TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

Very long review inbound because maybe it will help someone one day as many reviews helped me. But if you care about food that is where I am going to start. 30 year old Husband and Wife Canadians from Alberta who Stayed at Lindo Dec 28-Jan 4. Previous Mexico visits are Iberostar Playa Mita in Feb 2020 for a wedding (wife only) and Margaritaville Island Reserve in Dec/Jan 2023 for our honeymoon (not the adult only one). We got delayed were meant to be there Dec 27. But got there super early Dec 28th after a red eye to Cancun. Shoutout W2M. Prompt transport from Cancun airport to resort. We were the only flight but felt like instantly we were at the resort. We tried to do an excursion with them but the sales rep wanted us to roll the dice on a Van vs Bus Chichen Itza tour. We didn’t want to be away 5:50am-10pm on our last or second to last day and we would have been paying an upcharge for a chance of it being a small van. Gonna keep it written down that excursions are often not on Fridays and never on New Years Day aha. Trip back to airport was on time so no complaints there. So honestly 8.5/10 for them. Food is so subjective so take this with my grain of context. I am allergic to all fish / sea products so while a lot of people come to Mexico for that I do not. We also do not dine at Michelin star establishments but probably go to normal restaurants around 15-20 times per year, eat pretty good quality meals at home (farm to table) but I have also been a bit fussy food wise my whole life. Now that the disclaimer is out of the way onto my food review. Take it how you wish and maybe if you feel like your shoes fit mine take this as your consideration. But TLDR as has been said before. You probably won’t go hungry as you are likely to find something to eat. But quality wise it is for the masses keep that in mind that it’s not ALL amazing but the reality is there are plenty of options that cover different tastes and preferences. Breakfasts: First Lindo breakfast the omelets were pretty bad. Sausage also. Fruit was okay. Bacon was pretty alright. Second Lindo breakfast went earlier and was way better omelets. Bacon got worse as it was REALLY greasy. La Plaza breakfast. Not bad. Not really much diff from Lindo just less selection but quality the same. Third Lindo breakfast. Very slow omletts. Also why is omletts right next to other items the line gets really messy. Fourth Lindo Breakfast. Went earlier. Omletts were meh. Gonna be pickier tommorrow with grill times Fifth Lindo Breakfast. Went same time better omletts. Crepes were great. Second La Plaza breakfast Omelettes were fine. Nothing special. Overall Breakfast Rating 3/5. Highlight for my wife was the fruit. It gets busy after 9am but La Plaza was less loud due to being open air. Quality between the two was very similar but more options like Crepes and more fruit at La Laguna at Lindo. We preferred the omlet stations where you chose your own, put it on your plate then gave it to the employee to make. Lunch’s: (Didn’t eat lunch the first day) Olevetti 4/5 Beef Steak perfecto. Pasta was alright. Wife liked the fruit options. Beach snacks. Perfectly passable. Like low expectations meant decent payoff. Appreciate that they dish out food like fries instead of letting guests do it. (Lots of Coatis) (no rating because is burger, fries and hotdogs) Olevetti (again) 3/5 Beef steak still good. Fries weren’t that good. Asparagus a bit greasy. Beach snacks. Meh. I was drunk. Fries were probably bad but I didn’t care. It’s slop let’s be real but it’s better than nothing. And there are other options like lunch buffets I just preferred not needing to change to go to La Laguna or dry off for Olivetti this day. El Faro 3/5 Perfectly fine. Good pizza at lunch too. Decent pasta. Nothing special but perfectly fine. Overall Lunch Rating: 3.5/5 The resort I was at last time had minimal options for lunch that were edible. I didn’t make it to Lindo lunch buffet but Olivetti was convenient. I appreciated at least that there were options both Lindo and Beach/Del Mar side. I did not make it to the mall for lunch wanted to get in quality pool time. I know I might of missed Burger shop as people claim it’s the best lunch. Dinners: El Museo 1/5 Osso, Carbonara, Ribeye It wasn’t that great. Tough meat, weird flavour. Carbonara really bland and dry. Didn’t really finish but got filled up I guess. But not the best. Ice cream was best. Tiramisu was alright. Service quick but we were early in the night. El Rancho (1/5) Flat Iron was tough. Ribs too