Just got back from our first trip to Cozumel; stayed at the Park Royal located a short ride from the downtown area. Our hotel representative told us to expect to pay no more than $7-8 per person for the cab. A fellow traveler told us we could get one about a block away from the airport on the main road for $5 per person. He was correct - there are rows of cabs just a short distance away from the airport confusion; it saves a few bucks.
Arrival at the lobby was painless; check-in was delayed but not because of the hotel staff. I just think that the party in front of us had a little difficulty understanding everything, and asked questions for at least 20 minutes. There were only two people handling check-in so it did get backed up. We were a bit early, so we had a quick beer and surveyed the grounds while we waited one hour for our room.
The grounds, as you could see from the pictures, were virtually immaculate. Obviously a lot of care and concern goes into the daily maintenance of this facility. Our room was a "junior suite" which had a smalll room off to the side for kids, on a sleeper-ready couch. It also had a TV and remote if I got up early and wanted to catch the news while my wife slept in the main bedroom. The bath featured a "rain shower" head which we both loved. Bedding (king bed) was firm but very comfortable. The patio was narrow, and offered a view of a parking lot and vacant ground.
Breakfast starts at the Veranda restaurant, which is buffett style, and also serves lunch and dinner without reservations or long pants. For the most part, I found that breakfast and lunch did get a bit repetitious, but that is to be expected when you eat there every day. The food was excellent; with the typical omlette station, great fresh fruit, and local seafood. A carving station is added for lunch.
The three dinner restaurants (reservations and dress code apply) were Mexican, Caribbean, and Italian. Our Mexican dinner (mixed fajittas) was actually not as good as we make at home, but we over-spice everything. Neither of us liked it as much as we have had at other places. We disagreed on the Carribean- I liked the grouper fillet with the raisin sauce but my wife found it dry; the second time she liked the surf and turf, I did not care for my steamed fish mix in foil. As for the Italian, try the Salmon with creme sauce; the pasta can be ordered on the side in lieu of veggies; my wife enjoyed her cannollis. The service at each place was excellent. Reservations were easy to make. Dessert was great. For "all-inclusive" I will agree with those who say it was amoung the best "all-inclusive" food we have had in many resorts.
There is a wonderful open air stage at the resort. After dinner shows are offered, but they were of only fair quality, and lacked imagination. Similar to one you may had seen a million times before. After the show, that's it! No music in the lobby either live or recorded. There is a nice sports bar in the lobby area, with music, and for the price of a few speakers it would have been easy to pipe it outside, where people sat at night. Most people just got their drink at the bar and sat in the lobby. The sports bar itself was mostly empty. If you did not go into town at that time (by about 10PM) you were basically done for the night. I guess that cuts down on the bar bill! A ride into town is about 6-8 bucks each way and cabs are readily available.
During the day, the grounds, pool, kids area, and side infinity pool bar are just great. There is small cove area that leads to the sea, and you can get snokle equipment for free up to one and 1/2 hours. The reefs were clear on calm days, with lots of fish. For the "price" it was OK. There are dive and snokle trips at vendors right at the resort, for those who want more.
Luis the bartender at the large infinity pool near the Carribbean restaurant was excellent! Burgers, pizza and hot dogs are served near the main bar.
Town was OK, but we both feel that Americans like to shop with constant pressure, and the vendors can wear you down. We prefer to not be hassled by vendors, although they were not so bad as some other places.
Just beyond our resort, there is a terminal for cruise ships. Everyday except Sunday, one or two ships pulled in and people went into town. We were told that the vacant ground in back of our room is going to be developed, and shops and nightlife will be found there. We both felt that this would complete the area, and give us something to do within walking distance of Park Royal No one knows when there are going to start this development, but it would add some night life after the shows.
People we met said they enjoyed the car rentals they took, and suggested taking a ride around the island for one day. Rental can be had easily at the resort, and across the street. All in all, we enjoyed out week. We will probably go back when the new buildings are erected. If diving and snokling is your "thing" you will like it. The resort is clean and modern. The staff is great.

We stayed at Park Royal Cozumel Thanksgiving week 2007. We stayed there with friends who are members of the timeshare group.

