August 5, 2005

Iberostar Message Board

We just got back from our stay at del Mar. Here is my review:

Check-in: Very smooth, but I was puzzled about why the waitress brought the people next to us drinks (they hadn't ordered them, it was a "Welcome" drink) but never offered us any. They put us in a great room, 1346. We didn't have a view to speak of, but it was quiet, close to the pools and about a 10-minute walk from the main restaurants or beach. In my opinion, a great location. Especially if your kids will be using Lucy's Kids Club.

Rooms: Clean and nicely decorated. There were some badly chipped tiles on the floor which caused a little concern, but turned out OK. Our maid(s) were beyond fabulous. A small daily tip yielded extra towels and elaborate towel animals.

BUT, our bathroom had tons of ants everywhere. They sprayed, but we still had them. That was really hard to deal with because they would get into our stuff.

POOL: Great place to hang out, but finding a chair can be difficult. We were always there by 9 a.m. and even that seemed too late. The pool water was way too warm for my taste. To get cool, you had to swim over to the falls area where the water was much cooler. Only problem was that the bar wasn't real close to that area. The pool was also dirty a lot of the time. I saw a giuy try to clean it periodically, but it's too big a job for just one person.

Always a lot of action in the pool area. Not a place to go if you want peace and quiet.

Another thing I didn't like about the pool area is that I saw more than one family let their child go topless (8 or 9 years old, pass the "Cute" phase) and one boy, same age, totally naked. Very inappropirate and I wish the staff would have done more about it. Perhaps post bigger signs or something.

Beach: Very disappointing. The water was dirty at the shoreline from all the seaweed. Be prepared for lots of topless women at the beach. We saw our fair share of them.

FOOD: The buffets were Ok and the snack bars were just OK too. The specialty restaurants were great. We ate at the Mexican, Steakhouse and Japanese. Very good food at all three of these.

SERVICE: It was excellent until the last portion of our trip. We had an early flight home and called the night before (as instructed) to have our luggage picked up no later than 6 a.m. 6:15 and still no one came to get our luggage and our shuttle back to the airport was due to arrive at 6:50. We had to call twice to get it picked up.

STAR FRIENDS: They were beyond spectacular! They MADE the trip.

LUCY's KIDS CLUB: My kids didn't want to stay there. They went to hit the pinata and that's it. I didn't feel comfortable leaving them there because there wasn't an easy way for them to contact me if something went wrong or my kids wanted to leave. You just sign a sign-in sheet with your name and room number and where you'll be. I have no idea how they think they could find me at this resort if they needed to. Didn't seem secure enough to me.

But, my kids enjoyed the kids show at night. Very cool!

DON'T FORGET: Bring bug spray. Bugs are terrible there.

BEWARE: Fellow guests are great at stealing your towels. If you don't return yours, it's a $10 fee. A French woman pulled a towel from underneath my husband (it was folded, and I'm not kidding about her pulling it out from under him!) and walked off with it. When he went to retrieve it her husband/boyfriend started cursing at my husband in French and then flipped him off. We never got our towel back (by that time this couple had 3 towels instead of the 2 they were allotted). This also happened to another couple we talked to. Again, some French people. We don't know if they just didn't understand or didn't care that they were taking our towels.

We also ran into some rude Germans who tried to bullly their way on the bus to Playa del Carmen instead of standing in line with the rest of us.


Hope this helps anyone out there planning to vacation there. Overall, not a bad place for the price, but I think I'd rather stay somewhere else next time.

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