I stayed at the Iberostar for 2 weeks with my sister. We were looking for a quiet holiday for some much needed relaxation. Although it wasn't as quiet as I had envisaged, it was still a great holiday!!

The resort itself is beautiful and very well maintained. The rooms were fine, although we had problems with water pooling in the bathroom due to condensation running off the window. Our room was situated close to the pool, but on the whole it was not too noisy - except at 4.30pm when they start Club Dance!! The beach is lovely and there's plenty of loungers, but if you want to wade in the sea you'll need some footwear - it's very rocky!

The staff were excellent. We never had to ask twice for something and they were always smiling. Special thanks to Ruben who often served us in the restaurant in the evening and had our glasses filled without us having to ask.

There is entertainment throughout the day and there should be something for everyone. The night entertainment was excellent, considering many of the staff are not professional dancers. Some of the shows and the games post-show are participation, so watch out for these - you can feel a bit pressurised to join in. I ended up on stage a number of times! There is a disco open until 2am, but (because it was low season?) it was often quite quiet, despite the Star Friends attempts to get people on the dance floor.

We booked our holiday through First Choice. We had a range of excursions we could join. We went to Coba Mayan Village the first week. This was quite an experience, especially when you climb to the top of the pyramid. Thanks to Pablo and Pepe, our guides. The second week we joined the Monster Truck tour that took us to Punta Sur where we could snorkel. Again, I would recommend this trip. It's made all the better by the excellent guides Niko and Migel.

We have both had a great holiday, so thanks to everyone at Iberostar.

Hubby and I, along with four other couples, recently returned from a weeklong stay at the Iberostar. It was a vacation with a group of friends, two of whom are family, and an opportunity for hubby and I to celebrate our 15th anniversary a little over a month early. We honeymooned in Cozumel at a hotel in San Miguel nearly 15 years ago and the town has grown a lot since then. It's not as quaint as it used to be but I guess that's to be expected because Cozumel is a beautiful island and a great vacation destination for divers, snorkelers, beach-goers and anyone who just wants to kick back and relax in a warm climate. For those who don't want to read details, my point is all 10 of us in our vacation party had a wonderful time at the Iberostar Cozumel and would stay there again in a heartbeat because of it's beautiful, clean, comfortable setting and rooms; delicious and plentiful food and drinks; and friendly, hardworking, energetic, outstanding staff who make you feel comfortable and at home.

IMPRESSED ALL AROUND:
This was my and my hubby's first stay at an all-inclusive and he did a great job in choosing the Iberostar. We were very impressed from the time we checked in and were greeted by the desk staff with big smiles, helpful instructions and welcoming drinks to the time we checked out and boarded the taxi van to leave for the airport.

RESORT SETTING/ROOMS:
The rooms are laid out in cheerfully painted, two-story stucco buildings with thatched roofs spread out along clean, well-kept walking paths that wind around a tropical forest setting. The layout is a bit confusing and I would've liked to have received a map of the resort grounds at check-in, but there are plenty of large, permanent maps on display throughout the resort. And it only takes a day or two to get used to where everything is located. Our rooms were ideally located near the pool and beach. Although we reserved a king-size bed, we had a ground-floor room with two double beds but if you let a little thing like that ruin your vacation then you don't have the right attitude for traveling out of your home country. The rooms and bathrooms are clean and kept very clean throughout your stay by the maids. We tipped our maid several times that week and received extra bottles of water and had our mini-bar restocked everyday instead of the expected every other day. The bathroom is spacious with a nice shower with good water pressure though it takes a little time to adjust the water temperature. They do need to put up more hooks or racks in the rooms for drying wet bathing suits and bath towels.

RESTAURANTS/FOOD:
Guests at this resort should never go hungry because they're always serving food somewhere 24/7 (no kidding). The buffets served in the main dining room were excellent and offered a good variety throughout the week. However, my hubby and a few party members grew a little tired of some of the selections by the end of our stay. Even though it's a buffet, a waiter or waitress serves and constantly refills your drinks. The main dining room requires men to wear shirts with sleeves (even a T-shirt will do) and neither men nor women can eat there with just a bathing suit on. The smaller buffets in the open-air dining area by the pool also were good. You can wear your bathing suit and beach towel to this dining area.

We ate dinner in the Mexican restaurant one night and in the steak restaurant, on another night. Both had good food and good service. The three specialty dinner restaurants require reservations and have a dress code so make reservations early in your stay. Men bring a couple pairs of khakis and Hawaiin style shirts or polo shirts. I noticed that the restaurants weren't as strict with the dress code for women. The women in our party wore dresses or short-sleeve button down tops and khakis or capris.

