Why we hated the Park Royal....and left for the Grand

[ggunn]

I agree with the majority (so far) on the Devil's Throat dive. I've done it a couple of times, and it was cooler the first time than the second. Been there, done that. Now I'd just as soon dive somewhere else, like maybe right next door at Punta Sur Cathedral.

 

[robint]

You know, we have stayed at 6 different places on Cozumel over 7 trips in 10 yrs and finally settled on Scuba Club Cozumel for many of the reasons the OP noted. We like that it is a secluded little hotel/resort with no need to go out the gate unless you want. No loud, noisy drunks, cruise ship people or time share people... peace and quiet and dive dive eat dive eat... sleep. It is as close to a liveaboard you can get in Cozumel.

robin

 

[Ontwreckdiver]

After several days of this, I tried getting thru to Travelocity to see what could be done. After waiting on hold for over 20 minutes while paying international roaming charges, I hung up.

Things we learned this trip...
1. Travelocity is next to useless once you give them your money. I continued trying to work with them on a solution once we arrived back home to no avail. A supervisor never got back to me and I had to dispute it with AMEX. Travelocity sucks big-time!

This exactly is why we only book our vacation's with our local travel agent. If something goes wrong, you just phone them and tell them to fix it. When we find where we want to stay online, she will match the price . We got it for $589 p.p. (+taxes) all-inclusive including flight and tranfers.

This year was our first trip to Cozumel (or Mexico). We stayed at the Iberostar and liked it very much and will stay there again when we return to Cozumel. We met a couple that goes to Cozumel regularly. They have stayed at the Iberostar and the Grand. They said they prefer the Iberostar because they think the food is better?

I dove (non diving wife) with Scuba Tony. One day we had 5 divers and the rest of the time there were only 3. The last day we dove the Devils Throat and the wreck.
After diving the wreck he called a cab and paid for my ride back to the Iberostar.
I will dive with him again.

 

[diversmith]

You know, we have stayed at 6 different places on Cozumel over 7 trips in 10 yrs and finally settled on Scuba Club Cozumel for many of the reasons the OP noted. We like that it is a secluded little hotel/resort with no need to go out the gate unless you want. No loud, noisy drunks, cruise ship people or time share people... peace and quiet and dive dive eat dive eat... sleep. It is as close to a liveaboard you can get in Cozumel.

robin

You should try Anthony's Key then if you are inclined to dive Roatan...I think you would really like it! A lush tropical setting, nice waterfront cabanas, incredible sunsets while having a drink waiting for dinner to be served, kayaks on hand to get some exercise, one of the best dive op set-ups that I have ever seen with nice boats and very roomy lockers, very friendly dive staff, no reason to head out of the resort unless you want to check out the little town of West End. West End is pretty run down but very freindly people and nobody tries hustling you. We found some shirts and a couple of geniuine Cubans for good prices. Plus the dolphin snorkel and the shark dive are really awesome. AKR also has a nice pool/bar set-up that is a great place to relax after diving. Just slather on the cactus juice!!!!!!!!!!!

The Grand had the same type of feel...it's so nice you are perfectly content to just relax and hang out and dive your brains out

 

[diversmith]

Won't chime in about hotels since I don't frequent them but I'd like to clarify one thing: The OP enjoyed his experience with Dive Palancar and does not mention the operator Dive Paradise in his post.

Yes, we liked Dive Palancar....and you can't beat their package of 10 dives for 290.00 and every dive thereafter is 29.00....my wife was diving a little less than I was so we were able to combine all our dives to get the best overall deal.

Not sure what you mean about not mentioning Dive Paradise though

 

[DandyDon]

Not sure what you mean about not mentioning Dive Paradise though

The original poster said that he liked Dive Palancar boats better than Blue Bubble (aka Scuba Shack and Dive ECO-cozumel) and someone else said that Dive Paradise boats suck - while maybe true, caused confusion.

diversmith seems to offer some valid complaints, and there are risks to booking packages thru online sites. I've never used or suggested Travelocity as Sidestep seems to always find better deals, with Orbitz as an often better choice. It can be difficult to contest if the resort gives you a room as contracted, even tho it is far below expectations.

diversmith also left his argument open to other confusions and differences of opinions when he got a little carried away with his expanded list of complaints and comparison. Like others, I've done Devils Throat twice and don't ever want to see that cave again, and his whining about peacocks was silly I think, but many of his problems did sound significant. I would have been hostile about crappy rooms at those prices, or being approached more than once by time share jackals, but where you are in another country and - your possibilities are limited.

It's not easy to find reviews of Blue Bubble on this forum with that name being a little difficult to search, but what little I can find is not encouraging. I had assume the Park Royal was a nice property, just not the type I wanted to try, but it's good to have a variety of reviews for others to read.

 

[betsyinczm]

.........because Billindenver misunderstood you to be talking about Dive Paradise......(looks like he has since edited his post).........I'm no fan of the PR and glad you enjoyed moving to the Grand, but I also, like someone else, would sure love to know where you saw "beggars"......please let's not exaggerate here.

 

[DandyDon]

I think his used of the word beggars was a misstatement to try to let slide. I have never seen one on Coz, but the junk salesmen seen at the AIs I tried long ago and timeshare jackals could remind one of street beggars seen in some other locations.

 

[robint]

You should try Anthony's Key then if you are inclined to dive Roatan...I think you would really like it! A lush tropical setting, nice waterfront cabanas, incredible sunsets while having a drink waiting for dinner to be served, kayaks on hand to get some exercise, one of the best dive op set-ups that I have ever seen with nice boats and very roomy lockers, very friendly dive staff, no reason to head out of the resort unless you want to check out the little town of West End. West End is pretty run down but very freindly people and nobody tries hustling you. We found some shirts and a couple of geniuine Cubans for good prices. Plus the dolphin snorkel and the shark dive are really awesome. AKR also has a nice pool/bar set-up that is a great place to relax after diving. Just slather on the cactus juice!!!!!!!!!!!

The Grand had the same type of feel...it's so nice you are perfectly content to just relax and hang out and dive your brains out

Actually we have been to Roatan and loved Cocoview Resort on the other side of island. If we were to go for a 2 week trip, we might split it between the two, but CCV is still our first choice.

robin

 

[halocline]

West End is pretty run down but very freindly people and nobody tries hustling you.

Having spent many weeks in Cozumel around town and an entire summer in the West End, I can say with authority that the hustle is much worse in the West End, if you include taxis. Granted it can get fierce right in the center of San Miguel, though.

I've also dove with blue bubble many times, and will continue to do so. Their boats are fine; your wife wondering if they would get back says a lot more about her experience than it does about their boats. I couldn't imagine enjoying the bigger cattleboats, but to each his own.

Anthony's Key is the one of the largest, most 'corporate' resorts in the caribbean; it is a very well run outfit, but exactly the kind of place I'd want to avoid on my vacation to a different country.