We returned last week from a 10 night stay at the El Cid La Ceiba. We had a deluxe suite on the 10th floor of the tower. The suite had a magnificent view. There were two full bath rooms and a large bedroom. The main living area was nicely furnished with a complete kitchen and dining area. The Murphy bed in the living room was surprisingly comfortable. The air conditioning worked very well. As others have reported there are occasional odors in the bathrooms. This is common in some high rise buildings; it is caused by a low water level in the toilets. Most of the time you can just flush the toilet to restore the water level to resolve the problem. Their housekeeping staff did an excellent job keeping every thing clean. They even change the bed sheets daily. The bed sheets are not of the quality we are accustom to. I hope that hotel management decides to upgrade the linen which would make the room even better. Over all we really loved the suite.

The tower has two very small elevators that have a maximum capacity of three people. When the Time Share sales tours are in progress, the wait for an elevator was as long as 15 minutes. During our stay one of the elevators was out of service for several hours on two different days. The stairs have no hand rails and are completely open on one side so if you slip on the steps you could be killed by a fall to the bottom landing, so take extreme care if you use the stairs.

The beach area was well cared for and the waiters take drink and food orders from your beach chair. The beach service was very good. We did tip these guys and perhaps that is why our service was so good. The snorkeling was very enjoyable with many different species of marine life. There is very little Coral left but the abundance of beautiful fish made up for it.

During our stay there was only one day that had a significant number of cruise ship passengers that over ran the resort. What made that unpleasant was the large number of unruly children running around kicking sand into your drinks and food. I only observed one mom and dad practicing good parenting. The rest seemed not to care what their children did.

The La Chopa restaurant was never crowded. The service varied from excellent to poor, mostly good so we tipped accordingly. Most of the staff was very friendly and helpful. The Elite all inclusive plan eliminates surcharges for their better liquor and menu items not included in their standard all inclusive plan. The only restriction was Lobster, you are allowed one Lobster dinner for each 5 nights of your stay. I was not impressed with the Lobster, the Rib Eye steak was much better. Breakfast each day was a limited buffet with a menu available. All lunch and dinner service was from the menu. I am glad we had the Elite plan since most of what we ate and drank would have had a surcharge. Over all, the restaurant food was good, better than the six other all inclusive resorts we have stayed at. The restaurant and bar are managed like a separate business, you are required to sign for each and every drink you have and every thing you eat regardless that the balance due was zero, that became very annoying.

This resort is very quiet at night. It was disappointing that you can not get a drink after 10:30PM. When we are on vacation we generally like a night cap. I wish that the bar was open until midnight.

Over all we were very pleased with our stay at the El Cid La Ceiba. The 10th floor deluxe suite really made this trip especially enjoyable. For the money we found this resort to be a good value, for what this vacation cost you can not expect every thing to exceed your expiation's. The El Cid La Ceiba certainly exceeds most of my expiation's. This is a great place for a laid back vacation. Next time we go to Cozumel we will certainly consider staying there again.

Talk to the El Cid host Marcella Montano - she was so upbeat, informative, and polite - not pushy, kind and truly concerned about our enjoyment of the island. We really connected with her.

The ony improvement I would suggest is to have teen night (games, etc) early in the week to allow young folks, like our 17 year old daughter to connect with other teens - she was rather lonely by the second week of our stay.

I read all the reviews before deciding on El Cid La Ceiba and was very exciting about our stay there. Unfortunately, our stay was not as enjoyable as most of the reviews on here.
To begin with we were not greeted with a wet towel nor were there any welcome drinks, instead we were told we could not check in for another 3 - 4 hours because they were getting people checked out. BUT the couple behind us in line were also trying to get checked in and they were allowed to do so while we waited in the lobby. Because we are owners in a timeshare they took that opportunity to try to sell us their vacation club package.
El Cid's website says it has been totally renovated... our room was not! The bathroom looked dirty, smelled and the ceiling looked as if it would fall in on you while showering. The bathroom had very little light... there were two light fixtures in there but they were very dim. The refrigerator made a loud popping noise that would actually wake us up at night. We were told this was normal. There was only one very small trash can in the bathroom so we were always looking for bags to put the trash in. There was a non-functioning safe in the room.
The maid came everyday but did not actually clean anything. One day she must have just wiped the inside of the coffee cups with a dry cloth because the next day there was dried coffee all in the cup. There were stains left from a drink on the refrigerator that was not touched AND she actually left her dirty cleaning rag on the table when she left! The a/c would be cut off when we would return from an outing so it took a while for the room to cool off.
We made a complaint but never heard from anyone except for the maintenance man when he came to tell us the popping from the refrigerator was normal.
The concierge staff was very aggressive, after awhile, we tried to just avoid them, so what did they do… they called our room to setup meetings. This I did not appreciate at all!
The one good thing about El Cid La Ceiba was the restaurant, La Chopa… very nice people and great food!

