We just got back from the Paraiso Lindo 7/5-7/12 and had a great time!! We had two adults and 2 teenagers, like another reviewer stated, I don't know what some people expect when they go there..we drank water in the restaurants and ate everything, no one got sick. The only time I felt a little quesy was at the Beach buffet, but that could have been having a big hamburger in the sun!!! We also had know problems finding food in the buffet restaurants, things are catered towards an international menu so you'll see lots of things not common to us, which we thought was pretty cool. The staff was excellent, any problems with our room were fixed immediatley upon request, the rooms were clean..we had no problems with ants like some people said, but being the tropics, I would know enough not to leave food and drinks laying around. The beds are extra firm, but I prefer that so had nothing to complain about there. Room service is limited, but it is quick and you'll find something to eat. The concierge was right outside our room and the longest we had to wait for a restaurant was 1 night. The Japanese, Gourmet and Cajun were great..mixed reviews on the steakhouse. The beach and pools are beautiful, and they are constantly maintaining the grounds. There is a lot of walking but if you plan on eating and drinking all day every day, it's good for you! We did two excursions to Chichen Itza and Excaret, they were on air-conditioned buses so no complaints there, just be prepared to be HOT!!! I would go back and also would recommend this resort to peole in a minute!!

The Iberostar group of resorts on the Mexican Riviera Maya was recommended to me by a co-worker, and boy am I glad I took his advice! We had a WONDERFUL time. Not everything was 100% perfect, but as long as you don't have sky-high expectations (as I believe many reviewers who have given this resort low ratings have) you'll find this resort to be a great vacation getaway.

Let's get into the specifics:

TRANSPORTATION TO/FROM THE AIRPORT: No problem there. The vans were your typical 13-passenger Chevy vans, but they were air conditioned and comfortable. The drivers loaded and unloaded your baggage for you and were very nice. The resort is about 35 minutes from Cancun airport.

CHECK-IN/CHECK OUT: We had zero problems there. The staff was very courteous and friendly, they had plenty of people on the front desk, and as a result we were cheerily on our way to our room in less than 10 minutes. We had a bit of a longer wait when we checked out, but there was at least 15 people in line in front of us when we came down to check out. The desk staff still handled check-out expediently.

ROOMS: VERY nice. Our room was spotless, the decorations and linens showed no signs of age, the furniture showed no signs of wear, and the bathroom was much larger than we expected. The bed wasn't very comfortable, but we're spoiled (we have a Sleep Number Bed). The maid service took care of our room every day, and we often came back to find our towels folded origami-style into animals like elephants and rabbits. Two words of warning: (1) The rooms have mini-refrigerators, but in Mexico they're not designed to keep drinks as cold as the refrigerators in the U.S., so don't be surprised if you get a drink out of there and it's warmer than you're expecting. (2) They also don't run the A/C as high in Mexico as they do in the U.S., so your room may be warmer than you expect, but we never had a problem where our room was so warm that it was uncomfortable.

CONCIERGE: This is something any visitor to this resort needs to know about: You have to make reservations for dinner at any of the specialty restaurants, and that's done through the concierge at your building. Our concierge was an American college student, so we had no communication barrier. I'm glad we spoke to her the first day, because she informed us that the specialty restaurants book up quickly. As a result, we made all our reservations when we arrived. She was very courteous, friendly, and helpful. We spoke to several other concierges and found them to be the same way. Always very pleasant, always willing to answer your questions.

