Of course anyone who has been to Cozumel once, and enjoyed it, will say that it is hard NOT to have fun. With that said, it is also hard to NOT accomodate your guests.

For example:
1) If you are trying to get early check-in, forget about it. We've tried twice with no avail. However, upon arriving you have the option of storing your luggage in a locked room (if available) while you swim, drink, or eat at the pool or beach and wait for a room.
Advise: Leave alittle later in the day, and arrive after 11 a.m. for a shorter wait, but be prepared to have a room you may not like.

2) If you're unhappy with your room, complain immediately. Some rooms in the North tower smelled like mildew and the faucet water had a scent which was unusual since it is supposed to be filtered by the hotel. This was a first hand problem and while not immediately known, we rode it out, and tried to change the next day, and got lucky. It was surely a hassle for the hotel to make new accomodations and they were rather unhelpful. Request the south tower and again complain immediately.

3) When checking in with the hotel, they give you a beach towel card for each member of your family. Give half of them back unless you KNOW FOR SURE that you will use them all. It is far too easy for one to slip away when returning a towel or else where and it will cost you $50 per lost, or unreturned card. This again was a first hand and VERY unpleasant experience.
Advise: Do not let them give you a card per person in your family/party unless you know you'll use all of them.

4) Make sure that if you're wanting to eat in the restaurant that EVERYONE in your party is dressed according to the hotel restaurant dress code. They will not sway, and if one person is not dressed accordingly, the whole party is turned away.

5) The buffet for dinner has improved slightly from our previous visit a year ago, but be prepared to eat else where at least one day of your trip. Breakfast and lunch are the best there. TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE ROOM SERVICE, at no additional charge, except for a tip.

The hotel is nice, the pool is great, and the location is a beautiful one. The staff however can be very stubborn when it comes to requests that make them work harder than they are used to. Bar staff is not included in the previous statement. Just remember to take care of all your problems asap and you will be O.K.. If you wait, you may develop feelings of anger and frustration, and you may even feel unwelcomed. We stayed here twice, the first time was 90% successful, and the second and most recent stay was about 25% successful when it comes to hotel requests and stay. We still had a great time overall, but next time we will not stay at El Cozumeleno.

Although this review is almost a year late, based on the current reviews, I'm sure little has changed since our week long stay last August. Having done research on the property prior to booking it , we were aware that it catered primarily to families and were expecting there to be screaming, ill behaved children running amok. We also deduced from our reviews that the property was probably one of the more well appointed maintained properties on the island. When my fiance and I arrived two hours before check in time, we fully expected to wait the two hours to check into our room. To our surprise, we were brought immediately to our 5th floor room in the newer South Tower. I need to mention of course that I did tip the check in staff $5 for this privilege however. Throughout my stay here, I made a habit of tipping everyone and perhaps doing so to such an extent that I was accused by fellow guests of "bribing the staff". Being a lifelong NY'er, I find this to be the only way to get things done right.
Anyway, we found our room to be spacious, well furnished and to have one of the most beautiful views of the ocean from our balcony. Unfortunately, we also had an earful of the obnoxious DJ trying to engage the poolside crowd below. The room itself was freezing from the A/C that worked almost too well although I'm not one to complain about this in the 90+ temperatures and humidity. As for the beds, I like a good firm mattress but these were rock hard. However, I fully expected this from the reviews and was not overly surprised by this. After settling in, we went downstairs to sample the lunchtime fare at the buffet. Again, based on the reviews we read, we were not expecting gourmet fare, however, we were hoping for something a little more ethnic for a Mexican resort. While some of the food was good for merely a snack, such as the nachos, french fries and chicken dishes, some of the other dishes were both visually and gastronomically unidentifiable as to it's origin. For instance, I do not believe that what was labeled a hamburger was even made of beef. But anyway, stick to the basics and by all means, STAY AWAY from the lettuce, vegetables and fruit which are routinely washed with Mexican tapwater and not the purified kind that is used for ice. I've spoken with more than a handful of guests who became violently ill and required injections of antibiotics to kill whatever parasite they contracted. That being said however, just use common sense and realize that you are in a third world country with different sanitary standards. As for us, we only ate the snack items to sustain us until dinner time in town where there were some of the finest authentic Yucatan restaurants in Mexico one next to another. La Choza, Casa Denis, Prima etc. As for the sit down restaurant, the food was basically the same as what you got at the outdoor restaurants except for the baked Alaska presentation. Although very medicinal tasting, you have to order this just for the pyrotechnic show put on by the waiter. Breakfast was more than palatable especially when delivered free to your room.
Anyway, on to the poolside bar. As I mentioned, a few bucks go a long way. My fiance and I spent a good hour or two at the small poolside bar near the adult pool and were well taken care of by the bartender who appreciated the 5 dollar tip we gave at the beginning of our mission. We were baffled by the other guests complaints about weak drinks when not one of them reached into their pockets to remedy the situation. Yes, taxes and gratuities are included in the package, but little or none of this goes into the pockets of the front line staff.
We found the pool to be just the right temperature and not ice cold as mentioned by other reviewers. Besides with 100% humidity, it feels nice. The only downside of our poolside experience was the lack of parental supervision of the teenage cretins who thought it was funny to throw a lounge chair and other items into the pool with people swimming in it. We actually saw another rocket scientist giving their ill behaved brood half of their Margherita just to sedate him and prevent him from running around.
While I can go on about the week's activities and the natural and historical beauty of the island itself, I do not want to be redundant.
In conclusion, we may go back to El Coz perhaps when the kiddies are back in school. Overall, we believe the staff to be very gracious, attentive and accomodating despite the many rude louts they have to contend with and have found the facility itself to be on one of the most beautifully maintained stretches of beach in the entire Hotel Zone of the island. Would highly recommend.

