14 days at Iberostar

Posted by Margaret on December 02, 2000 at 11:00:54:

I just got back from my first trip to Cozumel. I stayed at the Iberostar Resort. It is Spanish own, about a year old, located at the southern end of the island. It was wonderful for a first timer.
The accommodations are two story eight unit "huts" with thatched roofs that do indeed leak when it rains. Yes , the beds are hard, but I had no problems sleeping. The showers were excellent and the house shampoo was really gentle and made my hair soft and shiny.
The food was plentiful (except for turkey on Thanksgiving day), excellent variety, with beautiful presentation. Buffet style. Two locations for lunch...the main dining room and pool side. Also have two speciality restaurants for evening dining, Mexican and Steak, and both appeared very romantic. I didn't try either one. The desserts were outstanding...Julia Childs lives!!! I ate well!
In-room refrigerator was stocked with bottled water, Sprite, Coke and beer. The bars, four of them, served excellent beverages. I drank mostly Marguerita's.
The pool area was divided for adult swimmers and for children. They had a area for children and children's activities conducted by staff. The children seemed to enjoy it and were affectionate towards the staff.
Yes, the beach is a little narrow, but that didn't stop people from taking full advantage. And you can snorkle right there, but not many fish. One can be topless on the beach.
Flamingos, tucans and parrots, and some large, black, curly headed, turkey sized bird are on-site and part of the ambience.
The Dresseler's Dive Shop is on-site and offered a free trial in the pool for scuba diving, and a two dive one day introduction program for beginners for $140 as well as certification and advanced programs. It was a bit of a cattle car program with two dive trips in the morning, two in the afternoons and sometimes a night dive. I did the in-pool demo and the introduction dive...which was a good experience, glad I did it, the fish and the coral reef was exquisite, but think I need to have a more significantly more experience before I do another open water dive.
I did a one day plane and bus to the Yucatan to see the Mayan ruins in Chichen Itux, about $150. It was awesome, educational, spiritual, hot, and I got pretty tired out from the walking. They allow people to climb the ninety-one steps up to the temple top. I didn't do it and it troubled me that they let people climb on it.
In the evenings the activity staff puts on a little show. It was a bit amateurish, but the staff had a lot of energy and were enthusiasic.
Daily activities included rifle shooting (a BB gun), beach volley ball, bocce ball, bike riding, water areobics, step areobics, pool basketball and pingpong. There is also a pool table.
The other guests were from Germany, England, Canada, Spain, and the USA. The staffs' friendly spirit was contagious, and I had many friendly and interesting conversations with the other guests.
On the downside, it is a $15 one way taxi ride to town which I thought was a little pricey. It would have been nice if the hotel offered a van service to town, but that would probably piss off the taxi drivers.
It rained hard for four days and there was not much to do when it did. I suggested that they need a "computer room" with internet connection and/or more channels on the cable TV.
Yes, there is a sewer smell, most noticeable on the north side in the evening, probably a sceptic tank. I'd walk through it.
Fourteen days was more than enough, probably a good ten day stay would have been enough for me.
The Allegro got over-booked and some of their guests were "transfered" to the Iberostar and they said the Iberostar was much better.
I recommend the Iberostar. Feel free to ask me questions. I'll check in every so often to respond.

Follow Ups:

• Re: 14 days at Iberostar Mike in OKC 12:30:20 12/19/2000 (0)
• Re: 14 days at Iberostar Margaret 20:43:45 12/06/2000 (3)
  • Re: 14 days at Iberostar Brad 20:58:33 12/29/2000 (0)
  • Re: 14 days at Iberostar Brad 20:54:58 12/29/2000 (0)
  • Re: 14 days at Iberostar Bill 06:10:44 12/07/2000 (2)
• Re: 14 days at Iberostar Bill 08:20:19 12/06/2000 (4)

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