I was pleasantly surprised of the all inclusive situation! The food was very good (remember you are in Mexico) and there was always a variety. The rooms were nice and if you tipped housekeeping, they were extra special to you...flowers, animals made out of towels, extra coffee, etc. Always, tip the waiters, etc. for the best service. Didn't like the idea that you had to "dress up" for the private restaurants, it was so hot, we all chose to just hit the buffets in shorts. It's a resort and wish it was casual for every restaurant. I didn't enjoy the beach, much too small and the chairs were always taken way before 9AM. The pool was fun, but I have a pool at home. Grounds are beautiful and well kept. Snorkeling was the best and the highlight of the trip! All in all I prefer Cancun, closer to everything, not so isolated, larger beach area and better food and restaurants to chose from. However, in Cancun we stayed at the Hilton and it was not all inclusive, so that could be the difference. No view from the balconies in Cozumel...beach quite a walk away from the resort area...Cancun, very close to the beach, gorgeous views from the balconies. Cozumel is perfect for snorkeling and diving...however, I'll go back to Cancun next time.

Simply put, the OGC is very relaxing and notably above average by any standard - American, European, Mexican, whatever. The grounds are beautiful and well kept, although one step shy of truly exotic... in other words the landscaping is lush, but the grounds could benefit from a little bit more color (i.e. flowers). Although, the giant black and white iguanas running around are quite a departure from my own backyard. I have traveled extensively over the past decade or so (over 40 countries) and have eaten lots of hotel food and I can honestly say that the food at the OGC is very good - not amazing. I can genuinely say I had only one complaint with the food - the late night pizza restaurant used this liqui-cheese that I've never seen before and hope to never see again. Aside from this, it was all good - even the buffets. The lunch buffet at the beach has more options, but is a little adventurous (burgers, pasra, etc.) - however the setting is quite nice (outside, on the beach as opposed to indoors). Bar service was consistently adequate - if you believe the drinks are weak (and they kind of are) ask for drinks "fuerte" (strong) and don't be afraid to give the bartender $5 at the beginning of any session of time that you'll be drinking and he'll remember to make the drinks strong each and every time. The bar venues are a little dull, the Lobby Bar, being the fanicest. The nightlife was also dull - virtually non existent. The disco was okay, open late, good drinks and a mix of music from House to Top 40 to AC/DC. Get your Occidental Allegro (sister property 3/10 mile away from OGC) bracelt from the front desk personnel and wak 10 minutes for a more vibrant nightlife. Or, take a cab ($15 each way) and go to town - there's always Carlos n Charlies and Senor Frogs, but there are dozens of smaller, less populous places that have cheap drinks, good music and appreciative staff. Tips are a big deal - even a buck or two - so bring a bunch of singles, make some friends and have a good time. Also, by all means, take the ferry to Playa Del Carmen ($28 round trip, I think). It is about a 30 minute ride and it's like a different vacation altogether - frenetic, wild and fun. The things that can be improved at the OGC are the pools - y'know, they could add waterfalls, bridges, swim-up bar. And the views from the ground level rooms in the back of the villas are gross. Try to secure a room on a higher floor facing the grounds. I'm not certain Royal CLub is worth the extra money (we stayed there) and found the in-house restaurant to be convenient and good and we did do the free room service thing one time and that was cool and the food was excellent, but the portions were tiny. Yes, they have free internet (who cares, you're on vacation, anyhow, someone was using it about 70% of the time I passed by) and a private Jacuzzi - but that is more like a private octagonal pool - geesh - it's way too hot in Mexico to be in a hot-tub anyway. So, if you're on a budget, I guess I woldn't recommend the splurge. If you can spare the extra $80 per day, it's a toss-up. Lastly, I found the staff to be very friendly (everybody says "hola") and we ran into not a single problem on any level. PS. The rooms did not smell musty at all, we confirmed our reservation by email 4 days prior to arrival, there weren't that many bugs (except at the Mexican restaurant which is outdoors at the beach - actually it's the daytime buffet "converted" by night. The bars do open a little late, but check out the bar at the beach buffet - the waiters will serve you at around 10am while they are setting up. Don't believe the complaints - go... relax... have a great time.

I must admit when my wife booked this all inclusive holiday at the Grand Cozumel I had my concerns, I imagined a holiday I once had in Tunisia involving such a deal, I ended up drinking cans of coke and eating potato chips for a week in fear of my stomach doing very strange things, how I was so very wrong.
Being our 7th year of married bliss we deciced on the whole hog, a good flight from LHR to Mexico, via ORD, and a room in the Royal Club, very good choice.
I read on this site that the rooms had a musty smell about them, sure only for a while, once you opened the patio doors all was fine, in fact very clean, and much like any other 4 star hotel. the maids done a grand job. Lets go to the food, fantastic, plenty of choice, great decor, with super staff, again no issues only plus points.
And now to the resort, what can I say, drinking cocktails at 10 am in the sunshine, reading a good book, and a million miles away from my job, what a life.
Two things, do have some spare dollar bills on you for tipping, I know we are talking about an all inclusive resort here but these guys work hard, they do not expect anything, but you are on holiday so dont be afraid, also when arriving at the airport avoid the people trying to sell you excursions, get going to the Grand Cozumel, get a cocktail, and move on to the beach.

