This was our 2nd trip to Cozumel. Earlier in the year two of my adult kids and I rented a condo in Corpus Christi for a diving trip. That's was definately a better bang for the $. Since my non-diving beach-crazed wife and non-diving other adult daughter came along I decided to do a AI resort w/beach and diving too. We took a 4 night Apple package just before Thanksgiving for about $730/pp. What made it nice was Apple also provided airport transfers to and from with Apple rep on site at resort. As stated, this is the probably the farthest resort from the airport/city, so a taxi ride is probably around $15-20. That's a negative if you want to leave the resort, but a positive is you like seclusion.

When we arrive it was about 5pm getting dark, and family of 5 adults wanted to get to room and beach and amazed at the beautiful lobby. But I had requested adjoinging rooms, one with a king. They didn't have one they claimed, I politely insisted, and whala! they found one steps from beach. There's a large golf cart to transport you. Note that the rooms AC shuts down when not occupied so musky smell builds up and when we checked in it really stunk. That soon went away after AC got working, but as noted, the AC is on a motion sensor to save elec. when not there. Not a problem because if you're away for a while and come back it's not hot or musky again, but be aware the musky smell builds. Bring a spray bottle of Febreeze; it's a must!

Rooms are small, but adequate, and typically all tile because of sand and tradition. So if you don't like cold feet, bring slippers. Bathrooms are beautiful with gorgeous tile and walkin glass showers. Since we had 3 adults in one room, we asked for a "roll away" and they brought an entire single bed. Just enough room for it. As all Mexican hotels, mattresses are hard and pillows flat, so expect it. They are good about responding to your requests. The units as previously described or 2 or 4 unit, depending if 1 or 2 story. Ever unit has one slide glass door to the balcony which includes a string hammock.

The beach is sandy, but when entering the water, it's hard limestone and rocky. Bring water shoes. It's not dangerous or painful to walk in the water, just take it slow. Easier to enter off the ladder on the pier. The snorkeling isn't that good, because no reef structure. Under the dock are thousands of fish, including Sergeant Majors and under the concrete pads are lobsters peeking out. Go snorkeling at night and the lobsters come out! That's worth a look. And if you snorkel outside the ropes occassionally you come across an depression or cluster of rocks which will include lobsters, morays and other structure marine life. "Barney" the barracuda is a mainstay, and you'll see him often, but they're harmless. My son and I were snorkeling and we swam right by my son as he was standing up, and missed seeing him. Water is about 4.5 ' by the dock. Dock is lit at night, and boats come in to pick up divers and snorklers.

One negative of the resort is other than the entertainment at the resort, there is nothing esle nearby. No shops or stores. The resort has one shop which is high priced naturally, being so far from town, and there is a small "cart" of souvenier ware near the pool; also high. If you have the time, take a taxi into town, have lunch and get your trinkets there.

Another negative to the location, is getting to attractions. If you want to take some of the tourns, often you have to pay for your own taxi, and being so far south, it isn't cheap. Trips to the ruins on the mainland and diving ceynotes require getting to the ferry. Apple had a tour to the mayan ruins on the mainland, which included the ferry for around $130, but you still had to get a taxi to the ferry. So plan on this. We were there in the rainy season, so it rained a lot; good day to go shopping. Wife and non-diving daughter did the dolphin experience. Many look down their noses at this as being cruel and inhumane to the dolphins, but I heard the enclosure and treatment is good. For me, it'd be cheesy, but my daughter loves dolphins. The most expensive price is you get in the water and they pull you along or get under you and shoot you out of the water. The next, which my wife and daugther did was getting in the water with them but on a platform and you hold and stroke them while they take pics for you to buy. There's another cheaper one, but not sure how you interact. Not sure about the rest of the marine park. The mayan ruins are near the resort, and you can tour there. Or smaller ruins are had by horseback or ATV. The rain killed many of our plans. We did take the sunset - snorkel cruise which I recommend. I belive it's Fury who comes in a huge catamaran, and my non-diving daughter gets seasick, but didn't phase her at all, the boat was so big. They service the cruise ships during the day, and resorts at night. The boat holds a couple hundred people, but only was about 25 of us, so plenty of margaritas and beer to go around. Snorkeling (2 sites) was. . "OK" if you've never snorkeled. They're in deep water, aroun d15-30feet, so you don't see things very close, but a lot of big marine life, including sea turtles, crabs, and fish. A few of the fish who beg for handouts swim around you. Long jump from the deck to the water, about 15', but there's also a stairs. ~$40

Three of us are divers, and after reading up, we decided to go with Dive with Martin which I recommend. Dressel Divers is on site and is very high end. They have classrooms, a huge staff, but their prices are much higher, AND one thing we noticed, they do "cattle boats." They're boats were packed. I counted who was going out one day and they had over 27 people and only two DMs. Not my idea of diving. I'm sure they're good, they're very friendly and helpful, but it's costly and crowded. If you've dove before and like small groups without the frills and comforts of groovy DMs and instructors, use another service. There were a lot of dive operations that will pick up that far south. One had a boat too large to get to the dock. Make arrangements, and sometimes they ask for prepayment which makes sense; they get burnt with promises and no one shows at the dock.

