Paradisus Playa del Carmen reviews
14184 TripAdvisor reviews
Paradisus
Beachwalker223 (Newmarket, Canada) on Feb 04, 2023
We went to Paradisus La Perla from Jan 25-Feb 1. We chose to have the Reserve service. I’ll start with the pros of this resort: Beautiful resort! Clean, well cared for, nice welcoming staff. Lots of restaurants to choose from, our concierge made all the reservations for us, one of the services they do. In hindsight, the reserve upgrade isn’t worth it as you aren’t provided much more than the other customers who stay and use the same facilities. The food was good, lots of variety. We got to hang out at the Reserve Pool which was much quieter. Lots of chairs to choose from. Elias was very attentive and always helpful. The beach was raked daily of seaweed and they had comfy beds to lay on. Long beautiful beach to walk down. Now for the things I wasn’t expecting: smoking, everyone smoked everywhere. Outside restaurants, on the beach, in the pool, down the hallways, it was awful. This shouldn’t be allowed, and if I knew this I wouldn’t have booked here. The main pool every day starting at 11:00am was filled with younger people who drank excessively, never left the swim up bar so not sure when they used the bathroom??, smoked in the pool and their drinks constantly tipped over into the pool too. The music was very loud and not pleasant. Our room overlooked that pool so we had no choice but to listen to it. I was shocked, and also saw that people from the sister resort came over to our side to party in our main pool since the other resort allowed children. This shouldn’t be allowed, there should be someone monitoring what resort you are from. I guess I shouldn’t assume that if you pay for an adults only upscale resort that you’re less likely to get the rowdy crowd. Our trip was $9000 for a week, and I felt that paying that kind of money there would be a certain class of people that it consists of, I was wrong. Don’t get me wrong, I like to listen to music, have a drink and enjoy myself but this was ridiculous and it wasn’t even school break. This was my biggest complaint. Also, beware of the sketchy salesmen trying to con you into investing with Meliá hotel group. They ask you to give them an hour for a meeting which is all about you investing in their hotel. When they found out we had no desire to do this they were pissed off and asked us why we didn’t tell them earlier so we didn’t waste their time! Although we did get a $150 USD resort credit for listening to an hour of bull crap. Don’t waste your time. All in all, it’s a beautiful resort, the Mexican people are the kindest most welcoming people in all of our travels which is why we return to Mexico. But sorry, I won’t return to this resort. I wanted a quiet relaxing vacation and it was none of this. Despite the reviews I read on it that said it was quiet, not sure where they stayed! The resort really needs to keep the 2 Paradisus divided and not allow the family side to use our facilities. It’s not fair to those who pay more and expect more.
Cappella at the Paradisus Playa Del Carmen
Mobile66403 on Feb 04, 2023
Excellent meal and superb service with Alejandro! Took the time to talk with us and make suggestions which were spot on!! Everything was terrific… even our difficult daughter loved eating here! Thank you to the entire team for making our meal special and delicious!
Third time visit
C1356TMjeremyb (Williamston, Michigan) on Feb 02, 2023
This was our third time to this resort. Great service all around. We like the variety of restaurants and bars. Lots of entertainment by the pool between activities and DJs. Cappella restaurant is fantastic. Ask for Gerardo. Perfect service.
Great holiday, wonderful resort! Perfect for families!
