My husband and I stayed at the Iberostar from Feb 3-10/08.
We were married in Cuba 3 years ago so we decided to celebrate our anniversary and go to Mexico to try a different resort and country.

We checked in after 6 p.m. so upon arrival it was dark. We quickly checked in and were driven by golf cart to our 2nd floor room with a King size bed as requested.

We were so amazed at the grounds when we woke up on our first morning. So beautiful and lush...very tropical. It was just so nice to be there and not in Ontario with all the cold weather. I loved waking up every morning and walking to breakfast on the grounds of the Iberostar. Each morning was an aha' moment!

Our very reliable and sweet travel agent Marion was bang on for knowing what we like in a resort. (Marion is the best girl who also made all my arrangements for my wedding in Cuba). Marion is the owner of Elgin Travel in St.Thomas Ontario Canada. Marion told us that the beach was okay but we wouldn't be able to swim because of the coral reef. That was fine because the pool was ample enough for us to lounge by and we did for 5 out of the 7 days. The pool area was great too. There was a swim up bar that divided the pool into two sides. This was nice because while the water aerobics and games were done on one side that left the other for casual swimming.

The food....I was shocked at some of the reviews that have been posted in the last couple of days. We loved our food every day. There was so much variety at the buffet that we ended up eating way more than we do at home. I am not a great eater at buffets because I get full way too fast and sometimes can't get back for a second plate. I pushed myself at the Iberostar let me tell you!!One of my favorites was the home-made salsa & guacamole.

The Mexican restaurant was great too. I ordered a shrimp dish that was fantastic. Lots of shrimp in a very hot sauce...so hot but I couldn't stop eating it because it was so good.

We spent our anniversary night at the steak house and I loved it. My steak was so yummy and again so much food I couldn't begin to eat it all.

We met some lovely people from the Trenton area in Ontario, Pat and Don. Very nice couple and we enjoyed hanging out with them when possible. Very down to earth people. Don had a wicked sense of humour and Pat was very fun and positive in everything she talked about. My husband Todd and Pat snorkelled off the pier one day and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Pat and Don had also arranged to meet a couple they hadn't see in 15 years. It was very touching to see their reunion after all those years.

Coincidently a customer of mine Curtis Babula and his girlfriend Heather booked at the same resort too. Our parents had grown up in the same area years ago and knew each other but we had never met due to a 6 year age gap and the fact my parents moved away to another town shortly after I was born.
I work for a newspaper and Curtis is my customer and is an auctioneer. I had talked to him for 14 years over the phone and we finally met each other at the Iberostar. Totally the best experience ever meeting Curtis and Heather. Totally salt of the earth people. Curtis was hilarious with the funniest stories.

We did a Jeep jungle tour and we loved it. I had never snorkelled and as it was part of the tour I made myself overcome my fear of deep water and gave it a try. Okay only 10 feet of water but still!Again an amazing experience.

All other reviews are right when they say the staff is wonderful. Always a smile on their face and always eager to please.

I do have to comment on the bed and the showers but only because it was so funny!

The bed was hard as a rock and because I had read this on other reviews I asked that a foam pad be brought to our room. It arrived and lo and behold it was just as hard as the mattress. My husband and I laughed til we cried but never complained and had solid good nights of sleep the whole week. Who knew!

The shower itself was beautiful with the clear door into a shower stall with beautiful tile. The only thing was that it was cold for three days. Again.....we laughed so much because it was our own fault. We thought C meant cold and it's actually the hot handle in Mexico. Needless to say I found this out quite by accident and we had lovely, always hot showers the rest of the week.

My husband and I needed a break from our busy fast paced life and we were both very satisfied with every single thing at the Iberostar.

Obviously I can't say enough about the Iberostar resort and it's ambience, food and staff.

Life is what you make of it and we totally made the best of our trip!

We would definitely go back some time in the future once we've tried out other resorts and countries. Good thing there are lots of Iberostars in all sorts of countries.

Honestly we had no expectations because of some of the reviews that were written. We are very happy for 7 whole days!

No photos as of yet because I've only had about 4 hours sleep since returning!

My husband and I along with a couple of friends have just returned from the IB in Coz.
We really liked the idea of the small bungalows, that way you don't have people making noise all night long in the hallways. We had room 8414 which had a view of the beach and the pool. It was perfect for us. They have a nice shower and bathroom area and the fridge is stocked with water, sodas and beer (Superior).The beer on tap was XX, but we found that they served Cerveza Sol at the Beach bar until 5pm (our personal favorite), so Janeth would make the trek out their for us when we asked.
The rooms are nice, but basic, each with it's own string hammock for relaxing.
The other guests were all really friendly, shout out to Big Al and Peg (alias Page) and Bryon and Michelle as well as Leta and Mike)
The staff were very friendly and most accomodating, Janeth, Cait, Juan-ito and Fermin.
The down side was really the food, breakfast was my favorite meal and I am not a breakfast eater!
The steakhouse a la cart was good, but the "Star Rock Cafe" was not. We didn't get to eat at the Mexican, unless we wanted to eat at 9 pm (too late for us)
It was nice to get away to a warm destination, but unless they were offering a cheap price, we probably wouldn't go back.

In regards to the Iberostar Cozumel, I have a number of observations - just read a review on TripAdvisor and had almost the same exact comments as those guests did. We probably were there at the same time.