My family and I went the first week of June. Read alot of reviews before we left, so I'll hit the high points and try to be brief! This was my 10th AI (second with the kids!), so I'm doing this review with that in mind! I'm not too picky and realize that I'm in Mexico (we go there alot and love Mexico, and know we are not eating gourmet US food!). We are a laid back family and go to Mexico AI's to relax, kick back and not worry about cooking!

HOTEL:
Beautiful, very well landscaped, rooms are great! We love that it is not a huge hotel lining the beach.

POOLS:
Nice and clean, but not too large! We were at Iberostar Parisio Beach (Playa del Carmen...PDC) last summer, and they have the best pool EVER for kids/families. So this was a little disappointing for the kiddos.

FOOD:
Food was fine, we (adults)could always find something....like I said, we are not picky about the gourmet thing. Ate twice at the steak restaurant and both times enjoyed it, my 7 year old loved the kids chicken strips there. The buffet for the kids was not the best, chicken nuggets were unidintifable meat, but didn't bother them. It bothered me because it didn't look like normal chicken, more like Mc D's! The buffet tends to focus on a theme night. Last year at Iberostar, they had more "themes" to choose from and the kids liked that better. The desserts were great for us adults, but the kids didn't like them too much. Just a little different than what they were used to.....last year, ice cream at lunch and dinner always!! Fruit was only offered at lunch also. We took a jar of PB for my 7 yr old. Then at breakfast we took 2 slices of bread and some jelly in a ziploc I brought, so that helped we the food issues a little!!! :-)

BARS:
OK...I'm no alcoholic or anything, but they definitely need a swim up bar. I've read the reviews before I left, but the Grand must not be very consisitent or reliable on the bar issue!! We were there 8 days....only 2 of the days (once each day) did someone come by the pool to take our order. They do bring a small portable bar by the pool that they say closes at 5pm, but it was always shutting down by 4-4:15. Then you have to hike to the beach restaurant/bar, where they can get a little testy about you tracking thru when they want to clean to get ready for the dinner restaurant service. The relax pool bar also shut down early every day too! It almost seems that they are hording their watered down alcohol!!!

We knew the pool size before we went and choose Cozumel for the snorkeling. If you want a great beach and SUPER pool and you want Mexico, then definitely go to PDC.

There was a convention there when we were there for 3 of our 8 days. I will know in the future to always make sure to ask of that, it was very disappointing running into 230 tupperware ladies all the thime! Twice they shut down the main dinner buffet for them only. (bad decision on the Grand's part!) The rest of the guests had to have a smaller scale buffet at another location. This resort is just not a good place for a convention....no big rooms to accomadate them. If so, it would have been better for the rest of the guests!

One day they cleaned up the area around both pools with bleach. Stacked up the chairs and started scrubbing. So we started at the relax pool and then moved on to the big pool, to get away from it. Put our things on the chair and checked out the beach real quick first for some shells. Came back to the pool and they were stacking up the chairs and scrubbing away. They didn't even care about us being there and we had to scurry real fast to pack up and then basically had to leave the pool. It was 6p, pools close at 10p but yet we were shoved out of both.

All I'm saying about the bars and pool incidents, etc is..............we paid for full enjoyment of the resort. They need to take this all in to consideration when it comes to each and every guest. We expect to have use of the pools, bars, restaurants or whatever it is that we paid for (what is advertised!), no matter if it is pertaining to one guest or 50. We are just there for a few short days and each day counts!!!

The day we left we came to the lunch buffet at 11:50am (it opens at 12p) because we had to catch a cab BEFORE 12:30p to make it to the airport in time. They had a fit becasue we arrived 10 minutes early, even after telling them our situation they wouldn't let us eat, not even for the kids when we asked them! I thought that was really tacky!

We had a great time, kids just enjoy pools, beaches, vacations in general. Would I come back??? Only without my kids, since the snorkeling thing wasn't that exciting for them like I thought it would be. We went next door to the Allegro. The Grand is definitely nicer..... I would come back with my husband only and stay in the Royal Club, I think that is a nice place to be! If you really like a nice beach and don't want to snorkel or dive much, than go to PDC.

I did want to say....one of the ladies up front, can't remember her name. Her title was operations manager I believe. She was awesome and the most helpful person I ever met with the hotel! She is a gem to the Grand and I hope they realize that!!!

Have any ??? let me know......---