Sabor Wyndham Cozumel - anyone stayed there lately - opinions?

[crossclamp]

Just returned from a week at Wyndham, regular side not Sabor. Totally unimpressed. We are not picky but this place was just bad. If you want cheap, go with Blue Angel. If you want AI, go with Park Royal, better food and drinks. If you want fancy, go with El Cantil. The food, room, bar, and atmosphere left a lot to be deisred at Wyndham. No hot water 3 days, no water at all one day. Some food ok, most bad. No decent alcohol at the bar, just really cheap stuff. Too far from town to eat out and avoid the bad buffet. We go to Cozumel at least once a year but will not be back to the Wyndham. For diving our favorite is Blue XTsea. Great small boats and they keep and rinse your gear. My wife loves not having to carry and wash gear each day. If they are booked or if you are staying at Blue Angel, the Blue Angel dive shop also has an excellent staff.

 

[fishi]

If you want cheap, go with Blue Angel.

They can stay at Wyndham for $526 for 2, in a ocean view room with a car. BA is $728. You paid to much for Wyndham if you think BA is cheaper. I have stayed at both, had a great time at both, but Wyndham has the beach and palm trees. To be able to do it for $200 less with a car, I would have to go with Wyndham on that one.

 

[1KWIK_69]

Just returned from a week at Wyndham, regular side not Sabor. Totally unimpressed. We are not picky but this place was just bad. If you want cheap, go with Blue Angel. If you want AI, go with Park Royal, better food and drinks. If you want fancy, go with El Cantil. The food, room, bar, and atmosphere left a lot to be deisred at Wyndham. No hot water 3 days, no water at all one day. Some food ok, most bad. No decent alcohol at the bar, just really cheap stuff. Too far from town to eat out and avoid the bad buffet. We go to Cozumel at least once a year but will not be back to the Wyndham. For diving our favorite is Blue XTsea. Great small boats and they keep and rinse your gear. My wife loves not having to carry and wash gear each day. If they are booked or if you are staying at Blue Angel, the Blue Angel dive shop also has an excellent staff.

I've stayed at Wyndham twice and have already booked again for May. I'm not saying the place is the best ever, but I like it. With AI you accept that the buffet will not be gourmet, and the liquer will be mostly domestic. We never had any problems with hot water or water in general at Wyndham, but I have had water problems at other hotels in Cozumel. Maybe it was just your bad luck on a lemon of a room?

Or maybe it's all in the eye of the beholder, but if so, I definitely know where the Ugly American Tourist reputation comes from.......

Edit:
My biggest complaints about Wyndham are that divers have to pay a small pier fee if they're using any other dive op besides Sand Dollar, the bars are a little under staffed, and the tourists in the Sabor section tend to hog the pool chairs by "reserving" them with a beach towel at 6am so it'll be theirs all day whether they're at the pool or not.

The rooms are nice and clean. The food in the non buffet restaurants is good for an AI, the facilities are very well kept and modern, and it's in a great location if you like short boat rides to the reef. I've stayed lots of places in Cozumel, and I've never had what I would call a truely bad experience at any of them. It all depends on what you're looking for. I'm going with Wyndham again this time because with the all inclusive we can just grab a quick breakfast before our dives, a quick coctail after our dives and then a nice lunch. With the all inclusive being so cheap, if we decide to eat a few meals off campus during the week, we won't feel like we're throwing away very much money.

 

[crossclamp]

I have never had a bad trip to Cozumel. I think my biggest dissapointment with Wyndham is I expected Wyndham quality. I would rate the resort as lower tier AI for Cozumel. I have stayed at worse places and still had a great trip. The purpose of my post is to allow people to make an informed decision. The location is great for short boat rides to the reef, but makes for a long taxi ride to town if you want avoid the buffet at night. If you factor in the cost of the taxi ride and dinner the per night cost is higher. It is always hard to judge if a negative post is one you would agree with or just someone with unrealistic expectations. I can have a great time at a place with problems as long as I know in advance and have considered that in my cost/comfort decision.