AMENITIES:
The large pool area has plenty of lounge chairs around the pools, none of which are very deep. The two deepest pools are only 4.5 feet deep which is perfect for leisurely swimming, chatting with other guests and sipping on the well-made cocktails concocted by the friendly bartenders at the swim-up pool bar. There also are lots of palapas to shield you from the strong sun but the ones by the pool go fast when the resort gets an influx of new guests, as we found out toward the end of our stay when a large, new group of tourists checked in.

The beach is right behind the pool area and there are plenty of lounge chairs and palapas here too, as well as a beach bar. It's also quieter for those who would rather get away from the sometimes loud pool area. But a warning to (mainly American) parents of young children and to anyone who is very conservative: some women will go topless, and in at least one case that one of us witnessed bottomless, on the beach. No need to worry about explaining anatomy to little junior at the pool because there are many signs telling guests not to go topless there but no such signs on the beach.

The resort's pier is a great place to take pictures, watch the sunset, watch the many colorful fish swimming below, the best place to get good cell phone reception and of course is where the diving boats and catamaran picks people up. We highly recommend snorkeling by the pier, where you'll see lots of exotic fish swimming undernearth.

If you want to spend your day(s) at the resort but want to do more than swim and tan, there are lots of daily activities offered from about 10 a.m. until early evening from dance lessons and aerobics classes on the beach to volleyball in the pool, skeet shooting and archery. Activities held in the pool area, music and guests who get too boisterous drinking cocktails in the pool can make the pool area a bit loud at times.

Dressel Divers is on the resort and attracted many divers, both Iberostar guests and non-guests. There are free introductory classes held daily in the pool. None of us tried the classes.

We recommend taking the all-day jeep tour and the catamaran snorkeling tour. These cost extra but they're well worth it. The two jeep tour guides were excellent, knowledgable, friendly and had a great sense of humor. They took us snorkeling, to the Mayan ruins at San Gervasio, to the tequila history tour at Hacienda Antigua, to lunch at an outdoor beachfront restaurant on the East side of the island and to El Cedral, the island's oldest settlement. The guides on the catamaran tour were good too and took us snorkeling at Colombia Reef and Palancar Reef. They kept the beer and jokes flowing as we endured a cold downpour between reefs.

RESORT STAFF:
As I've already mentioned, the resort staff was very friendly and accommodating from the grounds crew to the desk staff, maids, wait staff, bartenders, bellhops, reservation desk staff, store clerks and the Star Friends, the entertainment and activities staff. We noticed several employees wearing different "hats" working one job in the morning and then another job at night. We can't thank them enough for their hard work and for making us feel welcome. Not sure if the island travel tour reps work for the resort but they were very helpful too.

Thank you to the bartenders, who mixed great drinks and didn't hesitate to pour double shots upon request; to David, the bellhop who eagerly and quickly helped all 10 of us with our luggage; and to all the energetic, hardworking Star Friends, who worked from early morning to late at night entertaining us by running the games and activities during the day and putting on wonderful and funny shows at night. Thanks Alex for often stopping by to chat with us at breakfast and for playing Bob Marley at the disco per my hubby's request. Guess I'll thank you too for suggesting to the Hacienda Antigua dancers that they pull me onstage for part of their show. Thanks Ismael for recruiting my hubby for the guys vs. girls show and for teaching me to salsa at the disco.

We stayed at the Iberostar for two weeks 28th Sept-13Oct and had a great time.The only thing wrong was we had to leave.
The resort is idealic with well groomed gardens and the abundance of wild life is amazing.There were Flamingoes,Peacocks,iguanas ,and other lizards of all sizes,frogs, terapins.The staff at iberostar go out of there way to make your stay memorable.The cleaners work hard to keep your room clean and always leave lovely towel art for you.The waiters and bar staff are very attentive and remember your drinks and will have it on the table or bar before you even have to ask.They work hard and long but always have a smile for you i would like to give a special mention to the star friends team who worked hard to keep you entertained and what a great job they did.They were there at breakfast and still going strong at the disco which finished at 2am.How they did it I do not know.Thanks to irfam who introduced me to Archery it was great.There is so much to do there without the snorkling or diving you would never get bored
Once again ,thank you to all the staff at the Iberostar for making our stay so great.

There are just so many things I can say that are wonderful about this resort. We'll start with the beginning. Stay was Wednesday, October 3 through Sunday October 7, 2007. Not NEAR long enough.

