We travelled to Melia Coz. June 1-8th and I must say that this trip was so much better than I could have ever expected. Usually on vacation at some point you get aggrevated with someone trying to pitch you something or just being overall too persistent, however on this vacation that was not the case one single time. This resort in my opinion is much better than a 3 star resort. The quality of service, the rooms, activities, and food (except buffet) were much better than 3 star quality.

Pools-Excellent. I love that they seperate the adult pool and kids pools, this allowes for a much better experience and though I dont not like kids it is much better to be able to get drinks at the swim up bar and not see a bunch of kids around. Only negative of the adult pool was when a bunch of "grown ups" showed up to the resort (30-50yr olds) with thick southern accents (addressed only so you know who you are if you read this) and acted like complete morons ie cursing, peeing in the pool (no one can drink that much beer and not leave the pool for 6 hours) screaming, ashing cigarettes in the pool, disposing of cigs in pool and drink cups. Later on that day at the snack bar this same group of individuals were at the snack bar where they thought it ok to poor beers on each others heads all the while screaming m**ther F&%$er at each other all while being seated 10 feet from the kids pool. Seriously folks grow up and have some respect for those around you. And im 29 and love to party and this was offensive to me!!! All of this was still not enough to even begin to make me not love this place. We met a lot of great people at this resort and the pool bar had a lot to do with getting everyone together to meet.

Restaurants-Buffet-really needs some help but hey I dont go on vacation to purge myself. Still edible though.
"Snack Bar"- really was impressive and the title of snack bar does not give it justice, it was more of a nice little outdoor restaurant that you ordered off of a menu and the food was excellent which is why I could care less about the buffet. Food served here 11-6 which works great for me and the buffet breakfast was not half bad. Excellent chicken salad sandwich, pico,jalepeno poppers, burgers etc.

Paraiso-Kind of like when you get this great recipe and it looks great on paper but just does not live up to expectations. By no means bad but just not that great. We like to go into town for dinner anyhow and it is relatively inexpensive.

Rooms-Awesome. We upgraded to the paradise suite for $25 per night. Well worth it. It had the biggest bed I have ever seen in the room, a nice little couch, and jacuzzi on the porch and only 3 steps to beach chairs and private palapa another 10 and you were in the water. At any given time we were the only ones on this side of the beach if we needed a getaway.

Beach-No complaints here. Yes the water gets murky at times but only for the first 20ft or so and a quick swim gets you to the crystal clear part (this was only 2 days that it was like this) the other days it was perfect. As for the beach itself IMHO it is the best overall beach in Coz. yes the occidental grand has a great beach but it is crowded and surrounded. On the northern end of the beach as the melia's property ends you have miles of uninterrupted beach for walks with only a few rental properties where there might be someone staying. If not the beach is all yours.

Bars-Beach, snack area, and lobby all had top shelf (for an AI) drinks if you ask for them. Johnny walker, jack, bacardi anejo and reg., 100 anos tequila (much better than the cuervo) smirnoff etc. Was not expecting this and it was a welcome surprise. Service was outstanding at all of these bars as well. Jesus at the pool bar was a wonderful bartender aka Chu-Choo is his nickname. DONT FORGET TO TIP!!!!! I cant believe people dont tip these bartenders it is beyond all my comprehension why some feel they dont need to even give a couple of dollars a day to these great people who work their A$$e$ off for dirt pay.

Overall one of if not the best vacations I have ever had and we travel A LOT. The people of cozumel are so wonderful and friendly and are honestly trying to extend a hand of help unlike cancun where help is followed by can i have a tip.

Suggestions on downtown-Go as much as possible and try as many restaurants as you can. Recommendations-La Lobsteria intown (hard to find and do not let cab take you to lobster house which is a block from hotel) best meal period that I have had on a vacation and best lobster I have ever had. Very romantic.
Panchos Backyard-in los cinco soles shopping center-excellent mexican food and REAL margaritas no mix just real fruit juices.

Go and have fun and remember you are on vacation and treat everyone with respect.

Stayed at the Melia Cozumel from May 27-June 3 2007. We had a garden view room. Didn't figure we'd spend much time in the room so didn't need an ocean view, but we had a partial ocean view anyway (see photos).

The room was clean and comfortable. Air conditioning kept us very comfie. The house keeping staff always greeted us with smiles and Holas and did a great job. Only had a cold shower once during a rain storm. The rest of the trip we only wanted cold showers to cool off in the heat.

The facilities were excellent and always kept clean. Watch out when it rains though as the walkways get very slippery. We had a great time playing pool outside overlooking the beach and ocean.

Most of the websites we saw for the Melia (including TA) said that windsurfing equipment was part of the AI package. My 15 year old daughter was really looking forward to trying it. But when she asked they said they no longer had the boards.

