The Cozumel Palace offered one of the most relaxing vacations my wife and I ever had. While it wasn't perfect, it was a close as you can get. We were there for a very short vacation with two other couples Dec. 7-10.

Some Observations:
The Palace is showing some of its age. It's actually a remodel of an older hotel. Age can be a negative, but not really here. They keep the Palace extremely clean, so age isn't much of a minus.

All the floors are marble. While that is great for looks it's terrible for acoustics and warmth. When a large crowd is having dinner, the echoing off the floors makes the noise seem harsh. This also makes all the hallways echo chambers, which means anyone talking in the hallway near your bedroom will sound like they have a megaphone. Walking on the floor in your bedroom is chilly. They give you free slippers to wear, but they were too small for my feet. I can't understand why they don't put some carpet on the hallway floors.

You have only two options for room temperature: Freezing cold or moist heat. The thermostat in the room doesn't regulate the temperature. It only turns on the fan of the central air, which is very cold. You can move the temperature up or down, and it still will be the same cold air coming out of the vent. All three couples in our party complained of cold rooms. However, this still wasn't a big deal. We just turned off the fan, opened the sliding glass doors to the outside, and enjoyed the warm moisture. We were there for the warmth, and we wanted to imbibe.

The rooms are beautiful, and the view spectacular. Try to get as high up in the hotel as possible. We didn't try the Jacuzzi, since we have one at home anyway. But the hammock outside the room was relaxing.

The pool was fantastic. Warm and soothing. The upper pool is the warmest, and a good place to escape the crowd of volleyball players in the main pool.

The snorkeling just off the hotel is fun, even though it's basically a dead reef. But we still saw plenty of fish, and even an octopus. The water is clear and beautiful, but there is so much boat traffic nearby that the water becomes slightly turbid.

Don't plan to fall asleep early. The noise from the party below can be loud. I was never bothered by this though. It added to the fun atmosphere of the Palace.

Food was better than I expected. While there was nothing I would consider gourmet, almost all of the food was 7-out-of-10 category. We liked the Mexican grill the best, but all the others were fine (didn't try Italian). Breakfast was very good each morning.

Drinks were fun and constant. No one in our group drank alcohol so we could only experience the "virgin" drinks, but they were still enjoyable. Speaking of drinking: I was expecting a lot of loud drunks, but never saw anyone get out of hand. Some loud laughing was about as wild as it got.

They offered a lot of little activities throughout the day. We participated in a couple of them, but tended to just relax by the pool or in the ocean.

There is no beach here, so don't come if that's what you want. There are two little fake beaches, but I rarely saw anyone in those. We went to some great beaches on the other side of the island (more on that later).

The people. All I can say is "fantastic!" The hotel personnel were fun, pleasant, and helpful. The best asset to the Cozumel Palace is the people they employ. From the moment you walk into the lobby, to the time you check out, you are given the best customer service you've probably ever enjoyed.


Glass Bottom Boat
This was one of the activities offered by the hotel. You pick a 2-hour slot in the day for your group, and are taken by small boat to a reef about three miles south of the Palace. You get in the water and essentially drift back north where the boat picks you up again. A guide is floating with you, trying to keep you all together. A photographer swims out to take one of those cheesy underwater photos. The reef was badly damaged by a hurricane a few years back, so doesn't offer a lot of color. But still an enjoyable time. This will cost you $2 a person to get into the national reserve, some tips at the end of the trip (about $5), and $10 for your cheesy picture.


Driving the Island
There is an Avis representative in the hotel lobby, but the price was a bit steep. We walked about three blocks north of the hotel to "Less Pay" rentals where we got a jeep for $58/day. The jeeps were basically crap, but we didn't need anything fancy. It got us to the same places as the more expensive rentals.

Before you leave the hotel for an island tour, take all the waters from your room. You’ll need them. My wife also makes sure that she grabs some apples and banana from the breakfast buffet to eat later.

We visited the Mayan Ruins at San Gervasio. Well worth the time. But getting into the ruins was weird. You first paid a few dollars each to get into the market square, which is basically a bunch of tourist souvenirs. However, we found the prices here cheaper than in town, so if you want something touristy, grab something on the way back out.

Then as you walk out of the market square, you pay another little fee to get into the ruins, which is a national park. There are guides if you want them, but we opted out to do our own tour. Each structure has a good interpretive sign in front of it.

We made our obligatory stop at Coconuts, which everyone raves about. It was fun, but not all that different from any other beach-type bar. Still, a great place to stop and have a drink. Their lemonade is fresh, and their chips and salsa are good. The cheese quesadilla was bland, and the hamburgers so-so.

We then drove down about a mile and a half past Coconuts to a great beach. The waves were fun, the sand unique, and the water warm. There was no place to rinse off.

Stay away from the town during the day when all of the boat people are in shopping. There were five large cruise ships in on the day we got there, and at least two each day thereafter. There are no ships there on Sunday, which made our walk into town pleasurable.

There is a market in town with the standard cheap tourist trinkets. You can always find something cheap for the kids at home here. Sunday nights they have local bands playing traditional music, and it seems like the entire island is there dancing and partying.

The hotel says that tips are included in the price, but I felt more comfortable giving tips for good service. It didn't add more than $50 for the entire trip for me, but gave some great people a little bit of monetary reward for their service.

We will definitely be back to the Cozumel Palace.