March 27, 2005

Iberostar Message Board

After reading the review entitled lager louts and food poisoning (which I have to say I found highly offensive!) whose author not only slammed the hotel but the guests too. I feel I must add my comments on this hotel.

The Iberostar is situated in beautiful gardens on the northern side of the Island. The reception area is very welcoming, and the live turtles in the fountain, the flamingoes in their own pool and peacock strutting about made a lasting impression.

We stayed for two weeks in Sept/Oct 2004, the purpose of our trip was for myself and my fiance to get married. Our group consisted of nine people, ranging from 22 yrs to 75 yrs. I have to say each and every one of us enjoyed it and vowed to go back! My grandad has actually already booked to go back on his own this year he enjoyed it that much!

Now for the review!!

Arrival: On arrival we were greeted in the main reception area with a very welcome glass of fruit punch..which I soon became quite addicted to!!! The rooms had already been allocated to us and we were soon out of heat into an air conditioned room to rest after a long and cramped flight.

Rooms: Basic, but bright, cool and kept very clean. No problem with sockets for charging camera's etc. As we were getting married, there was a fruit basket in our room on arrival, along with a bottle of rum! Towels shaped as swans and flowers were nice touches and we didn't have to tip to get them! On our wedding night, while we were dining, they slipped back into our room with a bottle of champagne, two glasses and a fruit platter. The towels on the bed were arranged into a heart, with my boquet as the centre peice!!!
The rooms were cleaned everyday, and the mini bar was stocked up every second day, though if they saw you were running low they replaced water every day.
The bathroom was very clean and there was always hot water and the water pressure in the shower was excellent...though it did sting my sunburned shoulders a bit!!

Food: Thing was what I was most worried about! I am an extremely fussy eater, and always worry about how things have been prepared etc! But I have to say that the buffet was brilliant! It was never the same the whole two weeks we were there, the choice was endless and I always found something I liked. The chefs cooked the food in the buffet area so you could see that everything was well cooked and freshly prepared. The presentation was outstanding. I'm very surprised I fit into my wedding dress after a week of eating there! We didn't sample the speciality restaurants, we never actually got round to it! But we were more than happy with the buffet! A couple of members in our group did have upset stomachs, but it wasn't down to the quality of the food. One has to remember that the heat and eating excessive amounts of fruit is not what our bodies are used too and it does take a while to adjust.

Drinks/Bars: We tended to use the lobby bar most of the time, the drinks were always cold. We asked for Baileys once, and that was what we got! The fruit punch became a favourite of mine, being sort of an ice "slush" it was cool and refreshing. The beach bar was great aswell, as was the bar near the pool.

Pool: Brilliant!! yes there was the odd fly floating about, and that really can't be helped in such a hot country!...but there was always a member of staff cleaning the pool. It was cold...but it needed to be!! It was very refreshing to swim in cool water after lying in the sun!

Staff: I don't really know where to start!! How the staff stay so cheerfull still reamins a mystery! In one day we say the same member of staff serving coffee etc at breakfast, organising activities during the day, take part in the evening entertainment and then late on at night in the disco giving dance lessons!! They have tremendous amounts of energy, are always cheerfull. Nothing is too much for them. It seemed that their priority was to make sure everyone had a good time. On a night we tended to use the same table in the buffet area, and as soon as we sat down, our waiter, Emilio, would get us our drinks. In fact, towards the end of our stay, as he say us enter the buffet area, he would get our drinks (without asking us as we always had the same with our meals) and place them on "our" table. As soon as he saw our glasses getting empty, more drinks would appear! Making it quite difficult to leave sometimes!! All in all, the staff are helpful, firndly and very attentive.

The Beach: As the hotel is on the atlantic side of the island we were not expecting the crystal clear waters of the caribbean. Yes there was quite alot of seaweed, but the beach was cleared every morning of it and during the day there was always a member of staff picking up litter etc. There was plenty of shade for those that wanted it. We wandered down the beach toward the other complexes and they did not have the same standard as the Iberostar...but I'll come to that later!!

The Wedding!!: We got married on Friday, 1st October at 3pm. From start to finiash it was wonderful! We met with our wedding rep on the 2nd day, and discussed every detail from coulr and style of the boquet to what sort of cake we would like. We booked the photographer with our rep, the photographer then met us a day before our wedding to discuss what we would like.
On the day of the wedding I had my hair done by the hotel hairdresser, who was very capable and made an excellent job! While I waited in my room, my fiance and the other members of the group got their "instructions". The registrar was a little late, but the rep kept phoning the room telling me not to worry! When it was time, a member of staff escorted me from the room to one of the little buggies they use and drove me in style to the reception area!!!! After a few photo's my dad led me up to the gazebo, which had been decorated beautifully, to tune of the wedding march! Now the wedding march is played over the loud speakers and generally brings people from the pool etc racing up to watch the wedding! There was a guitar trio too and they follwed me "up the aisle" so to speak playing! After the short ceremony, we cut the cake whilst the guitar trio played and sang english love songs!
The photographer then whisked us off all over the beautiful grounds and the beach to take photo's. The outcome of which were excellent.
After a rest, we then enjoyed a special meal in the tropical restaurant, and lo and behold the guiter trio appeared again to serenade us while we ate!!!!
All in all it was a brilliant day, everything went smoothly. It was well planned and the staff etc made the day what it was!

Activities: There was plenty to do if you wanted to do it!! They star friends did try to get people involved, but were not too bossy!!
We went on a couple of trips...one to seaworld where we participated in the dolphin and the sea lion encounter...not to be missed!!!
We also went horseriding in the mountains, which we booked through our rep. I understand there are several horse riding attractions in the area, but Joyce's Horse riding was brilliant! Joyce greets you at the stables and the only way I can describe her personality is saying that she's a bit (well alot!) like Ruby Wax!!! She entertained us all while they were getting the horses (which are well looked after) ready. She turned the instuctions on how to ride into a comedy!! For the half day ride which we participated in, we rode through the mountain countryside, seeing how the dominicans lived. To us the conditions they lived in look appaling, but they were all cheerfull giving us a friendlay wave! The guides on this tour are excellent riders...and do prefer to gallop!! I found it quite difficult to stay on the horse at times...I was expecting a nice slow leisurly walk! But it was great fun! There were 3 guides with us...on up front who will not let anyone past him..on bringin up the rear and one riding inbetween making sure everything was ok. One lady in our group was very nervous and the rear guide stayed with her all they way at walking pace. Half way through the trip we stopped at a "shack" for a drink, the first of which was included in the price.
Then back to the stables to purchase the photo's that were taken prior to us setting off. These were very good quality and only cost $3. There is a liitle lad there who will clean your shoes for a donataion. At first I was apprehensive as he was only a small child and it just didn't seem right! But As I was scraping the mud from my trainers he took them from me and scrubbed the up brilliantly. I gave him a fair tip. Joyce assured us that all the money went to the local school. We enjoyed our ride out so much that we went again 2 days later!!!

Overall: This was by far the best hotel I have ever been to, and the best holiday I have ever had!! I simply cannot understand how some people seemed to fault everything! I am definately returning to this hotel.

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This review is the subjective opinion of a Iberostar-Reviews.com user and not of Iberostar-Reviews.com.