Has anyone stayed at the above all-inclusive? My family and another group are headed there tomorrow and would like some visitor input. It looks like it could be great. Anything particular we should know?

Me! Me!<BR>I stayed there two years ago and really enjoyed it. I had a "all inclusives stink!" mentality, even though I'd never been to one. I had done my scuba cert. classes back at home so the best part for me was the on-site dive shop where I did my final dives. There were several people from other Playacar hotels that came to our shop because it was close to them. They also do snorkeling excursions if you like that.<BR><BR>Good things:<BR>-GREAT kids program. I don't have kids but if I did we would definitely go to iberostar. They keep the kids all day and teach them songs and dances that they perform at the nightly show.<BR>-Nightly shows were pretty good. <BR>-The Mexican restaurant is good. Steak place is ok, Italian is ok.<BR>-From what we saw, the hotel's beach is the biggest of all the Playacar hotels<BR>-Rooms are decent<BR>-The grounds are great. They have great birds around and even a family of monkeys that would hang out on the roof of the main building in the morning and early evening.<BR>-Close to Playa del Carmen<BR>-Take the Tulum/Xel Ha tour<BR>-Being that it's a Spanish chain, there are a lot of Europeans who stay there. You always hear about Cancun being full of Americans, but not the Iberostar.<BR><BR><BR>Not so good:<BR>-The food gets a little monotonous. We tried to eat out a few nights to break it up. <BR>-Lots of kids. If you're looking for romantic hideway this isn't it.(you said you were going with your family though)<BR>-Weak drinks. Ok, I know they're free, but we tried to ask for stronger and it wasn't happening.<BR>-Weather. We went late July and it was really muggy, even raining a couple of times. But we just headed in and took a nap..ahhh<BR><BR><BR>Have fun. I really want to stay at their new property Paradiso del Mar my next time.

Snarla - you will love the Iberostar Paraiso. But.....it was mostly Americans at this one. We've been to Mayan Riveria 3 times - twice at the RIU Yucatan and this last time at the IB* and the rooms are just gorgeous and spacious and so well laid out. The resort is huge though and you will need to pack a bag if you're heading down to the beach for the day. Mind you, a good way to walk off all the food. The food in the buffets can get boring but the specialty restaurants are a nice change. We loved the Mediteranean one though - all the seafood you could eat and then you got to order more off the menu! If you are a big honkin' meat fan, then you want to go to the Brazilian - they come to your table with long skewers of grilled meats and just hack off whatever you want. Apparently a real meat lover's paradise. <BR>Be forewarned though, this resort is a good 20 minute bus ride into PDC, so if you want to just hunker down and enjoy the resort, this is a good spot. <BR>P.S. July is the hot rainy season for this area. End of Jan, beginning of Feb we had two weeks of sun!

Hmmm.... I thunk poster #2 is a bit confused. The Iberostar Paraiso is not in the PDC area, the Iberostar Quetzal/Tucan is a 20-25 minute walk from el centro in Playa. We stayed at the Iberostar Quetzal in '98, and are going back there this October, as we love the place! It is very lush, jungle-y in feel, has a beautiful beach, the food is fine, food cleanliness/safety is top-notch, the rooms are quite comfortable, and if you get strauight shots of liquor and then get juice on the side to mix, the drinks are fine. I recently reviewed my journal entries and my "vacation story" from that visit, and I noted that I had only good comments about the staff as well. <BR>If you get a chance, visit Coba, and try to take a trip to snorkel in some cenotes - there is an outfit in Puerto Aventuras that does a gret tour! Enjoy your trip.<BR>ja

I think Debbie(#2) was just responding to my post in which I declared my desire to stay at the newer iberostar property the next time I go.<BR><BR>Thanks for the tip Debbie!<BR><BR

Hi, we stayed at the Tucan 2 years ago and are going again in a couple of months. We had a fabulous time and had no problem with weak drinks.You can even drink champagne all night if you wish to. The food was delicious and the steak house was the best. The entertainment was only so so but they are after all only amatuers and not broadway stars and they do work very hard. Wonderful hotel ,fabulous people and well worth a visit.