Wanted to post a quick trip report, from our cozumel trip 3/15->3/22
Where we stayed - Fiesta Americana
The good - nice rooms, decent price, food was pretty good, we did the all inclusive.
The bad - well as far as drinks and food goes - the service is pretty bad. It was not uncommon for us to sit for lunch, get our food (buffet style), and then wait 15 minutes for someone to take our drink orders. Typically we ended up just walking over to the bar and getting it. I know this was a busy week, and the waiters work pretty hard (many were at all 3 meals). I'll try not to hold it against them. However, it put me in a position where I couldn't tip anyone.
The beds are quite hard, but that almost seems par for the course in Mexico.
The interesting - ok, this is a dive hotel. My wife and I are divers, we were happy to dive every morning and fall asleep at the pool in the afternoon. However if you are not divers, or diving is not your primary trip purpose, this is not the hotel (and likely not the destination) for you. I would say if you are not divers, try Cancun, the beaches are nicer, and frankly, most of the year, its cheaper.
Who we dove with - Dive House
Located right in front of the hotel.
The good - ok my wife and I have been OW certified for a few years now...we decided it would be fun to do our AOW when in Cozumel...it was. Alfonso was our instructor for our AOW dives. He's great. When we take our daughter to get certified in a couple of years, we are going to track him down. We enjoyed our dives, and genuinely became better divers because of our time with him.
He only instructs classes, so he's not a regular DM. I can't help but recommend that if you are interested in doing your AOW, do it in Coz, look up dive house and ask for Alfonso.
The dive op itself is pretty organized. I would not call them cattle boats. We had 12 divers per boat every day. However they are big boats, and we were always in 2 groups. The DM, captains and mates are good. The boats have a head, which I have appreciated since a trip to PV, Mexico once, where I had to have them stop the boat (1 hour ride to site is typical in PV) so that I could pee (I always over drink water before going out).
We did some long dives (for us). Typical dive profile was 1st dive max depth 80-100ft depending on site. 2nd dive was shallow, 60ft. If diving with a computer they would let you dive to 700 pounds. If no computer they did keep you on a pretty tight timetable. On our 2nd dive, in shallow water typically were down longer than an hour, which is good for us. Other folks would hit 700, and the DM would send them up in buddy teams, so if you and your buddy were managing air, you got a nice long dive. Basically we dove computer limits on the 2nd dive.
the conditions were wonderful 80-100ft vis, 79 degree water at depth, paradise.
the bad:
ok - I mention 12 people on a boat.
There were lots of divers with cameras, which I don't mind. However, when I'm getting finned in the face as you race for a photo op...I mind. Folks - be mindful of your surroundings! The reef, and the other divers. This was a problem for a number of divers and my wife and I had our fill of it. On many of the drift dives the DM would find some little something in a hole and clang a tank and sure enough the folks came running. OK - I get it, we are all excited. Dive ettiquette - after you have seen whatever little treasure someone has shown you - move along - others might want to see too. I missed two sharks that were in 'caves' (big holes) because folks simply couldn't move along after getting their look. Very disappointing.
Divers were not split up by skill level. So, there was really no escaping it. My wife and I basically hung back about 30-50ft from the group which was nice enough most of the time, but only really frustrating when we missed a few neat pieces of sea life.
I think next time I'm going to try one of the smaller charter ops. I'm not sure how much more expensive it is, but the over sized group was a kill joy.
We did a night dive - which was beautiful, but we only enjoyed half of it because of the same issues mentioned above. Night dives seem worse as the DM have to keep a group of 12 divers really close together.
That's alot of complaining on my part, but I did have a wonderful time. However, it was very sad to have such a beautiful trip tainted by the other folks on the dive boat.
All in all:
Fiesta Americana - 3 out of 5 stars, they could have had 4 if they had attentive poolside service or attentive waiters.
Dive House - 4 out of 5 stars, it would be nice if they broke up the boats by skill level, however that is probobaly quite difficult. Alfonso made the trip. They ARE and organized op. I've seen plenty where everything runs 20-40 minutes behind..these guys were spot on...
