My husband and I just returned from 5 days at Iberostar and had a great time. This resort and Cozumel in general were much better and much more beautiful than our last vacation in Mexico to the Melia in Puerto Vallarta. I don't think I've ever seen such gorgeous blue ocean water with the white sandy beaches, wow! We had a very pleasant time at Iberostar so here are some comments about our pros and cons of the hotel.
Pros: Gorgeous grounds, they are so well maintained and look amazing. I also loved the touch of the wildlife – flamingos, iguanas, parrots - all really added to the feel of the resort. The lobby is very nice and we lounged in the couches almost every night. There is also a great bar in the lobby with never-ending drinks. The pool is very nice and very very clean, always a worker cleaning it and scooping out any leaves or anything that fell in the water. The swim-up bar was also a lot of fun. The beach is gorgeous and so relaxing to sit in one of the chairs and just listen to the waves crashing. And – you guessed it – a nice beach bar to get some fun drinks at. The pier is neat too to walk out on. I really liked the layout of the resort and the fact that the rooms are set up in little bungalow type buildings with about 4 rooms to each. It takes away that yucky hotel feeling and added to the charm of the resort. Rooms were clean and A/C worked great. Get a massage! My husband and I both had one by the beach, very good!
Cons: I must say after reading reviews on here I set myself up for more than we actually got. Our service was not the same as others had experienced and I don’t know why not considering the hotel could not have been half full. First off, no welcome drinks when we checked in. We were given 2 double beds instead of a king. Again, being the resort was quite empty I’m not sure why we couldn’t get a king. COLD WATER in the shower every single day. While at the beach or pool we were NEVER offered a drink, I never even saw a waiter walking around getting people drinks, we always had to go get our own. Not a big deal but would have been nice. The maid service was nothing special. We never once got any towel art that everyone has been talking about…and we even left a tip every day! Our fridge was only restocked every other day. We had to ask for more bottled water on the days it wasn’t restocked. One last annoying thing, when we had to check out at noon on the last day, I called the bellboy at 11:45 to schedule our bags to be picked up. They told me to leave them on the deck and they’d be there in 10 min. Well, we checked out and had lunch then headed up to the lobby for our taxi at 12:45 and you guessed it…our bags weren’t there. They never picked them up AND to make me even more mad, it was now POURING so our bags were sitting on our deck getting drenched. Not a very good “last impression” of the Iberostar.
Like everyone else says…yes, the beds are hard and the pillows are crap but this is just what we expect in Mexico. Yes, the beach is rocky and you really can’t walk or swim in it. The food is pretty good, better than I’ve had at other all-inclusives but nothing to really scream about. We ate at the steak restaurant and it was average. At the Mexican restaurant I had delicious grouper but my husband’s beef was really bad. The buffet has a lot of options but any buffet eating after several days gets old. We did not get bit by any bugs like others had said.
We would definitely recommend a couple restaurants off the resort. One night we went to Casa Mission, it was about a 25 min. cab ride. It is an actual old mission turned into a restaurant, very beautiful. It was excellent, we had awesome civeche, lime soup and for entrees steak and fresh seafood. Watch out for the margaritas though, they are the most potent ones I’ve ever had, one is all you need. We also had lunch one day at Alberto’s which is a little seafood shack right down the beach from the hotel. They send out their own boats right from the restaurant and come back with lunch – so fresh! We had the red snapper tacos and mahi mahi which were both great. It was also fun to sit in the sand and watch the waves while having lunch.
All in all we had a great stay at the Iberostar. I know I sound like I’m griping on little things but that is just it, they were little things and by no means ruined our trip. I think it is a great place for both couples and families and you can definitely find your little hide-out and just be by with your significant other or you can meet new people and party it up the entire time. The whole trip was very relaxing, quiet and fun.




