This was my first trip to Mexico and the second trip for my husband. We were supposed to be staying at the Lindo, but when we arrived for check in they offered us a free upgrade to the Maya since we were on our honeymoon. The room was really nice, it was always really clean, and we had towel art with fresh flowers every day. There wasn't really much of a view, just some tall trees right in front of our balcony and part of a walk way. We ordered room service a couple times because we were too lazy to go to the restaraunts, be careful of the caesar salad!! They put a giant anchovie on it and the whole thing tasted like fish! I also found that the Maya buildings were a little further away from everything, so make sure you bring good walking shoes!!!

The food was really good for the most part. There were several places with buffets for breakfast and lunch, there was such a wide variety of food that I'm sure even the most picky eaters could find something. We made reservations our first day for the dinner restaraunts, we went to a different one every night. The cajun, japanese, mexican, and steak restaraunts were all really good and I would definitely recommend them. The seafood and italian were not so good, my husband and I are not picky eaters but neither of us were impressed. Everywhere else the food was good. However, none of the places really had good desserts. The desserts always looked really good, but then when I tried one the looks were deceiving. There was always ice cream at every restaraunt, and its hard to go wrong with that.

The staff was always very friendly, we never had any problems. If we asked someone a question who didn't speak english they would promptly find someone who did. Also, we talked to a couple who stayed at another resort nearby and they said they had a phone and sunglasses stolen from their room. We were careful to lock up all our valubles in the safe, but one day I left my Nintendo DS laying out and that was still there when we got back. There were lots of activities during the day, so you can do as much or as little as you want.

We took two excursions while we were there, we went on the Mayan Adventure and Chichen Itza, both throught Apple. I would recommend both of these. The Mayan Adventure was a snorkelling trip where they took you to three different places: a jungle lagoon, and undergroud river, and a place where the freshwater met the ocean. Both me and my husband, who previously did not like snorkelling, had a really good time! The Chichen Itza trip was fun too.

Overall, we both had a really good time, and I would definitely recommend this resort to everyone! It was family friendly with lots of activities for the kids, but it was also a good place for honeymooners as well. Even though there were quite a few kids, we never felt like it was overrun with them.

When me and my husband got to the lindo i wanted a upgrade but husband didnt think it was worth it so alex who checked us in saw i was upset so he upgraded us to the maya for a small fee. Our room was great mini bar full all time, room made up with

towel animals everyday, flowers on bed. The staff went way above what i accepcted. The food was good we ate in Mexican, JAP. the buffet for breakfast in Lindo was better then by pool.Night buffet pool ok sometimes to much inscence smoked you out food good. We booked all are tours with apple vacations

had a great time. We booked Chitzentez not spelled right lol was great had all beer, water, soda on bus free. It poured that day our guide just kept going,got to jump in a sink hole it was a great day. Also star friends in resort great they take a trip into cancuan at night to coco bongos a night club that was the best. They made sure you were safe, they were great people. Star friend made sure everyone had fun. Me and my husband cant wait to go back.

Our family just got back last night after spending 1 week at the maya. We are a family of 4 with one teen girl 13 and one teen boy 16. the kids and i had a blast but my husband didn't like it too much. i think he got in a bad mood since the food and service were not up to his five star standard expectations.

the kids spent a lot of time hanging out in the room with room service (very small selection but they loved having the option for free) and they enjoyed the lazy river. my son and husband went wave running (great) and atv-ing (so-so) while my daughter and i had massages on the beach. aside from these excursions, we had an internet charge on the bill and that was it! EVERYTHING is included. While people who are used to all inclusives may be used to this, we are not. we never stay at all inclusives because usually the selections of dining are so poor or limited, we usually go out to eat and the all inclusive element is wasted on us. Here there are so many choices of restaurants, it is crazy. also, there are drinks and snacks and ice cream everywhere. i must have gained 5 pounds there.

my favorite places to eat were:
italian- i loved the osso buca (to die for and i do not usually eat this) on risotto, my daughter loved the gnocci. she and i went back 2 nights in a row and it was great both nights. my husband ordered some creamy pasta and hated it. my son will eat anything so he is not a critic.

