We spent 5 nights at Dreams and then went to Explorean for 4 nights. Explorean was a known quantity, and we were looking forward to it. Dreams was the unknown and we had high expectations.
Dreams was a huge disappointment. It’s in dire need of maintenance. The furniture in our room was stained and worn. We purchased a preferred club room and still had difficulty getting daily room service. The food was less than ok – we had access to the Secrets restaurants as well, and it was still less than ok. Sunscape Sabor is currently closed for renovation, so I think all the guests who would have been there were all at Dreams, so it was LOADED with families with kids. I have zero problems with kids. But it’s obvious that Dreams is a kid friendly place because it’s beat up and not repaired. The damages in our room had that feeling of having been a kid issue - I've got three grown children so I know the damage they did!! The grounds are poorly constructed and there’s no TLC beyond the front office (where they have aromatherapy that also set expectations high). Upon arrival our room was warm and musty. I know, this is the standard. But again, we got 'preferred club' status - and for comparison, when we arrived at Explorean our room was cool and smelled amazing.
Here’s my metaphor: it’s as if I thought I was booking a Norweigan Cruise (Dreams) and when I arrived I found out I got mid level Carnival instead. The accommodations were on the shabby side and the service was as well – not well maintained (many windows with broken vacuum seals so they were clouded from the inside) – not clean throughout – just a huge disappointment. The highlight was that the walk to the Dive Palancar pier is very short and costs 60pesos ($3.20 US) pp, per day, rather than the Secrets pier at $10 pp, per day. And the Secrets pier would have been a much longer walk for us! Btw, the guy whose yard you walk through to get to Palancar is a super nice guy. Technically, his yard is public property to allow everyone access to the ocean, but a polite ‘good morning’ will earn you a nice, short conversation with a good person. Another plus for Dreams and the sister resorts is they have a nice beach, with three hammocks hanging over the ocean.
... then we went back to Explorean! We were there in May – and a few of the staff remembered us, which is always nice. I’m always trying (poorly) to learn Spanish and they are so encouraging (not so much at Dreams, where they tolerated my attempts, at best. The food at Explorean is fantastic; housekeeping is great; service is good and staff is kind. I noticed someone patching and painting the wall between Explorean and Fiesta Americana, which is exactly what I would expect to see – normal upkeep to maintain the property. (I saw this at Cozumel Palace when we used to stay there too.) We’ll be back. For anyone who isn’t familiar with the property, if you stay at Explorean you also have access to all the amenities at Fiesta Americana (but not vice versa) – and there’s no fee to get picked up at their pier. All kinds of good stuff going on at those two resorts. Explorean has their own restaurant, then at FA there's the Cevichería on the beach; El Grill, on the beach; Mexicano has inside and outside dining and requires reservations (there's an app to make reservations); Península, which is inside and is an Asian fusion restaurant; the Sushi Corner; Rosato, which is Italian and has inside/outside dining; and the big buffet on the beach that is open for breakfast and lunch but not dinner. There's also the coffee corner, which has espresso/latte/coffee as well as pastries, sandwiches and ice cream. Everything is on the app - including entertainment - and yoga every morning at 9 a.m.
We were diving with Stef at Jungle Divers again. We did a few days of boat dives and a couple of days of shore dives. On one of our days of shore diving we logged almost 4 hours in two tanks – I’m thrilled to be able to dive my tank so I can hunt for critters! Stef spotted a sheep nudi of some kind and I got mediocre pics of it. He and my husband found 3 sea horses (Stef found two, hubby found the third). Found lots of nudi eggs, tiny things I haven’t yet identified, and a new kind of fireworm called a blackline. If you want to experience some great shore dives at Tikila (and even go up to Villa Blanca) call Jungle Divers. Stef knows what to look for and he also enjoys it so he helps find cool stuff. They also have a Facebook page so you can see what they're finding currently.
As an add-on, Stef’s former life included cooking in restaurants and he has a passion to bring some of that as a side hustle on the island. We were invited to a tasting of sausages and cheesecake he made. Everything is made from scratch – including the graham cracker crust (because it’s hard to find graham crackers on Cozumel I guess!). We sampled Italian, cheese and pepper, and Ranch dressing sausages – also homemade mac-n-cheese. Everything was amazing, but my favorite was the cheese and pepper sausage (and omg, the cheesecake was a combo cheesecake/cinnamon roll - yum). If you have any interest in having some delivered take a look at their facebook page – their deli is called Smokey Delicious and the WhatsApp is +52 999 119 6268. (Mods, if it's not ok to post about their deli feel free to delete - I usually post about restaurants I like so thought it worth adding)
I'll comb through my pics and see what's worth posting. I think our next trip will be all shore dives. We just see so much more of what we're interested in when we stay shallow and closer to the shore.
