Spending money in Coz?

[Cando]

I was wondering if anyone out there could give me an idea of roughly how much spending money (Peso's) I would need for a weeks stay in coz?

Obviously flights, hotel (with breakfast) and diving is paid for, so I was just wondering how much one would need to spend on food (ie: lunch and dinner, nothing fancy) for a week, and maybe a few extra pesos for a taxi ride or two etc?

would 1,500 Pesos be enough? more? less? What is the price of an average meal in coz anyway?

Also, would you advise against using credit cards?

Lastly, can anyone tell me roughly how much it would cost to rent a scooter per day?

Thanks, just trying to figure out how much extra money to bring, any help is appreciated

 

[UndrWatrDan]

I was in Cozumel for 5 days about 3 wks ago. For meals, taxi's, DM tips, souveniers etc, I spent about $300 cash and probably another $100 on my CC. I used my CC in some of the restaraunts, but that was about it. You can spend alot more though if you'd like too! Meal cost, hmmmm, can be cheap to expensive depends on your taste. I thought the cost was comparable to here in Texas.

 

[glbirch]

Wife and I usually budget around $50/day/person for Cozumel for food, drinks, shopping, etc, but it can really vary depending on how fancy you like to eat and how much buying you plan on doing.

In case you aren't aware there are several bank machines just off the main square, so if you have a bank card/credit card you can always take out more cash once you get there. We usually wait until the end of the trip to do our buying, so we have an idea of how much extra cash we will need for everything that we have priced out. Then I just withdraw a little more than the estimate (keeps the bank charges down, cheap SOB that I am) and we're good to go.

 

[Valwood1]

Your diving may not be completely paid for, since you might wish to tip the DM et al on the dive boat -- I imagine that you'll find most people do that. A common number seems to be $10US for a two-tank dive if you're happy with the service. Of course, there's certainly no need to tip for lousy service.

1,500 pesos is about $150US. That don't go too far, even in Mexico.

You can use US dollars virtually everywhere, so Americans don't have a great need to convert to pesos. Perhaps, some of the Canadian members on the board can relate whether Canadian dollars are well-accepted.

 

[Titletowndiver]

Would 1,500 Pesos be enough? more? less? What is the price of an average meal in coz anyway?

Also, would you advise against using credit cards?

Lastly, can anyone tell me roughly how much it would cost to rent a scooter per day?

$150 for a week isnt going to go very far....with cabs, tipping (bartenders, waitstaff, DM's) drinks, meals etc... You may want to bring a bit more.

I use my credit cards in Coz all the time. I've never had any problems. I try to use CC's for any bigger purchases (like extra diving) so as not to burn up all my cash. Be advised that if you do need to use the ATM, there may be a large surcharge ($10 or so if I recall correctly)

Scooter rentals are around $30 / day.

 

[IowaDiver]

Ditto on the tips above. You can choose to eat at the small in home restaurants which are cheap with lots of food or go for the other end. We went to the grocery store and purchased food very reasonably. Also they were more than happy to take dollars instead of pesos. You can go to the grocery store, buy something and they'll give you american or pesos in change.
Credit isn't a problem if you go to larger restaurants, stores, or shops. Since they now have cruise ships coming in daily they try to be set up to take anyone's money.

 

[glbirch]

When I was down there last month, I pulled out my CC to pay for some diving and was told that there would be a 10% surcharge if I wanted to charge the dives. Not sure what was up with that. Anyone know?

 

[ggunn]

I was wondering if anyone out there could give me an idea of roughly how much spending money (Peso's) I would need for a weeks stay in coz?

Obviously flights, hotel (with breakfast) and diving is paid for, so I was just wondering how much one would need to spend on food (ie: lunch and dinner, nothing fancy) for a week, and maybe a few extra pesos for a taxi ride or two etc?

would 1,500 Pesos be enough? more? less? What is the price of an average meal in coz anyway?

Also, would you advise against using credit cards?

Lastly, can anyone tell me roughly how much it would cost to rent a scooter per day?

Thanks, just trying to figure out how much extra money to bring, any help is appreciated

You can eat dinner for 5 bucks US, but you could easily spend 50; depending on where you go and what you choose. Figuring 1500 pesos as US$150, you could probably stretch it to make do, but you'll probably wish you had brought more.

Lots of folks I know use credit cards with no probs, but I have heard of some instances of fraud and bill padding. I use traveler's cheques.

You can get a scooter for $30 per day, maybe less, but consider that there are a lot of scooter crashes on Cozumel by gringos who have little or no prior experience at driving them, compounded by alcohol. If you are inexperienced at driving such a vehicle, and having a few beers figures in your plans, I'd recommend against renting one. Taxis are cheap and plentiful.

 

[midwestdvr]

If you like to shop and you have a lot of friends and family to buy souvenirs for, 1500 pesos wouldn't last very long. Fortunately, they have ATM machines near the shopping areas just in case.

As for the scooter, I paid $25 per day but it wasn't very fast which was a good thing coz the Cozumel god of pavements decided to say hello to me. Escaped with some scrapes but cost me about US$80 for damages and a sore ego. But, I had a blast touring the island.

 

[Texas Diver]

Hey:

If you are going to use your credit card on Cozumel call your card company now and find out if they are going to charge you a fee for using the card outside the United States or charging things in another currency or whatever else they dream up that could cost you. Some charge as much as 4%. No sense giving them money you don't have to.

If you intend on using your plastic make sure your card company knows they are going to see charges from Cozumel for the period of time you are there. That way they will not block your legitimate charges because they think they may be fraudulent. Make sure you also tell them the date you are leaving Cozumel so they can block charges made after you leave, just in case your account number is stolen. Also make sure you keep your credit card receipts in case you find charges on your card in excess of what you remember charging. Of course the usual precautions against identy theft apply. Do not let anyone take your card out of your site, although they can still steal your account number right in front of you.

Consider this: If you have the liquidity just use cash or travelers checks and only use the plastic in an emergency. If you don't use the card you don't have to worry about any of the stuff I am warning you about!