Iberostar Selection Paraiso Maya Suites - All Inclusive

“Maya is the way to go”

The staff is so welcoming. The food is amazing. Luis at the French restaurant is amazing. And Luz above the pools serving the ice cream creates the warmest environment.

“Employee Compliment- Miguel”

Overall, we were highly impressed with this location. We stayed from August 8th-15th. The service, as a whole, was exceptional, but we wanted to specifically compliment Miguel from the Lindo (I believe it was called La Pagoda) lunch buffet. He waited on us 2-3 times and recognized our family each t… more

Overall, we were highly impressed with this location. We stayed from August 8th-15th. The service, as a whole, was exceptional, but we wanted to specifically compliment Miguel from the Lindo (I believe it was called La Pagoda) lunch buffet. He waited on us 2-3 times and recognized our family each time, made a point to say 'hello', and crafted some specialty margaritas for us, knowing our overall love for margaritas. He was very pleasant, friendly, attentive, and personable. We wanted to make a point to recognize him and his hard work! Thank you, Miguel! We were excited to write this review to shout him out.

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“Vacation!!!!!!”

Super clean, the staff were super friendly and very helpful all the time. Amazing customer service from the concierge to server and in general everybody. The buffet and the quality of the food was excellent and delicious. I love the room very spacious and a big closet.

“*Overall: A decent resort, but unfortunately not worth the price we paid.* STAY AWAY FROM IBEROSTAR SALES TEAM”

# Paraiso Maya — Honest Family Review | August 8–15. Family of 4 with 2 teenagers. *Overall: A decent resort, but unfortunately not worth the price we paid.* We travelled to Paraiso Maya from August 8–15 with our two teenagers, ages 14 and 16. As a family, we have now travelled to six different … more

