Iberostar Waves Cozumel — Restaurant in Isla Cozumel

Long review incoming!!!! (But I hope you find it worth the read!) My husband & I just returned from a 9 day trip to Iberostar Waves Cozumel for our wedding & a mini-moon, & we had THE BEST experience! Read on for more regarding planning & hosting a wedding here, as well as our overall stay. At the very end, I'll provide short context details about our wedding in case it proves beneficial!

Daniela Diaz, the Wedding Coordinator, is phenomenal. Truly unbelievable at her job for being as young as she is! We had the privilege of working with Daniela for just about a year & she made the entire process so simple & seamless. She is consistent with emailing, encourages video calls as needed to touch base & share information in a more stream-lined way, & is very organized, both digitally & not. She answered every question, eased every concern (which we had very little of!), gave her input if/when necessary, & quite literally brought the day of our dreams to life. For anyone interested in a destination wedding, I will forever recommend this resort, & especially working with Daniela!

The resort is beautiful! I sometimes found myself a little turned around the first few days, but that's normal for me 😂, & you get your bearings eventually. The paths between buildings can sometimes get confusing, but if you primarily use the "outside paths," you'll find where you want to go. We booked a Premium Ocean View room, which was conveniently located near the beach, beach bar, pool, La Ventana (snack shack), El Cedral (lunch buffet/Smokehouse restaurant), & dive shop (we are divers). We were a little farther away from the lobby, breakfast & dinner buffet, La Pagoda (oriental restaurant), Las 2 Marias (Mexican restaurant), gym, & spa, but we didn't mind as it was only a few minute walk. The room was all we needed it to be: a place to keep our belongings, shower, & sleep. Housekeeping was thorough & it's very convenient that you can receive a cleaning update on your phone through the app. One of our favorite parts of the resort was the wildlife! There are flamingoes, turtles, coatis (like racoons), peacocks, iguanas/lizards, cats, & parrots. They are typical animals, so they'll snatch food from the trash cans (we never had anything actively try to take our food!) or wander around the dining tables, but it never feels weird or unsafe. We also loved how the resort really felt like it was built right in the middle of a beachside jungle; it didn't feel out of place or too "built up." The groundskeepers work very hard to keep the resort clean & beautiful, & it's evident! The food was good & all we needed it to be! At every location, some buffet or menu items were more astounding than others, but we never felt disappointed in our food selections & definitely didn't go hungry. ALL of the staff were beyond wonderful. Never once did we feel like an inconvenience or as if an employee didn't want to be there. It was so nice always being greeted with a smile, whether a hostess, bartender, or groundskeeper. The spa was clean, reasonably priced, & all of the ladies are very skilled. Paloma makes booking your spa needs very easy. Sandra did my bridal hair and makeup & knocked it out of the park! We also got some massages during the week from Beatriz & (hopefully I have this name right) Betra. FANTASTIC massages! Lastly, the Sports & Entertainment team... 10 out of 10 group of people! I may miss some names or mess up the spellings but Aza, Jerry, Elihut, Beatriz, Humberto, Alexus, and everyone else work SO HARD day in & day out to bring fun, memory-making opportunities to your stay. From daytime activities like water aerobics, "Mexican Ninja Warrior" in the pool, beach volleyball, cornhole, darts, & guessing games, to their nighttime shows (my favorite was Boogie Night!), there is no lack of entertainment. They talk to you, learn your name, & are so friendly; I already miss them!

All in all, HIGHLY recommend!

Wedding info: 37 guests (us not included); ceremony, cocktail hour, & reception on the beach; all vendors...

Our 2 week family holiday in December 2024 at Iberostar Cozumel was excellent and I highly recommend this hotel.

Hotel: The hotel landscaping and design is well thought out which was one of the main reasons we picked this hotel as it feels like you are in nature when walking around, especially with the flamingos, peacocks, parrots, coatis, racoons, iguanas and armadillos which we saw around the hotel grounds. The whole hotel had Christmas decorations around it which was very nice.

The rooms were spacious enough for the 3 of us (2 adults + baby in cot) with daily housekeeping which you can check the status of on the Iberostar app. If you book direct you are able to pick your room online - we stayed in 6102 which was a great location.

Entertainment: There are activities going on all-day everyday (which you can keep track of on the app too) from daily rifle shooting and archery to a giant ninja worrier inflatable pool game! All the entertainment staff are very friendly, but especially Gerado who welcomed us on our first day and made sure to stop and chat every time he saw us, calling us by our names, and made sure we were having fun!

Our favourite evening entertainment was the fire show which took place on the beach, and the magic show which was very impressive!

Food: Breakfast buffet options were plentiful including cooked breakfast, toast, pancakes, local options, fruit, yogurts and doughnuts.

The lunch buffet was generally OK but quite repetitive with meats, pasta, pizzas and salads at the sit-down restaurant, and chips, burgers and hot dogs at the beach snack bar, but they were often sat out too long under the heat-lamp so the buns were too hard sadly.

