We are not new to Mexico, we've been many times, but this was the first time we stayed on the Island of Cozumel. We stayed 11/01thru the 9th. After getting bumped from our connecting flight from Miami to Cozumel (that's a whole other story) we arrived at the ElCoz 10 hours later than expected and without luggage. Everyone was very nice and sympathetic. Our room was 1718 in the South tower, an end unit, nicely appointed with a King sized bed and sleeper sofa and a beautiful view of the ocean. No mini fridge, but plenty of large bottles of water, we brought our own thermal mugs. We also brought a King size foam mattress pad and added that to the bed for added comfort. The room was over the dive shop so we could barely hear the speakers, which I don't think would be an issue because they don't do a lot of announcing. There is a swingset in need of some WD40 directly below. The grounds are well maintained, the staff was very attentive. The guys are constantly removing seaweed from the beach, we are not "sand" people, so we were ok to admire it from the pool. The pool water was very, very cold and could use more frequent skimming. There is a hot tub which was usually loaded with little kids, I don't think that was proper. We spent a day or two at the pool in front of the North tower. It was less used. We used it until they started tearing off the balcony railings. At the main pool there is a self-serve refreshment stand right off the pool with a soda, juice, and water dispenser and a soft-serve ice cream machine! The snack bar at lunch has awesome cookies.
The weather was in the mid to upper 80's, windy, no humidity and no bugs. The place was practically empty.
We never expect awesome food, but we were pleasantly surprised, we never went hungry, and were happy with the quality. We ate at LaVeranda twice and really enjoyed it, (long pants for men a must!) They loan some pull on pants at the desk if you come unprepared!! What a hoot! I don't understand people who complain about the lack of variety. Do you eat 20 different items every day, every meal? Doubtful. We would order our eggs and then get our sides and then come back for hot, fresh eggs. We did fajitas for lunch, ask for some queso on your tortilla while it's heating on the grill, delicious. The garlic fish fillets made great tacos as well. We never ate at the buffet for dinner, we did do room service one night which was good. The one night we went to the buffet it was "Japanese night" ?!? We went to town. $7.00 cab ride incl. tip each way. We made our way to town for dinner several nights because we like to sample what is out there. Our favorite restaurants in town were Especias (Spices), wonderful fish, reasonably priced, and then LaChoza, great Mexican fare, also reasonable, and popular. We also ate at LaMission, a little bit out of town, quaint atmosphere, food was ok. Down the street from Especias is a very modern and new Italian restaurant (can't remember the name) with a fabulous Gelato counter. Especias has no desserts so were recommended by the waiter to go there or the Coffee Bean. You can keep the way overpriced Senior Frogs & Carlos & Charlies. There is a Lobster House down the road from the ElCoz. Keep in mind that it is two restaurants under one roof, one is just lobster (expensive) and the other is lobster with a larger menu of greater variety. CASH ONLY!!!!!! We ate at the lobster only because we didn't realize there were two choices. We had just enough cash on us to cover dinner, (we had plastic), so we had to walk back to the hotel. We laughed about that one.
We liked the compactness of the resort, the staff, the food & beverages, and the free internet in the lobby. We are not divers but would definitely go back provided we find a direct flight.

I am a Travel Agent who went to the El Cozumeleno with my 10 yr old daughter & husband. We were there 11-15/11-18. There are two wings the South (new) and the other (older) wing. The older is going thru a rehab and mostly closed. However, most of the common areas were operational including the new putt putt . This resort is privately owned and has a pride of ownership look. While not swanky it is a very solid 4 star with wonderful ocean views. The rooms do not have a minibar, but the resort offers room service, the bathrooms are well designed for families and offer some extra privacy/space. The decor is tropical/happy/blue, the balconly is good size w/ chairs/table. All common areas are in good repair, the pool was nice w/ clean tiles/swimup bar, (but it was cold and took some getting used to). The beachfront hot tub was nice, the beach front hammocks were very fun. As for the beach it's both good & bad. You can not enter very easily w/ all of the waves/rocks. However, once you're in it's good for snorkeling and fairly warm. Drinks were good - you can name your brand at no additional charge and both light and dark DosEquis are on tap. Food was ok. Only two restaurants so you could get tired of that after a wk. We were only there 4 days so it was fine. The gourmet restaurant is actually pretty good we had the filet and seafood. You need to sign up in the a.m. for the same evening. Never saw any shows, the resort was pretty quiet at night. The disco was closed but planning to reopen any time. This is a good choice for families who like pools, & snorkelers. If you're looking for a party this wouldn't be for you. Finally, we spoke with the manager of the on site dive shop and he was very helpful/nice. His name is Antonio. Hello to you Antonio and you were right about the comparisons you made between the El Coz and the Allegro. After the El Coz we moved to the south end of the island to stay at the Occidental Allegro. I will be posting a review on that resort as well. Between the two I'd pick the El Coz hands down. All in all I'd recommend this resort for the price it's a good value.

