While vactioning with my family in June a bus load of high school graduates from Texas arrived for their senior trip. Since the drinking age is 18 in Mexico, we ended up with a bunch of drunk, loud, foul mouth kids. Who had to openly and cruedly discuss there sexual activity. The hotel policy states, no spring breakers but allow High School students. Does that make sense to anyone else?

When I addressed with the front desk upon check out. I was told to "spend more money and go to one of the upscale hotels." I thought I was at a upscale hotel. GUESS AGAIN.

This was my second and final trip.

We booked our travel about 6 months ago. We've been to Mexico 8 times and have stayed up and down the coast; as far down as Xel-ha and in Cancun. This resort is sort of in the middle. We are 4 people. Two adults, two teenage girls (16 and 14). We only lasted one day in the resort and changed hotels. The pool is huge; lots of seating but laid out in an awkward way, there are few places you can actually cross over to the otherside - so it could be frustrating to get around. The Beach is beautiful, but like many of the beaches there is natural erosion - as we've traveled to Mexico 8 times, we have seen the beach become smaller and smaller - nothing the hotel can control. The hotel is situated in a way that there is little breeze that comes from the ocean and because of the foliage, you almost get a tropical rainforest effect and it is very humid, more so than other resorts. The food is very good - HOWEVER - there is no indoor dining options for breakfast and lunch and this proved to be a problem for us. We live in the northeast and my husband works outdoors and candidly we were just uncomfortable eating without proper a/c - this was a mistake our travel agent made - the hotel is not to blame. There are specialty restaurants for dinner that have a/c - depending on the nights you stay, you are allotted nights you can dine at these restaurants - we were allotted 2 nights at these restaurants based on a 6 night stay at the resort. You have to wait on line forever to make the reservation. While we were waiting online, I went to the Apple rep and explained our dissappointment and they were very helpful "Carlos" and by the morning, we have another hotel option and we changed hotels. We stayed packed and moved to the Riu Yucatan - which is a much smaller, but very nice resort with A/C dining.

Overall, food good, beach average, rooms average, try to get buildings 13,14 or 15 to be center of the resort and ask for a top floor. location is poor, it is not near anything - 20 minutes to Cancun and 20 minutes to Playacar - 5th Avenue. You are pretty much confined to this resort.

And if you need to eat in a cool a/c restaurant - this is not the hotel for you.

This is not a 5 hotel by any means; but worth the money and a solid 3.

A 5 hotel would be moon palace - but horrible beach. The Riu was also a 3 - but the a/c made is good.

Customer service by all staff memebers was a 5+

good luck.

This was our 4th trip to an Iberostar. Stayed at two in the Domincan Republic and last November down in Playacar. This time the Del Mar, overall the resort was good, but the quality was lower than the other Iberostars. Service was good, but not great, food was OK but not great. Many times the food at the buffet ran out, and it was a good 10 minutes or so before it was refilled. Every so often you would find that some of the plates or glass could have been cleaner. It was difficult to get water at breakfast, dinner was fine. The bar tenders work really hard, but are understaffed. The rooms are clean, a bit worn from the age of the resort, but overall not an issue. The grounds, beach etc are great. The pool was clean. Overall for the money it is a good value. Price being equal I would not return to this Iberostar.

not happy with check in service...took a lot longer than I felt was necessary
Once checked in, enjoyed the rooms, the pool, and the food
shuttle service was almost non existant
disappointed that Playa Del Carmen shuttle service discontinued, since it is still advertised as "available'
Good Hotel for children. Good entertainment in evening, and even an extra afternoon show during the rain

I would go back but I would hope with my children next time....