Robert H. Diver
Contributor
The title says it.
Coral princess hotel and dive resort opinions?
- Thread starter Robert H. Diver
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Don't know the current state of the Coral Princess..... but my first trip there was in Feb 1995 and then again in 2004 and it was awesome both times. Nice rooms with large balcony's with endless views of the Caribbean. The dive op was Pepe Scuba..... a small ponga with just me, wife and a guide and a boat operator. Best Carib diving I ever had back then. Really too bad that Coz has become a cattle car cluster f#^&.
I used to go there every other year or so, starting when I was a brand new diver. I really liked the hotel, and I thought Pepe's was fine. As I gained experience, though, I saw a problem with Pepe's. It seemed that on every trip, our diving choices were limited by the experience of the new divers in the boat. I still liked the Coral Princess, but I switched to a dive operation catering to more experienced divers. That was no problem--it was just a short taxi or rental car ride to a pickup spot.
Back then, the happy hour margaritas were something to plan on. It would not take much to have you incapacitated for the remainder of the evening.
I have not been to Cozumel in years, but my wife and I are planning to go this summer with some friends who were with us back in the old days. We started planning with the Coral Princess in mind, but my wife (the chief planner and architect of all our vacations) said she heard it had gone a little downhill. She was disappointed, because she really lied it there. She only snorkels, and the snorkeling is fine right off their dock. So we will be staying elsewhere.
Back then, the happy hour margaritas were something to plan on. It would not take much to have you incapacitated for the remainder of the evening.
I have not been to Cozumel in years, but my wife and I are planning to go this summer with some friends who were with us back in the old days. We started planning with the Coral Princess in mind, but my wife (the chief planner and architect of all our vacations) said she heard it had gone a little downhill. She was disappointed, because she really lied it there. She only snorkels, and the snorkeling is fine right off their dock. So we will be staying elsewhere.
Rob9876
Contributor
I've looked into Pepe's Scuba (the resident dive op at Coral Princess) recently because we often stay up north of town in condos, and it can sometimes be a pain to get early morning taxis into town (we normally dive with Tres Pelicanos, and meet at their shop in town). Though there is not as much information online about Pepe's as some of the other dive ops, from my research it looks like they have several boats now and can often/usually put more experienced divers on one boat and less experienced divers on another. In fact, it seemed like Pepe's fairly often goes to some of the northern dive sites considered as more advanced. So, having fully researched it, I had decided to give Pepe's a try last July.
Unfortunately my son/dive buddy started having sinus blocks right before our trip that prevented him from diving, and I didn't have the heart to dive without him, so I can't give further insight since we had to cancel our dives. But if I was staying north of town, I'd be willing to book with them. I believe since that time someone did post a trip report on Scubaboard about diving with Pepe's, but I don't recall who.
EDIT: here are 2 threads to look at by @jonhall :
scubaboard.com
scubaboard.com
Unfortunately my son/dive buddy started having sinus blocks right before our trip that prevented him from diving, and I didn't have the heart to dive without him, so I can't give further insight since we had to cancel our dives. But if I was staying north of town, I'd be willing to book with them. I believe since that time someone did post a trip report on Scubaboard about diving with Pepe's, but I don't recall who.
EDIT: here are 2 threads to look at by @jonhall :
On my own (poor me) - Pepe Scuba
As some of you may know, I prepared a chart of the “best ops” in Coz, located in another thread, mainly with the idea of letting my traveling/dive buddy pick the dive op(s) for our trip at the end of the month. A few weeks ago in a non-moving motorcycle accident, he broke his ankle, had a plate...
Trip Report - My Cozumel Experience Nov. 27 -Dec. 11
Titled this thread a little different as I had a few different experiences on this trip. Part 1: Resorts and Dive Ops Stayed 1 week at the Coral Princess Golf & Dive Resort with Pepe Scuba as its onsite dive op and 1 week at El Cid La Ceiba with Babieca Dive Center as its onsite op. The...
cozcharlie
Contributor
Someone definitely did post something on Pepe’s in past year or so as @Rob9876 mentioned. I would look for that but here are my thoughts:
I have friends that stay at CP every year and still enjoy it quite a bit (their last stay was this February). It is a nice mid range hotel with a good staff. I used to stay there years ago and liked it but my experience is dated so that is why I used my friends as a data point. While I am sure there are a few quirks , if there were any real problems my friends wouldn’t stay there (I know they stay at hotels costing 5x as much in Canada so they aren’t going to put up with any serious issues. )
As a hotel op Pepe’s probably doesn’t always get super experienced divers (as another poster mentioned and is also going to be true for most hotel ops ), but they are pretty well run (American man and Mexican wife ) so nothing wrong with them. They seem pretty organized and professional (which isn’t always the case with island dive shops). I have a friend that rents private boats from them and they seem to a good job.
Coral Princess is on the northern part of the island and the bulk of the better reefs are down south. There are a few northern reefs that I definitely like , but if you are diving 7 days in a row you will probably want some of the southern reefs. Pepe’s goes there but I would imagine they need a certain number of divers to make the trip. The north does have more eagle rays in winter (including a week ago ) though those are more advanced dives.