Just got back yesterday (5/29/05) from a week at El Cozumeleno with group of 10, including my wife and two small children (ages 1 and 3). I read tons of reviews prior to our trip, and am happy to report the following facts, and tips for future travelers:
1) South Tower is a must (older, other side is being renovated and will probably be up to par in another year or so)
2) Food was good. Much better than I expected (after reading so many negative reviews). They have themed party nights on Monday/Wednesday/Friday, so we ate outside for those evenings and enjoyed the shows. For Sunday/Tuesday/Saturday, we ate at the more formal, inside restaurant (which changes its menu daily). They are very strict on the dress code, however, so guys need to bring long pants and close-toed shoes... (yes they actually kept people out for wearing nice shorts or flip-flops).
3) Babysitting services were very good - We hired a sitter for our 1 and 3 year-olds for six hours each of the 4 days while we scuba dove. Ronna is in charge of guest services and arranged everything in advance. The sitter was always on time, and our kids really loved them (America and Martha). They both work at the front desk of the hotel, so it felt very safe. They have a kids center that is normally for 5+ year-olds, but our sitter took them there each day. There is also a swing set with slide, etc... and a variety of shallow pool areas for kids of all ages.
4) I packed two bottles of OFF (insect repellant), but never used a drop. There were a few knats at dusk one of the themed nights, but they did not bite us, and we never had any other problems with bugs the rest of the trip. Maybe it gets worse later in the summer, but we had 90 degree days each day, and never had any problems.
5) We stayed (and loved) the 7th floor of the South Tower. Water pressure was not a problem. On the themed nights, the music stays pumping until about 10pm, so if that is a problem, you will want to be above the 4th floor.
6) As for tipping... I could not tell much of a difference either way. I did not tip the housekeepers the first couple days and remembered reading a review about giving a tip to get extra service, so I tipped the next few days but could not tell a difference. They always left fresh bottled water, new towels, changed sheets, swept, etc... regardless of tip. I never saw any "fresh flowers" even with a tip. The only tip that I felt obligated (and was more than happy to provide) was to the Dive Shop guy ("Premo") that carted all our gear to and from the pier, and then washed and dried the equipment and wetsuits each day. That was the best tip money ever spent.
7) Speaking of Diving... Antonio is the real deal. He runs the dive shop (Ocean Tours) which is partnered with Scuba Du. They come pick you up at the El Coz pier and then take you to the El Presidente to pick up the Divemaster. El Coz is a long boat trip from most dive sites (we got picked up at 8am each morning and did not get back until 1pm), but we enjoyed the view and I would rather get a tan from riding in a boat than sitting in a chair in front of a pool. The dives were spectacular!! We saw turtles on almost every dive and lots of great varieties of fish, coral, tunnels, etc... We are definitely coming back!!

If you have any questions... feel free to shoot me an email.

Mark P.
Hattiesburg, MS

A large group of us traveled to the Cozumeleno 2 years ago. Once we arrived we could not check in (not til 3) so dont plan on getting there until 3 or they will store your luggage in a storage room or wherever they can. (this is anywhere though) Once we arrived and changed we went straight to the swim up pool bar. It was great! Anything we needed they got for us. Didnt care about us eating or drinking in the pool the whole time! When we got into our rooms me and my fiance had 2 queen beds, and two guys with the group had one king! So we just switched and didnt say anything. Well our new room was on the old side of the hotel, so we could take the elevator to the 3rd floor and then we had to travel up the stairs to the sixth floor. Some of the people in our group had problems with AC. Leaked on their bed. Maintanence took 2 days to get there. We loved the food, always so much to choose, cereal sucked, had goat milk, not whole at all. I have been to Cancun and Cozumel, Cancun is the party place. this is the quiet place. When you go to the market, prices will double if the cruise ships are in, so wait til they leave. But all in all we would go!