How about the Casa Del Mar in Coz?

[squarepants]

Anyone ever?

I need to know about the food, dive op, beds (hard?), beach, overall.
Please if you know anything about this place, let me know.

 

[SueMermaid]

It's been a few years, (I forget the year, but we heard the OJ Simpson verdict while we were there) so I don't remember how hard the beds are, ut: but I do remember a few other things. The good stuff:
Nice bar with a swim-up window in the nice pool, (with large hot tub), good restaurant, yummy breakfasts, good staff. Great margaritas. *hic*
The dive staff was very good, safe, professional, helpful. adequate boats, sixpack sized. They took us where we wanted to go. They gave us free air for shore diving, shallow, but interesting. Good at night. (lots of octopi).
The bad stuff:
My shower didn't work the whole time, despite them coming to fix it twice. (I think they just banged on the pipes for effect and told us it was done). Monsoon rains (it was October) came in under the slider and made a tide pool under my bed.
The hotel was pretty, but I am afraid it is a little run down. It was okay by me, but I am not all that fussy, just give me an ocean and a margarita and it's all good.
If you are fussy about accomodations, I'd probably recommend you stay somewhere else, and somewhere in town. (you need to take a cab from Casa Del Mar to get to town).

 

[Zagnut]

When we got to our room I walked into the bathroom and the toilet had flooded all over the floor. I went to the front desk, and told them. They sent a maid to sop it up with a towel. Then about 10 minutes later a guy came to fiddle with the toilet. He didn't seem to have a good grasp of how they work and after about 15 minutes of him messing with it, I just went back to the front desk and asked for another room. They put me in the adjacent room. The phone in this room didn't work. I figured I was on vacation so I didn't need the phone. The next day the LDS I was diving with (Papa Hogs) needed to get ahold of us to tell us to meet them at the Marina due to choppy water, They couldn't reach us and apparently the front desk wasn't much help to them. It kinda turned that morning into a screwed up situation but we got it all worked out eventually got a late start to the morning dives.

The beds are hard (almost board like) but I liked that. I have no problems sleeping on hard beds so I found them to be quite comfortable. I don't think hard beds is exclusive to this resort, though, as I've heard that about other hotels and I've stayed at Fiesta Americana twice and their beds are kinda hard (but not as hard as Casa Del Mar's).

We ate our meals in town with the exception of breakfast. The breakfast buffet was good and I enjoyed my breakfasts.

There front desk staff seemed burned out and were no where near as helpful as the staff at Fiesta Americana. Although I will say that when I got up int the morning to dive I would walk past the front desk and say hi to the clerks, and when I would get home from dinner and drinks (usually about 10 or 11 at night) I would walk past the front desk and the same crew would still be there working...no wonder they were burned out! The vibe I got was that staff wasn't treated very well by their bosses.

The bar is nice, pool is pretty nice, and the grounds are pretty nice, and the waitstaff was friendly.

I didn't spend any time on the beach and can't remember what it was like. I didn't snorlke or do any shore dives, so I can't tell you what it's like underwater at the resort. I didn't dive with the on site dive shop so I can't help you there, although it looked like a nice enough place.

The hotel looks like it was once a nice place but the current owners aren't quite putting into it, what is needed to make it a really nice place again.

All in all it was OK. We were there for the diving so we weren't really sweating the small stuff, although there were other guests who seemed to be frustrated with the staff (especially during check out time).

If you like the 5 star- type accomodatons, this probably isn't the place for you, but if you get a real bargain and don't mind a less than perfect resort, it's not too bad.

 

[Kat]

The hotel is about three to three & a half miles from downtown. It's only got one restaurant & one lounge. There are 100 rooms, give or take a few. It's rated at about a 2 1/2 - the Fiesta Americana is rated at about a 4 1/2