Cozumel advice for May

[carebear]

My boyfriend and I are planning a trip to Cozumel in May. Reef Club sounded like a good deal until I read some negative reviews so now I'm a little apprehensive. We looked into some other all-inclusives because we don't want to spend all day looking for a place to eat and spending a lot of money, but we like to stay away from kids on vacation and many seem to be plagued with families.
We also need a place that has other things to do than diving during the afternoons/evenings. Budget is not a huge issue but we definately want value if we are going to spend a little more. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated...

 

[ednedfred]

The Iberostar is a great all-inclusive. It's close to all of the dive sites, but don't use the resort operator (Dressel Divers). I use Blue Angel who will pick you up at the dock. The Iberostar has great food, accomidations are thatched roof huts, and the pools and on-premise nightlife is also good. It's about a $20 cab ride to downtown Cozumel which is okay, not a bad ride. We took kids the last time we went but would have had fun without too. Hope this helps.

 

[stevsgarage]

My wife likes the All-inclusives, we stayed at Fiesta Americana last year they were great with there on sight dive shop.
The Reef Club looked very nice from our dive boat, very close to some nice dive sights. Although if you are interested in going into town a lot they are prety far and cab price have went up.
The important thing is to book some of your dives in advance. I don't know if Reef Club has a house dive shop but I do know that we picked up some divers there from they're pier. I was using "the Dive house" out of our hotel, They only took out about 8 or 10 divers per boat (they had two sizes of boats) and were turning away divers on most of there morning dives. Lucky for me I had e-mailed them ahead and made resorvations.
I am certain you will have a great time either way Great sun Great beaches and Great Diving
:froggy: :froggy:

 

[the sharkman]

We have friends that use Fiesta and Dive House every year. They love them. We just came back and noticed Fiesta looks like a nice hotel. By the way, the restaurants in Coz are awesome. A comparable dinner in California would cost you between $80-100. In Coz, half that. Outstanding food in town, I recommend it. We went there to dive and sleep, and the food in town was the biggest suprise of all. At first I was not thrilled with our hotel (Plaza Las Glorias) because we normally stay at more luxurious hotels, however I ended up loving it, because I really wanted a room to sleep in, that's all. My advice- Don't get too caught up in the luxury unless that is what you are going for. If your their to dive, sleep, and eat, then think of that. By the way, don't worry about the crowds, it's not that bad in town. It's not Cancun I will tell you that.
:guitar:

 

[ggunn]

carebear once bubbled...
My boyfriend and I are planning a trip to Cozumel in May... We looked
into some other all-inclusives because we don't want to spend all day
looking for a place to eat and spending a lot of money, but we like to stay
away from kids on vacation and many seem to be plagued with families.

Don't worry about "spending all day" looking for a restaurant on Cozumel; there are plenty, they are easy to find and to get to, and there are some very good ones. You'll spend a lot less staying at a less expensive hotel near town and eating in town than you will at one of those fancy all-inclusive resorts way down south, too.

IMO, Cozumel is an excellent place NOT to stay in an all-inclusive. To avoid the crowds, simply stay more than a block or two from the water in the middle of the day when there are more than, say, two cruise ships in port.

 

[NYStan]

We spent a week in Coz last April. Rented a private house just a few blocks from Plaza Las Glorias(sp?). Cost of the two bedroom, two bath, kitchen, dining room, living room, AND full time maid service (5 days every morning) was $875!.
Restaurants? All over the island and very resonable in cost. I don't think you will have any problem finding places to eat. Just stay away from the center of town when the cruise boats come in.
I'd recommend you rent a car for the week. There is a lot to see on the island and a car makes it much better.
My 13 yr old daughter (now 14) got her open water referral there, and since diving in Grand Cayman wants to go back to Coz! We dove with "Dive with Martin" and would recommend them. They run small groups and were a fun bunch of divers to be with. I'm sure there are many other good ones on the island.
Have a great time! Wish we were there.

 

[ggunn]

NYStan once bubbled...

I'd recommend you rent a car for the week. There is a lot to see on the island and a car makes it much better.

I respectfully disagree. For a day trip around the island (which definitely should be on your agenda), you'll want to rent a car, but for the rest of your time there, especially if you are staying close to town, I wouldn't bother. Taxis are cheap and plentiful, everything is close, and you won't need to deal with parking, which can be a prob in town. Whether you'll save money depends on a lot of things, but you'll definitely save on stress. Plan to be drinking? Yet another reason to let someone else do the driving.

I'll be there in May myself. Counting the days...

 

[the sharkman]

I agree with ggun... Rent a car for the trip around the island, but you wont need one the rest of the time. Taxis are cheap. We were close enough to walk to town which was cool. If you're far from town, renting might be an option, but I don' t think its absolutely necessary.
:guitar:

 

[NYStan]

If you folks like taxies, fine. I prefer to have full control of travel when I'm at a destination, and that precludes taking a taxi. Staying at a vila, we would have been forced to take the "madatory" shuttle from the airport, as our guide could not drive us, as per Cozumel / Mexican law. So we saved the bucks on that leg. Our total cost of rental was about $300 US which when compared to the total cost of the vacation was peanuts. We used our car a LOT, driving to our dive boat, lunch around the island, visiting ruins, dinner, shopping, etc. We also didn't have any hassle from bargaining fares.

I wouldn't do it any differently. We rent cars everywhere we travel (well except to Marsh Harbour where we rent a boat). To us, it's on the same level as having a place to stay.

As for stress, I guess I've just driven in most of the "stressful" places: NYC, Boston, New Jersey (sorry, just had to put that in), as well as Mexico City. Cozumel was a pleasure to drive in.

Stan

 

[Fly N Dive]

we stayed at the plaza las Glorias and we were like a 10-15 min. walk from the heart of the town. the only time we rented a car was when we went around the island, otherwise we walked, lots of fun.