Scuba ClubCoz and airfare from DC area

[Barrod]

Thanks for all the great replies - Looks like a lot more people are coming now.... I'll start a new thread on the change of plans (i.e. amount of people coming).

 

[Mahidoodi]

Barrod;
I just booked a trip to CZM from IAD for end of OCT for $960 PP, not including diving. It is for 7 nights at an AI hotel. Here are some details and why I chose my deal. The flight leaves at 6:30 AM with a connection at DFW and arrives at CZM at 11:40 AM. Not bad since you still have half of your day left. It leaves CZM at 1:40 PM and gets back at 10:30 PM. The trip is for 7 nights not 5. I have stayed at SCC before and have had good experience with them, but I am staying at Iberostar which offers more variety of food and drinks are included. If you include about $300 for diving in my case the total cost is around $1260. Also, I am not hauling bags to the bus station and to the Ferry and then again to the resort and repeat back. This will be my 9th trip to CZM and I have never taken the Cancun route. Just my 2 cents. I hope you have a great trip.

 

[luckydiver]

Barrod;
I just booked a trip to CZM from IAD for end of OCT for $960 PP, not including diving. It is for 7 nights at an AI hotel. Here are some details and why I chose my deal. The flight leaves at 6:30 AM with a connection at DFW and arrives at CZM at 11:40 AM. Not bad since you still have half of your day left. It leaves CZM at 1:40 PM and gets back at 10:30 PM. The trip is for 7 nights not 5. I have stayed at SCC before and have had good experience with them, but I am staying at Iberostar which offers more variety of food and drinks are included. If you include about $300 for diving in my case the total cost is around $1260. Also, I am not hauling bags to the bus station and to the Ferry and then again to the resort and repeat back. This will be my 9th trip to CZM and I have never taken the Cancun route. Just my 2 cents. I hope you have a great trip.

will you be diving through them or is there any nearby competition for the diving side of the trip? Never been close that part of the world but interested in trying the area out at least once.

Hotel Cozumel | Iberostar Cozumel | All inclusive hotel

 

[Mahidoodi]

will you be diving through them or is there any nearby competition for the diving side of the trip? Never been close that part of the world but interested in trying the area out at least once.

Hotel Cozumel | Iberostar Cozumel | All inclusive hotel

The dive operation at Iberostar is Dressel Divers. I have been diving with them every time I stayed at Iberostar, I think 5 times now. I have had very good experience with them and I have written couple of trip reports. There are many fine dive operations in Cozumel who will pick you up at Iberostar if you choose to go with them. I believe there is a small fee depending on the dive operation. I like Iberostar for its close proximity to many dive sites.

 

[Fireworkswi]

We did the bag and drag in August. That was our first time to Cozumel. So I am not claiming to be no expert on the logistics side of things. Our experience was: Arrived in Cancun took the bus to Playa ferry. $10 bucks/person. The ferry tickets were $13/person. Then we waited for the next ferry at Senor's. That was a $50 tab for 2 people. On the way home we did the ferry and bus back to Cancun airport. Once we got there we had lunch. Another $50 tab. For us that ended up costing $71/person. With the bag and drag it added roughly 3 hours each way to travel days. On the way home not such a big deal, but on the way down we did not get to our Hotel until 5-6pm.

It is costing us an extra $250/person to fly direct Non-stop in December. However, our flight is 4 hours now and we arrive at 11am. We get to dive that afternoon. So that ends up being an extra $179/person to fly direct to Cozumel. But we don't have the cost of staying an 8th night to get 7 days diving. I know diving everyday is not for everyone. Or I suppose you could do a twilight dive if doing the bag and drag that evening. But after the bag and drag it was straight to the bar for me.

 

[cvchief]

The dive operation at Iberostar is Dressel Divers. I have been diving with them every time I stayed at Iberostar, I think 5 times now. I have had very good experience with them and I have written couple of trip reports. There are many fine dive operations in Cozumel who will pick you up at Iberostar if you choose to go with them. I believe there is a small fee depending on the dive operation. I like Iberostar for its close proximity to many dive sites.

The Ibero is on my sucky list. They charge your dive boat $60 a week to pick up there. That is one diver or 10 or whatever. It is a crappy practice and everyone should consider it before booking at the Iberostar. They are trying to squeeze every dime and this practice WILL hurt the small ops and move Cozumel towards bigger cattle ops if allowed to continue.

We did a pickup at the Iberostar last week. They have a pier nazi out there pestering every boat the hits the dock. We had to actually produce a receipt because their records on the dock were incorrect. I also watched another dive boat maneuver close to shore and let their customers wade to shore. If I HAD to stay there I would wade out to the boat.

And a report from some fellow divers on the boat was that the Occidental Grand's food is better than Ibero these days.

 

[KJHorton]

Can you travel on a Friday? We are flying from DCA to CZM and traveling Friday - Friday because it is a lot less expensive than traveling on the weekend. I think we saved $200 each.