Travelers: two couples, all 4 divers, no kids, mid-late 30's.
Package: All Inclusive.
Dive Operation: Dive House (on site shop)
Duration: 1 week.
Accommodations: 5th floor of hotel, as opposed to the Casitas

Upsides: VERY affordable and totally convenient for the diver! All the rooms in the hotel have an ocean view! Nice. The Casitas looked nice, but were in the back of the property. While this may have been nice to get away from street noise, I preferred the ocean view. We saw quite a few families there, but in general it was a mix of couples and families. It's not a HUGE property so there aren't monster crowds, which was nice, and the breakfast and lunch were great with the all inclusive. Nothing beats the convenience for when you get back from a dive all hungry and there's cheeseburgers or enchiladas hot and waiting for you. :) Also, it's not so upscale that I felt guilty about having my dripping wet gear come through the lobby to the elevator. If you're booking without the all-inclusive you do have the option to upgrade for $49.99 per day. I felt the all inclusive was worth it. Free water, free drinks (though i didn't really take advantage of it since i was diving a lot), and free food, for which i ate more than my fair share. Again, breakfasts and lunch are great, dinner is great for like 3 nights, and then we got tired of it... sort of the same thing over and over. They switch it up between eating in a nice restaurant and eating on the patio, but the restaurant menu doesn't change, so it gets old after a few nights. If you don't like seafood, there are only a few beef and chicken choices in the restaurant, but in general we had no complaints about breakfast and lunch and very few complaints about the dinner... Dinners were good, just plan to get into town for some variety.

Whoever complained about the room-safe being a hidden charge needs to get over it. They tell you on check in that using the safe in your room will cost $1 per day. Woo-hoo, $7 for the week, quit complaining. They also give you the choice of using the safe at the front desk for free, so you can't knock them for this.

For Divers: We dove with Dive House, the on site shop. We had several DMs, but Alex was my favorite. The property has its own dock, so this was very convenient, and the fact that it's a little further south puts you closer to the dive sites. Dive House is a good operation, very friendly, reasonably priced, and are happy to help you with whatever you'd like. DM's are knowledgeable, kind, and really great. No complaints here.

For ADVANCED Divers: If you are an advanced diver and are planning to dive Punta Sur, I would NOT recommend Dive House. You just won't get there with them. Despite what their email said about a scheduled trip, they told us they needed a minimum of 8 divers to go there. We never made it. Good news is, the other shops are happy to pick you up from the Fiesta Americana dock on the way to Punta Sur, so I'd choose someone else. Dive Paradise has a lot of boats, and I hear good things about Dive with Martin, and Aldora Divers also.

Now here's the minimal bad stuff: My only true complaint is that the beds were VERY firm. It's not a traditional box spring and mattress, just a very hard mattress. I don't know if this was the same in the Casitas as we stayed in the hotel, but i was glad to get home to my pillowtop mattress. Some complained that in the mornings you do hear a bit of street noise in the hotel, and afternoon naps can be disturbed by the announcer at the pool calling out bingo numbers and other activities. This was easy to get used to and really minimal, so I'd put it in the category of "no biggie."

We stayed here and keep going back because it is out of the way and away from the crowds. Prices are right and the snorkeling is great.

My Son and I stayved at Fiesta Americana Januay 11 thru 14, 2007. Everything was wonderful Great selection of food Breakfast was a great selection on the buffet or you could order eggs cooked any way you wanted The chef made great omlets. Lots of fruit or ceral Something for everyone.
Lunch Buttet with great choices Chicken, Fish and other selections Veggies potatoes and the great American staple a Hamberger with all the fixens.
Dinner was a nice sit down order off the Menu. If you wanted to dress up or if you just wanted to come in your shorts and t-shirt. Great selection on the menue Chichen, Beef and seafood.
The hotel was clean and staff friendly and helpful. Its out of town so its pretty quiet with only the hotel guests. Taxi's are always available. the Fare from the Hotel to downtown is $6.00 for 2 people. The activitiy's offered are great. I took the Jeep tour and had a great tour guide Susan. Ask for her she is very knowledable about the island. A must see is the the opposite side of the island. The water and sandy beaches are heavenly exactly what i imagined an island to be. http://nicksreef.com/gallery/main.php go to cozumel and see the pictures we took...

