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BlowBubbles
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Great information so far - we are so appreciative of your experiences and insight!
Advice & Recommendations for Cozumel Dive + Relaxation Trip
- Thread starter BlowBubbles
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However Iberostar is far South. Far away from cruise ship tourests and town. You said you wanted to be close to action (Town?). Iberostar is not close to town. Just the opposite. It is close to the good reefs, far from any cruise ships.
You can always cab it or rent a car to go to town with the masses of tourists.
I am the opposite, I don't want to see a cruise ship.
You can always cab it or rent a car to go to town with the masses of tourists.
I am the opposite, I don't want to see a cruise ship.
ranada
Registered
Ok beware this is a long long post but I got lots of info to share. I have been going to Cozumel for diving since 1985 with a stop for several years then started going back yearly in 2011. When my husband and I went back we took our grown God daughter and was wondering why the heck we took so long to come back. We had forgotten how wonderful Cozumel and the people of the island are.
In the last 8 years, I have stayed at Hotel Cozumel(HC) and Grand Park Royal (PR) multiple times, Occidental Grand (OG) and some other non AI's. hands down if you are staying at a AI PR is way better than HC.
Hotel Cozumel: I was not happy with their food at all, we like to eat breakfast/lunch at hotel and do supper in town on some nights. HC does not have much in form of entertainment but its a walk to town, no ocean front pool or bar,just a huge pool in the middle of the property with wonderful bartenders. You have Dive Paradise that has been there forever, and are a very good and reputable dive operator next door.
Park Royal: At PR you get a great entertainment value, they have a shopping center associated with it you can actually get to via the hotel grounds or street. They have a huge amphitheater for nightly shows. 2 Infinity pools with a swim up bar by the beach, 1 huge pool by the hotel with a bikini bar, a night club, beach volleyball, snack bar, coffee/ice cream shop (highly recommend the coconut icecream), 2 or 3 specialty restaurants that take reservations, and something always going on. If you bring a yeti cup the bartenders will use it to make your drink vs little plastic cups with no complaint. Also we are redbull vodka drinkers so the oxxo store down the street sells redbull and you can give it to your bartender and he will keep it for you. Score!!..
PR dive shop: I see mixed review on the associated dive shop called "the dive shop" and they use Aquaworld dive crew, they have big boats with big crowds but they make sure to keep enough dive masters on the boat to separate you into smaller groups. I have had nothing but great experiences with them. The only thing I have to complain about is the dive shop did not do shore dives from there unless you have a guide. We wanted to go shore dive and was like what when did that start. grrrr. but even though it was a sunday and everyone had gone home one of the dive masters interrupted his day to drive to work and take us on a shore dive he was so nice and pointed out so many things to us. So even though it was annoying to us, as we had made shore dives in that area for many years, he made it great. So no complaints and we have dove with them about for about 4 trips.
Occidental Grand: Last year we went to OG, Our group was not happy staying that far out, it was super subdued and none of our group found the other vacationers very friendly. The grounds are way spread out so a long walk everywhere but very pretty. I was not thrilled with the dive op but only because we were restricted to a set dive schedule with no flexibility of locations. Some of our favorite dives were not on their schedule because they only dive the Palancar area. Other than that the dive master we had most days was great. Except......
We had one that we spent most of our dive looking for him, he just disappeared, we finally were like oh well, lets follow the current and enjoy the dive, he will show up somewhere. Thankfully we are all experienced divers with 3 of us being advanced divers, who looked out for our newer ones, but if you were new to cozumel that would have been a very uncomfortable experience.
We like to go to town, which is about $7-8 cab ride from PR to party, hit Woodys for live music and food, or one of the many other places in town to hang out, or just party at the onsite nightclub, then hit the streets for 2 am tacos, you won't find a cab to take you to town past 9 way out at OG, and we don't do heavy drinking and driving in Texas much less Mexico. I am Heading back to PR October 31-November 9 for some diving and dia de los muertos celebrations. If your days are flexible come join the party group at park royal, there are 7 of us. Well be the ones with the Team Cozumel cups. Oh and Aquaworld goes out at 11-1130 am so you don't have to get up at the crack of dawn, or go to bed at 10 on vacay.
ranada
Registered
oh... coconuts my favorite. that is always our Friday drive day stop before we fly out on Saturday.. Its a grand tradition.
Brett Rusnock
New
In late November, 2018, we dove with a great group called Scuba Doo. They will keep and clean your gear and suits daily, and for a very small price will wash all your suits in Fabuloso and dry them on the last day before you leave so they smell clean! We stayed at the Cozumel Palace. Kind of small but very nice and relaxing.
For some reason I missed your post and just happened upon it. On the one hand, I cannot believe that this post is over 2 weeks old and only has 2 pages of responses. I would have guessed at least 10-14 pages by now, given all of the passionate Cozumel contingent here on the BOARD. On the other hand, I do get the lack of response.
You have posed questions and criteria and desires that probably have most people mystified and scratching their heads as to how to respond. Speaking for myself, it sent my head spinning in many directions. Not a bad thing-- actually a good thing and really got me thinking!
Based on everything you have said in the original post, I would probably look into a sweet deal (which can be found online) and stay at Cozumel Palace for the entire week. It is an all inclusive and it definitely meets your Hilton, Marriott, Shangri-La standards. It is basically downtown and meets your desire to be where things are busy and happening day and night-- although October is fairly quiet by Cozumel standards.
But Coz Palace also has its own entertainment and things going on at night. There are a few dive operators that will pick you up and drop you off from Cozumel Palace.. I have my favorite. For your 4 days of non diving, you can still snorkel from Cozumel Palace and you can take day trips down south to hit some beach clubs and snorkel, check out Punta Sur, traverse the island, etc. and then you always get to come back to the Palace and enjoy some luxury.
ranada posted some good info for you. i have also stayed at the park royal. it certainly is a very nice place. and the food was excellent. but to be fair it is hard to compare the park royal with hoyel coz. pr is quite a bit more expensive and is rated a lot higher. but given equal costs (if you found a bargain) i would agree to choose pr over hc. but of course they are not as close town so.......
if you were to stay at pr i would recommend diving with marine world across the street. i also had friends who have used scuba shack across the street.
i am not sure why ranada was not "allowed" to shore dive at this location. sounds like they were just trying to get you to hire their guide. people shore dive along that stretch all the time.
if you were to stay at pr i would recommend diving with marine world across the street. i also had friends who have used scuba shack across the street.
i am not sure why ranada was not "allowed" to shore dive at this location. sounds like they were just trying to get you to hire their guide. people shore dive along that stretch all the time.
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