RESTAURANTS: I was very surprised to read other reviews where people complained about the buffets. We ate at the buffet for breakfast and lunch almost every day and NEVER ONCE did we have a problem with bugs, messy dining areas, unfriendly/unattentive staff, or poor-quality food. The specialty restaurants all had excellent service and served very good food except for the Italian restaurant (but again, I'm spoiled -- my grandmother was not only Italian, she was a caterer). We also had poolside snacks, which were nothing to jump and cheer about but they were perfectly good. Another word of warning: There is a dress code for dinner at the buffet and the restaurants -- no jeans, no shorts, and no sandals or flip-flops. Men must wear pants, a shirt with a collar (golf/polo shirts are OK) and appropriate shoes. Women must wear pants or a skirt/dress, appropriate shoes, and a shirt with a collar if you're not wearing a dress. If you didn't bring the appropriate clothes, you'll either have to eat the buffet every night or go to the markets at Playa del Carmen or the Wal-Mart in Cancun. The resort has shuttle service to Playa del Carmen once or twice a day, but you'd have to rent a taxi to go to the Wal-Mart in Cancun.

DRINKS: The resort has a GREAT bar in the lobby area and a swim-up bar in one of the pools, not to mention a couple other bars on the resort. We stuck mostly to soft drinks and the local alcoholic drinks like Corona, Dos Equis, Daiquiris, and Pina Coladas, and we were never charged for drinks. The bartender at the bar in the lobby explained to us that most of the alcoholic drinks were included -- the exceptions he mentioned were if you wanted a bottle of champagne or a serving of 12-year-old single malt scotch. So to be on the safe side, if you're not drinking something of local flavor it's best to ask if there's a charge for what you want.

POOLS: The resort has two pools -- one pool with the swim-up bar and a wave pool. Both pools were kept clean, as was the area around the pools. They have "umbrellas" made of thatched grass, which was a blessing because my wife burns very easily. We also noticed they had excellent poolside service -- people came by asking us if we wanted anything to drink, stopping to pick up empty cups/glasses, and they also had people picking up used towels and "freshening up" the area.

BEACH: The beach area was GORGEOUS!!! Everything you think of when you imagine paradise -- clear blue water, white sand, palm trees, hammocks (they're first-come, first-served) more of those thatched-grass "umbrellas," and plenty of beach chaise lounges. They had volleyball games every day, and they also had open-air cabanas on the beach where you could get a massage. My wife and I took advantage of that and we really enjoyed it. They have various water craft for rent on the beach, and you can go parasailing, but my wife and I just swam and laid out on the beach. Time for two more words of warning: (1) They allow guests to sunbathe topless on the beach, and that can be a bit of a shocker if you're not ready for it. (2) The closer you are to the beach, the greater the chance you'll have some wandering peddler trying to sell you something. The beach backs up to a wooded area with many palm trees (this is where the open-air massage cabanas are), and there are plenty of places to sit and relax in there.

ENTERTAINMENT: They had FABULOUS shows every night. Great music, great singing, great dancing, lots of fun. The cool thing was you got an opportunity to talk to the performers after the show, and all the performers I spoke to were all fluent in English. We enjoyed that.

STORES: They have stores that sell alcohol, cigars, souvenirs, and many of the essentials like suntan lotion, basic health and beauty aid items, disposable cameras, etc. The stores were perfectly nice, but the stuff was VERY pricey (especially the alcohol and cigars, which was surprising). If you want to buy booze to bring back to the U.S., go to the Wal-Mart in Cancun. You can also do better in Playa del Carmen or on excursions if you want to buy souvenirs. Speaking of excursions...

ACTIVITIES/EXCURSIONS: The staff at the excursions desk were all exceptionally courteous and friendly. Not once did I get the impression that they were trying to push any excursions on us -- they simply answered our questions, showed us the options, and quoted us a price. We chose three excursions: (1) Xel-Ha, (2) Snorkeling off Cozumel, and (3) A sunset cruise, complete with surf-and-turf dinner and entertainment. The only issue we had was the weather on the day we were supposed to take our sunset cruise, but the staff didn't give us any trouble about changing the date. We thoroughly enjoyed all the excursions we took, especially the sunset cruise and dinner. The entertainment was kind of cheezy (basically a guy with a Casio keyboard he programmed to play a few songs), but it was a very romantic dinner and the food was excellent.

