Just got back from 5 nights at Blue Angel, our first time to say there. We tend to stay at budget to intermediate hotels and our expectations are low cost, clean rooms, safe environment, basic utilities (toilets flush, showers work, hot water), friendly staff, and wifi.
The cost was super cheap, about $70/nt with special sale and orbitz promo. I wouldn't count on or expect that rate again. I think $90-100 is more typical and still a good price. The place seemed more than half empty which was surprising since they have a loyal following and are booked out at times so maybe it was just an unusually low demand period. A for price.
The rooms are clean and spacious with sliding doors onto a balcony with great oceanfront views. Many tourist locations charge out the wazoo for that alone. Never saw the housecleaners but every day we returned from diving to find a clean room, fresh towels, empty trash cans, and empty tip envelope. I'm not a picky sleeper and the beds were fine for me. There is a room safe in the bathroom under the counter. There is a mini fridge stocked with beer, soda, and water at reasonable costs. You can store your own stuff in there too. They ask you to not put toilet paper in the toilet which many Americans find disturbing but not much they can do about it without huge infrastructure upgrade, at least the waste can has a lid to keep it out of sight and smell. AC was kickass and cooled room quickly so we no hesitation to set it high (hot) when we left in the morning knowing we could cool it when needed. You can hear street traffic but not a big deal for us. Closing the bathroom door helped. There are 4 floors and no elevators so if you aren't up for stairs then this place isn't for you. Water pressure was low and hot water was not very hot. TV was antiquated but I seldom watch TV at all in Coz. A- for room.
(Feature Request: would be really nice though is a flat panel TV I could easily connect with my laptop/camera to look at photos and videos.)
Amenities. Wifi in the room was flaky and didn't work at all first two nights. This is unacceptable and rather silly when you consider how cheap routers and repeaters are and that they manage to put several hi-res color security cams on every floor. If just a few guests are deterred from revisiting you've lost money. And don't tell me 'just disconnect'. That's my choice. I'd like to sit on the balcony, have a beer, and browse facebook or check the sports scores. Wifi in the restaurant was ok. Kayaks were not available. Or rather, the doubles kayak was not. There is one double and one single. Not much point if my partner and I can't enjoy it together. We could not make sense of the explanation. Don't advertise an amenity if you cannot provide it. C on this one.
Staff was always pleasant and spoke basic English but not fluent enough to resolve complex issues. Was unable to understand issue with room wifi beyond "broken, maybe fixed tomorrow". Or why kayaks not available. Apparently checkout begins at 7am and nobody is available that can do it earlier. My partner had a 8am flight from Czm and I had a 11:30am flight from Cun. It worked out for us both since things went smooth but I would have felt more comfy about my bag drag being on the 7am ferry than the 8am ferry.
Not their fault. We're in Mexico. But would be nice if someone on site was fluent given the number of guests that speak English. B+
We did not use Blue Angel for diving. It would have been really convenient but their trip prices are too high. They want $90 plus 16% tax on multi-trips and that doesn't even include rinsing and storing your gear. Diving with them would have cost us an extra $300 total and the only thing it would have got us is $40 saved in tank rental fees. I only saw two other divers using them, several being picked up by other boats. I won't grade this but I think they are "missing the boat" here.
Diving facilities are good. The pier is available for all pickups which is a pleasant surprise considering they have their own dive boats. I'm sure they would prefer you use their boats and hope they encourage that by making their boats more attractive in pricing and services rather than banning competition. Rinse tanks are available and water seemed clean. Drying racks and camera bucket. We didn't use the dive lockers and not even sure if we were eligible to but you'd need your own bike log to semi-secure them. They are just crates in a concrete cutout with eyebolts to run a lock. Even with a lock they wouldn't be fully secure. Tanks are available 24/7. Dive shop closes at 5pm so I guess it's the honor system after that. B+
Restaurant is excellent. I had seen some say they are high priced but didn't think so. Breakfasts are included. You have a dozen or more excellent choices but the Blue Angel Breakfast worked for me (2 eggs, pile of bacon, tasty papas, and toast) Dinners were mostly $10-12, most local beers $3 and mixed drinks $7-8. Happy hour 4pm-6:30pm was 2 for 1 on all drinks and 2 for $10 on appetizers (normally $7-12 each). They call them "mini items" but are generous portions. Both dinners and appies were tasty. Service is quick. One nice touch is you can charge everything to your room number (including tips and dive services) and settle up at checkout. You sign a ticket and get a receipt each time, then checkout will give you a print of itemized charges to verify. Easy A.