Cozumel, Mexico
April 2, 2010 – April 9, 2010

TripAdvisor™ get the truth. then go.
E-mail Cozumel, Mexico to a friend
To*: (separate e-mail addresses by a comma)
Your e-mail address*:
Your name:
Message:
*indicates required field
All e-mail addresses submitted on this page will only be used to send this message and will not be collected or used for marketing purposes.
SendSend
CancelCancel

Thank you!

Your e-mail was successfully sent.
CloseClose
My trip notes: Cozumel is a beautiful place to visit. I loved the snorkeling, reefs, cleanliness of the city, and the friendliness of the people. We stayed at El Cid La Ceiba. It is about 2.5 miles south of the downtown pier area. Marcella, one of the coincerge was extremely helpful. The rest of the staff was very, very friendly!! The maid was more than awesome!!! I used to be annoyed about all the "tipping" that is such a large part of the tourist culture until I found out that minimum wage was $5/day in Mexico; I was quickly humbled. All that said, be prepared to budget in tipping expenses when planning. Cozumel does not have a public transportation system. One must rent a car or scooter; taxi's are available. We paid $7-$15 to go from a range of 2 - 4 miles - per one-way ride, not per person.

We spent Saturday to Saturday in Cozumel. Saturday was about traveling, checking in, and recovering from a 36-hour travel experience. On Sunday we attended a orientation breakfast, rented a car to travel around the island and to shop in the pier shops downtown, and finally, topped off the day with a Mexican buffet at our hotel restaurant.

Monday was about nursing Moose over a strep throat infection (Thank God one can buy penicillin w/o a prescription in Mexico at any farmicia!) while traveling to the mainland by ferry to see the Mayan ruins in central Mexico (Chichen Itza). What an experience!!! Mike loved this tour the most because he is such a history/culture buff!!!

On Tuesday we took a cab to Chakanaab Park to snorkel, watch the dolphins, lay out on the beach. It is - without a doubt - the most beautiful, well-kept beach I have ever visited!! That night we ate at Alberto's South. Garlic grouper---mmmm!

Wednesday was about the Passion Island Tour. You take a fishing boat to a private sandy beach for lunch, playing in the water, swinging in the hammocks, etc. Food was delicious!!

Thursday was my favorite day. We took The Fury tour where one rod a catamaran out to two separate reefs to go snorkeling. The reefs and the sea life was out of this world!!! Afterwards there was a beach stop with late lunch and water toys - superslides, iceberg climbing wall, trampolines, etc. I cannot say enough good, good things about this tour. The staff was very attentive and made us feel very safe in the water for us inexperienced snorkelers. Thursday night we ate at Casa Mission. Where can you get a complete filet mignon for $16 USD - with desert!!!? The atmosphere was true to the Mexican mission charm.

Friday was about hanging out at the hotel - snorkeling off the hotel pier, sleeping in the hammocks, lunch at Albertos By the Beach (garlic grouper again!- I'm so predictable!). Friday night we went shopping in the downtown shops again. Found Wet Wendy's!!! Wow!! The BEST margaritas I have ever had in my life!!!! Wet Wendy's is the definite must-visit place in Cozumel!!! Closed on Sundays.

Saturday was all about getting back to the states and getting home Sunday afternoon.

I will definitely go again - in February next time AND certified to dive. It is definitely a diver and snorkeler's paradise. The weather was gorgeous from 6:00 am to about 9:00 am and then from 5:00 pm on. Perfect breezes all throughout the day. The heat was still a bit too much for me, but the clouds gave us a break from sun all day. While El Cid was a great hotel experience, I'd like to try Hotel Cozumel and Paradise Divers for the next trip.

All in all Cozumel was a great experience. Cleaner and safer than Matzalan; beaches were nicer; however, more expensive (transportation on lisland). Matzalan's El Cid Marina was a super fantastic place for a hotel experience and the tours would pick you up at hotel; food was also a little better; culture more intense and varied. I would go back again to both. Hope you enjoy Mexico. The people are wonderfully nice!!! (edit)