Stayed At the Presidente from March 26, 2005 to April 2, 2005. My wife and I are big Playa Del Carmen fans as we have stayed there many times. We wanted to try someting different. The hotel it self was nice clean. Service was good. The beach was very nice and well kept. Most of the beach at this resort is man made except for a small area that you can walk right into the water. The rest of the beach areas to go into the water you use a small ladder. The snorkleing was excellent right in front of the hotel. Numerous fish and other sea life. For the money we paid for a 7 night stay, we could have stayed at a very top of the line all inclusive in Playa Del Carmen. The Presidente is not all inclusive. My wife and I are picky eaters and enjoy all inclusives because of the big variety of food. We ate breakfast every morning at the all you can eat buffet. It is $17 US a head. Most things at this hotel are quiet pricey. Ate one night at Alfredo's the on site Italian restuarant, very nice. The town of San Migual has numerous nice resturants that we enjoyed( we are vegetarians and eat low fat.). Some nice ones are Poncho's Back Yard, Guido's and Prima's. The town its self it a little grubby and the stores are very touristy. I enjoy Playa much better. The stores are more upscale and have more intersting mechandise. Also appears cleaner and more intersting activities going on. All in all it was a nice trip but i missed Playa Del Carmen. The Presdente is one of the best hotels on the island. It was nice but nothing wowed you about it. As I said before it was clean and service was good. I just feel the hotels in Playa or much more plush at even a lower price. Plus I missed being able to walk down a long beach which Cozumel does noto have except in certain areas towards the south end of the island. It did have great snorkeling which was enjoyable.

We spent the week of March 22 - 29 at the Presidente and we loved it! We were a family group ranging in age from 15 to 78. The service was outstanding, the location was perfect, the spa was great, the water was warm but refreshing, and the snorkeling off the beach was very good.
For the first 3 days we had rooms in the main building on the third floor. I'm not sure how they would be classified, but they were large and well-kept, with a balcony and a large sink area as well as a large shower with great water pressure. We had a fine view of the ocean even though we weren't directly on the beach. It was a little awkward to get to the rooms, and the rooms were a little plain, but they were much nicer than others I've had in Mexico, especially at the all-inclusives.
Then we moved to beachfront rooms. Some of us had reef suites, which were absolutely gorgeous. The suite was one huge room, divided into a sleeping area and a living area, 2 tvs, 2 huge bathrooms, a patio, and beautiful furnishings in beautiful colors.
And some of us moved into a Presidential Suite. It was an enormous apartment with 2 very large bedrooms, a living room and dining area, kitchen, 2 1/2 baths and 3 terraces. It was at the northern edge of the resort, so it was quite private. There is a marina next door to the resort but no one could see us and you really couldn't even hear the boats. We enjoyed watching the dive boats go out in the morning and returning at night. (We rated all the boats based on their degree of shade.) The suite was so spectacular that I almost didn't want to leave it to go diving. It was really the nicest and biggest suite I've ever stayed in.
The resort was filled to capacity, but it really wasn't that obvious. There are lots of shaded lounges on the beach, but most of them get reserved early in the morning. (I saw one man putting towels and books on 10 chairs very early one morning!) But I usually managed to find a shaded seat, even if it meant moving someone's towel for an hour or two. Getting shade by the pool was much harder, so we didn't sit there much. There were also shaded hammocks on the beach --great places to watch the sunsets.
The Presidente somehow seemed to be able to be all things for all people. I saw people with babies, large extended families and lots of couples. And everyone looked happy.
We ate breakfast every morning at the breakfast buffet, and everyone loved it. I'm not much of a buffet person, but there was lots of fresh fruit, waffles, cooked-to-order-eggs, freshly squeezed juices and some mexican food. We usually had lunch at the snackbar, which also was quite good. Sometimes we had dinner at the beach restaurant at the hotel. The food was good and the service excellent. It's wonderful to eat with the breeze and the water view. Dinner at the fancier restaurant (Alfredo's, I think) was delicious. We went to town for dinner about 3 times, and liked all the restaurants: La Choza, Pancho's Backyard, The Mission.
We rented a jeep for a day and dragged the teenagers to the local ruins, which they actually enjoyed despite the heat and the dust. (Bring water!)They even started remembering some Mayan history from school, and started teaching us. We continued around the island, stopping at little beach restaurants and isolated beaches. It was wild and beautiful, and reminded the kids a little of Martha's Vineyard, believe it or not.
The diving was great - I loved the feeling of the current. We even snuck in one last beach dive in front of the hotel. There is an old barge with lots of fish that was fun and relaxing. There is a good-sized beach in front of the hotel that never seemed too crowded, and a bunch of ladders placed on the non-sandy parts of the shoreline. Everyone seemed to be diving and snorkeling, and lots of young kids went with their parents to snorkel over the sunken "pirate ship."
It was one of those rare, perfect family vacations. There was lots to do for everyone - tennis, grass for softball practice, shade for reading, spa treatments, swimming with dolphins nearby and lots of water activities. Our accomodations were superb, the grounds were beautiful, the service was friendly and very professional, Jorge- the front desk manager - was wonderfully helpful, the resort felt very safe for the teenage girls, and the food was very good, much better than the all-inclusives. We all loved it.
We've rented villas on St. John (beautiful but a long drive to good beaches), spent a week in the BVI and on Provo in Turks and Caicos, stayed at all-inclusives on the Mayan Riviera (looooong walks to everything, boring food), gone on cruises (not my favorite vacation) and rented a beachfront condo on Grand Cayman (too much driving). This just worked the best for everyone. If you have any specific questions, maybe you can post them in the forum and I'll try to answer them.

