Is Cozumel cheap?

[bvbellomo]

Lots of my friends point to Scuba Club Cozumel as a cheaper place to dive. And airfare (about $400 from Cleveland Ohio) is certainly cheaper than the Red Sea or Asia. But Scuba Club is running a special which is $143.75 / per night for double occupancy, which I believe doesn't include the $75 for a 2 tank boat trip, and single occupancy will be more. So about $220 per night or $100 per dive (the per-dive cost going down with more shore diving). About $2000 for a 1 week trip with about 20 dives.

I just got back from the Red Sea, where I ended up on a more expensive group trip, but planned to go alone before COVID cancelled my boat. I would have paid around $1100 airfare but $165 per night or $60 per dive. About $2500 for a 1 week trip with about 20 dives.

Both have nice land based opportunities for a 2 week dive + on shore trip, Mexico is probably cheaper, but Egypt lets me visit anywhere in Europe which has a lot more possibilities.

With the Red Sea, I can turn that into a 30 dive trip adding a mini-safari for around $3000 total. With Cozumel, I am well over $3000 for a 30 dive trip.

The diving is nicer in the Red Sea, and places like Thailand or even Indonesia aren't much more.

Obviously, if I wanted a less than 1 week vacation, Cozumel makes a lot more sense, but I don't see that.

Am I missing something? I might do a Cozumel once just to see a wider variety of places, but I have a hard time seeing this as a budget trip.

 

[Kimela]

Not sure when you're thinking of going, but here's the current special if you can go June 1 - July 31. It comes out to $115 a night and includes breakfast and lunch, 4 days of boat diving and unlimited shore diving (based on double occupancy). If you want prices further out I think you'll have to contact them.

And now I'm wondering if we should be returning to ScubaClub. During covid they had been only serving breakfast - wonder when they added lunch back in (or maybe I was misinformed). So you'd only have to go to town for dinner (a short walk and a great opportunity to go to some wonderful restaurants that are not expensive).

 

[Jayfarmlaw]

That's kind of a loaded question since "cheap" is relative to what you have to spend. For me, yes, it is the cheapest quality dive vacation I have found, even compared to Belize, Curacao, or Roatan. Cuba wasn't bad, but the diving out of Havana and Veradera was disappointing. Awesome vacation for the history and experience....not for the diving.

Normally, we can fly Southwest to Cozumel or Cancun for $300 to $400 which includes 2 free bags each. Currently the airlines are smoking the same crack pipe and airfares are double, and even triple, their pre Covid rates. We will wait a bit for prices to come down.

I don't like all inclusives, especially in Cozumel. We know the town fairly well and have many favorite places to eat at whatever price level we feel like. From $5 to $50 each. The food is one of the many reasons we love Cozumel.

We prefer to stay at Casa Mexicana in town which includes free breakfast. If I eat a small breakfast, I usually don't need to eat lunch other than maybe a snack. CM runs as cheap as $49 to $80 a night depending on the season. That's per room, not per person.

Diving, we splurge a little. We dive with Aldora and their standard tank for men is a steel 120. We usually get 80-90 minutes dives with one dive just over 2 hours. They run around $100 for a two tank dive, but we get considerably longer dives than the standard 45-60 minute dives. They pick up across from Casa Mexicana and 90% of what we do is within get easy walking distance from the hotel.

Dive With Martin, one of the oldest operators on the island can get that price down considerably if you book a 5 day package. It used to get down to $65 per 2 tank dive but I havent checked it in a while.

There are nice enough hotels that are cheaper (Suites Bahia includes the same breakfast) in the $35-$50 price range. And if you bought your groceries at Mega you could save some dining out costs as well.

Our schedule makes even a week off difficult so Cozumel works for us. So call it 350 air, 250 each for room, and 500 for diving gets us to world class diving for just over $1100 each, not counting food. I can't even get near that in the Keys, even if SW had $89 flights to Fort Lauderdale. Coz gives me the option to ferry over to Playa for Cenote diving as well.

Just the airfare last week to get to Bali was over $1200, even though the diving and lodging may have been cheaper. As bad as I want to go, I just can't justify 2 days of travel time both ways. Bali, Truk, the rest of Micronesia, Taiwan, Japan, the Red Sea and the rest of the world will have to wait.

Cozumel can be as cheap, or as expensive as you want it to be. We do splurge a bit on diving, but the rest is pretty average for Cozumel pricing. Depending on where you live, airfare will likely be the predominant pricing factor.

Cheap is up to you, but $1100 for a week of great diving is a good deal for me when I can break away.

Safe travels.

Jay

 

[bvbellomo]

If I go this year, it will be September at the soonest, most likely November or December. The special was just to get an idea of pricing - I am not sure what their "non-special" pricing is, but I am sure it won't be much cheaper. If the special includes boat dives, that's $115 vs the $220 I came up with assuming it did not, making this feasible as a budget trip.

I am not opposed to spending money, and how soon I go will determine my budget (and vice versa). But if this saves only a few hundred dollars vs a trip to Indonesia, I am happy to spend the 4 days traveling and pay the difference.

I do splurge on food (quality, not quantity), prefer to avoid all-inclusive, but I like local cultural food, which is often cheaper than fancy restaurants serving Maine lobsters and Texas beef. I do not see any value in a hotel room and usually go as cheap as possible.

 

[bvbellomo]

Everything seems geared towards 2 dives per day. Is this right? Or am I reading the various price sheets wrong?

 

[arew+4]

Bonaire, $30 a day all you can dive, car and accomodations are personal variables, there are budget options for both. If you can ride a scooter with a tank strapped to your back you can save big!

 

[newgentry]

The food is one of the many reasons we love Cozumel.

Yep. Cozumel does not get the appropriate kudos for its dining and restaurant options, it is an island that foodies can really enjoy. There are a bunch of really, really good restaurants to choose from.

 

[Kimela]

Everything seems geared towards 2 dives per day. Is this right? Or am I reading the various price sheets wrong?

Two boat dives a day - unlimited shore diving.

 

[bvbellomo]

Two boat dives a day - unlimited shore diving.

Do you mean one "2 tank" dive? Or 2 separate boat trips for 4 actual dives? I see a morning 2 tank dive included in packages and an afternoon boat trip that seems to be a separate add on. If the packages are set up this way, I doubt anyone buys a weekly package and adds on the afternoon trip every day.

Scuba Club is the only website I've seen mention shore diving, Dive With Martin and Aldora don't mention it.

 

[Captain Bravo]

Our schedule makes even a week off difficult so Cozumel works for us.
[...]
As bad as I want to go, I just can't justify 2 days of travel time both ways.
Jay

Exactly. From Montreal it's a 4 hour direct flight, with a one hour time zone difference. No jet lag, no wasting time flying and going through connections, no lost luggage, and we can squeeze an awesome diving week in only 7 days. Plus we love the food and the people.