My husband and I just returned from a 9-day stay at the Cozumel Palace. We were celebrating our honeymoon and could not have had a better time (minus the few days of clouds and drizzle!).

The hotel is absolutely beautiful. It is very close to downtown...you can get to the main shops and restaurants in 10 minutes (walking). However, if you want a more isolated hotel with a lot of property and a beach, this would not be the right place for you. But if you want a great pool area with a beautiful view, and you don't care about being near town, you will love it. (And once you are back in the pool area, you can't tell you are near town anyway.)

The lobby is spectacular and the rooms are nice. The only problem we had was a gross sewer smell that lingered in the hallway and sometimes into our room. I don't know if it was the drains, or something our room happened to be near, but it was really gross. And the rooms are really musty and leave your clothes smelling bad, but this probably has more to do with the Mexico heat and humidity than the hotel.

The food was good, drinks were great (but usually not very strong) and the GUAC was amazing! The staff was very attentive and wonderful.

I would go back in a heartbeat and certainly recommend this hotel to anyone.

We had a great time at Cozumel Palace. Our room was beautiful and everyone was incrediblye helpful. We couldn't have asked for better service. There were only a few things that could have been improved upon at all. The food was ok. I liken it to cruise food. It certainly wasn't bad, but it wasn't all that great. The food by the pool was the best. The Italian restaurant was also pretty good. We went there a couple of times. I would have also liked for the hotel to have had more property. I didn't realize that it's just a hotel sitting next to other hotels. I thought there would be property to walk around on. However, these are the only drawbacks we encountered on the whole trip. I agree with other posters that say you should book your excursions early and go through the hotel to do it. The excursions we booked through cheapcarribean.com were sketchy! Overall, I would absolutely recommend the Cozumel Palace or any palace property. I too read all of the great reviews on here and thought they probably weren't entirely accurate, but for the most part, they really were.

Sorry this review is a little late (and long), but better late than never. My husband, in-laws, and I stayed at the Cozumel Palace over Thanksgiving weekend. We booked the trip four months in advance to ensure we got a great room on one of the top floors. Ok, bad news first. First, when we arrived at the airport, there was a Palace representative with a van waiting there, but he would not let us on the van. Even though our name was on his list, he would not let us on - still not sure why that happened and the hotel front desk offered us no explanation. We had to pay $32 to get on an overly crowded van to get to the hotel. Luckily, the Palace was the first stop only 10 min from the airport. If icky crowded vans with a bunch of strangers is not your thing, I'd highly recommend private car transfer, which we will do next time we go. Upon arrival, we were greeted with a cold towel and drink, which was nice. We were then told that our room request could not be accommodated but that they would change our room the next day if one became available. When we got to our room, I was so upset. It was right next door to the gym so our balcony "view" was completely blocked on the left side by the gym and there was only a pane of glass between us and the people working out. We had planned to have a drink out on the balcony upon arrival, but when we first walked out a lady on the treadmill actually waived at us! Not to mention the gym opens at 7 am and at 7:01 we could hear the clanking of the weights. It was miserable. We did not get moved to another room until our last night (after many calls and complaints to management) even though we had booked months in advance. Needless to say, we were disappointed.

Ok, on to the good stuff. The room was beautiful and we LOVED the in-room jacuzzi tub. It was a little chilly in the late afternoon so we would get out of the pool and hurry up to the hot tub with a nice glass of wine! The water was great - we did not miss the beach at all and in fact prefer the set up at the Palace. I sat in a chair overlooking the water reading my book while my husband snorkeled for hours. All the while the staff continually asked me if I needed another drink or food. The staff was wonderful. I have been to a lot of luxury hotels all over the world and have never felt so pampered. The staff was delightful and always eager to help. The beer on tap always tasted a little funny so we would bring the canned beer from the room down to the pool. The bartender saw us doing it and asked us about it. Once we told him, he kept a six pack in his bar cooler just for us!

The food was great, we were very pleasantly surprised at how good it was. The drinks were not that great, but the canned beer and wine did us just fine. Overall, we had a great time and I would recommend this hotel to anyone that is looking to be pampered. However, just be aware that booking in advance doesn't ensure you will get a great room or even a good room.

We just returned from an eight-night stay at the Cozumel Palace. We were extremely satisfied with our stay, and I wouldn’t hesitate to book at a Palace property again. I won’t repeat what others have said, except to emphasize that the staff were extremely kind and eager to please. We were initially given room 326 near the center of the hotel, but because the view was blocked by one of the buildings, I asked to see another room. They took us to 411 on the south end of the hotel, which had a perfect view – you can see all the way to the cruise ship terminal to the north. The hotel itself is small (for an AI) and intimate, and we liked it that way. The experience is really like being on a small cruise ship, the way you’re right on top of the water. We flew down from Houston (2 1/2 hours) and immediately started our eight days of warm weather. We talked to some people who came on a cruise ship from Houston, and they had two days of cool weather coming down and (probably) two days going back. We loved watching the ships sail back and forth in front of us, but I’d rather watch them than be on one. For one thing, I don’t know of a cruise ship cabin that has a double Jacuzzi tub – we looooooved that.

Tips

1. We booked through Wendy’s Treasures on Ebay. We saved about $75 a night on the room, and got all the extras (massages, etc.) No hassles at all.
2. Avoid the timeshare guys at the airport. They are very friendly and wear official-looking tourism badges. Say, “no, gracias,” walk right by them and go outside to the taxi stand – that is where the travel agencies will pick you up.
3. Great place to snorkel – in front of the place with the zip lines/ rock climbing. (See the brochure at the Chaza Travel desk.) There is a nice restaurant, a small pool, and a beach area with deck chairs. The water there is so unbelievably clear.
4. Some good bars away from the tourist traps are located between the lighthouse (about one mi. south of the hotel) and the south cruise ship terminal (about 3 mi.) These are open air palapas with a laid back vibe, surrounded by lots of dive shops. You can snorkel in front of some of them. Great places to have a beer and watch the sunset. They are an easy 20-25 minute walk from the hotel – just walk out the door and turn right.
5. Because the dollar is so low right now, prices at Duty Free are hardly worth bothering about. If you are lucky, you may save 10%. Do you really want to haul heavy bottles of alcohol all the way home just to save four bucks?
6. If you want to check out one of the other Palace resorts, there is a free shuttle. The catch is that you have to sit through a 30 minute sales presentation (they said it wasn’t a timeshare thing), but in return they give a $200 spa credit per couple. We didn’t do it, but my husband talked to a couple who liked the Aventura so well that they were transferring over there.

I tried to think of some negatives, but they were really so minor, they are not worth mentioning. The food, though not spectacular, is good, and we found some nice wines with the help of Luis, the sommelier. Don’t worry about the negative reviews – just go and have a great time.