Iberostar Selection Paraíso Maya Suites — Hotel in Quintana Roo

Incredibly long review ahead!||Dates: June 15 - 21, 6 nights||Family of 4, kids 9 & 11 plus Grandma & Grandpa||We last stayed here in October 2021 (still Covid-y) and had the BEST time so I was excited to try it again at a busier time with more people.||RESORT|This resort is JUST as beautiful as it was 4 years ago! It is SO clean, landscapers are constantly trimming and cleaning up debris, leaves, etc, and the lush tropical feel lets you know that you are really in Mexico. This resort is large, but with our kids so much older now, it really wasn’t that bad. If anything, it gave us a chance to walk off all the calories from food & drinks!||ROOMS|We were in building 61, a Junior Suite Near the Pool and this location was absolutely perfect. It was closer for us to use the bathroom in our room than the public restrooms. We had a ground floor suite and while it felt a tad bit damp at the end of the night, we slept completely comfortably and dry throughout. In comparison, we stayed at Iberostar Bavaro Suite in the DR in 2022 and our room was SO humid and never cool. This room was set for 21, although we requested them to turn it down to 18 (they never did), and with the fans on high, our sheets were dry and comfortable.|We had a double bed room with a pull out sofa and wound up pushing the beds together and putting the kids on the sofa bed. They were fine but we could have requested rollaways too.||The room itself is HUGE, especially compared to several other resorts we’ve been to, and while it is a bit outdated (despite the refreshing they did last year). We loved the amount of storage in the closets and under the TV console. We had more than enough space for all 4 of us.||In the bathroom, while there wasn’t a ton of storage in here, we made do with what was there. We just had to lay everything out on the sink. Some cons in here: the lighting is SO dark that it is very hard to do your makeup; I do wish there were a separate water closet for the toilet.||POOLS|Absolutely amazing! We loved how large they are and having the water slides, wave pool, and lazy river available made our stay so enjoyable (especially with the beach situation). The towel game is strong here, but we always managed to find at least one lounge chair even after returning from excursions. In reality, we only need one chair to throw our stuff even for a party of 6.||The swim up bar is awesome, but severely understaffed. We wound up just going to the pool bar instead. They made EXCELLENT drinks (definitely ask for specific liquor) that were not watered down one bit. Ask me (and my mom) how I know.||BEACH|We knew we were taking a risk going to this part of Mexico in June and sadly I had many local people tell me that this is probably the worst sargassum season in 10 years. It made the beach completely unusable during our stay. In our previous stay, we loved the beach and it’s gorgeous blue/green color.||STAR CAMP|I forced my kids to go at least once and they didn’t even want to come to the pool for the foam party. While they didn’t go a lot, they did enjoy Star Camp when they did attend. It’s a wonderful program with amazing staff.||DINING / RESTAURANTS|**Food is so subjective. We are not foodies, as in fancy food, but we like good food. And we found the food here to be good - even on this second stay. The reservation system stinks though. You only need reservations for La Geisha (hibachi at Maya), El Ranch (steakhouse at Maya), El Puerto (smokehouse at Beach), and El Rodizio (Brazilian at Del Mar). We only wanted the hibachi and Brazilian and were only able to get the hibachi. A concierge gave me info to check the app between 1 and 2pm because that’s when people need to cancel by plus they “supposedly” sprinkle in additional restaurants. I only saw reservations open for the day we were checking out and one time for La Geisha so who knows. For reference we checked in on a Sunday and I know the last time they opened up reservations on Saturdays so perhaps they still do that?