I'd never seen so much chlorinated water in my life.

If there's anything the Lindo did great, it was swimming pools. They're everywhere and in every shape. Everything else was good, but not unbelievable five-star quality. Nothing was horrible.

I was with a family of 13, ages 3-60, that stayed at the Iberostar for five nights the week before the Fourth of July.

The hotel offered a wide range of activities that were listed on a schedule we received at check-in. Something new started every half hour.

I took a step class, paddled in a kayak, played bocce ball, swam in the pools, played pool volleyball, learned to merengue, shot baskets and took a bicycle tour . All that was included with the all-inclusive rate. I also ponied up the extra cash to parasail and rent a Jet Ski.

The room, 5137, was clean, comfortable and quiet. Everyday the maid stocked our fridge with bottled water, mineral water, diet Coke, Sprite and beer. About three-fourths of the TV channels were in Spanish, but English-language stations were also available, including CNN, BBC and FOX News.

The beach was about 30 yards wide and about a half mile long. It was always crowded during the day. But we never had trouble finding a chair. Everything was as clean as can be expected. The rip current was strong but never so bad the hotel closed the beach.

The food was average but edible. Each restaurant offered a wide variety that included fresh fruits and vegetables. So, it was possible to eat fairly healthy. I liked that the buffets were stocked with some exotic foods, such as guava and octopus, that I don't get to eat too often at home.

The restaurants and bars were close to the rooms, pools and beach. So, I never had to travel far for a meal, snack or drink. And the restaurants were open all day.

The hotel had a clean, air-conditioned gym with Life Fitness treadmills, stationary bikes, elliptical machines and stair masters. The gym also offered free weights, some weight machine, mats and ab balls.

But the gym did have one problem, and it was an issue all over the resort. Techno music. In the gym, it started booming at 7 a.m. and didn't quit until close. At the pools and beach, the thuds began about 10 a.m. and went until dinnertime.

One other thing needs mentioning: We had a scary hour when we thought we'd lost a member of our family somewhere between the airport and the hotel. We thought we were going to have to call the police and needed some help finding the phone numbers and someone to translate. No one, including the manager on duty, Ramon, was too eager to help. The family member arrived as we argued with Ramon. It turned out the whole thing was a misunderstanding caused by the travel agency, Apple Vacations. But if this truly had been an emergency, I wonder if anyone would've finally helped us.

Overall, I'd say this is a great getaway. You can do as little or as much as you like. Just about everyone should find something he likes.

Just came back from 2 weeks at this Iberostar hotel. We (a family of 6 adults) had a good time at the riviera maya.
Rooms: The rooms are big compared to European standards with firm beds en nice badrooms. Our airco was not functioning very well the first couple of days, but after a visit of a specialist everything worked oke. The toilet had a funny way of flushing, you had to push twice to stop the water running. Nice towels an a good minibar with soda's en beer. The room is well kept and cleaned.

Builings: the complex is huge. 5 hotels with max. 4000 quests, about 80 % from the USA. So walking is necessary but with beautiful gardens not so bad. And there is a small train that runs between Lindo and Del Mar. The building are well maintained, all day there is someone cleaning, weeping floors, working the gardens, painting the building. Management is walking around the whole day and checking on buildings, restaurants, swimmingpools etc.

Pools/beach: the pool of Lindo is nice but the pool of Del Mar/ Beach is beautiful! The main pool is after 12 o clock full with American holidaymakers standing in the water with a drink in their hands with loud music playing from the wetbar. I neven saw this phenomenom before but I was told by Americans that is their way of enjoying your holiday. After 4 o'clock the first drunken people can be spotted. Once we saw a man completey knocked out and left alone by his friends on a sunbed. For more quite simming: go to Del Mar/Beach or go to the beach. The beach is wonderfull with enough sunbeds. We had lots of waves during our stay, which was wonderful. I can recommend the snorkeltour from the hotel. It takes you to the nearby reef and we saw a lot of fish. Also the kayaking was fun.

Food: overall the food was good to excellent. we liked the breakfast at the folconrestaurant and at the main buffet. We had lunch most of the time at the Folcon or the mexican restaurant near the pool. Both are excellent. Vegetables that are not overcooked at a bufet: compliments to the chef and his staff. They made my mom a nice soup when she was not feeling very well. The main buffet is overcrowded at dinertime: If you want a bufet for diner: go (again :)) to Del MAr/Beach. Huge bufets;never crowded and good food! The Italian was very good. We ate there 3 time. The Gourmet was very bad: too cold because of airco and overcooked food. The fish and the steakhouse very good. Overall the good was good to very good. Nothing to complain about. We never saw cats in the restaurant or koati's only outside (and we fed them almost everyday)

We did not particpated in many activities and did nog see many shows, so no comment on that. The starfriends seemed nice and enjoying their work.

If you want to have a nice and easy vacation in a well kept hotel with lots of restaurants, pools and activities: this is your place. Are you looking for a quit small hotel: go stay somewhere else.

I really enjoyed our stay at Iberostar. We booked our trip through funjet.com, and were displeased with the Oasis is Cancun. Funjet travel agents helped us rebook a different hotel. Transition was simple, but am now leery of funjet's hotel ratings. The hotel was wonderfule. Lots to do. Gorgeous facilities. Really enjoyed the environment. We traveled with our 4 yr. old son and he loved it! Definitely recommend.

My family, wife and two children (11,7) just returned from our second stay at an Iberstar Resort. We previously stayed at the Quetzal in Playa del Carmen three years ago. We selected the Lindo based on our travel agent's recommendations as a top family destination and on reading reviews posted on this site. We were not at all disappointed. We loved our stay! This is long, but please read until the end.

