Option: Scuba Club Cozumel or Hotel Cozumel?

[scoutsf]

HI! Recommendations, please. Staying on Cozumel next month for 7 nights w/ 5 days diving. It's a toss up between Scuba Club Cozumel or Hotel Cozumel? Have never done the AI thing before, not usually my thing. But the price is right. Leaning towards SCC just on looks alone - not so huge and overwhelming. Who has the better dive op? Heard great things about SCC but very little about HC. Also, what about the food? Thanks!

 

[Jethroish]

Never been to SCC but have been to Hotel Coz. Dive Paradise is the on site ops for HC. If you like to drink, the AI might be the way to go. Even tho we were at HC AI, we still ate dinners in town. The AI food was not that great, IMO, but it was nice to have the breakfast buffet each morning.
When are you going? Wife and I will be at HC June 20 - 23.

 

[parrotheaddiver]

SCC is probably the better of the two hotels room and food wise...they are next door to each other....with that said....with SCC you cannot choose your dive op.....with HC you can go with any dive op... the hotel is ok a bit noisy around the pool area and the food is just ok.....if you want to use the inhouse dive op then go with SCC ...

 

[driftin' by]

Booze is not included in the AI at SCC. Not sure it matters to you but SCC's boats are BIG... which generally means slow and a lot of divers aboard, however roomy with a head.

 

[ronski101]

if you like a smaller hotel, slow big boats, mostly diver types, go with scuba club. if you like a biiig pool,AI, different dive op go with HC. We have been to both but lean toward HC because of the breakfast and we can pick our prefered dive op.

 

[clem]

Suba club without a doubt
The food is excelllent, althought the breakfast buffet can get old by the sixth day...Time to eat more of the fresh fruit ! The money you save over a comparative week next door at Hotel Coz is substantial. Last trip, with two drinkers, our bar/drink tab was only 118usd for 2 for seven days vs the extra 300 PER PERSON average that Hotel coz charges for unlimited drinks. And "call" top shelf as well.
The dinner menu is always spectacular and the upper dining room is very nice for couples as well as groups.

After spending time diving coz,5 week long trips, I have dove everything from the largest cattle boats to the smallest six pack. It just doesn't matter how you get to the reefs, It is a taxi ride...
but lately I prefer the mid-size8-12 passengers boats that SCC runs. Slower, yes, but whats the hurry?

 

[divenutny]

First, there is many threads supporting HC and SCC.

I've been to SCC the past two years, will return next year. Had a great time, highly recommend SCC. No reason to go anywhere else. Good dive op, good food, good hotel. Short walk to the local super market. AI is not that big a deal for me, willing to buy what I want.

Either way, I'm sure you will have a great time regardless which place you pick. Cozumel is a great place to visit.

 

[scubawife]

With Hotel Cozumel, food at the hotel shouldn't really be a deciding factor. It's less then 15 minutes to walk to the center of town. There are so many great places to eat in Cozumel (all price ranges and lots of variety), that staying that close to town I wouldn't bother with anything more then breakfast at the hotel. Unless you want to stay at a big beach resort (far south of town), I don't see any reason to go AI in Cozumel.

Staying at Hotel Cozumel would give you the flexibility to choose your dive operator rather then having to go with the on-site shop.

I've stayed there once. You're paying for the location and a big pool. My personal taste is for someplace quieter and smaller where I get more room for less money. I don't enjoy the music blasting through speakers and the afternoon organized pool games and activities. What I did like was being a short walk from town.

 

[jlyle]

Scuba Club Cozumel. Click on "Webpage" below for pics and narratives.

 

[MdScubaAl]

I'll be going back to SCC for the 7th time this year - does that say enough? Actually our extended family of about 17 are going in August.The food is good an varied - though not fancy. The boats are large - they're not the fastest, but you may be wishing for the shade of the Reef Diver or other SCC boats if you're sitting in the sun on a 6-pack! DMs are great and seem to be quite safety conscious. We weathered Hurricane Wilma at SCC while other people were sent to "shelters" that had their roofs blown off. We met some other Americans that year who basically had no food because theirs was destroyed - but SCC staff were back and taking care of us in the best ways they could as soon as the rains stopped.