Stayed Jan 6-13th 2025
Booked through Air Canada Vacations – Junior Suite near pool
Arrival:
We arrived at the Beach resort at approximately 1 PM with 3 other small groups of travelers. We were greeted by a concierge rep who explained that the bell boys would tag our bags, who would check us in at the front desk and then assigned each of us a concierge rep to visit with immediately after check-in. We were the last group to check in and we were met by Alexei at the front desk. We inquired about an upgrade specifically to have an ocean facing room. At Beach the only ocean facing/front building is building 30 and advertised as ocean access or partial ocean-view. In the sister-resort Del-Mar the only ocean facing building is 10. We were told that building 10 was not available so we were offered to upgrade to building 30 or to Lindo at a pool side building. After some negotiation Alexei upgraded us to Building 30 on the second floor with a “partial Oceanview”. Due to the time we were told our room wouldn’t be ready until 3PM.
Next we went over to concierge and were met by Mike. Mike got us booked into the Japanese and Brazilian without any issue. He advised it was best to book them while they were available because trying to book them later in our trip may result in some disappointment due to lack of availability. Mike then showed us where the buffet was and took us on a tour of the lobby/restaurant area for both beach and del-mar as the only open buffet at the time was in Del-Mar. Mike provided us will all the details we needed to understand the resort and how the restaurants work. Mike offered to have us attend a session during our stay to learn about the Iberostar membership. He worked with us and scheduled it a few days into our trip so we weren’t losing our first couple of mornings. He explained that we would get $200 USD for attending the information session and said that money could be put toward our room upgrade fee.
ROOM:
We were assigned to room 3025 – king bed – partial ocean view. The partial part is that there is some foliage that obstructs a portion of the ocean but we were still able to see and hear the ocean without any complaints. While we were there, the weather was never overly hot over night so we never had any complainants about the room temp, but we did struggle to manage how the AC turned on/off. We only had 3 pillows on arrival so when we were in the lobby at night, we asked the front desk for a couple more and before we could walk back to our room they had arrived.
There was only one morning where a room near us was clearly packing up to leave and we could hear a lot of banging/doors slamming etc. I would suggest if you are a light sleeper, use the background noise white apps on your cellphone to mask the potential of noise disruption. My husband had no complaints about it.
The maid service was amazing. One day we left and left with our safe open. When we came back to our room, there was a lady from the housekeeping staff there with a tablet and she was taking pictures of our room. She explained through translation that the maid identified our safe had been left open, so they were there documenting it to ensure there was nothing missing. She stood by while we went through it and of course, nothing was missing. Throughout out trip, I even left non-valuable jewelry places and our maid would often organize them nicely for our return. Overall, we had zero complaints about our room and were very happy with it.
One thing to note if you are staying in building 30, it is the furthest away from the lobby and most of the restaurants. Overall, we walked an average of 8000-10,000 steps per day. There are carts that come around and you can use the Iberostar app to see exactly where they are. We chose the walking to balance out all the extra calories consumed.
OCEAN/BEACH:
The beach is beautiful – white sand and blue water. Easily swimming 90% of the time unless extremely windy. Please listen to the lifeguards during red flag days, as the rip can be extremely strong.
Each morning I was up between 6:30-7 AM and heading down to reserve chairs. Since we only needed 2 chairs we had no issue. I would often read my book and watch the sunrise and then head back to the room and up to the lobby area for breakfast.
It was BUSY while we were there. We went to the beach each day and spent the majority of our time there. There was no seaweed issue and a tractor grooms the beach each day. Most of the days were windy so there were waves. A couple days the life-guards were moving swimming down the beach towards lindo/maya because the rip was right in front of the beach bar.
On the one day where there was no wind, the ocean was like glass. We walked down toward Joia and took out kayaks. Highly recommend if you get a calm day. No fees, just a waiver to sign and they give you life jackets.
Beach bar was often a line up. The drinks were great and the bartenders were friendly and worked extremely hard. Because of the line, we often used the service of one of the beach servers. Carolina served us daily and sometimes would bring us our drinks without even ordering. She was very attentive and kind and we highly recommend her if you see her taking orders around you.
We ate lunch each day at the beach bar BBQ. The hamburgers/tacos/nachos were all great each day.
Beach volleyball was a big hit and often went all day long with lineups to jump in sometimes. There are other activities that run daily around the beach.
POOL:
We only spent 2 afternoons at the pool, the foam party and our last day after checking out. The foam party was awesome and I recommend checking it out. The swim up bar staff were awesome too. It seemed like in the short amount of time that we spent there, the activity staff are working hard and there are a ton of things going on in the pool.
RESTAURANTS:
Japanese – we went twice. The first time we had a great show by Adan. He was funny interactive and cooked up a good meal. Its family style teppanyaki so you are served a plate of sushi, ramen soup, fried rice, then chicken, steak and shrimp are cooked. The second time we went, Adan was training a new staff member Alejandro. While it wasn’t as smooth and entertaining as our first meal, Alejandro was doing a great job for being new in the role. Food still tasted great.
Brazilian – we went once. The meat was good nothing outstanding but I do have a higher standard for beef than most… overall no complaints. Once the service started going, it went quickly. They only come around with each cut of meat once so take what you want while they are table side.
Mexican – this was our first non-reservation restaurant and we were initially quoted a 2 hour wait. The Mexican and French share the same entrance/lobby area so we put our names in at both. We got into the Mexican after 25 mins. The hostess made us a drink while we waited. As soon as we got our table in the Mexican – I took my name off the French but we were just about to be seated there as well so I would say a 30 min wait for both.
BBQ Smoke House – the food here was really good. We had no complaints although we did hear that a table of four was served the same portions of food that we had for two of us, and they had to go to the buffet after. But it was very tasty.
French – we did the French later in our trip and walked in were seated no wait. Food was delicious and service was great.
Just a note – the larger the group, the harder it is to seat a table all together. They will take your name and sent you a message on Whatsapp when your table is ready. So if you go and there is a wait, put your name in and head to the lobby for a drink or two while you wait.
LOBBY/ENTERTAINMENT:
We spent each evening in the lobby. There was always an activity on the go. Karaoke nightly. The bartenders in the Beach Lobby Bar were amazing. It was always busy while we were there so they were working hard. Manuela often served us while we were seated in the lobby. She came around often and would usually drop off some freshly popped popcorn along the way. Ismael, Demetrio held down behind the bar were great at making drinks. If you are looking for shots – Demetrio is your guy.
The entertainment staff were always working hard. They made an effort each morning at breakfast to go around the tables and introduce themselves and share what the nightly entertainment was for that day.
Disco – we went to several times. It is well air conditioned and clean. We had a lot of fun there and great dance music.
GROUNDS:
again – the resort property is large. Prepare to walk or wait for the carts. The grounds are spectacular. The staff work so hard to maintain it. We saw flamingos, peacocks, parrots, coats, a wild boar but somehow missed the monkey although they were spotted by others all over the resort. It is lush and tropical but easy to navigate. The iberostar app helps a lot – download it.
Overall - I would definitely recommend the resort and would go back. Again, our honourable mentions for staff were check-in Alexei and Mike, bar staff, Manuela, Ismael and Demetrio in the lobby, Carolina on the beach along with the beach bartenders whose names I cannot remember, and Adan at the Japanese.
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