October 31, 2004
08-01-2005 9:38 pm
October 31, 2004
color=#0000ff> Iberostar Message BoardJust stayed at the Iberostar Paraiso Lindo resort the week of 10/23 - 10/30.
Here are some things that you my be interested to know regarding the resort and our trip in general:
- My wife and are are 33 with no kids. We stayed at on the Beach side last year, so this is our second trip to the resort.
-The Iberostar resorts in the Riviera Maya region are located about a 25 minute bus ride south of the Cancun airport.
- We booked our trip through FunJet. No problems. We fly out of O'Hare and for the 2nd year in a row, our plane (Trans Meridian) had an option for 1st class seating. I wasn't able to book 1st class online, so I went through a travel agent. One of the FunJet reps caught us when we got in line to check-in.....when she realized we were in 1st class, we got to bypass the entire line and check-in ahead of everybody. I think the 1st class upgrade was about $150 per person round trip....good deal as far as I'm concerned.
- After you get through customs at the the Cancun airport, get your luggage and go through one final security check, you head down a main hallway to where the transportation is. If you like getting hit up for time shares, side trips and guys wanting to help you with your luggage (for a tip), you'll love this area.....ignore everybody until you get outside.
-With FunJet, their reps are all dressed in white pants and aqua shirts. Tell the guys where you're going (Paraiso Lindo) and they'll tell you what you'll be riding in....either a bus or a van. We had a bus this year.....mass chaos! If it's a bus, find out the bus number and then head down to your left to where the buses are loading people (both Apple and FunJet). It's not very clear which bus is for which group, since the reps seem to be as confused as everyone else.....just look for the numbers on the banners strung across the front of each bus. Each bus will have a specific list of each family and the number of travelers that should be on that ride, so you can't just skip out and ride on a different bus, unless you want to find a cab, which is always an option. Our bus stopped at the El Dorado resort just down the street from Lindo, which adds about another 15 minutes onto trip since they drop them off first.
- Once you get to Lindo, they'll unload all your luggage first and they you can get off......they'll tell you to go check-in first and then come back for your luggage.....we quick got past everybody else since they weren't paying attention and got to the front of the line for check-in, which saved us time, since there were about 30 people behind us when we walked away from the desk.
- Lindo is connected to Paraiso Beach and Paraiso Del Mar. On the other side of Lindo, they're finishing up the Paraiso Maya, due to open on 12/1. Lindo and Maya share the same restaurants, shops and pools. Beach and Del Mar share the same things.
- Lindo guests are allowed to use ALL facilities at all of the resorts connected. If you stay at the Beach or Del Mar, you can't use the Lindo facilties.
- Lindo guests can book restaurant reservations as many times as are available. Beach and Del Mar guests are limited to 3 per week.....that was the case last year when we stayed on the Beach side.
- If you plan to eat at the restaurants, book your reservations first thing when you get to your room....each building has their own consiege. After we got to our room, we went down and made our reservations for the entire week. If you want until the day of or the day before, you'll probably have some problems getting the day and time you want.
- With the Maya side set to open on 12/1, the Lindo/Maya side will be twice as busy, so getting reservations as early as possible is ideal.
- Both sides have an open air ampitheater where they have shows at night. If you want some peace and quite in your room I suggest that you try to get a room 3-4 buildings down to get away from the possible noise at night.
- The Lindo pool(s) has one poolbar....I think when the Maya side opens, there will be another one available....there is at least one new pool that will open.
- The pool bars and the drink hut on the beach use well booze for the most part. For most drinks it's not a big deal, but if you're expecting Absolute and Captain Morgan's, you won't be gettin' any :-) But, the lounge bar up by the main entrance does have Absolute, if you must know.
- The pools are huge with plenty of room to lounge the sun or in the shade.
- The rooms all have safes, which is nice.....lock up everything! Jewelry, glasses, whatever.......remember, you're staying in a country where most people have nothing.....if you leave it out, it could be fair game.......we had a pair of scissors by the bathroom sink that magically disappeared one day when we got back from the pool....it's an odd thing to steal, but the cleaning crew had to have taken it, we didn't move it anywhere else.
- The beach is nice and it's sandy out in the water for the most part, but there were rocks that we kept tripping over which isn't fun......I saw another post that said the hurricanes blew away some of the sand....that's probably the case.....last year, I don't remember running into rocks in the water, so hopefully they'll fix that.
- The grounds are lush and tropical and well maintained....there's always crews cutting, sweeping, trimming and cleaning.
- You always hear "stay away from the drinking water"......but, we've stayed here twice now and have never had a problem. A friend of ours worked in the bottled water biz who was with us last year and said there was a water treatment facility out front....I saw it, but initially I wasn't sure what it was. We ate tones of fruit, vegatables and salsa and had no problems. The only time we really felt the need to use bottled water was when we were brushing our teeth. I have a feeling that the water out of the tap in the rooms is filtered as well, but we had the bottled water and I didn't want to chance it.
- The rooms have mini-bars and come stocked with beer, water and sodas. Ask for more if you need it.
- Lots of foreigners at this resort. Iberostar is a resort based out of Spain and had resorts all over Europe, so the Europeans are familiar with the place.
- Seems to be a good place to bring kids, they alwasys seem to be entertained in one way or another. Not a ton a kids under 5, but the ones we saw were all well behaved....no real brats running around.
- After the Paraiso Maya side opens on 12/1, they're supposed to be starting a Paraiso Grande next door to that, which is supposed to be all suites and have a golf course, set to open in December of 2005 from what we were told.
- Watch your stuff by the pool.....we met a couple that left their bag by the Maya side where the construction workers were at and it was stolen...they went over to the pool bar to get a drink, came back and it was gone......the next day, they were watching the workers and it looked like they were scoping out peoples stuff.......I would like to think that this crap won't happen once the construction is all done......again, you're in a country where the average person has nothing.
- Behind the main lounge up front there is a cigar bar if you're interested.
- There is also an Internet lounge....it's not free, you have to pay for it.
- If you walk the paths on the Beach and Del Mar side, you'll see wild animals wandering around. Swans by the Beach lobby and restaurants, Flamingos by the Del Mar lobby, wild turkeys and peacocks by the rooms, mainly the Beach side. If you look over the wall by the adult pool bar on the Beach side (in the wooded area), there are crabs that live in big holes that they've dug up and we saw a large Iguana last year...about 2 feet long.
- There are also wild cats that hang out by the outdoor lunch area on the Beach & Del Mar side near the beach entrance looking for food.
- You only get a towel card per person....if you want more, ask at the front desk and they'll give them to you, no problem.
- At the Lindo pool near the poolbar, they've got activities and music going on all day, so if you want peace and quite, find another area of the pool to hang out at.
- Didn't have too many problems with mosquitoes and bugs.
- Walking through the paths by the rooms and pools on the Beach side at night, watch out for the bats flying through the trees :-)
- In general, the restuarants are good, but not not fantastic. The Cajun was really good, the Italian was ok, but the food was sort of bland. Fondue was pretty good.
- The rooms are nice with A/C, cable tv, etc.....watching the World Series in Spanish is entertaining on ESPN VIVO!
- My wife and I think this place is fantastic and plan to go back again, hopefully every Fall after hurricane season. It's a beautiful place and everything is great for the price.....I'd give it a 5 star rating if they had topshelf booze all the time and the restaurants had top rate food....don't get me wrong, everything is great, but I like top shelf booze and we live in Chicago, so when it comes to great restaurants, we have a lot to choose from at home.
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