We requested a king room. We got a king room on the first floor, next to the pool, and the patio door didn't lock. So we were moved (carrying the luggage up to the 3rd floor via stairs ourselves) to the 3rd floor into a small double room. This was a very inexpensive hotel, but compared to other places I've stayed on a budget, I won't go back to this one. Our friends had a scorpion on their bathroom floor, the neighbors were so noisy that we couldn't sleep (although I know this is not the hotels fault--but the walls were VERY thin). I will say once we got past the check-in portion of the trip, the hotel staff was much nicer. The onsite restaurant was very cheap but quite good--excellent salsa and the wait/bar staff was very nice and prompt.

We had such a good time on this trip. Casa Del Mar is a sleepy little hotel, usually just a bunch of divers or diver wannabees (like moi), but this time we were surprised to find a group of about 150 HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS (yes, I said High school students) who were on the island earning credits towards their graduation. They were accompanied by about 6 or 7 teachers and were studying the usual subjects ie. algebra, physics, etc. and were all walking around with lap top computers! What a place to go to school!

Anyhoo, on to our trip:
This trip was just my hubby and I, our main goal was to relax. We accomplished our goal and had a bit of fun to boot. Although our tickets were for the standard room, we asked if it was possible to have an ocean view room and the dude in the lobby hooked us up with a beautiful, 3rd story room with a fabulous view (free upgrade). We went ahead and purchased the all inclusive addition for 35 bucks per person, per day. That really ended up working well for us.
Santos, the bartender ( he's the cuter, kinda chubby guy) is always such a fun person to talk with. We didn't want to be rude, so we spent many many hours at the swim up bar, just to keep him company. Seriously. The superb margaritas and sex on the beach had nothing to do with it.
We rented a car on the 2nd day (50$ with air conditioning, delivered to the hotel, ordered from the front desk) and cruised around to the East side. We stopped at Rasta's, and ended up getting booted out of Coconuts when the sun went down. I swear, when we got to Coconuts, I said to myself....'Self, just have ONE margarita'. Well, an argument ensued (with myself) and I ended up having a plethora of margaritas. Hubby was driving, so he just watched me get silly & kept his drinking to a minimum. We played washers, petted the pooches (Margarita and Vanilla) and fed the parrot chips.

The 3rd day we just vegged around the pool, we went across the bridge and fed crackers to the fishes. Then we decided we'd head to Chedraui and catch a movie. It's a really great place to go when you're a little burned out with the sun and pool scene.
Movie was in English with Spanish subtitles.

We checked out of the hotel at noon on the 4th day, and our flight home wasn't until 6:30, so we shoved our clothes back into our backpacks (no suit cases this time, just 2 backpacks) and walked around town for a few hours. It was around 4pm when we decided to head to the airport & check in. When we got to the Airport, there wasn't anyone from Champion air there yet. So we waited. and we waited. Finally someone came out and said the plane wouldn't be leaving until 9pm. (roll eyes) Allllrighty then, we can't check into the 'good part' of the airport, where there's food & stuff, so we just plopped down & tried to make ourselves comfortable for the 4 hour wait. A little while later, they came back out and said our flight wouldn't be leaving until 1AM (yes, 1 in the morning). There were several people that were miffed, to say the least. It was then that we were told to go BACK to the hotels we checked out of, they wuold pay for the extra night and would pay our meals and drinks. WOOOO HOOOOOO an extra day in Paradise!!!! It turned out that our plane's fuel guage wasn't working correctly (at least that's the story we were told). We went back to Casa Del Mar, where we were given an AWESOME Cabana suite! We had a wonderful dinner and several drinks & were taken to the airport at 730am in the morning for our 10am flight. No problems!

I would recommend Cozumel to most people who can enjoy a laid back, no rush & no worries vacation. I'd recommend Casa Del Mar in particular, for NICE people who are NICE to the people the are working there. It's not a 4 star resort, but it's very homey and clean. Please don't go there and be a snot to the waiters and people that work there. They are all good people. Try to speak a little spanish, they won't laugh at you if you say something wrong. And do NOT assume that just because they don't speak English all the time, that they don't understand what you're saying. Be Nice.

My wife Lisa and I spent a week of diving in Cozumel June 9 through the 16th and thoroughly enjoyed our vacation. This was our third trip to Cozumel in as many years, and the more we learn about this diving paradise, the more we love it. This year, we booked our accommodations through our diving provider, Blue XT Sea Diving. Blue XT offers a variety of hotel/diving package deals, or as with us, they customized the package to accommodate combining our hotel, 5 days of diving and Advanced Open Water certification.