We stayed five days, four nights, arriving on a Monday and leaving on Friday. We again flew Continental non stop and loved the service. We never had to stand in line in Houston or in Cancun. I believe the price was a little more than the Funjet, but not waiting in line was worth the extra price.

Again, the Lomas agency (turquise shirts and white pants)picked us up at the airport and drove us to the resort. It was about a 30 minute trip. Do not stop and talk with the time share people in the airport. The Lomas agency is outside and will quickly take care of you.

When we arrived at the resort a little after two in the afternoon, we were quickly checked in and taken to our room. Last time we arrived earlier at our other resort and had to have our bags held until the room was ready. This time we had no wait time. Our room was close to the pool area, as we had requested through our travel agent. It was in building 53 on the second floor and we had a HUGE balcony since our room was at the end. We also loved having the concierge in our building. Someone was there to assist at all hours of the day. At the Quetzal, it was much harder to book the restaurants as the person was there for the entire resort. We were able to book a restaurant for 3 out of the 4 nights we were there. We ate at the Seafood, Steakhouse and the Japanesse. At first, the Japanesse was not available as it seems to be the most popular, but we were placed on a waiting list and were able to get in our last night there. We did meet with the concierge and book all of our restaurants right when we got to our building.

Food reviews: Let me begin by saying that our family has been to two Iberostar resorts in Mexico, both times with our children and no one ever has been sick. That said, we do take precautions like, we drink only bottled water provided in the room and use the large jug of bottled water in the room for brushing teeth. We also do not eat uncooked fruits or vegetables without outer skins removed like lettuce, tomotoes, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries. We also LOVED the fact that we could eat all of our meals in air conditioned restaurants, unlike at the Quetzal. When at the beach, we only snacked on nachos and ate the guacomole that was in the closed cooler on ice. It sounds like we didn't eat much, but that is not true. We had many frozen drinks and ice cream and ate much at the restaurants and buffets. Our two favorite restaurants were the Japanesse and Steakhouse. The food was wonderful!! The Seafood was not so bad, it was just that we like our lobster hot with butter and this was cold with pesto. It was okay. The rest of the buffet was good. Our two children are picky eaters but found food they loved at each place we ate. They also loved ordering the chicken nuggets from room service. Allow at least 30-45 minutes to get to your room, but the food is hot. All of the reviews we read said the Itailian was the best breakfast buffet but we preferred the omelets at the Seafood restaurant at the Mayan as they had more variety. The kids loved the buffet there! The Itailian was okay too. We just loved eating in air conditioning without the birds and bugs. Yogurt is also provided on every buffet and we did always have a little each morning just to make sure to keep anything from upsetting our stomach. There is just so much to choose from that I can see where someone could just easily overpower their stomach by eating too much of the rich food. My family loved the fresh juices at breakfast, the watermelon and banana were favorites and we also preferred the cappacinos to the regular cups of coffee. We just had to add some sugar for taste. There are open air resturants by the pool and beach area if anyone is interested, but again we were very picky about what we ate there since it was in the open air. We did find that the food is put out fresh at about noon and was really good then.

Entertainment: We LOVED the Star Friends and the activities they hosted each day. We strongly suggest reading the activities guide given to you at check in. Anything marked with a "T" is a tournament activity which means that the winner gets a t-shirt and certificate and is honored at the nightly show. The games are for kids or adults. Most had two categories. Bingo at the ice cream bar was fun at 3:30 every day. Participating in these activities allowed us to meet people from all over the world and to get better acquainted with the Star Friends. The kids loved the kids show at 8:00 every evening and then we all stayed and enjoyed the adult show that begins at 9:00. All of the shows are appropriate for families. Our favorite was the magician on Thursday night. He was FABULOUS!!

In all, we loved this resort above the other Iberostar we stayed at for the following reasons: You have the choice of going to experience the food and activites of four resorts. The Mayan and Lindo were our favorite, but we did shop at the others. We also loved the shopping mall that was easily accessable, especially from the Lindo. We also noticed a medical clinic and pharmacy close to the mall at the Lindo, in case we would have needed that service.

We felt that the level of service and dedication to pleasing the guest's every need was similiar to the feel we got years ago when we stayed at Walt Disney World resort. The staff is constantly working hard to make the experience top notch from cleanliness, appearances, food, and entertainment. The resort is just beautiful. As far as the few sugar ants in the room, I was not offended, as I realize these are an annoyance were I live, despite regular extermination visits. I never saw signs of bugs in the air conditioned food areas.

The staff does not make a lot of money, so we tipped staff out of appreciation for their hard work and high level of service. We found that tipping did improve the quality of our drinks from the bar as did conversing with the bartenders. A little bit went a long way.

Since we did outer trips on our last visit to Playa del Carmen, we just wanted to enjoy the resort activities and relax. We were able to do that. We drank and ate well, relaxed, entertained our children and ourselves and thoroughly enjoyed this vacation. We can't wait to return!!! I would highly recommended the Lindo to any family that wants to just relax and have fun. You make the most of any vacation and have to go knowing that you are not in the United States and that things will be a little different.

I know I have written a lot, but I could go on and on. As a parent traveling with two children, if all of us can be happy, then we have had a good trip. In this case, it was a great trip. Each one of us did things we enjoyed and best of all we could enjoy being together without the pressure of time and the stress of wondering how much money was left and if we could afford another nice meal. I love that everything is paid in advance. We just take money for shopping and tipping. I feel that we got our money's worth out of this resort. It was everything we had hoped it would be, and MORE!!