Cozumel Questions

[mardigrastexan]

Deerboy, I stayed at the El Presidente in October. It has the best service,5 stars no doubt, great shore diving, and great food. BUT,would I stay there again? No. Here's why. The bathroom floors are dangerous,the beds are harder than the desk you're touching(I hear most of the "hotels" are this way),the A/C is horrible(this is a 5 star hotel,ya know) and it is a bit far from town. I just think we could have done just as well at a less expensive place. And if you want alittle nightlife,that's what you'll get in Coz.....alittle. We weren't there to party,we were there to dive,so that was no big deal. Now with this said,I would go back to the Presidente in a heartbeat if they'd correct the problems I described.....it is a sweet place. Good luck on your choice...and make sure you have a passport....this is not the border.

 

[ggunn]

Good luck on your choice...and make sure you have a passport....this is not the border.

You do not need a passport to travel to Cozumel; an official copy of your birth certificate and a government issued photo ID (i.e., a driver's license) will suffice.

 

[5615mike]

Eaten there many times and never had a bad experience. Great menu. Great music. Consistently good food. Great atomosphere.

Guess I am going to have to try it in May.

 

[5615mike]

Deerboy, I stayed at the El Presidente in October. It has the best service,5 stars no doubt, great shore diving, and great food. BUT,would I stay there again? No. Here's why. The bathroom floors are dangerous,the beds are harder than the desk you're touching(I hear most of the "hotels" are this way),the A/C is horrible(this is a 5 star hotel,ya know) and it is a bit far from town. I just think we could have done just as well at a less expensive place. And if you want alittle nightlife,that's what you'll get in Coz.....alittle. We weren't there to party,we were there to dive,so that was no big deal. Now with this said,I would go back to the Presidente in a heartbeat if they'd correct the problems I described.....it is a sweet place. Good luck on your choice...and make sure you have a passport....this is not the border.

Mardi

Those are the reasons I no longer stay there. We have found that staying in condos is much better for us and our backs! Most all of the beds in Coz are that way. You can find some "american" beds if you look hard. I have been told that Occidental Grand uses soft beds but I don't know first hand. Have never heard anything bad about OG other than it is far from town. Bad thing about Coz is that most won't find the "perfect" resort there. We eat in town every night and don't mind the taxi rides but many do. Try the condos on the beach next time you go........you might not stay at a hotel again.

 

[Tim Ingersoll]

Deerboy, I stayed at the El Presidente in October. It has the best service,5 stars no doubt, great shore diving, and great food. BUT,would I stay there again? No. Here's why. The bathroom floors are dangerous,the beds are harder than the desk you're touching(I hear most of the "hotels" are this way),the A/C is horrible(this is a 5 star hotel,ya know) and it is a bit far from town. I just think we could have done just as well at a less expensive place. And if you want alittle nightlife,that's what you'll get in Coz.....alittle. We weren't there to party,we were there to dive,so that was no big deal. Now with this said,I would go back to the Presidente in a heartbeat if they'd correct the problems I described.....it is a sweet place. Good luck on your choice...and make sure you have a passport....this is not the border.

All beds in Cozumel are hard. All tile floors are dangerous when wet. All hotel rooms in Cozumel have tile floors. All resorts have less than perfect rooms. Good luck finding better quality in a resort than El Presidente. IMHO all of the resorts have less than perfect AC because the guests leave them on 24/7 while they are there. Okay, done with my little rant.

 

[Texas Diver]

Mardi

Those are the reasons I no longer stay there. We have found that staying in condos is much better for us and our backs! Most all of the beds in Coz are that way. You can find some "american" beds if you look hard. I have been told that Occidental Grand uses soft beds but I don't know first hand. Have never heard anything bad about OG other than it is far from town. Bad thing about Coz is that most won't find the "perfect" resort there. We eat in town every night and don't mind the taxi rides but many do. Try the condos on the beach next time you go........you might not stay at a hotel again.

Mike:

Can you recommend a condo on the beach? My wife is leaning toward an all inclusive but I may be able to persuade her to go the condo route. Would we have to take a taxi to and from the dive shops?

 

[ggunn]

I don't know for sure that ALL the resorts and hotels have tile floors in the rooms, but all I have seen do, and it's largely because when a hurricane blows through there, water gets into a lot of the rooms. Javier Segura, the original owner of La Perla (later Lorena, and now Caribe Blu) told me about how during Gilbert he just opened all the rooms up on both the water side and the land side to let it blow through rather try to resist it.

 

[DocVikingo]

They are surfaced with an adobe-colored material with a slightly rough finish & are are not slippery.

Best regards.

DocVikingo

 

[DCDivenut]

Mike:

Can you recommend a condo on the beach? My wife is leaning toward an all inclusive but I may be able to persuade her to go the condo route. Would we have to take a taxi to and from the dive shops?

I am on my way there so I cannot reccommend from personal experience but I have booked through http://www.cozumel-vacation-rentals.com/ and up to this point they have been very helpful with answering questions etc on time and in detail. If you do a google search you will come up with a variety of options along this line.

Most companies offer everything from large villas (I am planning a group trip) to smaller condos but you should be able to find something you like. Also look for a company that offers a wide range of extra services since they are more likely to be professional and not leave you hanging. I know this because I have organized several group trips throughout the Caribbean with the same group and we always try to stay in rentals vs. hotels.

The company I mentioned above will even arrange for a cook if you so desire although my group has several good cooks and one professional chef so that is not so important to us gle: They also have dive packages that include your diving and will have the DM come to your villa to brief you!!

While this way of travel often works best for groups my girlfriend and I have found that it also works when we travel alone. We like being able to have the independance of working outside a resort schedule... cooking a few meals on our own... and if you rent car is often a better way to really experience a place than simply staying in a "compound" That being said, we also have some,in retrospect, "funny" stories that were rather exciting while they were happening!! You have to do your research and you don't have the safety net of a resort but the upsides can be huge!!! My $.02...

 

[Tim Ingersoll]

They are surfaced with an adobe-colored material with a slightly rough finish & are are not slippery.

Best regards.

DocVikingo

I bow to the Doctor and stand corrected.