Iberostar Waves Costa Dorada

JoseP168 wrote a review August 2025
Brooklyn, New York

Fantastic

Excellent service........food, entertainment and the staff. Very clean environment a great place to relax. The pool was very clean and the bar fantastic.

Date of Stay: September 2024

maddieb661 wrote a review August 2025

The trip was amazing!!

My experience was amazing! As someone nervous to leave Canada for the first time, the staff did a great job to make me feel safe and peaceful. I love the gym environment! Everyone was so kind and encouraging and the staff was great! They offered me lots of advice and tips! The equipment was perfect for a good workout! The hosts, especially Cecilia, were amazing! She remembered me by name and always said hi to me! She would frequently stop me to ask about my day! 10/10!!! I fully recommend!!

Date of Stay: August 2025

juangB2204QK wrote a review August 2025

Not worth the money

Dirty, Small, and Disappointing – Not Worth the Price I stayed at Iberostar Waves Costa Dorada expecting a relaxing, clean, all inclusive experience, but it was the complete opposite. The pool was filthy and clearly not maintained properly cloudy water, grime along the edges, and debris floating around. I stayed with a friend in a “2 bed room” they only provided us with one big bed once we requested another bed they gave an extremely small extra bed with no extra help

Date of Stay: August 2025

m-angelli-omana wrote a review August 2025
New York City, New York

Fun family trip

We had a 3-night stay at Iberostar Waves to celebrate our daughter's 9th birthday and had a fun experience overall. Our room was spacious and the balcony was nice. The power went out a few times while I was using the hair dryer, not sure if this is something that the property can fix. Pro tip for future travelers: Make sure the balcony door is closed, otherwise the AC will not turn on.

Days before our arrival, I emailed ahead to inform the team of our daughter's birthday and was told that an amenity would be arranged. Unfortunately, this did not happen. It could be due to the volume of requests that they receive daily. Otherwise, the whole staff was friendly and helpful. The concierge took care of our restaurant reservations and excursions. The food and drinks were decent. Out of all the restaurants onsite, the Japanese Hibachi was our favorite!

Overall, Iberostar Waves gives a great value, best for families.

Date of Stay: July 2025

AMAA81821314 wrote a review August 2025
Fort Lee, New Jersey

2-Star Review for Iberostar Hotels & Resorts

Our stay at Iberostar has been a deeply disappointing experience, riddled with poor communication, substandard service, and accommodations that fall well below expectations. The issues began before we even arrived. Two days before our trip, we were informed that the transportation company, W2M, required reservations to be made earlier, despite our attempts to coordinate through Iberostar. Their response came two days after we arrived, offering a generic apology with no real solution, forcing us to arrange a taxi ourselves.

Upon arrival, the resort entrance felt like a chaotic marketplace. A staff member took our last name and directed us to leave our luggage, which was left unattended and accessible to anyone—a major security concern. After waiting 30 minutes in line with no refreshments offered (though we noticed a juice station on the other side), we reached the concierge desk around 1:30 PM. I had emailed two days prior requesting a room in buildings 1, 5, or 6 near the beach, but the concierge questioned whether I sent it to the correct address, despite my having a reply from Iberostar. They claimed they hadn’t received it and told us we’d need to wait until 3:30 PM for a room due to our “special request.” Trying to stay positive, we went to the buffet, which was large but had a mediocre food selection and acceptable service.

When we returned at 3:20 PM, we were assigned a room in building 2—none of the requested buildings. The room was a major letdown, more akin to a 2-3 star hotel than the advertised standard. It had a strong unpleasant odor, barely functional AC, visible dents and stains, and consisted of two twin beds and a single bed. We immediately requested a change, even offering to pay extra, as this was unacceptable for a 6-day stay, especially compared to our experiences in Punta Cana and other Caribbean destinations. The front desk told us to return after 5 PM for a room in building 6. When we did, the new shift claimed no knowledge of our request. After escalating to a supervisor, we were finally given a room in building 6. Shockingly, the supervisor seemed surprised we disliked the building 2 room, claiming it was “renovated.”

Dining was another major frustration. On our first day, we were told all restaurants required reservations, which could only be made from 9 AM to 12 PM daily. This left us with no choice but the buffet again for dinner. While the waiter was friendly and the food slightly better than lunch, the selection remained underwhelming, with only fresh pasta, rice, and fruit standing out. We later learned that restaurant reservations can be made up to two days in advance, but nothing is available before 8 or 9 PM. We tried booking at 9 AM, as instructed, and were told to use the Iberostar app. However, the app didn’t work for us, despite downloading it, leaving us stuck with the buffet yet again.

Another inconvenience was the lack of accessible water and ice. The resort provides only one bottle of water per room, so I strongly recommend bringing a thermos, as you’ll need to go downstairs to a water fill station to refill it. Finding the water fill station and ice was unclear, adding to the hassle. Back in our new room, the balcony was infested with ants, making it unusable, though mosquitoes were less of an issue. The beach, while scenic, had a lot of seaweed, though staff were actively cleaning it.

Overall, the lack of organization, poor communication, substandard accommodations, restrictive dining policies, and basic amenity issues (like water access and a non-functional app) made this a frustrating start to our trip. For a resort of this caliber, we expected far better. We’re only on day two, so we’ll see if things improve, but for now, they are the level of 2-3 stars hotels.