The buffet dinner was good with lots of options for all tastes. The theme changed daily during the week which included Mexican, American, Asian, Italian and Spanish. The dessert options were some of the best I have had at an AI hotel.

The Mexican à la carte restaurant was good and we dined here twice during our stay, although we don't like spicy food so our favourite was the quesadilla dish and kids golden crispy chicken tacos!

We went to the smoke house three times during our time here which served 'family style' plates especially liked the sweetcorn soup, creamed corn, empinadas and beef brisket (we tried the vegan plate one night which was OK but not as nice as the meat version!). Only issue with this restaurant was the wait time as it took around 45 mins to receive our mains 2/3 times we went.

Lastly is the Pagoda Asian restaurant which was our favourite and went to 3 times. The buffet starters included fresh sushi (fish or vege), tempura vegetables, spring rolls which were all very tasty. For mains I recommend the salmon and/or satay chicken which were both delicious and one of our favourite meals here!

Drinks: The main bar we used was the pool one which made great milkshakes. They had all the multiple premium branded versions of all spirits available at every bar and served strong drinks. We also liked the American style coffee with creamer at breakfast which they refill regularly!

Scuba Diving: I completed my open water scuba qualification with the on-site dive centre, Dressel Divers, which was very convenient with the dive sites very close by to the hotel and had super friendly staff (Jordy was my main instructor) who accommodated the course to fit around the holiday. On my 4 x ocean dives I spotted three sea turtles, a sting ray, eagle rays, pufferfish, barracudas and loads of other colourful fish.

Minor issues: On the first couple of days there were big groups around the pool who had their own speakers blasting out music which was annoying especially as there was also music playing on the hotel's speakers and nobody asked them to stop. We moved to the sunbeds around the kids pool after this and never experienced this again here.

Another minor issue was that we had US$5 go missing from a drawer in our room. We never reported it to the hotel as it was a small amount, but just be mindful to keep valuables and cash...

Best resort to visit! Clean, friendly and extremely accommodating. No need to stress with food allergies as the chef ensure you are safe and fed! Gerardo made our experience welcoming and enjoyable! Always something to do and have fun. We visited in April, and the one staff member Fransisco remembered us and welcomed us back! Great place to spend your vacation.

EDIT OCTOBER 2026

This is how our third visit at Iberostar, it has truly become a second home to us. The staff are so welcoming and truly treat you like family.

My mom and sister have come and are returning in January, as well as our second time here we even brought my fiances brother and his wife, they had such a wonderful time, and we’ve talked so highly that the rest of his family are looking into coming with us next time.

I am celiac, and Alexia and the team do such an amazing job ensuring I do not need to worry about being sick, and accommodate me and make me gluten free food when need be. Francisco, who we met on our first trip here (our absolute favourite bartender, however they are all wonderful and really take note of what you drink and are so friendly) holds a special spot with us, our second time back, he remembered us welcoming us back, and again this time. Which is so heart warming and great considering how many people he sees each day. We always look forward to seeing him, and he definitely makes the best strawberry daiquiris.

I will have to say, from being here in December to now the shows have come to be a a little bit of a disappointment (to say the least). The members of the show use to have so much fun and their energy really ignited a fire in one another. Now, there seems to be a new girl (she was not here when we were here last) and she cannot sing, she acted like she was on stage alone and just seemed out of place unfortunately. The rock show use to be our favourite and we didn’t even stay to watch the whole show.

Boogie night use to be so fun, and we miss the entertainment team. The one girl who we remember I believe her name is Zoe? She had such a fun energy, and an amazing voice and she hardly sang alone this time. We missed seeing the entertainment team, it’s great to really connect with them on a personal level throughout the day around the pool, talking and playing games and this time they were not apart of the show. It was so fun watching them dance and dance along them, just disappointing.

It’s upsetting to see the other girls light be dimmed by this new girl. They have such electrifying voices and energy.

Halloween day was so fun, the ninja warriors, Elihot even made a special announcement congratulating my fiance and mine engagement (he proposed to me a few nights ago here) it really made us feel so special and like the entertainment staff really value and appreciate the people who come to Iberostar. The foam party was so fun, and a different experience, was truly a fun idea! The fire show at the theatre was amazing, the costumes, the decorations and the talent, definitely was the best show of the week, even the decorations and how the food was presented at the buffet was so creative and well done.

We met Gerry last time we were here, he is so fun and we connected well with him. He became a friend, another reason we came back. Sadly, we didn’t see him our last few days here which was disappointing and they didn’t seem to have much interaction or games the last few days either (besides halloween). Definitely look for Gerry or the entertainment team, Aza, Betty, Judy or Elihot. They are extremely friendly and really care, it’s not just a job for them. They go above and beyond in any way they can.

A special shoutout to Gerry, he defiantly made this trip the most memorable one ever. He helped my fiance to propose to me, even hide on the beach and took photos of the entire thing. It was so special and memorable and it wouldn’t have been the same without Gerrys...