This is a great little resort which is very clean and wonderful ocean view from any location at the resort. It is located 10 minutes from the airport. Check in was quick and easy.

The rooms are spacious enough and were very clean. Ocean view from balcony is incredible, especially the sunsets.

The food at the buffet was good and plentiful. You can also order a la carte from a small menu (same as the room servce menu) if nothing is to your liking at the buffet.

The food at La Veranda restaurant was very good and service was great. No complaints about the food while at the resort except the birds as noted in previous reviews.

The beach although a bit small and rocky is protected by 2 piers so the water is calm and very clear. Hundreds of fish hang around the piers which is great for snorkeling.

The scuba diving was great. You have to go the Presidente Hotel by taxi (arranged and paid by Ocean Tours/Scuba Du) when there are not enough divers at the resort but it only takes about 15 minutes to get there. Very painless and I enjoyed the scenery on the way. The Scuba Du staff was professional and friendly. The boats were big enough to be stable but not too crowded. The most divers on any trip was twelve and we were split into 2 or 3 groups. The dive masters Alex and Joshua were great. I will definitely dive with Scuba Du again.

The best part about this resort is the service. It is outstanding. All four in our group were very impressed. I would definitely recommend this resort.

My husband and I stayed at El Cozumeleno in early march. Upon our arrival we were shown the garden view room we had booked. We were SO disappointed it was in the old tower right above the disco and had a view of several humming Air Conditioning units. We called the front desk and were transferred to an AMAZING room with a great view in the new tower. The room was large, clean, and the balcony offered us the privilege of watching the sunset over the ocean. We would recommend paying the little bit extra to get the ocean view room in the new tower.
Overall the food was fine. The buffet was definitely nothing to write home about, but the sit down restaurant was great, we always had something yummy and great service (they're willing to grant whatever your request is, for example one night my husband indulged in two filet mignons). At breakfast don't miss the chilaquiles, omelettes, or smoothie bar (pack your patience, all of these things operate at a more casual pace). At lunch we ordered off the Ala Carte menu for hot, fresh (not tainted by picking birds) food. After a bird pooped on my chair and minutes later pooped in my drink my husband and I took our meals out of the buffet area, the birds left us alone if we were in the open air.
Our big recommendation from our trip is to get to the other side of Island, anyway you can! Whether by renting a jeep, taking a cab, or as part of a tour you HAVE to see the amazing preserved beaches on the other side of the Island. Also, for a good walk go north on the beach after you pass the Melia you'll find a beautiful peaceful stroll on quieter beaches. Another tip..Try to bar by the little pool, its almost always less busy and they'll take the time to make your drinks right.
Enjoy your trip!

We arrive via Air Canada (had a great flight) to El Cozumeleno on March 27, 2008. This resort is very clean and the rooms have wonderful views. The beach was a little rocky but still very wonderful with lots of great snorkeling. The staff was exceptional, with the exception of a few bartenders (Who knows they could have been just having a bad day. ) Nevertheless, all the staff works very hard.
Regarding food: It was okay. However, the birds really bothered me. I didn't like the fact that they could get into the bins where you also got your food. They would literally use there beaks to pick off the napkins. It was not for lack of the staff trying to scare them away, but being an open air restaurant you have them flying in. At times I didn't feel like eating. (Needless to say I didn't gain any weight while there.) It seemed the birds had favorite dishes they liked to eat from. So as long as you stay away from cold pasta you should be fine. We did make reservation in a nice restaurant on site, and the food was very good.
The biggest concern I had with this resort is the lack of shade. There were about 12 Palpas on the beach. This is not near enough. If you wanted one you literally had to be up a 5a.m. to reserve it. I believe people were even going down late at night and reserving them for the next morning. I didn't help that I got sunstroke on the third day. It is like the worst flu bug you ever had. The funny thing was I did wear a hat and applied #30 sunscreen three times that day. I wouldn't hesitate to go back, but definetly would like to know they have more palpas or anything available for shade. It would be a dufficult spot to take small children. I did see one family with a small beach tent. I bet they were glad they brought it Just know bring your own means of shade unless you are a person who can handle a lot of sun.
Regardless we had a good time.

