Cozumel Vacation Do's and Don'ts (Fun)

[Jackie]

Somehow hotel people are better than cruiseship people. Really, someone has to be better than someone else all the time.
Oh but small dive boats are ok. Actually big dive boats are also bad, which is why we call them cattle boats. the people who dive off them are just marginally better than the pod people who are on big cruiseships and have the audacity to want to dive for the day. Because if they were real divers, they would not be on a big ship. Being on a small fast boat is like the coolest. Just not big cruise ships.. They are bad.
Hope I cleared that up for you.

 

[donhealy]

Don't do 300' bounce dives (ever)
Don't upset the taxi driver
Do enjoy everything Coz has to offer
Do buy t-shirts

 

[cvchief]

Don't buy the 5 for $20 tee shirts unless you never intend to wash them or you are buying XXX for your 5 year old....

 

[driftin' by]

whats wrong with cruise ship people

It's impossible to say it any better:

As I've said before, pod people: newly weds, over-feds, and nearly-deads.

In short, it's a pot-bellied, pasty-complected individual looking at their umpteenth Breitling watch at their umpteenth port-of-call not realizing they can get one cheaper back home. A lemming-geek in garish shorts & a T-shirt emblazoned with a frog wearing a sombrero & the words, "I'm so happy I could fart" or "I'm not pregnant. I just swallowed a watermelon," hassling the waiter at La Cocay about if the safety of the ice cubes & if the soup really contains cat meat. A foot-shuffling, slope-shouldered dweeb, often with sullen, muling children in tow, engaging in their twisted view of bargaining for a $30 Cuban cigar that actually was made from the foliage growing in the vacant lot next to Casa Loco and cost the store $0.05. A grinning buffoon who, when confronted with language problems in locating the miniature golf course or jungle tours office, responds by raising his voice several decibels & adding "o" to every word. A namby-pamby, nebbish-like dullard wearing Lederhosen and knee-high black socks being hectored by a souse to buy mariachis as grandmother's Chanukah gift. A goober, believing all the poppycock about the dangers of Cozumel promulgated by their cruise ship social director, who, upon finding himself a few blocks off the plaza, immediately approaches you for safety in numbers, wanting to know if you'd like to share a taxi back to the ship.

 

[driftin' by]

Somehow hotel people are better than cruiseship people. Really, someone has to be better than someone else all the time.

Don't feel bad, it's not your fault. The cruise industry has actually done little to financially benefit the island and locals compared to those of us that stay on the island for several days at a time. And destroying the reef to build those monolithic piers and the dumping of their ballast full of Lionfish isn't good for me as a diver.

 

[Mike]

Don't feel bad, it's not your fault. The cruise industry has actually done little to financially benefit the island and locals compared to those of us that stay on the island for several days at a time. And destroying the reef to build those monolithic piers and the dumping of their ballast full of Lionfish isn't good for me as a diver.

Oh boy Josh, you couldn't be more wrong. Next time you go to Cozumel make friends with a local and ask them to personally tell you about how life was during the swine flu out break in 2009, when the cruise ships stopped coming and locals went broke, needed hand outs from employers to keep their families fed. The island just about shut down and the locals never want to see anything like that again.

Cruise ships are the life blood of Cozumel today, the dive industry isn't even on the financial radar.

Need I also remind you how cheap divers are?

You'd also be amazed at how many divers who come to Cozumel and stay for a week today, first discovered Cozumel on a cruise.

 

[Woodiver]

Do, go to the main square on Sunday evenings, it's a family thing:blinking:

 

[driftin' by]

Oh boy Josh, you couldn't be more wrong. Next time you go to Cozumel make friends with a local and ask them to personally tell you about how life was during the swine flu out break in 2009, when the cruise ships stopped coming and locals went broke, needed hand outs from employers to keep their families fed. The island just about shut down and the locals never want to see anything like that again.

Cruise ships are the life blood of Cozumel today, the dive industry isn't even on the financial radar.

Need I also remind you how cheap divers are?

You'd also be amazed at how many divers who come to Cozumel and stay for a week today, first discovered Cozumel on a cruise.

You're right, I am wrong. I should have added some perspective... Going back to the days that Cozumel was much less frequented by Cruise Ship the Island was a bustle and with little to no vacancy with land vacationers a regular basis. Sure, San Miguel proper was more sleepy, laid-back and authentic but resorts and hotels were chocked full of guests providing a plethora of opportunities for employment for locals. Nowadays, large desolate resorts that operate on skeleton crews only employ a fraction of what they once did and often require the few existing employees to work in a variety of different disciplines which in turn has an effect on the quality of service once provided. While the cruise industry has afforded other opportunities in free enterprise, few are very enduring to the true authentic culture of Cozumel and they pale in comparison to what was afforded to locals in terms of hotel-based tourism. Further few cruisers (pop people) venture past the mall on the pier, which I would guess the cruise lines to have a great interest and cutting in to the potential profits to be had by the locals who provide their handiwork and services. And who do you think benefits from port fees? Not the families that lives of the island.

I would know none of this for myself rather from the many good friends I have made on the island and regularly keep in touch when I'm not there. Further, all I know is that many of them that work at the resorts lost their jobs during the swine flu and to this day, continue to be unemployed on a full-time basis. That, like Wilma, or the down turn in the US economy will ultimately have an impact on places where the majority of their GDP is solely based on tourism... what else do they have to fall back on? Most of my friends I've made in Cozumel and Bonaire for that matter curse the cruise ships. The best part is that the hard-working people that live and make their livelihood on the island 365, make the best of the current situation whether it's after a devastating hurricane, the swine flue or the cruise industry.

And I'm not so sure about your last statement. I've met few people that discovered Cozumel via cruise rather reading some dive magazine or in the OW class lest you forget it's the most popular diving location in this hemisphere and ranks highly world wide. As a diver, I couldn't fathom sacrificing precious vacation time nor budget aboard a cruise that would significantly reduce my opportunities to dive. YMMV.

Divers are cheap? Who else spends $3k -$5k a couple times a year for a couple weeks abroad participating in their hobby?

 

[caseybird]

Do- go to Mescalito's.
Don't- show the pictures to your mom.

 

[Basscat]

Don't - Judge people by the size of the boat they arrive on or dive from.... ;-(
Do - Book your favorite dive op/boat size/boat when you go.
Do - Have the time of your life every time you visit and visit as often as you can. Life is so often too short...
Do - Have lunch at Sabores, nicer people and better food you will be hard pressed to find.
Do - Revel in the joy that being on La Isla Cozumel can bring (At least for me, I guess your MMV...) Changed my life, and I can't wait to be back in 71 days, 13 hours, 42 minutes......