Just returned from a week at the CP. We enjoyed our stay and wouldn't hesitate to recommend it; we just probably would not return ourselves.
Our room on the 5th floor was very nice. Great views (except for the big freighter-looking ship that was parked front-and-center the entire time we were there). The room was spotless and we always had plenty of hot water and good water pressure. Its nice to know you can drink from the tap (your fridge always has bottled water) but you won't get sick from brushing your teeth! The service was great, the employees very friendly and always helpful. Our problems with CP are mostly of the personal preferrence type.
If you want to sleep past about 7:30am bring ear plugs. The long marble hallways make great sound tunnels -- and it just keeps on echoing. Those people that are up early seem to have no concept that others are sleeping; slamming doors and yelling down the hall, etc.
The food IS bland, as stated by numerous other reviewers. We ate at all the restaurants, and used room service, and its all bland. Breakfast is yummy tho, so don't skip breakfast.
I really missed the beach. I didn't think I would, but just walking in to the water when it gets too hot and bobbing around awhile is soooo much better than a crowded pool.
My husband said the diving was fantastic and he went several times with Aqua Safari (on-site). I don't dive but I do snorkel, and have snorkeled a LOT, and the snorkeling was lousy. We rented a car one day and explored a bit, stopping to snorkle at several different places and it was all relatively boring. Definitely bring something to feed the fish, otherwise you won't see too many, but someone off one of the (many, many) snorkel-trip boats gave me a cracker one day and the fish were all over me until it was gone. Then they mostly dissappeared.
The entertainment was pretty good. We skipped "couples night" as it looked pretty tacky, but the rest was enjoyable.
The bed was hard -- we woke up sore every morning -- but the pillows were nice.
Another nice thing -- no bugs. Neither of us got one single bite.
I like kids a lot, I've even had a couple myself, but I don't think I'll ever go to a family resort again. There were a LOT of kids, and when they're having fun they're noisy. With the noise from the pool area and the hallway noises an afternnoon nap was impossible either on the "beach" or in your room. EARPLUGS.
There's lots of shopping nearby but be prepared for crowds. There were never less than 3 cruise ships in port while we were there -- that's a lot of people. And the shops all have the same stuff anyway -- nick-nacks, T shirts, lots of silver and jewelry.
I don't mean to sound negative. We did enjoy our stay. There are just soooo many places to explore, I think we'll probably pass on Cozumel altogether, unless my husband wants to go with his dive buddies. I'll wait for him in Jamaica.

My husband I stayed at the Cozumel Palace the second week of March this year. It was absolutely fabulous. The hotel staff won't let you lift a finger, they do everything for you, including placing your linen napkin on your lap. Our hotel room was great overlooking the water with a jacuzzi tub and fully stocked bar and as well 24 hour room service with a good selection. They have four restaurants, three are a la carte and one is an outside buffet including steaks. The service is great, the food is great and as well lots of activities if you want them. They show you how to snorkel and you can do it any time and they provide all the equipment you need. There is no beach at this hotel, but there is an infinity pool and sand either side of the hotel which has lounge chairs under thatched huts. Most people sit around the pool and the staff continually wait on you and by the end of the trip they knew our names and what we were drinking. We also had a massage at the hotel spa which was a real treat. We did rent a open aired jeep for the day and took a drive around the island which only takes about 2 hours. The other side of the island is absolutely gorgeous with miles and miles of icing sugar sand and turquoise water and untouched beaches with the occasional cantina for beer and food. We also walked into Cozumel one evening which is only a ten minute from the hotel. This was one holiday that we didn't want to end. This hotel is definitely a must see!

My family and I just returned from the Palace after 6 beautiful days in paradise! We liked everything about the place! Cozumel is our favorite destination, but this is the first time we stayed at the Palace. We were not disappointed. Rooms were wonderful, food was delicious, and there was plenty to keep my 10 year old boy entertained all day long, which allowed the rest of us to lay around and be lazy! There was enough variety of food to keep even my finicky eaters happy, although they did resort to the kid's menu more than once!

I know others have criticized the size of the resort and its proximity to town, but those were major plusses for us. We love the feel of the small resort where the staff get to know you and your preferences. By the third day, my daughter didn't even have to ask for the strawberry-banana smoothie...they started it when they saw her coming! And how cool is it when you can sit down to dinner and the waiter asks if you would like the same wine as last night?! As for the proximity to town, we loved it. We walked most mornings, and then usually went back to do some shopping late afternoon, early evening before coming back to enjoy dinner.

We were lucky enough to enjoy incredible weather. Just one short shower one afternoon, and an incredible thunderstorm one night around 9:00. We rented a jeep and spent one day on the other side of the island dodging waves on our very own private beach, but otherwise we spent all our time at the resort except for the walks in town. We did do the included snorkeling tour, but elected to skip the trip to Playa this time around. As much as I wanted to check out Playacar Palace, we didn't want to leave our island.

As you can tell, it was fabulous, and we can't wait to go back sometime. We arrived home to a winter storm warning, and right now we are gettting 6-8 inches! Oh, to be back in paradise!

We stayed at the Cozumel Palace from March 31 through April 7, 2007. We booked our stay via a timeshare trade through RCI. I believe we paid the maximum all-inclusive fee as we stayed during a very high occupancy season, the week before Easter! Our all-inclusive fee was just over $2000 for two. We did not take our son on this vacation but I will note a few observations with regard to family with children staying at this resort later.

We were in room 231, that's on the second floor on the north end. Room 229 was to our south and that was the last room to have a balcony overlooking the pool directly. Those with lower numbers to the south of the gym/health club have a fenced in balcony with a deck extending out towards the pool that blocks their view of the pool area from their room. The noise from the pool was significant but not too loud that when we laid in the bed we could sleep. My wife brought a white noise machine that we only used a few nights.

