IBEROSTAR Selection Rose Hall Suite

My family and I stayed at Iberostar Selection Suites July 3rd-July 8th. My review is very mixed. However, I will say my family and I will not stay there again. Also note, we stayed there 15 years ago. The price was good, but I would say pay a little more to stay somewhere else. Just for the purpose of the review, we are a family of 4 adults, my husband and I are 50, and our kids are adults/young adults aged 19 and 27. I will break down the review into sections. Club Mobay – strictly MY opinion it is not worth it for arrivals, and worth it for departures. I will explain. We booked it for arrivals, $50 a person, a wasted $200 total. When we landed yes it was nice to have someone with a sign with our names on it walking us through. She also helped us with the machines. However, we arrived at 11:00 am on a Thursday- the day before the 4th of July and there were barely any lines. I would say it took us the same amount of time as folks without Club Mobay. We went to the lounge, and we were rushed by the transportation company number one. Secondly, the arrival lounge is not nice at all. It is very cramped and crowded, just not nice, luxurious, or comfortable. The menu was limited. You had a choice of a rum punch or soda. There were limited food choices: quesadillas, jerk chicken wraps (was good) and salad. Not worth it. It is better to just buy a drink to go right outside the airport doors. For departure we did not book it. However, from what I understand the lounge is much nicer, and the food is much better with better choices of drinks. Also, leaving our flight was delayed by an hour so that is where it would’ve been nice I guess. However, there’s food places in the airport terminal. Check In – We arrived at the resort around 1:00 pm and our rooms were not ready. The staff got welcome drinks right away for my son and I but not for my husband and my daughter. So, they walked over to the lobby bar to order drinks, and the workers paused first when they asked for a drink for my husband and my daughter. That was odd as they were on the PAID reservation and part of our party. We were given our bracelets and allowed to go to eat lunch. We went to the buffet and that day the food was delicious. Our room was not ready until about 3:30 pm. I understand we arrived before check in time, but by 3:30 we were exhausted from traveling and waking up so early. Room – We booked a junior suite which was a nice size with a beautiful view of the ocean and resort grounds. Upon entering the room appeared cleaned particularly good. However, the blue duvet covers were dirty and stained so we took them off the bed. Also, the tub was filthy on the inside and outside of the tub. I never use those tubs in hotels and resorts and use the shower only. However, I know a lot of people do, especially to bathe children. Resort grounds – The resort was in pretty good shape to be an older resort. The lobby area still looks nice and the hallways, and the rooms were refreshed. I would not say renovated. However, some parts of the resort are dated, ex. The theater, other lounges, and restaurants. Food – My favorite subject lol! The food was hit or miss. Some days the breakfast buffet was pretty good. Other days not so much. French toast and pancakes were burnt, bacon served almost raw, hashbrowns not being replenished. Also, the lady that works at the egg/omelet station on the left side really should NOT be working in any capacity where she deals directly with customers. Just the most rude and miserable person we encountered on our entire trip. When the guy was working at that station, he was wonderful, as well as when he was making the French toast. The lunch buffet was good most days. Some stand outs were oxtails (very good), brown stew pork, jerk chicken pizza, however, they only served that one day. Pasta station was okay, jerk chicken was decent. We only went to the buffet for dinner one night for Jamaican night. It was decent. A la Carte Restaurants – We tried Dutchie’s the Jamaican restaurant on the Waves side our first night. The food was very good, but we were still full from our late lunch. We also tried the steakhouse, and that was the greatest example of hit or miss. We went there twice during our stay. The first time the food was delicious, and the service was wonderful. We decided to go back on our last night, and baby it was terrible. The food was not good. My steak arrived under cooked, my son’s steak over cooked, my daughter received her dessert BEFORE she received her entrée. Also, my son ordered the tuna appetizer, which is raw. However, it took almost 2 hours to receive a raw tuna appetizer. The server was very nonchalant and spent all evening flirting with another male worker. Yet the table next to us had a large party of about 15 people and the young man that was the waiter stayed