We spent Christmas at the Occidental Grand in Cozumel, Mexico.
What a wonderful time we had there. The hotel is all inclusive and the staff waited on your every need. Our room was great, with a shower and shower pressure to die for. The staff went out of their way to make Christmas special for all of us who were away from home. They did an excellent job on Christmas Eve starting with a terrific buffet, then a Disney show for the children and the arrival of Santa Claus with gifts for each child.
The ocean in Cozumel is terrific. It looks as if someone took a paint can and painted it blue. I went snoorkling and saw some great fish.
My husband and I let ourselves get talked into a 3 hour long "speech" about a time share. The push was hard and the salesman was quite convincing, a real talker. However, once we finally said no (for the third time) it was all over and no one approached us again.
There is a kid's club for children age 4 to 12. Once again the staff went out of their way to engage the children in various forms of entertainment.
My husband and I will be returning to this hotel for Christmas again in the year of 2008. I wish it was just around the corner, cannot wait!!!!!

We arrived on New Year's Day after an unexpected long travel day - I will keep this short... My wife and I really enjoyed the Occidental and despite lousy weather still had a great experience at the resort. The staff makes the place - we brought about 75.00 usd in singles and I'm not sure if that is necessary but we always had someone going out of their way to get us drinks/snacks etc. Room was nice and shower was great- grounds, beach wonderful- what else does one need on vacation.

My wife, son (11 years old) and I spent 7 days at the Occidental Grand from Dec. 28th to Jan. 4th. and we booked the Royal Club (RC). We had previously stayed at the Iberostar Lindo/Maya on 3 previous occasions.

The grounds of the OC are very well maintained and the rooms are better than the Iberostar's. I'm not sure if the RC rooms are any better than than the regular rooms, but we had no complaints. Our room was in building #20 and very close to the "quiet" pool.

The RC provided us with reservations at any of the restaurants for each night of our stay along with the ability to eat at an exclusive restaurant. The RC also provided private check-in and out, free wireless internet access, DVDs, in-room dining and a personal concierge service.

The downside:
Despite what other reviewers have written, we found the food at all of the restaurants to be mediocre at best and quite awful at the worst. Our best meals were at the private RC restaurant, but I'd still rank them as average. However the service at the RC was fantastic! We checked out the buffet one night and were relieved that we had reservations elsewhere as we do not like buffets at all!

The house wines and cappuccinos at all restaurants were undrinkable (although the RC restaurant served a tolerable cappuccino). Maybe I was unlucky, but I had the New York steak that another reviewer raved about and I found it to be very chewy, flavourless and barely edible. I had a decent piece of fish at the Italian (?) restaurant on our first night there and didn't get to try the pizza restaurant.

Other than the BBQ'ed burgers, the lunch buffet at the beach was a complete disaster. The Iberostar's lunch is far superior to the Occidental's, and I'd rank the Iberostar's food as medioce too.

Ok. Enough about the food. We are quite fussy about what we put in our mouths and I guess that enjoying the fare in Toronto has spoiled us. I truly believe that every Mexican all-inclusive resort in the price range of the Occidental serves the same mediocre food, wine and desserts.

Good stuff:
The scuba guys were great and took their jobs seriously once we were aboard the boats. Access to the dive boats is straight off a long dock - no wading in the water over rocks. The guys were very helpful in getting my son ready for his dives. Needless to say, the underwater visibility in Cozumel is fantastic. We saw sharks, stingrays, turtles and numerous beautiful colourful fish.

Although it was full, the hotel never seemed crowded. The pools were quiet and the beach was not at all busy. It was VERY nice not to have to listen to blaring music when trying to relax by the pools. I don't understand why the staff at virtually all Mexican hotels feel that blaring Y-M-C-A for the 905th time enhances the sitting-by-the-pool experience!

As I mentioned earlier, the service at the private RC restaurant is fantastic. They serve only two tables every 30 minutes and so they can pamper their guests quite nicely!

