Just back from AWESOME time at the IB Lindo

[draie]

Hola!

I planned the trip to the Lindo as a honeymoon vacation for my new wife and I and kept it secret until just the day before arriving at the Lindo. Thanks to this board, alot of my questions were answered and I hope the following report will help anyone who is planning to go.

I booked the trip thru American Airlines Vacations with transport to and from Miami (we spent 1 night in Miami pre-Lindo and 2 nights in Miami post-Lindo). We flew to and from Miami from Montreal via Air Canada (gotta love those free 1st class tickets from my air miles )

Ok, here we go:

Sept 10: Wedding
Sept 11: Fly to Miami early morning

Sept 12: Fly to Cancun, arrive at 1:00 pm. Customs and Immigration was a snap! Longest wait was for luggage, about 10 minutes. Hordes of time share people around, sneaky buggers. They kept saying "i am your transport to the resort, which resort are you going to?" To which I replied "Shouldn't you know that?" and walked right by. Be careful of these guys, just ignore them and keep on walking. Your transport people are outside near the vans. Look for the colored shirts (inour case Olympus Tours, orange shirts).
We waited about 15 minutes while they filled our van (about 8 people) going to 2 resorts. Weather was hot and overcast, drizzling on and off. Trip to lindo took about 45 minutes with one drop off at another resort before ours.

Check in was a breeze at the Lindo, no one else in line. I asked for upgrade to Maya as it was our Honeymoon, unfortunately not available, however our room was perfect (Building 51, room 5101 on ground floor across from concierge). We were given armbands, a map of the resort and explained how buffet/restaurants work and then we were off.

We got a lift to our room on a golf cart, our luggage arrived 5 minutes later. Room was great!! Beautiful welcome towel sculpture and tons of flowers on bed in a heartshape design. Drinks in fridge were cool enough to be refreshing (I left a note for the maid to bring more Coke Light and sure enough they were there the next day). We went to concierge to book most of our nights at the restaurants, with the Brazilian at the Del Mar being one of them, only got into this on the night before last due to some small issues of cross-resort bookings, no big deal though. Spent rest of day walking around the resort...it is HUGE, but walkable, and the trolleys come by every 15 minutes or so if you dont feel like walking. Later in the day we went to the Olympus Tours desk to confirm departure info and look at available tours. Had supper in the FOGON buffet near back end of the resort and went to bed early (very hot and humid, but AC in room is nice).

Sept 13-22   Loads of fun!!

will complete report soon.....

[Jeannie]

Glad you had a great time! Congratulations on your wedding! ...Jeannie

[mexicanbob]

C'mon quit toying with us. We need more info. Glad you enjoyed the Paraiso complex, I'm sure now you're hooked on the Iberostar proprties.

[draie]

Report Continued.....

From Sept 13-22 we basically stayed by the pool, we loved it. A few dead bees floating around, but the water was just right and ever so refreshing. Weather for the entire trip was gorgeous, just one afternoon there was a quick thunderstorm lasting about an hour or so.

The wave pool was neat, especially since we are not big fans of the beach. The lazy river was fun to do once or twice but that's all. The activity pool was warmer than any other pool, also a bit deeper. Playing water basketball in there was very tiring.

We went to the beach one afternoon. Yellow flag day, nice waves, good surf. Absolutely no seaweed or jellyfish in the water. It's a bit of a walk to get in and out of the water, sand is a little deep in places. Otherwise it is a fine beach, enjoyed by many. There is snack shack on the beach which serves yummy burgers, nachos, hot dogs...watch out for those freaky raccoon like animals, they can come up pretty close to you to grab some food. Signs posted said not to feed them, but alot of people do. There is a slight odor when walking thru the jungle path to the beach, only lasts a few seconds, but is kinda strong.

We checked out the Del Mar pool one day, definitely older, way more broken tiles and it seemed 'dirtier' than Lindo. It is deeper in areas and shallower in areas compared to the Lindo. We only stayed a few hours, preferring to return to the Lindo side. The swim up bar under the water fall and the ice cream bar above it were favorite spots of ours, try the coconut ice cream!!