# Paraiso Maya — Honest Family Review | August 8–15. Family of 4 with 2 teenagers. *Overall: A decent resort, but unfortunately not worth the price we paid.* We travelled to Paraiso Maya from August 8–15 with our two teenagers, ages 14 and 16. As a family, we have now travelled to six different all-inclusive resorts throughout the Caribbean, so we have a fair amount of experience to compare it to. Overall, Paraiso Maya is a nice, upscale resort with beautiful grounds, lots of pools, good food and plenty to do. However, for the price we paid, we expected a higher level of service and a more seamless experience. One thing we noticed almost immediately is that the resort is *very sales-focused*. Staff would approach us while we were eating dinner trying to sell beach dinners, tequila tastings and other experiences. It became a little frustrating after a while, especially when you're trying to enjoy your vacation. ## 🚨 BIGGEST WARNING — STAY AWAY FROM THE IBEROSTAR SALES PRESENTATION I cannot stress this enough: *if you are offered the Iberostar sales presentation, think very carefully before agreeing to it.* I was told it would take approximately *60 minutes. I knew that was probably optimistic, but I never expected it to turn into **3 hours and 7 minutes*. I walked out at 1:07 p.m., meaning we lost a huge portion of our vacation day. Thankfully, our kids were enjoying themselves at the pool, but personally, I would never do this again. What bothered us even more was the attitude of some of the sales management. At one point, the highest-level manager we dealt with made a joke involving blind people signing up for the program. We found the comment extremely inappropriate and it left a very bad impression. We were given a complimentary catamaran excursion for four as part of the presentation. While we appreciated the gesture, the excursion itself wasn't particularly impressive and, in our opinion, wasn't worth giving up three hours of vacation time. Unfortunately, after we decided not to purchase the package, we also felt that the level of service toward us changed. We experienced issues with reservations and communication with the concierge, particularly with *Alex*, who had also told us the sales presentation would only take 60 minutes. ## CONS * *Very difficult to make dinner reservations*, which doesn't make much sense when many of the restaurants appeared to have plenty of empty tables. * We paid for Maya but found ourselves spending quite a bit of time over at *Lindo*. * Lots of walking. This can be a positive if you enjoy walking, but the resort is very spread out. * You have to check out towels and return them. We've stayed at many resorts and had never encountered this system before. * *$50 USD to play 9 holes of mini golf* seemed excessive, especially at an all-inclusive resort. * The lazy river could have been cleaner, and there were no complimentary floats available. * Customer service was inconsistent. There was definitely a language barrier at times that we haven't experienced to the same extent at other resorts. * Housekeeping was average. We didn't receive the level of attention we'd expect from an upscale resort, and there was no turndown service. * The minibar was disappointing. There were no snacks, which we expected considering the price point. For comparison, Planet Hollywood had a much better selection of food and snacks available. * *Coatis are everywhere!* They are fun to see at first, but there are so many of them that they'll sometimes try to take food right out of your hand. They're not aggressive, but you definitely need to be aware of them. * *Seaweed was a major issue*, although we knew this was a possibility before travelling. Unfortunately, there isn't much the resort can do about the amount of sargassum coming in. * Finding top-shelf liquor was surprisingly difficult. I was hoping to find Grey Goose or Tito's, but the higher-end options weren't consistently available. * The resort is quite sales-oriented, with staff frequently promoting additional experiences and upgrades while you're trying to relax. ## ⭐ HIGHLIGHT OF OUR TRIP — BOCA DEL PUMA By far the highlight of our vacation was booking the *ATV, Zipline and Cenote excursion through Paraiso Tours on the beach with Jorge*. The tour was called *Boca del Puma*, and it was an excellent day. The ATVs were a lot of fun. We personally would have liked a little more time riding, but overall we had no complaints. The zipline was exciting for our teenagers, but the *cenotes were the real highlight for our entire family*. We also asked our driver to stop at an authentic Mexican restaurant on the side of the road. That turned into one of our favourite experiences of the entire trip. The food was fantastic — especially the Mexican pork belly — and it felt like we were experiencing something much more authentic than what you typically get at a resort. *Highly recommend this excursion. It was probably the best tour we've done on any of our family vacations.* ## 🍽️ RESTAURANT RANKINGS Keep in mind that getting reservations can be difficult. *Breakfast buffet:* Excellent. Lots of fresh fruit and a fresh omelette station — you really can't go wrong. *Lunch buffet:* Good variety, and the poolside food of the day was also enjoyable. *Sports Bar:* One of our favourites. The chicken wings were excellent, especially the *lemon pepper*. We are a family that takes chicken wings seriously! I just wish they had a pool table. *Ice cream:* All of the ice cream spots were good. *Star Café:* Excellent. Definitely try the *vanilla latte*. ### Our Family's Restaurant Ranking *1. Mexican Restaurant* Probably our favourite overall. Tupet was a great server and the manager was very friendly. *2. French Restaurant* Excellent food. The tenderloin and lamb were both very good. Unfortunately, someone actually approached us at our table while we were eating and tried to sell us a $500 USD beach dinner. Not exactly what you want while enjoying your meal. *3. Teppanyaki* Very entertaining and the chef was extremely engaging. The food was also very good. Unfortunately, our reservation was messed up. Alex from the concierge gave us the wrong time — the same person who had told me the sales presentation would only take 60 minutes. *4. Olivetti* *5. Italian* *6. Seafood* *7. Steakhouse* This was probably our biggest restaurant disappointment. Service was very slow and the New York strip was not very good. ## 👍 PROS * Large rooms * Strong air conditioning * H2O water stations throughout the resort * An incredible number of pools — we've never seen so many at one resort * Lots of activities * Daytime entertainment was good without being overly pushy * Overall food quality was good * Good variety of food * Plenty of spice and authentic flavours, which you don't always get at all-inclusive resorts * Beautiful grounds * Lots of wildlife * We even spotted a few monkeys, which was a really cool surprise * The Lindo grounds are beautiful and, in our opinion, are the nicest part of the two-resort complex * Evening shows were decent ## FINAL THOUGHTS Would we say Paraiso Maya is a bad resort? *No.* There are definitely a lot of positives. The property is beautiful, the rooms are spacious, there are tons of pools, the food is generally good and there is plenty to keep a family busy. But would we return? *Probably not.* For the price we paid, we expected better service, easier restaurant reservations and less pressure to purchase additional experiences and packages. The biggest issue for us was the combination of the *sales presentation, inconsistent customer service and the feeling that the level of service changed after we declined to purchase the vacation package*. Our teenagers had a good time, and we still created some great family memories — especially our Boca del Puma excursion and the cenotes. But when we compare Paraiso Maya to the other six Caribbean all-inclusive resorts we've visited, we simply don't feel it provided the value or service we expected at this price point. *Overall: 3/5 ⭐⭐⭐* Nice resort, beautiful property and plenty to do — but at this price, we expected more.

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