Iberostar vs Sunscape Sabor

[ggunn]

Given your options, I would suggest you take another look at Scuba Club. It does not get any easier and the shore dive is at least as good as Spring Lake (and you get free air). Their AI include diving but does not include tips.

Plus, if you get tired of the AI fare and want to treat yourself to something a little more special, you are right there near some great restaurants.

 

[StuartT]

We just got back from Iberostar Sunday night from a 7 night stay. As far as AI we found the selection, quality, and variety of food was good. My wife is quite particular and had no issues. We didn't use any of the ala carte restaurants so can't comment on those. The buffet had a different theme every night and they did a really nice job with the grouper, mahi mahi, and any of the other fish I tried. Never overlcooked. We sayed in 7202 about 3/4 way from the lobby to the beach (2 min to beach or dive shop) and maybe 3 min to the lobby/buffet. Chairs and hammocks on the little patio. A/C in the room worked very well. There is no A/c in any of the common areas(except the washrooms in the buffet) so it was a little warm in places. We just made sure we got a table under a fan for dinner. I did 8 dives over 3 days and had the same dm for 6 of the 8. Although the boats take 16 divers there was always lots of deck space and it never felt crowded. Nice comfortable boats and our longest run was to Columbia about 15 min. Although the dm would say max dive time of 60 min several of our dives were closer to 70 min. If people ran low on air he would deploy an smb and send them up with it and continue the dive with the rest of the group. Though there were 4-8 divers per DM it never felt crowded underwater as people would spread out a bit but be within signalling distance. We just drifted along with no kicking unless we did a swim through. The DM's pointed out splendid toadfish, several nudi's, and other interesting critters.One thing with the location of the resort is its about 18 km to town and there is nothing really within walking distance. My wife doesn't dive and actually went into playa del Carmen on the day I did the 4 dives.

 

[imoto]

I've stayed at both resorts and prefer the Iberostar to the Sabor. The food was much better at the Iberostar! The beach at the Sabor was by far nicer and I saw a variety of fish while snorkeling there. I felt much safer diving with Dressel (Iberostar) than Dive House (Sabor), but this last trip in May had both Dressel boats diving the same sights at the same time which meant way too crowded sites, especially when we came upon a couple of nurse sharks and green moray around the same piece of small coral.

I'm thinking about my next trip and will probably stay at the Iberostar and try another dive op. I'm not too adventurous when it comes to the local scene and prefer the "known" of an A.I.

Iberostar will try to accommodate persons requesting closer access to the dive shop. AC in the unit we stayed in last trip was wonderful.

 

[Okie Mike]

I have not stayed at either. Did you check out and price Occidental Grand? My wife and I stayed in the Royal Club a month ago and it was very nice. Royal Club has a private restaurant that was much better than the rest of the place. Orbitz had the best price of the numerous sites I checked.

 

[mfalco]

I've stayed at the Iberostar, and liked it. If you book your dives 2 weeks ahead of your trip, the in house dive shop gives you 20% off. Also it is very close to all the dive sites, so short boat trips.

 

[ggunn]

I've stayed at the Iberostar, and liked it. If you book your dives 2 weeks ahead of your trip, the in house dive shop gives you 20% off. Also it is very close to all the dive sites, so short boat trips.

Slight quibble. It isn't close to all the dives sites, just the ones at the south end. That's a lot of them but not all of them.