Food:

The buffet up front (italian restaurant at night) was phenomenal, you will definitely put on weight here (i loved the breakfasts...so many choices!! and great cappuccinos!)

The Fogon buffet near the back had similar but smaller buffet for breakfast/lunch and dinner, still an ample choice of foods. I tried the Del Mar buffet one day, not impressed really as no A.C. and choices not as plenty.

Japanese at the Maya... very good, just like Beni-Hana back home, good Miso soup.
Mexican near back end, was OK, nothing spectacular.
Cajun was amazing! We went to this one twice. Try the coconut shrimp!!
Italian was OK, lots of pizzas and pastas on the menu.
Steakhouse I did not like, but my wife did. My dislike was due to the cut of meat I was served and the very long time it took to receive our meal (45 minutes), however the blooming onion was very good.
El Museo gourmet, I did not want to go to, but my wife talked me into it. AWESOME!! best meal we had, service and decor was great, Try the flambee strawberries!! YUM!
Brazilian at the Beach, I really wanted to try and we had a hard time getting in but finally did on the night before last. It was just okay, the service was the most interesting part...stay away from the last skewer...sweetbreads (yuch!).

We are not big drinkers, but what I did drink was very good, try the Coco Loco or the drinks without alcohol, they were all very good, and very plentiful. The waitresses kept them coming constantly.

I did the Ranch Loma Bonita ATV tour for 3 hours, well worth the money. Watch out as the free drinks they advertise is only at the ranch house. When you stop at the beach and are super hot and sweaty, they drinks there are not free ($2 for coke or water or Gatorade, $3 for beer). Be prepared to get sweaty, and muddy. Well worth the $60 USD.

We went to Playa Del Carmen one day, very disappointed. Big tourist trap, like Cozumel but worse, as all the vendors keep trying to pull you into their stores. We had lunch in town (which I think gave me a bit of stomach problems) and then took a taxi back to LIndo cuz we did not want to wait for the free shuttle (18$ USD).

Most of the time I spent in the pool, chatting with the IB Star Friends (great guys, very friendly) or playing water polo, football and basketball. Loads of fun.

The Star Friends (Jhoan, Huk, Maorice and the gang) put on some great shows at night and kept every one happy. I still got those tunes in my head....

We took a chance going during hurricane season, but it all worked out very well. Not only was our price for 10 nights very good, the weather was great and the resort was only at about 60% capacity. So, no lines ever, always a good lounge chair position, restaurants at the times we wanted, etc...

Sept 22:  Check out was quick and easy, paid for the incidentals (laundry service...if you have stains you want them to get out, write them a note in Spanish, get concierge to help you out), in room movie, phone calls (using the phones at hotel can be very $$$$, the operators have trouble with calling cards from Canada and the only other option was collect or 5$ a minute. If you go to Playa Del Carmen, there is a couple of internet shops that will do long distance calls for 4 pesos a minute (40 cents) by far the best deal. Shuttle back to airport was quick as well as check-in and plane boarding, as we bypassed the Mexican luggage check.

Pros: Beautiful resort, very well maintained, friendly people, good food. A++!!!

Cons: Like any other resort, some groups of vacationers may be loud mouths, we had such a group from the US that were bent on getting loaded from noon till late at night every night.....loud and obnoxious....but what can you do, there always seems to be people like that.

I hope this review helps anyone who is thinking of going to the Lindo, it was the best vacation I have taken so far. I will definitely be back.

DR

[George]

Congratulations on your wedding and thank you for very informative report.

George 

[Jim]

Congratulations!  How on earth did you keep it a secret?  Makes me even more antsy to get back there in Dec.
Great report, and yeah, unfortunately we all seem to run into that same group that wants to get their moneys worth at the bar.  That's why I'm glad the Lindo is so big, there is always someplace else quieter to go.
Jim

[MikeOKC]

Great report.  It fuels my desire to return for the 9th time next summer.

MikeOKC

[Wise200]

Thanks for the report.  Makes me want to try the Paraiso complex next time!  Planning to have the same great time at the IB Quetzal in a few weeks!!