We just spent a week at the Grand and loved every minute! For future reference, one week is way too short. Our room was fantastic with large marble shower, lots of hot water, A/C and TV that work, though we didn't spend much time in the room with all the other stuff to see and do. The maid service was fantastic and she often left beautiful animal creations out of towels and flowers. There are two pools, one down by the beach as well as a quieter one in closer to the rooms, both with great bar service. The most exciting thing for us was the wildlife, with a walkway across a mangrove reserve going to the beach, there were egrets, blue herons, turtles, iguanas, ducks, you name it. We even saw beautful butterflys around the lush foliage including the exotic blue morpho butterflies. We took the 3 hour snorkeling tour and tho I got a bit burnt (my fault) the guides and boat operators were great. We saw rays, a small nurse shark, and schools of blue tangs, etc. I didn't dive, but the dive prices seemed very reasonable, though you can see lots just snorkeling. We even snorkeled off the beach and swam through schools of thousands of fish which split around us. Just unbelievable! Overall, the food was great and well presented with lots of choices for fruits, international dishes and of course Mexican cuisine when you wanted. Waiters and staff were always helpful and courteous. We didn't get any illnesses and bottled water was always provided in our rooms in more than adequate amounts. The room safe was free which is not always the case. I probably wouldn't go to the Pizza restaurant again, but the Sonora Grill and Mediterranean restaurants were great, both food and service. I liked the fact that this resort is quieter and not a loud party atmosphere as some can be, so when we needed to get some shuteye at 10:00PM, we could do it without trouble. We rented a car for one day just to drive around the island and were able to do that right from our hotel, so that was enjoyable also. We'd go back in a heartbeat!!

We spent a week at the Grand through Air Canada vacations ... we stayed at the Royal Club because that was all that was available at the time of booking. Went for a relaxing time and got it.
Check in was smooth and we were in our room about 2 hours after the plane touched ground. Rooms were big. A DVD player was provided in the room which was nice since the TV selection wasn't much to speak of (not that I was there to watch TV, but the reception was bad, there were only a couple of English channels, and I discovered that yes, Spanish soap operas are completely ridiculous).
The beach was fine and there were usually enough beach chairs, although everyone liked to reserve them early with their towels which I always find annoying. There was both a quiet pool and activities pool with a kiddie pool. Unlike some places I have been to, the activities do happen and the staff will join in and play if there aren't quite enough participants. The pool volleyball and water polo games were fun. The Royal Club had its own small pool with only 8 chairs so we never used it.
This was a better quality all-inclusive that any other place I have been to, so the food pretty well met my expectations. The buffets were okay, you could always find something that was decent. The Royal club had its own restaurant and you could get restaurant reservations with the specialty restaurants as many nights as you want with the Royal Club. Most of the restaurant food was fine, I didn't like absolutely everything but it was a nice change from the buffet. The English translations of the Spanish menu made no grammatical sense but provided a lot of entertainment and amusement to see what kind of food would actually arrive.
The staff was fine and friendly; no problems there. It was easy to get a drink, there usually weren't long line ups.
We went on the Air Canada island tour and snorkeling trip. The island tour give you a chance to see the eastern side if you don't want to rent a car yourself, and also stops at an old village, tequila factory and San Miguel. It was alright; the best part was seeing the other side of the island. The snorkeling tour through Air Canada was also nice; it was on a catamaran and the staff were professional. The snorkeling wasn't as amazing as I thought it would be, considering it is such a big diving destination, but maybe I just have too high expectations from watching too many nature shows. We also went on the glass-bottom boat trip with the on-site dive shop; I didn't really enjoy it because the small boat make me seasick and we had some annoying co-passengers. I also wasn't impressed when the captain threw his left over potato chips into the ocean to get some fish around the boat --- isn't this supposed to be a national park? A poor example for the tourists, I thought. However, the area we went to looked more impressive than the first snorkeling trip. There is also a little bit of snorkeling off the beach, you can see a giant school of fish, a barracuda and stingray (if you are lucky).
The entertainment wasn't amazing but there were some select good nights like the fire dancers and the Mayan dancers. Only went to the disco once and was not into the getting-drunk and singing bad karaoke scene.
All in all a good place to go to for a quiet vacation. The people seemed to be half Americans and half Canadians, and had a mix of ages, but everyone seemed pretty mellow and quiet. There aren't a lot excursions on the island except for diving so not a good place for non-stop excitement; but a great place to work on your tan and read a book.

This was our second trip to the Occidental Grand Cozumel. We had been last year at the same time (month of Feb.) and had an incredible experience. This year...not so much.

We had decided to return for our honeymoon. We wanted to go somewhere that we could be confident in the food and service. We were very disapointed.

When we arrived, we had to wait two hours to check in. We managed to open our suitcase in the parking lot and takeout swimsuits to put on, but it was inconvenient to say the least.

The food was our big problem. It was horrible. Last year, they had fantastic spreads. Everything tasted fresh, and you could tell a great deal of effort was put into everything that they put out. This year, it was so bland and everything appeared to be recycled from the day before. Our joke was what would be the ham dish of the day...ham and peas, ham and artichokes.

My husband had a "seafood casserole" that was more like a broth, he took one taste and likened it to "licking the side of a fisherman's wharf".

This being our honeymoon, we were looking forward to a memorable stay. We didn't think that it would be something we'd like to forget. My husband spend the better part of two days in bed not being able to move after eating the food here. He is someone that can usually tough out any illness, this had him completely wiped out.

The bugs were really bad too. Flies all over the food. I have at least 15 bites on my legs from sitting out on our balcony the first night.

I know that their sister hotel, The Allegro, is closed for renovation. This means that this hotel is probably over their usual capacity. Still, there is no excuse for such horrible quality food. I also heard there is a new manager who is spreading staff way too thin. While the staff service was excellent, they just couldn't keep up with the amount of guests they had.

I'd like to qualify that we NEVER complain about service or quality of food. However, as we both have experience within the service industry (I am a former food and beverage manager for a large hotel chain), I feel it is necessary to comment about our experience. We couldn't wait to get home.

While the pools are nice, and the beach is lovely, it is difficult to enjoy it when you are sick in bed from the poorly prepared food.

We will never go back to this resort.

Just returned from a week at the hotel and had a great time. Food at the buffett was good to sometimes great, the fish dishes were wonderful, good variety and something for anybody. Great location, beautiful beach, very quiet and peaceful. It was a great place with only two exceptions. One was the day we arrived we were approached by Oscar aand told we would get a tour of the property the next morning and a great deal on a snorkel tour. I told him right up front that I wasnt interested in a timeshare but he assured me that he didnt to this. So next morning we meet him and he takes us to an office where were introduced to his boss and a gal who is going to breakfast with us. I told the again I wasnt interested in a timeshare. Anyway we went to breakfast and lo and behold out comes the program on a "membership" to the hotel. I said flatly that I wasnt interested and she said she had to get her boss. He came back and I ended up having to be very rude and flat tell him to leave us alone. They got up and left. Whenever we saw them again they just looked away. Oh well. The only other thing is that they try real hard and the sit down restaraunts but arent there. Food was not very good. Id opt for the buffets anytime.
All in all this is a great place, It was our 35th anniversary and will return again. Not much nightlife and definetly not for singles but for swimming and peaceful relaxation it was the best.
Also the guuys in the dive shop were great. We also went on Fury catamrans for a sunset snorkel and had a great time.