Iberostar Waves Punta Cana - All Inclusive

Customer Ratings & Reviews

TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

9198 reviews

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  Too many vendors/marketers

  Iberostar Waves in Punta Cana, DR was a very pleasant location. Rooms were as expected and everything was reasonably close to all activities. Rooms were very clean and well made up by the staff. Food/drink was very good, although there could be some more food options. Was disappointed not to see more seafood options at the other restaurants, besides the actual seafood restaurant. The bars were all very well manned and served great drinks. The one big negative was that you are hounded by people peddling both services for the hotel and goods. They basically ran us off of the beach, as it was a constant barrage. Along the lines of the hotel, DO NOT accept the "invitation" to breakfast and information. It will effectively kill 3 hours of your vacation, unless you have $20k that you'd like to part with for their "club". The concierge will badger you until you sign on to go. You hate to be blunt/rude to these folks, but it is really about the only way to get them to quit bothering you. If Iberostar will curtail the non-stop sales attack by vendors while people are trying to relax, I'd go back in a heartbeat. Otherwise, go somewhere where you can relax and won't be hassled.

  Dec 16, 2024
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  Nice Clean Resort

  We just got back 2024/12/06, booked with Sunwing. Overall, We would recommend this resort. Some of the biggest Pros are: Great food, lots of variety, no shortage, and most important we didn’t get sick. Super clean resort with both Iberstar Waves Punta Cana and Iberstar Dominicana combined and easily walkable between them. They have covered walkways from your room to the lobbies, so no umbrella is needed. The room key is on your resort bracelet. Great Wi-Fi throughout the resort including the beach. No need to buy a sim card as they use WhatsApp for travel rep and tour operators. Lots of Beach shade shelters but you still need to go there by about 8am if you want to reserve a spot. Washrooms are plentiful and clean with toilet paper always available Clean drinking water stations are plentiful and self-serve Casino onsite with $5 minimum Blackjack tables Some of the Cons are: The front lobby Concierge staff will pester every guest to attend a time share and will say you will receive $100 in resort credits. They will say things like it will only take an hour or so, and you can do it over breakfast at another better resort. We politely insisted no thanks and that we’ve done this timeshare spiel before. But we heard from other people at the resort that did it attend the timeshare that it takes over 3 hours, and they really do give you a high-pressure sales. Then the staff seems really upset with you if you didn’t buy. The nightly shows are not very good at all. Most of them are just the entertainment staff lip syncing to recorded music. The only show we kind of enjoyed was the Magic Show. You are kind of isolated on the resort. They do offer a free shuttle to a shopping store 10 minutes away but that store has high prices on everything. We found your better off just shopping at the resort. Tip; For buying any off resort tours or anything from beach vendors, you really need to negotiate with them and do not accept the first offer on anything they are selling. For Example: We ended up booking the ½ day Dominican Explorer Quads Double Tour. (This was a fun trip ! ) We had 3 different prices for the same tour from 3 different W2M Booking reps at the resort. It started with the 1st W2M agent offering it to us for $98 US each / $196 US couple, then the 2nd W2M agent offering it to us for $85 US each / $170 US couple. We ended up paying $75 US each / $150 US couple from the 3rd W2M agent after negotiation.

  Dec 10, 2024
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  Overall very nice but could use a beach cleanup and un upgrade the food

