My husband and I just got back from Del mar after a week. It was fantastic! The minute we arrived we were offered drinks and our room was ready. The staff was very friendly and welcoming the whole time. The swimming pool was excellent and there was plenty of activities on the resort. Also we had no problems at the beach . There was alot of people in the water and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. The food was great and there was alot of varieties to choose from. But I will say that I was dissapointed with the mexican food at the Mexican Restaurant. Overall it was a great experience and we plan to go back again.

I cannot say enough great things about our trip, it was simply one of the best vacations we have ever had. I traveled with my friends and their two kids (7 and 4 years old). We all had an amazing time, from the youngest to the oldest. The hotel staff was one of the friendliest we have encountered, extremely accommodating, courteous, and very hardworking. The rooms and the grounds were beautiful and immaculately up kept. The food was fantastic and abundant. I was not too crazy about the Brazilian and the Japanese restaurants but I thought the Mexican and the Steak House were great. But my favorite, by far, were the buffets. The food at all the buffets was fresh, delicious, and the choices were abundant. If you like working out at the gym, the hotel gym was well equipped with treadmills, elliptical machines, Stairmasters, plenty of free weights, yoga mats, medicine balls and a universal weight machine. The gym was very clean, with well maintained equipment, fresh towels and bottled water.

The worst part of the trip was American Airlines. While they did get us there and back on time, it was tough going. At JFK, the agents were rude and refused to even check-in baggage. You have to check yourself in and then carry your own suitcase to the baggage carousel. Security was fine. The plane was old and dirty with broken seats. The most annoying part of dealing with AA was that they did not have immigration forms for us. When we got to Cancun airport and finally got the immigration forms, we had to lean against the wall to fill them out, it was a waste of time which could have been easily remedied by AA by giving out the forms on the flight, which is what is normally done. Also, going through customs in Cancun was a little disorganized.

We booked our vacation with Funjet. It was a good experience. Our hotel transfers were provided by Lomas Travel, who work with Funjet, and they were punctual and friendly. Follow Funjet’s instructions and walk out of the airport and look for men/women wearing white pants, teal shirts and white ties. These are your Lomas Travel representatives and they take good care of delivering you to your destination. One of the great things about the Cancun airport is when you walk out of the terminal there are clear signs for all the companies providing hotel transfers. Lomas Travel was easy to find and the van was big, clean and waiting for our arrival. Lomas was also astonishingly punctual on our return trip as well. One note, do not stop to chat with various providers in the airport itself. They are sales people trying to sell you excursions, etc.

Iberostar Beach is about 30 minutes away from the airport. Once we got in, it was paradise. While we were checking in, we got a round of alcohol-free drinks so that the kids could enjoy them as well. Our adjoining rooms were in building 32 and we enjoyed the location because of its proximity to the beach and the pool. The rooms were big, comfortable and clean. However, it was about a 10 minute walk to the restaurants, buffets and entertainment. We enjoyed the walks, but if you have trouble walking or if you don’t like walking in the heat, you may take the trolley or the golf carts (although you need to arrange golf carts in advance). The kids loved the trolley which runs every 10-15 minutes, so sometimes we would wait. The trolley also goes to Del Mar, so you can use it to visit other Iberostar properties.

The beach was wonderful. We never had any issues with getting chairs in the shade. The ocean was a bit rough, but we enjoyed the beach regardless. Of the 4 Iberostar hotels, the Beach and Lindo had the best beaches. The pool is tremendous. It was never crowded. The hotel was re-opened on June 17th and it was not at full capacity, so we never had any issues with crowds.

A quick aside for those with kids, the Kids Club looked very nice and we would have put our children in it if they could swim. The kids really had a ball, they swam and ate and slept and enjoyed the animals that roamed around the property. We did not have any trouble with food for kids, every buffet and restaurant had plenty of options for kids to choose from. The rooms are pretty well set up for kids as well. Each room has a couch that may serve as a twin bed.