Bottom line is I wouldn’t hesitate to stay at CP and use Pepe’s since there is nothing wrong with either, but if you are looking to hit the southern sites every day you might look into something further south.
I have friends that stay at CP every year and still enjoy it quite a bit (their last stay was this February). It is a nice mid range hotel with a good staff. I used to stay there years ago and liked it but my experience is dated so that is why I used my friends as a data point. While I am sure there are a few quirks , if there were any real problems my friends wouldn’t stay there (I know they stay at hotels costing 5x as much in Canada so they aren’t going to put up with any serious issues. )
As a hotel op Pepe’s probably doesn’t always get super experienced divers (as another poster mentioned and is also going to be true for most hotel ops ), but they are pretty well run (American man and Mexican wife ) so nothing wrong with them. They seem pretty organized and professional (which isn’t always the case with island dive shops). I have a friend that rents private boats from them and they seem to a good job.
Coral Princess is on the northern part of the island and the bulk of the better reefs are down south. There are a few northern reefs that I definitely like , but if you are diving 7 days in a row you will probably want some of the southern reefs. Pepe’s goes there but I would imagine they need a certain number of divers to make the trip. The north does have more eagle rays in winter (including a week ago ) though those are more advanced dives.
Bottom line is I wouldn’t hesitate to stay at CP and use Pepe’s since there is nothing wrong with either, but if you are looking to hit the southern sites every day you might look into something further south.
Interestingly enough, their failure to go to those sites was the final step in my moving away from them. In preparation for a trip to Cozumel and the Coral Princess, I sent an email asking if I could do a dive on Barracuda Reef up north, and their reply was a simple no--the site was too dangerous and they never went there. So I went with a different dive operator. Imagine my surprise a few years later when I went to Barracuda Reef with a different operator and saw a Pepe's boat there.
The purpose of this is to show you how things can change in a few years, so keep that in mind when reading recommendations from people like me.
AZTinman
Contributor
Prior to the pandemic shutdown stuff, we had been doing late-December trips to Cozumel and the Coral Princess was my wife's hotel of choice. It was a nice hotel and we always enjoyed staying there.
I never booked diving with Pepe's as Tres Pelicanos was always my dive op of choice. Yes, it was a bit of a taxi trek to get from the hotel to the dive shop, but it was never really a major hassle.
-AZTinman
I never booked diving with Pepe's as Tres Pelicanos was always my dive op of choice. Yes, it was a bit of a taxi trek to get from the hotel to the dive shop, but it was never really a major hassle.
-AZTinman
jonhall
Contributor
@Rob9876 shared the link to my trip report, but I'll add the link in my post also.
scubaboard.com
The Coral Princess is definitely a nice place to stay. Although it didn't seem full when we were there last November, I spoke with several people (divers) in other hotels/resorts that couldn't book it because rooms weren't available.
Although in the North hotel zone, it is not one of the resorts way up north. Taxi ride to town was $5 for 4 of us. A couple of good beach restaurants are nearby. We would definitely stay there anytime.
I'm sold on Pepe Scuba which is onsite. They do have multiple boats, but what sold it for me was the fact that they are "fast" boats. They can get you to the dive sites faster -yes, faster - than boats leaving from nearer town. The staff is good. They had more repeat customers than hotel guest divers the week I was there. An opinion was offered above as to why Pepe's doesn't get mentioned a lot here on SB, but SB members see to have their favorites no matter where they stay - me not so much, but if I stay in the North hotel zone in the future, I'll dive with Pepe.
Trip Report - My Cozumel Experience Nov. 27 -Dec. 11
Titled this thread a little different as I had a few different experiences on this trip. Part 1: Resorts and Dive Ops Stayed 1 week at the Coral Princess Golf & Dive Resort with Pepe Scuba as its onsite dive op and 1 week at El Cid La Ceiba with Babieca Dive Center as its onsite op. The...
The Coral Princess is definitely a nice place to stay. Although it didn't seem full when we were there last November, I spoke with several people (divers) in other hotels/resorts that couldn't book it because rooms weren't available.
Although in the North hotel zone, it is not one of the resorts way up north. Taxi ride to town was $5 for 4 of us. A couple of good beach restaurants are nearby. We would definitely stay there anytime.
I'm sold on Pepe Scuba which is onsite. They do have multiple boats, but what sold it for me was the fact that they are "fast" boats. They can get you to the dive sites faster -yes, faster - than boats leaving from nearer town. The staff is good. They had more repeat customers than hotel guest divers the week I was there. An opinion was offered above as to why Pepe's doesn't get mentioned a lot here on SB, but SB members see to have their favorites no matter where they stay - me not so much, but if I stay in the North hotel zone in the future, I'll dive with Pepe.
ccannon707
Contributor
Just an FYI - CP hotel rooms come with the smallest balcony ever built... a chair fits sideways. The condo/ 1 bedroom units have the nice big balcony with the table and chairs. Of course they are more expensive.
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