My wife and I have made yearly Dive trips to Cozumel since the late-eighties. Mostly staying at La Ceiba, with a few stays at Iberostar and Presidente.

This 6 nighter was our first stay at La Cieba in several years. The "cruise-ship cattle" and "timeshare mosquitoes", had driven us to look for more tranquil accommodations further south away from those twin curses.

We decided to give La Cieba a 2nd chance and were pleasantly surprised to find that they have found a balance, at least temporarily while the pier is being rebuilt.

I'll echo what others have already said, the post-Wilma hotel renovation is very good, not up to the level of newer hotels on Playa Maya but quite nice for a 25+year old hotel plan.

Orbitz gave us a free upgrade to a 1br unit, which was the deciding factor in our choice of hotels. Nice not to have to sit on your bed for 6 days in a standard room.

Our room, as all of them, was ocean front. It had two balconies, each w/table and chairs, a kitchenette with fridge, cook top, micro, blender, utensils, etc. The plan also included a large tub, separate shower, lv room & dining table, 2 tvs and large king bed. You could easily be comfortable here for extended trips.

We did not use the on-site dive operator, preferring to use Dive with Martine located next door. (They are excellent). La Ceiba is a bit north of the diving so selecting a "fast" boat operator is a must.

We also did not choose the all-inclusive, since we really like the variety of eating in town. $4 cab ride.

It was good to see old friends/faces on the hotel staff after all these years, many of them still in place since our 1st visit ! Speaks very well of a hotel when there is little turnover. I am reluctant to ever say hotel service is "excellent", but our experience on this trip rates an "excellent".

Negatives? Karaoke night, margaritas to die from, cruise shippers on day passes, street congestion when cruise ships are at the pier. No longer total emphases on Diving and Divers. All minor annoyances to be sure. They are working on improving the margaritas, hopefully they will become as famous as LA's El Chollo for Margaritas.

We stayed for six days at La Ceiba after a shorter stay at the Wyndham Viva Maya in Playa del Carmen. Check-in went very smoothly; we were upgraded from a studio to a one-bedroom (Wyndham Fairfield points reservation). We discovered upon arriving at our room(s) that in reality we now had two separate, adjoining rooms -- a studio with a murphy bed and kitchenette and a hotel room with a king bed right next to it. Each had a separate entrance; there was no direct passage between them. It worked out fine, but was a little strange to get used to using our room card to go back and forth each time. The studio had a problem with the fan and air-conditioning went we arrived. Both problems were taken care of efficiently and promptly. The rooms themselves were very clean and simply furnished. Our room was on the third floor of the tower. A big tree directly in front blocked much of our view from the balcony.
We recommend La Ceiba for a stay in Cozumel. It's definitely not a 5-star hotel, but very nice nevertheless. The real strength of La Ceiba is in its staff. Everyone we met was cheerful, helpful, ready to serve in whatever way. Agnes, especially, at the concierge desk is a real gem. She helped us arrange activities and trips, always following through on what we asked. She definitely is wonderful asset there.

This was our last stop on a 2 week Yucatan backpacking adventure, I had stayed here 5 years before. It used to be a great diver-oriented hotel, it has since turned into a cruise ship type resort.
The bar was terrible, the margaritas pretty much tasted and looked like they had used old dishwater for the 'mix', the restaurant was slow and the food was awful. The front desk was slow and -extremely- rude to us, we're blond Americans but fluent in Spanish and overheard some very choice remarks about us.
Don't stay here. Stay far away.
Plus, the reef's been destroyed, as the below review will tell you.

I last stayed in the La Ceiba 25 years ago and had great memories of the beautiful reef right in front of the hotel and the views all the way to Cancun across the water. I was sad to see that the hurricane completely removed the reef. In addition, the cruise ships, docked directly in front of the hotel, block much of the view.

Other than that, we had a fine stay there. The staff was friendly and helpful. We negotiated a four night stay including three days of diving with the hotel's dive shop. Upon arrival we were offered an upgrade to a one bedroom suite for $50/night - which we thought was a great deal. The breakfast buffet was just fine. It offered fresh fruit, cooked to order omelets and waffles, cereal, etc. The pastries were bland. We had room service lunch one day and the food arrived in 15 minutes. The room was clean and comfortable. The AC worked very well. There were the typical maintenance issues that seem to be part of the routine in Mexico. One bathroon sink had no hot water. The other did not have a drain stopper. So what?

The conceirge was very helpful. She recommended the Mission restaraunt and gave us coupons for $5 off per person. The food was great and the setting, in its own compound, was very nice.
We also liked Guido's Italian. We were not impressed with Rock N Java. Our food arrived so far about that my wife was finished eating before my food arrived.

You don't need a rental car unless you plan to do lots of driving. Cabs are cheap and plentify.

My 12 year old daughter did the dolphin discovery and loved it, but the cost rolls up quickly. In addition to the participation fee, you have to pay $16/person to get into the park, plus cab each way and photos = $200. You can't take your own pictures cuz they don't let observers out where the action takes place (over 100 yards away) and they are facing away from you!
JP - Austin, Texas