Iberostar Waves Paraíso del Mar

Traveled to Del Mar September 16 to 20. It was a short get away for myself to experience this level as a club member. We have traveled to the Paraiso complex many times over the past 9 years. We started at Beach, and have stayed multiple times at Maya and Joia(Grand). This time of year the resort felt empty. Daily rain storms helped keep everyone off the beach and out of the pool. I stayed in room 1143 which is located closer to the beach and pool. So the walk to the lobby, Star Prestige Lounge and breakfast (which is at the Beach Buffet) was about a ten minute walk. I found the room to be clean and in working order. I didn't spend much time there other than to shower and sleep. I didn't use the mini bar, but it was stocked and snacks were provided. I knew what to expect from the restaurants, some being open air and un-airconditioned. This was not a problem for me. I never had to wait for a seat, but I arrived at opening for each meal. The food was good and enough variety for me. Being there for just 4 nights meant I had limited restaurant options. I enjoyed Italian twice, Mexican and Brazilian once. My service was good at every meal and by the last night Magdiel and the other wait staff were greeting me as a remembered friend and providing my preferred wine promptly. (It does help when you tip regularly) . The main point of my visit, was to see if I could enjoy myself as we do at Joia, by making use of the members areas. Having the private pool, with swim up bar and sitting are is very nice. It was a good place to hide from the rain. And having options for private lounge and beach area gave me enough variety of places to relax even with the rain. As a perk of our double black membership, I did have massages every day on the beach and at the spa. All were good experiences of course. I like the jungle feel of the resort. Walking the paths and seeing the wildlife just makes me more relaxed. The seaweed was abundant, but the crews cleaned it up daily. Didn't bother me, except when I tried to swim. The storms really churned the water and seaweed up. This is my favorite pool. Even though I don't swim much, it is very long and provides a lot of room to explore. Even with all the humidity, I only saw one mosquito. But they have never bothered me in the past either. I am not a night owl, so I missed most of the shows. What I saw of the Circus Show was good. I also won a hat playing bingo at the theater. Our membership includes travel by World 2 Meet and my ride was quick each way. No delays form traffic. In the end, I would stay here again, but I would not do it alone. I love to have time to relax and listen to my audio books. But I really missed my Wife and friends company.

The whole area is occupied by 4 Iberostar hotels, this is 1 of the 2 lowest grades. These 2 lowest grade resorts share all the facilities with a big long swimming pool in the middle. The long stretch from the inland to the beach is in the order shopping mall, gym, reception, restaurants, then rooms, rooms and rooms, then beach. There are several shuttles running along the resorts, but may not be very frequent. The swimming pool area is quite spacious when compared to the 1 besides of higher grade. But the higher grade’s pool has more features, like wave pool. The pool has a very nice member only area. I think these 2 lower grade resorts were the 1st to build so they occupy the best part of the beach. The beach is always wavy and not suitable for swimming. There are rocky areas and sea **** lies along the beach. The rooms are in 3 levels buildings stretching from the beach inwards, there is no elevator. You can arrange with the front desk to pick up and deliver the luggages. The room is simple, clean and spacious. There is a rack of clothes hanging lines in the balcony. May be because of low season, for breakfast and lunch, there is only 1 restaurant open at 1 time and it can be far away. Breakfast and lunch items are basically the same everyday. Dinner buffet has some special theme nights, but most items repeat. Food, service and atmosphere are better in the other restaurants in the resort but may be difficult to book. The staff are friendly and helpful, the front desk had ran to the neighbouring hotel to get me some US$ change, much appreciated. There are always minor maintenance problems with Iberostar hotels, this time the drinking water refill was not working, running out of hand soap refill and the toilet would not stop flushing.

The hotel was extremely nice and we had a great time with Regina. She made the check in process smooth and quick and anything we needed she was there to help.

Its a nice resort with a few caveats.. i want to point out that I was supposed to receive $800 in resort credits for spa’s, golfing,etc.. it ended up being about 32 $25 coupons totalling $800 which were absolutely useless. Shame on the resort for not being clear on this “bonus”. You will be stalked by sales reps trying to sell you time shares whether it is in the lobby, by the pool, the beach.. you name it. I made it clear to them I wasn’t interested but that didn’t stop them from multiple approaches.. Otherwise, food is good and pool is up to standard. Unfortunately, i wouldn't recommend the resort to anyone though

Thanks to our amazing ambassadors Carlos and Shonny for making our stay (first time in Mexico) memorable, exciting, and hassle free. They've coordinated our entire stay from transportations, restaurants and trips. We only had to show up on time. We will definitely be back.

Special thanks to the star prestige club ambassadors Shonny and Carlos for making our stay fun, exciting, enjoyable, memorable, hassle free and most important they are reachable at anytime with any concerns that we had with getting us transportation, making reservations to the restaurants and reserving our tours. We also would like to thank the sales team Antonio and Alfredo who sold us the club membership, without them we wouldn't have met our outstanding ambassadors Shonny & Carlos.