Dive with Martin were small boats and we had about 6-7 and one DM. Perfect. What was nice is they included BCD and reg equip; a nice savings, and equip was nice with integrated weights. Only a little fruit and water for snack, but enough. No begging for tips or even suggested, which you get with larger operations. On the snorkel trip the crew stood on the pier as you got off with a bucket that said "tips." We always tipped our DM, who were very personable. Martin died last year, and a memorial monument lies near one of the reefs; impressive to be allowed in a marine sanctuary. Reefs and dive sites are 5-10 minutes away, so you get back quick. We did the 2 day x 2 am dives for $130 (3 days for $160). They'll do night dives, but need 4 divers to sign up to be picked up. Didn't have time, sigh.

For sandfleas we were told bring "Avon Skin-so-soft." The sandfleas are in the sand and come out at night. One time we waited on the beach for the sun to go down so we could test our dive lights in snorkeling. Suddenly we started getting bites, much like mosquitoes only more painful. Both my daughters had an allergic reaction and their legs broke out in tiny pimple like welts. My youngest has high allergic reaction to bites, and became miserablely in pain; couldn't eat, couldn't sleep. I went to the medical office at the resort and there was a doctor there, and he immediately knew what it was; the sand fleas. Says 10% have a high allergic reaction and only cure (skin treatments didn't work) was this steroid pills, and only found on the mainland according to him, and he prescribed for $40, and overnight the pain went away. Took weeks for the welts to go down, but he said only "Avon Skin-so-soft" is what keeps them off. The B1 pills might be worth trying, and bring DEET bug spray. Otherwise, no bugs. They do fog the area around dusk and it looks like a cloud settles over the resort, but we had no problems.

The resort is simply beautiful. We heard and read it's the most beautiful of all the resorts. We stopped at the Allegro pier to pick up snorklers and they have a beautiful sandy beach that extends way out into the water. I read this resort has the best beach of any resort, and same type units, but not as landscaped. Wife wants to go there next time - because of the beach. Lots of nice resorts we stopped in the taxi on the way down, so do your homework. But if you like beautiful grounds, flamingos, iguanas, and parrots, this is the resort for you. The birds and peacocks can be a nuisance when eating. There are two main buffet restaurants; the one by the beach has netting to keep out the birds, but a few still get in.

You get one evening restaurant reservation for every 4 nights. We got the "steak house" which uses the bugget restaurant by the beach, so not very romantic or cozy, but only a few tables are used. My wife had heard capris are OK for ladies, but a lot of ladies had dresses and she worred, but found out many wore capris. Slacks for men and hawaiian shirt or polo shirt is fine. The "star" people are told to mingle during the day and they often will ask to join you for breakfast or lunch. These are the start of the nightly shows, which are kind of cheesy, but something to do. They're very talented, but not your vegas show. Don't sit down front unless you don't mind participating. We always watched from the outside. Drinks are good, and not that watered down. Beach bar closes 5pm or earlier. Main buffet area near lobby open all night.

The food is, well your typical mexican buffet. Lots and lots of choice, and look exotic and interesting, but not well seasoned. I wish someone would teach these people how to make pizza! The cheese they use on everything is blah, like margarine, and tomatoe paste lacking spice. Food is kept fairly stocked, and you can get some custom cooking. I can't say they bend over backwards, and most of the cooking staff don't speak english so be prepared to take what you get. But the selection is very wide, but not always labeled very well, and asking can be an adventure in communication. What's nice is even though a buffet, you'll have a waiter who will get you drinks, and desserts.

All in all, I'd highly recommend Iberostar if you like all-inclusive dining and drinking, and more so if you enjoy remaining at a resort to enjoy the resort amenities. Pool activies abound, there's a day care for kids, the ground are emaculate. I was impressed with some of the walkway pavers were cut blocks of coral; beautiful. My wife and kids loved it, but I'm more happy to stay in a condo, have more room to expand and fix some meals, and save $ to do more things. Resorts like this are nice if mostly this is all you want to do, relax at a resort with lots of people, with occasional (expensive) activieties. I gained over 8 lbs, because you don't want to waste your $ not eating and drinking which is what you're paying for - dieting and cutting back while at an AI resort is kind of counter productive. I always had to try everything, and felt guilty if I left a full plate for the waiter who couldn't afford this food himself. Next trip, though I'm the lone advocate, but the bill payer, we're staying in a condo or vacation home. Resorts are nice for shorters stays too. I think renting a car for a maybe a week stay would be a better deal than taking taxi's every where. Gives you more power to go and come as you please, and everything requires transport from there. Try the otherside of the island for trip; we didn't have time.