A week at the Occidental Grand.
This was our first trip to Cozumel.
The hotel itself was immaculate. Rooms were good-sized and very clean. Large bathrooms and the beds were pretty comfortable.
The food was good, but not great. A very large variety, but towards the end of the week it got a little tiring. It was strange. I cant say anything was bad, or that we tried everything that was available, but we started to crave Chevys back home. Breakfast on the patio was everyones favorite meal, followed by lunch out at the restaurant/bar on the beach.
Service was outstanding. I felt a little intimidated by the constant catering to. A taste of what royalty would be like I guess. Each room had a refrigerator that was stocked with drinks and bottled water every day. A couple of times we called for extra water as we dont drink a lot of sodas or beer and it was brought to the room within minutes.
The diving was great, but the dive operators were a little like the food. They definitely wanted to stay close to the hotel. Mind you Palancar reef was about five minutes away so we dove some really beautiful dives. I would have liked to have been able to dive other spots, as it seemed to be 1 of 5 different sites every time. This meant 2 dives at a couple of spots and 3 at 2 others. Again, I was not disappointed with a singe dive, but I would like to have tried new sites. It was less "the grass is greener" thing than, "I want to explore more."
$18.00 U.S. one way for a taxi ride into town. This limited our trips into town to twice. The hotels at that end of the island need to get together and run a shuttle service.
All in all, if you want to eat, sleep, lay in the sun, and dive while being constantly catered to the Occidental Grand would be a great choice. If you want to eat, sleep, dive, lay in the sun, explore, and shop, I would stay in a hotel closer to, or in, town. IMO
Bill
This was our first trip to Cozumel.
The hotel itself was immaculate. Rooms were good-sized and very clean. Large bathrooms and the beds were pretty comfortable.
The food was good, but not great. A very large variety, but towards the end of the week it got a little tiring. It was strange. I cant say anything was bad, or that we tried everything that was available, but we started to crave Chevys back home. Breakfast on the patio was everyones favorite meal, followed by lunch out at the restaurant/bar on the beach.
Service was outstanding. I felt a little intimidated by the constant catering to. A taste of what royalty would be like I guess. Each room had a refrigerator that was stocked with drinks and bottled water every day. A couple of times we called for extra water as we dont drink a lot of sodas or beer and it was brought to the room within minutes.
The diving was great, but the dive operators were a little like the food. They definitely wanted to stay close to the hotel. Mind you Palancar reef was about five minutes away so we dove some really beautiful dives. I would have liked to have been able to dive other spots, as it seemed to be 1 of 5 different sites every time. This meant 2 dives at a couple of spots and 3 at 2 others. Again, I was not disappointed with a singe dive, but I would like to have tried new sites. It was less "the grass is greener" thing than, "I want to explore more."
$18.00 U.S. one way for a taxi ride into town. This limited our trips into town to twice. The hotels at that end of the island need to get together and run a shuttle service.
All in all, if you want to eat, sleep, lay in the sun, and dive while being constantly catered to the Occidental Grand would be a great choice. If you want to eat, sleep, dive, lay in the sun, explore, and shop, I would stay in a hotel closer to, or in, town. IMO
Bill