hustling and working hard. One night we went to Izumi the Asian restaurant on the Selection/Suites side. The food and service are not good. My son wanted to order 2 entrees, and he did not order an appetizer. The server told him he was not allowed to order 2 entrees. Huh?? I have never heard of that at an all-inclusive resort, or cruise. More importantly, we never received any at other restaurants at Iberostar!! So only one restaurant has that rule?? Nonetheless, I digress. The food truck was good in a pinch. Service is not too great. The beef patties and jerk chicken wraps were good. The jerk chicken was decent. The jerk hut on the Waves side was decent. They had better juice by the jerk hut, and better drinks at the bars on the Waves side. We tried the ice cream shop on the Waves side. However, the menu listed about 10 flavors, and the lady working there was shouting they were out of 7 of the 10 flavors listed. Shaking my head! More on service later. Drinks – First of all I may be being picky, but the drinks were so uninspiring. Those plastic cups are like something at a high school or hospital cafeteria. No garnishes at all for any drinks, no straws-not even paper straws (which I do hate but dag I would have preferred at least that). Also, the drinks did not taste good. I most drank non-alcohol drinks and they were not made good at all. Very plain-Jane drinks, bottom of the barrel. Also, I did not see any name brand alcohol on the shelves. The drinks at the Waves side did taste better and were better. Service – Whew hit or miss!! Some folks were very nice, most of the front desk staff, our concierge Regina, one lady at the jerk hut on the Waves side, the younger lady there not so much, the gentlemen at the jerk hut on the Waves side, the bar staff at both sides, Tiana the hostess at the buffet, Miss Ann Marie at the buffet, and we had another waitress at the buffet most mornings, I’m so mad that I cannot remember her name, also Auleta the manager at Izumi, and Chef Marcus at Dutchie’s. Notably bad staff were Shanique at Izumi, the lady working at the omelet station on the left side and the server at the steakhouse our last night-she did not have on a visible name tag. Safety Issue - So there were just a couple of incidents that made my family and I extremely uncomfortable. Just the back story first, the first morning, my son and my husband went to get a table at the buffet for us, I ran downstairs to the ATM, and my daughter who is 19 was in the room alone just for 5 minutes tops. When I came back the guy who refills the fridge was leaving. *Side bar they never had coke or sprite the entire time. So, he saw my daughter in the room. Why two days later he comes back to refill the fridge with nothing we wanted mind you with THREE other guys!!?? What was the purpose of that? My husband, my son and I questioned all of them as two of them had a different uniform, and the other guy had the same uniform. Why for one day would it take FOUR people to refill ONE refrigerator? Also, he had a wheeled cart, so he did not have anyone carrying anything. The two guys in white shirts claimed they were part of the concierge or guest services. We never seen them again. Call me paranoid, I do not care, but they thought just my daughter and I were staying there. I do not know if they were scheming to steal or God forbid do something worst. That made me very uneasy for the rest of the trip. I reported this to the front desk and to a supervisor who called my room about the situation. Activities – Lastly, activities and entertainment. They had some pool activities during the day and on the beach. It had decent participation. On the 4th of July they had a nice beach party, that was my favorite night. During the day it was too hot for me to participate as everything happening was poolside where there was no shade (no fault of the resort). I also miss having better amenities like at other resorts, for example bowling. My family and I were so grateful to be able to travel, and we had a great time with each other. But we all agreed that next time we will go to another resort. One a little more fun, with more luxury, amenities and better food. Also, being careful going off the resort to the shopping centers. We went to the one where Iberostar provides the free shuttle, and Whitter Village. At both, the people were very “scammy” and over charging, I did not like it at all. Read less

Exceptional staff at Iberostar Selection and Suites Miranda Buffet. Stephanie goes above and beyond for guest. She is pleasant, professional and knowledgeable about what the resort has to offer. She is always willing to help guest navigate the process. She has leadership qualities. She puts her best foot forward and is happy in her customer service role. I think Stephanie would be a great addition to the management team. Its important to have employees that support a companie's mission ,vision and values. Read less

