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Thook

Contributor
Messages
302
Reaction score
163
Location
Tennessee
# of dives
200 - 499
My wife and I traveled to Cozumel for new years to celebrate a milestone. It was ten years ago in Cozumel we first started diving together as a couple and we returned to mark our 200th dive couple dive. For some unknown reason I decided to try a new resort and dive operator, so I opted for the Allegro on the south side of the island and Pro Dive International which was located on site. My report as usual is honest so pardon the pun, I’ll just dive right in. *Disclaimer, I am not one to easily complain. However, this is what you’re going to get.

THE RESORT-
The Allegro Cozumel Resort is owned by Occidental and billed as a four-star establishment. Well, not in my book by a long shot. We stayed in what was called a superior room with two double beds, and that was about all there was room for. We have been all over the Caribbean and this so called superior room was by far the smallest room we have been in. Ever! There was limited closet space with a few shelves and not even a chest of drawers for clothing. I was surprised to discover no box springs under the bed but a nice thick concrete slab for a good “Hard” sleep. Nightly outdoor entertainment pounded an overly deep based rhythm to every corner of the resort, but was usually stopped by 10pm. Now if you are into this type of thing this may be the place for you because if you missed the party at night, there were all day parties at the swimming pools with loud music and MC’s yelling over a PA system. The fact remains that I outgrew frat parties a very long time ago and I rather prefer a relaxing atmosphere on my vacations especially when I am diving. Doors between rooms are paper thin. So much so that I know more about the people next door than I’m sure they want me too. We got there on a Saturday and we had no hot water. After multiple requests we finally got hot water on Monday. The shower leaked and would not drain. After multiple requests and finally having our entire room flooded with water; the shower was fixed five days after we first reported the issue. One might think this was an isolated event, but I spoke to two other people who had similar issues, one of which had a roof leak that soaked all their belongings; and they were asked by management to sign a non-disclosure agreement stating they would not sue the hotel. Dinner reservations are required at several of their specialty restaurants but, what they don’t tell you is if you, and you don’t walk into the lobby the first day early in the morning and make reservations for the entire week, you might as well just forget it. Oh! “Continental” breakfast only consists of coffee and toast. . What food we did eat, the entire week was, to be quite honest, absolutely terrible. I was at an all-inclusive for a week and I lost five pounds if that tells you anything. Almost everything was included at this all-inclusive except the internet. $80.00 for the week. The water in front of the resort was rather dirty. You would have to swim about out 100 yards or so to get water clear enough to enjoy.

DIVING OPERATIONS-
Pro Dive International has four operations: The Allegro at Cozumel, Playa Del Carmen Catalonia, Riviera Maya, and the Dominican Republic. Operations at the Allegro Cozumel were somewhat lacking when compared to numerous other operators we have had the pleasure of diving with and, Pro Dive did not impress. First off on the medical questionnaire both of us checked off high blood pressure for which we have controlled under medication. they forced us to go into town and make a Doctor’s appointment to obtain medical clearance to dive. Because of this we missed a half day of diving and I course I had to pay out of pocket for the doctor visit. The shop, was not so much a shop. They have rental gear, that’s about it. There is no bathroom at the shop. It’s only a brisk five-minute walk to a facility. There are no lockers or even drying rooms for divers gear. When you report in they give you a large plastic milk crate. Come off a dive, rinse your gear, stuff it in the crate, and your gear is stored inside that crate in the facility overnight. There is a place to hang your suit outside, but there is limited available space and your gear doesn’t have time to dry before stowing. . When you dive the next day, you will find your crate conveniently placed outside on the ground with fifty other crates. Good luck finding yours. Boats go out four times a day. They return between “EVERY” dive. Reason being is they don’t have enough tanks to put on the boat. There isn’t room on the boats for them anyway. We were packed into these boats like we were on a sardine run. They repeatedly shorted us on air. Average PSI sat at 2700. Only once did I see a tank at 3,000 but, what makes me happy is 3100. Every briefing consisted of the DM’s wanting you at a safety stop at 700 PSI. DM’s. Some were pleasant, some were flat out rude. We had a different DM on every dive and we also alternated boats on every dive which meant we carried our gear off after every single dive. Not only is this unorganized it also makes it hard to tip when you’re there for a week as I typically don’t carry enough cash to tip that many people. Boats were split into two groups each with a DM. . Their briefings took place while in route to a site which largely meant you could not hear much of what they were saying. This didn’t matter much to us as we know how to dive Cozumel, but I have no doubt that the less experienced became confused by their ramblings. A few even asked me questions after the briefing was over. DM’s would attempt to treat everyone on the boat as if they were rookies. It helps to know your customers. One policy they tried to push was that the when one person in the group reached 700psi the dive was over for everyone and the entire group would surface together. Well, homie doesn’t play that so most times my wife and I just drifted on, popped a sausage, and came up when we were good and ready. The boat still managed to pick us up just fine. DM’s at times were not very attentive to divers exiting the water. Boats varied in size. None of them had room to carry on anything extra. Drinking water was provided in an igloo cooler and it was NEVER cold. The paper cups almost disintegrated before you could finish a drink. Snacks, such as fruit after a dive, I can only remember being offered once in a week. Boats did have soak buckets for cameras and masks.

