We have just spent two wonderful weeks at the Iberostar in Cozumel and had one of the best holidays we have ever had (and we have had quite a few!).

The hotel itself is a nature lovers paradise, there are iguanas everywhere, plus tortoises, parrots, flamingos and peacocks as well as beautiful gardens that the butterflies and hummingbirds loved.

The rooms are great, small blocks with a ‘cottagy’ feel to them and a hammock on every balcony, no where was very far from the room although it did take us a few days to learn this!

The staff are great – the barmen remembered what you drank and were always happy and smiling and the maids surprised us with an endless supply of animal made from towels!

If you are thinking of going try and go June/July time – you can then go and snorkel with the whale sharks in the Gulf Of Mexico and you will never, ever forget it – It’s an early start but once you are in the water with those magnificent creatures you forget all about that!. What really impressed me was the care they took with this trip – only two people were allowed in the water at a time, and then only with a guide and the boat crew were so careful around the sharks - there was no hint of any exploitation of or even upsetting the animals.

The Dive Centre at the Iberostar is first class – very well organized, a fantastic variety of sites – and because the boat actually sets off from the hotel itself it’s easy to go as often as you want. If you can can’t already dive they would be a great team to learn with.

That’s it – and we can’t wait to go again!

Stay 14/9/07 - 28/9/07
Just came back from 2 weeks staying at the Iberostar in Cozumel.
This is going to be quite a detailed review, so if you get bored easily...stop now.
Check in very smooth, given comp cocktail on arrival. Porters will take your luggage, then you are pointed in the direction of the room. Grounds are stunning and always being worked on. We had room 2504 which had a side view of the sea and best for us as it was near the dive centre, beach and pool. The higher the number of your room, the nearer the lobby you are ie: rooms beginning with 1 are virtually on the beach.
Rooms was nice, but if I am honest, a tiny bit tired. But....very clean with loads of towels, face flannels, soap, shampoo, bath gel, plenty loo roll. Also has a hair dryer and lots of hot water available. We were on the ground floor and it was perfect, maybe the upstairs would have more of a view if you need it.
Food
Breakfast in main lobby restaurant was great with a huge choice of food - typical British breakie fare, bacon, sausages, hash browns, scrambled eggs, eggs done to order, fruit, juices of all descriptions, yogurt, cereals, bread, rolls.....and the odd breakfast fajita .....7am-10am, then from 10am in the pool bar you can catch some late breakie stuff if you missed earlier.
Lunch - all manner of lunch stuff including burgers, hotdogs etc. Always chicken or pork chops on the barbeque, also fish, salads, sweets and lovely ice cream.
Dinner in the main restaurant - every salad you can imagine, hot roast of the day, Mexican Station, fish, cold meats and cheeses, lots of vegetarian stuff. Gorgeous sweets and fruits.
Mexican Restaurant - needs to be booked, food very good and great service.
American Grill - again, needs to be booked, best fillet steak I've had in years.
Drinks off course are all inclusive and there are some local and international drinks included. We never paid for anything and even had champagne on occasion. Cocktails were nice and did no blow your head off. Staff were friendly, and could not do enough for us.
Taxi into town is always $17 US, but most people just give over the $20 US. Drivers were helpful and didn't drive like nutters. No public transport due to the taxi drivers union.
San Miguel is lovely and bustling on cruise ship days. We found that no ships come on a Tuesday. Worth a few trips if just to soak up the atmosphere. Silver jewelry is fab, but bargain with the locals, they love it.
Only went to Carlos and Charlies for a drink in town, be careful of the cocktails, very large, quite expensive and strong, but a great and buzzing place to visit.
Jump the ferry over to Playa Del Carmen, almost every hour and cost is $44 return. Playa is great fun and brill for shopping and just soaking up the atmosphere.
Trips - we went to Coba instead of Chitchan Itza, thoroughly recommended....and you can climb the pyramid.
Fly Fishing - Ask the guest relations guy and he can arrange this for you. Hubby caught his first Bone Fish and was delighted.
Diving - PERFECT - Use Dressell Divers, they are fabulous, brilliant staff, great boats, very very professional set up, probably the most organised dive centre I've dived with.
Info for divers - You must dive some cenotes whilst your are there, it was totally fantastic.
All in all, one of my best holiday, mostly due to the fantasic diving and professionalism of the staff at Dressel.

If anyone has any q's, drop us an email and I'll give you my honest opinion.

