Cozumel = "hell on earth?!"

[scubasaint]

First time I was there, I thought it was great. I went to a few other places, and went back to Coz again, and it is quickly dropping on my list of favorite places to go. I have been trying to figure out why I dont like it as much as most people do, and the only thing I can come up with is because I love to dive, and after the 2 tank boat dive in the morning, the Coz shore dives suck. Thats the only thing I can come up with.

You do have the option of doing a 3rd and 4th dive with most operators if you choose.

 

[Cacia]

My 13 y/o, in particular, was outraged and muttered about "hail on airth" in comical faux-Scots accents every time we'd had a particularly great dive (pretty much all of them) or meal, or while lying in a hammock on the beach.

priceless that your kid has that sense of humor!

Coz is a good value for the money (affordable from Texas, FL, etc)

great deals on Tanzanite

C+ for conehead traffic

A- for food if you leave the resort

C- hotels

B for diving

A- for Mexican hospitality and service

D- for cab service

A + for sneaking a brew on a three hour laid back lunch surface interval and everybody minding their own business

IMO...I like it for the pleasure effort ratio score of 8.5 to 9.0!

 

[ggunn]

Yes I'm an ex-pat living in Brazil but as I said I've lived in quite a few countries including some where bartering to do shopping is a way of life, but I never came across reactions like we had in some downtown shops in Coz where after browsing in a shop and asking a price to get a ballpark figure, when we started moving on the salesman became really offensive. The implication was that we were wasting his time and by "starting negotiations" we were obliged to continue. There was no misunderstanding because I speak Spanish after working in Spain for 4 years and I participate in regular business calls with other South American nationals. And this happened in more than one shop on more than one trip to Coz.
Maybe I just look rich?
Another example, in the hotels on checkout day the maids would be hovering around in the corridors practically barring the exit of the guests with the cleaning car until they got a confirmation that we'd left something for them on the bedside table...
Also something I never saw elsewhere.

Everyone has his own perspective. I have been going to Cozumel since 1978; I have been there dozens of times and I have never encountered anything remotely like any of that. I am not rich; I tip, but not extravagantly, and not everybody (not cab drivers, for instance).

BTW, as to the shopkeepers' attitude - of course, I wasn't there, but if a customer came into my shop, expressed interest in an item, talked me down to half of my asking price (or whatever), and then just walked, I would feel like my time had been wasted. I might even let him know it to try to keep him in the game. Do you want to play or don't you?

 

[underachiever]

Hey catherine. Why the D- on the cabs in Cozumel??

I do not have much other experience with cabs anywhere else but, thought they were OK. In fact my wife was ready to embrace the ones on Cozumel after we survived one over on the mainland from Tulum to Playa.

 

[ggunn]

Hey catherine. Why the D- on the cabs in Cozumel??

I do not have much other experience with cabs anywhere else but, thought they were OK. In fact my wife was ready to embrace the ones on Cozumel after we survived one over on the mainland from Tulum to Playa.

I wouldn't rate them so low, either. Sure, I've had them play the "I don't have change" game with me, and sometimes they drive a bit erratically for my tastes, but they provide an effective way of getting around on Cozumel and they are fairly cheap. Most of them are friendly and courteous, and I've had a couple of them go way beyond the call to help me and my family on occasion.

Overall, I'd give them a B.

 

[Shepman]

Go to San Juan PR, where they hold your luggage hostage and ransom it back to you, if you wanna see bad cabbies.

The "no change game" is won by always making sure you have change with you. If they play "no change" - no tip. That usually straightens 'em out.

 

[94GTStang]

I think the cabbies are pretty solid for Coz as well. They drive crazy, but that's how it is down there. They drive the same routes everyday and I'm sure they know how to get destination B the quickest.

 

[fireflock]

I was getting a little frustrated about being overcharged at least a dollar for every trip (I always have change) until I got back to the CUN airport and they wanted either $53 or $30 (they couldn't decide) for a 4km trip. That made me a little more appreciative of the CZM taxis. (I didn't pay...rented a car for less).

Rich

 

[Cacia]

Hey catherine. Why the D- on the cabs in Cozumel??

I do not have much other experience with cabs anywhere else but, thought they were OK. In fact my wife was ready to embrace the ones on Cozumel after we survived one over on the mainland from Tulum to Playa.

(I have a bad way with cabbies everywhere really.)

Usually it is because I want to pick my cab (AC, a smiley driver, sound vehicle) and then (especially in Coz) the taxi mafia starts yelling at me that I HAVE to TAKE the next one in the line. And sometimes I don't want that cab....so I just walk away.
Once we needed a van and had a baby in our party and they tried to force us to take two cars instead, when there was a van in the line up big enough for all six of us.

If I don't like the looks of somebody, I don't get in their car. Foreign travel rule number one, lol. The taxi mafia is pretty puffed up there.

My best method is I find somebody (or two) I like, get his card and just call him for the week.

I did that after leaving a restaurant in Coz, and when the guy pulled up, the cabbie boss started screaming at me.

Yes, and I expect drivers to slow down if I ask them to---or I get out. They really love that

they are not the boss of me, lol.

They drive the same routes everyday and I'm sure they know how to get destination B the quickest.

If I am paying on the meter, they need to go the way I want to go.--sometimes I want to drive by something.

 

[ggunn]

(I have a bad way with cabbies everywhere really.)

Usually it is because I want to pick my cab (AC, a smiley driver, sound vehicle) and then (especially in Coz) the taxi mafia starts yelling at me that I HAVE to TAKE the next one in the line. And sometimes I don't want that cab....so I just walk away.
Once we needed a van and had a baby in our party and they tried to force us to take two cars instead, when there was a van in the line up big enough for all six of us.

If I don't like the looks of somebody, I don't get in their car. Foreign travel rule number one, lol. The taxi mafia is pretty puffed up there.

My best method is I find somebody (or two) I like, get his card and just call him for the week.

I did that after leaving a restaurant in Coz, and when the guy pulled up, the cabbie boss started screaming at me.

Yes, and I expect drivers to slow down if I ask them to---or I get out. They really love that

they are not the boss of me, lol.

If I am paying on the meter, they need to go the way I want to go.--sometimes I want to drive by something.

Ah, yes, now I remember; I haven't had any of those problems. I get along with them pretty well, and I have never once been screamed at by a cab driver or a "cabbie boss". FWIW, I have on occasion gotten to the taxi line with a party of six and had no trouble getting them to let me take a van that was back in the line. . Maybe I ask nicer. ;^)

I give them a B.