Trip Report May 17-31, Fiesta Am/Coz Palace, Scuba w/Alison/AquaSafari

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Glad you had a great trip. I'm getting antsy for our trip in late fall. Was wondering if you could fill in some gaps in my info about AS:

Do they only offer a daily rate ($90/day on website) and does that price include taxes?
Is the marine park fee extra?
What size tanks do they use?
Do they offer nitrox?
Do they store your gear?

Did you contact Scuba with Alison before your trip? Did they pick you up at Fiesta Am or did you meet them at the marina?

AS - the tanks are AL80's; the $90 does not include taxes (16%); the marine park fee is $5 (it would be less if you paid in pesos I think, but they charge $5 US); nitrox is $14 a tank; and they have lockers to store your gear at no additional fee.

Scuba with Alison picks you up at the Fiesta Americana pier - no additional charge for the pickup at the pier. FYI, some resorts (like Sunscape and Secrets) charge a fee to use their pier ($3 or $4 per day), which I think is a rip-off for an all inclusive. They don't charge it if you're using their in-house dive op, Dive House.
 
I don’t know if this should be referred to as a trip report or an odyssey! The night before our 9:30 a.m. flight we got a message from American Airlines that our flight had been delayed by THREE hours. (Flight crew needed to meet minimum federal safety rest period before flying again – I think it was weather related). AA got me on a 6 a.m. flight and Roger on a 7:30 flight. When they changed my STL to DFW flight they also changed my DFW to CZM seat assignment (without my knowledge - no reason to change it as I was on the same flight), resulting in me sitting in the wrong spot and not knowing it while some poor woman walked around the aircraft saying ‘but my ticket says I’m in 10B’. She was very kind about it – and when I realized my error I was very apologetic. Btw, for that flight we were allowed onto the plane using facial recognition - no ticket. I was assuming my seat assigned on my phone wallet was still correct – never even looked at the paper ticket.

This time we stayed at Fiesta Americana the first week and dove with Scuba with Alison. Great food, diving, comfortable room. We are Hilton Grand Vacations members and when we book at FA we get the one bedroom suite. It is really large and has two bathrooms – very nice. We were on the 5th floor and had a nice view.

The first day of diving was nice – got some great pictures – and then the odyssey began. We decided to do a night dive on the first day – and after the travel fiasco we probably should have waited a couple of days for my brain to return to normal functioning. When I did my back roll into the water my mask strap came off. No biggie. I used both hands to secure my mask and then did my sweep for my TG6. Not there. I hadn’t attached it to my BC. It’s gone. We did a search the next morning at 6:30 – nothing (please don't bother to offer advice at this point - it's all on the other thread!!!). It was lost in the sandy part of Paradise – we should have been able to find it. I put out a $200 reward to everyone under the sun and it hasn’t found its way back to me. I may write a post on what I learned not using a camera for two weeks. Short story – both the boat I dove with initially AND the boat folks I dove with at AquaSafari were looking for it and very kind. We did at least 5 dedicated 'search and recovery' dives with no luck. Some person or octopus has my camera and is getting some great photos!

Second week at Cozumel Palace and AquaSafari. Again, good food and great diving. But here’s what we noticed this time around. The Cozumel Palace property is just smaller and noisier. When we were in our room at FA we never heard any noise from neighbors or people walking in the hall (except when the cleaning staff cleaned the room above us once). At CP we could hear people walking up and down the halls, toilets flushing, and staff delivering room service and cleaning. The rooms at FA are just better insulated (I think). And I continue to be impressed with the quality of food at FA over the Palace. Palace food is good, but FA has more veggies, more healthy options, and more outside, shaded seating. If you want to eat lunch in the shade outside at Palace you need to get there at noon because there are only 5 tables under the big tent.

The staff at the Palace is second to none though. They really take the time to get to know you and remember you – but we’ve been there a lot, so they know us better than some others maybe?

While at the Palace we walked up to Rock N Java a few times. I had their Mediterranean salad one day (very good) and we're addicted to their desserts and coffee. It's nice to get away from the resort and walk around. We're renting a house for two weeks in July and will branch out to more restaurants.

Went to Chedraui and used my Charles Schwab debit card to get money out of the HSBC machine successfully. Got pesos. No problema. Love poking around Mega and Chedraui - forcing myself to at least read the Español on my translator to find things like 'acetone wipes' (I didn't want to buy a bottle of nail polish remover - I wanted the individually packaged wipes - they don't have those, but they had something close).

