Intercontinental Presidente Info Needed

[jkaterenchuk]

I am thinking of staying at the Intercontinental Presidente from 3/23/06 to 3/28/06.
My wife is not a diver and I want to do some advanced diving....dive profile limited by computer....not overloaded boat...advanced sites.
Which dive operations would be best to check out that service guest at this hotel?

My wife will use the fitness facility and spa while I dive.
Does the fitness facility have nice treadmills? Does it have A/C?
How would the SPA services rate?

I will be coming to the hotel from the Cancun Hotel zone and will need to return to the Cancun airport.
Is there a best recommended way to accomplish the transportation to and from the hotel?

Any other comments about this hotel would be appreciated.

 

[mstevens]

My wife is not a diver and I want to do some advanced diving....dive profile limited by computer....not overloaded boat...advanced sites.
Which dive operations would be best to check out that service guest at this hotel?

Pretty much any operator in Cozumel will pick you up at the dock there. I'd do a bit of research and not use the hotel's operator (ScubaDu) since it uses cattle boats. If you really mean it about "advanced" diving, check out Dive Cozumel/Yellow Rose. For the price, I've liked Deep Blue. I'm not sure what you mean about "advanced sites." If you mean things on the "other side" or the very far northern or southern ends you'll probably need to work that out in advance. If you mean cave diving, I'd go with Dive Cozumel. If you mean deep (Punta Sur, for example) or sites with high current, I think most operators will be happy to take you.

My wife will use the fitness facility and spa while I dive.
Does the fitness facility have nice treadmills? Does it have A/C?
How would the SPA services rate?

Well, we do all our exercise out in the water or in our room so I can't comment on the treadmills. I can practically guarantee the fitness facility has A/C or it'd be useless. The spa is fine. I've seen better and I've seen lots worse.

Any other comments about this hotel would be appreciated.

Depending on how long you intend to stay, consider joining the Intercontinental Hotel Priority Club at the "Ambassador" level. It costs, but entitles you to guaranteed room upgrades and a free weekend night (per year). The latter will always be worth lots more than the membership costs. The first time we went they upgraded us many levels from the cheapest room to a very large ground-level beachfront room. It was almost disappointing when we went again and were only upgraded 1 or 2 levels...

Check prices for rooms that include breakfast. The breakfast is very nice, but very expensive ($18/person). You won't want to take a taxi into town just for breakfast (which would likely interfere with morning diving, anyway). Last time we went the rate with breakfast for 2 was $10 more than without.

The restaurant isn't bad (at least the "Mexican" one. The other one is Italian, and who goes to Mexico for that?!) but you should plan to spend time in town checking out restaurants. We got some great tips from Cristi's list on the Cozumel board here.

As much as I like the Presidente, I think I'd go a bit nuts there all day if my wife were out diving...

 

[docmartin]

not much to add. i would also stay away from scubadoo, the hotel based op. definitely not advanced diving. the gym is air conditioned and i think the treadmills were lifefitness but i may be wrong. did not use the spa. many good restaurants in town. if you're up for it, the italian restaurant at the presidente is top notch.

 

[Even_Stephen]

Okay, some confusion here about the hotel. There is an Intercontinental Presidente in BOTH Cozumel and the Myan Riviera (south of Cancun on the mainland). Post which location you mean and we can give some better answers.

 

[jkaterenchuk]

I am referring to Cozumel, sorry for the lack of clarity

 

[ECPaul]

If you don't mind the cost of the hotel, it is probably one of the best places to stay - I was there with my family last March. I agree with the earlier post regarding upgrading to the Ambassador level of membership - it costs about $150 but will get you much more than that in value by way of an upgraded room. We ended up with walkout oceanfront. I think that you can simply do this by going to the Intercontinental Hotels website.

Be forewarned also that they will try to sell you on membership to some vacation club, but if you are willing to spend an hour listening to their schpeel, it can be a worthwhile endeavor. Here's why - first they take you to a nice breakfast of lunch buffet (their treat - and meals at the hotel cost a lot), and then they hand you about $70 in hotel credits to use on meals, drinks, whatever. But they will employ a really hard sell, and you just say no and walk away an hour later with a free meals and $$ in your pocket.

It may also be worthwhile to rent one of the jeeps that are plentiful on the island, this can get you easily from the airport to the hotel, as well as back and forth from the hotel to town. Otherwise you end up with a $5 cab ride every time you want to go into town for one of the many great restaurants that are there.

I agree about the onsite dive shop (ScubaDu). They run cattle boats, and there are loads of other great dive ops that will pick you right up at the hotel pier. We dove with Blue Angel and had a great experience, but I've also heard that Dive with Martin, Liquid Blue, Papa Hogs, and many others are also very good.

One of the best things about El Presidente is the shore diving - you can rent tanks and weights from ScubaDu and just walk in from the beach - snorkeling there is also great. We saw an enormous variety of fish, including rays, pufferfish, barracuda, sargeant majors, angelfish, morays, and really big parrotfish. In fact, if your wife is not a diver, she might still get a thrill from the snorkeling close to shore.

Hope Coz makes it through Wilma OK, but I'm a bit concerned right now.

 

[Divedoggie]

Here is a recent pic of the Presidente in Coz. Have fun!!
Oops!
Try again..

 

[Divedoggie]

Here is a recent pic of El Pesidente in Coz. Thought you should know. Planning on re-opening Jan 31st 2006, at the earliest.

 

[docmartin]

Here is a recent pic of El Pesidente in Coz. Thought you should know. Planning on re-opening Jan 31st 2006, at the earliest.

never mind the foreground which is not part of the presidente but rather a marina for many of the dive ops, the one building visible in the background actually looks terrific compared to other pix from coz. the roof did not fly off and the structure seems intact. however, there are other parts of the presidente much closer to the ocean and then of course the grounds which probably did not fare as well as the re-opening date indicates. by the way, yesterday they were saying dec 1st so it is a moving target and the direction of the movement appears to be backwards...

 

[TJ O'Dwyer]

Good morning ! Does anyone have a review on Intercontinental El Presidente in Los Caaos? I am heading there for thanksgiving. Any good dive shops in Los Cabos?