It was great to see that the Melia not only survived Wilma but has made several improvements to the facility. The beach was the best that it has been in the 4 years that I have been visiting. The trees took the brunt of the damage and the grounds are much more sunny than in the past. The facilty has replanted palms and added more thatched umbrellas to the beach area. The ocean in front of the hotel was the clearest that we have seen but it is still a bit murky depending upon which way the wind is blowing.

Staff was friendly and quick to help with no tipping expected.... but was appreciated.

The Buffet restaurant facility was a big improvement as well as the outdoor grill area. Restaurants (Grill and Cafe) were excellent and service was top notch.

Only complaint was that the air conditioning in the room was a bit cold and we were not able to adjust to a warmer setting.

I felt totally safe in the resort. There are always Melia personnel at the front door which is the only entrance from the street.

The Melia organization is spending money to upgrade the facility!

My boyfriend and I just returned from a wonderful stay at the Melia Cozumel. The staff was amazing. Starting from our arrival the staff went out of their way to help us out and to make things easier on us! We arrived before check-in and our room was not ready, so they made arrangements for our luggage and gave us our bands so we could enjoy the food and drinks while we waited. Everything is immacuately kept, and there is always someone working. The pool was great and the swim up bar was nice and shaded. There are plenty of palapas and beach chairs on the beach for use, and they even provide you with beach towels that are huge and absorbant for use at the pool and/or beach.

We had booked an excursion tour through Expedia, and when we called the excursion office to confirm the date of the tour, no one spoke english. We went to the lobby and the Melia activities director was kind enough to sit down with us and call the tour office and find out the steps we needed to take to get our tour finalized. In addition to having Aqua World (where you could schedule water excursions) in the lobby, they also have Luis at the Fiesta Holidays table who will help you plan any excursions or tours you want.

The food at the Isla buffet restaurant was pretty good (my boyfriend enjoyed it more than I did - I am a picky eater). Every morning they had a fabulous omelette bar, where you picked out the ingredients that you wanted in your omelette and they made it right in front of you! There was also plenty of fruit and juices available. The waitstaff were also amazing! You could hardly sit down before one of them were there to see if you needed anything to drink. Lunch and dinner were good as well, with an excellent selection of foods and soups. My one suggestion would be that if you like things a little spicier you might want to take along some Tabasco or other hot sauce because things on the buffet are made for the milder crowd.

We went to Cozumel for a friend's wedding and stayed for a vacation and enjoyed every minute of it. Some of the other people from the wedding stayed at a different all-inclusive hotel closer to town and did not enjoy their experience, but I would highly recommend staying at the Melia for great service and a great time! My boyfriend and I have said that if we go back we will stay here again!

Recently returned from a one week stay at the Melia Cozumel. The resort is located a short distance ($5 cab ride) north of San Miguel. The 147 rooms/suites are situated in three buildings, two of which offer oceanfront views. There are 3 restaurants, 4 bars and 2 swimming pools; the adults only pool has a swim-up bar. Resort services include gift shop, internet cafe, kid's club, motorized (charge) and non-motorized (free) equipment, room service, laundry, massage/spa, concierge, car rental and excursion desks.

Room: As Melia Resort time-share owners (Dominican Republic), we stayed at the MC on an "internal exchange" and were upgraded to a one bedroom/2bath unit (#101) in the Tower Building. The unit was very large; consisting of a master bedroom with sitting area, two bathrooms, living and dining areas and a full kitchen (except for oven). It was nicely furnished and decorated. The bathroom walls, shower/tub enclosures and all floors in the unit were composed of marble tile. A private patio with two chairs and a small table, overlooked the adult's only pool and afforded a great view of the ocean. The unit was equipped with safe, two televisions, iron & board, but NO hair dryer. The air conditioning system worked but was not as cold as I would have liked it. Coffee could be ordered for the room (between 6:00 and 8:00 AM), by hanging a sign on the door the night before. We did not order room service (food), but read that it was available for a fee.

Food: La Isla is the main restaurant; serving buffet meals for breakfast, lunch and dinner. There were about 12 tables on an outside patio which over-looked the beach. Food at all meals was better than average (for all-inclusive resort standards). Breakfast was especially good; featuring an omelet station, smoothie bar and "Rincon Mexicano" (Mexican Corner) which served freshly made empenadas, rolled tacos and tostadas. Dinner always included a grill station which usually featured beef steak, pork and/or chicken.