My husband & I spent the last week with our 3 kids (17 yrs,
12 yrs and 2 yrs. old) at the El Cozumeleno. We also stayed there two years ago over spring break and had a really good experience then, but decided to try another resort this time around and so booked a trip to the Wyndham (formerly the Reef Club.) What a mistake! (But that's another review...I'm writing that one next.) Within 24 hours of our arrival at The Wyndham, we had contacted our MLT rep and transferred to the El Coz. The difference could not have been more dramatic. Upon arriving at the El Coz, we were greeted warmly and ushered inside. The hotel is very pretty and peaceful, and as we were quickly checked in (our check-in at The Wyndham involved standing in line for over an hour with 3 hot, tired, hungry kids, with no water available anywhere.) While we waited briefly in the cool, lovely lobby, Federico, the bell captain, had glasses of juice served to us. When my thirsty 2-year old sucked his down immediately, he brought him another one himself. My two older kids laughingly said, "We're home!" (They had great memories of this place from our time here two years ago.) We were given rooms next to each other in the newer south tower on the 8th floor. The view was absolutely beautiful, overlooking the pool, the ocean and the grounds. Moving hotels was the best thing we could've done. We are not overly-demanding people and we have very realistic expectations when traveling to an all-inclusive in Mexico with three children, but what the El Coz offers for nearly the same price is worth MUCH MUCH more than other places we have stayed at while in Cozumel. When traveling with children, this place is ideal for us. So here are the specifics:

ROOM: Large, always clean and well-maintained. The beds are a bit hard, but the room is bright, spacious, cheerful & welcoming. Housekeeping staff is very thorough & very friendly.
Having said that, I do have two MAJOR SAFETY CONCERNS, especially for families with small children:

**VERY UNSAFE BALCONY FOR SMALL KIDS!!!!

The space between some of the bars on our curved balcony's railing were actually wide enough for a small child to slip through--I AM NOT EXAGGERATING. This is Mexico, not the States, and things that fly here would never pass inspection by OSHA and other agencies that we are used to relying on here in the U.S. There are simply different safety standards here, and you have to be aware of that. We had a very active 2-year old with us in our 8th floor room, so we knew we had to be constantly vigilant about this. Truthfully, I would recommend that families with small kids avoid this issue altogether and request a room on the 1st or 2nd floor. Forget the view, put up with a little more pool noise and save yourself the worry. The railing is, I will also include, a very scale-able height for any active toddler...really scary.

***SLAMMING ROOM DOORS
This is REALLY an issue. If you've read the recent posting by the woman whose 12-year old son's finger was actually SEVERED when it was caught in the door, you'll know what a danger this is. The El Coz is a beautiful hotel, but it has a major design flaw in that a tremendous wind tunnel is created in the outside corridor (the way every guest reaches his room) when the wind gusts. If you make the mistake of leaving your balcony door open when the outside hotel door is opened, it creates a terrible vacuum, causing the door to slam with tremendous force. There is a small warning about this posted on the door, but it is very easy to miss; the sound of slamming doors is not. And if you--or your extremities--are in its path, you can get seriously hurt. You have to be really, really careful about keeping those balcony doors closed at all times, and even then the outside doors can be tricky.

Okay, on to the really good stuff about this resort...

FOOD: It's an all-inclusive, so it works well for families. As others have written, the breakfast buffet is the best, lunch is okay and dinner is by far the weakest link. Stick to the freshly grilled fajitas, cheese quesadillas and chips and guac at lunch and you'll be fine. There's lots of fresh fruit and usually some cold veggies every day, too. Yes, menu-ordered food is better; room service is very decent for a burger or a club sandwich. Dinner is pretty bleak, even when it's the 'special' nights, like Caribbean or International. The staff works so hard on these big-deal evenings that you just wish the food was worth all the effort. If you can afford it, take a taxi into town a few evenings a week to give yourself a welcome break from resort food. (Our very favorite restaurants in town are Guidos & Sorrisi.) We did not eat at La Veranda this time, but heard good things about it. We had a new appreciation for the food at El Coz after just one day at The Wyndham...we could hardly believe how bad it was! Seriously, seriously awful.

ATMOSPHERE: The week that we were there, (Mar. 29-April 5, 2008) the place was overrun with Minnesotans and other Midwesterners--a pretty tame crowd. The tone all week was very low-key and very family-friendly. No spring breakers at all, to our great relief. As it turned out, our two older kids connected with a bunch of other kids from other families, and they had a great time with them. (The resort is very careful about controlling under-age drinking, and even warned one dad who had let his teen daughter sip a pina colada he had ordered for her.) Our 2-year old son was practically adopted by the teen girls running around together, and he LOVED it. This place is really ideal for a family vacay...when it's filled with other families. I have to say, the day before our departure, a fresh crop of touristas showed up and the tone changed quite a bit. More adults w/o kids and a lot more drinking & smoking at the swim-up bar...we were glad that we missed this crowd.

Overall, this is just a really lovely place for families. The staff is very gracious (we loved Federico, the bell captain), the hotel issituated nice and close to town, and it offers a great haven for a lazy week of swimming, soaking up the sun and enjoying a little round of mini-golf or feeding the fish off the pier. Go and enjoy!