In the previous two years, we were staying all inclusive at Hotel Cozumel and were very happy with that hotel, but chose to try something different and less expensive this year (i.e. drop the all-inclusive). Our primary objective is diving, so our requirements for accommodations are pretty basic – clean, air conditioned, good service, a balcony or patio suitable for drying equipment, a convenient dive dock and a swimming pool. This year we stayed at Casa Del Mar which did an excellent job in meeting our needs. The pool is adequate and includes a swim up bar. Breakfast was included in our hotel package and was very good. The first half of the week was very slow and we ordered off the breakfast menu, but they broke out the buffet later when more guests arrived – both were very good. We ate dinner at the restaurant several times and it was also good, but it would get old fast if you ate every meal there, which is why we would recommend against the optional all inclusive package ($35/day per person). We ate in town several nights (highly recommend Casa Denis, just off the square) to add some variety. The sky bridge to the dive dock has completed repairs from Katrina, so dock access is very easy. The dive dock also has equipment rinse tubs and fresh water showers available to all hotel guests (whether you’re diving with the hotels dive service or not). Additionally, there is a small ocean-side beach area with beach chairs, umbrellas and tables. All in all, we were very pleased with Casa Del Mar. Our only compliant is that any bottled water provided by the hotel (except the complimentary bottles provided at check in) must be paid for (about $1.25 for a 16 oz bottle), and though we don't object to paying for bottled water, we think your hotel should be obligated to provide potable drinking water at no extra cost (with minimal inconvenience). To get drinking water, you would either have to have your empty bottle filled a the bar, or buy a new bottle at the bar. Conveniently located water coolers could easily resolve this (this is how Hotel Cozumel dealt with the issue). We purchased three 5-liter bottles of water at Chedraui (like Wal Mart) for under $5 total and that lasted the week. Another minor inconvenience is that the safe deposit boxes are in the lobby. You are assigned a box number and provided a key – this was not a big deal, but it is a nicer convenience to have a safe in your room. Our maid was an expert at towel animals and never disappointed us.

Also, here’s a warning about Park Royal, the huge resort next to Casa Del Mar. We strolled over to check it out in the event that we may stay there one trip. In order to view the premises, we had to make an appointment and deposit $10 to guarantee the appointment (i.e. that we would show up). Upon meeting with Paco, he required us to provide a credit card insisting that nothing would be charged to the card, but that they needed to have that information as part of the appointment. We told him no, so he got his manager, whom we told no, so they gave us our $10 and we left. We Googled them when we got home and found it to be a time share pitch which certainly would have no legitimate need for your credit card information. Recommend that you just steer clear, unless you want a time share.

This was our second year diving with Blue XT Sea Diving and we love them. Christi Courtney runs a top rate dive service. Christi, all of the divemasters (Arturo, Pedro Pablo and Blanca) and crew (Mago and Adan) are professional, personable and committed to your service and safety. This year we included PADI Advanced Open Water certification as part of our dive package. We highly recommend this certification in combination with any dive trip to Cozumel. Combining the course dives reduces the cost of your dive package, and the training dives don’t disrupt your diving, but significantly enhance it. Christi sent us the study materials in advance. We reviewed the materials, filled out and submitted the required course work and the rest was diving – no testing, just pre-dive briefings and underwater skills instruction. Arturo was our AOW dive master and is an excellent and attentive divemaster. Blue XT also provides equipment valet service – easily our favorite service. They keep our equipment (except wet suits, or anything you may want to keep that day like snorkeling gear), rinse it, store it and have rigged and ready to go whey they pick you up for the next mornings dive. On your last day of diving, you take your equipment with you. We can’t say enough good things about the Blue XT dive team – we’ll definitely be back.

We visited Cozumel at the end of a long trip around Yucatan hoping to do some good dives, relax and top up our tans before going back home. We were very dissapointed at the hotel because although it is OK, we felt it could be much better but they didn't do it because clientele was guaranteed (people visiting from the US for some sun and diving). We weren't provided with the correct accomodation/diving package and no apologies were extended - we rather had to fight to get what we booked.
The hotel was not very close to town so we were expecting better service, moire choice of food and overall a better experience to make it worth staying in a secluded place. Yet the food was below average and the service poor.
The island itself was very beautiful. We rented a jeep and did a tour of the island stopping at a marine park on the south - spoted some rather scary large lizards - and on the beaches on the west, which were dramatic and romantic.