Where to start, to say it is a five star resort is a bit of a stretch. While yes it is a beautiful property with plenty of places to eat at is nice, the fact that it took an hour to check into our rooms because they didn’t have one of our room types available is absurd. We two rooms with doubles and two with kings. Imagine our surprise when we arrive to check in to be told they only had one double. We had to use the king room with a pull out couch for a night after being told that we would need to vacate said room by noon and there would be another room guaranteed for us to move to with a double ready at noon. We didn’t get into that new room until 3pm. It was nice having so many choices for restaurants to eat at, except the food took hours to come out. They ask that you put in your appetizer, entree and dessert orders in all at once I’m assuming to make it faster. We were at all the restaurants at 6pm when they opened and by the time we got our entrees it was 8pm. Don’t bother going to the steak house, they don’t know how to cook a steak. You ask for medium you will get a medium rare steak more on the rare side, you ask for a medium rare, it is more blue than rare. They say the mini bar in your room is restocked daily, we had to beg for more soda for our fridge. It took more than 24hours, having to call twice and go down to the front desk and even then we didn’t get it restocked until the next day. All I wanted was soda as my wife is sober and doesn’t drink the complimentary beer. Speaking of beer, yes it is all inclusive, unless you want a beer that isn’t red stripe, then you’re paying $9/beer. The service at the restaurants are lack luster. Waiting 30 mins for a soda. I just got up and kept going to the bar to get my drinks because the servers never came with them. All the servers whether it was in the buffet or restaurants had the worst attitudes as if they don’t want to be there. I worked in restaurants for 15+ years and I’ve worked in hospitality the last three. Not once did I feel welcomed at the Iberostar Selection Rose Hall. I could have gotten the same bad service and under cooked food at any Applebees here in the states. We had to beg for a box of milk each and every day to give our one year old son. All the employees expect to be tipped but not one of them do anything to deserve the tip. The breakfast buffet is lack luster, every station you go to has the same watery eggs, over cooked bacon and hashbrown triangles, the “servers” give attitude when asked for something. The “hosts” are rude when you come in with a big party. Some people this is their one big trip every few years and it left a lot to be desired. Do better. Read less

This was our second visit to Iberostar Rose Hall. Our first trip was incredible—Jamaican culture was infused into everything, and the hospitality was unmatched. Sadly, this time was the complete opposite. Check-in was a disaster: We arrived early, knowing we might have to wait until the 3 PM check-in, but were told repeatedly to “come back in 30 minutes.” We finally got one of our two rooms at 5 pm, the second over an hour later. Worse, we were informed—rudely—that we couldn’t check in without the physical credit card used to book, even though the card was already charged. This policy was buried in fine print, and we had to scramble to get a photo of the card. Felt "scammy"... Once we finally checked in, later that night, the power went out for two hours. No activities, no food service, no communication. All planned activities for the night were canceled, and the fire alarm went off three times during the night—making for an exhausting first day. Cultural letdown: The local Jamaican presence that made our last trip so memorable was noticeably absent. Most of the management now appears to be non-local and disengaged. The Jamaican spirit and energy we came back for felt replaced with a more generic, international vibe. We even noticed the staff didn’t seem happy or supported, which reflected in service and atmosphere. Food was generally good: There’s a nice selection of restaurants—Italian, Greek, Asian, a steakhouse, and the buffet. However, wait times were long (30-60 min at restaurants), and the breakfast buffet had a 30-minute line just to get in on our last day. One highlight was the Jamaican food truck on the beach—delicious and authentic. We were also offered “resort credits,” which we later found out were tied to timeshare presentations—another disappointment that felt scammy. Even then, the “credits” work more like coupons than real value. Felt "scammy" again... Sadly, we won’t be returning. Iberostar Rose Hall no longer reflects the warm, vibrant Jamaican experience we came for. We’ll be looking for another resort that respects the local culture and delivers on its promises. Read less