Occidental Grand Cozumel All-Inclusive, Adolfo Lopez Mateos

When I crossed the threshold, it was like walking into another world. The grounds and the buildings are all very well kept up. My room was always very clean and the mini-bar was kept stocked. Do bring your own wash cloths because they don't always restock them. Do bring bug spray, the evenings require it. Be prepared for the hard sell for Occidental's "vacation club", but once you say no, they will leave you alone for the rest of your vacation. The tap water does not smell, but I used bottled water to brush my teeth with - which they provided. Due to low occupancy, there were no buffets, breakfast and lunch were on the beach, made to order; dinner was in one of two fine dining restaurants. The food was very good. I did miss the ability to have a midnight snack, especially after drinking a few cocktails and getting the munchies. The staff was extremely friendly and accomodating. For seven days, I was in heaven and felt pampered.

I was there for a Wedding, and as far as a wedding location it was great! the beach was beautiful and the whole wedding itself and the reception in the main buffet area were perfect. My complaints are: checkin was a big hassel, they kept putting us off, come back at 3pm. ok we did, then they said 'wait 5 minutes'... which turned into 30 minutes. Finally someone from our party got us all checked in while we waited in the bar. The tap water smells horrible, there are signs and they also tell you not to drink the water. Taking a shower, I had to basically hold my breath. The hotel does supply plenty of bottled water, which you must use when brushing your teeth. All of the food was basic buffet level food, even the restaurants where you need to make reservations. Nothing stands out as really good and due to that I would not recommend getting the 'all inclusive' pkg. The staff were mostly helpful and nice, although not spectacular. I tried to get reservations at one of the restaurants, but they were 'booked full'. We were able to get one of the staff to get us a reservation. I found it odd that the hour and half that we were in the restaurant only half of the tables were used. They were probably short staffed since it took a very long time to get served, and ordering additional drinks was next to impossible. I will try other hotels next time.

I believe they now engage Palancar Dive to run their dive shope and amenity operations. They advertise that they have Hobie Cats to use and run as one of their amenities as well as kayaks, parasailing, snorkel equipment, etc. Problem is, they are not Occidental employees and most of them could care less about your safety nor are they concerned with making you happy. Our first day there, my fiance' and I, after being pressured to buy into their "not" time share plan, we asked to use a Hobie Cat at the dive shop. They asked us to sign a vaiver and a sheet of responsabilty for anything that might be damaged on the Hobie cat. We did, and as we went out, tacking down to the south, the main sail cable broke and the mast came down with a violent crash, with the cable cutting my ear, leg, and arm. Now I am experienced in sailing a Hobie Cat, as I have sailed them here on lakes in Minnesota for years now, but, I could not get the mast up myself, nor reattach the broken cable. I held the edge of the sail up as much as I could to get wind and control the rudder best I could and it took us about an hour to get back in. They could clearly see us with the mast and sail down, but, never bothered to come to our aide. When we made our way finally to the beach area, they came out and acted like it was my fault the cable broke. I thought about diving this stay, but thought, if they treat us this way above water, how could they possibly be trusted to maintain our safety below water? Look, the resort is beautiful, the bed though are hard as a rock, and the food is just adequate. The employees at the Occidental, are friendly, and helpful, but, when the sales men come out to put on the press to buy into their time share that is not a time share, there is a whole lot of pressure on you to buy into it. For me as an airline employee, it just isn't worth the buy in. Also, they have 4, thats four, quatro, hobie cats on the beach, but the Dive Palancar people never let more than one out. And if its just a little windy, forget getting one out at all. If I had to pay full price to stay at this all inclusive, well, I wouldn't.

Me and my family went to Occidental last spring break. There was a lot of things to do and the people were very nice and friendly. One day while we were in the city we went for a swim with the dolphins , which was very fun and worth while. Occidental had many things for all ages. The activity pool held fun for kids and adults. The All-Inclusive meals were very good and the restaurants were very clean with nice service. We love the Occidental and we will definitely come back and i would always recommend it to anyone that would want to have and all-inclusive, safe , fun , and family oriented vacation.