Honeymoon vacation in early april - we absolutely loved it! By far the best facilities on the island, and far enough out town to avoid the cruise scene completely. The restaraunts were both very tasty, the italian one was much nicer and more formal, but the other restaraunt also had great food but was completely open-air with an amazing view. Prices are certainly tourist level, whereas speed of service was adequate but definitely in the classic mexican time zone (it is your vacation - RELAX!). Two for one happy hour frm 5-7 every day at the beach bar.
Our room was nicely appointted with granite or stone floors and bathroom. We had a crying baby for a neighbor the first night and they moved us without hassle to a beachfront room the next day.
The beach is wonderful, great sand (smothed every night), clear, warm water, and great snorkling (we saw many tour boats stopping just up the beach from us to get people to what we napped next to every day!). Decent pool, not really a jacuzzi and no pool bar :(
THE BEST PART was the romantic dinner on the beach by starlight. It is expensive but was worth every penny to us. The staff is so friendly, the set-up is gorgeous, and the lobster tail was huge and perfectly done. We got the guitar player as well, and he just topped it off.
The town is typical mexico cruise ship fare, but Guido's restaraunt was a great treat.
All around, perfect for relaxing and tuning the world out with great food, great drinks, sun and sand.

Stayed 3/19 - 3/26 with husband and two children (13,10). This was our second visit. The hotel physically was in better condition and more beautiful than last year. We stayed in a ground floor, beach front room and it worked out great, with as many trips you make back to your room. Food at the hotel is excellent. Alfredo's is a must. Don't forget you can order from the menu in Caribeno, even when they have a buffet. We had the best lobster of the trip here. Try the fajitas at the beach restaurant for lunch, very good! Take your own snorkeling gear, you'll use it alot right of the beach. Also snorkeled ad Dzul Ha and Chakanaab, and other than the statues at Chakanaab, the Presidente is the best. Rented a jeep one day ($86) and looped around the island. Had lunch at Cocunuts, awesome view and good chips and salsa. Husband golfed and said it is very challenging, he's a very good golfer too. Just beat the cruise ship crowd, so tee off early. Book your appointments at the new Spa early, they fill up fast. Service at the hotel was very good, even this being the second busy week of the year. Pool chairs started to fill up fast during the last few days of our trip, but still fairly easy to find one on the beach. If that fails, you can ask, and they'll bring out more. No night life here, so go to town if you're looking for late night fun. Only about $7.00 with tip to town.