Day 3 Day two of our stay at Iberostar continued to highlight the resort’s organizational issues and subpar facilities, though some staff members stood out positively. We started the day early, leaving at 9 AM to visit another resort about 20 minutes away at the invitation of friends. Honestly, everything there was better—food, ambiance, service—except for the beach. To be fair, Iberostar’s sand and beach are superior, which is one of the few redeeming qualities here.

After enjoying breakfast and lunch at the other resort, we returned to Iberostar, spent some time at the beach, and headed back to our room to shower and prepare for dinner. Upon entering, we were horrified to find ants all over the bed. I immediately called the front desk, and it took a few minutes to explain the issue to the concierge. Long story short, I sent a message through the Iberostar app (which, as noted before, is unreliable for bookings but worked for this). A housekeeper, a very kind lady, promptly arrived and resolved the ant issue, which was a relief.

Thanks to our concierge, Bladis, dinner was a highlight. I used to work as a waitress, bartender, and concierge manager, so I know good service when I see it. Bladis is exceptional—hardworking, attentive, and genuinely caring. He managed to change our Japanese restaurant reservation from 9:15 PM to 6:30 PM, and we had a good dinner. The staff here, like Bladis and the housekeeper, are clearly dedicated, but the management seems to be in disarray. The “renovations” they boast about are substandard at best, and it feels like there’s either no investment or poor allocation of resources.

After dinner, we walked along the beach, which was pleasant despite an abundance of mosquitoes. The sand and beach remain a high point. We met another American family from Chicago who shared our frustrations about the resort. One glaring issue we all noticed is the pool—it’s dirty and overcrowded. A nightly water filter or better cleaning routine wouldn’t break the bank but would make a huge difference. Later, we enjoyed a Mexican-themed night with lively music, which was fun and helped lift our spirits

Date of Stay: August 2025

yanat489 wrote a review August 2025

Amazing hotel!

Amazing hotel! It was my first time in Puerto Plata region, and I am so happy about my trip! Hotel is located in a beautiful place with an ocean from one side and mountains from another, very close to the city (btw Air Transat tour to the city is very recommended!). Layout of the hotel is comfortable, not too large area and still plenty of space, very beautiful nature, lots of free sunbeds both at the beach and near the pool, seaweed is getting cleaned from the beach - even though I stayed in August which is considered to be seaweed season, it was barely noticeable. Just few cons about the room - mattress is too soft for me (but that’s my personal preference), and air conditioning is a bit loud. The rest is all good!
Food is wonderful! Great variety of fruits, vegetables, seafood, meat, sweets.
Noticed that many locals are staying at this hotel, especially for the weekend. Entertainment team is remarkable! Lots of nice activities during the day - beach volleyball, table tennis, different competitions near the pool, good yoga and TRX classes, pickleball, tennis. Evening shows are great, and cherry on top is night dancing!😁 Thanks to Rembo, Ninja, King Kong and other members of the team for all your energy! You’re amazing!!
Overall, I think, hotel is suitable as for those who want to have fun all day long and for those who want to relax quietly. You can find both spots. I would totally recommend it!!

Date of Stay: August 2025

202eddyg wrote a review August 2025

Best Vacation

This is my first time at this hotel. The food, the service, the staff and the ameneties were top of the line. I really recomend this hotel. The animation guys were the best especially, Batman, Wifi, Justin Bieber, Salami, and Maria. Thank you to this crew. I really appreciate you guys.

Date of Stay: September 2024

leslierV5647YQ wrote a review September 2025
Castine, Maine

Will be back!

Pros- Beautiful resort- clean, lots of things to do and the friendliest staff. Beautiful rooms with everything you need. Huge pools and a private beach that is well maintained and felt very safe. We didn’t have kids with us but there seemed like there was a lot of options for them.
And there’s plenty of bars!

Cons- I didn’t particularly care for the food but I am a picky eater and it was included so definitely not a deal breaker. And there’s no lack of it! Make sure to book reservations for the Italian and Japanese restaurant as they have limited days/seatings.
The staff that books the excursions can be pushy but you just have to be firm….i would recommend doing a couple though- especially monkey land and ocean world. The city tour was ok but you can get a cab and go yourself. The city excursion take you to all of the shops that they are obviously friends with or getting commissions.

Overall, it was still an amazing time & place and we will return.

Date of Stay: September 2025

I6780SOkostast wrote a review October 2025

Lower than my expectation!

The Resort is very beautiful and rooms same too after that,
The pool is very dirty and very crowded from locals and make it very difficult to have access to the bars because you have to go through all this drung local people same story at night show.
About the food
Breakfast was very good.
Lunch Dinner and Snack bar buffet was very poor, The food was over cooked in point to not be eat it. At the grill all food trays where empty all the time and you have wait until cooker have the mood to cook (Most of the time Cookers talk each other and did not care if the food trays are empty) and that make it chalenge to find grill meat, so if you like grill meat its not the place for you !
Puerto plata beach are with garbage all around and It doesn't make you want to walk around.

Date of Stay: September 2025