Our third year here and this was like a dream come true. My husband dives with a bunch and that was fabulous. I snorkel out front and that's fabulous too. Food was great and a different array for picky eaters too. Loved the sunset dinners best. Something I won't forget for a mighty long time. The personal that worked there are very friendly and the rooms was just fine too.
Took a jeep one day around the island and that was fun and easy. Spent time in town and you can walk from the hotel if you prefer. One problem and that was I didn't spend a longer time there. I will be back. :-)

My husband and I stayed at Hotel Cozumel Resort July 7th-13th, We opted for the All-Inclusive plan. We have never been to Mexico before so we did a lot of research on the different Hotels. I read the reviews almost daily to see what people were saying about this hotel. I got a little nervous with some of the bad reviews I was reading but we decided that we were just going to have to see for ourselves.
To start off, When we got to the hotel we got checked in right away and was taken to our room. It was not the room that we were suppose to get. It was a double bed and a non smoking room... which was no big deal...but we wanted at least a King size bed...so we did go back down and talk to them about it. They were full the first night so they asked us if we would stay in that room for the night and that they would have another room for us the next day. Which they did. We had a very nice room with a King size bed. The showers are just what everyone else has been saying..the shower heads are really really low so be careful not to hit your head when rinising your hair.
The food was ok...nothing great or lavish. Neither one of us got sick from the food and we ate at both resturants. The entire staff at the hotel were very friendly and they were always making sure the property was clean and ready for the next day. We never encountered one rude or angry employee at that hotel including the bartenders at the outdoor bar.
The entertainment at the hotel was pretty good....not as bad as what other reviews said. The way I look at it is they are TRYING/ATTEMPTING to entertain us while we are there...they are not professionals by any means..but they were trying to get the hotel guests involved in different things and they even were entertaining to the kids that were staying at the hotel. They played music during the day and even got involved with the guests by playing Water Volleyball, or different sports. I think they go to a great effort to try to make the guests feel welcome and to help them enjoy there stay.
Downtown is very close to the hotel, in which we walked there numerous times, you have to realize that you are not in the United States and they do not have the city maintance crews that we are all used to..it is still a very poor country. For never being out the United States before it was something to see. Shopping was plentiful there...numerous little stores downtown and nothing was really expensive.. I did notice that if the Cruise Ships were docked they would not bargin that much.. but when they were gone they would. The people do try to get you into their store. One guy told us " Come in and look at my junk" Which I got a good laugh at. They were all very friendly even when you did not go into their store. Shopping was Great for me. Probably not so much for my Husband! HA.
We did take the Jungle Jeep tour...which was awesome. I would recommend that to anyone that stays in Cozumel.
One downfall we did have: We rented a vehicle from our hotel, Fiesta Car Rental and we were told that we were getting a 2 year old Tracker..but they didn't have one available at the hotel so we waited for one to be brought down to us... When it arrive that thing was a piece of crap, Rust all over, it was so loud, you could smell gas fumes from it. We actually didn't think it was going to get us back to the hotel. The service engine light was on from the moment we got it and it was still on when we were done with it.
We did drive it to Punta Sur lighthouse and it was such a wonderful view of the island. Make sure you go there. Also make sure you vist Mr. Sancho's Beach..it is a public beach and will not cost you anything to go there. The sand is nice and the water is beatiful. There are beaches along there that you do have to pay to get into.
Overall, I would recommend this hotel to anyone that is going to Cozumel. I am sure there are other hotels that are nicer and have better food and are probably more expensive...so it is your decision but don't let the bad reviews turn you away...which it almost did to us. You need to find out for yourselves...If anyone has any questions about the hotel, please feel free to email me. I will give you my honest opinion! We will definetly come back and maybe next time...we will bring our kids.

