Arrival
Check in was a breeze. No waits. There were 3 couples and one was not assigned a king bed which they requested so they were immediately moved. All 3 rooms were very close together which was what we had asked for by email.

Rooms
Very clean, not new but kept up nicely. Old school tv (we didnt care). Mini fridge was stocked daily. Nice sized balcony for relaxing and smoking. 2 queen or 1 king bed. Rooms with king beds only have a shower, queen rooms have a tub.

Layout
As per usual, it took us a day to gather our bearings. The resort is huge. We embraced the walking. Once we had the layout down it was really not noticeable. One end is the lobby and restaurants and shops. The other end is the beach. Room buildings are all in between.

Beach/Pools
Could not have asked for a nice beach. Exactly what we hoped for and just like the photos. Beware of jellyfish when the sea is rough. I was stung and had a bad reaction. There is a bar right on the beach for drinks as well as a snack bar for lunch. The pools were very nice and HUGE. I did not go in so can not comment on temperature etc.

Restaurants
We had Japanese: ok. Italian: good. Mediterranean: very good. Buffets always had something that we liked and were quite enjoyable. Never had any issues with food here.

Entertainment
Same old. Enjoyed it but only went to 1 show. The disco was fun a couple of the nights as it is shared by all of the Iberostar properties here so a mix of people.

Staff
Very accommodating and friendly. Working their buts off as usual.

I can not say enough good about this resort and would recommend it to anyone. In my opinion there is no need whatsoever for an upgrade as you have everything you need at the Beach!

In Sep 2011 myself and 3 friends BOUGHT AND PAID FOR a 2 weeks vacation at the Iberostar Paraiso Beach. 2 of us are single and don't like to share a room so we paid single supplement.
12 Jan 2012, we arrived at the PB to be told by the check in clerk that there was no rooms available for us and we were shoved off to the Del Mar. When we BOUGHT AND PAID for our holiday last Sep, there was plenty of space available at the PB. I know the Beach and the Del Mar shares the same facilities, but the PB was our resort of choice. If we had wished to stay at the Del Mar, we would have bought and paid for a holiday at the Del Mar. Attention Iberostar staff: WE ARE THE CLIENTS, WE CHOOSE THE RESORT, NOT YOU. DO NOT EVER AGAIN US, THE CLIENTS, on which resort we will stay during our 2 weeks holidays. If your problem is overbooking, here is and easy solution. Stop overbooking.

The food - Why was it always cold and the potatoes not cooked?

The resort - Nice and clean. I don't know why people complain about the size of this resort. It was an easy walk from the beach to the lobby. It was a pleasure to be able to do activities on the resort without being constantly harassed by vendors.

I stayed here October 2011 with my husband and another couple. We stayed at Barcelo Maya the year before so that is what I have to compare it to. We all preferred Barcelo to Iberostar in the end. We liked that Iberostar is much closer to the airport but we paid the same price to stay at Barcelo's 2nd highest level with many more options compared to Iberostar's 2nd lowest level.

There are a lot of differences compared to the other resorts on the complex. You can not use their pools or dine at their facilities and if you walk through them the staff look at you like you're not supposed to be there. We were told by someone that we could use their pool so we did and were told to leave shortly after sitting down. Most of the staff was very friendly and spoke english fairly well. Knowing some spanish will make things a little easier though. The only issue we had was during check-in. We were interrupted by a guest who was there for a conference and spoke spanish. The person behind the desk stopped our check in process and attended to him for about 10 minutes leaving us standing there with no apology.

The food is your average resort food with a different theme every night. The dining areas are open air so it was hot and there were many birds and cats roaming around the tables. Staying at the beach resort only gets you 2 nights at a restaurant depending on how many nights you are staying. If you stay more than 7 nights you get 3 restaurant vouchers. The taco and crepe place at the shops were amazing and free.

The rooms are also your basic resort rooms with hard beds and pillows. The bathroom and shower were pretty big with marble tile floors and vanity. Maid service was inconsistent but leaving a tip and a note in spanish did get us more drinks and beer in our fridge.

Many of the pools were being worked on and were closed and you could hear chain saws and power tools all day which was very annoying when you're trying to relax! There weren't many activities outside of the typical pool games and contests. Barcelo had kayaks, water buggies, and snorkels to use. We found out it's because the surf is more rough in this area of the coast. The spa was amazing and had some great specials!

All in all it was a good vacation but I wouldn't stay here again.

Everythings was cool !!! Great Entertainment !!! Specially Miguel and Edurardo !!! Those guys are simply crazy lol They like their jobs we can see it .... Food was great !!! If you want to eat like home.....STAY HOME !!!! But everything was reat...Buffet...A la carte Restaurants !!! VERY GOOD SERVICE everytime.... Definitly the best trip ive done...