my husband & i went to the el cozumeleno beach resort for our honeymoon in late september 2007. from check-in to check-out, we enjoyed our 4 night stay at el cozumeleno. we chose this location, as we weren't really down with the "party" atmosphere & larger crowds of cancun, but wanted to vacation near the mayan ruins. it was the PERFECT location for us & traveling during the off season made it so much nicer to shop, swim, drive, etc.

our room...
when we landed in cancun, we were just overcome by the heat & humidity; we were sweating like mad & it was so nice to come be escorted up to our room that was gorgeous, clean & PERFECTLY air-conditioned. the room & balcony were both really roomy; we were really impressed with how big the room was! our ocean view was outstanding both during the day and at night. additionally, we used the in-room safe to store cash, passports, jewelry, etc. the entire time & really appreciated having that storage for those items.

hotel grounds & staff...
the grounds of this hotel are gorgeous & SO clean & there are so many HARD WORKING employees at this hotel; we were so impressed by the wonderful staff of el cozumeleno. they were very friendly & helpful at all times & we always tipped well, as we were getting such great service. we felt at home & became friendly with certain staff members that we saw repeatedly.

meals...
we ate a few meals at the hotel buffet, once at the reservation-only hotel restaurant, & ordered a few times from room service (the room service was so nice to have for late night munchies). the restaurant food was really good & we enjoyed the live music being played. we found the buffet & room service fare to be pretty tasty & above average with a variety of dishes. we often ended up eating other places on the island (coconuts on the east side of the island & la casa mision, several blocks off of the shopping district..both are INCREDIBLE!!!) because we were out & about, but the food wasn't awful as some other reviews have stated. our favorite meal at the buffet was breakfast & we ate that there most every day.

other services...
we enjoyed using the hotel snorkeling equipment on one day (wish we would've done it more) & the pools every day. the pools were beautiful & we swam quite a few times. we also rented a car from the travel company kiosk (if i recall correctly, the business was named fiesta travel) located in the hotel lobby & were totally satisfied with the service & price there.

overall, we loved our vacation & would totally recommend this place to similar couples or families. cozumel is a beautiful island with warm, friendly residents & we are thrilled that we chose to spend our first few days as a married couple there.

My sister, a friend, and I stayed at the El Cozumeleno the week of October 7th. The rooms were nice and clean and the staff were all very helpful and worked very hard to please. We were disappointed that the outside restaurant was closed as was the miniature golf course. The upside of the entire stay was the snorkeling. We enjoyed it every day and the snorkeling trip arranged by Antonio was wonderful. The restaurant/food situation was bad. The buffet had a few good things on it, sometimes, but overall we did not like it. Every time we ate at the restaurant we were given a survey to complete. We didn't answer it as honestly as we could have because we didn't want to be rude. However, the first night we completed the survey it was picked up while we were still eating and given to management who then came over and drilled my sister on why she didn't like the food and wanted to know what was wrong with it. He asked about the dessert and it was particularly yuck that night and I told him I didn't care for it. My friend tried to be nice and say that not everyone likes the same foods and how things are prepared, rather than to tell him what she really thought. He still appeared highly offended that we didn't like the food and stormed off . My sister refused to go back to the restaurant if she saw he was there after that. We finally refused to answer their survey and just left it on the table. We found places in town to eat that were good, however we paid for all inclusive and expected the food to be edible and should not have been harassed while eating it. Some of the food was ok, but none of it was appealing to look at and the fruit was tasteless. I've stayed at the Iberostar and another similiar AI resort so maybe I unfairly compared them to the El Cozumeleno, but for a little more money they are well worth it to me.