Looking for the right Cozumel resort

[cicopo]

It's Aquaworld at the Palace these days. They replaced Aqua Safari & I think you've mixed them up in your assessment.

Prosdog, do you want to hang at the resort for most of your stay or get out & about. Taxi fare from the Iberostar runs about $18.00 each way to / from town. Long but enjoyable walk from Blue Angel, or a reasonable cab fare. Iberostar & Blue Angel are very different in many ways but I like both, and recommend them when they sound like a good fit.

Fish-R-Man, what level of service are you looking for. Similar to the Palace or just a good place to stay & enjoy. Photo tours of several resorts & links to some trip reports can be found here

Picasa Web Albums - Larry

 

[cvchief]

I haven't 'used' either, but I have met Mateo from BA. I have heard NOTHING but good things about him. He would be on a very short list for me if I was looking for an instructor to send friends to in Cozumel.

The food at the Ibero is good, but I have heard enough about the BA food that we are going to try it when eating out.

 

[Pelagicsal]

How about this?
Do not AI in Cozumel. Too many great little local places where food is wonderful and locals are friendly.
Just my preference... after 20-odd trips to CZM...

 

[Mossman]

It's Aquaworld at the Palace these days. They replaced Aqua Safari & I think you've mixed them up in your assessment.

Prosdog, do you want to hang at the resort for most of your stay or get out & about. Taxi fare from the Iberostar runs about $18.00 each way to / from town. Long but enjoyable walk from Blue Angel, or a reasonable cab fare. Iberostar & Blue Angel are very different in many ways but I like both, and recommend them when they sound like a good fit.

Fish-R-Man, what level of service are you looking for. Similar to the Palace or just a good place to stay & enjoy. Photo tours of several resorts & links to some trip reports can be found here

Picasa Web Albums - Larry

Yikes, you are absolutely right about me being wrong. Aqua Safari, Aquaworld, duh! OK, I meant to say Aquaworld has no reputation, Aqua Safari, maybe some reputation, not that I've ever dove with either. Next I'll be mixing up Living Underwater with In Living Color, or Aldora with Endora, Samantha's witch of a mom on Bewitched. No wonder why all the locals start giving me odd looks when I attempt speaking Spanglish!

 

[Brules]

I would totally reccomend my fav hotel the Park Royal, but their onsite dive op SUCKS, but you could always use a off site dive op. Park Royak is my favorite AI as it is the best AI CLOSE to town that is affordable. Palace is too $$$. PR is cheaper and you don't feel bad leaving every night to go to town for dinner, and you can as taxis are not crazy expensive from there.

Just a thought.

 

[Willar]

+1 for the Iberostar Cozumel. My son was OW-certified their in 2010 and we loved the resort. Dressel Divers is excellent, the resort is nice, and you're only 5 minutes to the best reefs. We were really, really happy with Dressel, their professionalism and great customer service. The resort is really good for the whole family. Food was good, not great.

We like it so much that we went to Iberostar Paraiso (Playa del Carmen) in 2011 for diving with Dressel. My son and his friend (already OW) both did their AOW at that resort.

I have also stayed at Scuba Club which I liked very much as a "dive-only" resort, but it doesn't have the pools, bars, and other all-inclusive features. It a very good resort, it just depends on what you want. Nice that it's close to town. Down side is the long boat ride to the top reefs.

Be sure to rent a Jeep and drive around the island!

 

[mfalco]

These replies have answered several questions I've been thinking about posting. I'm trying to decide between Iberostar/Dressel and Blue Angel. When I do a list of pros and cons to each, it comes out almost equal. BA-free internet, shore dives, close to town, breakfast provided. Iberostar/Dressel-free nitrox, no shore dives, expensive internet, AI with good food. Somebody help me decide.

Last year I stayed at Iberostar Parisio Del Mar on the mainland Mexico. The resort was nice and I really likes Dressel Divers. They were a lot less busy than in Coz. Sometimes there were only 2 divers on the boat. This Janurary we went to Iberostar Cosumel because we had had a good experience the year before with Iberostar and Dressel. Definately prepay for the diving before you go to get a huge savings. If you do, you will probably email with Natalie in spain, who is very helpful. The resort in Cozumel was a lot smaller with less food options. It was very quite and laid back. The rooms did have a little mildewy smell. This is probably from people like me drying wetsuits in their rooms. Run the bathroom fan 24/7 to fix the mildew smell. The rooms are also not very large, but how much time do spend in the room? The buffet was good. Better than the sandals I've stayed at, but not as good as the couples resorts on Jamaica. The alacart Mexican restaraunt wasn't worth going to. Not much that you couldn't get at the buffet. It was also the only time I've gotten sub-par service at either of the Iberostars I've been to. The steakhouse I would recomend. I would also recommend going into town one night and going to the restaraunt Kinta. The diving was great. From my experience Dressel is great. The divemasters/instructors are great. Very professional and laid back at the same time. No "dive nazis". Every dive your group is 8 divers and one dive master. They have 2 boats that take 3 groups and one that takes 2 groups. The girl that works the dive shop is very helpful with scheduling and planning. The dive sites are all 5-10 minutes away so you SI is back at the resort. If you were closer to town you would have long boat rides. You have time for a drink/bathroom/snack. we dove with 4 different DMs (PM me if you want to know about each one, but they were all good) They all gave great dive briefings before the dives. My GF isn't very experienced, so we were always in the group with the less experienced divers. They have everybody buddy up before entering the water. When a diver runs low on air, they change buddies up so the people with more air get to stay longer. We asked if we could stay together if one of us got low on air and the other wasn't. They were fine with that, so no dive buddy changes mid dive for us. They also didn't make people stick to the "follow the leader" type of dive. Our buddy groups were allowed to roam around a little. If you do go there I recommend getting a rental car, and take a half day to drive the loop around the Island. The east side of the island is beautyfull. I booked my trip through Travelocity and got the rental car for $86 for 8 days. Of course I did need it because Trevelocity doesn't give airport transfers like travel agents do.

 

[ggunn]

Be sure to rent a Jeep and drive around the island!

Or if you want to enjoy some adult beverages during the excursion, hire a cab for the day.

 

[Dan G]

One way to help you make a decision is what you and your traveling companions are expecting. We love BA and will be there soon.

We can recommend the rooms, restaurant, boats and DMs. However, while I have never been to the AIs down south, from what I can gather BA is nothing like them. BA is very diver oriented, with basic rooms, basic pool, great people. If that appeals to the folks you are traveling with then BA is for you, and this is why BA appeals to us. If they want more of a 'resort' experience that is oriented to service beyond diving, then the right AI might be for you. Both experiences are good experiences, and one is not 'better' than the other. It just depends on what you are looking for.



If all things are equal in doing your research, then go with the place that will have the most Canadian visitors and/ or DMs. This way yo can have fun reminding them that none of their teams made it past round 1.

 

[melissabeads]

I have stayed at the Iberostar and it does have nice beaches and the food is better than a lot of other AIs. That being said, we checked into Blue Angel last December and they are great. The resort is nice (clean, nice little pool, great set up for diving) the food is great, the staff is AMAZING. It would be great for you to have breakfast included, grab a light lunch at the BA restaurant after your dives and in the evening head to town to all of the GREAT local restaurants. You are also closer to town for groceries and other shopping. The only real benefit to staying at the Iberostar is the shorter boat rides. Keep in mind, if you will be going into town the taxi rides are long and expensive from the Iberostar.

Personally I would pick Blue Angel.. and the Matthew and Kari are both from Edmonton! Kari is so nice!!