My wife, son (12), and I stayed at the Iberostar for 6 nights (Sept. 16 to 22, 2007). From check-in to check-out we were treated extremely well by staff with no problems. There are only two things we thought could have improved our experience. One the rooms are a little small, but adequate (we really just needed a place to shower and sleep). Second, we needed more places to hang wet stuff (towels, swim/dive gear) in the room. I only saw one bug in the room the whole week, and I'm pretty sure he came in on me.

We were greeted warmly at check-in complete with welcome drinks. Although we were checking in early in the day and expected not to be able to go into our room, we were informed that check-in was 3:00, but the room was ready so we straight to the room, settled in and went to find food.

The food was very good all week. Enough variety, there was something different at every meal, and enough repeats to get some more later in the week if you really liked something. Also, food was available somewhere just about all day long. Just a note: If you don't like birds, you may have a problem with the open-air dining.

The grounds were beautiful and full of interesting creatures. I was slightly disappointed because I went the first 2 days before seeing my first iguana. However, the rest of the week I saw plenty. Staff keep all public areas of the resort remarkably clean.

The pool was also great and the beach is nice. Yes you will need watershoes if you plan to go into the water at the beach, but once you clear the first 10 feet or so its not so bad.

My son and I took a 2-tank dive trip to Palancar Horseshoe and Columbia Shallows, great diving got to see all sorts of interesting creatures. We took the excursion to Chichen Itza, including a dip in a "cenote." It was a great trip, very intriguing. If you try this trip be prepared for a long day. We left the resort at 6:15 a,m. and got back about 9:00 p.m., but worth it. The next day we rented a jeep and drove around the island. Great sandy public beaches are on the east coast of the island. We also took in the San Gervasio ruins that day. Whlie not as intriguing or amazing as Chichen Itza, still a must see if you are there. One day we went snorkeling from a glass bottom boat. We took in three sites on the reefs. The water is unbelieveablly clear blue-green. The rest of the time we just hung out at the resort, swimming, snorkeling around the peir, and eating.

Speaking of eating, we ate at the steakhouse one night, and the Mexican restaurant another night. The steakhouse was as good as any place I've ever been. They started us with an "awesome blossom" and salad bar. The steaks came with baked potato and veggies. I got the ribeye and it was huge and tasted great. Do the steadhouse. The Mexican place was also very good. If I could only do one, I would chose the steakhouse. My wife would probably go Mexican.

Check-out was as smooth as check-in. They even offered to let us eat lunch before heading back to the airport.

All-in-all I would be back in a heartbeat, and gladly stay at Iberostar again.

If you are going to Cozumel then you most likely dive, but if you don't, then I think you are better off going to somewhere in Maya Riviera, the coast just west of Cozumel. This resort is very nice which I will explain later. We stayed at the Iberostar, Paraiso del Mar last year and was a nicer, less expensive, and more active resort. However, the diving does not compare to Cozumel. The main difference in cost between the two destinations is mostly air travel; Cancun flights are way cheaper than Cozumel.

To review this resort, I need to compare it to Paraiso del Mar:
1) Coz. has two main restaurants, both are good, but not great. Praiso had six.
2) Both properties are meticulously maintained and beautiful tropical landscaping.
3) The pools at Paraiso were huge allowing you to wonder the property on water, but they were salt water vs fresh water pool in Coz.
4) Both had comparable beeches, but no waves in Coz. (my wife likes to be able to hear the ocean.
5) The rooms in Coz. are small, but we did not spend much time in our room so I did not mind. The look of the bungalow is very quaint. The rooms in Paraiso all have a sitting area.
6)Diving. Why is this resort probably the best dive resort in Cozumel? The main advantage is that it is the closest resort to the best dives which adds up to less time on the boat. Travel times from the pier to the dive sites ranged from one minute (no joke) to fifteen. it is so close that they go back to the pier between every dive. This gives you the most flexibility. If you are traveling with someone who was not diving like me, you can do an 8am dive and be back by 9:15 or get two dives in before noon. Other resorts on the island closer to town require 45 to 1.5 hour boat rides to get to the best dives at the south end of the island. It also seems to be the nicest resort in Cozumel.
7) I did not find that the town of San Miguel had much to offer. One partial day trip was enough. You can rent a scooter fo $35 for 24hours to go to town. Sunday is supposed to be the best day for a trip to the square.

Last thing, we walked down and checked out the Occidental resort and took a tour of the property. We have not stayed there, but there was no pool bar, the resort is separated from the beach by a foul lagoon, the pools were small, and it seemed dead. We ate at the buffet for lunch (with the resort's permission) and the food was not as good as at the Iberostar. The only plus was that the rooms were very nice. Oh, and beware of time share sales people at the Occidental.