||Here is where we dined:||La Marina - We had the lobster and surf & turf and everything was excellent. My dad had the steak (bacon wrapped filet) and it was delicious too. Service was great here and very attentive.||L’Etoile (french/gourmet) - French onion soup was yummy and both the steak frites and steak au poivre were pretty good as well. Not as tender as La Marina, but we enjoyed. The service was VERY slow. So slow that we ordered dessert and left after waiting 20 minutes for it and never received it.||El Museo - OUR FAVORITE! This is higher end italian and was absolutely delicious. We loved the antipasto “buffet” and also ordered the spaghetti carbonara, spicy rigatoni vodka, osso buco (mine and I love love loved it), lasagna, and ravioli busco. Not one complaint. For dessert we ordered the tiramisu, cannoli, and profiterol and again, so delicious. Service was excellent here.||Olivetti - More casual italian. For appetizers we ordered every single one of them and they were great, though I never received my mozzarella sticks and others did. My husband and I both remembered the carpaccio being better last time, but it was still good here. We ordered the chicken parmesan ( so good), cheese alfredo, spaghetti and meatballs, and carbonara and all were good, though the meatballs were a little salty. For dessert, we ordered one of everything and the best was the chocolate and vanilla ice cream truffle! The perfect amount.||La Geisha - We love hibachi dining and it’s always a fun experience. Unfortunately we could only get the 5pm seating but we made it work. The show was fun as usual and the food was pretty good. You go here for the atmosphere and if you like asian, it’s a good tasting menu.||Lemon & Spices - A greek / mediterranean restaurant, probably our 2nd favorite. The service was top notch here and we were surprised to see it a bit on the empty side, especially after tasting the food. We loved the family style Mezze platter appetizer as it gave us a sampling of a bunch of different greek foods. We ordered the Souvlaki for the table in lamb, steak, chicken, and shrimp and we loved all of it. Definitely don’t skip this restaurant. They have a dessert bar that is fun to sample a lot of different desserts.||Breakfast - We ate at both the Maya and Lindo breakfast buffets. They are the same except the Maya buffet is much less busy and has a mimosa bar.||Lunch - For lunch we mainly ate at the Olivetti buffet by the pool due to convenience. They have everything you need. Don’t skip the tacos - so good! We ate at the Lindo lunch buffet twice and it was good too with a large selection. We also grabbed snacks from the beach bar once or twice. I do wish they had a poolside snack shack like the beach for quick eats. We also had poolside paella twice and it was good, but not as good as we remembered from 2021.||BARS / DRINKS|The drinks are not watered down. Not one bit. I asked for specific liquor and they delivered, usually a Hornitos, soda and lime or Dos Equis. Don’t skip the espresso martinis in either the snake or lindo lobby bars! They were so good! We had excellent and very quick bar service everywhere except the swim up bar (just due to the number of people and needing probably 2 more bartenders).||ENTERTAINMENT|This is where Iberostar shines for us. They are always playing fun music by the pool, putting together games, or putting on a great show. The pool obstacle course, Wibit, is a ton of fun BUT if they are letting the crowd shake it, don’t try it. It’s way too dangerous. My husband and I both did it twice and the first time they just splashed us and threw yoga balls and the second they allowed the crowd to shake the entire inflatable and it definitely caused some injuries. The nighttime shows are really fun and the games before are a hoot, just as we remembered. The fire shows are awesome but get there early or even better, reserve a table if you can. They have a DJ after the show each night and will teach you all kinds of dances which is so much fun. We did go to the nightclub one night and felt sufficiently old haha. But we had a good time people watching.||OVERALL - would we go back? Yes. However it’s unlikely we will go back because there are a lot of other resorts we...

