My girlfriend and I researched Cozumel hotels rather thoroughly. Based on our price point and the positive reviews we read, we decided to stay at the Hotel Cozumel and Resort. From our arrival to our departure we were pleased with the accommodations as well as with the service we received during our stay. With the exception of one gruff bartender and one or two maintenance people who would barely look at you, everyone was very pleasant and accommodating. All of the locals that we encountered were kind and helpful as well. The hotel grounds were very well maintained, clean and beautifully landscaped. The rooms were decent, very utilitarian. The floors are tiled, we’re sure, for easy clean up of water from dive and snorkel gear. This is certainly a dive resort and the rooms are designed with divers in mind (drains in the bathroom floors, hooks on the balcony, etc.). In our room, a few of the dresser drawers were broken, and the lock on the balcony door did not work, but these minor issues did not concern us terribly and didn’t detract from our vacation. English speaking travelers will be happy to know that there are several television stations that run English programming (sitcoms and movies - with Spanish subtitles). You can also tune in CNN and the Discovery Channel in English. Wireless internet access is free (The access point is in bar. You can sit in the lobby). You can use the hotel’s computer for $3/half hour, $5/hour.

We chose the all-inclusive package for the convenience as well as for the inclusion of non-motorized activities. Some of these facilities and activities may be available to non all-inclusive guests. We don’t know which are and are not. That being said, bicycles can be checked out at the activity stand on the north end of the pool. This is also where you will find the open-air exercise room, tennis courts and ping-pong tables. The pool area seemed to always have some activity going on, though we never participated. Kayaks and snorkel gear can be checked out from the Dive Paradise shop on premises. Be sure to bring the card you receive at check-in (for the kayaks, not sure if you need the card for the snorkel gear, as we brought our own). If you do not bring the card, you will have to walk all the way back to your room to get it. I will be inconvenient to have to walk from the dive shop to the rooms and back again if you forget it. This is because the hotel is divided into to main sections. Let’s call them the main hotel area and the waterfront area. These two sections are connected by a private walkway which runs under the main street. The walkway is a part of the hotel which runs off the lobby and comes up in the beautiful, outdoor dining area. There is also a restaurant off the lobby (named Los Arcos), but you really can’t beat dining on the waterfront side with a view of the water and the sunsets. In all, Hotel Cozumel is a decent place to stay.

Beyond a simple review of the hotel and rooms, we felt it would be helpful to include information and tips that we found out on our own which may be helpful to future visitors. We hope you find this information helpful as well.

General:
Mexico is a different culture with different agriculture and a laid-back atmosphere. The food will be different than you’re used to, and the service, although good will not have the immediacy you may have become accustomed to. Be patient and remember you are a guest in their country. People at the hotel will speak English. It helps to know a little Spanish, but it is not required. It may be helpful to bring an English-Spanish dictionary ($6-7 at your local bookstore). I speak conversational Spanish and still found the dictionary helpful in a few instances.

Health:
The water situation seems better than the stories we’ve heard over the years, but you still need to be careful. Hotel Cozumel provides water in water coolers in the hallway. The water will run out fast in the morning, but they refill the coolers throughout the day. We were always able to refill our bottles at night. Use this water to brush your teeth with, not the tap water. Another suggestion we read about was to take a dose of Pepto-Bismol each night. We think this was very helpful. We made it back in relatively good health (my girlfriend was a little nauseous the day we left), but we certainly didn’t get sick like others we had met there. The hotel states that the vegetables are rinsed, and the ice is made with purified water so we felt comfortable eating and drink there.

Food:
Again, the agriculture in Mexico is different, and I don’t care where you live, cooking for a few hundred people can be challenging. With this in mind, the food was acceptable. Some of it was very good, some of it was a little questionable by our tastes and preferences. Most dishes there tend to be repeated but there was still enough variety. The burger guy was at the waterfront dining area every weekday. Find something you like and stick with it. Feel free to try new things, but I would say, do so a little at a time.

Necessities:
We recommend bringing an “emergency kit” including: Asprin, Pepto-Bismol, Immodium AD, something for nausea, and a small bottle of vinegar (explained in the snorkeling/diving section). Also, bring oil-free or biodegradable sunscreen (to protect the coral and wildlife, bring it - it’s expensive in Cozumel), and mosquito repellent (use it if you’re walking around at night). If you forget something, don’t worry, there is a grocery store, Chedraui, which also sells health and beauty and assorted products (almost like a Wal-Mart), a few blocks north of the hotel (closes at 10pm). One nice thing about the hotel is that it is central to everything.

