mcohen1021
Contributor
Buffets are gross. Plain and simple.
Guests of Sunscape, Secrets & Residencias Reef
- Thread starter Christi
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There are a couple detailed threads about that. If I remember right, all of those incidents were at resorts on mainland Mexico rather than Cozumel. Still, I'd avoid the Cozumel Iberostar since that resort chain has been implicated repeatedly. Most business chains use a single supplier in order to buy in greater bulk and therefore reduce costs...
For what it's worth, even though I like AI resorts - I think "resort fees" are a crappy scam. The only exception would be the resort fee they charge to people who aren't staying at the resort but still want to use the resort's amenities. Totally legit in that case (in my opinion).
As for beaches, the ones in Cozumel that I've seen are all a joke compared to what we have here in Florida. I guess if you're flying in from a landlocked state, you might be interested - but Cozumel's beaches are not all that great. I go to Coz for scuba diving, and I like to enjoy the land time. AI's add to that because I don't have to worry about arranging or paying for pretty much anything unless I happen to leave the resort other than on their boat.
mcohen1021
Contributor
That's no joke. My roommate in 2015 spent all but one day on land because he got sick (as did many of our group on that trip). Also a risk on those shiny metal tubes people like to fly around inside. Trip insurance is always a good idea on an international dive trip IMO.You get all the sneeze germs for free too
Fortunately, Mexico seems to have a more sensible approach to OTC medicines than we do in the US and it makes treatment of cold/flu symptoms a little easier and cheaper than they are at home.
Resort fees are the result of price comparison shopping on the internet. People search on the internet, then typically sort according to price. Resort fees are not part of the nightly room rate, so they are not factored when sorting by price.
morecowbells
Contributor
We are in total agreement about this being a major hassle and headache for the dive ops. As I specified in another post, it should be the customer expecting to be picked up from these resorts to absorb the fee-not the dive op, and certainly not the other divers on the boat from different pick up sites. Several years ago there was a fee imposed by the dive op who operated out of that resort. I think it must have backfired because in recent years, nobody ever collected a fee from us. A while back a group of us stayed at the Residencias Reef. We had not visited the resort before but found a listing on VRBO that checked all the boxes. The dive op we were using at the time(it was not Christi ) sent us an e mail describing the condo units as "sh!tty, decrepit and roach infested". I then e mailed a friend on the island and they strongly contradicted that assessment. We ended booking at one of the units and have done so for several years since then. It was at a happy hour with the shop owner who fessed up that she was unhappy with the pier tactics and was purposely steering people away. This did not sit well with me. A simple disclosure of the situation(either pay the fee or wade out from beach to the boat, or choose another pick up destination) would have been helpful, not her deceptive tactics. I wonder how many condo unit owners lost valuable revenue due to this feud with neighboring dive op.
deepsea21
Contributor
If all non-AI based dive ops on the island could play ball together and agree to refuse to pay any and all AI dock surcharges - only pick up divers on the AI beaches where possible this money grab would end in an instant when AI guests start raising hell and occupancy levels start cratering. There are lots of divers who stay at the AI’s and wouldn’t dive with the on-site AI dive ops if you paid them to. The Coz dive op community needs to work as a team... just like the taxi union.
Not sure I like the sound of that. From what I understand, the taxi mafia is good for members and bad for customers... I'd hate to hear of that happening among dive operators in Coz.
Hopefully, this will turn out to simply be growing pains while adjusting to a new process.
deepsea21
Contributor
That couldn’t happen among the dive ops as each is quite unique - unique boats, unique levels of service, unique pricing, and generally delivering unique dive experiences. Quite frankly, the only thing all have in common is all are getting screwed by the AI’s dock charges. Shut down all pickups from any AI dock charging a fee. Better yet, shut down all dock and beach pickup from any AI charging a dock fee and see how quickly the AI’s clamor to inform all ops their dock is free again and please come pick up the 100 divers raising hell with management.
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