steak house- the rib eye was very good one night and not so great the next. if you order meat medium, you are fine. anything more (i usually like my steak more well done) is overcooked.

japanese- they have a great benihana like show and it was fun. the food was very good there.

seafood- forget it. the worst most inedible seafood we have ever ordered. we heard that from others as well.

we did not eat at the french restaurant in maya (l'etoile) which i heard was good but my husband and kids did not want to go there. next time i will try it.

the buffets were a carb lovers' mixture of food which was all pretty decent. we ate breakfast and lunch there most days. the buffet on the beach is the best. grilled chicken , steak and great fries. the best lunch buffet in the whole place...certainly the healthiest.

the taco place in the shopping center (part of the all inclusive) was great! we went there for lunch and snacks. the burger and crepe places in the same center were gross.

it was so much fun to relax and have so many choices to satisfy cravings at any point of the day. you need to be in the right frame of mind because although the staff is nice, some of them do not understand english and things can get frustrating if you let it. also, they get funny about reservations in the restaurants. most nights it was not full although the concierge would tell you it was and not be able to book a restaurant. i went to the restaurant directly and usually got in even if i was told there was no spot. i am not shy but i was also not demanding about it. most places will accomodate you if you do not behave like a spoiled brat.

at the airport on the way home, my daughter and i almost went back to the hotel to stay for a few more days since it wasn't much of a penalty to change our flights and we both enjoyed it so much. i realized i did not have enough clothes for us so we came home with the boys.

oh well, although it great to be home, i still have things i will miss there. oh...one more thing...there are mosquitos at night. i did not have "off" and did not want to buy it for $12 unless i really needed it. i found that i got some bites but it wasn't too bad and it was really humid! there were also little tiny bugs on the desk that we discovered on the last day. don't know what they were but they were mostly a nuisance since they got on our stuff.

