Iberostar Waves Quetzal - All Inclusive

Customer ratings & reviews

TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

9193 reviews

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  Above expectations!

  We have been to this resort 8x’s now and it is always a very good trip. The employees are always top notch! This time two stood out and we feel go up and beyond . The first is Luba and the front desk when checking in. Any resort in Mexico or in that case anywhere would be lucky to have her as an employee. Very professional, very personable and aleays smiling and willing to help, just a pleasure to deal with. The next is Vicente from the buffet Cozumel he is the exception as a waiter. Rembers yiur name face and beveage of choice even if he hasnt seen you for a year. Food was good staff was excellent, rooms were nice wife would like it a little colder in the room), cleaning staff great. Beach always exceptional.

  Mar 20, 2025
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  Excellent Resort

  We just returned, a group of 8 spread across 4 different rooms. Overall we had an amazing stay, and I would rank it as the best all inclusive we've been to. High points: 1) All three sea-view rooms were modernized. The one 'pool view' room was not, so the decor was a bit dated in comparison - but all were spotless. Room service was excellent. Beds were comfortable, AC and hot water were flawless. 2) The food was REALLY good. There was a ton of selection at the buffets, and all the dishes tasted great. The restaurants were also excellent. Modern, fast service and very tasty food. One of our members had a seafood allergy and all of the restaurants took it seriously, he had no issues the entire time. 3) The grounds are beautiful and extremely well kept. The jungle in the middle is a great idea. 4) The pool is huge, clean, warm, and deep enough that you can actually swim. 5) The beach area is big, clean and swimming in the ocean was great fun. 6) Internet is everywhere and fast 7) Lots of wildlife to see. Some people in our party really enjoyed this part of the stay and we wouldn't have gotten it elsewhere 8) The staff were all super helpful, friendly and hard working. No one looked like the expected tips, but they were appreciative when they received them. 9) The gym is large, modern and well air-conditioned. I didn't play on the two tennis courts but they looked like they were in excellent shape. 10) Checkin/checkout was simple 11) I left a travel mug on my table one day at lunch. I returned the next day and they told me to go to security at the front desk. I explained the situation, and they searched their computer and showed me a picture of the mug as I left it on the table, then they returned it to me. Amazing 12) The swim up bar is separate from the main pool and only for adults, which I appreciated. It's quieter, nicely shaded and a nice retreat from the rest of the resort. 13) Lots of variety of cocktails (they have a menu) and coffees, including mocktails 14) The self serve beer tap at one of the beach bars is a great touch! 15) Our group made use of the volleyball, table tennis, pool table and the sail boats - all were in great condition and easy to access. 16) There's a handy taxi 'rate card' by the luggage desk so you know how much you should expect to be charged for any destination. We took one to Xplor (recommended) and back and the process was easy and what we expected. Low points: 1) This is really nitpicking - but something to be aware of. The gym doesn't allow anyone under 16 to enter, and they'll check your reservations if in doubt. My 14 year old gym nut son was dissapointed (but got over it pretty quick) 2) One of our guests had a small first aid incident, and went to the 'first aid station'.. they should have known better that all they do there is refer you to the hospital (there are three nearby), but they didn't - and when they got the final hospital bill there was fairly high consult fee in the process which we think was charged by the resort. Just something to be aware of. Overall: Everyone loved the resort and wished we had booked 10 days instead of seven.

  Mar 15, 2025
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  There are much better places to stay

  The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly: Resort Review The Good: ⭐ Beach – 5/5 Absolutely stunning, with pristine sand and crystal-clear water. ⭐ Scenic Walkways & Wildlife – 5/5 Beautiful paths throughout the resort, with plenty of animals adding to the charm. ⭐ Restaurants – 4/5 The food was good! The Bad: ⭐ Buffet (Breakfast & Lunch) – 2/5 Nothing appealing, I ate toast and eggs for breakfast and the lunch buffet was nasty, so I eat burgers which I almost never eat everyday and quality, though dinner can be hit or miss. ⭐ Service at the Buffet – 3/5 Getting coffee is a challenge, even when tipping generously. The Ugly: 🚫 Pool & Beach Service – 0/5 No service at all, which is disappointing for a resort. 🚫 Bar Experience – 1/5 Long waits for drinks, and overly sweet cocktails. I asked one bartender that was setting up his bar if he had any ice and water and he said to me “listen lady, I’m busy”. 🚫 Self-Service Atmosphere – 2/5 If you don’t mind serving yourself. Most staff were nice but a lot are not overly friendly, which I’ve never experienced before. Usually, I know most by name and are friends with them…. Final Verdict: ⭐⭐ – 2 to 3 stars max. Not worth a return visit.