The pictures attached are from Fiesta Americana - the room, the view, and pictures of the beach area. I honestly hadn't ventured over to this little beach area and didn't realize it was there when we visited in December. It's not awesome, but if I had a toddler, I wanted to have a little beach access for it would work in a pinch. You can also see the cevicheria in one of the photos. (I think the photos uploaded twice, sorry)View attachment 662539 View attachment 662540 View attachment 662543 View attachment 662545 View attachment 662547 View attachment 662549 View attachment 662550 View attachment 662539 View attachment 662540 View attachment 662543 View attachment 662545 View attachment 662547 View attachment 662549 View attachment 662550
 
Glad you had a great trip. I'm getting antsy for our trip in late fall. Was wondering if you could fill in some gaps in my info about AS:

Do they only offer a daily rate ($90/day on website) and does that price include taxes?
Is the marine park fee extra?
What size tanks do they use?
Do they offer nitrox?
Do they store your gear?

Did you contact Scuba with Alison before your trip? Did they pick you up at Fiesta Am or did you meet them at the marina?

@jonhall - I just traded emails with someone at AquaSafari and the prices DO include the taxes. Sorry I had that wrong - happy that I did though. So No taxes on any of those prices - no extra 16%.
 
American Airlines stranded several hundred passengers on a Cozumel to Miami trip. Then stranded hundreds more by cancelling flight last minute on Miami to San Diego and other flights. Many spent 3-6 hours in line for rebooking and hotel voucher. American has devolved into Spirit airlines, but American charges double to triple what Spirit and Southwest charge.
 
I wrote a "Part 2" and thought I posted it ... but don't see it here ... so I'll try again. If I see the other one pop up I'll delete one of the two posts.

Part 2: Cozumel Palace

This stay we were in room 314. Not a great view, but otherwise exactly like every other room (except the suites). We've stayed in a variety of rooms - most with great views - this one provided a partial view of the horizon (disappointing). Comfy beds, jacuzzi that doubles as a final rinse tank before you leave! We had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to stay in the Presidential Suite, and it's pretty big. It has two separate bedrooms with bathrooms as well as a large living area between with a dining table, small stove, sink and fridge. The best part is that the huge terrace is on the top floor and we were served dinner there one night (I'll post a picture of the setting - but keep in mind, it's the Presidential Suite, not the norm).

Covid procedures - when you arrive you walk into a tray of disinfectant and then dry your feet, get your temperature taken and hands sanitized. You are required to wear a mask at all times while indoors and when going through the buffet lines at the indoor and outdoor restaurants. Please keep in mind that while most guests may have been vaccinated, most locals have not. Many of the employees fear taking the virus home to their families and choosing not to wear your mask may be perceived as disrespectful to the risks they are taking to provide for their families. This probably isn't a time to take a political stand. Currently Q Roo is in the orange zone and technically at 50% occupancy, but the hotel was at 80% for Memorial Day (too many people for us, after having experienced the lighter numbers during covid, but good for the staff to start making better tips).

AquaSafari dive boats: gotta wear your mask until you're under way. They take your temp when you check in to see what boat you're on. They have hand sanitizer on the boat. They no longer provide anything but water on the boats (used to have towels and snacks - stopped that for covid). The boats are big and slow, but right now are running at about 75% capacity due to covid. The boats have marine heads - a plus for me, as I have an unpredictable stomach and have difficulty peeing in the water. It takes 1.5 HOURS to get to Columbia - so that marine head comes in handy. We don't mind the long ride. It gives us time to get our gear dialed in, get to know other divers and maybe exchange contact into. I've seen people take naps! Bring snacks if you think you might get hungry. It's about a 20 minute ride back from Paradise, so that's a good second dive.

The boat crew are attentive and nice people. They will happily change over your gear if you want them to - they know I prefer to do mine so they stay out of my way but always double check my air. They assume everyone wants their masks cleaned (they use a toothbrush and soap and do a great job) but again, I do my own. The guides will show you small stuff if you indicate an interest. Otherwise they try to find things that are familiar and do a great job. I always take out my weight pouches and hand them up before getting on the boat, but if you want to take off your whole rig that's ok too. They're happy to accommodate whatever your needs may be. They have good, sturdy ladders.

Cozumel is rotating closing dive sites to help regenerate them. If you ask to go to a specific site and they say it's closed, that's why. While we were there the sites from Dalila to Palancar Caves(?) was closed.

The other post was longer, so I'm sure I'm forgetting something!

I'm startled to see a cruiseship!
 
American Airlines stranded several hundred passengers on a Cozumel to Miami trip. Then stranded hundreds more by cancelling flight last minute on Miami to San Diego and other flights. Many spent 3-6 hours in line for rebooking and hotel voucher. American has devolved into Spirit airlines, but American charges double to triple what Spirit and Southwest charge.

I'm sorry, loady? Stranded? Just dumped hundreds of passengers and left them to their own devices?

Do you know why or at least, what was American's excuse?
 
I'm sorry, loady? Stranded? Just dumped hundreds of passengers and left them to their own devices?

Do you know why or at least, what was American's excuse?

Roger read yesterday that there were 1.9 million people flying last weekend, and the same time last year it was 450,000. Time to step up their game for the 'nearly-post-covid' travel demand - bring back anyone who was furloughed, if they haven't already. I've read several AA negative stories lately. Not good.
 
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