Iberostar Cozumel Reviews

My husband and I arrived at the above hotel with high expectations, the brochure description sounded great and for the last few years we have enjoyed the luxury of 4/ 5 Star all inclusive holidays

On arrival the lobby looked lovely and as we were transported to our accommodation by golf buggy the grounds and palapas roofed huts looked just as we imagined they would- that's where the dream ends and instead of the quiet luxury retreat we were expecting we found Butlins in the sun!!

When we got into our room the first thing we noticed was the revolting strong damp, musty smell. All our clothes became damp and the bed sheets always felt damp. We couldn't get anything dry in the room; some of our things actually have mould on them!!
Also, the air-conditioning unit housed above the bathroom ceiling caused condensation and leaking onto the bathroom floor which was always wet and therefore dirty from walking on it. As you sat on the toilet water from the ceiling dripped on you
Now, usually we wouldn't worry too much about the room- after all you only sleep in it. However, at this place the room was one of the only air-conditioned places on the site so we and many other couples had to retreat to our rooms to cool down so it was a big issue. The rooms to me were 2/ 3 star quality

The next thing is the beach; the brochure description states 'powdery white sands' which is incorrect. We were sold this holiday as a beach holiday and the beach and sea is as important to us as the pool area. Imagine our disappointment when we found the sea to be full of rocks and the 'man made' looking beach area held in place by highly visible sand bags making it impossible to get into the sea except off the jetty. This was really disappointing and something that I feel should be made clear in the brochure description so that people who love the beach and sea could immediately rule out the Iberostar

When we checked into our room we noticed that the block of rooms opposite ours were roofless and looked like they needed work. We asked at reception if building work was planned during our stay and were told that it wasn't so we decided to stay in our allocated room and unpack. Two days into our 'holiday' work started on the block opposite and although it wasn't hugely noisy it was inconvenient, around 15 men turned up each morning between 7-8am to work and were there all day, and this meant that we were never able to sit on our deck or enjoy the view.

On the first day of our holiday we noticed a boarded off area to the side of the lobby. We found out later that this was where the main buffet restaurant had burned down three weeks before our holiday. We weren't informed about this before travel or at the welcome meeting. I strongly feel that First choice should have contacted us before travel to offer us the opportunity to change our hotel due to this change to the expected hotel facilities.

Because of the fire the restaurant next to the pool became the main buffet. It was very crowded, no air- conditioning, mosquitoes, flies on the food, people feeding cats at the table and we often had to queue up at the door to get a table. Eating became a chore not a pleasure and we rushed through meals to try and get somewhere more pleasant and cooler (usually our room!)
In the buffet restaurant during the day the staff didn't enfource the dress rules so people were wrapped in towels or dressed only in bikinis dripping pool water on the food- very appealing!!

I don't know whether it was because of the fire or whether the facilities were so poor anyway, but there was a serious lack of air-conditioned areas at the hotel for eating, drinking or relaxing. To me air- conditioning should be a standard in public areas at a 4/ 5 star hotel. The two specialty restaurants were air-conditioned, but you could only use them twice that's four nights out of 14, although we did find out that some people were slipping the restaurant staff a tip to ensure more nights because they were desperate to get somewhere air-con and away from the 'free for all' of the main restaurant
After 11pm you could go to the steak restaurant which became a 'disco bar' or the Mexican which became a 'bar' in both areas the seating was hard wooden restaurant chairs around tables. Apart from the air-con there was nothing appealing about either area

During the day and in the evening for the 10 nights that we weren't booked into a specialty restaurant there was nowhere air-conditioned to sit. The lobby had fans and was slightly cooler than other areas so this became the main area for people to sit and drink. The chairs were limited and grabbed as soon as one became free; you dare not get up for a drink or to go to the toilet as your chair would be gone!

The theatre had rows of seats cramped in, no air conditioning and was open air so full of mosquitoes. When the show was on at night the temperature in there was unbearable and the longest we managed to watch a show for was about ten minutes, which is a shame because they looked good

My husband likes to play pool in the evening so we always make sure we choose a hotel with a pool table. We could tell that before the fire the pool tables were situated in the rock bar/ disco because the proper pool table lights were on the ceiling. The tables had been moved to one end of the theatre where the lighting was poor so once it became dusk you couldn't play anyway.

Neither I or my husband has ever complained about a holiday before, you always expect some little niggles, but make the best of things. This holiday however was 'one big niggle' and we are so pleased to be home!

One final thing which didn't affect us because we were already aware of it;
It is an offence to remove coral or marine life from the sea at a marine park. When we stayed in Cuba last year the rep made all of the guests aware of this. This should have been mentioned at the welcome meeting as when we reached the airport many people had there luggage opened and checked at check in and people were receiving fines for having coral/ shells in there luggage

This was the first time me and my boyfriend had been anywhere exotic and was really excited when we got there. We travelled on the 15th June 05.

FLIGHT: The flight with first choice was second to none, staff were brilliant, so much leg room, films on the plane were great, was a great start to the holiday. Just a long flight and it is hard too sleep on any plane!!

HOTEL: We arrived unaware that the buffet area had burnt down and was still oblivious too this until a couple of days into our holiday, has no problems eating at the the 'new' buffet area though, always polite service, the staff at this hotel were second too none they would help in any way possible.
We has a couple of lizards living in our room the first few nights were not a problem but a few days later i was petrified they would fall on my head in the night, we spent hours trying too catch them on our own, but they are fast buggars!! Rang reception and they sent a guy arond fully kitted up in all white and a big net and caught them which was great!!

FOOD: I am a fussy eater and i found the food too be fine, not as much choice as i would have liked but my fella was in heaven 'all you can eat and dont pay a thing!'

We was quite lucky they only flew to cozumel via manchester at the time and we met5 other couples all around the same age and all lived in around manchester which was brilliant, these guys made our holiday what it was, we went out for a noght out in carlos and charlies for a meal in the main town and then went too senior frogs a nightclub it was brilliant definitely going just to see the difference in how the mexicans have fun, they go all out and nake you laugh so much and are so so friendly it is untrue.

ENTERTAINMENT: the entertainment was hilarious the star friends were brialliant so much fun, got everyone involved, didnt pester if you said no it was fine, we made good friends with the star friends so always joined in, the evening shows were so so funny obviously not a professional show but they put in so much effort and really enjoyed themselves.

There was only three things wrong with this holiday, 1 was the first choice rep, she was french repping in a spanish speaking country and could not speak a word of spanish which did not help when my boyfriend got stopped at immigration and they would not let him fly home (really long story!) she would tell you false information, we were told you could visit any iberostar's in mexico so some people we met over there went across to the mainland spent quite abit on ferry's etc then to get there and get told that was not the case at all. 2. The food was a bit all the same and 3. we went in frog mating season so you can imagine some of the wierd sounds you heard but it got amusing after a while and would stop around 10.30 pm so would not keep you awake.

All in all a brilliant hotel, brilliant excursions, staff amazing, rooms lovely, beach and pool amazing. i am definitely planning on going back in the future. Another hotel i would recommend is the iberostar hacienda dominicus in dom rep, absolutely out of this world, once you go to an iberostar you will never go back!! First choice also gave us a holiday voucher to say sorry about the buffet which was an added bonus as it did not cause that much of a problem!! Definitely recommend!!!