Things we wish we knew a head of time:

•Upon your arrival you will be handed a card for a beach towel, one per person. The towel pick-up is open from 8 am-6pm next to the pool, so if you’re an early riser and want to be at the beach with a clean towel before 8 am, make sure you exchange it before 6 pm on a previous day.
•None of the vendors on the beach including the scuba diving, jet skiing, parasailing, henna tattoo, and souvenir shack are associated with the hotel so make sure you either have cash or credit cards with you at the beach. Some of the vendors only accept cash. Massage and hair braiding is affiliated, so they will accept your room number. The hair braiding is expensive (about $75 for half head and $180 for full head), is done in front of Lindo and is very popular with girls of all ages.
•Same goes for the stores in the lobby. You cannot charge your purchases to your room. It’s cash or credit only.
•All the restaurants at dinner time, except the buffet, require men to wear long pants and they take the policy very seriously. Have your men wear long pants or jeans or they will turn you away.
•The hotel does not provide hair conditioner, so if you need it bring your own. They did provide shampoo, soap and lotion, sewing kit, shower cap and shoeshine kits.
•Drinks are stronger in the lobby and restaurants than on the beach or in the pool.
•There is a shopping center about 5 minutes away from the hotel if you do not feel like going shopping to Playa Del Carmen.
•The hotel store is well-stocked with medicine and sunscreen lotions, so if you forget something do not worry. They also have plenty of sand toys for kids.
•A shuttle van leaves from the shopping center 4 times a day to Playa Del Carmen for $4 per person each way. It’s about a 30 minute ride from the hotel.
•My friends got a lot of wear from their sun-protected clothing. Quite a number of people are wearing sun protective shirts. The sun is very strong especially between 12 – 6 pm.

SCUBA Diving

•The diving was amazing and the dive shop was professionally operated with great dive masters, plenty of equipment and it was very well maintained. The gauges measured depth and air in the metric system. On the dive trip I saw a nurse shark, a 6-7 feet moray eel, and of course lots of sting rays.
•The on-site dive shop requires that you go through a pool check even if you have your certification card. I believe the pool check was $30 US.
•I booked a two tank dive in Cozumel through the dive shop, thinking like most two tank dives it was going to be one dive in the morning and another in the afternoon. In reality you depart the hotel in the morning and take a ferry to Cozumel were you’re brought to Iberostar Cozumel. By the time we arrived in Cozumel it was well after 11 am. We were given free reign of the hotel, hotel bar and restaurant until 1 pm at which point we finally boarded a boat for the dives. The two dives were about half hour each and were separated by a 10 min boat ride.

Enjoy your trip! We certainly did.

We were at the paraiso beach from June 30th till July 6th. We were a bit worried when we arrived and found out we couldn't have adjoing rooms but as soon as we worked it out with them to be in the same building and on the same floor we were set to go. We had four 18 year old boys and two 16 year old girls. The beds in the two queen room were really closer to double beds and they were firm but we were tired and slept well. You may want to bring a pillow from home or ask for additional pillows as they aren't very plush.

We loved the pools - they were beautiful and we were always able to find palapas, beach chairs in the sun and the shade and spent time at both the ocean and the pools. The resort is large enough that the teenagers felt they had privacy and were able to spend time with us and apart. We felt completely safe letting them go to the disco at night and they were there pretty much every night. It was dissapointing that the disco for the younger teens was always completely empty. The disco for the 18 and over was much busier. One night they actually had a wedding reception going on in there and that changed the atmosphere a bit but overall the 18 year olds met people and had a great time. The bartender also knew when to say enough or to tone down their drinks which I appreciated.

The buffet food was pretty good but did get a little old at the end of the week. We ate at the Mediterranean (it was okay) and at the Japanese (really enjoyed it)! We didnt totally understand the rule about long pants for the men and we actually had to rent a pair of pants for one of the 18 year olds from the delmar (they charge you a deposit and then you get it back when you return the pants). It was really warm during our stay and even the walk from the room dinner was extremely warm in pants. I think if they would change the rule to nice shorts and a shirt it would have been alot nicer for everyone. We were able to reserve two dinners at specialty restaurants and then go on the waiting listing for others and were able to get into the ones we had requested to be waitlisted on. They contact you at your room to let you know they were able to get you in or you can check at the front lobby on the day you requested.

