We stayed at this resort for 7 days. We were there the first week in Aug. First I must say that we read all of the reviews and thought it was spoiled non- tipping Americans. This was our 4th trip to Mexico and I was so dissappointed with this resort. The food was terrible. I understand that I am in a diffrent country and expect it to be diffrent, it was nasty and unedible. My whole family got very sick and spent a whole day of our vacation throwing up. After talking to other people at the resort a lot of people were getting sick. I spoke with employees that say they won't eat the food at their own resort. Flies were on all of the food........We took $100.00 for tipping that still did not get us any respect. I have never been to Mexico where we were not treated like kings and queens until El Cozumeleno, money didn't seem to help. Antonio in th dive shop was a real jerk. I have read in the reviews that some people liked him.....I asked how much the waverunners were, he told me I said I was told in front they were less but no big deal, he told me if I thought I could get them less than I should go there, very very rudely.

On the positive side the pools were awesome. The resort was clean, the kids club was fabulous. Claudia who runs the childrens club is wonderful!!!!my 5 year old loved her and the activities for the kids was great. We spoke with Leon in the lobby wanted us to buy timeshare in Playa. We told him we could not buy, He still sent us to Playa del Carmen for free. We also recieved a bottle of tequila, a bottle of kaluah, $200.00 in their spa, a jeep rental for $35.00 for a day and we ate and drank in their resort for a whole day!!! We listened to their sales pitch said no and had a great free day. What ever he says he will give you he is telling the truth. Great guy!!!! Don't eat at the resort and you should have a good time!!!!!

After reading some reviews I was in fear of my choice - with review of bad service and food. What we encountered was nothing but the best. From the time we hit the door we were greeted with smiles and service. Our room was clean and the grounds well kept. The staff top notch. It was very child friendly and proved to be a great "family" vacation spot with many things to do and a staff more then willing to help you do them. My only complaint was watching the many that felt that the staff were to be their "servants" for the week and treating them more like slaves then STAFF. The food was not what I was use, to but in third world county the rules are different, and I went know this. Over all "great" time. Don't for get to tip and insect repellent. Love from L.A.

Before booking my trip to Cozumel for August 6-9, I spent several hours reading the reveiws on the trip advisor website. I booked with El Cozumeleno because the good reviews outweighed the bad - I am glad I did. We arrived around noon and were informed our rooms wouldn't be ready until 3:00. We were immediately given a bracelet with access to all the food, drinks, and activities we wanted. This definitely made the wait go by faster. We stayed in the new tower and were very pleased with our rooms. Found the beds to be very hard as was stated on the website but found the view, the balcony, the clean spacious room, and the big towels well made up for it.

We watched the Carribean theme show that night but was not impressed by the show or the food. The food was setup outside and they sprayed pest insecticide all around the open food. We ordered room service and the food was great.
Breakfast the next day was much better - the french toast and made to order omelets were fabulous!!! We stayed away from the beef stew for breakfast. We did have some menudo around 4:00 am and found we were less tired after a night in town. They had hamburgers, hot dogs, and nachos every afternoon that were not bad. Breakfast was the best meal for our entire stay. We brought packable snacks (pringles, trail mix, candy) to get our American snack fixes in between food. Also - bring mosquito spray - our ankles always got bitten at the outdoor evening meals.

We found the staff to be extremely accomodating and friendly. We didn't tip everytime and were still given excellent service and smiles.

We took the Fury catalina boat ride out for the day from the El Cozumeleno dock - very convenient. The crew was great but we were disappointed in Palancar reef - saw very few fish. We are snorklers but not divers but we had been to this reef before and had seen tons of fish. We went to Senor Frogs for dancing that night. Caters to the very young crowd and to drinkers - the three 20 year olds we were with loved it. The best part of the trip was renting a jeep and exploring the island - definitely go to Coconuts - the best and highest view from the island. Great drinks and food and look at the photo albums at the bar if you want to see some interesting looking parts of the human body. Went swimming with the dophins at Chankanaab park. The dolphins were beautiful and it was an awesome experience - well worth the price. We booked in advanced at dolphindiscovery.com and found we saved $25 per person in advance. Even if you don't swim with the dophins I would highly recommend going to the park. It is absolutely beautiful and there's plenty of space to relax and to rent snorkel and boogie boards.

Best advice for going to Cozumel - remember you are not in America. It is much slower pace and a different culture. You should just sit back and enjoy the beauty of the country and ocean, appreciate the differences, and count your blessings you live in a country with so much wealth. Don't go to Cozumel for good food or for the clubs because you won't find it there.

Arrived Aug. 2-6
Clean resort except for flies swarming buffet and lots of mosquitos. After about 10:00PM, nothing to do except sit in smoke filled karaoke bar unless you leave the resort. Had four children with us and total of four adults, kids hungry at night and nothing to eat at the resort after dinner. Have stayed at many other resorts throughout caribbean and this was a disappointment. AC not working in one room.... Staff not very friendly in general and did nothing quickly...Scuba class was great and a great dive for family, Chaakanab Park well worth the visit (go on your own by taxi).