We stayed in this resort from 9th April until 23rd April and completely fell in love with Cuba despite the 10 hour flight from Manchester.

Transfer from airport to hotel was 45 minutes (no other hotel drop offs), check in was very quick, easy and service with a smile.

Hotel overall was lovely, very clean, well presented and not too big of a complex. Entertainment was great, something for everyone! Staff are very friendly, take the time to get to know them, it’s worth it and it makes you appreciate what you have in life! This resort has been closed for 6 months, I believe for refurbishment as it was needed in some areas especially the rooms, buffet area and roofs. Can’t wait to see it next year! The staff made this hotel what it is,
without the staff I do not think it could reach a 4 star!!!

Beach was beautiful well worth the travelling, you truly feel as though you are in paradise, not very wide but I felt it was enough for the resort. Beach bar & gill was being renovated during our stay but drinks were still available whether it was a member of staff sat there with a table full of drinks or waiter service. The Water sports
were always available for us when requested. Word of advice, if you want a good spot put your towels down early before 8.30am. There is also a fabulous lobster restaurant on the beach which you can pay 15 peso’s per person who very nice this is not part of your all inclusive bear in mind you do get attacked by mosquitoes but it was worth it.

Rooms were not 4 star, they were very clean but needed updating. We had a musty smell coming from the wardrobe but apparently speaking to other tourists they experienced the same problem. We were in a fantastic location in between the lobby bar and theatre.

Lobby bar was available 24 hours, please treat the bar staff with respect and read your brochure before you arrive at this resort! Cocktails and spirits are not available after 1pm but beer; wine, hot drinks and soft drinks are available 24 hours. We found that the staff was getting a load of abuse from tourists because of this, they do not deserve the abuse they get as they work pretty god dam hard for next to nothing!!! Bear that in mind…..please.

Star Friends (entertainment team) worked extremely hard, they started at 10am throughout the day they tried to encourage people to join in for the daily routine activities, from 1pm til 4pm they practised for the night shows, from 4 til 5pm they promoted the nightly shows, from 5 til 8pm they practiced some more ready to go live from 9pm til 11pm. From 11 pm til 1am they tried to encourage people to join in the disco, a coach picks them up at 1.15am to take them home this can be a 2 – 4 hour journey!! Dalita and Yudannio were the only two people who took time to sit down and have a conversation with us, however the rest of the team did say hello.

Pool bar was our favourite place to be, we spent most of our days here and hit it off with the staff (Lazaro, Randy, Einer, Joel and Boris). We got to know these people really well, great sense of humour and really truly made our holiday within the second day of us being in Cuba. Never let you dehydrate! Ask Lazaro for a man u cocktail….

My husband and I stayed at the Iberostar from April 20th to the 27th. Although the resort is showing its age, the lobby and grounds were beautiful. Our room was nothing special but it was clean and we always had water pressure, sometimes having to wait a while for hot water. The A/C worked really well. We didn't have a comfortable bed but its not the plaza hotel. Hopefully they'll buy some new beds during the renovation.
The buffet selection was not the largest I've seen by any means but it was okay. This is our third trip to Cayo coco and I prefer the food here to mexico and punta canta. Love the fish, and it was prepared in many different sauces and spices. Have never been sick from the food in Cuba.
Had no problems getting towels or lounge chairs at the beach or pool. Wasn't a real busy week I don't think. The beach is the best I've been to - I thought cayo coco was paradise but this is even better. To the right of iberostar we walked up to enjoy Cojimars pier, and to the left the melia's pier. If you want to swim out far without sea grass you can always walk down to the Sol - didnt see any down there. Laugh at people complaining about it , its the ocean for heavens sake! I have some incredibly beautiful pictures at the ocean. Didn't take any trips as I was just to lazy to leave the beach. Enjoyed watching the parasurfers? Hope to try that some day. Even with 30 sunscreen, did burn and spent alot of time under an umbrella, and covered in a towel to prevent further damage. Enjoyed a swim in pool every evening before supper. Lazaro did a great job serving us cervasa's on the beach and the star friends shows were enjoyable. Fellow vacationers in the shows were funny as well. Loved the internet cards - 5 pesos for an hour or 3 for half an hour. And the card is good to use over and over until you run out of time unlike mexico where u had to buy 30 minutes at a time.
We'll return to cayo guillermo but to the melia next time, just because we like change, nothing against the iberostar.
If you have any questions, feel free to email me at sandyairit42@hotmail.com.

I have travelled to Dominican Republic three times now two times staying at the Iberostar Costa Dorada and absolutely loved every second of it.

I shopped online for this trip for three months and I really truly did get a good deal on the vacation. My wife & I decided that we really only wanted a great beach and a hot sun and we did indeed get that.

Unfortunately that is all that we managed to get.

Beach - the nicest I have ever seen, walked on, looked at or experienced. At times we even were served drinks right on the beach which was a nice touch. Lots of loungers as well, parasailers, kite boarders, a flying boat, lots to watch.

Towels - it seemed there may only be one towel for all of the guests of the hotel. They didn't launder them until the morning and weren't available until around 11am which makes the first day a little rough at first.