Travelled as a family, two boys 22, 24||We have been to this Iberostar in 2021 - at the Lindo.||Pretty much the same as before. Beautiful setting, very well maintained and clean. Helpful and pleasant staff.||We stayed at the Maya this time because the Maya offers a "Jr Family Suite" - which has connecting suites which are mirrors of each other except one room has a King bed and the other has two double beds. (I think the Maya is the only part of this Iberostar Selection where this set up exists - but I could be wrong). |When we stayed in the Lindo in 2021, we reserved two rooms with the above set up (not connecting as the Lindo does not offer this). But when we checked in at the Lindo - a) they did not give us rooms near each other as we requested and b) didn't have a room with two beds as we had reserved - they brought in a roll-away as my boys aren't sharing a bed - it was only for one night as they rectified the situation the next day - but when you pay this $$ - you don't want this kind of annoyance.|BE ADVISED - the Iberostar hotels on this property do not guarantee any specific rooms - its all based on availability at time of check in - even though we were told by the Front Desk we were "all set" when I called right before we arrived. To be honest, we probably would have booked the "Adults only" Iberostar Grand (which is beautiful) next door, but again they could not guarantee the room set up nor the approximation of rooms to each other as we desired - so we passed on the Grand.||Regardless, rooms at the Maya were quite spacious and well appointed. (would have liked to have some snacks as part of the mini-bar - its is an all inclusive after all - but not a big deal.) We liked that they supply two large bottles for water which you can refill through the water stations in the building and around the resort.||Overall, we had a nice vacation - however, for us, there have been two changes (one major, one minor) which would cause us to not come back to this particular Iberostar location in Riviera Maya.||Major issue|1) As mentioned in some of the other reviews here, the resort has changed their policies for restaurant reservations since we last stayed here in 2021. |In 2021, right after check in, we met with the concierge and made dinner reservations for our stay.|Well - thats no more - except for the steakhouse (there is a Brazilian steakhouse which was very good but this is not that steakhouse) and the Japanese (Hibachi) restaurants.|Now, other than these two, all restaurants are on a "first come, first served" basis.|I was told by the concierge, the reason for this change was the hotel is seeking to cater to their "Iberostar Club members" who can make reservations and get priority. I suppose I understand this and I would want this if I were a member - but it is a bit of a disappointment as now we didn't know where we would be eating each night and had to go down early to the restaurant we wanted to eat at for that night, see if they had any availability on their waiting list, put our name down if there were any openings (we got turned away from a couple as their waiting list was too long to accept more names) and then wait perhaps 45 minutes or so to eat. |For the most part, we were successful getting into the restaurant we chose for the evening, as we were flexible to eat when the restaurant had the opening (we would go to the bar and have a few drinks until our table was available).|While this ins't the end of the world, for us, while we are on vacation, we don't want to be walking around trying to figure out where we will have dinner - we prefer to have it all set so we can just relax and eat.|Last year we stayed at the Iberostar in Dominican Republic (Punta Cana) in the "Coral Level" (i.e."Concierge level") and absolutely LOVED it as you have your own separate check in, reserved section of the beach, pools and restaurants etc and could make dinner reservations when checking in.|However, this Iberostar does not offer the "Coral level".||Minor Issue|2) When we stayed here in 2021, there was a location on the beach where towels were available. However, that is no longer the case - which means - the only location to get towels is by the pool. This isnt a big deal really BUT - if you desire another towel while at the beach (which isn't unreasonable) - you have to walk all the way back to the pool to get another towel. A bit annoying.||One other minor issue for us - the breakfast and lunch buffets offer the same menus every day. We stayed 7 days so it got pretty repetitive. The food was fine for the most part but it would be nice if some of the restaurants were open for lunch, offering a bit of variety (we did not see any open for lunch but perhaps we didn't really look deeper to see what was open). Hamburgers, hot dogs etc are offered on the beach as well as a couple of taco stations (one by the beach and one by the pool) which was nice but still....|Also - as with many resorts in "prime time" (Christmas time etc) - if you aren't down to the pool or beach to reserve your chaise lounges - even though there are signs asking not to reserve chairs etc (by the pool area) by say, 8 am or earlier - your chances of getting chairs become quite slim. ||Again - nice property, great beach/water and good service. Food is good but definitely not "haute cuisine" (which is kinda expected in this level of...