The overall property is nice, clean, and well maintained. Very pretty environment. They have a small beach that's great for snorkeling. Staff is friendly. Food ranged from questionable to very good. Alcohol selection was downright scary.

Our friends who made the reservation booked two junior suites and "paid" the amount of timeshare points required for that room type. We received written confirmation of the room category. They called one week in advance to cofirm the room category. When we arrived we were assigned normal rooms with 2 double beds. We figured out that they had assigned us 4 rooms (only needed two) to use up the points value required for the junior suites. They went down to straighten out the situation and we were upgraded to two normal rooms with king beds, still not the room category promised. In fact, we were told that the tower that contained the junior suites had been closed for some time.

Another odd experience was booking tours and rental cars through the conceirge service. Each tour required a cash payment to the concierge and then another payment directly to the tour company plus a few other cash "fees" paid to various people along the way. We were assured that we could use a credit card to pay when we arrived but then it turned out not to be the case. Each tour turned out to be a little different in one way or another than what we were initially told. They arranged a Jeep rental for us and the original price quoted turned out to be much more once we arrived at the rental office. The Jeep was in bad shape and were worried it was going to strand us on the other side of the island.

This is an "all inclusive" resort. All drinks (including alcohol) and food are free during your stay. You can make reservations for the restaurants (for dinner) or show up at the buffet any time it's open. The restaurants are better than the buffet. We had no trouble with the availability of reservations at the restaurants. The resort was not fully occupied (it looked like they only had about 5 floors open in one tower) at the time we were there, there could be a problem during busier seasons.

As part of the all inclusive set up you receive a wrist band that you will have to wear for the legth of you stay. This wristbank is recognized all over the island and you are a target for vendors as a result.

The bars serve beer, wine, and mixed drinks. The resort website stated that the bars stock "international brands" of alcohol. The only brands in the bar that I recognized were Jack Daniels, Smirnoff, and Jose Cuervo. I had never heard of any of the other brands. I am pretty sure that what was in the Smirnoff bottle was not Smirnoff and what was in the Cuervo bottle was not Cuervo. When you ask for a juice mixer (say....pineapple juice) what you receive is a kind of koolaid flavored drink. They serve California wines......a jug of wine named "California". They also served Dos Equis draft....the drink I would recommend at this resort. For good drinks try the Hard Rock across from the ferry pier in town.

Despite these issues, it was not a bad place to stay, the overall environment was nice. Cozumel is a beautiful island with warm turquiose waters and an abundance of sea life. The downtown area is fun to hang out and shop in and there are lot's of beach clubs up and down the coast at which you can laze away the day.

A friend of mine said one day "I am taking you to Mexico" I replied "Ok" the rest was the most relaxing time in my life. My wife along with my friend and his wife spent 5 days in this awesome resort. The only problem was the patients needed to get checked in. If you get there and get your room right away you are very fortunate, thank Davey Jones and start enjoying the sun. If not just take a stroll to the beach, have a few drinks and just remember that in Mexico 10 minuets = 1 hour. The rooms are cleaned everyday but some days not until after 6:00 P.M. The food was fantastic, the breakfast was first class and if you are eating healthy you will not go hungry. Some of the more exotic dishes (squid in ink) were a touch weird. If you are active the staff will treat you to volleyball and morning stretches. The lunch bars with burgers and chips were fresh and the salsa was very good. Make sure to get the snorkel equipment to practice if you take a tour. The fish are very active right on the beach and the water is very comfortable. I did see a small barracuda, several crabs and many different tropical fish in the crystal clear water. I do recommend a snorkel tour with Fury, they were not pushy and did a great job with beginner and veteran divers, and sunset tour is breathtaking. The service was great at Club Royal; the staff was always friendly and did make fun of my horrible Spanish. There are a bunch of people in the lobby that will try to sell you something, the $20 discount on a tour is not worth the hour of relaxation. Be kind and direct if you do not want to be hassled every time you walk through. I would recommend FunJet for a booking agent because Freddie did a great job setting up tours for us. The snorkel tour is $110 and well worth the money with four adults. I would also recommend the submarine ride that goes 100 feet deep the ride was spectacular and very pleasant it is not as dramatic as it sounds but the view is. I would love to go again 5 days is a perfect time or 7 days if you plan on doing several tours, you need at least 3 days on the beach.

