I found this hotel to be overrated. My husband and I reserved our room for 4 nights in March, based on the positive reviews here.

We arrived to the hotel around 1pm and although our room wasn't ready, we were able to change and store our bags. We returned, were given our key and were advised of an upgrade to Oceanview room. We were asked if we would like breakfast in the morning, so I asked if I could get a wake-up call at 7am as I was meeting people in Playa del Carmen the next morning. I was assured that we would. The next morning, we woke on our own, thankfully on time to catch the ferry to Playa. We never received a call or breakfast. There was no one manning the desk that morning as we were leaving. We were gone the majority of the day and had little contact with the staff.

The following morning, I went downstairs to request our breakfast, which was brought promply. Very good, fresh pastries, and coffee. Tried to go and sit by the pool, but only 2 places to sit. Opted to try next day.

The next morning, no breakfast was brought, so we went downstairs to ask for it only to be told that we already had ours!? When we questioned this, they agreed to bring it. This days pastries seemed to be a day (or 2) old and not nearly as good. Again tried to sit outdoors by the pool, but the only 2 chairs were being used. I inquired if they had any other they could bring, which they did.

We found the water pressure and temp to be quite satisfying, only thing was that bathroom reeked of cigarette smoke if you didn't keep the door open to air it out. Quite odd -- and we don't smoke.

The view from our room was awesome and we would sit on our balcony and watch the pelicans "fish" in the morning, or the cruise ships dock as we were enjoying our breakfast. It just seemed to be the little things that partially detracted from the hotel. Lack of service or attention to guest requests, burnt our light bulb, smelly bathroom, and the garbage truck that clammored down the street at 6am!

I guess we must have had the only not-so-great experience at the Vista del Mar. . .

We came in around one pm last Thursday afternoon, and got a oceanview room on the second floor – we noted, right off, a problem with the toilet. We didn’t put paper in, as the sign on the back requested, but there was hardly any pressure. It was me and my husband, we decided we could live with it, the rest of the place seemed fine.

Friday morning, when I went into take a shower, there was no water pressure at all- we’ve stayed at places with poor pressure, like Villablanca- but I’m talking no pressure. A teeny stream appeared at the bottom of the showerhead with both knobs on to maximum. Finally my husband went and told the gentleman at the desk in the morning, who said he would have it serviced and let us use the bathroom in the office (not as clean, not warm, but at least you could clean up).

We went out for the morning, and I came back and used the bathroom in the room and went to see friends upstairs. About 30 minutes later, I stopped in to grab something, and the floor was totally flooded. In the bathroom, the toilet was leaking water out from the back part like crazy. I went out to the desk and asked the same man to come in, and he shut off the water, then explained that all the other rooms on the floor had perfect pressure and it was so sad we had problems with ours- there were going to have to be major repairs, and parts would need to be ordered. Then he told me he’d have the maid come in right away and start cleaning up for me (now, this wasn’t a little bit of water- the floor, the area rug in the main room was saturated- it ran from the fridge to under the bed over towards the balcony- all in 30 minutes. When I went downstairs, I even noted it was dripping from overhead into the shopping area below) but. . . he never offered us another room!

My husband had gone diving, and finally I told him that I thought we'd really need a different room. I was very nice about it, but he gave me this pained look and said he didn’t know. He was over at the computer for awhile, looking very concerned, then finally came back with another key for a room on the fourth floor, and made a big deal about saying he’d help me move our stuff upstairs.

So, I took the key, started picking things up, and passed him- over and over, as he sat laughing on the phone. He must’ve went out and picked it up as soon as he told me he’d help me. So, I packed up everything in the room, slipping and sloshing, and moved it up the two flights, passing him a dozen times (we had gone to the supermarket the night before after unpacking, had filled the fridge with cerveza, wine, limes, etc.- it was such a pain), and each time, he looked away and kept talking, laughing- and ignoring that he said he’d help me.

Not a big deal, and yes, it was just that one person, the gentleman at the desk in the morning. The two ladies working at the desk later hours were lovely, the housekeepers were wonderful and let me practice my Spanish with lots of praise, and we had no other problems at all (save for an intermittent lack of warm water), in the fourth floor room.

That morning guy also got a couple upstairs upset, they had asked for their breakfast at 7:30 AM the night before (specifically so they could get up for a dive) and he never brought it- they called him when they woke up at eight and he said “oh, are you ready?” and brought it up without a word about missing their earlier request.

I don’t know if I’d go back. I did wander over to the Casa Mexicana, and Alfredo the manager there showed me a room and the pool/bar and breakfast area and I think, next time, even for a few dollars more I’d rather stay there.

We stayed at the Vista del Mar for one night, Feb. 19-20, and during our brief visit, the hotel was full. We were moved to a courtyard view, from the oceanview room we had previously reserved online. The room was large, with a few missing light fixtures, rather hard bed, and a "slow-to-warm" shower. No worries though, the friendly, generous manager (Judith) made up for any inconvenience. Judith offered tips on where to eat (both of which turned out to be great choices!), provided a hair dryer, and even stowed our bags until the afternoon of the 20th. We had a lovely visit and thought the hotel a good value, at a great location in the heart of downtown Cozumel.

Stayed Dec. 16-23, 2004. We thought this was a nice hotel, nothing fancy, just a basic quaint hotel. We weren't expecting luxury accomodations. Staff was very nice. Rooms were a nice size. Had a mini fridge, tv, phone, safe and a/c. We didn't find the bed too hard. No bathtub but a very large shower. The only complaint we had was that a couple times we didn't have any hot water. Breakfast was brought to the room every morning at whatever time you wanted. Coffee, juice, muffins, etc. There are no ice machines but ice could be bought next door. Bottled water was left everday. Maid service every day, plenty of towels, sheets were clean. Great spot to people watch on the large balcony, have a view of the ocean and be right in the middle of everything. For the price we were very satisfied and would stay again.