My wife and I visited Cozumel this past summer and chose the Presidente based on reviews we read in Trip Advisor. The reviews were definitely correct! This hotel was by far the best we saw on the island and we enjoyed everything about it. Very friendly staff, super beach to relax on, with great snorkeling, and the restaraunt was one of the best in ate at while in Cozumel. Definitely worth the extra bucks to stay at the Presidente, we will be back for sure! Thanks Trip Advisor!

My wife and I returned to Cozumel and the El Presidente for our thirtieth wedding anniversary. We stayed at the Presidente from 11/3-7; we had stayed there five years ago. Presidente has to be one of the beat places in Cozumel; however, we paid $200 USD a night and it's not all inclusive. We got a free upgrade from a superior to an ocean view deluxe room - very nice. After settling in we jumped into the water and enjoyed fantastic snorkeling and a beautiful sunset. Dined at El Capi Navegante; good food, but, we were disappointed that El Capi discontinued serving their banana flambe dessert. Next day we went to Chankanaab, a short taxi ride south, paid $10 USD each to snorkel in great water filled with dozens of fish species. Dined at El Moro which has to be the best bargain in San Miguel to eat great grilled seafood combinations (it's located far away from the tourist area, take a taxi and enjoy the evening). Third day we took the amazin' jungle tour; at 9:00 AM we were picked up at El Presidente and taken to San Miguel.
9:30 we drove along with 2 other 4WD Trackers and a guide east across the island and north on a very rough dirt road ending up at the El Castillo, a Mayan ruin. Along the way, we stopped and snorkel at a remote off shore reef that the ocean waves break over and we then had a great chicken barbecue lunch. We doubled back on the dirt road and then headed due south along the eastern shore to the southern end of the island. Finally, we headed north along the western shore and we were dropped off at the El Presidente at 5:30 PM. The tour costs $90 USD/person; great tour if you want to see the remote north eastern shore of Cozumel. Initially I was tempted to rent a 4WD and save some money; forget about it! The dirt road is really rough - sharp rocks, deep soft sand, underwater in many parts and most importent - help is not nearby if you get into a jam. Dined for the first time at La Veranda. Best place we've been for a special occasion and they have banana flambe dessert (guy must have left El Capi to join La Veranda).
Fourth day we took the ferry over to Playa del Carmen to relax, look at the shops and drink beer on the beach. Last dinner was at Cafe Denis, another great new place for us. El Moro probably is my favorite; but, Cafe Denis is located right near the main plaza. Good thing is that there is more than one good restaurant to chose from. Last day, spent morning snorkeling at El Presidente, packing and flying back home in the afternoon. One observation comparing our Cozumel adventure five years ago to this recent vacation was that El Presidente room rates were essentially the same. But, tour and restaurant prices are 50-100% higher. Five years ago we flew from Cozumel to tour Chichen Itza for $99 USD; today it's $176 USD. We had an all day trip Tulum and Xel Ha, including ferry, bus, lunch and snorkel gear, for $70 USD; today it's $113 USD. Restaurant prices up at least 50%. Be prepared if you are returning after an extended absence like us. Cozumel is a great place to vacation! Favorites things - banana flambe at La Veranda, sopa de mariscos (seafood soup) was great at all above, try a shot (maybe a few) of tequila chased by a shot of sangrita (not sangria, sangrita is like a bloody mary mix). Only disappointment was that our stay was too short.

After spending 2 of our six days at the JWMarriott in Cancun walking into the hotel and seeing the room was very disappointing. This is an older property and is showing it's age. After 24 hours I went from wanting to immediately leave and return to the JW Marriott to loving it. The staff, the service, the food was all great. Snorkeling was wonderful. Just strap on your gear and walk into the water. Overall I highly recommend a stay here if you are looking for casual relaxation.

Service and the food here were excellent. We always ate at the outdoor hotel restaurant. The food in town didn't match up. On a scale of 1 to 5, I would rate the overall food and service a 5 -- with the exception of a couple of issues that came up during check out time. The people at this hotel were very friendly and hospitable. Snorkeling and Scuba diving were available from our beach front. We stayed here for our honeymoon in April 2003. The weather couldn't be better.A couple of things did bother us. For one, we were leaving a tip in our room every other day for the cleaning services, not knowing that at the end of our stay, the hotel charged us a fee for each day for this service. Another annoying factor and a lesson to be learned...We had booked and paid for this trip through our travel agent in Los Angeles two months prior to our trip. When it was check-out time the hotel told us that they never received payment. Short of missing our flight, the only solution was for us to pay again and resolve the double payment issue when we got home. It later turned out that the hotel had in fact been paid but did not process it correctly on their end. Our bill was a confusing hassle because of the exchange rate and the items we had charged to the room, not to mention the added fee for the daily clean up service. The hotel ended up giving us a credit, but I'm not sure that I was satisfied with the credit amount... I just gave up. Lesson: if your trip is prepaid, make sure from the moment that you check in that they have received payment so that you dont get stuck arguing at the end.As for Cozumel in general... We booked an ATV tour from our hotel which we enjoyed very much. We traveled on the ATV's alongside the beach for a good 45 minutes til we reached our beach destination... went kayaking a bit and then snorkeling and traveled back again on the ATV's.If you decide to go to Xel-Ha or Xcaret, I would recommend you find your own way instead of booking an expensive tour. We went through a timeshare discussion which offered us some freebies -- big mistake. One of those freebies was a car rental in Playa Del Carmen. We ended up getting charged for the rental and our dispute was denied.The next time we decided to go to Playa del Carmen we took the ferry, walked to the local bus station, and paid about 3.50 or so to have them take us to Xel-Ha, Tulum, or Xcaret. You will find that you can easily catch transportation back to the ferry. There are buses and vans waiting.