much sauce/ weird seasoning. Service quick but we were early in the night. Take this one with a grain of salt maybe you will get a better cut or don’t live on a beef farm. La Plaza (3/5) International Night. Solid offerings. Was just a snack before our late reservation at Olivetti. Wife loved the Kiwi. I liked the chicken parm and skirt steak. Mashed potato’s under mashed. Olevetti (4/5) Really happy with this. This is one of the restaurants I booked this resort for. Safe bet you know. Mozzarella sticks were good. Pizza was hot and decent dough, very filling. Chicken Alfredo was good and creamy. Good service. (Booked most of the rest of our suppers here ???????) Gala(New Years) 4.5/5 I don’t eat seafood. But the prime rib was great and gravy was just like at home. Steak was great. Pizza was great. Wife had some hot pocket thing she loved (cornbread). Desert offerings were meh. Go early. We went at a reserved time of 6:15 right after they opened and everything was super fresh. Probably the best meal of the trip quality wise. Saw lots of fancy seafood there for those that like that. Olevetti (Again) 3/5. Had the Bosciaola and Meatlovers Pizza. Pasta tasted fairly similar to the Alfredo but still liked it. Sausage on pizza was really good. Desert was Tartufo. Was also very good. El Faro (4/5) We love Italian I guess. Kind of sort of. The spaghetti carbonara was great. Best Pizza we have had so far (pepperoni with great crust) and the carne el pizziola was great too and I’m usually not a tomato sauce fan. Had ice cream for desert and it was good as well. Olevetti (finale!) 3.5/5 Me and my wife agreed. The pizza here was fine but the crust was better at El Faro and the pizza at Olevetti was kinda overly cheesy. Pasta was good again Chicken Alfredo and Bosciaola. Didn’t have alot of meat in either pasta though. Dessert was good again. Overall Dinner Rating: 4/5 Only our first two suppers were lack lustre. So we latched onto familiar and safe. A lot of not so Italian Italian. But that’s what we liked. Star cafe was great for the in between times. Life saver for when you don’t want to go far but want food. But not actually open 24/7. Went to grab snacks before our flight and it was dark and empty….just be aware it’s not actually open 24/7 it seems. Had ice cream by the pool a few times as a snack. Appreciate it being close by. There are a lot of restaurants here. So I feel like longer stays or returning guests have lots of options and more opportunity to experiment. For me I found what I liked and stuck with it since my last time in Mexico I struggled to find sustaining food and it’s no fun drinking on a low stomach. I’m not that adventurous though keep that in mind. So didn’t try teppenyaki due to cross contamination concerns. The sentiment that Olevetti isn’t that good is not one I share. But I do share the buffet is very legit for the most part especially at Gala night! I would have tried more but by the time you finish one supper the last thing you wanna do it go wait in line for another let’s be honest. Would have liked to try Lemon and Spices and El Puerto but only could get far to late reservations and decided after El Museo to not risk another disappointment of unfamiliar. My regrets are not going to the second Gala night, not making it to the Burger Shop and not checking out another Lindo supper night (I actually did think about it but the themes weren’t in my taste profile) Bars: EL Acuario I feel is a bit small in the context that both Lindo and Maya guests frequent it. But I guess that’s why they have the corner sports bar next door. Found ourselves there a couple times playing cards before bed. But both were fairly loud. To be fair it’s 100% because they were enclosed and the microphones get turned up too high. Spent our final night at El Acurio listening to Karaoke was a good time. Hit up the Beach lobby bar a few nights, but not late enough for the party crowd. Was good service. Del Mar lobby was our favourite (the flamingos were there ??). Wish we would have stumbled into this one sooner in our trip as it was on our third last day. It was quite far from Lindo overall. Ogled at the Snake Bar after our steakhouse reservation. And caught an earful of Oz Barbra’s beautiful voice. (May or may not have had a pistachio martini) Drinks: Enjoyed the variety at Lindo(tried many rums). Honestly some good options at Beach/Del Mar too.We spent few days at their pool exclusively and were happy with selection even if it was less then Lindo. Mostly stuck to rums and coke and sprite and Malibu (and other Coconut mix’s my wife