We picked Cozumel as a destination for its snorkeling reputation and heard through friends the El Coz was a good choice for families. We were very happy with the snorkeling! Our boys(10 & 12) loved jumping off the pier and snorkeling into the beach! The fish were "trained" to accomodate snorkelers, they're used to being fed. My boys would feed them fresh bananas directly out of their hands! The other places we snorkeled at were El Punta(lighthouse) and Dzul Ha. El Punta was a great adventure, a lot of swimming required to reach the reef. We even saw a hawksbill turtle! Sandy beach at El Punta. Dzul Ha was cool too, see a few spotted moray eels. Just be prepared for a rocky entrance, beach shoes worked fine.

About the hotel...food was average, rooms were fine. When you get sick of the buffet, make reservations to the finer restaurant.,much better, more relaxing, great salads. The only problem we experienced...out of controll spring breakers. I was really surprised the hotel would accept these kids. There was only a small group, but they were loud, and the majority of the guest were really upset. After two days they were controlled. I think the hotel made a major mistake and will lose future business. Take the rowdies out of the picture, and we would recommend this hotel to all.

Sorry this is so long!!!! Travel 3-24-07 to 3-29-07
3 other girls and myself stayed 6 days at the El Cozumeleno. We are in our mid 20's and were definitely the odd age group at the resort. Most were families with small children or teenagers and a few couples. We didn't mind, we wanted to relax and not deal with the whole spring break scene. We didn't have any spring breakers or any problems with noise.

Rooms. We stayed in the older part and were completely satisfied. The bathrooms weren't perfect (it is an older building, just normal wear), the beds were hard and our pillows were lumpy (didn't effect our sleep but we aren't that picky) it didn't put a damper on our trip, we were just excited to have such a huge room, there were two couches so a total of 6 people could stay in our room. There was no fridge, there was a safe and plenty of drawers. Francesca was our maid and she was wonderful. We left her a list each day of what we needed and it was always there when we came in from the beach. You get a bottle of water each day to use for brushing your teeth. I did get to see in a newer room and it looked pretty nice, they are just smaller.

Beach. There is a beach! Plenty of room to lay out and get a tan or a burn!! They have cabanas to lay under and several hammocks. I would highly recommed water shoes if you plan on getting in the ocean a lot due to the coral (bring them with you, they are expensive to buy at the resort). Once you are in the water it is fine. We went snorkeling at the hotel and saw a lot of fish, we didn't go on a snorkel tour, I recommed trying it for free at the hotel first. The water was a beautiful teal color. There is a pier at our hotel, on the other side of the pier the water is brown (I would not stay at a hotel there because of the water, that is just my opinion). They also have kayaking but we never got to go because we always had the yellow flag up.

Pool. The pools are great. There is a pool in front of the older building and a newer pool on the other side. The pool has different sections with different depths, perfect for all ages. We hung out here a lot. Get there early if you have a big group, the chairs go fast. There is a section of the pool that is shaded. Oh and there is a swim up bar too! If you want a water camera bring it with you, we paid $24 for one at the gift shop, then went to the dive shop and it was $20!

Food. Okay so the food isn't that great. It isn't bad, it just isn't what we were used to in the United States. The food is generally bland (I think I might be a little addicted to salt though!) Breakfast is good, try the french toast! Lunch is okay, the best thing is the fajitas, they cook them fresh on the grill. Dinner is different every night, they have a theme. If you see the fish with capers, it is good! There is always fresh fruit on the bar. There is also a snack bar that has pizza, hamburgers, popcorn, chicken nuggets etc. It all sounds great but don't expect it to taste like home, but it is edible. If you aren't into the buffet order room service, its fresh. I saw a few people order room service and it was brought into the restaurant. Oh, it is outside so there are birds and bugs, just watch your food and you will be fine. The best part of all is the soft serve ice cream by the pool. This is my number one recommendation!! There is also a fountain soda machine and drinking water at the pool. There is a restaurant you can make reservations at and it has really good food (mahi mahi), we went at 8:30 once and it took about 2 hours to eat. We went another night at 5:30 and it took about 1 hour. They work very hard at the restaurant to make everything very nice.

Dining out. If you turn right out of the hotel and walk for about 5 minutes on the left side of the hotel there is a restaurant called the lobster house (it is to the right of the car rental place). There are two restaurants, the one on the right is the lobster house and the one on the left is a fish restuarant, they are both owned by brothers. We ate at the fish restuarant and I would highly recommed it. It has an amazing atmosphere. It is a very small romantic setting. I wouldn't necessarily take 10 kids here (our bill was $110 dollars for 2 salads, 4 meals and 4 glassed of wine) which isn't that bad. It gives you a pleasant break from the AI food! Arturio is the waiter, the son of the owener, he was very nice.

Drinks/Bar. This is AI so the drinks don't taste like you just paid $8 for them. I tried several drinks and finally found that a fresh banana daquiri is the best!! They do have good liquor so they can make whatever you want. If it isn't strong enough for you just ask for a double. There is the Donatello Bar on the second floor that has fun kareoke.

Staff. Everyone was very nice. No one hounded you for a tip in the resort, however it is nice to tip whenever you have good service.