Cafe Paraiso is the specialty restaurant, worthy of at least a couple of visits. The menu was somewhat limited, however every evening a different special was offered. We dined on roast duck, Beef Wellington and tuna steaks. The goat cheese salad was excellent and the Mexican coffee (with a shot of Bailey's) was great with dessert. Live music (piano) was featured nightly. The dress code (collared shirt, long pants and closed toed shoes for men) was strictly enforced and reservations are required.

La Iguana is a palapapa restaurant located on the beach. During lunch, hamburgers, fries, onion rings, fish, Jalapeno "poppers" and pizza, etc., were served. Except for the salad bar, orders are taken by a waiter. The food was pretty good, as all orders were freshly prepared after ordering. During the evening, La Iguana changes it's menu and becomes "La Iguana Grill". The "Grill" was closed (at night) during our stay. When in operation, reservations are required. There was no posted dress code. Full bar service is available at all restaurants.

Bars:

El Isleno is the swim-up bar in the adult's only pool. The bar is pretty small and was very popular; making it difficult to get a drink. Bar El Embarcadero is located on the beach, next to La Iguana Restaurant. These two bars are open from 10:00 AM until 6:00 PM. The Lobby Bar opens at 5:00 PM and closes at 12:30 AM and features a very good martini menu (the wife loved the Cosmopolitans). The other bar is located inside the Fantasia Nightclub, which opens from 8:30 PM until 1:00 AM.

The Melia Cozumel pours premium brands of alcohol at no extra charge; including Stolchanoya, Absolut, Jim Beam, Jack Daniels, Bacardi, Tangueray and Johnny Walker, to name a few.

Service: Service at the bars, restaurants and front desk was exceptional. Very friendly waiters served cocktails at all restaurants, and at La Isla (buffet) actually offered to bring food/dessert items to our table. During our stay, our room safe required service. Within five minutes of my phone call (at 6:30 AM), a maintenance worker arrived at our room. Within ten minutes of his arrival, the front desk called to ask if the repair had been completed to my satisfaction.

Beach: The beach itself was O.K., with plenty of lounge chairs and some palapas; but the water was pretty murky and not very inviting. Fortunately, the beach/water at the neighboring El Cozumeleno Hotel was very nice. There were some rocks to navigate around for entry, but the water visibility was over 100'. Snorkeling at El Cozumeleno was pretty good, with a good variety/quantity of tropical fish and a few timid, resident barracudas.

Entertainment: We did not go to the Fantasia Nightclub, which offered different shows every night at 9:00 PM, followed by Karaoke or "Disco".

We thoroughly enjoyed our stay at the Melia Cozumel. When compared to the other dozen or so all-inclusive resorts I have stayed at, the Melia Cozumel is high on the list for service, room and food quality. If you have any questions, I would be happy to try and answer them. Additional photos of the resort/beach available upon request.

sceneisle48-loscabos@yahoo.com

This was my first visit even though I had purchased the timeshare sight unseen several years ago. After reading mixed reviews, I was pleasantly suprised to see that all of the negative reviews were fantasy. This resort will be amongst my favorites and I will return anxiously in the future. Everything from the service, rooms, staff, bars, food was fantastic with attention to detail and satisfaction.
My room assigned at checkin was on the 12th floor overlooking the ocean and beautiful sunsets. The all inclusive food and drink program is well worth it. Top notch drinks and food presentation on the buffet was that of more expensive restaurants and the gourmet restaurant dining was excellent with no rush service for a relaxing evening out. Younger adults seemed upset with that aspect and should not have dined there and looked for fast food instead.
All of the staff work extremely hard at pleasing the guest and you don't see much down time lounging around, as far as spanish speaking--it's not really necessary on the island or in the resort as experienced.
Rented a car for the day and toured the island, went on snorkling tours but a walk of 100 yards down the beach and you could see the same thing. The water in front of the Melia could be clearer but due to a pier is not as perfect as it should be. Found the water questionable two of the days but the current helped the remainder of the visit. If someone is concerned all they have to do is walk 100yards to the other side of the pier where it's perfect all the time and abundant with fish.
Wherever you go you will always have the complainers that are never happy and exaggerate their discontent. You'll have the loud mouths and boozers at the pool that want to be heard and seen and sometimes make us look like ugly americans, but you will find that anywhere. What is hard to find is good service, a relaxing atmosphere, good food & drink and a place where you want to return, the Melia is that place and I hope they continue and keep up the good work.
Would love to see them get rid of the pier to let mother nature take care of the rest!