El Cid vs Iberostar

[johntclever]

My wife and I are headed to Coz in early Nov and are trying to decide between these resorts.

We both want an AI so we can take advantage of knowing our only additional expenses are tips and dives...and fewer concerns about getting sick from food poisoning/water borne illnesses.

Both are about the same price for room and airfare and have a pier/dive center on site and cost approximately the same for dives.

Has anyone stayed at both...if so which would you recommend?

 

[Skittl1321]

We looked at both and ended up choosing neither, though considered both heavily and I think both sound like they'd be fine and we might consider for future visits. A few things we found in our research:

Iberostar: Seems much more 'resorty', nicer pools, more amenities/facilities. Has a beach. Seems to have a wide array of food options. Expensive cab ride into town, so you are somewhat stranded.

El Cid: Very small pool, no beach. However the snorkeling is -probably- better as fish hang out more on rocky shores than on sandy bottoms. VERY VERY close to the cruise ships. You'll get a great view of the ships and people watching, however a lot of day-pass cruisers using the facilities. Getting into town will be much easier from here. Food options seemed limited.


It sounds like you'll plan on diving with the on-site op, but if you don't, know that many small ops will not pick up at the Iberostar or pass on a hefty pier fee to the divers (my op said they get charged $60 for 1 week up to 8 divers).

 

[Christi]

My wife and I are headed to Coz in early Nov and are trying to decide between these resorts.

We both want an AI so we can take advantage of knowing our only additional expenses are tips and dives...and fewer concerns about getting sick from food poisoning/water borne illnesses.

Both are about the same price for room and airfare and have a pier/dive center on site and cost approximately the same for dives.

Has anyone stayed at both...if so which would you recommend?

Night and day - but there are many other options!

1. The further south you stay, the less island experience you will have and the more expensive your trip(s) into town will be. And leaving the resort is important if you want the real Cozumel experience.

2. The further south you stay, the more limited your dive site options will be. While some argue that you are closer to all of the dive sites, simply not true. There are AMNY wonderful sites that will be out of range if you stay at the Iberostar.

3. Most ops no longer pick-up at the Iberostar - so that is something to consider.

4. You are not required to dive with the onsite operation nor is it necessarily more convenient or "better". There are many smaller shops that run quality trips with fewer people. They will keep your gear for you, check-ins are easy and some will even do check-ins by phone or come to your hotel (depending on where and if they are allowed to enter)

5. You've made your reasons known why you want an AI, so I won't argue that point. But some other AI's or AI optional to consider, that would also be closer to town and more accessible for diving would be: Park Royal (have had excellent reviews lately), Hotel Cozumel, Cozumel Palace.

Worrying about getting ill from food or drink here is as old of a myth as I am in age! It's a non-issue. People that get sick are most likely sick from too much sun, too much alcohol, dehydration, or a combination of all of the above. Yes, there is different flora and fauna and some have more sensitive digestive systems - but it's not because of bad food, ice or water. You will never be served tap water - the locals don't even drink it - so that's a non-issue.

Look into the AI's mentioned above and check out some other dive shops. To name just a few that will give you top notch service, in no particular order and not exhaustive by any means:

Aldora
Blue Angel
Blue XT~Sea
Liquid Blue
Scuba Tony
Scuba with Alison
Scuba Mau
Deep Blue

 

[cbm32]

Actually the El Cid does have a small beach. It is between where the cruise ships dock and the Restaurant.

My wife and I stayed at the El Cid for about 6 weeks or something like that last fall and there was only 1 day during that time that we saw significant use of the restaurant and pool by passengers off from the cruise ships.
We did not do the AI but ate in the restaurant and had the buffet one night. Found the food options to be quite good, at least in our opinions.

I had Tres Pelicanos pick me up at the pier for most of my diving. It worked out really well for me. There was some talk of a $3.00 charge each day for picking me up, but when I looked into it I found that only divers not staying at the resort were to be charged for being picked up by outside dive ops. According to information in another thread here on scubaboard, that may have changed in June of this year, but I am really not positive that that is the case as opposed to mis-communication. I will be returning to El Cid in the future as it is one of the few places in that area where I can use my Wyndham points to book rooms. If I have to pay the $3 per day to be picked up it wont kill me, but Tres Pelicanos was more than happy to have a car pick me up.

