the tail for no apparent reason. He swung it around, hitting chairs and the floor, until its tail snapped off. When I asked why, he laughed and said, "Oh, they grow back." For a property covered in signs about protecting the local environment, this was disturbing and hard to square with the image they promote. Service was a recurring problem. With few exceptions, staff didn't seem interested in being helpful, and simple requests like a glass of milk for the kids were often met with irritation. The one standout was William, the bartender, who was warm and helpful every time. Our group joked he was the only friendly person at the resort. Dining was frustrating too. Non-club members have to make same-day restaurant reservations, but every morning we were told nothing was available, even at 8:30. Yet when I asked a manager, they booked us without issue. Because our group was four families, we were also told everyone had to pick from just two menu items, which we've never encountered anywhere else. Food access was a challenge generally. The grounds are huge, so it took about 15 minutes to walk to the buffet, which was essentially the only option. No snacks at the pool or lobby. The one alternative was a beach burger shack, where the burgers were stale and cold. To be fair, the property is beautiful and full of nature, and that's its real strength. The beach was almost entirely covered in Sargassum, which isn't the resort's fault, but a usable beach might have been the one thing that redeemed the stay. I'll credit Wendy, the only person who genuinely seemed to care and made real efforts to help. She arranged a special dinner for us, but the execution didn't match her intentions: poor service, bad drinks, and a bottle of champagne left in a room whose fridge barely worked, so there was no way to have it cold. In the end, the setting is lovely, but that wasn't enough to make up for the service and food. We left early, which says more than anything else I could write here.
Family Vacation
Sarah A on Jun 27, 2026
My family and I stayed at Paraiso Del Mar last week in Playa del Carmen. We went to have a great vacation. We left having an absolutely AMAZING time…so much so we’re booked to return in October! The entire resort, staff and service is a notch above all the rest. We’ve traveled the world and we were taken aback by the service we were given. We were treated like royalty and as though we were the only guests on the property. We fell in love with the Iberostar brand and what it has to offer around the world so much so that we became Club Members. Diego and Alessa made sure we were happy each day and helped us tremendously with navigating the property, things to do outside the resort, explained thoroughly the membership benefits and process and overall truly wanted us to enjoy our time. Diego and Alessa made sure we had a home away from home. We went home having made friends and can’t wait to see them both in October! Billie, whom works in Sales, was awesome! He wasn’t pushy. He explained our options with the Club Membership and worked hard to find a membership that worked for our family. When we had questions Billie found us at the pool to talk to us! Talk about first class service! Thank you to all of you and Iberostar for an AWESOME experience and WONDERFUL vacation! Til October…??! Last but definitely not the least, the resort itself is magnificent! Huge property with numerous hotel options, restaurants with high quality food and drink, water park, wave pool, gorgeous beach, numerous pools, and allllllll the animals! As you walk or use a golf cart to get around you’ll be among sereches, flamingos, swans, peacocks, iguanas, many birds, geckos, monkeys…it’s an animal lovers paradise! The flora and fauna are endless and truly dreamy! True paradise. Incredible beauty!
A really lovely stay
DLPGeek27 on Jun 26, 2026
We just came back from 2 weeks here and had such a lovely time. I was a little worried about the lack of AC in the restaurants but it was honestly fine. Swimming pool was gorgeous, we rented a Bali Bed through concierge for 4 days of our trip and it was so worth it. The feature of the app telling us when our room was clean was really helpful and the drinks in the room fridge were super appreciated. The room was really clean, super comfy bed and great water pressure in the shower. The grounds to the hotel are so incredibly well kept and the shuttle carts around were helpful and often but we chose to walk a lot of the time. We’re both vegan and our only minor complaint was that we found the buffet labelling wasn’t always right and often put out late into opening hours. We fed this back to the hotel and they were brilliant at reaching out to help. The two top things for us were for sure the animals and the entertainment team. We booked this hotel for the jungle-vibes and animals and we weren’t disappointed at all. We saw so many animals during our stay and even had a resident raccoon right outside our balcony. They’re my favourite! The entertainment team work SO hard it’s unreal. Their energy is incredible and they made the trip really special. Special shoutout to Alex for being wonderful for the whole trip and making besties with Mike from England! We would absolutely love to come back one day.
Family vacation with my granddaughter Katelyn Caldwell and boyfriend John Brumley.
Voyage28818582687 (Mount Sterling, Kentucky) on Jun 22, 2026
Excellent places with the most friendly staff and the best food around, a lot of selections for food and an extremely awesome pools. Diego and Alessa were absolutely amazing with everything they did for us. The hospitality and friendship we received was out of this world. I would recommend this place ?? to everyone.