Cozumel - 5 out of 5 stars, I'm ready to go back.
Where we stayed - Fiesta Americana
The good - nice rooms, decent price, food was pretty good, we did the all inclusive.
The bad - well as far as drinks and food goes - the service is pretty bad. It was not uncommon for us to sit for lunch, get our food (buffet style), and then wait 15 minutes for someone to take our drink orders. Typically we ended up just walking over to the bar and getting it. I know this was a busy week, and the waiters work pretty hard (many were at all 3 meals). I'll try not to hold it against them. However, it put me in a position where I couldn't tip anyone.
The beds are quite hard, but that almost seems par for the course in Mexico.
The interesting - ok, this is a dive hotel. My wife and I are divers, we were happy to dive every morning and fall asleep at the pool in the afternoon. However if you are not divers, or diving is not your primary trip purpose, this is not the hotel (and likely not the destination) for you. I would say if you are not divers, try Cancun, the beaches are nicer, and frankly, most of the year, its cheaper.
Who we dove with - Dive House
Located right in front of the hotel.
The good - ok my wife and I have been OW certified for a few years now...we decided it would be fun to do our AOW when in Cozumel...it was. Alfonso was our instructor for our AOW dives. He's great. When we take our daughter to get certified in a couple of years, we are going to track him down. We enjoyed our dives, and genuinely became better divers because of our time with him.
He only instructs classes, so he's not a regular DM. I can't help but recommend that if you are interested in doing your AOW, do it in Coz, look up dive house and ask for Alfonso.
The dive op itself is pretty organized. I would not call them cattle boats. We had 12 divers per boat every day. However they are big boats, and we were always in 2 groups. The DM, captains and mates are good. The boats have a head, which I have appreciated since a trip to PV, Mexico once, where I had to have them stop the boat (1 hour ride to site is typical in PV) so that I could pee (I always over drink water before going out).
We did some long dives (for us). Typical dive profile was 1st dive max depth 80-100ft depending on site. 2nd dive was shallow, 60ft. If diving with a computer they would let you dive to 700 pounds. If no computer they did keep you on a pretty tight timetable. On our 2nd dive, in shallow water typically were down longer than an hour, which is good for us. Other folks would hit 700, and the DM would send them up in buddy teams, so if you and your buddy were managing air, you got a nice long dive. Basically we dove computer limits on the 2nd dive.
the conditions were wonderful 80-100ft vis, 79 degree water at depth, paradise.
the bad:
ok - I mention 12 people on a boat.
There were lots of divers with cameras, which I don't mind. However, when I'm getting finned in the face as you race for a photo op...I mind. Folks - be mindful of your surroundings! The reef, and the other divers. This was a problem for a number of divers and my wife and I had our fill of it. On many of the drift dives the DM would find some little something in a hole and clang a tank and sure enough the folks came running. OK - I get it, we are all excited. Dive ettiquette - after you have seen whatever little treasure someone has shown you - move along - others might want to see too. I missed two sharks that were in 'caves' (big holes) because folks simply couldn't move along after getting their look. Very disappointing.
Divers were not split up by skill level. So, there was really no escaping it. My wife and I basically hung back about 30-50ft from the group which was nice enough most of the time, but only really frustrating when we missed a few neat pieces of sea life.
I think next time I'm going to try one of the smaller charter ops. I'm not sure how much more expensive it is, but the over sized group was a kill joy.
We did a night dive - which was beautiful, but we only enjoyed half of it because of the same issues mentioned above. Night dives seem worse as the DM have to keep a group of 12 divers really close together.
That's alot of complaining on my part, but I did have a wonderful time. However, it was very sad to have such a beautiful trip tainted by the other folks on the dive boat.
All in all:
Fiesta Americana - 3 out of 5 stars, they could have had 4 if they had attentive poolside service or attentive waiters.
Dive House - 4 out of 5 stars, it would be nice if they broke up the boats by skill level, however that is probobaly quite difficult. Alfonso made the trip. They ARE and organized op. I've seen plenty where everything runs 20-40 minutes behind..these guys were spot on...
Cozumel - 5 out of 5 stars, I'm ready to go back.
