While we had a great time on our family vacation to Jamaica, i did have some issues at the Iberostar Rose Hall Suites:

1) We were in room 3420 for Christmas week and it had a MUSTY smell. I complained to the front desk several times. They sprayed something in the vents which only masked the problem. After promising us a dehumidifier, they finally delivered one to the room 2 days later...and that did not resolve the problem. I was never offered the opportunity to change rooms.

2) The pool was very cold and I heard many guest complain about that.

3) The temperature in the lobby and hallways was extremely hot.

I thought the entertainment crew did an excellent job and we looked forward to the dance routine each afternoon. We enjoyed the food and the shows each night.

While I would consider coming back to the resort in the future, my hesitation is that if all of the rooms have that same smell I would not be happy and would be hard pressed to recommend the resort to others in case they would experience that same musty smell.

We stayed at the Rose Hall Suites as a large group (7adults and 4 children from 5 to 2 years). We had a great vacation! The food was great, the chefs really went out of their way to accommodate the vegitarians in our group! The entertainment was lots of fun and the facility was excellent overall.

Pros - Good food, friendly service, even at hotel capacity there were lots of beach chairs and pool was clean. Very family friendly and only 15mins from the airport.

Cons - We had problems with the AC in our room and it took the hotel 4 days to move us, partly because they thought they fixed the problem and partly because the hotel was fully booked. The AC was blowing ice cold air which was a problem for our 2 year old. They tried to resolve it but communication broke down a few times and I found myself spending way too much time at the front desk instead of being able to enjoy the vacation. That is really my only complaint.

I have frequently researched vacations on trip advisors but have not bee very good about writing reviews on the back end. There were a few points that really made our vacation that I felt the need to share.
I, like most of you, had read all of the recent reviews on iberostar suites. Overall I would say that it was better than the reviews give it credit for and better than we expected.
I'll start by saying that we were there over Christmas break and while the hotel was full, it never felt crowded. The chairs at the beach and pool were crowded but we were always able to find a free chair. And we frequently bounce back and forth during the day. I will say that we were in room 5035, which I believes a grand hotel room. I was a nice clean room with a terrific ocean front, large balcony. The balcony had a couch and two-person swing outside which was really nice.
The food was better than I thought it would be including both the specialty restaurants and we well as the buffets.
Suggestion #1: The pools were mice and I will say that i was happy to have taken the suggestion of another poster and bought wetsuits for the kids. The ocean and pool were cold at first. If the sun was out, it was way get used to the water. However, if it was overcast of even a cloud blocking the sun, it was cold. The wet suits were a good purchase for $50 a piece.
Suggestions #2: there are some large rocks out by the ropes I between the suites and beaches hotel. There were some really colorful fish including so,e lion fish. Plus it is only about 30 feet off shore and I cold stud - easier with the kids.
Suggestion #3: when booking your excursions, ask what the cruise ship schedule is. We booked through Real Tours Jamaica and they were great. They suggested to us to take the tours on the two days that there were no cruise ships in town. That was a great idea. We did the falls hike and while we were not alone, the parking lot was on 25% full. I can't imagine if the parking lot was full. We also did the tubing excursion with the falls and had the river to ourselves. The tubing was fun but I wouldn't do it unless as an add on to falls tour. We also did the bamboo rafting tour another day and that was great. We had the whole river to ourselves. Neko was our guide. If you plan ahead, I would definitely ask for him.
The only other point I would make is that that staff is great. We have been to a lot of places in different countries and the staff at Iberostar is right up there at the top. Not sure how any review could say other wise. Everyone was extremely friendly. The lifeguard walking on the beach stopped talk for 20 minutes, the gardener was quick to say merry Christmas with a smile and the Star Friends really know how to do their job.

Overall a very clean and well managed hotel. Had a very good time. Hotel is clean and daily maid service was excellent. The maintenance staff was fast to repair a hair dryer that would not heat. The entire family enjoyed this vacation very much. One area that could be a ltittle better was the food. Believe me you can not go hungry at this all inclusive, however the food at times was very repetitive and for a five star hotel I could not rate the food selections a five star. Another area to discuss was the bell hops, front desk, waiters, waitresses, bartenders and the Star Friends were outstanding in freindliness, service and entertainment. An area that needs work is the snorkel/kayaks and sailboat rental huts. The people there were not nearly as friendly and customer service oriented. We tried to obtain a snorkel juast before noon one day and the rental person told us that it was lunch time and to come back later. Same thing happened with the kayaks. When you are spending this kind of money the last thing you want to hear is I am at lunch come back later. The brach rental hut is managed by an offsite company not Iberostar, but they still handle Iberostars customers.