SPA: My wife was very disappointed because she had a French manicure done the day of our wedding and it started peeling before she even walked down the aisle. So she had her French manicure done again the second day we were there. The lady who did her manicure did such a good job that it didn't start to peel until the day we left -- and that was after several days of swimming in the pool, the ocean, at Xel-Ha, etc.

BOTTOM LINE: If you're expecting a resort where you live in the lap of luxury with gourmet food 24/7 and a staff that literally waits on you hand and foot, you're going to be disappointed (not to mention the fact that you're expecting way too much -- pay the extra money and stay at Club Med). But if you're looking for a beautiful place to stay with great facilities, very good food, very good service, and a friendly staff without having to pay a fortune, this is the place for you.

My family and I ( husband and 13 year old daughter) Just returned from our 10 day stay at the Iberosar Lindo. We had read all the reviews and pretty much accepted that you cannot please all of the people all of the time. With that, we entered our adventure.

The hotel grounds are nice, but nothing to write home about. We have seen much nicer in many other locations. The resort is large, but not too large to were getting to one place to another will require too much time and effort. The maps they provide you and the directions are so inaccuate, you are better off asking other guests to get you to were you need to go. And leave plenty of time to make it to your destination because I guarentee you will get lost at one point.

The rooms were nice, but as with anything, many things needed to be serviced . I pretty much desided after the second attempt to get the refridgerator fixed, it was better to fill the ice bucket and put the drinks on ice. Beds were firm and pillows not the ones from home, but this is a hotel and you cannot expect everyone to like the same types of beds.

The pools were nice, the lazy river needs to have the jets turned on so you can actually float down it .

The food was actually better then we expected. The buffet in the am get boring very quickly, but the restaurants were really good. We liked the Steakhouse and the Japanese as well as the Mexican. We were told we are able to utilize all the facilities from the other two surrounding Iberostar resorts, but this proved to be difficult. We wanted to try the Brazilian from the Del Mar and it took 4 days to get a confirmation. When we did finaly get the reservation, it was for so early in the evening we had to rush from the tour we returned from to make it .

The shoiw in the evening were entertaining, but then again, it is really to only source of entertainmnet in the evenings so you really had no choose.

I found the staff to be hit and miss on friendly and helpful. Some acted as if they wished they were anywhere but there assisting us. A handful stood out as friendly and helpful.

The Star Friends staff tryed to entertain you , but in the case of Enrique who does the water areobics, he seems to be bored and never once did this man smile. Hard to get motivated when he is continually looking at his watch praying for it to all end. They pretty much did the same activities daily, with no change so it got old pretty quick. The pool games once a day were fun, but some of them get out of control and dangerous, so be careful and watch the little kids. I would not recommend the water polo for them at all. My daughter got crushed continally and the satff does nothing to bring it under control.

The resort lost power several times while we were there, but had it restored fairly quickly. Again, just another adventure shopping in the market place by the glow of the vendors lighters and cell phones made for a memorable experience

In closing , our advise is to take it with a grain of salt. Do not let the many little things that can go wrong ruin your trip. Your are there, so make the best of it . I would not recommend this facility, but if you have already booked it , make the best of it , you will enjoy yourself if you take the right attitude with you

Me and my husband and two boys age 7 and 10 just came back from this resort and loved it. My 7 year old love the kids club. Some of the things they did were alittle kiddie for him but he did the events that he enjoyed. My 10 year old was alittle to old for it. He really enjoyed the pool games with the adults.
I just really wanted to write because I had read alot of the reviews before I left and was alittle scared reading some. I don't know what people expect out of a vacation but if you are looking for a wonderful staff (hard working), beautiful scenery, decent food, and beautiful beach then you have picked the right place. My only complaint is that the drinks aren't top shelf liquor but at the same time do you really want a bunch of out of control drunks walking around? Not me. I thought this was a great resort. I would go back in a heart beat.
And none of us got sick from the water or food.