says beat out Malibu) . Also fell in love with Miami Vices as a good way to mix it up. Long Island ice teas left alot to be desired. Honestly just be very clear with what you want and you will be happy (doubles, singles etc) . Tried Mojitos, mudslides and vodka sodas but weren’t my vibe. Room Service: Menu was too limited to bother. Animals: The animals were a huge highlight for us! Peacocks. Coatis. Macaws. All great to see around the resorts. Didn’t notice aggression from the Coatis but they did swarm dropped food. Saw some iguanas by the pool too. Flamingos were beautiful as well as Swans. Tried to find the monkeys didn’t ever find them sadly. But some guests really don’t respect the personal space of these animals. We were taking photos of a Swan and a group of guests came up and started harassing it. So we moved on. Pools: Coming from -30C meant the pools were perfect in the hot 25 to 30 C weather. Found myself out of my chair in the pool often. We go to Shuswap lake in the summer so comparable (pools warmer). We had some rainy weather but I spent all the time during that day still in the pool. Lots of shade available. They are a bit chilly to first touch. But noting the Mexican sun and some booze can’t solve. Not much in the way of pool side service until the last few days of our trip. I made it my goal to visit every pool (aside from Joia) DelMar/Beach have more quiet areas but are far from the bars, Lindo main pool is where the activity really is, dark blue Lindo water volleyball pool was warm (listen those solar tiles either working well or it’s heated only 2 options) Lindo quiet pool was meh. Feel like a bridge would be cool to link it to the main pool. (Also jumped in for 2 seconds to the 2 Maya pools and no real temperature difference but they are 100% a great benefit to Maya visitors who want some peace) Lazy river was lazy but peaceful. Beach: We aren’t beach people. But the beach was beautiful. Ocean was warm. A bit of seaweed though. Like more then I’ve heard is common late December? Huge pile in front of Lindo Maya. But very nice beach. Wavy of course but nice sand regardless. Found some rocks closer to Beach/Del Mar (after I left my water shoes inside after feeling they were pointless when I was closer to Joia. Didn’t spend a full day down here so no opinion on activities. Seemed very busy down there though. Room: Our premium pool view room overlooked the wave pool, and it was loud during the day…and kind of loud during the night depending on the event at the theatre. I guess to be expected. Would probably do jungle view if you want peace. No mold. Did the towel shower trick to keep bathroom dry. Always cleaned with fun towel animals daily. And my only request to clean my porch where some straw got knocked down was promptly dealt with both times it occured. I liked the location felt fairly central to everything. Bed was comfy. Shower got nice and hot. Didn’t spend any time really on the balcony. Activities/Nightlife - Fire show poorly cancelled. No communication. Bunch of people looking for it on the beach. Then find out it’s now a light show at the theatre. - Circus show was neat. - Star friends very engaging - New Year’s party at mall was PACKED. Got there late so left to beach bar to ring in new year. - Pool workouts were fun - The obstacle course (Wilbit)and crazy games were fun to watch - Pools rock show was 10/10 - Amanda at Karaoke killed it. Jan 3. We were here to get some relaxation so after swimming, walking and sitting in the sun all day we weren’t always stoked to stay up after 10pm. Found it hard to determine what show was occurring due to the app not really indicating what the show was. Also the upsell for the shows was kind of annoying but we got there early to get good peasant spots. One other thing. Lindo pool events seemed more consistent in their occurrence. Sometimes DelMar/Beach did not happen at all. Service: The staff definitely shine here. Outside of the normal time share club annoyances they truly do want to make your stay pleasurable. I only talked to a Concierge once and politely declined the presentation and he continued on with my asks without further pressure. The activities at the pool were great. Great entertainment. Great games. Lots of fun. A bit loud depending on where you sat. A bit of understaffing at bars sometimes so wait times 5-10 for drinks at by the pool or at night often. But like for peak time of year the resort does a pretty good job and those bartenders are putting in the work to get you those drinks especially when they are alone. Had some good moments