My husband and I stayed at El Coz Feb. 2-9. We flew out of Minneapolis, and that seemed to be the biggest group of guests during that week. I have been to Cozumel before and stayed at the Fiesta Americana, so compared to that, I thought this resort was WAY better. We've been to the Riviera Maya, too, and compared to that, EC was definitely not as fancy, but we don't go for that. If you like exploring a very safe island w/ a more relaxed attitude, this is the place for you. And I would definitely stay at EC again, mainly because I thought the staff was awesome!! I got to know some of the Activities guys, and they really bust their butts. A typical schedule would be 7 a.m.-noon and then back again at 5 to 10 to work the "show." Now the shows were not very good, but you gotta keep in mind that it is the same people who were running the activities all day long & kept a smile on their faces & kept their energy up the entire time. So I thought the staff was great. Also had amazing waiters who would remember your drink & never let it get empty. We got really lucky w/ our room; we made no special requests & were on the 7th floor, overlooking the activities pool/swim-up bar w/ the best view of the ocean, waking up every a.m. to hear the waves & a gorgeous view from our balcony. The housekeeping was great & scrubbed down the floor & made everything squeaky clean every day. We tipped her, the barstaff, the waiters, even the mariachi band, even though our vacation "included" tips, I know they appreciated it & bent over backwards for us, even if we wouldn't have tipped. The food was edible; kinda funny cuz even on theme night dinners, you'd find a new version of the same thing (Mexican lasagna, Chinese lasagna, etc:). So that was funny. Drinks were weak, too, but drink enough Long Island Iced Teas & you will be very happy.

Some tips: bring slippers for your room, as it is all tile. LOTS of sunscreen & film, cuz they will charge you lots of $$ at the gift shop. Guys need pants & closed sandals or shoes for the reservation restaurant. Be careful of the tide in front of the resort, as it will pull you right over to the buoys. H2O shoes would be perfect cuz it is all rocky on the beach, and getting in the water is hard enough cuz of the waves. IGNORE your Apple rep or whoever gives you your 1st chat when you arrive at the resort; they will pressure you to book trips right away. Give it a day so you can find out about all the excursions & places to book; we almost booked a dive w/ the Apple guy w/ an outfitter that we were gonna have to go find at the International Pier, when we luckily ended up going thru EC's on-site dive shop, and they leave from their own dock or pay for your cab to the Presidente to meet the dive boat there. Diving is worth a shot...we were already certified so I'm not sure how people liked the EC's scuba certification program. We dove the Planacar Gardens, which was awesome cuz you go thru corral tunnels & the current pulls you along w/ almost no effort on your part. The beds: met some friends who bought an inflatable pool float & put it under their sheet & slept great after that (the beds were rock-hard & my husband & I both had stiff necks & sore backs even though we slept great). Use the bottled water they give you!! I even brushed my teeth w/ it & never had a problem w/ Montezuma. My husband swallowed some ocean water the 1st day & attributed that to his week-long Montezuma problem. And one more thing; when it comes to renting a scooter, we did that at Fiesta & loved it, but my husband has owned one for years & years & also did not drink & drive, so it isn't a bad option for us. A lot of the accidents are due to vacationers who drink too much & also don't have experience driving mopeds, etc. BUT what we did this year was by accident; I was walking down the side road out the front door of the resort, and about 2 blocks down I ran into an Executive car rental (right next to a lobster restaurant). We rented a Yamaha Rhino (it looks like a golfcart but is faster & has street tires) for $50/24 hours plus insurance. It was way safer & had seatbelts & rearview mirrors. Then we went off on our own & explored & found awesome beaches & shops. And an employee of the resort said that the very best restaurants are the ones that don't even have a place to sit. So the tinier, the better. Anyways, I could go on and on, if you have any questions, feel free to email me. Oh yeah and we saw a wedding there. And they have ice cream in an area next to a pop machine, all you can eat/drink, yum. Awesome vacation, can't wait to go back! littlekelly19@yahoo.com

We have been back a week since our stay at the hotel and miss it very much. We loved it there. It was our first time staying at the Hotel and I must say, we enjoyed it very much.
We had read many reviews on the hotel over the last year, most were very good, but I do not understand the poor reviews.
The food was very good, we were full all the time.
We stayed in the North Tower, nice and big and did not smell anything moldy. We had a great view which we loved.
The staff are very hard workers, pleasing us all the time. Thanks
Nanci (at the front desk).
The beach was great, wear water shoes for sure.
Overall, it was a fantastic vacation, looking forward to going back there again.

Just returned home from Cozumeleno. We had a terrific time! But we always have a terrific time, its vacation. We were scared of some of the reviews that I read, but you know they are ALL pretty much right on(even the bad ones). It is not the top of line hotels, it has many flaws, food, service, ect... For the dollar, it is a great place. Are there nicer places, yes, but you have to pay for them. If your on a budget than this is your place! I was there when the sewer backed up...what a mess! You will have fun here, just expect an average hotel and you will not be disappointed.

Kalamazoo Mi

Wow! What a great vacation at El Coz! I must say that after reading other reviews before we left, I was worried about the food and the service, but it turns out we had nothing to worry about. Every staff person made a point of making eye contact and greeting us each day. They were gracious hosts-always smiling and willing to help. I had read that if you want to make sure you get the room you want, you should email the resort directly. So, I did that a couple of weeks before we were due to arrive.Our room was in the new south tower on the 9th floor. The view was fantastic! The rooms are larger than the typical run of the house resort room and the maid kept it very clean for us. They say you don't have to tip, but we've found a dollar here and there makes a big difference in the service you receive and can go a long way in making your stay more enjoyable. There's an outside restaurant where you can eat almost any time. You can order off the menu or fill up at the buffet. Of course, you're not going to like everything, but there's plenty of variety. I was afraid the food might be too spicy for our tastes, but if anything we found a few entrees were a tad bit bland tasting. It was always fresh and we saw a staff person checking the food often for temp. levels which was quite reassuring. The fancy restaurtant was a real treat! You have to sign up early in the day if you're picky about the time you want to eat. There's quite a variety of foods on the menu and the four of us never had to eat the same thing twice unless we wanted to. The beef was outstanding which really surprised us since we're from Nebraska where we think we grow the best beef. The Maui Maui was superb and the shrimp steak was the best I've ever eaten. We used Apple Vacations to take this trip and we weren't disappointed. Ruben who is their rep. at the resort was there everyday and some days 10-12 hours. If he couldn't answer our questions, he found someone who could. We had a bad experience on the Pirate Ship Dinner Cruise we took due to the weather. When we told Ruben what happened, he said, "If you're not happy, we're not happy." He talked to his supervisor and we had about 50% of our money refunded. We've had great experiences with both Apple and FunJet trips. We rented a car right there at the resort with no problems. We did snorkel several times right in front of the resort and enjoyed it. The waters are calm and the reef just to the south of the resort had quite a variety of fish. We took a snorkel trip to Columbia and San Fransico Reefs, but didn't see nearly the variety or number of fish we expected. The same with Chankaanab Park. The best snorkeling we had was free and we found it quite by accident on our day trip around the island. It's called Playa Corona. It's a small, quaint outdoor restaurant & bar with easy access to the calm, shallow water. We saw so many fish up close and personal. We highly recommend it.