If you are interested in El Cid, I can book room for you with my Wyndham points and save you some money. So if you are debating between these two resorts and thinking that the price is the same, just PM me and I will show you how El Cid can be done far cheaper than what you are looking at...even with the AI. I did this for one scubaboard member already and he was very pleased.

 

[Skittl1321]

Actually the El Cid does have a small beach. It is between where the cruise ships dock and the Restaurant.

Is there an actual entry to the ocean? I remember it being a wall and stairs to get into the water. The "beach" is basically a sandbox. (Which if all you want is sand in your toes, it works. We enjoyed the sandy-area of the Money Bar, but it's not a beach) But, at least to me, it isn't a beach unless it is the shoreline formed by waves.

My apologies if I am incorrect and there is an actual beach entry to the water.


We did think it looked like a nice place to stay though.

 

[robint]

I stayed at the El Cid, but it was 8-9 yrs ago. The cruise ships crowds annoyed us, taxi cabs lined the street constantly so we had no place to park our rental car. The place was okay, but not worth going back, IMHO.

Scuba Club Cozumel is an all-inclusive with a dive op on site. It is not as fancy as the other two, no tvs and only a small pool. It is a "diver's resort" so everyone dives or is with someone who dives. No beach. It is however.... unlike the other two you mentioned.... walking distance to town, so you don't need a rental car or taxi to get around. Cozumel Scuba Diving at Scuba Club Cozumel Dive Resort and Scuba Cozumel Dive Shop It isn't for everyone, but it is perfect for us as it gives us what we are there to do: dive eat dive eat dive eat, hot shower, sleep, repeat.

ALSO --- be sure to check out my thread below regarding how to make your trip better. It has a link to the Cozumel Map/Guides that will help you decide which hotel works best for you.

robin

 

[nodakdive]

As far as food borne illness, I'm a fan of having a meal prepared for me as opposed to eating buffet food. The only time I had a problem with food in Mexico was in Playa del Carmen at what was the newest, nicest, freshest AI south of Playa. Besides the buffets, there were 5 additional restaurants you could book. Timing is everything, and had I waited 5 minutes I'd have avoided the likely culprit. (One of our group came to the table right after I'd eaten and said "Wow, did you see all the flies on that roast beef? There must have been 50 of them." Well I hadn't see any flies when I filled my plate. The beef tasted fine. I was fine, until about 4 hours after eating. 8 hour after eating I was projectile vomiting.) The food in Mexico is fine, but no matter what country you're in, if the food sits around at the wrong temperature for long enough, it'll go bad.

My last experience with food poisoning was in Cozumel. I was on a boat with a guy that was staying a one of the AIs mentioned above. He was throwing up under the water, on the boat, on the SI, and all the way back to his hotel from the Caletta. We pulled over six times for him to be sick. He'd been there for two days, and had only eaten at the hotel, and only at the buffet. The next day he was fine. It probably wasn't that the food was bad to start or incorrectly prepared but depending on the foodstuff, if it sits too long, it'll make you sick. The chance that a fresh, sizzling plate of fajitas is going to make you sick isn't comparable to the stainless pan filled with chicken and onions that may have sat there, being added to, for hours.

BTW, the hotel where I stay, Casa del Mar, has a breakfast buffet and I've had almost every breakfast I've eaten in Cozumel from that buffet with never a problem, but I'm always there right away in the morning, and the hotel is small. The food doesn't sit long enough to go bad. They don't have to prepare truckloads of food like at a huge resort. CDM also has an all inclusive plan, for something like $39/day per person. You order off the menu for your meals though, it's not buffet. I've stayed in a room that's as far away from the restaurant as you can get, and it takes less than 1 minute to get from the room to the restaurant. I timed it.