We didn't avail ourselves of the tennis court or other sport activities, as my son & I went diving almost every day, but there certainly seemed to be enough choice for those who wanted to keep busy.

If you are looking for a kid or teenager resort, this ain't it. I would recommend this hotel to those who want to dive (doesn't everyone in Cozumel dive?) and to those who want a relaxing vacation in a clean, modern facility.

I hate to say this, but the Starbucks in San Miguel was a welcome sight!

:-)

PS & J (Toronto, Ontario)

Our family stay was from Dec 28 to Jan 4 and included 2 young adults.
Overall the resort was wonderful and I would recommend it. Do read below about some small issues we ran into just so that you're aware. There was nothing in our stay that would put us off from returning.

Front Desk: check-in was pleasant and organized, but slower than normal due to the holidays and a reduction in staff. They are not set up to exchange funds or cash traveller cheques so arrive with small bills in hand, be prepared to use the on-site ATM which provides cash in pesos, or take a $20US one way taxi ride into San Miguel to a bank.
- NOTE: bus service is not available and taxi trips to town and back can be expensive.

Rooms: spotless, large interior space with small patios or balconies, well stocked with basics and well maintained by cleaning staff. Rooms
were quiet at night, but lots of noise and slamming doors beginning early morning. We did experience some minor problems in one room such as a phone that stopped working, a door lock which denied us access and a safe that needed to be reset. Each complaint was handled politely and efficiently with fast responses & resolution by security and maintenance each time.

Grounds: lush and pristine, well laid-out, pools were sparkling, minor
issues such as broken tiles were quickly repaired. There was a faint hint of insecticide twice during the week we were there, but nothing objectionable or obtrusive and no issues with bugs inside or outside.

Facilities: generally very good. There was no wheelchair access for pool, beach or spa areas, however, I did see staff members happily carrying patrons who required access. There were lots of chairs & towels provided at the beach and pools although visitors tended to
"save chairs" and then disappear for the rest of the day. Shaded areas
were at a premium around the large beach front pool. Water sport equipment including hobie cats, windsurfers and snorkeling gear was readily available most of the time. The spa was basic but provided a wide selection of services at standard costs. We had the Swedish massages and all agreed that they were well done & professional. The one major let down in the facilities had to be the fitness centre. Although the room was kept clean and stocked with water and towels, the room is quite small given the size of the hotel and the number of patrons wishing to use it, and the equipment was dated, broken or non-existent. The weight equipment was basic and mostly useable but there
was only one stationery bike whose electronic readouts did not work and one stairclimber that was broken altogether. There were no mats for stretching, no bands or balls for core workouts and no sanitizer available to wipe down the machines. There was a tv in place and apparently there was a treadmill and replacement stairclimber on order.

Staff: were very pleasant and sincere in trying to provide a good experience for the patrons. All staff working directly with customers in restaurants, recreational programs, security, etc, all spoke excellent English and others including cleaning staff and grounds maintenance, spoke passable, basic English.

Recreational staff provided lots of opportunities throughout the day for activity for kids and adults on both beach and in the pool.

Entertainment: there is nightly entertainment in the main square, including 2 cultural shows, local vendor shows & sales, and some family entertainment for kids and adults such as dance lessons and game shows (i.e. Venus vs Mars). I must mention that the staff put on a spectacular New Years evening with special menus, entertainment, music - over the top guys - you rock! Make sure to ask at the front desk what happens if it is raining - sometimes the entertainment is moved indoors to the disco but it is not always well advertised!

Restaurants: the buffet changed several dishes every day and had a large variety of food that was not spectacular, but was quite tasty and varied enough that you didn't get bored in one week. Both the a la carte restaurants were wonderful. Menus are broken down into 4 small courses (soups or salads, appetizers, mains and desserts) so you can enjoy a variety. The wine that is included with meals is fine but if you are a wine snob or wish to treat yourself to something special, they do have a nice wine list available for purchase at a reduced additional cost.