Cozumel Palace Resort re Aqua Safari

[jmz]

Hello Everyone,

Im planning a trip to Cozumel and staying at Cozumel Palace Resort. My family and i spent a week last year (2012) and used Aqua World with the credits they offered. We had a great time !
I just found out through a friend that Aqua World is NO longer the dive shop and Aqua Safari took its place. I was told that Aqua Safari packs their boats to 25 divers and the staff are unprofessional. Has anyone on scuba board experience bad results with Aqua Safari ? I prefer to spend my money else where then to have a bad dive day(s). Any input is appreciated.

 

[deborahdelamar]

Don't know the source of this information -- I was very surprised by it! Aqua Safari's boats have capacity for 8 - 18 divers depending on the boat and there is no room to fit tanks for more. Aqua Safari has been operating in Cozumel since 1966 -- many of us at SB and many of the dive pros on the island -- trained there. The DM's and instructors have been with the company for years -- they are pros who love diving, care about their customers, and share their knowledge of marine life. I've heard of no changes in the dive program, boats or protocols since the op was sold to Palace. Nor have I heard any complaints about the operation. What'd I miss?!

 

[nodakdive]

jmz, i tkink u have your aquas reversed. used to be safari, now it's world.

 

[catskill diver]

Aqua safari as I know / knew was and is Sergio S and family. Last time in Coz we ad a great experience with 6 -8 on board each day. Surface interval was one of the best on sea or shore and the lunch his wife made first rate, I tried contacting them this summer REPEATEDLY from their website with no response before this years booking with others.

---------- Post added October 21st, 2013 at 07:36 AM ----------

just found this on trip advisor - web site looks to have changed and so does the ownership... nothing last forever
English first French first Spanish first Any

km4444

Ann Arbor, Michigan

1 review

1 helpful vote


“Purchased by a corporation and it shows”

Reviewed August 19, 2013
We dove with Aqua Safari many times in the past, but not for quite a while, and not since they were bought out by the Palace chain (owners of Cozumel Palace). The diving staff is still very nice and professional, but there are a number of changes that make this place feel like it's being run by a suit in an office somewhere - a suit who has definitely never gone diving.

First and worst, they no longer have anyplace to store your dive gear overnight. The full length lockers are gone, replaced by these ridiculous wooden cubbies with no ventilation. Anything left in there is going to stink the next day! So everyone staying at the "Palace" lugs their gear up to their room each day. I'm not one to complain about carrying my own gear to the boat, setting it up myself etc - I think that's part of diving and I enjoy doing it. But I can think of better things to do with our in-room jacuzzi than fill it with dive gear.

Another change for the worse is that you can also no longer rent a few tanks and go out in front of the hotel to check out your gear, make sure everything survived the flight, work out buoyancy and weights. They just refuse to do it, no explanation. We met many people who ended up walking down to Scuba Club Cozumel with their gear and renting tanks there for an equipment check, which is just ridiculous.

And since you cant rent tanks without getting onto one of their boats, and since there's no where to store them even if you could, you also cant dive at night in front of the hotel. That used to be my absolute favorite part of the vacation when the "Palace" was still Plaza Las Glorias, and it was one of the main reasons we splurged on that location rather than just staying somewhere else. Not only dont they let you do this anymore, the desk staff in the shop (not the dive staff) are basically jerks about it. My husband and I started calling the shop The Place of No, they were so rude and smirky about everything.

Most experienced divers and everyone who has dove w AQ before the corporate takeover is pretty unhappy about these changes - on top of overcrowded boats and the fact that you can only use your resort credits to dive in the a.m. - and a good deal of the boat ride chit chat consists of complaining and speculating about what kind of idiot decided you dont need a gear storage place, and that divers cant go out in front of the hotel with a tank or two. I felt really bad for the dive staff because none of this is in their control and I'm sure they're the ones who feel it most directly in lost tips and customers.