Food - not so good. Terrible selection, poor quality and the staff always seemed to be infront of you in line. Waiting for omelete's in the morning and you had to wait for staff members to get theirs. Same with the banana juice. The Cuban restaurant had pretty decent food and actually had hot coffee as well. The hamburgers were pretty good at lunch at the pool bar and our best meal we had on the island off of Pillar Beach where we had Lobster Tail & Shrimp.

Drinks - wow they simply can't make drinks!!! The liquor they have is really quite awful and they just don't know how to mix them. It all depended on which bar tender you managed to get if you were going to get a good drink. I resorted to beer and scotch on the rocks... Again, the staff was pretty busy drinking beer down at the pool bar most of the day and just weren't interested in you interupting them!

Mini Bar - I think you mean empty fridge in room.

Beds - I guess you can call them that.

Maid - Excellent - kept it clean all the time and Sonia was very kind.

Disappointing but we still enjoyed our vacation. Still feeling a little nauseated from the food and I am NOT a picky eater.

Good luck!

We stayed there from april 9th to 23rd 2007. We travelled with First choice, and upgraded to star class premier seats, it was well worth the money.

Cayo Coco airport
It is a nice small airport, not very far to walk. Passing through customs not as daunting as I thought, and everyone was very friendly.

Arrival at the hotel.
After a 30min transfer from the airport, we were greeted by smiling faces. Your luggage was taken off the coach for you. Check in was pain free and quick, along with your 2 room keys you are given a pool towel card for each person (more about that later), and stickers with your room number on. You put these stickers on your cases and a very nice guy will load them up on his cart, and take them to your room. Point to remember the guy does not have a key to your room so you need to be there to receive your luggage its less than a 10 minute wait.

Room
The room was very clean, spacious and contrary to other reviews it did not smell musty. The beds were small doubles and very comfortable. We were not quite sure if we had a refurbished room or not. Reasons being the paint work did some touching up and the bathroom needed new fitings, but the beds were new as was the furniture. Some reviews said that water pressure and hot water was not great. I have to say we had no problems the water was piping hot, and the shower could give you a great back massage. Only bad point was that in the first choice handbook at the hotel it states that the sheets are changed twice a week, this is not the case. we only got ours changed once in two weeks, and that was after we left a note to the maid.

Grounds
What can I say about the grounds, I am a keen gardener and I was just amazed at the them. They were magnificent, and are kept by some very talented people. They work hard everyday, but always have time to chat with you.

Rest of hotel
The lobby bar had plenty of areas to sit, one small point, when it rains it really does rain and the lobby leaks slightly. However it only rained 2 afternoons we were there. The bar has a good selection of drinks. If you want a quiet area to sit then this is the place, however after 3pm or so the music is on and the volume does get turned up.
The pool area is great plenty of places both in the shade and the sun, the water is slightly cold, but after baking in the sun you want to cool off.
There are a good range of shops, but we found that you could buy the same things at the airport on your way home, and they were cheaper. Rememer to take all your toiletries as there isn't a great selection at the hotel and they are costly.
Our one major problem was the volume of gnats here. Some people reported being bit by bedbugs. With us it was gnats, we have lost count how many times, and you can't sleep without any covers. Take plenty of itch cream you will need it

Food
We stuck to the buffet resturant because I'm not fond of mexican food and the cuban style resturant was outside with the insects. I can be a fussy eater and don't eat any fish. I didn't go hungry. The choice at breakfast was good, top tip is have the doughnuts, forget the waistline you are on holiday. Lunch and dinner was ok but not great. After a while you want something different, and we found that sometimes the food was not hot unless it was cooked in front of you. You might find at busy times that you are queueing to get your food which moves slowly, but some people did not understand how to wait their turn. The best of the puddings is the ice-cream, the other choices were not the best and sometimes tastless.

Beach
This was lovely like white talc. Yes it was a small strip at high tide, but two paces back past the grass there was plenty of room. At low tide you could walk right out to were the seaweed was with all the marine life and only be waist deep. Ideal for children as they can play in the sea safely. Snorkelling off the beach is great.
At high tide the water is slightly rough and can have strong currents.
The beach made this holiday for us, we have been all over the carribean and it was one of the best. The only bad point was reserving sunbeds, after 10am you don't stand a chance, we saw 7 beds piled up with a towel on top. We managed to get 2 nearby, and we found the people did not come to them until 2pm gone, when there was plenty to pick from.

Pool Towels
I wanted to mention this seperately. The cards I mentioned are exchanged for towels. Never let these towels out of your sight, they do get taken, and at the end of your stay you exchange the towels back for the cards and hand them into reception. If you don't have the cards to hand in you will have to pay 10cuc for each card. Also during the middle of our stay, there was a shortage of towels so we could not change ours for clean ones for 4 days, but some new arrivals had none. My adivce is to take your own and use them.

Overall we had a good time, people mention tipping, even though you don't have to. We found that if you tipped you got a better service and larger measures in your drinks. More people are tipping, and we found that it is becoming expected. We did both and we noticed a difference.

Eventhough it was not a bad holiday, we have had better. Would we go back? No. Its rated in the UK guides as 4 star. Taking into account that it is an up and coming destination, we would only rate it a 2+ to 3 star, and not really value for money.