Iberostar Waves Punta Cana - All Inclusive

Customer Ratings & Reviews

TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

9602 reviews

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  Terrible experience

  They changed $1.000.00 extra for one person and it was their mistake not happy about that never coming back

  Mar 07, 2026
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  Awesome experience

  Very fun had lots of pools and oceans super fun Thank you iberostar

  Feb 27, 2026
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  The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

  The Good: Beautifully well kept grounds Amazing Beach, good pool area (shout out to Ms Love bartender) Clean Rooms, Good Housekeeping Energetic Entertainers The Bad: Food was bad to average. Service was bad to average. Most employees did not seem happy to serve us or even want to be there. Many did not understand English. I tried twice to set up a birthday surprise (room and in the restaurant) and both times it did not happen. It was very disappointing. The Ugly: I will not stay at this Iberostar again. FYI this is NOT a 5* Resort.

  Feb 25, 2026
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  Great Location, Poor Service and Maintenance

  Our stay at Iberostar Waves Punta Cana had both positives and significant negatives. While the resort has potential and beautiful surroundings, the overall experience did not meet the standards expected from a 5-star hotel. Service & Staff – Major Disappointment The biggest issue during our stay was the attitude and behavior of the staff, especially at the beach bar and pool bar. On several occasions, employees behaved arrogantly and appeared visibly annoyed with guests. We also witnessed staff speaking in Spanish and making inappropriate comments about European guests when they believed no one understood them. This was extremely unprofessional and unacceptable for a 5-star resort. In general, the service was poor — slow, unfriendly, and lacking basic hospitality standards. Food & Restaurants The food quality was disappointing throughout the resort. While there was variety, the taste and overall quality were below expectations. Unfortunately, even the à la carte restaurants did not offer a better experience. Both the food and service there were subpar, which was surprising for a hotel of this category. Beach & Sunbeds The hotel was fully booked during our stay, which created serious capacity issues. There were not enough sunbeds on the beach or by the pool. Many of them, along with the umbrellas, were visibly damaged and worn out. Unless you reserved a sunbed around 7:00 AM, it was nearly impossible to find one later in the day. This significantly reduced the comfort and relaxation we expected from a luxury resort. Rooms & Facilities Although the hotel has been renovated, it is clearly an older property. The rooms feel poorly equipped, and several things were not functioning properly. The bathroom was in particularly bad condition, showing signs of wear and insufficient maintenance. The wardrobes were also in poor shape. For a 5-star hotel, this standard is simply not acceptable. Positive Aspects The hotel gardens are beautiful and well maintained, creating a pleasant tropical atmosphere. The exterior areas are definitely one of the stronger points of the resort. ⸻ Final Verdict Iberostar Waves Punta Cana has a nice location and attractive outdoor areas, but the poor service, staff behavior, food quality, and maintenance issues prevent it from meeting 5-star expectations. For us, it was an average experience overall.

  Feb 22, 2026
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  This is not a 4 or 5 star hotel, Check Recent Reviews When Making a Decision

  We just got back yesterday from this resort. We had read reviews, looked into everything and thought we did our homework. For reference, we have stayed at Dreams, Iberostar and Bahia Principe in the past. We were told this is a 5 star resort and were excited about the "play at 2 and stay at 1". First thing I will say, this IS NOT a 5 star resort, it's not even a 4 star resort. If we had paid 3 star prices then I likely wouldn't be writing this but they charge 5 star prices. Let's start with the Pros: - The beach, you can't beat the beach, really well taken care of and long. It's stunning to be honest - Cleaning staff, very hard working and did a great job. Our room was always clean and stocked - Grounds were clean and groundskeepers nice And now the cons: - Workers favored spanish and often started conversations in spanish, many did not know english - There was something wrong with every one of our rooms, whether it was a safe that didn't open and patio door that stuck, a shower with no pressure and it took them awhile to fix it - The a la carte food was terrible (my wife actually compared the food to cuba) and the experience even worse. We went to the smoke house one night, waited 2 hrs to be sat (because they don't do reservations), told them we had a vegan and when they finally served us, I am sure they made a plate from the buffet for her. Asked to speak to a manager but no one came. Some families had been at this restaurant for 3 hours and still didn't get food. The only good a la cartes were the two you booked French and Mexican. - The buffet was inconsistent (some days they had bacon, some days not, most days no hashbrowns, hardly any variety at all and if you didn't get there early you were out of luck) - The workers attitudes were like nothing I have ever seen at Dominican. They were indifferent to the point they made you feel like an inconvenience when you asked for something. Lots of eye rolling and workers on their phones - There is no swim up bar and there was hardly any activity (music during the day etc) - The stay at one and play at two is misleading, there isn't really a second resort, its like a fork, you walk up one path and it branches out to the right (iberostar punta cana waves) and to the left (iberostar punta cana dominicana). Both resorts share the same beach access and same pools. I suppose the only difference is the restaurants but I didn't see anyone checking any bracelets. - There is not service around the pool or beach, no one comes by and takes drink orders, you have to go to the bar on your own for everything - Lastly (and this is trivial), prices at the store were outrageous. A bag of lays chips was 16$ USD. Now you, or the resort, might say this is just one client being disgruntled but I can assure you we spoke to at least 5 other families on this trip because we thought we were being to hard on the resort and we had never seen this before. We started every conversation asking them what they thought of the resort (not telling what we thought) and every one of them referenced some of what we said above. My wife had been to Iberostar in Mexico and Cuba and liked it but said this resort was nothing like those ones. Buyer beware. We'll never use the Iberostar brand again.

  Feb 21, 2026