  Mar 06, 2025
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  Best beach, worst service

  If you love to relax on the beach and swim in the ocean then this resort is for you. If you also like good entertainment and friendly staff then this resort is not for you. I went to Iberostar waves quetzal with my husband and 10 or our friends for his 50th. We weren't all 50, some of us were in our early 40s lol. I wanted to say that my husband has a sleep apnea machine and it worked and had power all night as I know that's a huge concern at some resorts. The only issue here was that some of the rooms there isn't plugs next to the bed so if your cord isn't long then maybe bring a small extension. We often go to adults only but one of our friends was bringing a child and so after reading a million reviews on trip advisor I decided to book this resort as it said the beach was good, ocean was swimmable and food was decent. All very true. .This resort seemed great for families. There were many 60+ people and many families. Not many young adults. I may be a tiny bit picky with my resort standards. I have been to Mexico many times. I have stayed at several other resorts and think I have an understanding of what is good and bad. So based on that I'll break it down by pros and cons in my opinion. Pros - The food was good, not great but good. We did the buffet every day for breakfast, your usual resort breakfast. They had decent lattes, cappuccinos and espresso so they get bonus points for that. We ate at 3 of the other restaurants. The smokehouse was really good you didn't need a reservation to go. The Japanese restaurant was okay, the show that they put on made it worth going as it was entertaining. The Italian was pretty good, probably my favourite. I never did find the Mexican restaurant. For lunch there was a buffet that had a few meat options change daily. Or you had the option of going to the burger, hot dog, fries station. The burger wasn't great. The fries were good. I was excited to use the app to book reservations for our group, but it didn't work to book everyone. Some of my friends got in a day later and we couldn't reserve for them without their room number so they didn't get to join us for 2 of our dinners. - The beach was huge and sand was so soft. There were plenty of umbrellas on the beach with lounge chairs. I walked the beach and noticed several other resorts (including the Rio next door) didn't have umbrellas on the beach. Normally I am a sun lover but I really was happy to hide in the shade. The water was so green and blue and clean. They do a great job cleaning up all the seaweed every morning. The only downside of the cleanup was the machines noise because I had a room on the beach and it started at about 630am every morning. I am a light sleeper though and earplugs helped. - The jungle walk - To get from the buffet to the beach you need to go through the jungle. It's about a 5min walk from the lobby to the beach. Seeing the animals and getting that shade is nice. They have lots of coti, peacocks, a tortoise, turtles, fish, flamingos. We only saw monkeys once on our trip while we ate breakfast. At night the animals make all sorts or noise and in the early morning too. I didn't have a jungle room I had a beach front room so they didn't wake me up. If you are a light sleeper bring earplugs. I saw lots of peacocks fly up to the balcony at night and they are noisier than you'd expect. - The location - Although this wasn't right downtown playa it was a 8min cab ride away from all the action. The cab into town is about $10 per way for up to 4 people, the price goes up with more people but they have price map in the lobby so that you know you are not getting ripped off. Playacar is also in a gated community so it is very safe. There was a small market off the Main Street to the right that you could walk to. It is a 5min walk. There you will find vendors like downtown that are selling things for more money. Probably double. You will find a restaurant, Starbucks and pharmacy as well. - They have an icecream bar and it was delicious - There is an adults only pool bar - There was a quiet pool that you could always find loungers at The cons - The front lobby staff were not friendly or accommodating. - The pool is deep and you need a floaty or something to enjoy it. The one side that is shallow is full of children and them doing games. They did a foam party one day and that was sort of fun. I also joined water aerobics, which was fun but all in Spanish. - The shows were terrible and mainly in Spanish. They had the same entertainment staff for the fist 3 nights just talk and do games and I had no clue what they were saying. I'm used to resorts talking in both English and Spanish. I found most people, even the patrons of this resort were Spanish though. - The rooms are old and outdated. This is common and I didn't care too much originally, but the first room they put us in was by the lobby. Anything on the 2900 building sucks. You get view of the parking lot. We ended up paying an extra $600 US to move to the beachfront. Which had a bit of a more updated room. My friends were all in the 2600 building. I thought all if their rooms were nice. The resort of basically by building groups with 2900 being the furthest crap rooms and 2000 being on the beach nicer rooms. Some of the rooms AC seemed to turn off when you leave the room. My first 2900 room was like that and it made it smell very musky. My 2000 room the AC stayed on, which was nice. - The upkeep on the building happens often which is good but they love to start at 6am . This means leaf blowers, hammers, sweeping etc. I wish they started these things at 9am so that people could sleep. - There is no room service, there is no drink service on the beach or at the pool. You have to stand in line to get drinks. The drinks were not great. I probably won't ever go back to the Iberostar even though I absolutely loved the beach and spent most of my days on it. I think I would prefer to find somewhere with better service and that accommodate English speaking travellers more.

  Mar 04, 2025
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  Beautiful Location Great People

  The staff are the key to the wonderful visit we had coupled with the Beach which is a beautiful turquoise color. The restaurants are very good as well. Seeing the Monkeys, coti, and flamingos always started the day off good. But it is the staff that hooks you ...

  Mar 04, 2025