with a bar tender remembering our orders due to custom cups. Other things to note: Book Bali beds at Del Mar / Beach the second you get here if you want good beds. Lindo ones aren’t great tbh. Rented one by waterfall was loud and far from everything. Had drink service but was kind of slow. But Lindo/Maya can not book Del Mar/Beach ahead of time. Took the shuttle to Playa Del Carmen. Was a great outing. Loved taking pictures on 5th ave and got all our shopping done. Would be nice to have it communicated better when asking as they sometimes have a 9am option which I would of preferred (CHECK WHEN YOU STAY it might just be for peak period) Slides don’t allow go pros. Kinda lame. Power delivery from outlets is slow. Charging devices takes forever. Bring a power bar for sure. AC turns off! (Probs just a Canadian thing that I turn it off) I just seem to recall people complaining it was locked to some god aweful temp. Maybe that’s fixed. Maybe it’s just a premium room thing. I turned it on during day while out. And left it off overnight Towel game is pretty rough. You can sometimes find spots after 9am but they are likely far from stuff or behind rock formations / trees. People that save spots at the beach and pool are probably biggest contributors to the problems. We just played the game. I would get up early, claim a spot, read in it for a bit take an early breakfast and then spend our entire day at our spots minus pool time and lunch. Then took our stuff when we left for supper. I didn’t see any towels being taken but I did see enforcement taking pictures throughout the day of spots being held. —————Closing Comments————— (this is long but detailed) Full transparency, this was a great trip and this complex lives up to most of the expectations I had for it. But we don’t see ourselves returning. Contextually we do not plan trips every year, all of our trips to Mexico have been circumstantial not really “let’s make this a tradition” so in like 3-5 years I will do another deep dive into the endless abyss of All Inclusives to determine what the current state of affairs is because Mexico still has our hearts as a beautiful escape from Canadian winter. That being said I can see why so many people return to this complex over and over again. It really is a solid offering but for us it was kind of overwhelming the shear size and options and honestly the tiering where staying at Lindo the added benefits of Del Mar / Beach being baked into the price had us kind of pushing hard to utilize all there was. I don’t wanna see comments like “then don’t” it’s kind of the nature of trying to get all you can out of a vaca especially an all inclusive. You are missing out if you don’t take in all a resort has to offer. This is a very special treat to ourselves so we wanted to indulge in as much as possible so that meant walking around the resort and taking in the grounds and animals and all there was to offer. But there was too much for a 7 day trip. That isn’t a knock against the resort just the reality which made it feel a bit more of a chore since it’s never just a 2 minute walk. (No we didn’t use the carts. Felt like more of a time sink then walking) We would consider Maya if the price was right and was a trip with a group of friends. My wife likely has her eyes set on a return to Iberostar Selection Playa Mita for our eventual return to Mexico and who knows what the Iberostar Waves Tucan Quetzel refurb will bring. I don’t think I could return just to Beach / Del Mar knowing Lindo is right there, but if you are only booked there you will 100% enjoy your time there. Beach/Del Mar are great options overall we spent a few days over there and was a great time and their pool was calmer overall. I Would consider staying at an Iberostar again depending on reviews and Facebook sentiment. Like I said Beach/Del Mar as Waves level impressed me so I would 100% consider Tucan Queztel on a future trip. Heard more hit or miss sentiment of Waves Cozumel and Selection Cancun but who knows what the landscape will be in years to come. Side note, I considered this resort a few years ago for our honeymoon but even with my experience at the Margarittaville as being a bit hard to find food I would 100% stick with that choice due to the lack of adult only areas here (book Joia for a honeymoon). I really appreciate the time we had here as it rekindled my appreciation also for our honeymoon and Mexico overall. But we were here to relax so didn’t want to stay out till 1am to meet other couples / adults so while we met a few great people it was mostly just us spending time together. I don’t really have any general complaints. Although the fact when I booked back in August Olivetti was first come first served so I may of adventured more if had it as a fallback without reservations so that change was a bit of a disappointment. I did consider 2 other properties heavily. 