Plenty of pool games and sand volleyball. The kids all found something to do and there were plenty of others there that were in the same age group. The entertainment was definitely not up to cruise ship standards (in our opinion) and two of the nights it was just guests that were asked to go to the stage and humiliate themselves. I would have preferred to have had more actual shows. The star friends were wonderful to our entire group and really got people involved.

We loved the all inclusive and had a total of ten of us. We rode the trolley several times as there is a lot of walking at the resort and we did find that after a late night of drinking and activities it was nice to get a ride to our room or to the shopping center. There were times when it was also nice to just walk off the calories or spend time walking and talking as we went about the resort. It was never more than a five to seven minute walk to wherever we wanted to go. We also found that we often got a ride on the golf carts and we always showed our appreciation with a tip.

All in all we would highly recommend this resort complex and the paraiso beach was very clean and exactly what we were looking for at the price we were willing to pay. I would highly recommend it. Hopefully if we get the chance to go again the entertainment would be the only thing I would really hope to see improved. The drinks were great in the lobby bars and a little weaker at the pool but you could always get what you wanted.

We did this trip for high school graduation and were worried that the boys would want to do the bar thing and leave the resort. We realized after the first few nights they were enjoying their time at the complex and didn't ask to leave. We did do a tour with EDVENTURE and I have to say if you get the opportunity to do a tour with them you won't be dissapointed. Check out their reviews and I will be adding mine to their long list of wonderful comments.

As others have said, the resort is quite large, but once you get your bearings, you will not wasted anytime finding where you want to be. We stayed from June 28 - July 3 and never felt as if the resort was crowded.

There were always plenty of lounge chairs with palapas by the pool and the ocean. The pool was sparkling clean with many swim up bars, fountains, a whirlpool, a waterfall, etc...
The ocean was beautiful and wavy. One day it was a little too rough for me, and I consider myself one who is not often intimidated by the ocean. There is a dive shop where you can book excursions. Parasailing is popular, but the ocean and wind have to be right, so you have to check each day.

The food was great. Buffets 3 times a day, always had fresh fruit and vegetables, plenty of meat, good pizza, and mexican choices like burritos or fajitas. We always found good choices. The reserved restaurants we went to were the Japanese and the Brazilian. Both were excellent, the Japanese especially, as they do a show for you, and the food was very good. The alcoholic drinks were delicious; if they weren't strong enough we just asked for double shots. You could get anything you wanted all day and night. The room fridge was stocked with bottled water, beer and soda. We asked for extra coffee and water and got it immediately. The water is all purified. Do NOT listen to people who say don't drink the water or use ice. This is ridiculous. This is the second Mexican resort I've been too, and it is NOT a problem. No one was sick either.

The grounds were stunning. The wildlife was beautiful as were the flowers and all the natural fauna. The animals were not troublesome as they were contained in certain areas. My favorite was a male peacock who decided to display his feathers and give quite a show. There is a lot of walking, but there was a trolley which we only accessed once. I felt good about the walking since we ate so much. The wait staff was always nice, friendly and accommodating in every possible way. We always left a small tip, usually 2 dollars after each meal because even though gratuities are included, we know the employees do not make a lot of money.

The rooms were immaculate and very lovely. The deck was so nice early in the a.m. and again in the evening. I left 3 dollars a day to the housekeeping staff. We did not attend any of the night entertainment as we were up very early and really enjoyed going to bed early with a book and some air conditioning. It was VERY hot after being outside all day. We left the resort once to go on a snorkeling excursion which was $56 each, the going rate. That was a fun morning.

We went to relax and do a lot of nothing, and that is exactly what we did. I would go back to this resort again in a heartbeat. If you have choices and want a great value for your money, then without a doubt go to this resort! You will love it.