I just got home from my vacation today and I can not say enough good things about this hotel! The Staff was unbelieveable! It was by far the best service I have ever had in my life! They went above and beyond! we had a great time! I will go back! I highly recommend

My husband and I took our 4 year old and 7 year old here to try to break the cold winter up. We had a wonderful time. This resort is fantastic. The food was great, the service was phenomenal, the grounds are gorgeous, the pool is awesome, and the beach has great snorkeling. They offer free snorkeling and scuba lessons every morning. The instructor was so patient with our children and taught them both how to snorkel in the pool and then took them out into the ocean. We had such a wonderful time and did not want to leave. We definately will be returning to Cozumel and staying at El Cozumeleno!

I booked this vacation six months ago with Apple Vacations. I watched TripAdvisor for all those months, and right before the trip the - negative nellies - came out of nowhere. I almost changed my resort (but my travel agent talked me out of it) and am so relieved that I didn't.

We stayed two weeks, so the occasional rainy days were no big deal. You should try floating in the ocean when it is sprinkling, wow!

The View: Our room overlooked the stage/pool area. It was never too loud to make us uncomfortable. We watched the dorky shows from our balcony. The sunsets were some of the best I have seen, and I have seen a few.

The Room: Clean & Big, A+

The Service: Bartenders were glad to make me whatever concoction I wanted, and I tried many. The waiters (Juan & Jose especially) took care of us extremely well. Yes, we do tip. We tip lots. This vacation was very affordable, so part of our budget is tips. These folks get paid $4 - $6 bucks A DAY, and they share tips, why wouldn't you tip?

The Location: $5 for a taxi to town. We did it every couple of days. The shopping in town was great and the different restaurants were wonderful. Try Guido's if you are craving pizza, and their sangria is to die for.

TIP: Go to town after 4:00 in the afternoon, after the cruise ships are starting to leave. You will avoid the traffic of thousands of other tourists. On Friday and Saturday in town in the evening the locals are out and it is fun!

Food: Very Good. We never got sick. The buffet is great for breakfast and lunch. Yes it's about the same everyday, but there are lots of choices and you don't have to eat everything every day. Try different things each day. With that said - everyday at lunch I had the (very fresh) shrimp cocktail. You put whatever you want on it and it's wonderful with lime juice, ciantro and hot peppers. One day the fajita maker (Manuel) even made my shrimps into fajitas. Dinner at the buffet was good, although we usually went elsewhere. The reservations restaurant was great. Reservations were easy (maybe there were fewer guests at the hotel, but I never had a problem getting reservations up until about 10:00 am). The food is very good, try all of it. They make great soup! Room service was excellent, fast and good food. Also try going to town for dinner, again we never got sick and never felt unsafe.

Scuba Diving: My husband went 5 days, 10 dives. The dive masters at Scubadu are top knotch. He had a ball.

TIP: If you plan to dive ALOT, try booking outside of the hotel shop. They are great, but it is a little expensive and no combo packages.

YES, we will go back. Hubby is planning the guy scuba trip for September as we speak! The staff at this resort work to make it a wonderful experience for all. I guess I don't expect perfection, so I am not easily dissapointed. But at The Cozumeleno, it was very close to perfect. ENJOY!!

P.S. If mosquitos like you (and you know if they do) bring bug spray, it helps.

Just got back from El Coz after staying from the 25th-28th of this month. We were 8 women on a girl trip, ages ranging from 22-60.


Views: were spectacular

Beach and grounds: were very clean and beautiful, but beach is rocky and not one you can swim at. If you really like to play in the ocean, think twice about El Coz.

Employees: very friendly, every single one of them. The maid had to let me in the room once because I didn't have my key and she was so nice about it. I did have to use a little Spanish to explain myself though.

Food: pretty good depending on what you like. Some was a bit tasteless, but I thought the fish was always excellent. No one got sick.

La Veranda restaurant: food was presented beautifully and taste was above average. Service was very slow.

Rooms: ours were ground floor on the north end and were facing the golf course. They were HUGE and still had a small view of the water even if they were "garden view". Our beds were not hard at all but I heard that some in our party had hard beds. Room was clean but old, and had a smell to it, like a musty odor with a cleaning agent on top of it. Some things weren't functioning, like no latch on the shower door (had to put a towel on it to hold it closed). Also A/C fan above bed was very loud and constantly running. No alarm clock and no outlet near the dressing table. There was a hair dryer which I wasn't expecting.

Water: you are only allowed 2 bottles per day and can only have them delivered to your room. Then you are supposed to go to the restaurant or snack bar (not always open) to refill the bottles. One morning we called for water and it was not delivered for hours until the maid cleaned the room. And multiple times I brought my bottle to the restaurant to fill it, only to have it scooped up by the waiter if I wasn't at the table, leaving me without a bottle for the day.

Drinks: tap beer available was fine. Drinks tasted good but were very weak. Could occasionally get extra liquor if you asked the right person. We tipped here and there also.

Pool and hot tubs: Both way too cold. Could not swim in pool at all and one hot tub was fairly warm one day, cold the next. Had a hot tub outside of our room that was chilly and called have it turned up. They said they would increase the heat but we never felt it.

Snorkeling: Snorkeled on the beach and saw many of a few different types of fish. People were feeding the fish near me from the pier and they were swarming, which was excellent. The area is full of silver dollar sized jellyfish though, which most of us found overwhelming. I braved through it and got stung once, which felt like being bit by a horsefly and felt that way for an hour or so before disappearing. It was still very freaky to me to turn my head and have a jellyfish in my face though. I love snorkeling but I was not amused by this.

Manta sunset cruise: Excellent! Book it through the onsite dive shop. Antonio and all of the Manta boys are professional, friendly, and very accomodating. They have awesome all you can drink margaritas, Coronas, and soda available and the fire show is incredible. Bagged chips were there for snacks also. I would have preferred some fresh chips and salsa, but no big deal.

Theme show: not very good. Some of the dancing was cool, but when we were there, there were children up there doing the macarena and the host was asking, "who's from Wisconsin? who's from Florida? who's from Canada?" etc., etc. which was not entertaining in the least. Maybe good for a family show. If my kids were up there I'd be entertained.

All in all, not a bad experience and you can't beat the views. I think El Coz was worth the money as it was fairly inexpensive. I would recommend it for a value trip if some of the above things wouldn't bother you. I will probably look elsewhere next time.

As a side note, it was very easy to get a cab to town and it is very safe to walk all around town. Carlos and Charlie's was a blast. We also did a 2 hour ATV tour through Apple and that was great fun too. Make sure you bring long pants, closed toe shoes for that and be prepared to get very muddy!