We just returned last Thursday from our second trip to the Iberostar Paraiso complex. We were booked at the Lindo but upon check in (we did arrive about 1 1/2 hrs before check in time), they asked if we would be interested in a free upgrade to the Maya since we were repeat guests. Also, I'm not sure if they offered me the upgrade because of this but, the fountain in the lobby at the Lindo and several of the other fountains in the restaurant/theater area were empty and being repaired. It really took away from the beauty of the Lindo. There was also a construction area at one of the theater entrances. By the end of our visit, the fountains were all up and running again except for the lobby. I accepted the upgrade since it was myself and my two kids (16 and 29) and the room they were offering us was bigger with two double beds and a pull out sofa. This way we would each have our own bed and I wouldn't have trouble sleeping like I did last year sharing a bed with my daughter! We were in room 6544 which was on the second floor and very close to the lobby area and a short walk to the Lindo restaurants/theater. It faced the Grand and because it was on the second floor, all we really could see was vegetation from the balcony which gave it privacy but I missed being able to sit out and look at the grounds, etc. We really didn't take advantage of most of the other amenities included with the upgrade (swing on porch-which is very uncomfortable, DVD player, CD player, two exclusive ala carte restaurants (gourmet and seafood, which neither of my kids liked anything on the menu), wet areas at the spa-which I didn't use because it is "adults only" so my daughter wouldn't have been able to join us, private pool which we never used, and jacuzzi tub-which we did use once we adjusted the spray nozzles correctly). We were left a welcome gift on our second morning of a small bottle of tequila and jar of peanuts which was a very nice touch. We did go to the breakfast buffet at the seafood restaurant at the Maya one morning but we thought that the breakfast buffet at the Italian/Chinese restaurant at the Lindo offered more of a variety. They did have a breakfast menu at the Maya buffet which you could order from if you wanted but we didn't try anything. It was quieter at the Maya since all the activities and nightly shows are at the Lindo. The walk back to the room from the pool/beach was longer to the Maya if you forgot something but I needed the exercise from all the extra calories eaten during the week! Unfortunately, they don't have a trolley that runs from the beach to the lobby between the Lindo/Maya like they do at the Beach. They still do have the trolley that runs between the resorts and the shopping center which we used a lot this year because of the rain and to get over to the Del Mar for the Brazilian restaurant. Bottom line is, we enjoyed the free upgrade but I would not ever pay the extra money to stay at the Maya. The bartenders at the Maya Snake Bar made excellent drinks (Jose and Jorge) and Francisco at the swim up bar made the best margarita! Oscar at the theater bar made me his "special" every night which was a strawberry/banana flavor drink with cinnamon sprinkled on top. The food this year was not as good as last year. I was so looking forward to the coconut shrimp at the Cajun restaurant, but all I could taste was garlic. I had the salmon and blackened grouper at the Canjun, the red snapper at the Italian, the beef plate at the Steakhouse (which was good and I would never have ordered if someone hadn't recommended it on this board), one of the taco dishes at the Mexican, and we tried the Brazilian over at the Del Mar this year which was good for a change. My son really enjoyed it since he is the meat eater in the family and my daughter and I really enjoyed the appetizers on the buffet-try the tuna tarts! We did the Japanese last year and enjoyed the show but the food was very bland so we didn't go again this year. We all agreed that our meals were just OK, not anything to rave about. I couldn't get a decent cup of coffee at the breakfast buffets and couldn't ever figure out how to make the coffee not weak in the room so I just gave up until the bars opened at 10 and then I could get a cappuccino. We did try room service this year a couple of different times late at night or should I say early morning, and delivery was within a half hour and the pizza, apple pie and brownie were good. We made sure to have the tacos at the shopping center our last day for lunch and an ice cream at the crepes place and they were great as always. OK enough about the food/drinks. The grounds are still amazing, the maid service excellent (towel art and carnation set into the tissue dispenser), the star friends didn't seem as friendly this year as last but they still put on a great beach party with paella (meat this year in it instead of seafood) and sangria. They had the mechanical bull during the beach party instead of the bikini contest and didn't have the mechanical bull after the Mexican show. All the shows were the same except for Boogie Nights, which was OK. It was very boring watching the same shows. The weather wasn't that great during our stay - we only had two days of sun, but we still found plenty to do and sat under cover at the pool/beach despite the overcast and on and off rain. We spent a lot of time walking around the other resorts. The Beach/Del Mar is completely covered between the two so you can stay dry the entire time. They have flamingos, swans, parrots and the grounds just seem more tropical than the Lindo/Maya. The gift shop at the Beach has much more to pick from too. The sports bar is over there and the star friends were conducting more activities in the lobby area on rainy days there than at the Lindo/Maya. My daughter won at bingo at the ice cream parlor (they put railings up while we were there because people had to sit on the ledge over the pool bar/waterfall to play because they didn't have enough tables and security kept having to tell people to get down) so she was thrilled to get to go up on stage and receive her Star Friends Winner t-shirt. My son went to the Galaxy disco most of the nights but the teen disco is still a disappointment. It isn't staffed properly and none of the Star Friends promote it during the day to get a group of teens together so it is empty every night leaving the teens with nothing to do after the show. We took a taxi ($20 each way) into downtown Playa del Carmen one morning since the free shuttle no longer operates. My kids found some souvenirs and we had a drink/appetizer at Carlos and Charlies. Calling cards for the pay phone in the lobby are not cheap and according to my son, it took him forever to figure out how to get the @ sign (despite instructions posted) on the computer using up his time he paid for to use the internet. The kids also went on the $40 snorkeling trip with Dressel Divers from the Iberostar and really enjoyed it! They went one of the afternoons the sun was out and got some great underwater pictures. I also paid the extra $10/hour for late check out since we weren't getting picked up until 1:30 for our afternoon flight and our room wasn't being occupied that day. We were able to spend a few hours at the pool that morning and go over to the shopping center for lunch on our last day. Also, my son got a great deal on a pair of boots ($50.00) at the leather shop. We did enjoy ourselves despite only having two full sunny days during our visit but if the prices continue to go up as much as they did from last year to this year, I might be looking at trying something new next year. Let me know if you have any specific questions and I'll try and answer them for you.