We stayed the week of July 1-8. I have been to Mexico on 3 other occasions so I had an idea that the bad reviews were from people expecting something more like they find in the US. This hotel was rated a 3 star by our funjet rep. The reason being it is across the street from the beach, and the beach was man-made. There were 8 in our party, family and friends, and everyone had a great time. We are not divers, and the hotel is geared toward divers, but that did not stop us from having a ball. The food, while deffiantly mexician, was more than adequet. We never went hungry. Breakfast was the best, and supper in the Arco Rest. was good. We ordered off the menu, and only a couple of times did not like the food. So we ate more dessert and ordered another drink! We went with the all-inclusive plan, and felt with just breakfast and the drinks it was well worth it. We spend several afternoons by the pool and we enjoyed Raymond, and his crazy "meows". The kids that put on the evening shows gave it their all, and we enjoyed watching and participating in them. My kids also enjoyed karoke every night, and I stayed up and watched them a couple of times. We all snorkled right at the hotel, and it was beautiful. We also took the jeep/jungle tour and enjoyed the snorkeling and the bbq chicken on the beach. This hotel was the cleanest, nicest and most accomodating hotel I have stayed in while visiting Mexico. The bartenders were good to my kids (all over 21) and took care of them until they closed the bars most nights. Mexico is what you make of it. IT IS NOT THE U.S. If you are open minded to fun and relaxation, and remember that you are getting a bargain, then you will enjoy your visit to the Hotel Cozumel. If you want to vacation at the Ritz, then don't go to Mexico......and yes, I got sick, but that was my own fault, you have to be careful in any foreign country...take your amodium AD, and some pepto....and get ready for some fun, sun, good "real" mexican food, and some great people that work hard.....don't forget to tip!

My husband and I stayed at the Hotel Cozumel & Resort from July 2 to July 7, 2005. The hotel was close to the town of San Miguel and was within walking distance for shopping, if you don't mind walking on uneven sidewalks that are overgrown with weeds and in some cases with very large uncovered holes. I presume that these are some sort of an attempt at drainage, but they are uncovered and what I would consider dangerous if you were to step off into them. Also the sidewalks are littered terribly and in general the walk it not that of a "romantic stroll through the streets of Cozumel" which I was anticipating. You will walk by extremes of grand hotels to homes and buildings that are in states of disrepair or abandoned.

The shopping at the port for the cruise ships was nice and had some good resturants such as Carlos & Charlies, Senor Frog's, a Subway, a Burger King and the Shrimp Bucket. We tried Carlos & Charlies and Senor Frogs. Both had good food but the atmosphere was loud with partying and music that blared-geared more toward the partiers visiting the island. Even though we were not there to party we were not offended by the drinkers or the music.

As you go on through to San Miguel you will encounter locally run shops- gold/silver shops aplenty, cigar shops, and those shops with basically the same merchandise---blankets, sombreos, t-shirts, jewelry, souvenirs, etc. The prices were pretty much the same at most of the shops. I did find that I was able to bargin with most of the vendors if I tried. Overall, I did not find bargining to be necessary because the prices were very reasonable. I did not find it necessary to try rip the locals off. Their prices were fair. The only thing that I found irritating was that at most shops there was one or more people trying to coax you in. That got old fast!

I did go to the grocery store just down from the hotel. It was like a Wal-Mart Supercenter. It had clothes, personal care items, housewares, and food. If you go there be prepared to stand in LONG lines and the service was VERY SLOW!!! Also, I paid with a traveler's check and the cashier gave me change in pesos...she shorted me $5. I did not realize it until I was outside and I thought it would be far too much hassle to try and get my money back. I don't know if it was intential or if the cashier didn't understand my method of payment. Either way, I chalked it up to experience and kept pluggin on. If you go to Mexico, make sure you know the exchange rate as you will get change back in pesos sometimes.

Now for the hotel, the facilities were okay. The check in procedure was pretty smooth. We did all-inclusive and we were asked to provide a credit card imprint for incindentials. I declined this due to the fact that there should not be incindentials on an all-inclusive. We were careful to not drink any drinks from the bar that were not included on the all-inclusive plan or order from the menu items not included. When in doubt, I asked if what I wanted was included.