We just got off the plane from a one week stay in this hotel on Cozumel. What a wonderful trip!!! The employees of this hotel are EXTREMELY nice!! When first arriving at the hotel our initial thought was "WOW'... all the floors are marble and tile with chandelers in the lobby and all around mexican hacienda styling throughout. My husband had two words for me "good job." He liked the hotel a lot!! There are about 4 bars but we don't drink so I don't know much about the bar quality. The do have a small spa, a clothing store, jewelry store, childrens play / babysit area, a ping pong table, pool table and lounge area with a big screen TV and pool. There are two restaurants, one on the second floor of the lobby which is very classic spanish style decor and has balcony seating dining over looking the pool at night. Across the street is where breakfast & lunch are served at another charming restuarant over looking the ocean!! We ate mostly in town at [--] restaurant suggestions. Or we ordered dominos pizza delivered to the hotel which was $15 for a pizza and sugar sticks and a tip for delivery. GREAT VIEWS at the beach side restaurant!!! The beach is beautiful and the pier is great to sit on at sunset. There is also a nice restuarant just a 2 minute walk south from the hotel, a little pricey but the food is great and the views EVEN BETTER! The dive shop next to the hotel beach restuarant are curtious and very friendly. We dove with another GREAT & WONDERFUL dive guide in town, [--](which picked us up from the pier at this hotel) but the dive shop at the hotel was accomidating. I didn't have a snorkel and they said (snorkel gear) rental was free with the stay so that was GREAT! The hotel is long and narrow so I think about EVERY ROOM has an ocean view, except the casitas in the back. We were going to stay in one of those but now I'm glad we picked the main hotel, better views and breezes than the back. (we stayed on second floor) Oh the other thing is the bathroom was EXTREMELY SMALL!! The toilet and tub were in a seperate room from the sink which is nice but the room with the tub was just big enought to open the door and walk inside, then close the door to use the toilet on the other side. VERY LIMITED SPACE! But it's just a toilet and shower so can be overlooked... plus we were there for diving and there was a small bath with a drain in the floor so that was great when washing dive stuff. We didn't get asked if we used the safe in the room but I think they do charge you $1/day when they ask. Oh and ANY CALL MADE FROM THE HOTEL ... even local is charged a $0.50 "connection charge" and they charge about $1.50 a day for habitation fees (house keeping) which was never mentioned when we booked.
The hotel was clean but kind of lost cleanliness toward the end of our trip. I had to ask people to sweep our floor. We did not get the all inclusive package but did order room service two lunches... the french fries WERE WONDERFUL!! Club sandwhich OK, burger was GREAT!
Oh, and the other thing is the hotel is 6 miles from down town so... I recommend that if you don't want to spend A FORTUNE on cab fees ($6 each way) then get the all inclusive for $50 / day per person. Next time I'm going to stay closer to town so we can walk there instead. This was kinda far from central. And you can walk to Chanakaab Marine Park it's about 10 minutes south so don't get gouged by the taxi for a ride.
Over all this is a WONDERFUL hotel and I had a GREAT TIME!! I love cozumel and will probably stay at a rental home next time, but this was a beautiful place with great views, friendly people and peace & quiet. Oh and by the way... if you are in town stop at the grocery story just south of town, it has a picture of orange people pushing a shopping cart on the front of the building. You can buy a 1 gallon jug of water for $1.65 opposed to the $4 2 liter bottle they try to sell you at the hotel. The place has everything you need if you don't want to get price gouged.
Enjoy Cozumel!!! The diving is INCREDIBLE!! I can't wait to get back!!!!!!