The rooms are indeed as pictured in other reviews and as shown on their website. The whirlpool tub was great and the service was outstanding. Our only problem was getting the service personnel to replace a bar of soap that we had reduced to a small lump by the middle of the week. I basically took it from the cart after letting them know I was taking it, so that minor problem was solved. The bathroom was quite beautiful with nice stone tiles and all glass doors without chrome trim. The floors in the main suite appeared to be marble other than the steps that were a rougher granite to provide more traction when wet. The hammock worked but it isn't the highest end hammock. They also provide deck chairs and a small table for those who do not want to use the hammock. As mentioned in at least one other review, there are rooms with windows facing the street but I do not know how one gets those rooms, but we did see people staying in those rooms during our stay.

The health club is small but adequate and featured a small weight station, treadmills, both recumbent and upright bicycle machines and stairsteppers. I could not find our where they kept their heart monitors belts. The only piece of equipment the missed that I use alot were elliptical machines. The view was great however, looking over the pool and into the sea. Also this is where one can access the deck that blocks the view for many of the 2nd floor rooms.

The service at this hotel was outstanding. Paradoxically the worst restaurant service for us was when we ate at the Mexican restaurant. It almost seemed that they used that restaurant to train their food service employees but it may have just been a fluke. In generally and in most particulars, the staff go out of their way to serve your legitimate requests and needs. In discussions with one of the employees I found out that most are salary employees and work overtime without additional pay. Although you are not required to tip we lowered our threshold for tipping based upon the effort that the employees made to serve you in a good and timely fashion, especially if they tried to exceed ones needs and succeeded.

Assuming you pay your all-inclusive fee ahead of time, your receive a passport 2006 booklet that includes coupons that can be used for discount car rental, $25.00, $50.00 discount towards greens fees at the Moon or Playacar Palace resorts and a $15.00 voucher for SPA treatment at Playacar, Aventura or Moon Palace Spas. When traveling over the ferry to the mainland, the Playacar palace is a very short walk to the south of the ferry landing. If you plan to use the car rental coupon, call ahead if possible, to insure a car is available, otherwise you will need to decide upon your options when you arrive in Playa Del Carmen. Their is a National Car rental office there as well as other car rental offices. Their are also timeshare salesmen who will offer you cars in exchange for you time. Keep in mind these timeshare salesmen get paid by the resorts whenever they bring someone, in so feel free to maximize your gifts and minimize you costs all the way down to zero if possible if you decide to go that route. You may be able to get a free rental car, entrance to the parks and free rides and activities, especially if you know what you are planning to do. Remember, you're bargaining your time for these items so don't sell it cheaply. The passport booklet also describes the tours:

Glassbottom Boat, a tiny boat that takes you out to snorkel, M, W, F & Sun at 10:00 am, noon and 2:00 pm

Chankanaab, on Tuesday and Friday from 9:00 am to 3:30 pm

Coba on Thursday, the ride on the bus is 3 hours one way, so keep in mind you will spend 6 hours on the bus coming and going or so it was described to us. 7:30 am to 4:00 pm.

Tulum Express on Monday. 7:30 am to 3:00 pm.

We went to Tulum ourselves on Thursday and got a rental car via the timeshare presentation route. We also received a tandem parasail ride in Playa Del Carmen and they also paid for our entrance fee to Tulum and the ferry to and from Cozumel which we talked them into covering as we spent a lot of time in the presentation and actually talked them down quite a bit from their initial ~$120,000 price. Of course you can also purchase timeshares on ebay at significant price discounts but you often lose the extras that come with a purchase through the timeshare sales route. Everyone needs to determine what is important to them when making these purchases however. If you simply want to shop in Playa Del Carmen the shopping district (5th Ave) is quite close by the ferry docks.

The resort has many activities throughout the day, I will not go into detail. If someone wants more detail, feel free to contact me.

One of our highlights, not directly related to this hotel is our snorkel boat tour with Roswitha Flury who runs an independent snorkel and dive operation in Cozumel. She took us to three dive spots with the final being the Playacar reef which was fantastic.

Echoing comments from other posts, it is better to shop a bit off the square, especially after the Cruise ship passengers have returned to their ship as you can often get better quality and lower prices off the square and after the cruise ship times.

The room were quite luxurious and comfortable as well as so we spent quite a lot of time in the room. We are not significant drinker so alcoholic beverages and so cannot comment on that aspect of this resort. One nice thing they do that isn't mentioned anywhere that I have seen, is that they often place snacks and tidbits out for the guests in the lobby area and near the bar.

Breakfaxt buffet opens at 6:00 am and closes at 11:00 am. The outdoor poolside restaurant opens at 11:00 am and the grill opens at noon. The restaurant buffet opens at 12:30 pm, if I recall and dinner at the three restaurants open at 6:00 pm. I was able to find favorites at all three restaurants. I enjoyed the Burritas in the Mexican restaurant, the Lasagna was excellent in the Italian restaurant and the Miso soup and the seafood udon was excellent in the Oriental restaurant.

Regarding my observations for families with young children, this should be a very good resort for families with children as access is closely controlled so you child cannot wander too far and the only place you need to be careful of is the edge by the sea as a young child could fall in but it would be quite difficult to do so as railings protect most the ledges. The only areas that seemed to pose any dangers were the access points to the sea in which the sea is deep enough so one could dive in but still warrants care with young children.

All in all a wonderful week to spend with your spouse, your significant other, your family or friends or by yourself.