Shopping:
There is plenty of shopping in downtown San Miguel, which is about a 15-20 minute walk from Hotel Cozumel. South of the hotel, there is a little patch with shops near the port where the cruise ships dock. A local shop keeper told us you can get stamps somewhere around there. They do sell stamps in the hotel gift shop, but at twice the face value. Face value of the stamps was 10.50 (each) in pesos. The gift shop sold them for 21 pesos = just under $2 United States Dollars (USD). We bought them at the gift shop out of convenience. You can mail your postcards at the front desk.

Money:
The front desk changes currency, but just about every place we visited took US Dollars. Prices may be listed in Dollars or in Pesos. Be sure to ask if you don’t know. Make sure you know your exchange rate. You may even want to bring a small calculator. The cashier at the Haagen-Dazs in Playa del Carmen suspiciously short-changed us as well as another couple we were traveling with that day. It was only 2 pesos (each), but still… it’s your money, make sure you’re accounting for it. Also, taxis will often quotes rates in both USD and Pesos. If you pay in USD, you may be paying more for the cab. Example, a cab ride downtown is $3 USD or 30 pesos. At the time we went, $3 USD = 11 pesos (approx). We paid in dollars, which equated to 33 pesos, which means we paid about 27 cents more than we could have. Keep in mind, it will cost you to have USD converted to pesos so it may all wash out in the end. We didn’t feel the need to track small change, but we felt that those of you who like to account for every penny may want to know this.
If you want to have money changed, you can do it at the airport, the hotel or at a currency exchange. We read that you will get the best exchange rate at a currency exchange. We saw one in a mall at the south end of the downtown strip (near the Punta Langosta sign). It is right down from the Carlos and Charlie’s and Hard Rock Café. You will also find public restrooms there.

The “Beach” at Hotel Cozumel:
Though there is no beach leading to the water, there is a sandy area with chairs at the waterfront. If you want to tan, you can do so here or you can also tan at the pool. You can check out towels at the activity stand by the pool. Be sure to bring the towel card you receive at check-in. You will also need to return your towel card upon checking out.

Snorkeling and Diving:
You can do both right off the hotel property. There are two areas on either side of the gazebo to get into the water. Both are a little rocky. It seemed a little easier to get into the water on the right (as you face the water). Depending on the weather, the waves can make it challenging to get in and out on either side. It is also very important to note that the coral can be sharp and can also sting you. Nobody will warn you about this so try to remember it. I learned the hard way. If it does sting you, you may experience a burning sensation and the contact area may swell a little. It will last a few hours. As soon as you can, put some vinegar on it and it will help relieve the symptoms. You may want to pack a small bottle of vinegar since getting it from the hotel staff did take a while. (I had to find someone who knew what I was asking for, then wait for someone else to get it from across the way at the main hotel area. It was a long time to wait when my foot felt like it was on fire). There also can be very tiny jellyfish (penny-sized or smaller) in the water that you may encounter while snorkeling anywhere around Cozumel. Again, vinegar helps relieve the symptoms. I was stung by the coral and my girlfriend, by the jellyfish. In both cases, at the worst, it was a minor nuisance and certainly didn’t keep us from enjoying our trip.
If you have never tried scuba diving before but always wanted to try, this is certainly the place to do it. The on premises dive shop, Dive Paradise, offers a one-day introduction course ($63 USD) all the way to a full PADI certification ($310 USD). We took the Introduction to Scuba course and our dive instructor, Carlos Hernandez, was thorough, patient, and pointed out a lot of great underwater wildlife. We heard good things about the other instructors there as well. If you dive and are concerned about using mouthpieces that who knows how many others have used, you can buy your own mouthpiece from the shop. A rubber mouth piece cost us $4 and a silicone mouthpiece was $8. In the water we noticed that the tanks had different sized in mouthpieces. You may want to ask if there are different sizes prior to purchasing. Part of the intro course involves sharing the spare regulator off the instructor’s tank, so you may want to get a mouthpiece for that one as well. Also, there are lockers down at the waterfront to keep your stuff in while snorkeling or diving. Keys are checked out from the front desk.

Other Activities around Cozumel:
The travel advisors within the hotel (their desks are off the lobby, but they not associated with the hotel) were helpful in finding and booking activities. The also gave us good tips on island etiquette (for example, you typically don’t tip the taxi drivers unless, say, they help you with your bags). However, after our first jeep tour (see below) we were still a little skeptical that they may have had deals with certain tour companies and may steer us to those activities whether or not they were any good. So we tried to do research on our own as well. We looked around and also asked the other guests what they have done. Most of them were divers, and did little outside of diving, so we didn’t have anyone’s review of whether any of the tours were good or not, so we are including our reviews for you. One couple we spoke to took the Atlantis submarine tour and said they really enjoyed it. (I believe the cost was around $70 USD.) We decided to do other things instead. In all we’d say that the travel advisors did a relatively decent job in accurately describing the activities and that the packages were pretty fairly priced compared to the cost of putting the same package together ourselves. Below is a list of the things we did. We included prices (prices were quoted to us and paid for in USD) so that you can plan on how much money you may want to bring. Keep in mind, we traveled at the start of the slow season and prices are subject to change.

