Great hotel for the price and you can't beat the location, right in town. I was with my 16 yr old son and we had a large room with two separate rooms. My son had he's own room and I had a King size bed to myself, very nice. We had a large balcony that looked over the market, good for watching people. From our balcony we could see the small pool on the roof top, very nice to swim in. Breakfast was brought to door each morning, rolls, juice, and coffee. Everyone was very nice and helpful and I felt safe being a single mom on vacation with my son.

The hotel is walkable from the pier and most downtown attractions. We got an oceanfront room and loved the balcony where you can check out the street and the cruise boats. My only complaint was the strains on the box spring part of the mattress other than that this was fine establishment.

This was my second trip back to the Vista del Mar Boutique Hotel. This time I reserved one of the rooms in the front with a balcony with my husband and asked for the top floor. I booked through the hotel this time instead of expeida and I found no problems. They take a deposit from you on your credit card. Not fun with the luggage, but worth it for the view and noise. It was fun watching all the people and laughing at the ones trying to catch there cruise ship (I know that is not very nice). Since the room came with a refrigerator we did some grocery shopping for basic things for lunch and drinks. Breakfast comes with the price of the hotel; coffee, juice, Mexican pastries and fruit. The room was large with lots of space for our dive equipment. The bathroom is normal size, but I love the shower for cleaning the dive gear. The AC is a little loud, but that drowns out the cruise ship people. They are like cattle when they arrive. There was one day when there were 8 ships in, so that is a lot of people in the town. We had maid service and we left a couple of dollars per day. Oh and don’t forget the safe in the room. Very good to hide all your important stuff, it was big enough to fit our ipods, passports and camera. You can leave the toiletries at home and if you need a blow dryer, ask the front desk. We were close to the town center which is great for people watching and eating. I did try the pool/Jacuzzi after one day of diving. It was cold, but relaxing. I bet it warms up in the summer. We were there in December. Staff was nice. We did not do any tours, just went diving every single day. We never got to the beach resort, but I did get to go on my last trip there in 2006. You get a discount in the restaurant. It does get crowded with again the cruise ship people, but the beach resort is very nice.
We used Aqua Safari (I used them on the last trip) and we liked them. Nice size boats, I think it is $5 extra to take the fast boat out, but we enjoyed the big boat and relaxing. We met some great people on board. They had drinks and fruit for you to enjoy between dives.
Places to eat? Well we tried a different place every night. So many places to eat! They have about everything on the island. I try the small local places, but I did break down and go to Margaritaville for the over price burgers. If you have time, rent a car and go to the other side of the island. Well worth it. I have been to Cozumel four times and went to the other side twice. We spent the day at Playa Bonita. Very nice beach and no waves so it is a great place for the kids, we sat in the water the whole time while we were there.
I really like this hotel for the price, clean and the staff is great. If I go back to Cozumel, we will either rent a condo or stay at the in the south end because it is closer to the dive sites. I would recommend this hotel with people on a budget, people that want to stay in the city because you are so close to everything, from shopping, eating and nightlife. But don't forget that the entrance is hidden, just a small sign with stairs.

We just returned from a seven day stay at the Vista del Mar. It was the second time I stayed there and will stay there again on all my future visits. This trip we stayed on the ocean side with a balcony overlooking Melgar. We were on the second floor and the noise from the street never bothered us. We enjoyed watching the cruise ships come and go as well watching people catching their dive boats on the Aqua Safari pier.

The staff was very helpful and would bring us our breakfast tray whenever we asked for it. We love the variety of places around that you can eat at. There is a small fridge where you can keep your left overs or drinks.

The rooms were very clean. We always had hot water at any time of day. This is definitely the best value on the island.