 

[bnajdrovsky]

We solved the taxi ride dilemma by simply renting a convertible bug from LessPay for the entire week we stayed at the Wyndham Sabor. Sure was nice to be able to go Mezcalitos and Coconuts a couple of times and be able to drive to town whenever we wanted.

 

[1KWIK_69]

The trick with Wyndham and most AI's is you have to make reservations early for the regular restaurants so you don't have to settle for the buffet at dinner. Vista Del Mar, Roberto's and Mosaic(If you're staying in Sabor) are all good. They also have a decent wine you can order with dinner. Tipping decent always helps make your service better, and I've found that if you don't treat the staff as just "the help" you'll make A few new friends and get even better service while you're at it.

As far as how Wyndham's AI compares to others in CZM, I've seen much worse trip reports on Travel Advisor for others in the same price range like Park Royal and Allegro than I have for Wyndham. I always take that stuff with a grain of salt though because often times people have unrealistic expectations or are just looking for something to gripe about. I would have tried out Allegro this coming trip if some others in our party weren't wanting to stay at the place I've already been and given good reports about.

If you want to upgrade to Presidente or one of the other higher end places, be ready to spend several hundred extra dollars per person.

If you're looking for a well kept resort where you don't have to worry about buying every beverage or traveling for breakfast before the dive boat picks you up, and you want the luxery of being able to just grab a lunch or dinner without traveling and paying extra, Wyndham is a great deal.

I still think it's unacceptable that they don't furnish a pier for diver guests to use at no extra charge. I don't use Sand Dollar just because I think it's ridiculous that they even charge you to use the wooden piers that are owned by Wyndham if you don't dive with them. I can see them expecting you to have to pay to use their nice concrete pier that they spent good money to replace after hurricane Wilma. To charge for the Wyndham owned wooden piers feels like extortion!

It was explained to me that Sand Dollar owns the "Consession" on the wooden Wyndham piers. That's just not right. At least a few of the other dive ops around Cozumel will pay your park fee for you to offset the pier charge at hotels that charge if you use another operator.

 

[Skinsfan1311]

Just booked the Sabor, for $766.00pp on Orbitz. That includes airfare, hotel, taxes and fees out of Baltimore.

That's just too good of a deal to pass up. We've stayed at AI's in the Caribbean and Mexico before, so we definitely have realistic expectations. OK food, ok drinks & ok service. If we get anything beyond that, then that's a plus.

We've found that treating the folks who work there with respect, and passing around a few tips, does wonder for the service and overall experience.

Thanks, again, everyone for all of your great advice!

A special thanks goes out to ZZZScuba, for all of your help!!

 

[1KWIK_69]

Just booked the Sabor, for $766.00pp on Orbitz. That includes airfare, hotel, taxes and fees out of Baltimore.

That's just too good of a deal to pass up. We've stayed at AI's in the Caribbean and Mexico before, so we definitely have realistic expectations. OK food, ok drinks & ok service. If we get anything beyond that, then that's a plus.

We've found that treating the folks who work there with respect, and passing around a few tips, does wonder for the service and overall experience.

Thanks, again, everyone for all of your great advice!

A special thanks goes out to ZZZScuba, for all of your help!!

Glad to hear it. When are you going? You might want to add it to one of the month threads so you can meet some fellow scuba boarders? We've had some good times in the past meeting new friends from here.

 

[zzzScuba]

My Pleasure... even if you are a "Skins" fan.:mooner:

Jeff.

 

[Skinsfan1311]

Glad to hear it. When are you going? You might want to add it to one of the month threads so you can meet some fellow scuba boarders? We've had some good times in the past meeting new friends from here.

Will do!!! Thanks!

Edit: We'll be there from 8/29 thru 9/5

My Pleasure... even if you are a "Skins" fan.:mooner:

Jeff.

Thanks...and Hail to the Redskins!!!!