My boyfriend(now my fiancee) and I stayed at the El Cozumeleno from April 5-12, 2008. Our flight was a bit delayed getting into Cozumel and we arrived at the airport around 5:30pm.
Check in was quick and effortless. They passed out tropical drinks which were great after a day of flying. We had made reservations for a deluxe room because we wanted the mini fridge in our room. That is exactly was we received. Our room was located on the ground floor in the north tower(the older tower) and the furthest from the lobby. When we arrived in our room, we noticed that it was located directly in front of the putt putt course. We groaned because we really wanted our privacy that week. It was a romantic getaway.
After settling in, we went to the front desk to request a room change when they had another deluxe room available. I knew that the resort was booked up at least that evening. The front desk people were always very nice. He said the check back in the morning. We did and they still didn't have one available that day. Check back the next morning. We did again before our deep sea fishing trip and they had one available, but we had to move all of our luggage immediately out of our room in order to get the new room. We obviously did not have the time to get our things packed up again because we had an appointment to be at the fishing charter. After getting back to the resort, by fiancee and I agreed that we would stay in our room for the week because it was very convenient and close to many things. We were very close to the lobby to get to the pool, dining, and beach. Plus, we could just walk out our patio door and the beach and pools were just yards away.
We left our patio door unlocked a lot because we'd go sit on the beach and could come and go as we please. We never had a problem where we thought that someone would come and steal our things out of our room. It was nice in the morning to have the room right on the beach because we tried to reserve a palapa and beach chairs. My biggest complaint was the way that people would hoard the palapas. There were only 2 occasions where we ended up getting a palapa. We noticed that people would wake up at 5:30am or so and put their towels and books on quite a few chairs. By 6:30am, they were all taken. 6:30!!! The 2 times that we were lucky enough to get a spot, we would pretty much sit there all morning and afternoon, with the exception of eating and the occasional swim. We noticed that almost ALL of the people who claim the chairs with towels and clothing do not even sit down in the chairs until 1100 or after noon!! This really isn't a resort problem, just rude and inconsiderate people. There was a time where the chairs next to us sat with magazines and towels on them. They claimed 3 chairs total and 2 people finally came at 1100. They proceeded to pull the chairs out from under the palapa and lay out in the sun!! I like the palapa because it's really the only way to sit on the beach and have some shade. I sunburn easily. I was appalled by these women. The 3rd person in their group never even came and sat their butt in the other reserved chair. I know that the unoccupied chair was their's because they threw all of their books and magazines on the empty chair. That really just made me mad for other people who were always walking by to look for an empty chair.
We thought that the service at the resort was above surperior. Everyone was beyond nice and helpful. We ate at La Veranda 3 times during the week and had great service and food all three times. Our favorite waiter at La Veranda was Ricardo. What a sweetie. We every morning at the buffet and were always pleased with the food and selection. Lunch at the buffet was my least favorite. I didn't care for the selection of food, but I later discovered that they have menus that you can order from on the tables. They had things on there such as Club Sandwiches and Enchiladas. I wished I had ordered from there at least once. We never got around to ordering free room service. We only ate at the buffet for dinner once and we liked it. We ate out for dinner near town 3 times. I think by the end of the week, we were getting tired of the food. I think they need to get a better variey of food. I would strongly recommend Guido's on the main downtown street. It's located near the shops. Great italian food.
We rented a jeep for one day and explored the island. The eastern side is breathtaking. I would strongly recommend it.
I loved how large the rooms were. We had a deluxe room, with mini fridge, 2 sofas, and king size bed. The bathroom was huge with a large shower and a bathtub. Lots of closet space. Housekeeping was excellent. We always had enough purified water.
I could see how some people complain about the pools. I'm sure that the majority of the people who swim in them are kids. I'm fairly certain that the kids don't rinse off their feet after getting off the beach and into the pools. There can be a lot of sand and other floaters in the pools. I didn't find that the pools were too cold either, like others had written. The staff at the resort I feel worked very hard to keep the resort clean. I saw someone cleaning the pool at least 2 times a day. The rest of the resort was well cleaned.
We loved our vacation and would definately go back. I think that we would either stay were again or next door at the Melia. We walked there one day to check it out and ended up getting massages seaside. They have a nice beach too, but I really enjoyed the fish at the El Coz. We had the best snorkeling around. Lots of fish. I would recommend this resort to anyone who is carefree and not incredibly picky. I know it's hard to please everyone, but they pleased us.


(9 votes)





