Choices?

[old gaffer]

I am meeting with a travel agent this week regarding a trip to Coz the last week of Januaray 09. I asked him to look at the Intercontinental Presidente which could be beyond our budget but also the Cozumel Palace and the Hotel Cozumel. Can anyone give some recommendations based on experience? Can independent dive ops pick up at these sights? We would likely have dinner in town several nights even if we go AI. We are planning on staying closer to town so our non-diving spouses can have easy access to shopping and so forth.

Any info would be appreciated!

Old Gaffer

 

[merganser1]

There are good things and not so good things about the 3 hotels you are considering. It just depends on what you are looking for as being important:

Distance to town:
Cozumel Palace: If you want to spend time in town and would like to be able to walk then your best option is Cozumel Palace (CP). At a normal walking pace it is about 15 minutes to walk to town.
Cozumel Hotel and Resort: It is probably a little further than 1/4 of a mile out past CP. You can walk it but you would typically take a cab.
Intercontinental: You would need a cab to go back and forth.

Quality: I will define quality as up market, amenities, resturants, beach, etc
Intercontinental: this would be a 8 to 9 on a 10 point scale. They have a great spa onsite, an excellent beach, very good resturants, rooms are very nice.
Cozumel Palace: probably rate this as a 7 - 8 just because they don't have a beach where you can walk directly into the water. Otherwise it would be very close to Intercontinental
Cozumel Hotel and Resort: would rate this as 6 because of no real beach, resturants are just OK, rooms are Ok.

All inclusive: You need to decide on whether or not you want an all inclusive or not. One of the potentialdraw backs for some staying at the Cozumel Palace is that it is an all inclusive. Cozumel really has some very good resturants that you should try to take advantage of while you are there. You don't have to always eat at an all-inclusive but my experience has been since you already paid for it you make a point of eating there given you paid for it. While the other two hotels can be booked as all inclusive or not.

Cost: We own a condo in Cozumel and usually stay there so I have not checked recently on prices. I would guess you will have quotes that would show the costs to be in this order: Intercontinental and Cozumel Palace comparable (with CP being a little less) unless they are running a special. Cozumel Hotel should be considerably less.

Dive operators: to my knowledge, unless something has just changed recently, all dive operators can pick up at the dock. It is not quite as easy to get to the Cozumel Hotel dock as the hotel is on the inland side of the street and to get to the dock you can either go through the tunnel or walk across the street. No big deal but just not as convenient.

If you have any specific questions don't hestitate to contact me. Be glad to help if I can.

Merganser1
Katy, Texas

 

[sharky60]

Actually I think Hotel Cozumel would be a good choice for you, the hotel is an easy walking distance to town and a lot of good restaurants, Playa Servi (beer store) & Chedraui,(the "Wal-Mart" grocery store). I should point out that we make the walk from Caribe Blu, a full mile out of town, quite often, just as a reference.

It's a nice property with a very large beautifully landscaped pool area, the food and service have been reported to be good there, they have both AI and non-AI packages and caters to divers as well as families.

the hotel is located accross the street from the ocean, but they do have their own beach and I think the restaurants are located on the beach side also.

Most of the dive ops pick up at most of the hotels south of town including Hotel Coz, so that's really not an issue no matter where you stay as long as you don't go up to the northern hotel zone.

 

[techdiver2us]

Just got back from a week at Cozumel Palace. I was very happy with the stay and enjoyed it very much. Aldora Divers picked me up everyday and because of how they operate, had lunch every day at Mr. Sancho's between dives. The Palace has a buffet breakfast and lunch. They also have an poolside buffet in the evening. Oriental, Mexican and Italian restaurant plus 24 hour room service. The hallways can be a chore if your room is far away from the only elevators, but everyone has a view of the water from their balcony. Some people did night dives from the water entry at their dive shop for $6 a tank.

 

[Carolina Diver]

We always stay at Coz Palace. Can't comment on the others. We also use the on-site operator, Aqua Safari. Love the hotel; snorkeling in front, great pool, dive gear storage, excellent staff, good food, outstanding bartenders, very nice rooms, and they take care of us no matter what we need. Aqua Safari has been great every trip as well. Slow or fast boats and great dive masters. People use many different operators from the CP pier however. Everyone has their preference. We eat in town at least once a trip and shop downtown. The walk is short and pleasant.

We feel we have found paradise with CP and Aqua Safari and wouldn't consider changing, but am sure others feel the same about their setups as well.

 

[old gaffer]

Thanks for all the input! We decided on the Occidental Grand based on price. I think we will still have dinner in town on a couple of nights though. Those in our group wanted to have a larger beach area and felt that we could absorb the spendy cab rides to town based on what we were saving overall.

Does anyone have recent experience with the Occidental Grand? Really looking forward to getting back to Coz!

Old Gaffer