I just returned from the Park Royal after a week with my husband and my parents. (we are 30, they are 60).

Check in was a bit dicey-- arrived in the morning and they said rooms would not be ready until 3pm, but encouraged us to use the restaurants, pool, beach. We waited until 2pm, front desk staff stated still not ready, and no king rooms, no ocean view. Our travel agent had requested both. My husband asked to speak to the Manager. She was pleasant, polite, and promptly gave us gorgeous rooms with full ocean views with double beds on the 8th floor.

Room was large, very clean and great! Linens were nice, exactly as pictured. Beautiful marble. Built in hairdryer and big shower with bench. Toilet and shower separate in very small room. Not alot of counter space, but everything very very nice. Large closet with shelves and room for luggage. Desk with little bench, quality rattan furniture. We were on the corner, so we had an extra sitting room with chair and little table and beautiful windows overlooking the ocean. The balcony is great, with marble floors and nice furniture. Our room had sliding doors that opened, that gave you a huge opening, loved it!

I loved the energy consuming features! When you come in, you have to put your room key in a slot in order for the lights to come on. This way, you can't leave your room and leave them all on! Also, when you open the sliding doors, the AC shuts off.

The restaurants were good. Had some problems getting reservations as they only take them from noon until 3pm, and if you were away from the resort, you might have to eat at 10pm! we enjoyed the buffet with lots of different choices. A bit bland, but that is to be expected. Pleasantly suprised, and we are a bit snobby over food! Loved the Mexican restaurant, Italian and Caribbean were good. No coffee machines or bar fridges in the room. Other people had written about not taking food to their room...can take coffee though. Also, a little deli with overpriced chips and chocolate bars.

Bars are great. 2 swim up bars and one near the lobby, plus sports bar. Very generous and friendly.

The beach is amazing. Most other places just have a deck. There are little tiki huts and lots of chairs. Love the towel service. The pools are a little cool, but really nice and clean. The beach area is very nice and comfortable. There is a snack bar, washrooms, beach volleyball, and place to borrow snorkeling equipment. Lots of people snorkeling right in front. The beach area has sand, but when you go to go swimming, its very rocky-- should have worn water shoes. Ocean very clean and beautiful colour. Staff everywhere. "Hot tubs" were more like little pools for kids. Deck is very nice and you can sit right out over the ocean.

Everything is very clean. Maid service was at different times during the day, but very nice. One day, we put out our do not disturb, the maid called us and asked if we wanted towels, or anything else. Very very clean and organized. Left gifts for maid, but she didnt' take it! Had to explain it was for her.

Location is GREAT. We wanted to be close to town. Can't walk, even though some people said that they did. $4 cab ride, well worth it. Can walk across to Ernesto's, rental car and one of the cruise ship piers with everything that they had downtown. Rented a jeep and cruised around island. A bit of traffic noise, but didnt't botther us as the grounds are spectacular--lush and clean.

Timeshare people are everywhere. Just ignore! We decided to go, it took 2 hours, but we got a free jeep for the day and a bottle of Tequila. The jeep turned out to be $60 a day across the street==depends on how much money you want to save. It's really quite remarkable how they do it. We listened over breakfast and then looked at the room and then listened, and then carried on! Ridiculous prices in my opinion.

The view is definitely obstructed by Cruise Ships. The hotel is located right near the Pier. To me, it didn't wreck the view at all, I enjoyed looking at the ships each day. You could also see on both sides of the ship, so not a big deal to us at all.

One thing lacking is the nightlife. THey had a "show" at night that was amateur dancing at best. New Years they had a show that consisted of lots of children, and we didnt' stay for the rest. Definitely a kid-friendly resort, but not alot of partying. No disco or nightlife.

Overall, great value. Loved the location, staff was awesome and always helpful, food was good, very very clean and luxurious!

I have lots of photos, not much different than others on here. Any questions, please ask.

Would go back!