Dreams was a huge disappointment. It’s in dire need of maintenance. The furniture in our room was stained and worn. We purchased a preferred club room and still had difficulty getting daily room service. The food was less than ok – we had access to the Secrets restaurants as well, and it was still less than ok. Sunscape Sabor is currently closed for renovation, so I think all the guests who would have been there were all at Dreams, so it was LOADED with families with kids. I have zero problems with kids. But it’s obvious that Dreams is a kid friendly place because it’s beat up and not repaired. The damages in our room had that feeling of having been a kid issue - I've got three grown children so I know the damage they did!! The grounds are poorly constructed and there’s no TLC beyond the front office (where they have aromatherapy that also set expectations high). Upon arrival our room was warm and musty. I know, this is the standard. But again, we got 'preferred club' status - and for comparison, when we arrived at Explorean our room was cool and smelled amazing.
Here’s my metaphor: it’s as if I thought I was booking a Norweigan Cruise (Dreams) and when I arrived I found out I got mid level Carnival instead. The accommodations were on the shabby side and the service was as well – not well maintained (many windows with broken vacuum seals so they were clouded from the inside) – not clean throughout – just a huge disappointment. The highlight was that the walk to the Dive Palancar pier is very short and costs 60pesos ($3.20 US) pp, per day, rather than the Secrets pier at $10 pp, per day. And the Secrets pier would have been a much longer walk for us! Btw, the guy whose yard you walk through to get to Palancar is a super nice guy. Technically, his yard is public property to allow everyone access to the ocean, but a polite ‘good morning’ will earn you a nice, short conversation with a good person. Another plus for Dreams and the sister resorts is they have a nice beach, with three hammocks hanging over the ocean.
... then we went back to Explorean! We were there in May – and a few of the staff remembered us, which is always nice. I’m always trying (poorly) to learn Spanish and they are so encouraging (not so much at Dreams, where they tolerated my attempts, at best. The food at Explorean is fantastic; housekeeping is great; service is good and staff is kind. I noticed someone patching and painting the wall between Explorean and Fiesta Americana, which is exactly what I would expect to see – normal upkeep to maintain the property. (I saw this at Cozumel Palace when we used to stay there too.) We’ll be back. For anyone who isn’t familiar with the property, if you stay at Explorean you also have access to all the amenities at Fiesta Americana (but not vice versa) – and there’s no fee to get picked up at their pier. All kinds of good stuff going on at those two resorts. Explorean has their own restaurant, then at FA there's the Cevichería on the beach; El Grill, on the beach; Mexicano has inside and outside dining and requires reservations (there's an app to make reservations); Península, which is inside and is an Asian fusion restaurant; the Sushi Corner; Rosato, which is Italian and has inside/outside dining; and the big buffet on the beach that is open for breakfast and lunch but not dinner. There's also the coffee corner, which has espresso/latte/coffee as well as pastries, sandwiches and ice cream. Everything is on the app - including entertainment - and yoga every morning at 9 a.m.
We were diving with Stef at Jungle Divers again. We did a few days of boat dives and a couple of days of shore dives. On one of our days of shore diving we logged almost 4 hours in two tanks – I’m thrilled to be able to dive my tank so I can hunt for critters! Stef spotted a sheep nudi of some kind and I got mediocre pics of it. He and my husband found 3 sea horses (Stef found two, hubby found the third). Found lots of nudi eggs, tiny things I haven’t yet identified, and a new kind of fireworm called a blackline. If you want to experience some great shore dives at Tikila (and even go up to Villa Blanca) call Jungle Divers. Stef knows what to look for and he also enjoys it so he helps find cool stuff. They also have a Facebook page so you can see what they're finding currently.
As an add-on, Stef’s former life included cooking in restaurants and he has a passion to bring some of that as a side hustle on the island. We were invited to a tasting of sausages and cheesecake he made. Everything is made from scratch – including the graham cracker crust (because it’s hard to find graham crackers on Cozumel I guess!). We sampled Italian, cheese and pepper, and Ranch dressing sausages – also homemade mac-n-cheese. Everything was amazing, but my favorite was the cheese and pepper sausage (and omg, the cheesecake was a combo cheesecake/cinnamon roll - yum). If you have any interest in having some delivered take a look at their facebook page – their deli is called Smokey Delicious and the WhatsApp is +52 999 119 6268. (Mods, if it's not ok to post about their deli feel free to delete - I usually post about restaurants I like so thought it worth adding)
I'll comb through my pics and see what's worth posting. I think our next trip will be all shore dives. We just see so much more of what we're interested in when we stay shallow and closer to the shore.
The first mystery pic could be a batfish? Interested in what others think.
