We just got back from our 10th wedding anniversary celebration at the Melia Cozumel. Seven days of sun, water, tropical drinks, good food, scuba, and NO KIDS (thanks Grandma for watching them).

This was our 4th time to the Melia since first visiting in '06, and it just keeps getting better. It's not the Ritz-Carlton, but for the price the food, drinks, rooms, entertainment & events, and SERVICE are wonderful.

We enjoyed the buffet dinning (huge selection), but be sure to go to the Cafe Paraiso deluxe restaurant once or twice (make reservations early in the morning before they fill up). The food at the snack bar is fine, and it's a nice break so sit by the beach and eat outdoors. The rooms are comfortable and well-maintained. The pools are clean and pretty (but sometimes cold). The drinks are nothing special (but hey, they're unlimited!). The beach at the Melia is rocky and not the best for swimming or snorkeling, but if you walk 100 yards to the El Coz just south of the Melia you will find what you need (and it appears to be fine to go use the beach).

The staff are really what make the difference--they really went out of their way to make us feel special. We really got to know the entertainment staff and enjoyed spending time just hanging out.

If you leave the resort, be sure to devote at least a day to rent a car or scooter and hit the East side of the island (the beaches are beautiful and isolated--lots of nice beachfront restaurants). The downtown square is a fun place to try some authentic Yucatan-food and see street performers and singers.

One thing is for sure: we are going back!

We stayed at the Melia from 12/8-12/15. The service was impeccable. The staff was very friendly and accommodating and would bend over backwards to help out. The only exception was the front desk personnel who were not very friendly or knowledgeable. My boyfriend and I had booked the M experience, which means we should have been able to make reservations at the "fancy" restaurant, El Paraiso the night before so as to avoid the lines in the morning. However, the front desk seemed to be unfamiliar with this and we found ourselves having to explain it to them. I found this strange. They also gave us a hard time about the fact that we removed our all-inclusive "bracelets" the day after we arrived because the bracelet scratched me.

The rest of the staff were exceptional, especially the bartenders and servers in all the restaurants and the buffet. They were always asking us if we needed anything before we even had a chance to ask them. The food at La Isla was ok for a buffet; some days were worse than others, but I was always able to find something to eat. The food is not anywhere near outstanding, but if you are not that picky, you will be fine. I subsisted on mostly omelets, some form of potatoes, and burgers from La Iguana Grill all week. You can't really expect more from an all-you-can-eat buffet. We ate at El Paraiso twice; the atmosphere is nice but the food is highly overrated.

I booked the M experience mostly for the room, after reading some not-so-good reviews about the other rooms. The room was very nice with a beautiful ocean view and was cleaned daily, although the housekeeping staff informed us that there was no scheduled time for their service. This meant that we would sometimes come back to an uncleaned room after being out for the morning. It does get humid in the room, especially if you leave the balcony door open. Just make sure to have the fan going when you're out of the room.

The resort's two swimming pools were not a high point of the stay. The adult pool was too cold, and I hardly saw anyone go in all week. The activities pool was better. They have a free scuba diving lesson at that pool at nine every morning, which my boyfriend took advantage of. You can also sign up for horseback riding at the activities pool desk for $20 per person. El Cozumeleno next door has a great pool and spas (which Melia does not have), and we snuck over one day to use them. It is much better than the Melia's pools if you can stand all the kids.

Like the other reviewers have said, the water in front of Melia is not clear and blue like at El Cozumeleno next door. However, El Coz has a VERY rocky beach which can be awful if there are any waves. For snorkeling, we went to Chankanaab.

Stay away from the nightly "shows" in the auditorium, unless you are a fan of extremely cheesy and embarrassing displays. Also avoid the timeshare people in the lobby. They will offer you free tickets to Chankanaab and Punta Sur, but you have to sit through a 90-minute seminar. My boyfriend and I were not willing to go to the seminar at 8:30 a.m., plus after hearing some other horror stories, we thought it would be less troublesome to just avoid it altogether.

Overall, our stay was very pleasant and I would recommend the Melia to anyone who is planning a trip to Cozumel. Of course there are always downsides to every hotel, but the good things about the Melia far outweighed the bad. I would definitely return.

