I had been staying in town for 5 days and decided after my diving was done to move to the Wyndham for my last 2 nights, mainly to have access to the beach and some snorkeling. I paid about $100/night all inclusive for the move over, which for an all inclusive I thought was an ok price. I stayed on the regular Wyndham side. I thought I would 'treat' myself at the end of my trip after staying in basic accommodations in town.

Pluses: I got the beach to lay on and the resort did not appear crowded. Especially if you were out laying on the beach under a palapa on a nice beach chair. I snorkeled 5 times in one day and it was good! Saw nice fish, a moray eel and tons of sand rays. The margaritas I ordered weren't bad and tipping in pesos went a long way. I had oceanfront room steps from the beach.

Minuses:

Roofs --I got a beach front room on the second story. It had a thatched roof. Literally. With gaps in it. While the a/c cooled the room, I spent both nights wondering if I was going to be attacked by bugs coming in through the gaps in the roof. Also, the thatched roof 'sheds' to it literally falls onto the bed all the time. When I got the room they had to send a maid to sweep the bed. Just a weird concept not to plaster under the thatching.

Room: Standard fare. Cable TV sucked - I had just left a cheap hotel downtown that had 150 cable channels and alot of English options - the Wyndham has like 30 channels total, maybe 5 English. However, don't watch much TV - but traveling alone, I did watch TV in the evening before bed.

Sewage smell: yes it exists. Especially between the Wyndham and Sabor sections. It smells like poo. I've traveled all over and never smelled this at a 'resort'. Which leads to.....

Not flushing toilet paper: funny, I had a cheap hotel downtown before coming here and could flush my paper. I get here and they want you to not flush any toilet paper. Is this because they have a septic system? Can you not get septic system tolerable toilet paper in Mexico? It exists in America. There's nothing like wiping your poo and then putting your poo paper in your bathroom trash can to get your room smelling nice. And it's so hygenic to have all that poo paper for the maids to pick up. OR forgetting about the rule until after the paper hits the toilet water - now what? Do I fish it out with my bare hands or flush anyway? Who wants these dilemmas on vacation????? I stayed on a private island in Honduras in March that had a septic system and guess what? They use septic system toilet paper so you don't have to put your poo paper in your trash can. And that place was ALOT more remote than Cozumel.

Pools/patrons: Loud, drunk, rude. That about sums it up. A couple of days can live with; glad not to have booked the entire week here. Very little tipping going on. I saw people order 8 drinks at a time and not give the bartender even a dollar or 20 pesos or anything. Nice!

The staff: Not attentive. It's funny because all the people I met in town before moving to the Wyndham were very gracious and helpful - in my downtown hotel, the local restaurants, etc. They just were wonderful. I get to the Wyndham and the hotel workers are not at all gracious. Why is this? I had made a reservation online an hour before arriving and I could tell when I got there the occupancy was low, but they made me feel like they were so put out by my arrival they didn't know what to do with me. They had to "find a room" and I had to wait. They also did not explain the layout of the resort, anything about meals, and did not provide me with a towel card (which I then had to fight for an hour later). Every time I approached the front desk they already looked defensive.

Internet - only available in the lobby. My hotel downtown had it free throughout the hotel.

Finally, the FOOD. I'd read a review a while back about the food quality. I'll eat just about anything so I figured that reviewer was just picky. Wrong. The food in the main buffet restaurant was not good. Some of it not edible. The first day I tried breakfast and the hot food indeed appeared to be recycled from the day before. They try to turn it into 'something else' but a fajita is a fajita. And the eggs were so runny if you did get them they ruined anything else you put on the plate. That was both mornings. I resorted to boxed cereal, milk and fruit. Dinner was lots of starches (potatoes, rice, rolls) and mystery meats. But back to the breakfast. It was literally inedible. Although I saw lots of folks shoveling it in their mouths...but there were alot of hungover people. After eating 5 days of authentic Mexican food in town, this was just misery. Even the nachos at the snack bar were sub par and tasteless. By the way, after eating all over downtown, when I got to the Wyndham and ate my first meal, I had to get the Imodium out - coincidence? I don't think so.

Overall, I wanted a beach for my last full day to lay on and snorkel from. I got that. But it cost me $200 plus tax. In hindsight, I should have stayed in my original hotel ($45/night) downtown and taken a day trip the last day to a beach club for the same experience at a lower cost.

I will be back to Cozumel for more diving but not to the Wyndham.