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

[islanddream]

OK, OK, I have been a "pod" person AND in Cozumel! But guess what....this pod and her pod husband got turned on to diving because the cruise ship stopped in COZ and we did an introductory dive! Had we never been on that cruise we probably we wouldn't have known the beauty of the undersea world of COZ. After we got back home we signed up to get scuba certified and have been to COZ on repeated trips (not associated with a cruise). I can't wait to get back to Cozumel in November AND I'm proud to have been a pod!

 

[joewr]

By-the-way - aren't you directly responsible for sending those cruise ship people there and don't you make a living doing it, or do you not book cruises as part of your travel agent business? If you are, you might want to start telling your customers inquiring about a cruise that includes Cozumel that they are all sold out, at least then the next time you're there you won't run the risk of recognizing one of your customers blocking the door of that restaurant you can't get to.

Egad! Do you take my post-signature comments seriously? Travel Agent? Not in this life! I book travel for my wife and me...that's it...no one else...and I do not even use travel agencies!

And, yes, nostalgia is great, but not realistic for most things. The "Lost Coz" is lost and gone forever. But the diving remains great and that's what counts. As I mentioned earlier, to avoid the cruise ship folks, just walk two blocks east of the docks. And, sure, we shop at local bodegas, not just Chedraui or Mega. But, let me confess: the freshly-made tortillas from Chedraui are fabulous! You can even eat them gringo-style with butter! :kiss2:

And if you want to support local businesses on Cozumel, you cannot do better than diving with an owner-operated 6-pack like Mantaraya or Ventura.

On that note, I will sign off as

joewr...travel agent to no one...rich, famous, poor, powerful, powerless, smart, etc...but this space is still for rent...and the price is right...especially if you are rich...

 

[Tigerman]

Dont: Agree to "just hold this AK for a while" outside of Diamond International

 

[Mike]

Egad! Do you take my post-signature comments seriously? Travel Agent? Not in this life! I book travel for my wife and me...that's it...no one else...and I do not even use travel agencies!

joewr...travel agent to no one...rich, famous, poor, powerful, powerless, smart, etc...but this space is still for rent...and the price is right...especially if you are rich...

Okay, that's good to hear. You were kill'n me Joe!

 

[ggunn]

...the Calling Station, the one place in town where you could call home cheaply-it was killed by cell phones and the internet...

Actually, there are still several calling station-like places elsewhere in town. The Calling Station was more likely killed by skyrocketing rents on properties near the water.

 

[driftin' by]

Adding a new one...

Dont's:
Refer to anyone as Pod People.

FWIW, Not a single person on here should take offense with this nomenclature. I wouldn't consider anyone with this level of interest in the island or diving a Pop Person. Obviously not everyone that has cruised before fits the description. But you will have to admit, the majority cruisers do, don't they? It's the same for the "Ugly Americana" stereotype that gets tossed around travel boards all the time. While it does often fit for those that embarrASS themselves and our culture while abroad, not all Americans of US origin fit the description. I think the very nature of what motivates one to dive and return to Cozumel repeatedly exonerates them from the stereotypes regardless of how you find yourself in Cozumel. You're obviously not the typical ones that hired a Segway tour though the Cruise, loaded up on the buffet before disembarking so that you wouldn't have to eat any "unsafe Mexican food" and only ventured to to first t-shirt shop to purchase your token souvenir.

 

[eelpout]

Do's
1. Go watch the sunrise on the east coast in the Morning .Mescalito's is great place to do this, they would be closed by then though.
2. Eat where the locals eat. I did this for many years and founf the best food and the best prices.
3. Do a night dive on Columbia Shallows.
4. Watch the kids dance in the town square on Sunday.
5. Find a reputable operation to take you on a Cenote dive on the mainland.

I like the positives and leave it that way.

 

[Dan G]

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."

Does Christmas shopping count too, or is this specific to people buying Hannukah gifts?



"just a very few families completely control the economics of the island. It is typical Mexico"


Typical Mexico... Typical of many countries.

 

[driftin' by]

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."

Does Christmas shopping count too, or is this specific to people buying Hannukah gifts?

I can't tell you what the author was thinking but I would consider both, one and the same.

 

[mstevens]

With the new Sams Club opening, we will see how many of our haters of cruise ship people and lovers of Cozumel avoid the place and keep buying at the local Mega or better yet Chedraui

Mega and Chedraui are barely more "local" than Sam's, as they're outlets of very large corporations.

Go back a while and peruse the threads about Mega around the time it opened: it was going to ruin Cozumel, scar the waterfront, change life for the worse, etc.

Sam's is not there to sell stuff to tourists. Not many at all will ever make it there. Local residents have long been held hostage to elevated prices and limited supply due to living on an island. If islanders don't need to shop at Sam's, it'll go out of business. If it remains in business, then it was needed.