hotel ideas

[brianandcat]

I am a diver and the wife is not. we want to go to coz for the first time next summer need some ideas where to stay.

 

[diveborg]

It will depend on what opens when, but the Presidente is usually one of the top 3 choices, especially if you do not want an All Inclusive. The Occidental Grand would be my choice if you do want an AI, or if you want close to town, Cozumel Palace.

 

[sharky60]

I agree, El Presidente is a very nice hotel, the price reflects that though. You will pay about the same price to stay non-AI at El Presidente as you would for most of the AI hotels, but it is worth it if you can swing it. Very nice hotel, great staff, service & food. I saw on the "offical recovery status" report that it is not scheduled to re-open unitl May? I think is what it said.

The Occidetal Grand is a VERY nice place, beautiful grounds, great food, not the same thing day in and day out on the buffets. The "reservation only" restaurants are really good, my wife had one the best shrimp dishes at the Mexican style restaurant she has ever had.
The rooms are large, and very comfortable, ours had both a tub and shower, which made it easy to rinse things off in the tub while my wife took a shower. Safe in room, small fridge with complementry sodas, water and cerveza and the maids would leave what ever you asked for, (please leave a tip for them).

The only drawback to OG is the location, if you want to go to town it's almost $20 one way. An alternate would be Cozumel Palace, it's brand new and probably comperable to OG in rooms and service. the Hotel Cozumel, is also close to town, nice hotel with a very large and beautiful pool area. I believe they have both AI and non-AI options.

Most of us long-timers don't do AI because of the great restaurants in town, in fact there are so many good places to eat, we usually aren't able to make all of them in a week, see Christi's restaurant list, here's a link http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=102714&highlight=christi's+restaurant+list

there are so many places to stay, it's really hard to recommend one without knowing what your vacation habbits are, if your wife likes to shop or at least venture out of the hotel grounds and window shop and if you want some good local flavor, stay closer to town. If she just wants to veg on the beach or by the pool, maybe the Grand would be a better choice. For you, your dive op will pick you up at whatever hotel pier you are staying at, this is of course if they have been rebuilt, if needed, by the time you get there.

most places from the Fiesta Americana/ El Presidente area north (twards town) are reasonable cab fares ($7+- one way and less), from there south the fares start getting expensive.

 

[rje634]

I am a diver and the wife is not. we want to go to coz for the first time next summer need some ideas where to stay.

We are heading to Coz 12/3 and will be staying at the Vista Del Mar which is in town. Look for my trip report when I get back and there will be a description of the hotel. We have also stayed at the Fiesta Americana which is both AI and non-AI, the hotel itself is nice, not extravagant but clean with nice pool and a man-made beach (the status of the beach is unknown considering Wilma) there is a dock to pick you up for diving and the in-house operator is Dive House which we used. Dive House was very convenient, split up the boats with same skill levels, we were on the advanced boat and at most there was 10 divers with two DMs on an afternoon dive. The norm was 4-6 divers on the morning dives. The only drawback is their boats are not the fastest, they are comfortable and have rear dive platforms though.
We only at lunch at the hotel, it was OK not great but OK. For dinner we went to town every night, the taxi was like 6 or 7 dollars each way. On the way back from town find a taxi on the street as opposed to the taxi line near Punt Langosta, it'll be much cheaper. If you want to know about restaurants search around this forum there is a ton of recommendations..
If you want to know more about the FA just ask.

 

[gratefuljames]

I love Casa Mexicana - best of both worlds (near Downtown and has all the services) and a killer breakfast buffet as well...I've stayed in probably 12 different places in Coz, and Casa Mex is my new favorite. Subject to Wilma closures (which I am not staying abreast of) if you want to go low budget, Costa Brava is great, and high budget you're already heard about. As a dive instructor with a non-diving spouse, I always try to find someplace where the diving will be going out from directly, because you are apart enough without having to leave early and get back later traveling from the load point. This will be a little more difficult now. I believe Villa Blanca and Cozumel Resort (or Hotel Cozumel, can't remember which one) will be the only shore hotels where that is still possible (but I could be WRONG on that - please check). Have a great trip!

 

[divadiver]

Does anyone have any suggestions about the various villas or private home rentals? I am traveling with several friends in January so we'd be looking for 2 or 3 BR's and enjoy having a kitchen and more room than just a hotel room. Beach front is not important tho it seems that many beach front properties may be in pretty good shape by January.

 

[SadiesMom]

Does anyone have any suggestions about the various villas or private home rentals? I am traveling with several friends in January so we'd be looking for 2 or 3 BR's and enjoy having a kitchen and more room than just a hotel room. Beach front is not important tho it seems that many beach front properties may be in pretty good shape by January.

Have you chosen a dive op yet? If you decide to dive with BlueXTSea, I know that Christi also has a great list of villas and private home rentals, so she could help you out with that...

When I went last May with a group totalling 8 (7 divers, one non-diver) we stayed in a private villa (Island House) and it was absolutely GORGEOUS (private pool, stunning private gardens, well appointed, very clean, daily maid service, etc.)! A couple of blocks from Chedraui (the big grocery store), easy walk to downtown (or a quick, cheap cab ride if we felt lazy), and a cheap cab ride to where Christi picked us up each morning at the Caribe Blu dock. We were able to cook the meals we wanted to at home and go out to enjoy the wonderful restaurants in town as well. Plus, I really enjoyed walking around the neighborhood - I always felt very safe and the locals were incredibly friendly - you couldn't pass *anyone* without getting an "Hola!" I'd highly recommend going the private villa route if you have a group - it's so much fun and I think you get a much better "flavor" of the island than in a hotel setting... JMHO.

 

[Brules]

I am a diver and the wife is not. we want to go to coz for the first time next summer need some ideas where to stay.

I too am a diver with a non diving wife, and my suggestion is an All Inclusive close to town. 1st trip ever we stayed at the old Plaza Las Glorious (sp?) and while a great place to stay, it was a real hassle for my wife to have to pay for food/drinks or anything she needed. The whole pay with a dollar, gets peso's in return just drove her crazy!

So on our next 4 trips we stayed at the Park Royal, which is an AI within 3-5 miles of town, and she and I loved it. Simply for the reason that you dont have to pay for anything, so while I am gone diving every morning, the wife could stroll down to breakfast, sit by the beach and drink margaritas, and not have to hassle with anything.

Now yes, AI food gets old after 7 days, thus why you take you wife to town EVERY night for dinner!!!! You dive, she gets to eat a great dinner and shop in town at night. Breakfast at the AI's is usually great, lunch is a snack to tide you over to dinner, and fre drinks.......woooohoooo can't beat that!

So anyways thats my $.02 worth! AI all the way for the non diving wifes!

We will be coming back in summer of 2006 and if the Park Royal isnt open yet we will be at the El Coz, actually we will be at the El Coz unless the newely remodeled PR is geting great reviews on trip advisor....I dont think I want to be a guinea pig for a week!

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

We need a diver/non-diving wife section, so we can all get together and go on dive trips...this way, the women have company and things to do while we're diving...of course this would also apply to diving women with non-diving husbands (before someone accuses me of being sexist). How about NDSO Forum (Non-Diving Significant Other)?