Booked this resort as an exchange through RCI. We picked Melia beacuse the all-inclusive was optional, although we ended up buying thepackage anyway. We were upgraded to a junior suite with partial kitchenette (which they didn't tell us until after we bought the AI), and a wonderful ocean view. The room was very clean and spacious, and we were able to open the patio doors all night to listen to the surf. Weather was perfect; mid 80's and hardly any humidity. The commentary about the brown water in front of the hotel is correct. But it's really no trouble to walk next door for awesome snorkeling. We went to Chankanaab one day and paid money to get in to snorkel there, but we decided we liked the beach in fron of El Coz better. We ate WAY too much, trying to get our money's worth. Food was okay, and sometimes very good if you are adventurous enough. I did see Monday night's dinner entree on the Wednesday morning breakfast buffet, which turned me off a little. We managed to get up early enough one morning to book the reservations only restaurant. What a joke that was! They only seat about 10 out of 25 tables, and they line you all up against a wall of windows, so that from the outside the place looks packed. Trust me, it isn't. Food was okay, but nothing spectacular. The grill was very good for burgers, guacamole, etc. Kids' activities looked pretty good and the kids I saw all seemed to be having a great time. It was nice having an adults only pool right on the beach. Beware of the pool bar; the sun will beat down on the middle of your back only and you'll end up with the weirdest sun burn ever. The worst part of the week was the cheesy night time production acts. They have fairly capable dancers, but poor productions. They dancers try hard to lip sync to American songs, and it's clear they don't speak enough English to know what they're pretending to sing. Add a bad sound system, and it's more like my kids putting on a puppet show from behind the sofa. You almost felt embarassed or sorry for the dancers. The other issue I had was the marketing, like this is some over the top exclusive resort. It's more like a Ramada Inn on the beach with a Denny's attached. If you go in with that expectation, you won't be disappointed. But if you're looking for the Ritz-Carlton, look somewhere else. If you get the chance, rent a car and drive over to the east side of the island. It's absolutely breathtaking. Also, we took the sunset lobster dinner cruise that was ao much fun. The food was excellent, and the pirate show was a very pleasant surprise. I highly recommend it.

We stayed at the Melia over Thanksgiving week. Overall, the hotel is very nice. We checked in and asked to upgrade to a paradise suite … yes, you get a hot tub on your deck and a few cans of cold soda and beer in your fridge. You can walk right out onto the sand and if you are on the AI plan, the bar and lunch grill are just a few feet away. We only lasted one night. The hot tub is rather small and the two of us gave it a try but, really just laughed at being stuffed into it … there is no privacy, because you are right on the hotel’s beach, so it is not very romantic. Some people may like the setup, it didn’t work for us. The best advice that I can offer is to ask to see different rooms when you check in.

On day 2 we moved to the tower (4th floor) and were very happy. Separate bedroom (really sort of a bed chamber not a room) and a fridge, cook top, microwave. All rooms in the tower are ocean-view with balcony. If only they would replace the stackable plastic furniture it would be perfect. I did notice that the 2nd floor had nice balcony furniture. I never got around to asking about it. Maybe they are upgrading the furniture by floor.

The AI plan - We did it for one day and felt like it was enough. There are just the two of us, I am sure a family would make more use of the plan. There are basically three places to eat. The main buffet area is the only place for breakfast and has all three meals. The grill area is lunch or dinner, but it is really burgers, nachos, pizza and junk that I haven’t eaten in years. I certainly do not want it while on vacation. Again, with kids, maybe that is perfect for you. We did the ‘fancy’ restaurant at night. Nice building, nothing special about the food. I really wish they would be able to accept cash at the bar. It would be nice to be able to get a drink (or food) without being on the meal plan. You can however, get the plan for one day, three days, all week, just breakfast, just drinks ….etc. So, the hotel really is very flexible and accommodating.

The water – is fine … don’t worry. Yes, there is a pier and that probably keeps some seaweed from moving along the coast. All of those pictures you see are rather misleading. We spent many hours on our balcony (plastic chairs and all) and were constantly mesmerized by the blues and greens throughout the water. I was in that water every morning and loved it.

I think a family would be happy at the Melia, but also, being a couple with no children, we never felt like we were out of place. The ‘adults only’ pool is separated from the other pool where most of the daily activities take place. There is volleyball on the beach but plenty of room to get a quiet palapa and sleep or read, away from any activities.

I would not return to this hotel solely because the All Inclusive plan doesn’t work for me. The staff was always very nice. Anything that we ever asked for was met with a smile. Everything was certainly clean, our room was always immaculate when we returned to it.

One mention – We flew to Cancun and then did the van to Playa Del Carmen and then the ferry. We are never, ever doing that again. It is easy to do … don’t worry about getting lost … but it takes forever. I’m pretty sure we were out of Cancun customs at 11:15 AM on a busy Saturday … we finally got to our hotel room at 4 PM. That’s almost 5 hours to get to an island that you can see from the beach in Cancun. The bus is hourly, so we just missed one and decided to take the Grey Line van. We were fortunate that the van left before it was full, because I am thinking that they can really stuff people into them. So … We didn’t wait very long for the van, maybe 15 minutes, maybe another 15 minutes at the ferry peir … and maybe waited another 15 minutes getting our car rental just off of the pier on the island. That is still 4 hours that I missed of my vacation … Next time I am connecting via wherever I have to, to get a plane onto the island.