PLAYA SHARK DIVE-

We booked a bull shark dive with Pro Dive’s sister operation in Playa Del Carman Catalonia. Getting there was all your responsibility.. The first dive was scheduled to leave at 10:00am. We boarded 45 minutes late. Unbeknownst to us there was no dock or marina. We dressed out, put all our gear on our back, crossed a wide beach, and entered 2 ½ foot waves to hop on a 20-foot boat designed for eight people with twelve on board that was bobbing uncontrollably in the water. The reef dive consisted of lots of sand with scattered coral humps with quite impressive schools of fish, and a heavily ripping current. Visibility was maybe 50 feet. We came back to the beach, off loaded the boat, they brought out new tanks, and we went back out again. No time for the lunch we were promised. The shark dive was an 80’ drop to a sandy bottom. We just swam until we spotted something and settled to the bottom in a group. At one point my wife was right behind me in safe position per our briefing but, the DM from the other half of the boat unexpectedly swam up behind her and grabbed her by the arm and attempted to physically move her which is completely unacceptable behavior, and my wife let him know it. It was quite apparent that this guy was doing nothing but showboating. We only saw three bulls who very briefly swam in and out, the most impressive of which was a 10-footer who came within a few feet. Visibility was maybe 20 feet. The DM said that was normal visibility for that dive. Overall it was rather anti climatic. Let’s just say it wasn’t like decompressing on a 40’ shelf in the great blue hole with ten bull sharks.
We were told lunch was included and it was also printed on our receipt. After two dives and it being two in the afternoon we were hungry. Dive Pro managers told us that people from the Allegro shop never get lunch at Playa and they refused to provide us lunch. I found this quite interesting because the very next day people we dove with from the Playa group came over to the Allegro to dive. All transportation was provided, a DM came with them, and all of them were provided lunch. Hmmm.

THE DIVING- Cozumel is a popular destination and there is reason for this. It’s easy to get to and the diving is great. The only thing I have come to not appreciate is the popularity. Now again, this was high season, this was our third trip to the island but, the first time during high season. The place crowed. One day I lost count at 42 dive boats operating in our proximity to ours and I was told that every day during high season there are 2,500 divers in the water daily. Overall, we did have great diving. It was fun despite the numerous shortfalls. We will be back, just not to the Allegro, and not with Pro Dive. Stay salty my friends.
 
Sorry your trip was not great, another story that makes me glad I dive with a small op with small boats. Thanks for the feedback on the hotel, I had heard mixed reviews as well. Just curious did you talk with the DMs about staying down after the rest of the group surfaced?
 
Thanks for the info. I've read many, many negative reviews about Allegro (tripadvisor is littered with such), hard to see how they stay in biz. I guess the Occidental is better but I'm not sure by much. Although not inclusive, there are good deals to be had online for the El Pres, which is quite nice and obviously good for dive op pickups. And man am I glad I'm not going with ProDive.
 
Sounds like a great week! Or not. Except that we did our research and didn't dive with the house op, and our experience with Sabor wasn't quite as terrible as yours with Allegro (we had considered Allegro), this story reminds me why every trip I've done since my first, I've stayed at a hotel in town instead of at an AI down south. I've seen so many of the house ops' boats from various resorts completely overloaded with passengers and thought they looked miserable. Our room at Sabor was ok, but had two small "queen" beds in it, that may have been some weird size between twin and full, which we thought was funny because we were constantly asked if we were on our honeymoon. The sink drain leaked like crazy and was literally held in place with duct tape.

Next time, look at one of the smaller ops that people on ScubaBoard recommend. You can set up a package with Tres Pelícanos for your hotel and dives at any of several different hotels and get a great rate from them (I've only dived with them once out of the five times I've been to Cozumel, but I thought they were great - as does everyone else). Most of my diving has been with Scuba with Alison. Both of them limit their boats to 8-10 people, serve drinks and food (TP goes overboard with a full lunch sometimes), and run a very professional operation. Also, their boats are fast, so you get to the reef ahead of most other boats and then get back in time for lunch. TP will even pay for your taxi between their shop and the marina (saves you 110 pesos each way).