Pantera Jeep Tour (Snorkeling/Mayan Ruins):
($85 USD/per person, all inclusive) Our rating: 2 out of 5 stars
This is an 8 hour tour by jeep to snorkel at Dzul-Ha (zool-ha), and an off-road adventure to Mayan ruins, that finishes up at ruins at El Cedral with a little shopping. Dzul-Ha is a great place to snorkel. You can see some pretty cool fish, including giant parrot fish. The next stop was a 20 minute tour of a small tequila manufacturing plant. The brief tour ended with samplings in the gift shop. If you take this tour, please note, this is the last stop for the rest of the day where you can use an actual bathroom. (They neglected to tell us this until we were back at the Jeeps.) If you need to go after you leave there, you will have to go like the Mayans did… in the bushes. Honestly! The off-road part was pretty cool for the first half hour. Then it got old. It was bumpy and slow-going. Most of the day was spent driving to the Mayan ruins with a stop for lunch on the beach which was pretty nice. Then we got back into the Jeeps for even more off-road driving. The ruins were very disappointing. The map they show you when you sign up depicts a drawing of a pyramid. The actual “ruins” was a 12x14 collapsed room which was once a temple to receive gifts. The history was interesting, but not worth the ride. The same goes for the second “ruins” site. It was another temple that looked like an old jail cell in the middle of a little market area. By the time we got there, only 3 shops were open. However, the tour guides, themselves, were great and even made the lunch on the beach. The “all inclusive” for this tour included beer (even for the Jeep drivers), soda, water and lunch. In all, it was not worth the money. If you want to see ruins, go to Chichen-Itza, or Tulum.

Tulum/Xel-Ha Tour:
(Reg. $120 USD/pp, all inclusive. Our group of 7 negotiated a cash price of $105 USD/pp). Our rating: 4 out of 5 stars
You can take either of these tours separately or as one organized tour. The tour starts by taking a ferry from San Miguel to Playa del Carmen (on the mainland) early in the morning. You are then taken by van to the ruins of Tulum (too-loom), the last city built by the Mayans. Our guide had a lot of great history for the group. If history is not your thing, break away from the group, walk around a bit, and find your way to the high point, just to the right of the ruin with the big stairway. There you will find a wooden staircase down to a breathtakingly beautiful beach. Unfortunately, by the time the tour ended at the beach, we only had about 20 minutes to spend on the beach, as we had to get back to the van to take us to Xel-Ha.
Xel-Ha (chell-ha) is a large snorkeling park. You can snorkel, float around in a tube, and you can even swim with dolphins (for an extra charge-around $140/pp, I think). The all inclusive part of the package included food and drinks. We ate at the main restaurant, a two-level, open-air dining facility. Food was served buffet style. The “all inclusive” started at Xel-Ha (around 1pm), although you could buy food or drinks at the entrance of Tulum. We got back to the pier in San Miguel at around 7:30pm.

Mayan Adventure Snorkel/Snuba Tour:
($45/pp, all inclusive) Our rating: 4 out of 5 stars.
This is a 4-5 hour, three stop snorkeling tour. The all inclusive tour included water, soda, beer, a few mixed drinks and snacks (fruit and Doritos). The crew was great. The snorkel guide pointed out a lot of interesting things. We didn’t snuba since we went scuba diving the day before. Snuba, is like scuba, but the tank stays on the surface and is attached by a line to your regulator. This is one way to get the “scuba experience” without certification or training. The tour ended with a round of tequila shots. In all, it was great fun.

El Cedral:
(free) Our rating: 2 of 5 stars
We rented a jeep and went to the fiesta of El Cedral. This is a celebration that lasts only a few days at the end of April/beginning of May. You can find its history on the internet. It is a festival much like any other city festival we’ve been to in the States. There are food carts, shopping tents to purchase trinkets, rides for the kids, a ferris wheel, etc. It was interesting, but maybe we just expected something a little different. Another couple from the hotel that we spoke to went and enjoyed it very much.
Note: We rented the jeep from a company called “Less Pay.” We researched ahead of time as well as asked people around the hotel who they rented from. Less Pay seemed to have pretty good rates. You can find them on Google by typing in “Less Pay Mexico”.

Finally, as we said, this is a diving haven. Though we only took the intro course, we heard from everyone we spoke to that the diving was excellent. So, get certified before you come, or get certified here… or don’t. We didn’t, and we still had a wonderful time.