The buffet was ok. Not great but not bad. We always found something to eat and never left hungry. The Iguana grill was better. We ate one night in the Cafe Paraiso and it was also good. I had the duck in plum sauce and it was yummy.

Overall the service was great. There was only one waiter we quickly learned to avoid because he gave very bad service regardless of tips. All of the rest of the staff were great, always greeting us with a smile and getting drinks as soon as we sat down and checking frequently to see if we needed refills.

The drinks at the bars were also great. Some were weak, some strong depending on the bartender. However, if you ask the bartenders to make them strong they will, no problem. One always said "Say when...." when he poured the liquor and he'd just keep pouring until I said stop LOL I had a few drinks I think I was breathing fumes after one swallow LOL

This is definitely a family oriented resort or great for couples looking for quiet romance. This is probably not a place for singles looking to party. The place is very quiet after dinner. But it’s a great place to bring your kids of any age. They have activities for everyone.

Watch out for the timeshare guy in the Melia lobby. There's a little desk from Expedia in the lobby where you can rent a car. And directly opposite the Expedia desk is the Timeshare desk. We wanted to rent a jeep for the next day, but the Expedia guy wasn't there. The other guy jumped on the opportunity and said "We rent cars here too" We didn't realize he was a timeshare shark. So he started out giving us prices for jeep rentals, but next thing I knew he had launched into a big speel about the Melia resorts around the world and vacation deals. ....and if we listened to a 30 minute sales pitch we could rent a jeep for $30 for 24 hours instead of $100 for 24 hours. It didn't take long to see what was up so I just stood up and said "No thanks. I just want to rent a car, not buy a timeshare." And walked off. We caught up with the Expedia guy later and had no problems renting from him and no sales pitch for anything else. He also books various excursions. He was easy to work with and was NOT high pressure, he just booked what you wanted.

The beach was beautiful with soft white sand. We really enjoyed kicking back in the beach chairs. I highly recommend going down to the beach at sunset/ after dark and relaxing in a beach chair for awhile. Talk about stress relief and very romantic! There was very little seaweed on the beach when we were there. However, it rained from Sunday-Thursday of our 7 day vacation and this caused the water in front of the Melia to be churned up and very mucky looking from silt. We were surrounded by beautiful turquoise water everywhere except in front of the Melia where we wanted to swim, snorkle and play. The water on the other side of the pier next door was beautifully clear, turquoise blue and when we walked out on the piew we spotted a lot of fish on their side including angel fish, colorful blue and yellow fish, a cow fish and even a couple of small barracudas. You couldn't see anything in front of the Melia because it was so murky. This is my one and only complaint about this resort. Otherwise, this was a great resort with very friendly staff and I wouldn't hesitate to go again!

This is our fourth or fifth stay at the Melia. We booked our normal Deluxe Ocean View Room on the 3rd floor in the far building. We recieved exactly what we paid for however there was no minibar in the room. We called the front desk to have one delivered and then remembered that we read about the ME Experience package on the solmelia website. They said they had that option available for an additional $30.00 per night. We relocated to the main tower on the 10th Floor. Floors 10 to 12 are designated ME floors. What a difference!!!! Room was more than double the size of the standard room. It had a larger bathroom, makeup/vanity area, nicer textiles for curtains, pillows and sheets, large flat screen tv, turn down service and marble galore. Included in the ME Experience was a small reception room on Floor 12 with a Consierge on duty to take care of reservations at their restaurants and ones in town. Preferred/Priority Seating was given at their restaurants. Once I've had the ME Experience I won't go back to Deluxe Ocean.

Other things I've noticed. Food quality has gone way up at the buffet, staff is almost completely different than our visit in July 2006 and March of 2006. I believe the management is trying to upgrade the hotel (similar to the revamp of the Melia in Cancun to the ME). This hotel has always been a solid 3 & 1/2 star option but with the changes being put in place like the ME Experience they are well on their way to becoming a 4 star. Give a limited room service menu and I'll be in heaven!

Thank you as always Melia for making my stay a pleasure!

My wife and I stayed at the Melia from May30th to June 2nd. Wife booked the trip and stayed there based on the positive reviews she read. And believe me, they were accurate. We had an ocean view and the view was spectacular. Room was spacious and clean. Hotel overall was always spotless and the staff was very friendly. Restaurant had great food and the staff was always very accomodating. They have 2 pools, one more for adults and the other for kids. The kids pool 2-3 feet deep on one end and the other was 4.5 ft deep. Great bar. Only complain I had was they had built a pier a little south of the hotel and that cause the water to be a little muddy. The pier prevented the kelp to move down shore. They are supposed to break the pier but I don't know when. If not, the beach would have been perfect. Perfect sand without a lot of rocks or shells. Highly recommend it.