I actually feel bad writing such a negative review. It's important in life to focus on the positives and not the negatives, however, this resort had way too many negatives to not share them with other families so that they know what they are getting into before considering this resort as an option.||||Firstly, the rooms are dated and the buildings are not as well maintained as they should be (dirt stains on walls and floors). A good power washer and heavy duty scrubbing would do wonders. Not sure why they don't offer queen size beds. They only offer king beds and double beds. The rooms are spacious enough to accommodate queen sized beds. As well, we had guests staying above us that were so loud (walking in high heels back and forth from 10:30 pm to 12 am) and then the next morning at 5:20 am. It's not the hotels fault that they guests are not respectful, but maybe the building was poorly constructed and not soundproofed? I have no idea. But to be woken up by footsteps at 5 am in the morning was not my idea of a vacation. At least we only experience it for 1 night above my room. Above my daughters' room (2 double beds), they experienced the room noise above their beds for the entire 5 night stay. For them, it was kids running back and forth, and speaking loudly at night and first thing in the morning! I must say, the staff did their best to address this, but really, what could they say? Stop walking so loudly? It was certainly a first for us. You never think that guests walking above your room could cause you to not fall asleep or wake you up! I am still traumatized about this and we returned late last night from our trip.||||As for the activities offered at the resort, the nightly entertainment is the worst we have ever experienced in any resort we have stayed at (Dominican, Turks, Jamaica, Bahamas and Mexico). We have stayed at resorts in Mexico alone at least 8 times. The yoga sessions are only 30 minutes in duration (offered twice a day) and the activities for teenagers are limited. The gym is state of the art, but your teenage children need to be 16 plus to use the facilities. If you want to sign out the tennis racquets/balls, be prepared to walk at least 30 minutes to arrange everything, which involves going to the gym to book a court on the Lindo side, then head back to gym at the start of your time slot to pick up the equipment, then go back to Maya Resort tennis court to play (as you most likely won't get a time slot at the 2 nicer courts adjacent to the gym) and then back to the gym to return the equipment. The resort certainly doesn't make it enjoyable for guests as you are doing all the work in booking the court and signing out the equipment and they are to actually robbing guests of the enjoyment of actually getting to play tennis. I felt like I was at home to be honest.||||The food was the worst of all the resorts we stayed at. At one of the counter tops at the smaller buffets by the main pool, it was a mess. The bag of lettuce left sitting out in the open (and unsealed), dirty rags, etc. I just kept thinking to myself, what does it look like in the back kitchen? My goodness.... Other than the fruit, salsa and fresh fruit drinks blended on the spot, the food was bland and often times not served warm/hot. The lobster was chewy and so was the steak. The chicken was inconsistent. My daughter would try a piece of chicken and love it and then would go back for a 2nd piece and said it was terrible. I wasn't sure if the meat was simply overcooked or it was the quality of the meat to begin with. The pasta with plain spaghetti sauce was really tasty. You know you have a problem when you think that the pasta and sauce is good (out of all the food offered at a buffet).||||As for service, don't expect it to be quick. It was quite inconsistent actually. We were offered coffee or beverage less than 50 percent of the time at breakfast. At the Steakhouse (reservation required) they were extremely understaffed despite the restaurant appearing to be at 60 - 70% capacity. I felt really badly for our server as he was running back and forth and looked visibly overwhelmed. All the servers that night looked overwhelmed actually. We waited 30 minutes to be seated by the hostess, then waited 30 minutes for our order to be taken. When the server came to take our order (finally), we realized that he actually didn't offer us a menu so that delayed us another 15 minutes. The pasta was dry and cold (most likely sitting in the kitchen under heat lamps for 15 plus minutes) and the steak was quite chewy. We left before desert was offered to us as we had had enough waiting around at this point. Our reservation was for 7 pm and we left there at 9:45 without desert (to give you perspective) and headed over to the buffet. ||||As for the pool and hot tub. The pool water was COLD! Worst of any resort we have ever stayed at despite the temperature being in mid 20s. The hot tub (2 of them in the centre of the main pool area) was NOT hot. Other guests and I were joking saying that the resort needs to remove the pictures of any reference of hot tubs from their website. ||||Needless to say, my family was ready to leave the resort after day 3 of our trip. ||Really hope the above helps another family...