In short, if you stay at a smaller place with a buffet, you're probably less likely to have food that's been sitting around, or if you're at an AI where you order all your meals from a menu, there again, you're probably ok. Or for instance, my understanding is that at Scuba Club, you tell them ahead of time what you'd like for dinner, and/or lunch. I'd be comfortable with something like that. Not trying to start an AI versus not AI thing. They serve their purpose for some and in some cases, even if you're eating buffet food, it can be just fine. Huge hotel with huge buffets? Not my cup of tea. Never stayed at El Cid, but I've stayed for years at Casa del Mar, which is about a block away. The El Cid is pretty big as far as I can tell. The Park Royal looks huge to me. Both of them are very close to CDM. In addition, there are no fees imposed for CDM boat pick-up and they have an onsite dive operation, (Del Mar Aquatics), and easy shore dive access. I don't dive with Del Mar Aquatics, so I can't speak to that.

-Blair

 

[robint]

yes, true.... SCC lunch and dinner are off a menu. Here are samples of the dinner menu... you order your main course at breakfast, a nice lady there writes down you room number and what you want. Then at dinner, you pick an appetizer and dessert to go with it. There is also always a vegetarian option daily.
Lunch is a bit different... there is a "Special" which is always a Mexican dish, like chicken tostados, etc. You tell them if you want the special, or if you want to order off the lunch menu. The lunch menu is a regular type menu with burgers, sandwiches, and several mexican dishes on it. There is also a salad bar at lunch.

here are pictures of the menu boards from our last trip:

There are always 3 different main courses to choose from at dinner.

Lunch menu:

lunch special, chicken tostados

I know this sounds a bit confusing, but after the first day, everyone understands what to do and what to expect.

Breakfast is a hot buffet, with all types of eggs and meats. There is also a cold buffet with all types of fruits, cereals, juices, yogurt, etc.



And regarding getting 'sick' from food in Cozumel. Our first 5 trips to Cozumel we ate downtown. I got sick 3 of the 5 times. Our last 3 trips we have stayed at SCC and eaten all meals there... not once gotten sick. I don't know what it was that made me sick the other times, but I can tell you it was not fun. SCC also provides free bottled water in rooms and in all hallways, which I appreciate.

robin

 

[cbm32]

Yes, the beach has ocean access. The view from my room looked right down on it and people were snorkeling after entering on that beach, even though there is a much larger area for snorkeling the other side of the restaurant towards the pier. That area over towards the pier is not a beach entry but down some steps into the ocean and is where the onsite dive op takes people for Discover Scuba dives.

Perhaps the difference in my experience with the cruise ship passengers and that of others was the time of year. I was there in late Sept, all of Oct, and a little bit of the first part of Nov (went right from there to Vegas for DEMA). Based on my experience the OP should not be bothered all that much by cruise ship passengers, but other times of year may be a whole different story.

Yes, the El Cid is a fairly big resort, although not huge like Park Royal or some of the others. Our experience there was very positive, other than some mystery charges on our bill when we checked out. We questioned the charges and they were immediately removed, with no hassle or discussion. I found that response to be extremely good customer service, but also made me question if they knew those charges were bogus in advance. So anyone staying might be wise to check their bill carefully before checking out.

As long as I am talking about El Cid.....we did stay there via our timeshare points and did the timeshare tour dance. However, we found it to be very painless and not high pressure in the least.

As I said in my other post, we were very happy with the El Cid, sans AI. The cooking facilities in the room were small, but plenty sufficient for us to prepare most of our meals easily. Between that and eating at some small places downtown that the locals and the long time Coz regulars at Tres Pelicanos recommended, we were probably able to eat for less during our time in Coz than we would at home. The staff at the El Cid were all very friendly and helpful. If we weren't headed for Fiji and South Florida this fall we would certainly be headed for Coz, the El Cid, and Tres Pelicanos. If I decide to give up the coaching I have done the past 7 years we might just do Coz after DEMA or in Dec.

 

[Brules]

El Cid and IB are not comparable I dont think.

IB vs Park Royal is much fairer comparison.