Finally, they seem to have some kind of weird money grab set up between the staff who help you manage your resort credits and the dive shop, where anyone who hasnt been diving really recently, but not within a specific window of time and certainly not one in writing anywhere, has to take their $75 refresher course, during the afternoon (that's why you cant use your credits to dive in the afternoon, they want to fill the boat with people who are paying $75 a pop), IF there is available space. This is managed so badly it is a joke. If they're really concerned about safety they would have a clear policy and would enforce it consistently, but we heard many different scenarios playing out in The Place of No, and basically it seemed to come down to how mad you got, or how quickly you can lie, whether or not they roped you into this course. If they really cared about safety, which they claim, then resort credits should cover this course.

This all seems really foolish on the part of the Palace corporate goon squad, because Cozumel is a dive destination first and foremost, and if they cant get that right, then people will go elsewhere. No one is going to go to Cozumel just for the luxury of the all inclusive experience, which they do pretty well, when you can just as easily stay south of Cancun and have easy access to so many awesome non-diving activities.

I really hope this place wises up before they run this business right into the ground.

Visited August 2013

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[diverken374]

jmz, i tkink u have your aquas reversed. used to be safari, now it's world.

I think there are a few people getting their Aquas confused.
The palace had Aqua Safari then Aqua World and then the Palace bought Aqua Safari and it is the dive op as Deb has posted.
Catskill Diver the Aqua you are referring to I believe is Aquatic Sports Aquatic Sports and Expeditions
It is a lovely Mom and Pop outfit run by Sergio Sandoval SR. and Jr. It is still operating the Swordfish and last I heard Sergio Sr. was guiding despite rumours that he is going to retire. His wife was still making her wonderful lunches.

 

[Christi]

Thanks Ken - several points of confusion in this thread by a few - you correctly cleared it up!

Just to add my 2 cents:
Aqua Safari was the original shop at the Palace and formerly Plaza Las Glorias. Excellent operation and staff.

Several years ago, Palace brought in Aqua WORLD, which was the home of the 30 divers on board, 30 minute dives and revolving door of DM's.

In the past year or year and a half (Deb can correct my dates) - Aqua Safari once again became the in house operation for the Palace and recently, the operation was purchased by the Palace. Although the review above was made since the new ownership, obviously.

I cannot speak as to how it is now being operated under the new ownership and honestly don't know how much of the original wonderful staff is still there.

Sergio Sandoval and son are Aquatic Sports, never Aqua World or Agua Safari - completely different operation!

---------- Post added October 21st, 2013 at 01:36 PM ----------

jmz, i tkink u have your aquas reversed. used to be safari, now it's world.

It's been back to Aqua Safari for over a year now

 

[PatW]

I was at the Palace in April. We dove with a small operation in the morning. We dove with the current operation in the afternoon. They used pretty large boats about 20 capacity. The dive was close and always Paradise reef. Most of the divers were neophytes and went in with 2 dive masters. The more experienced divers had their own dive master. My wife and I had essentially had a private dive master twice. He was quite happy to take us out into the turtle grass to look for pipe fish and other small critters. In my limited experience with the operation, everything was fine

 

[nodakdive]

I stand corrected. Didn't know about the Palace's purchase of Aqua Safari.
-Blair

 

[catskill diver]

I stand corrected as well on the names and no wonder the Aquatic sports website looked different this morning - I should probably finish the first cup of coffee before replying!
Checking just now Sergio's site is however the one I emailed repeatedly with no response.

 

[Sharkygill]

We stayed next door at El Cantil in Mid-July this year, which has no onsite dive op (had a great time). I walked next door to Aqua Safari at Cozumel Place to try to arrange some extra boat dives, and was told no. Shore tanks, night dives, again no and no. After those three questions, they stated the property was all inclusive, so they would not serve anyone not staying on site. I won't fault them for declining service, but rather for the same attidude as described in the trip advisor review referenced in an earlier post. I plan actually avoid them even if they happen to be servicing a location I will be staying at on future visits.

That said, those coming back from diving look like they had a good time, so you will probably be ok, as long as you don't need anything outside what is expressly offered.