Iberostar Paraiso Maya Reviews
Chetumal Cancun Km 309, Playa Paraiso , Riviera Maya,

85%
families recommend
587 family reviews



dopatz - Apr 28th, 2011
We stayed at this hotel with my family (6), my parents, and my sister's family (4). The kids varied in age from 6 to 14. The best thing of all was the wave pool. Or, so my kids would say... it was difficult to get them to leave it! We tried to more +hit the beach a few times, but they always wanted to go back to the wave pool. It sure made the vacation a wonderful experience for the 6 kids!

For the rest of us, we enjoyed the wave pool, and the other pools, and the beach. But best of all, in my opinion, was the steakhouse restaurant. I have stayed in many all-inclusives, and have never been impressed by the beef in Mexico. The steakhouse riveled the best steak I have ever had, at our local steakhouse. We even went back a second night, and it was equally as good.

All the other food was pretty good too - I was just so shocked by the steak that it really stands out in my mind.

My son was bitten by a wild cat living on the property, and had to get rabies shots when we got home, so this was the only negative of the trip. Some of the other kids were feeding these cats after breakfast, and when my son walked by the cat must have thought he had food in his hand, so she jumped up and bit his finger. So, my only advice here is, don't feed the cats.

All in all, a really wonderful vacation! I would go back in a heartbeat!



Date of Stay: 11/15/2010
Children in Party: 6


Kids (3-6)
Tweens (10-12)
Tweens (13+)
Accommodations
Dining
Kids Play Area
Money Value
Pool & Water Fun
Staff



maryerosemeyer - Apr 5th, 2011
We were fortunate to have our hotel upgraded from Iberostar Del Mar since they overbooked their rooms, and the Maya was superior to Del Mar. When we checked into the Maya, we were also upgraded to a Junior Suite free of charge. Nice size room with a more +king bed and queen/full pull-out sofa (way too lumpy for anyone but a kid to sleep in.) Amenities were great, with lots of pools, including a wave pool, a swim-up bar, a lazy river, and waterfalls. The beach is beautiful but crowded and full of activities like volleyball and other organized games. There is something scheduled for kids to do pretty much every hour, but ours was too busy swimming to take advantage of it all. The heated pools were a great temperature, not too cold at all. There are a couple of buildings with private pools, including ours, which is a great way to start and end the day if you want a home base or to meet up with friends. Ask for a room away from the crowded pools and beach.

Food was above average, especially at the specialty restaurants. It's a good idea to book these in advance because when you get there they will tell you they're all booked. But $10 to the concierge took care of this problem, well worth the money since you will get tired of eating at the buffets for every meal.There are 4-5 buffets and some are better than others for different meals. The specialty restaurants include Japanese (the most popular, a Benni Hanna kind of place), Italian, Seafood, Steakhouse, Tex-Mex, and Cajun (or maybe these last 2 were combined - we didn't go to that one.)

My biggest gripe about the food is that they don't really have any snacks available. The mini-bars in the room have sodas, water, and beer, but no snacks. And to buy anything on the resort leaves you feeling robbed. My husband absolutely refused to pay $50 for suntan lotion, and EVERYTHING you buy there is very expensive so try not to forget anything. I think a Baby Ruth bar was $5.00.

The drinks taste generally watered-down at all but one of the bars, no matter how much you tip the bartenders. The main bar near the lobby has real booze, but it's still a good idea to tip your bartender from the beginning and try to put on a rememberable face - it does pay off (as do most things here.)

Although my Blackberry worked great for telephone calls and e-mails, somehow they don't have the capability to send faxes very efficiently. A 38-page fax cost me $186 and the recipient told me the copy was terrible. It also cost $4 just to print 2 pages and I had to go offsite to do it.

However, overall the place was great and I would certainly recommend it to anyone with kids. P.S. Although we were there over spring break, there were hardly any college kids at this place - nice.

Date of Stay: 03/28/2011
Children in Party: 1


Kids (7-9)
Accommodations
Dining
Kids Play Area
Money Value
Pool & Water Fun
Staff




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tealtexas - May 31st, 2010
We went to the Playa Maya for spring break 2010. Overall, it far exceeded our expectations. The resort was beautiful, and the rooms were spacious. The beds were a bit hard and because we had teenagers they refused to give us adjoining rooms which more +was very important to us. The pools and the beach were both beautiful and very clean. The staff does expect tips even though it is supposed to be an all inclusive. The food was excellent and we would return although we like the Caribbean islands a bit better because the staff always seems happier. Our 14 year old boys had fun but we wish there had been more teen activities that they thought were worthy of their time.

Date of Stay: 03/11/2010
Children in Party: 2


Tweens (13+)
Accommodations
Dining
Kids Play Area
Money Value
Pool & Water Fun
Staff



amypete - May 28th, 2010
We spent 8 nights at the Maya in April 2010. This was our third visit and we loved it just as much as the first two times. I won't repeat what you've read elsewhere - the rooms are nice and large, the grounds amazing and the service is wonderful. more +

We thought the food at the a-la-cartes was even better than in previous years, but that the buffets had gone down a little bit. There was still something for everyone, just not as much variety. For example, in years past, the fruit station would have many different choices, including some exotic fruits we could not get at home. This year the fruit was plentiful, but more of the usual suspects, such as watermelon, cantelope, papaya, honeydew, pineapple, apples. No exotic starfruit, or other items I'd never seen in my grocery store. I missed that. One quirky complaint - they didn't automatically serve water at the buffets. You had to ask for it and on many occasions, we were almost done with our plate before we saw a server to ask for water. I'm sure this saves quite a bit of money, but it was annoying and really the only place where the service was less than wonderful.

The Star Friends were, as always, great. They kept the activities jumping but were not obnoxious if someone did not want to participate. There were so many activities going on we didn't have a chance to do everything we wanted to. The lazy river was relaxing, but as others have said is very slow. The wave pool was great fun.

The Commercial Center is so underutilized. Unfortunately, many of the storefronts are empty. We went shopping into Playa Del Carmen and very disappointed. The prices were high, we did better at the Commercial Center.

We also enjoyed the nightly entertainment at the Lindo Theatre. The kids club does a half-hour show beginning at 8 then there is usually live music from 8:30 until 9. At 9 the Star Friends hand out the prizes to the days winners and the show begins at 9:30. The shows are a bit cheesy, they seem to alternate between real entertainment and pulling audience members onstage to compete in silly games. I find those audience participation shows awful, although my children liked them better than the real shows. Either way, there is cocktail service at the seats and a nice breeze through the theatre so all in all a lovely way to end a day.

My husband really enjoyed the Advanced tennis clinic with Marco. He found it to be a great workout and really enjoyed starting his day this way.

Other than the water issue at the buffet, my only other gripe with this resort is that they charge for internet service. In this day and age, to charge over $100 for a week of internet service is ridiculous. For what we pay for this resort, that should be included. Clearly these are small issues with an overall fantastic resort. Everyone in our party had a great time and we are already planning our fourth visit next year.


Date of Stay: 04/16/2010
Children in Party: 2


Kids (3-6)
Kids (7-9)
Tweens (10-12)
Tweens (13+)
Accommodations
Dining
Kids Play Area
Money Value
Pool & Water Fun
Staff



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