Has anyone stayed at the Iberostar Paraiso Lindo in Playa Del Carmen? What's it like?

Here's the latest review from http://www.iberostar-board.com

When we arrived in Cancun, the only delay was waiting for our luggage. We were pleasantly surprised when we were escorted by our Lomas Travel person outside to a stretch Expedition. We shared the ride with two couples who were dropped off at another resort.

I was very impressed as we drove into the Iberostar Paraiso complex. The grounds are maintained beautifully. We were told to leave our luggage at the curb and check in at reception. We were given a welcome drink (juices) given our key cards, towel cards, map and some helpful information. We then went back out to our luggage and the bellman loaded our luggage onto a golf cart and he took us to our room. I had requested a corner room in building 53 on the third floor which faced the pool side but one wasn鈥檛 available until Wednesday. They told me we could move on Wednesday to one of the rooms I had requested if we wanted to. However, we were in a corner room in building 52 (which is really the same building as 53 but just on the other side) on the third floor facing the Iberostar Beach (room 5272). I was concerned that the trolley running right outside between the two resorts and the peacocks that are at the Beach would be noisy, but we actually loved the location and decided not to move when one of the other rooms became available. The room was keep very clean and we enjoyed seeing the towel art that was left each day. It was also very nice to have turn down service every night. They would leave chocolates and turn the lights on above the nightstand shining down onto the bed and leave two bottled waters/glasses on the nightstand. Also, if they caught you in your room, they ask if you need any more towels, etc. One night I left my tip out on the table for the maid for the next day prior to the turn down service and the maid got two tips that day! They really deserve it though. I did have to ask for more coffee stirrers and bottled water in the big jug for the coffee maker. Also, I don鈥檛 think our television worked or it was unplugged, but who wants to watch television when you鈥檙e on vacation?

We didn鈥檛 arrive until around 7:00 pm so I went straight down to the concierge to see if we could get into one of the ala carte restaurants that night for dinner. We did get into the Steakhouse but not until 8:30 which was fine since we wanted to unpack a little and have a drink before dinner. While I was there, I made reservations for the rest of the week. I got reservations for the time I wanted (7:30) for every night but two. The night we ate at the Japanese we had to take 6:30 and our last night we had to take 7:00. We ate at the Steakhouse, which only my son liked. My daughter and I aren鈥檛 beef lovers and the steak was too rare for us even though we asked for medium. The next night we ate at the Cajun and we liked it so much we decided to eat at it again our last night. I got the blackened grouper and my kids got the Jambalaya, flank steak, and pork dish. We weren鈥檛 impressed with the Mexican and I was the only one who really loved my meal at the Italian (red snapper). My son got the filet mignon and said it was a good piece of meat but didn't like the sauce that was on top of it. We all shared an entree of the bacon fettucine. They didn't have a problem with the three of us getting four entrees! We enjoyed the show cooking at the Japanese but the food was very bland. For breakfast, the buffet at the Italian restaurant was much better than the buffet near the beach at the Lindo and for lunch, the buffet at the Mexican restaurant on the Maya side was much better than the buffet at the Lindo. I was also disappointed with the service at breakfast. It was hard to get a second cup of coffee and the coffee wasn鈥檛 very good. We did try the burgers and tacos at the Commercial Center for lunch and they were good. We didn鈥檛 like the crepes and we didn鈥檛 try the tapas. We did eat lunch one day from the snack bar on the beach and it is your typical hamburgers, hotdogs, grilled chicken, etc. They do have stuff for nachos too. I was the only one who tried the paella they cooked on the beach on Wednesday during the beach party. It was very good. My son really enjoyed the bikini contest. That day it rained on and off all day but they still had the party despite the weather.

The commercial center wasn鈥檛 ever crowded. My son (age 27) did go to the disco every night (Galaxy) after the show at the theater and enjoyed it. One of my disappointments was that the star friends didn鈥檛 promote the teen disco (Underground) enough so it was always empty. I would have to go back to the room with my teenage daughter every night after the theater show since she couldn鈥檛 get into the Galaxy disco and the Underground was empty. We did go over to the Maya one night for karaoke in the Melody bar. I think they do it every other night but there weren鈥檛 too many people there.

The theater shows were nothing spectacular but they were entertaining and my son really enjoyed the mechanical bull after the Mexican show. There is always something going on that you can participate in. We did air rifle shooting, painted pottery on the beach, took salsa lessons, played ping pong, played bingo (and ate ice cream since it was held at the ice cream parlor), and did water aerobics. We had three days that the weather wasn鈥檛 very nice and we managed to stay busy the entire time and didn鈥檛 let it ruin our vacation.

We took the free shuttle into Playa del Carmen one day. Just remember that it is first come first serve and on the return we were worried that we wouldn鈥檛 get back on the bus and the next one wasn鈥檛 for another two hours. So, plan accordingly!

Another disappointment was that the spa was adults only. My son scheduled a massage and used all the other treatments that are free when you book a massage. I couldn鈥檛 very well leave my 15 year old daughter alone so I didn鈥檛 use the spa. We could have gotten a massage on the beach but I really wanted to take advantage of all the other services (steam room, sauna, pools, etc.) at the spa.

The beach was nice however, the water does have big rocks and it was hard to enjoy the waves being worried about hitting the rocks. We tried to swim out far enough past the rocks to body surf but the life guards whistled for us to come in closer to shore. So, we spent more time at the pools than we normally would. We did bring our own inflatable floats ($1.50 from Wal-Mart) and gave them to a family our last day. We also brought the 32 ounce Bubba Kegs and really enjoyed having them. Our drinks stayed nice and cold and we didn鈥檛 get sand in them while on the beach. The bartenders didn鈥檛 mind filling them up either. The drink service wasn鈥檛 good at the pool area but I didn鈥檛 mind having to walk to a bar for a drink or swim over to the swim up bar. Also, I don鈥檛 think there was bar service on the beach at all but we always got a spot close enough to the bar, bathroom, and snack bar.

We tried out the lazy river once and I think I only saw the wave pool with waves once the entire time I was there. I don鈥檛 know what the schedule is, but it must not be active very much. I only sat at the swim up bar once because it was very noisy with the waterfall cascading down behind you. The pools are beautiful, big and very clean for covering such a big area.

Warning - do be very careful when walking after it has rained. Everything is very slippery! Also, you do a lot of walking which I didn't mind at all. I found it easier to walk then to wait around for the next trolley (which I never did figure out the schedule if there was one).

Added Note: My daughter and I enjoyed checking out all the public ladies rooms. The decor was based upon the restaurant they were located near. Some of them were really neat!

Overall, we had a wonderful vacation and I wish we could go back tomorrow!

Yes, it's a very nice hotel, with a lot of nature.

Iberostar Hotels excellent hotels and the Lindo is one of the best in the area...