The hotel food left a lot to be desired. My husband got really sick after eating rosemary chicken on the 2nd night. We were expecting more mexican foods to chose from on the buffet but we did not have those choices available to us. The food was not hot despite being under heat lamps and in my case the food did not taste like it should. Therefore, I ate very little. I even went so far on the 2nd night to order off of the children's menu and get chicken nuggets and french fries. The nuggets were absolutely horrible and I seriously wonder if it was chicken. The fries were okay. I could not eat the chicken, it was gross.

After that point, we ate our meals out excluding breakfast. I did find that the breakfast buffet had waffles/pancakes that I could get down. However, the milk was not like the milk that I drink in the US. I tried a bit of it but just couldn't go there.

Also, you will find that even the soda tastes very different in Mexico. It is sweeter, even the diet, and is definately different tasting. We only drank bottled water and never drank water that was poured in our glasses at the restaurants. Just a precaution. Depite our precautions my husband was down sick with throwing up and had diarrhea. He did not get better until the day that we left.

While he was ill, I rented a car and drove to Punta Sur to see the lighthouse on the Southern tip of the island. I did this alone and did not feel any fear about driving alone as a female. When you drive in Cozumel, you better keep up with the traffic or get out of the way. I would not recommend renting a scooter for this reason. They just looked like they could be very dangerous.

Now, back to the hotel...Our room looked like the picture on the Internet. But, if you have any allergies to mold be very careful about staying here. There was A LOT of mold in the rooms. It was in the bathroom and in the main room where the bed was. The lamp shades were rusted at the bottom where the ring went around the bottom of the shade. The bed was okay but the pillows had a smell that was not the best.

We were supplied with a large bottle of water and when we needed another we were given it also. We used this to brush our teeth with and did not rinse our toothbrushes in the tap water. Another precaution that we took to avoid sickness.

Our towels were changed everyday but the sink/tub were not cleaned daily nor were we given clean glasses daily during our stay.

The pool area was really pretty and we did go there a few times. The entertainment was really BAD! We equated it to a "bad-cheap lounge act". The dancere were not in sync and the guest singer was not very good. I would pass on the entertainment...as we did the rest of the week.

The hotel is not on the beach, but there is a tunnel that crosses underneath the main road if you don't wish to dodge the traffic to go to the beach area. Also across the street is another of the hotel's restaurants and the dive shop where you get the snorkel equipment that comes all-inclusive. You will need to get a card from the front desk to take to the dive shop to get the equipment. The man that we encountered there was very grouchy and was very short with us when the fins we asked for were too big. He obviously was having a bad day. I dismissed it at that.

The snorkeling was very cool there. As a first timer I did not know what to expect but it was cool to see the fish near enough to touch. I tried it and liked it. I would recommend it to those who like to swim.

The beach area was man-made and you will not see many of the "white sand" beaches on the west side of Cozumel. They are found on the east side, I am told. The west side is more rocky and if you do find sand it is very course.

We did take the ferry to the mainland, it cost $20 for each person, each way. I thought that was steep, but it was a nice boat and it got me where I wanted to go. Playa del Carmen was much prettier beaches, white sand an all. The shopping was just like it was in Cozumel. The prices might have been a little cheaper...more competition I guess. We did not find much to do there. We were going to go to Chichen Itza but were too late to make the long trip.

One thing that you wil be confronted with is people trying to get you to go and visit their hotels. The offer free food to money. One man at the ferry in Cozumel offered me $300 to visit the Mayan Palace in Playa del Carmen. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is...I disregarded their offers. If this is your cup of tea...go for it. We just did not want to go through the hassles.

Here is a list of things that you should take...
tylenol/ibuprofen, sunscreen, sunburn lotion, pepto, immodium.

I would also recommend some sort of laxative. I encounted constipation due to the lack of food and water that I was taking in. I had the opposite problem of my husband if you know what I mean. :)

All in all, this trip was a good experience and I was returned very appreciative that I live in a country that so wonderful.