I have traveled all over the world – Asia, Europe, Caribbean. I mountain bike, kayak, and have a pretty high tolerance for heat, sweat, bugs, etc… BUT NOT WHEN I AM PAYING AN ALL-INCLUSIVE RESORT MY HARD-EARNED VACATION MONEY. DISREGARD THIS AT YOUR OWN PERIL: THE ROOM: When you arrive in your room, the first thing you notice is the mildew smell. Its pervasive, because when the rooms aren’t occupied, they pull the cards for the room electric, and the room sits and swelters in the jungle heat. If you have ever been in an old un-air-conditioned house in the summer, think that smell. THE AIR CONDITIONING: Well, that can only be described as pitiful – and I live in FLORIDA, so I have a pretty high tolerance for temperature and humidity. The A/C, cranked high, would barely get under about 82 if I had to guess. It sounded like a jet engine blowing on high all night and did nothing. It was miserable. We complained to Ricardo, the guest services manager, who did NOTHING. The hotel is 60% occupied and they couldn’t even offer us another room. THE BEDS: The beds are the hardest I have slept on, at a hotel or anywhere else. They are like poured concrete. I like a hard bed, actually, but I woke up with bad back pain during the night and every morning from these beds. Between the beds and the terrible A/C, my wife and I did not get one good night’s sleep the whole time we were there because the beds were so miserable. THE BUGS: Swarming FLYING termites in the room. Sugar ants on every surface in the bathroom, including MY TOOTHBRUSH. We couldn’t leave anything on the counter. Management’s solution? THEY GAVE US A CAN OF RAID. Did they offer us another room? Again, NO. THE FOOD: The A/C in the main restaurant is pitiful. We had to leave dinner one night because we were sweating so much we couldn’t eat. The food would embarrass the buffet staff at a Shoney’s. Cold, over cooked, unimaginative, flies on the lunch buffet. When we complained, we were ‘invited’ to dinner at the Royal Club. My wife ordered the steak, and before she even took a bite, I could tell it was terrible when I HEARD HER SAWING THROUGH THE GRISTLE. She ordered the filet, medium rare, it came out done like stew meat. I ordered fish, it came out SOAKED in oil. We sent the steak back for scallops, also floating in oil. Don’t even bother with that upgrade. Lunch is only served in the outdoor buffet by the beach, so if you don’t like flies crawling all over your lunch, too bad. You are only allowed to make ala-carte dinner reservation on two nights out of five – don’t waste your time. There are plenty of excellent restaurants in town I don’t know how the folks on here could possibly give this place a good review at the price. I can only assume that this is folks who haven’t stayed anywhere else. If you’ve stayed here 4 times and loved it I have a suggestion – TRY SOMEWHERE ELSE for heaven’s sake and see what you are missing... There is a world of travel possibility out there, see what you are missing, please. It will be eye-opening. How this place rate 4 stars will always be a mystery to me. I really didn’t think that people could have such low standards. I have learned a lesson, though. I will pay attention to the Tripadvisor reviews from here on. I thought that maybe the people giving this place bad reviews were plush, whiny Americans. I do not consider myself part of that group. But those were the folks that had this place pegged, I should have listened. Every vacation I have had previously I did not want to leave, but this place made me want to leave after the first night. Thank you Occidental Grand for messing up my vacation. Also – look up ‘sea lice’ on Google. The beach water is swimming with them, I can’t blame Occidental for this, but it sure didn’t help my mood…

The grounds were very nice and kept up great. There were no fans and no air movement in the bar or any of the sitting areas. Like all resorts in Mexico everything is outside. No air in the dining rooms, bar, or sitting area. The food was terrible! I was very disappointed in the food! I lost about 6 pounds from lack of it. I am not a picky person, but there are only so many ways to make left overs. The pools were small. NO swim up bars. The beach was nice. The rooms were clean with small beds like most of the resorts in Mexico. Beds were very hard. We might as well have slept on the floor. NO KIDDING! I would not go back. I don't suggest this resort mainly because of the lack of fans and air movement. I understand that everything is outside, but fans really do help. I never sweated so much. Just sitting in the bar we were sweating. Doors were closed and again no fans. No airconditioning. The air conditioning in our room never seemed to work either. We were always hot. We stayed hot for 7 days. Stay somewhere else.

We loved staying at this hotel. It was a wedding present from his parents, so that made it even better. The staff was very friendly, and the guests were great. It was nice and quiet, but still exciting. We reccommend this hotel.

I cannot beleive the bad reciews on here! It is like Biozarro world for me. Staff was out of this world friendly, making my one year old kid laugh and entertained. The food was good, no flies or anything to complain about, we ate a la carte, and we didnt really like it so when we cancelled they offered an exclusive "taste test" for upcoming menus, made bytheir head chef! It was great, alcohol en masse, with a huge variety. The bad: Well yes the floors are dangerous when wet, so be careful, there are sandfleas, and the entertainment is SO SO...but overall it was a great stay, I went for my wife as I dont like to swim or thebeach for that matter, but still found a way to relax and have fun ith my kid. My wife has gone to a dozen AI, and has said this was one of the best she has been at!

I agree with the other reviewers who were not happy, for a variety of reasons, with their visit. Due to unsafe conditions at the Occidental Grand Cozumel, I slipped and fell on a wet sloped tiled walkway that did not have a railing or warning signs. There are tile and marble floors everywhere that are not kept free the water that is tracked around from the daily rain showers. My ankle was dislocated and I required surgery for several shattered bones. My leg required 8 screws and a plate to fix the damage. We had a great deal of trouble trying to make arrangements to fly home and the hotel staff was very, very unhelpful and rude. It was very frightening trying to get out of a foreign country with a severe medical situation. My injuries occurred, Occidental's customer service office and their insurance company have been uncooperative and have not responded to my request for compensation. This is not the way to treat a guest or promote good will among visitors to Mexico.

i have to say this is the worst 4 star hotel i have stayed in. We got to the hotel no hi or welcome, reception was packed, the staff lacked in communication! eventually we checked in,she told us the bell boy would take our bags then walked off before we could ask where the bell boy is. so we found our own way to our room we booked two rooms (joining door as we have kids not very young age 8 12 15.) Our room smelt damp and made us feel sick. We decided to put up with it until one morning i took a shower and i smelt raw sewdge. I washed my hands and i smelt raw sewdge. We changed rooms and this time the kids room smelt funny. As conpensation he gave us a free meal in the royal club we got bitten alive by mozzzies but the food was great DO NOT eat at the pizza place so many bugs. Food ok in buffet other resturants fine not good food for kids. Night enterainment awful there was a short show then nothing night club is tiny and one pool table they kick the kids out at 10pm and there is nothing to do in there music dont start till late so boaring even for adults! If your going for over 1 week then your even more boared because the entertainment repeats. The beach has an outbreak of sandfleas so everyone has got at least 50, 60 bites by the end of the holiday. now for the good points there is less of them! the snorkeling, daytime activites are great the hotel is well kept. Food ok not brilliant as i said before not great for kids. Booking system isnt great. Staff are really freindly. So thats what my stay was like i am really disapointed as it was so exspensive. A huge let down.I recommend you dont go!