Upon arrival, baggage was smoothly transferred quickly to our rooms. The front desk was very friendly and smooth. Employees there really do try their best to accomodate the guests as well as they can. Also, transfers through Go-Go vacations were wonderful, there and back.

Upon getting to our room, the air conditioner really made the inital walk-through terrific. The room was perfectly sized and the bathroom was perfect as well. The closet was roomy and there was a small refrigerator to keep drinks and such. I have heard complaints about the beds being kind of firm. This is true, but there wasn't one night that I didn't sleep all the way through like a log! We had an upstairs room (4314) and the privacy was terrific. Local calls from the hotel room were a little pricey.. $1 a minute to a local cell phone and $5 to connect a calling card for the states (which I did not use). The room was cleaned every day, the mini bar restocked, and it was spotless.

We had the breakfast buffet every morning because of our very busy schedule. But even the breakfast buffet was delicious. My favorite were the eggs sunny side up and the ham and cheese sandwiches on french toast.. Yummy! It is open air dining with direct walk way to the lobby. There is something for everyone. The juices are fresh and light, perfect if you are going to be active for the entire day.

The Star Friends' nightly 9:30 shows were some of the highlights of the trip. They work so hard and do so well! Joshua (sorry for the bad spelling my friend), you were such a fun friend and thank you for making me have so much fun. I know you'll be reading this!! Leo, you still owe me a pool game :) Mirragros, you are beautiful. I look forward to speaking with you soon!! Ismael, thanks for the dances. You really helped me loosen up. To all of you, you made my trip so much more fun than it would have been.... To the guests.. If you have a chance to join the conga line, do it! It will change your whole week. Star Friends, I wish you the best in ALL you do!

To keep on with my review... We ate at the steak restaurant one night with reservations. The food was delicious!! The deserts were kind of limited by brownie, cheesecake, apple pie, and fruit plate.. But good thing I wasn't there for the dessert! Their dessert buffet in the lobby was the place to go for desserts. We also ate at the disco during restaurant hours. The food there was also delicious and they had TERRIFIC seafood!!

The disco opens from 11PM to 2AM. They do a great varitey of music and have different themed nights. The Star Friends are in there dancing with everyone. They will do anything from a fast paced dance for the more experienced guests or a slower paced for learners (myself). However, after a few rounds with Joshua, I was getting much better. My favorite times there were the late night pool games (with some lucky shots), and dancing a Grease montage and Selena mix with Josh. They involve the guests as much as they can, and it really really makes the week worth while.

The pool is beautiful with a swim-up bar (they have the BEST strawberry daquiri I've ever had). The restaurant nextdoor has open air dining and buffet (the steakhouse). The first day, I made the mistake of leaving my food on the table for a couple minutes and the birds got it. Not a big deal, however. The birds cleaned their own mess and I got some more food :) There are plenty of chairs on both sides of the pool for all of the guests. Star Friends will come through and offer to take part in activities.

It is a very close walk to the beach where there are also plenty of cabanas (umbrellas) and chairs. It is never crowded. The dock is home to a lot of exotic fish that you can see from above the water (very impressive). They also have a on-site diving company with a private boat if anyone is interested in diving while there on their stay.

The layout of the hotel is kind of confusing. Even by the 4th day we were still getting lost. But eventually, you can find your way to your room (if you are set back into the jungle). There are lots of beautiful flamingos, iguanas, birds, butterflies, and we even discovered a cute little toad one night sleeping in one of the lighting fixtures (actually, he was huge).

There is a pay phone in the lobby. What I did is I bought a calling card in town for $10 (at 40 minutes to the US, that's a good deal). Then I would use the pay phone to make my calls. Downside is that you have to put in 5 pesos (approx US 0.50) every minute to keep the call going in addition to taking minutes off your calling card.

This resort is great for couples, as well as couples with kids (I knew a few there, they seemed to have a good time). I would not advise it for young party 20's because they try to keep this resort fairly quiet. The resort is on the far southwest side of the island set off into the jungle. It is a $17 taxi ride to Cozumel town and then $17 back. A lot of people I knew stayed at the resort the entire time and still had a blast. But the island is gorgeous and has so much to offer. I would advise at least taking one day and going into town. Go see the museum, Punta Sur, and the shops. Eat at Casa Denis (the oldest restaurant on the island) and Especias (best restaurant owner on the island)... try to get away from all of the hustle and bustle of the cruise strip and visit the town center and walk down 5th avenue... Cozumel and her people have the most personality and love of any place that I have ever visited.

Good luck with your trip! Be sure to bring lots of DEET and sunscreen! As well as water shoes and snorkel gear :)