  This medium-size resort is very nice, clean & well maintained. Our room was clean, had great soundproofing & the shower always had hot water and good pressure. Daily cleanings. Maybe the room needed a dresser, but that's all the wrong I can think of. We were at a 3 min walk to the restaurant, 3 min walk to the beach, and max 10 min to the tennis courts. It felt very safe. This is not a party resort, nor a resort very kid-oriented, but we very much enjoyed the relaxed vibe it had, it was perfect for a couple looking for tranquility. The beach was cleaned daily of seaweed. There were nice little waves all the time we were there, enough place for the children to play in the sand and for people to walk without being too near the people sunbathing. You can walk at least one hour one way if you go either left or right. The chair reservation game is strong at this resort. At 6h45 there is almost no spot left on the front row, at 7h30 you have choices on the second and 3rd rows, but past 9h30, good luck finding a spot in the shade. The first day we arrived around 10ish and had trouble finding a spot (and we were just two people). The part of the beach where the chairs are could use a good cleanup, there are cigarette butts, bits of plastic, various big and small debris, especially around the trees. No service at the chairs, but someone passes from time to time to collect glasses and plates. There are lots of people selling stuff on the beach, but the number looked regulated, and they didn't bother you if you just said no with a smile. We didn't really use the pools, but they looked clean and the chair reservation seemed way less intense. The main con was the food. Breakfast was very good, but for a vegetarian (forget being vegan), the rest of the meals got very repetitive fast and the lack of non-animal protein was disappointing. There were even some times where it was frustrating, such as the Mexican night where all the beans had meat in it. There is enough place in the buffets to make a small section for vegan/vegetarians, especially as most of the time, the same food was offered in two different spots in the same restaurant. The 'vegan' platter at the Marimba restaurant was a joke, none of the things on the menu were served to us. Instead we got served boiled carrots, a bowl of pickles, half-mashed potatoes with butter in them and cheese sandwiches. Please don't put it on the menu if you don't provide it. Ibero, you have enough resorts, you can easily hire a vegetarian/vegan chef who could create easy and delicious recipes for all of your resorts. You cannot just take the animal protein off the plate and call it a day. The service at the restaurants à la carte could improve. Every night we went, the server got the order wrong (asked for bruschettas, got something else, asked for the spicy tacos, got the non spicy ones, etc). The servers did not seem assigned to tables, so each night 3-4 different servers would ask us if we wanted to drink something, had we ordered or not, it was a bit confusing. The food is slightly better than the buffets but not by much. Good thing is there is no complicated reservation system, you go whenever you want. If you go before 7 PM there is no wait, after that, maybe a little wait, but it was never bad and we went easily to every restaurant we wanted to try. People with allergies might have trouble as half of the food at the buffets is not identified and utensils are shared within sections (meaning you have 6 types of fruits on display, but only 3 utensils, or 20 desserts, but only 10 utensils). Sometimes food that was supposed to be cold was hot, and food that was supposed to be hot was cold. There was a good fruit and veg offer, we didn't get sick, but again, a big lack of non-animal protein. Waiters and receptionists all look a bit like they don't want to be there, but we found help easily whenever we needed it. You will need to dust up your Spanish tough, as the vast majority of people don't speak English. It wasn't a problem for us. The resort took a great environmental step in serving all food and drinks in reusable material, they had water dispensers everywhere, and this is very much appreciated! All and all, very good resort, only needs a beach cleanup and an upgrade on vegetarian/vegan food, and they are set for the stars.

  Dec 09, 2024
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  Not What I Expcted From Iborstar

  The staff was great and very helpful. The grounds are well taken care of. The common areas are well maintained and comfortable. The entertainment was good, but the times when shows started were confusing. The pools and beach were wonderful, but you need to get out early to save a chair in the shade. The restaurants had some good food but small servings, there are some questionable items on the menus and inconsistent quality, some of the meals did not match the menus descriptions and left me trying to figure out what I just ordered. The bars are plentiful, nice and clean but were mostly understaffed and you had to wait in line to get a drink. The buffets had a good variety of sides, vegetables, fruits and desserts and a nice salad bar, but most of the meats on the buffets were of poor quality, way over cooked and dry. The coffee left a lot to be desired, there was decaf only in the room and we had to ask for regular coffee every day. There was no cream anywhere in the resort, milk for coffee only and no kind of creamers in the room at all. The mini bar consisted of 3 beers when we got there that when drank were not replaced. The room was nice, and had a decent view, the bed was comfortable, but the room felt cold and under decorated no picture on the bare walls. The air conditioner never shut off no matter where we set the thermostat to, and 2 different staffers said we did not understand how to use it (I could give the formula to convert Celsius to Fahrenheit, but the reality is, I have an app for that). The TV menus were in German? and no one knew how to change it to English. With some playing around I figured how to wireless connect my computer to the TV and the Wi-Fi worked well enough that we were able to watch Netflix and Peacock (pro tip, set up a VPN so the providers think you are in the U.S.).

  Dec 08, 2024
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  Wonderful Services

  Ed Trainer from the FF (fitness) was so knowledgeable & helpful! Booked two lessons and would recommend to anyone looking for a private training session. Walter, the tennis pro got to every ball and was one of best tennis lessons I’ve had while traveling, The ladies at the Spa were amazing too. Elsa, Zaharia (Swedish, Therapeutic), and Wendy (aromatherapy scrub and massage) did an amazing job.

  Dec 03, 2024