JOIA Paraiso by Iberostar

Ok we have been here 1 day and I am just not impressed. We came back to Riviera Maya because my husband and I celebrated his 40th birthday at secrets Aqua Mall and had the most amazing experience. This time we came with four couples, so 10 of us, and we decided to try something new, after a bunch of research this place came up as something we all agreed upon. we emailed them ahead of time asking if there was anything we needed to do or what to expect with a big group like ours and they gave us no information. Now that we are here, there is nothing open for food after 6 PM except the formal dining rooms. So if you wanted to get casual food, you have to get room service, which is over an hour wait. they told us that the PR people could help us with reservations for a bigger group but then all they told us was that we have to show up at 9:30 PM to be seated together.

If you go to the pool at 5PM, there is no wait service and the bartenders are so unfriendly. I know that sounds bratty, but we are paying for extreme luxury and this is a rare trip for anyone to take and it just does not compare to our previous experience in riviera maya. I feel really bad bringing my friends here and wish that we had just booked Secrets Akumal again. Because so far this is just not the same luxury service we received there.

My family, a group of 8, recently stayed at JOIA and had the most wonderful experience. From the moment we checked in to the morning we checked out; the staff was exceptional. I had to take a moment and personally recognize the ones that went above and beyond to make sure that all of us had the best time.

My husband and I had an ocean view butler suite, so thank you to Mauro and Ana who took the time to get to know us and make sure that we had everything we needed for our entire stay.

If you are staying in the Ocean view rooms, there is a mangrove. Make sure to take a walk through it. We say Coati’s, baby Coati’s, a young spider monkey, and his mom.

The first evening we dined at Legado Mexican restaurant. Reyes took amazing care of us. Order the table side guacamole! You won’t regret it. We ate breakfast and lunch at the Bella Vista Buffet. Jacqueline was there to greet and seat us with a smile every day. There was always a huge assortment of items that appealed to everyone in our group.
We visited Venecia (the Italian restaurant) twice. It was our group’s favorite! Jesus, Silvino, and Eusebic took great care of us! Every menu item we tried, we loved. Our server, Melchor, was great at Ember steakhouse. Some of our steaks were over cooked, but they happily took them back and corrected the errors. The last restaurant we visited was L’Atelier. Everyone enjoyed their meal here, and the service by Emilio. My sister, my daughter, and I enjoyed a wine tasting with Juan. We enjoyed hearing all about Sommelier’s and their history. He was very knowledgeable and it was one of my favorite wine tastings. Dario, one of the bartenders in the lobby bar, made the best drinks and always served them with a smile! Araceli & Estella were great too!

We visited the pool almost every day, and Lenin made sure our drinks were always full, and helped us pick unique cocktails when we were unsure of what we wanted. He even knew we started the day with water and would bring some to the entire group as soon as he saw us. Thank you, Lenin!

Each day at the pool, there were numerous activities. Water volleyball, Jenga, Corn hole, a guacamole class, exercise classes, to name just a few. A special shout out to Fernanda for entertaining our group and taking the time to get to know our names.
At night the activities/entertainment were on point. Thank you, Jonathan, Pedro, Cassandra, & Luna.

The shows each night were outstanding. The fire show & Freddy Mercury show were 2 of our favorites. The Coliseum server, Janeth, took the time to get to know our group and which cocktails were our favorite.

Thank you to the entire staff at JOIA for all your hard work. You were all kind, friendly, and attentive. If we could have stayed an extra week, we would have!