I can't say enough about avoiding the AIs and staying in town. You don't get the AI experience, sure, but the food is actually edible - better yet, amazing. I'm staying in town at Suites Bahía next week. It's under $50/night and no frills, but we were happy there last time (everything worked, it was clean and comfortable) and breakfast at nearby Casa Mexicana is included. Plus, it's right in the middle of everything you want to eat. The only downside was the terrible live music across the street at Thirsty Cougar two nights. Last summer, I stayed at Caribo Cozumel, on the NE end of centro, which was quiet, comfortable, similarly inexpensive, but didn't include breakfast and was a bit more of a walk from everything.

I'm sorry you had such a bad experience, but I'm glad to see you aren't giving up on Cozumel because of it. The island is so much better than what you experienced.
 
I've read many, many negative reviews about Allegro (tripadvisor is littered with such), hard to see how they stay in biz. I guess the Occidental is better but I'm not sure by much. .

I really liked the Occidental. Clean, very good service, food is not great but very honest and fresh. As far as operators go, I cannot really talk since my one and only dive trip in Cozumel was with Blue XTSea. I, however, will be back with them in 3 weeks : 6 divers max on the boat, very friendly helpful crew.

I saw the way Pro Dive operates while waiting on the pier of the Occidental and it looked pretty messy (compared to a small boat). I had great advice here for my first trip and I don't think I'll ever go for anything else than small boats (if I have the choice, of course).
 
That sucks, sorry to hear it. I'm not sure that "star rating" means much anymore. To that point, the key largo Marriott claims to be 6 or 7 stars I think. It's decent, but far from high end. That Marriott does have comfortable beds, I'll give them that much. Maybe it's a 10 star system now? I think most likely, hotels just put whatever they think will sound good onto their promotional materials.

My experience with beds in Cozumel has been similar to yours. They all seem to be terribly hard compared to what I'm used to at home. OTOH, Coz is cheap compared to what I'd pay to vacation in my home state.

Small hotels and operators are an option. I've had a great time twice at Hotel Cozumel with the large onsite "Dive Paradise" operation. Although I had the benefit of traveling with the huge scubaboard group which negotiated small passenger groups on each boat.

The hot water situation is clearly unacceptable. My wife would have insisted we check out the next morning and find new lodgings. I would not have disagreed. Did the hotel at least comp your stay during that time?

I'm surprised the water near your hotel was dirty. I didn't think that was possible in Coz, except after a storm in which case all the water would be kind of churned up. Maybe it was related to those rough seas that you mentioned.

All in all, thanks for the report. I know where I won't be staying when I go back to the island.

The only downside was the terrible live music across the street at Thirsty Cougar two nights
That's a downright hilarious name for a bar!
 
Question for @kmarks and others: Staying in town sounds awesome--love the restaurants, Woodie's etc. BUT, if one stays in town, how can one do/can one do afternoon dives? I ask because there are ops that will go out from the Marina south of town and pickup at the El P etc. for the morning 2-tank and then will drop off and pick back up for lunch and afternoon dives. How would this work if one were staying in town? Thanks.
 
Question for @kmarks and others: Staying in town sounds awesome--love the restaurants, Woodie's etc. BUT, if one stays in town, how can one do/can one do afternoon dives? I ask because there are ops that will go out from the Marina south of town and pickup at the El P etc. for the morning 2-tank and then will drop off and pick back up for lunch and afternoon dives. How would this work if one were staying in town? Thanks.

About the easiest way to 4 tank is to be dropped at a beach club or restaurant south of the marina, like Playa Paradise or the Money Bar. I'm curious as to other possible places to be dropped. I've only been dropped at those two places. You have some lunch, and then the dive op picks you up for the afternoon 2 tank.
 
That’s too bad! We stay next door at their sister resort and Dive with Pro for the past few years and I have absolutely no issues...the resort is First class and the folks at Pro are awesome....You unfortunately selected an older and much more tired resort that caters to families with kids...

Go the second week of Sept or the week before Xmas...great deals, mucho less people.

Wish you asked me first :poke:
 
Question for @kmarks and others: Staying in town sounds awesome--love the restaurants, Woodie's etc. BUT, if one stays in town, how can one do/can one do afternoon dives? I ask because there are ops that will go out from the Marina south of town and pickup at the El P etc. for the morning 2-tank and then will drop off and pick back up for lunch and afternoon dives. How would this work if one were staying in town? Thanks.

About the easiest way to 4 tank is to be dropped at a beach club or restaurant south of the marina, like Playa Paradise or the Money Bar. I'm curious as to other possible places to be dropped. I've only been dropped at those two places. You have some lunch, and then the dive op picks you up for the afternoon 2 tank.

Yep, that. TP will drop you off at Money Bar for nachos and non-alcoholic drinks (or a margarita if you prefer to live life on the edge), go refuel and swap tanks, and then pick you up about an hour later. After that, they'll bring you back to the marina and send you in a cab to your hotel. You'll be back home by about 4-4:30 to go out for dinner in town, where you have more than four entree options for the whole week.
 
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