Activities. At 9 am every morning you can take a free scuba lesson. Then if you feel comfortable you pay $65 to do a beach dive for 45 minutes. I wouldn't recommend this to an experienced diver, but for someone who has never dove before it is the perfect way to learn. You only go about 25 feet. If you want to get your open water certification it is $365. If you do the $65 dive this goes toward the $365. There are also snorkeling tours, deep sea fishing and a lot of other things to do. There is a sunset cruise for $30 we went on. They take you by town and then turn around and come back to the hotel, there is a fire show at the end. They serve corona, very strong margaritas and chips. I would give it about 6 out of 10. There are also activities around the pool, water aerobics which is fun, you only burn about 50 calories but you will have fun doing it. The only thing that mildly got on my nerves was about the 4th day of hearing bingo numbers called off. They play bingo every day about 12:30 and is seems to last about 30 minutes or so, didn't ruin my trip!! :)

Town/Cabs. For 2 people it is $5 to town, for 4 it is $7, we were told tips are included in the price. We got charged $12 twice!! Antonio at the dive shop said that people in town and cab drivers like to rip off the gringos sometimes!!! There are a lot of pharmacies (Some of the stuff is cheaper but most of it is pretty expensive), you don't need a prescription. There are your normal shops with t-shirts and other junk to buy. Lots of jewelery shops. There is Carlos and Charlies and Senor frogs, we went two nights and it was fun but there weren't very many people there.

Overall, I would recommed this trip to anyone wanting to have a relaxing vacation!!

My husband and I and two of our good friends stayed at the El Cozumeleno March 16th thru the 23rd. We had the most amazing time. I was a bit nervous after reading some of the reviews but after our stay there I can't understand how anyone could say anything bad about this place.
The hotel itself is beautiful, the staff is always friendly, smiling, and helpful, the grounds are very clean and tidy, and the food was above average. My husband and I stayed in the Dominican Republic 3 years ago and ended up coming home early because we got sick from the food. El Coz's food was so good. The breakfast had a huge variety of fruit, veggies, made to order omelets or if you didn't want the egg but all the rest, they would put it all in a tortilla, made to order fruit smoothies, cereals, pastries, pancakes, waffles, bacon, sausage.....
Lunch was super good also. Made to order chicken or beef fajitas, grilled fish, shrimp, fruits, veggies and more.....the snack bar had nachos, fresh salsa and guacamole, salads, burgers, hot dogs, pizza.......lots of variety. They tried to make dinner everynight a little different with a new theme...like international night, mexican night.... Everything was fresh and hot or cold.....even at dinner there was mac n cheese or pizza and others for the kids.....desserts were good also at all. Soda, water and ice cream was always available to serve yourself too.
There was always bottled water in our room, the room service was delicious, especially the fish sandwich and club sandwhich. The alcoholic drinks were a bit on the weak side, but all you had to do was order them with 2 shots or more....the bartenders had no problem making them how we wanted them.
We left a dollar here and a dollar there for all staff and they were very greatful. Mosquitos do come out at night and there is bug spray right at the lobby store if you need it. There are birds and flies around sometimes but it was just like grilling out at home in the summer. Some reviews make it sound like the food is covered in flies.....not true at all. All the food has covers on it and the staff are constantly covering the food after people put it on their plates. Pools are a bit chilly but once you get in, it feels very refreshing. The hot tubs are not hot. luke warm is more like it. The ocean seemed a bit warmer than the pools. We brought water shoes to wear while snorkeling. There are some bigger rocks once you get in the water. We snorkeled everyday. 2 of us got stung by little jellyfish but wasn't a big deal. Somedays the jellyfish would be out there and somedays not. If we saw some, we'd just swim away from them. The snorkeling area is huge. If you happen to get stung, go directly to the nurse which is by the activities room and workout room. She will rub vinegar on it and put some cream on it. Then you'll be fine. My husband didn't realize he got stung until later on and ended up with a rash on his legs and arms and had to get meds when we got back home. Get old bread from the restaurant for the fish. It's so fun. There are hundreds of fish. We saw a baby sting ray too.
If you want your own snorkel gear and don't buy it before you leave, we found the local supermarket which is very similar to Wal Mart. They had the same snorkels and fins and swimming stuff for much less $. Fernando is your man there if you need help. He speaks very good english due to growing up in Vegas. Visit Chakanaab park. It is beautiful there and if you like, you can swim with the dolphins which I did and loved! It was amazing. Many flowers and historic things to see. Iguanas and birds. You can snorkel there too. Downtown is fun. The shop owners like to pressure you a little to buy things but once they hear "no thank you" they back off. Definatley try to get the lowest price too. They will come down quite a bit. We ate one night at the Lobster House just down the road from the hotel for a little change. We found it to be a bit on the rustic side but delicious food! Very nice people also. A taxi ride to town and back for 2 couples was $7 each way. We rented a jeep and toured the island one day. There are bars all along the way. We stopped at Coconuts and had the HOTTEST salsa ever there. Sunday's many of the shops are closed because that is the only day they take off of work. Some are still open including Carlos and Charlies. Very good drinks but be prepared to spend $. $15 for a large drink. Try the dirty monkey. SOOOOO good. The fancy restaurant in the hotel is very pretty and the food is good also. After a rain you may smell a little sewage out your door towords the road. We were on the 2nd floor and some mornings were quite ripe. But once you got on the pool side there was no smell. If you want beach chairs, get out there before 8am to reserve them. They provide beach towels but if you lose them, it will be $50. If you go through Apple Vacations, Carlos will be your man at the hotel. He is very nice and explains things well. Always helpful. We will definatley be back someday soon! It was the vacation we have ever had!

had a great time. my biggest concern was the food, with many mixed reviews about food in allinclusive resorts, and previous bad experiences. the food turned out really good (not every single thing but there were so many choices and so much), and the reservation only restaurant was terrific. aside from that, it was beautiful, nice facilities, great service, and we had a great time. my only complaint was the water pressure in the showers, but the place was so good that it was a small sacrifice.