K119STvirginiac on Feb 02, 2023
We loved it here and were extremely impressed with everything. Traveled here in January with my husband and 2 & 4 year old kids. Stayed in a 1 bedroom king suite, so perfect for a large family. My 4 year old slept on the pull-out couch (it was firm but she had no complaints) and my 2 year old slept in a crib. For naps, we put my 4 year old in the king bed and the 2 year old in the room between the bathroom and the bedroom. Worked great because then one of us could come and go without disturbing them! That room also has 2 patio doors so we were never not able to access the balcony and jacuzzi tub out there! We really wanted to upgrade to a swim out room but it was out of our budget, but those looked so cool! Buffet was small but delicious and of high quality. Foods were replenished or refreshed often. Service was excellent at the buffets, loved getting a fresh latte every morning. I've been to other resorts with larger buffets but the difference here is that every dish was extremely fresh, so it didn't bother me that it was on the smaller side. Loved the self-serve mimosa bar for breakfast! We went to every a la carte available to us (we were not reserve.) Our favorites were the Japanese (both the tepanyaki and regular) and the Italian. Felix Cais was our waiter both times at the Japanese and he was awesome! Took care of us and our squirmy girls and very friendly. Even remembered our drink orders from the first night! Food was great at all a la cartes, no complaints, except one of the desserts at the Seafood restaurant was strange, but my husband liked it! Never had a problem getting reservations at times that worked for us. The pools were perfect and don't even get me started with the water park. My kids could've stayed every day all day long at that water park. Everything is so thoughtful towards younger kids and families enjoying themselves. We loved ordering poolside lunch so our kids didn't have to stop swimming for very long to eat haha. I'd say the slides are best for kids 10 & under. The beach was not my favorite but I am an absolute beach SNOB so I'm very picky. None of these complaints are the fault of the resort. Sargassum was present for every day except the day we left :(, it was very windy the first few days so they were not able to put up the umbrellas they had on the beach so no shade. However, when the wind did calm down, the umbrellas were great and made it very easy to get shade! I also stepped on a very jagged stretch of rock in the water (it must have been huge cause it took me forever to get away from it) and got a very nice scrape on the top of my foot in the process, ouch. My fault, should have had water shoes I guess. That all being said, we had a great time walking on the beach, building sandcastles, and lounging with drinks being delivered to us. Had a fresh lunch at the beach bar in the shade and it was fantastic, too. If swimming in the ocean is your #1 thing, I'd look elsewhere. Resort is a great size! Nothing is too far away and we knew our way around within the first day. Service was excellent, every person was friendly and professional and helpful. Our room was always spotless, the people who restocked our fridge put extra juice boxes when we left a note. Shout out to guest services who tried to help us when our shuttle didn't arrive! I don't usually like to visit the same resort twice (I like exploring and seeing new places) but I would definitely visit here again. Perfect for families!! Tips: - bring q collapsible wagon. Worked great for hauling kids and gear around the resort - bring bubble bath for your jacuzzi tub, your kids will love it! - apparently there is a candy/treat shop in the front desk area that we only discovered as we were leaving! Check it out! - we tipped more this trip than we usually do because we felt the level of service earned it. I think our service was excellent but I don't think it would have been worse if we didn't tip. Everyone works so hard & hustles - front desk will give you change for your bigger bills - bring a few snacks from home for those in-between meal times when your kids just need something right now. The snacks in the fridge worked great for this (oreos, peanuts, Granola bar, flavored chips) but it was nice to have some familiar stuff from home (bear paws, Granola bars, apple sauce, etc) - bring your own sand toys (very VERY expensive in the gift shop) & bring an inflatable dingy for your kids to float in. They will be able to stay in the water longer and you can all visit the swim up bar together haha - towel kiosk people can blow up your inflatables for you - live music/dj/magician shows in the lobby most evenings. We missed having big shows but our kids were so burnt out by the end of the day that 10 - 15 mins of dancing was just right! - iguanas & coatis like to hang out in and around the mangroves, go there if you want to get a glimpse of them - bring a Puddle jumper for your kids, most of the pools are too deep for them to stand. Worth the room to pack! - a la cartes have kid's menus! Slightly different for each place. Loved being able to get food that everyone was happy to eat!
Delicious food and very good service!!
gielbecude (Utrecht, The Netherlands) on Feb 01, 2023
Greay hotel and good service!! We have had a great time and the service from Guadelupe Alvarez was vert good! He told us about all the historical Mexican drinks and typical things in the authentic dishes! Thumbs up!!