1: Iberostar Selection Playa Mita - my wife was here for a wedding pre covid. We ultimately decided not to go back based on wanting something new to both of us. 2: Iberostar Selection Cancun Coral - I read some less positive and more frequent complaints on their Facebook about food. It also seemed more limited in options overall. And as it’s been said it’s a concrete jungle. I also looked at two other Mega complexes with Barcelo and Grand Palladium. Both had some reviews that left me questioning if I would be starving and leaving Mexico to never to return to and all inclusive. (I of course deep dived for weeks and got many dead ends for other resorts mostly surrounding food quality/selection) Thank you to the admins of the page and all the contributors. Really helped affirming my choice which was primarily for food quality and lots of options overall and it did not disappoint in that realm. TLDR: You won’t go hungry, you will find plenty to do, plenty to drink… it just might take 5-10 minutes for you to be anywhere at any given time so be ready to get those steps in!! Not disappointed in my stay 3.8/5 stars from us.

They discourage higher end restaurants booking by giving 9pm reservations time Big fraud in booking sit down restaurants . Manager reinforces by a SOP to discourage . Extremely bad customer service

This place is not a vacation— if you like to be stressed, annoyed, hungry, and crowded then this is the place. There are absolutely no chairs available at the pool, unless you wake up at 6:30 am to get them and stay in them all day. The food is very bad- not acceptable. The buffets are picked over and all the food is bland and cold, the restaurants make you pay for wine or upgrades to get in and get a decent table that is cleaned and with your full party, no lunch options that are not jam packed with long lines. If you ask the concierge or front desk for help with better food options, you are met with attitude without fail each time. None of the pools are heated in January- making them freezing and unswimable . The beach was crowded and felt like a public beach. There is no drink service on beach or pool and when you do wait in line for a drink there are no straws. For your money you could go to much better places with warmer pools, better food, and much better service. Steer clear! I have been to Mexico many times and this will rate one of my worst experiences.

Buyer beware! This resort overpromises and under-delivers. We came here with our children because we have been to another iberostar resort in the Dominic Republic. The service and food quality at iberostar paraíso lindo was terrible. Our concierge could not get us into the over reservation only restaurants at the resort. He told us he could get us into the reservation only Italian restaurant (Olivetti) so we accepted. Come to find out it was the same buffet restaurant we were eating at but in the evenings it would offer pasta. The pasta and pizza at Olivetti was terrible. The food lacked flavor and came out cold. There was a Greek restaurant called lemon and spices. The food here was terrible also. The food came out cold and lacked flavor. The shrimp was undercooked. The appetizers are served buffet style. Our dinner was a 630 and they opened at 530. All the appetizers were gone when we had our dinner. I reached out to my concierge about my dissatisfaction and he offered no help. I asked to speak to a manager. He gave me Karina and Sergio. They also were unable to help improve our stay. The front desk staff was no help when I asked for assistance with organizing my departure to the airport. To top it off, my children husband and I all had food poisoning after eating at La pagoda buffet. Steer clear of this resort! It is way overpriced for the poor quality of food that is served.

We had an absolutely wonderful stay at this hotel! The staff truly went above and beyond. Daphne, the waitress who served drinks by the beach, was incredibly friendly and attentive. Marissa, the housekeeper, kept our room spotless and always had a cheerful attitude. Every member of the team was always smiling and provided exceptional service. The food was outstanding, and I truly have no complaints. I highly recommend this hotel for anyone looking for a delightful experience.