My wife and I just spent 7 days here the end of January into Febuary. I have traveled to many nice places,but this hotel and area of Cozumel tops them all. This is a top notch hotel and as for the employees they are there to help you and be a help to you. We never felt so pampered and fed so well. The rooms are fantastic with big bathrooms. This is the place to stay when in Mexico. Only if you are not into the parting and getting sloppy drunk and wild,and if thats the case go to Cancun so you don't ruin this place because I want to go back next year.

Don't be put off by the bad reviews that have shown up for this hotel. It may not appeal to those wishing to party non-stop, but we found it to be excellent with lovely big rooms (great bathrooms) very good food in all restaurants and a magnificent setting, carving the resort out of the mangrove. We had no problem with room odours and bug bites were sand fleas, hard to avoid in the area. More shows might have been a plus but the 3 they had were unique and not the silly lip singing staff ones you see at some resorts.

We spent 7 days at this awesome resort. It is beautiful, the staff friendly, and it is kept very clean. The food was good, especially the 3 restaurants that require a reservation, Los Olivios (Mediterranean Cuisine), Sonora Grill (Steak House, and La Hacienda (Mexican Cuisine). In addition La Posada (buffet), La Pizza (pizzeria) and the Beach Club all had good food. Our favorite part of the vacation was that the beach was great and everyone could snorkel right there and see a variety of fish. The pools were beautiful but very very cold, the ocean was warmer. The pools being so cold put a bit of a damper on the activities, however, the staff did a nice job of trying to get people involved. The accomodations were beautiful. We were in building 19 which was closest to the swimming pools and ocean. The only draw back was that a few evenings there seemed to be a smell of sewer gas. The smell was not noticeable during the day but seemed to be noticeable in the evenings. Things were pretty quiet at night, not a lot of night life, but we did not mind that as we were usually tired early. We would recommend this resort.

We just got back from Cozumel. My husband and I stayed in Occidental Grand for 7 days. I read the recent reviews before leaving and was discouraged by the many negative reviews on this site. I promised myself to write a review after we returned from our trip.
First: getting to Cozumel from Cancun is very easy and does not have to be expensive. Ignore all the solicitors at the airport and buy a ticket for the bus ($7 one way, leaves every hour. company name is Riviera) Tickets are sold right outside airport exiting area. Bus leaves from the other side of the terminal.
It takes you straight to Playa del Carmen and from the bus terminal there is a 2 min. walk to the ferry. There are few companies that operate ferries. Make sure to check out all of them. Sometimes they have promotions on ticket prices. You can pay $8 one way or you can pay only $2. Boats leave at the top of each hour.

Once you are in Cozumel there is a $15 cab ride to the hotel. It takes about 15-20 min.

I was really conserned about reading about overbooking in the hotel. I actually called Mexico a day before our trip to confirm my reservation. Everything was fine.
Some of the rooms in the hotel have a connecting door to the other room that are so thin they seem to be made out of cardboard. We had one of those rooms last year. You could hear everything that the other person was doing in the other room. It was very annoying. This time we specificly asked for a room without connecting door. I would recommend doing so.
Hotel grounds are very nice and our room was beatifull.
A lots of people in the reviews complained about food. I also wished it was a little better. I would only suggest to take time and instead of eating the buffet ask a short order cooks to make you something you want. Breakfast and dinner were always nice. I had trouble with lunch buffet by the water.
I would also like to comment on people that work at the resort. Everybody is extremly nice and try very hard to make you happy. If you want you can show you appreciation with tips but it is not nesessary. We left a tip for the maid right away and always a had planty of water and fresh towels in our room.

There in no ATM at the resort. I also noticed that if you pay with pesos in the town you get a better deal. I think there is only one or two ATM machines downtown San Miguel so be prepared.

We rented a Jeep with the other couple and went around the island. There are many places on the island where you can snorkle right off the beach and the ruins are interesting.
It's a fun day trip and you can also prove to yourself that Occidental is the one of the nicest resorts on the island.
There is not much entertainment but if you like to snorkle and dive it 's you place.
Overall we had a wonderfull time and didn't want to leave.