Overall I'd give it a B+ but things to improve that could bump it to A and wouldn't cost big bucks are better room wifi, more secure dive lockers, and early checkout.
The cost was super cheap, about $70/nt with special sale and orbitz promo. I wouldn't count on or expect that rate again. I think $90-100 is more typical and still a good price. The place seemed more than half empty which was surprising since they have a loyal following and are booked out at times so maybe it was just an unusually low demand period. A for price.
The rooms are clean and spacious with sliding doors onto a balcony with great oceanfront views. Many tourist locations charge out the wazoo for that alone. Never saw the housecleaners but every day we returned from diving to find a clean room, fresh towels, empty trash cans, and empty tip envelope. I'm not a picky sleeper and the beds were fine for me. There is a room safe in the bathroom under the counter. There is a mini fridge stocked with beer, soda, and water at reasonable costs. You can store your own stuff in there too. They ask you to not put toilet paper in the toilet which many Americans find disturbing but not much they can do about it without huge infrastructure upgrade, at least the waste can has a lid to keep it out of sight and smell. AC was kickass and cooled room quickly so we no hesitation to set it high (hot) when we left in the morning knowing we could cool it when needed. You can hear street traffic but not a big deal for us. Closing the bathroom door helped. There are 4 floors and no elevators so if you aren't up for stairs then this place isn't for you. Water pressure was low and hot water was not very hot. TV was antiquated but I seldom watch TV at all in Coz. A- for room.
(Feature Request: would be really nice though is a flat panel TV I could easily connect with my laptop/camera to look at photos and videos.)
Amenities. Wifi in the room was flaky and didn't work at all first two nights. This is unacceptable and rather silly when you consider how cheap routers and repeaters are and that they manage to put several hi-res color security cams on every floor. If just a few guests are deterred from revisiting you've lost money. And don't tell me 'just disconnect'. That's my choice. I'd like to sit on the balcony, have a beer, and browse facebook or check the sports scores. Wifi in the restaurant was ok. Kayaks were not available. Or rather, the doubles kayak was not. There is one double and one single. Not much point if my partner and I can't enjoy it together. We could not make sense of the explanation. Don't advertise an amenity if you cannot provide it. C on this one.
Staff was always pleasant and spoke basic English but not fluent enough to resolve complex issues. Was unable to understand issue with room wifi beyond "broken, maybe fixed tomorrow". Or why kayaks not available. Apparently checkout begins at 7am and nobody is available that can do it earlier. My partner had a 8am flight from Czm and I had a 11:30am flight from Cun. It worked out for us both since things went smooth but I would have felt more comfy about my bag drag being on the 7am ferry than the 8am ferry.
Not their fault. We're in Mexico. But would be nice if someone on site was fluent given the number of guests that speak English. B+
We did not use Blue Angel for diving. It would have been really convenient but their trip prices are too high. They want $90 plus 16% tax on multi-trips and that doesn't even include rinsing and storing your gear. Diving with them would have cost us an extra $300 total and the only thing it would have got us is $40 saved in tank rental fees. I only saw two other divers using them, several being picked up by other boats. I won't grade this but I think they are "missing the boat" here.
Diving facilities are good. The pier is available for all pickups which is a pleasant surprise considering they have their own dive boats. I'm sure they would prefer you use their boats and hope they encourage that by making their boats more attractive in pricing and services rather than banning competition. Rinse tanks are available and water seemed clean. Drying racks and camera bucket. We didn't use the dive lockers and not even sure if we were eligible to but you'd need your own bike log to semi-secure them. They are just crates in a concrete cutout with eyebolts to run a lock. Even with a lock they wouldn't be fully secure. Tanks are available 24/7. Dive shop closes at 5pm so I guess it's the honor system after that. B+
Restaurant is excellent. I had seen some say they are high priced but didn't think so. Breakfasts are included. You have a dozen or more excellent choices but the Blue Angel Breakfast worked for me (2 eggs, pile of bacon, tasty papas, and toast) Dinners were mostly $10-12, most local beers $3 and mixed drinks $7-8. Happy hour 4pm-6:30pm was 2 for 1 on all drinks and 2 for $10 on appetizers (normally $7-12 each). They call them "mini items" but are generous portions. Both dinners and appies were tasty. Service is quick. One nice touch is you can charge everything to your room number (including tips and dive services) and settle up at checkout. You sign a ticket and get a receipt each time, then checkout will give you a print of itemized charges to verify. Easy A.
Overall I'd give it a B+ but things to improve that could bump it to A and wouldn't cost big bucks are better room wifi, more secure dive lockers, and early checkout.