The staff and the grounds were the two best things about the resort overall. The staff was always helpful, friendly and knowledgeable. I heard this a lot too from other guests who have stayed at other all-inclusives. The grounds were impeccable - always beautiful greenery and flowers. The only bad part about the grounds would be the 'lagoon' right off the main enterance to the resort. The flamingos in the 'lagoon' were very nice to look at, however, I couldn't help but feel sorry that they had to live in a virtual cesspool. Murky water and mystery 'floaters' are just a few of the things that were unappealing about the flamingos' habitat.

Our Apple Vacation guides were nice as well and were pros at booking whatever I wanted to do; ie snorkeling, directing me to the dive shop to inquire about parasailing etc. Ryan Int'l Airlines had a very nice staff too - they were attentive to their fliers and seemed to like working with each other.

Now about the things I didn't like - mostly about the Iberstar itself.

1. It is the farthest resort from downtown - not fun for anyone. If you travel alone, you get stuck with $17 fare one way. Even if you go in groups, the fare will also go up accordingly (less than $17 pp, however, still high in my opinion).

2. My room had mildew/mold smell fo' shizzle. The beds were hard - matresses seemed pretty worn, pillows were postage stamps, very flat. No radio/alarm clock. Lighting was only great in the bathroom. Would have liked a jacuzzi tub in the room too but never thought about that before looking into different resorts. Room was kept very clean/neat. Same for bathroom. Pleasant housekeeping staff that did excellent job every day. A/C was working, however, not as cool as I would have liked it. No WiFi in rooms yet, however, they offer that in their lobby. Had some cable TV channels, however, would have been nice to have satellite TV with more English language channels (seeing as though most vacationers at our resort and in Cozumel in general are Americans/native English speakers.) The TV itself was old, and the volume varied wildly on each channel. Even though most of my time was spent outside of the room during the trip, it is nice to have a clear picture and channel choices when I'm getting ready for bed.

3. Lots of sewage smells throughout the resort. This would come and go, however, along the walking paths (where the sewer grates were located this was the worst.

4. The food was NAS-TAY!!! I expected to have others agree with me on this point at the resort, but I never heard a single complaint. I have eaten at many Las Vegas buffets and usually found them satisfying. This was not the case here - it should be noted that this is my first all-inclusive as well. The food selections were vast, however, they were either bland, left under the heat lamps too long or just tasted 'off'. A lot of this can be attributed, I suppose, to the fact that the staff there is trying to make a lot of typical American dishes with local ingredients but I wish they would have tried to do more traditional Mexican fare - this was always in short supply for some reason. By day two I couldn't stomach any more food there. They have 3 ala carte restaurants on site which you have to make reservations for in person at the front desk from 9am to 1pm each day. What a racket!!! I ate at their steakhouse and was only marginally impressed with the food there. I still CANNOT wrap my mind around how people actually liked the food there. Just mind-boggling. If you consider yourself a 'foodie' you will never be happy here.

5. The bartenders were very nice, however, their mixed drinks almost always tasted non-alcoholic. I never once got buzzed while drinking on-site! No top-shelf stuff - mostly bottom-of-the-barrel brands. Drinking downtown was another story!

6. Pool was small - needs to be way bigger. Beach had plenty of chairs and shade but the couldn't have been any rockier!!! Never once swam on the beach there as a result - had to go to public beach clubs for that. Did not notice sand fleas that others complained about.

7. No entertainment. They would show a movie or put on a kiddie show or play bad 80s music but no real shows to see there or in town. There was one pool table at the resort.

8. Spa was very nicely appointed, however, prices are completely ridiculous. Had a very good massage there but still not worth it... Will save that for a spa back home next time.


Other notes:

Better off to eat downtown whenever possible. I recommend LaChoza for real Mexican seafood, and LaCocay for a wide-ranging menu of options. The Wynston Cozumel was also a great place with a 270 degree view of the city and waterfront from 10 stories up - the owner came around and greeted each table - he is an American ex-pat. Very cool guy, wonderful varied menu as well.

A lot of guests from the Midwest there (including myself) - lots of bad hair, bad clothes, and boring conversations. Mullet alert! Not a place for young people/singles. If you have a mullet or a FUPA it is time to check in!!!

Snorkeling and parasailing were great here - did both from the Dressel Diver shop that was right on resort at the beach. Great staff there too.

My husband and I visited Cozumel for the first time teh last week of August. The resort itself was great - very tropical setting, complete with iguanas and turtles on the property. The hotel is located about 10 miles from town, A taxi ride cost us about $12 one way to go into town one day. There's not a lot to do at the resort except to lay on the beach or play in the pool. We were there just after Hurrican Wilma went thorough so there was a little damage to the dock, where the dive boats left from. It's also where catamaran trips leave from Because of the damage, we had to take a $7 taxi to Paradise Beach (2 miles from the resort) to catch our boat. Catamaran trip was disappointing. We were in the water with a guide we had to follow. The boat Captain was continually yelling something to everyone in Spanish, so I got out of the water after just a few minutes thinking he was telling us to come in. (He was telling everyone to "follow the bouy". The water over the reef was extremely rough, and we really didn't see many fish because we were in about 20 feet of water. But on the up-side, we did get to see our first sea turtles.

The resort staff puts on a show every night with a different theme, which we went to see because there's nothing else to do on the property after dark, and it's expensive to go into town. Staff was very friendly. Dinks were great (we had an all-inclusive package). Dining in the pool-side restaurant was an experience - dodging birds that flew overhead, and finding a seat without bird-doo. But the lunches and breakfasts we had there were really good. The room was very neat and clean. We had a second-story room. It was quiet, which is a necessity for us to be able to sleep.

Overall, we had a great time at the resort and would recommend it highly.