Cozumel luxury resorts close to great diving?

[staggsSevin]

I just stayed at the Occidental Grand. Good resort. Rooms were upscale, nice pools but the food was meh. Did not use the house-shop. We used Palancar Divers and they were great. Picked us up at the pier every morning at 8:30am. 5 minute ride to the reefs. It's a long drive into town if you want to eat decent food. But OTOH, it's a very relaxing stay. The pools are great and the convenience of not having to worry about anything is enjoyable.

Did you have to pay to use the pier since you were using another shop? I was there May 8th - 15th and we had a diver that we picked up daily but they told him it was $7/pp every day to use the pier if you didn't use the dive shop on site. So we picked him up in the sand next to the pier every day.

 

[cvchief]

I have stayed at Secrets and Sunscape, I would have to agree Cozumel does not seem to have a "high end" hotel. Most people on boat we have talked with say Playa has some. Also we never found any great diving right off the beach on the south end resorts. We have had better right off the beach diving on the North end. Hope this helps

Er... Well technically the marine park is in front of all the southern resorts, so that's were most of the dive boats go right there. You can stay at one of the occidentals or Ibero and come back to SI at the resort I think. Snorkelling sort of sucks there though. Shore diving would technically not be permitted in the marine park without a guide. Also I would be quite afraid of being run over. We stayed down there years ago and I was quickly over it. Food was just ok and the liquor rail. Went back with friends on a day pass to the Grands. Still the same, beautiful grounds, nice pools, cheap food and liquor and terrible snorkelling.

North probably has better snorkelling close most places I would say, but the dive sites up there are more advanced and not the regular boat diving.

I would guess the if I was going to say fancy, I would say Presidente? We used to run down there and eat in the restaurant. Very nice and fancy. Great steaks. Also went for lunch. Very nice. I do not think they have an all inclusive slop and swill plan though.

 

[jbjclj]

Cozumel palace. Great rooms with jacuzzi, self serve bar in room, good restaurants ,spa services. Most shops pick up there. Don’t use on-site dive op

 

[tridacna]

Did you have to pay to use the pier since you were using another shop? I was there May 8th - 15th and we had a diver that we picked up daily but they told him it was $7/pp every day to use the pier if you didn't use the dive shop on site. So we picked him up in the sand next to the pier every day.

$3/day. Worth it not to use Prodive.

 

[cvchief]

$3/day. Worth it not to use Prodive.

or wade out and sc$% that 3 bucks! you are getting wet anyway.

 

[Ben_3]

Allegro and ibserostar are nice resorts..

 

[tridacna]

or wade out and sc$% that 3 bucks! you are getting wet anyway.

We had a large group. Worth $3 to allow for easy boarding especially for divers who need a little help.

 

[staggsSevin]

They told the guy on our boat it was $7/day (was just one person) so he didn't pay it. He said he was going to complain to the manager but not sure if he ever did or not.

 

[Damian G. Finch]

I would definitely vote for the Cozumel Palace. Having stayed at the Occidental and other hotels closer to the southern dive sites I can say that the Palace was best for me. The Palace is walking distance to the restaurants and the pulse of the island. The southern hotels are a relatively expensive cab ride to these amenities. As I recall those cab rides were $20-25 one-way. The Cozumel Palace is a family-friendly place. I don't have young children, but in my view the tricycle motors provide a youthful energy (albeit somewhat squeaky). I like it. If you don't like children or that kind of energy on your vacation you probably won't be happy at the Palace. While the sea is easily accessible (stairs and a swim platform) there is no beach. The Palace maintains a pier where your dive operation can scoop you up. I always dive with Living Underwater. Jeremy and the crew at Living Underwater and the Cozumel Palace is my recommendation. 25 years of diving on Cozumel...

 

[ggunn]

As I said, everything is a tradeoff. From what I hear the Palace is pretty much the pinnacle of accommodations on the island but it is also the farthest from all the southern dive sites of all the high end hotels south of town.