TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

My husband and I just got back from a wonderful vacation! We chose this hotel because of the beautiful grounds, beach and charming Mexican buildings and we were not disappointed!! Before booking I read some reviews about the rooms being dated, and I can see why, but it was exactly what I wanted, charming and very clean. The whole resort is meticulously maintained. The pool was very clean. Beach was picture perfect. The shows were phenomenal! All the staff were super friendly and helpful! A few things I think worth mentioning; -The resort is quite big, so bring comfortable footwear. -There is lots of wildlife everywhere, which we loved, but may not be everyone’s cup of tea. -There are photographers on site, you can schedule a session for free and you just pay per picture that you want. It’s fairly pricey but the pictures were phenomenal! - When we booked our confirmation said we got $500 US resort credit, but that was actually just a bunch of $25 off coupons with a minimum purchase of $100US -the pool closes at 7pm, maybe that’s standard for resorts, but we’d have liked to swim a little later - the app was very helpful to see the dining and activity schedules We loved the resort and would certainly go back!!

Just came back home from a week long stay, the resort itself is beautiful and well maintained. Like most of the prior reviews the rooms are outdated, the beds are on the smaller side, we booked a king bed but they were full, that sucked. The jungle area is amazing with animals all around, however as mentioned the monkeys are kept in cages on the roof which I find odd. Food was alright, the buffet could change out things a little more and as another guest mentioned the food could be a little warmer. Entertainment staff was excellent. Some guests mentioned staff being rude, we never saw that everyone said hello and was extremely friendly. Dont miss the Japanese restaurant its amazing. None of the stuff I mentioned above would be a deal breaker for not making a return trip. We definitely will be back. Can't wait to see what the upgrade brings in 2026.

Just returned home from a wonderful holiday at Iberostar Waves Tucan. I booked this as a surprise trip for a special birthday and spent a fair bit of time researching prior to booking. I was not disappointed, the hotel is in beautiful surroundings and we loved the wildlife that roamed around freely. There were coatis, agoutis, spider monkeys and lots of birds. The beach had beautiful white powdery sand and the sea was a beautiful turquoise colour. Our room was clean and well equipped. We tried most of the restaurants and enjoyed each of them. The Italian and Japanese were our favourites. There’s a lovely shopping plaza approximately 10 minutes walk away. There’s staff were all friendly and helpful. I understand the hotel is closing for a few months next year to refurbish the rooms. We will definitely be returning once they’ve reopened

Perfect family holiday location (we were here with two toddlers of 5/2). Great pool area, perfect beach, Al facilities at perfection with many bars across the entire area, great service staff, outstanding buffet restaurant choices and variety. Super entertainment team with good variety of activities (Highlight being the foam party on Tuesday). A nicely embedded jungle area with many animals provides really a tropical feeling. We will definitely come back one day, we had so much fun here. The theme restaurants (Italian, Japanese) are really average, it’s not worth deviating from the great buffet. What annoyed us a bit is the upselling. You get „300 USD credits“… what it means is that you have coupons a 25 USD which you can reimburse if you do a purchase of more than 100 USD in their shops, of course you cannot accumulate them. Then, you are „offered“ either 70 USD in cash, a snorkel course for 2 or a massage in the Spa. But only if you listen to their marketing campaign for 90min during breakfast where you are already supposed to provide your Driver license and credit card details. Don’t fall into their trap.

We have just stayed at the Tucan side of the resort for 10 nights. Our room was in block 16 facing the restaurant - room was lovely and spacious and always very clean. Bed comfortable too. Some noise from the theatre at night but this always stopped by about 10/10:30pm. The pool and beach are beautiful, but if you want a lounger on the beach, be prepared to be up early to reserve them! Was not too much of a problem for us as we are early risers and there was the bonus of the beautiful sunrises on the beach. Really like that you can walk along the beach in both directions and also walking distance to playa del Carmen and also the small shopping complex at Playacar. We were greeted by one of the staff called Jan, on our first day, who was helpful and provided us with a map of the complex along with information about the restaurant’s. The food was great, we loved the variety at the buffets more than the a la carte restaurants. Although did find by the end of the 10 nights, both of our stomachs were dodgy! I love the jungle aspect to the hotel and this is one of the reasons I chose this hotel. It was lovely to see some of the animals free to roam and I was really happy to see the spider monkeys on a few occasions. However, some is the key word here, as there are howler monkeys caged on top of some of the buildings (I’ve read that they’ve been there since the very start of 2025 which is a long time to spend in small cages!!!) and it’s incredibly upsetting to hear and see them in the cages - it must be torture for them especially to see other monkeys roaming free. There are signs up around the jungle area about the howler monkeys saying they are being relocated, however, from what I can see in other reviews/posts on Facebook, they’ve been caged for a long time now. There’s also another cage near the flamingo pond where you can see some of the peacocks and I believe Kevin (from numerous posts on the Facebook page), also caged. I’m sure there are reasons for this, but it is upsetting to see and hear about. I also found it sad to see the giant tortoises in small enclosures (near the activity pool). For this reason alone, I would not return to this hotel. I like to see animals roaming free and I can’t imagine a reason where monkeys need to be caged for almost a whole year.