Wonderful hotel

Great hotel. Very romantic. The wait staff will bring you drinks on the beach under the unbrellas. Happy hour, 2 for 1 Food was good and everyone was friendly.T his is a great place for couples. We would stay here again. The dive boats pick you up at their dock so you don't have to get a taxi. Short distance to dive sites. If you go into town, it does take a taxi or rental car. Too far to walk. Can get expensive if you go everyday.

Romantic Getaway

My husband and I stayed here for our 5 year anniversary. Everything was great from the first time we were greeted at the taxi upon arrival. The on-site travel agent was very helpful in providing information and price options for our day excursions. If you want to just lay on the beach an relax, they will serve you drinks and food right to where you are sunbathing. The rooms are nice also. We decided to do the Romantic Dinner that is listed in the room service menu. They set up a lovely dinner right on the beach. It was a four course meal with candles and luminaries and our own personal wait staff and guitarist to sarinade us. It was one of the best nights of our lives. We didn't see any children on our visit, mostly couples. We definitely will be returning soon. They catered to our every need. The on-site restaurant was very good and you don't have to leave the resort for anything. You can snorkel right off of the private beach. This is a definite place to stay if you are visiting Cozumel.

Kick back or Dive, you decide.

We stayed at the Presidente the week of May 4, 2003. This was our second visit and just like last year, it was great. The hotel may be a little expensive, but I have no regrets...you get what you pay for. Free coffee brought to the room every morning, several clean-ups by the maid every day. Great pool, beach, shore diving and exercise room (with a view of the beach). We did a night dive right off the beach and saw octos, squid, you name it.The dive shop is Scuba Du and they were also great. I've heard that all of their divemasters are very good but I can only recommend Lucio as we have used him exclusively for 2 years. His attention to safety and ability to point out interesting creatures is awesome.If you want to save a few bucks, don't go here. If you want to make certain that the rest of the money you have invested on a vacation is not wasted, then spend a few more dollars, stay here, and never regret it.

Best of the Best

Look no further. The El Pres is the place. Great everything, and yes, the price is a little high. No need for an all-inclusive in Coz. Just a few bucks for a taxi to town each evening for tons of great inexpensive restaurants. You'll eat like a king for about $15 US. Plus, the all-inclusive resorts were pretty dumpy. We rented a car & drove around the island, stopping at the all-inclusives to check out for a possible next time. NO COMPARISON to the El Pres. It is definitely worth it to request a reef room, located beachfront. Just walk out onto your patio & directly onto the beach. Free coffee & newspaper each morning if you call for a wake up call. Snorkeling tip: walk to the far south end of the property past the restaurant. Climb down the ladder & enter the water. Put on your gear & enjoy the ride. The current will gently float you north as you take in the incredible underwater sights. Then get out at the north ladder, and repeat. I must have spent 6 hours a day face down in the water.Try Dive With Martin if you scuba. Great prices, great rental gear, small fast boats with a canopy. Extremely safe & friendly divemasters.

Casual elegance in a relaxed pace

this is a greatlocation for the beauty of the beach and ocean. the property is always spotlessly clean. the staff is very friendly and helpful. the bar and open-air restaurant at the water is grewat for relaxed dining. the inside restaurant while very classy is almost too formal for the rest of thee expewrience. can't wait to return again next fall

Great resort, snorkeling & diving

We spent a week at this beautiful resort from Feb. 14-21, 2003. All staff were helpful, curteous and friendly. Nice beach with fantastic snorkeling right off shore. My husband dove several times with Scuba Du and enjoyed it. I took the resort SCUBA course and I am now hooked on diving. My instructor was very informative and patient. We ate lunch at the beach resturant several times. Although the prices were a bit high, the food was very good and so were the views of the beach and ocean. We will definitely return to this ressort. If you are vacationing here, we highly recommend you rent a car and see the east side of the island. We especially enjoyed a late lunch at the small beach front resturant, Chen Rio. Note they are not open for dinner. The fish platter for two was fantastic!

Thrashing about in Mexico

Presidente's a nice resort with helpful staff and great food. Room service is somewhat pricey, however.

Having said this, I wish to share a tale of caution. While taking scuba lessons from Scuba Du, the resort's diving vendor, the instructor disabled my BCD so that I wouldn't alter my depth too frequently. Of course, she didn't bother to tell me this. When I attempted to surface, I found myself swimming in a panic with about 80 pounds of gear pulling me toward the bottom of the ocean without the aid of my BCD.

While I was thrashing about on the surface, and pondering how my corpse would be returned home, the instructor swam over and inflated my vest by blowing into it. I wasn't informed that this was an option.

At first, I was grateful for the instructor saving my life, as I was pretty sure that I was to blame for not patiently breathing from my regulator as I should have as I drifted downward; however, after I had some time to think about things, I was somewhat angered that I had been so ill-prepared to dive.

In summary, if you want to learn how to dive, do so BEFORE you go on vacation. Also, consider bringing your own equipment...

That's my rant.

Brian

Mom, dad & two kids

This was our 1st family trip to Cozumel. We picked the El Presedente because it sounded the best in the reviews- we were not disappointed. The hotel, staff, beach, snorkeling, etc. could not have been better. To a person, the staff could not have been better. They made us feel like family. The food was well prepared and reasonably priced-room service is 20 minutes max.

Daily breakfast at the Carribean Restr. is a must.

The waitstaff (Victor & Herbierto, etc.) are true artists.The rest of the day is snorkeling ( the beach and reef are spectacular) siesta (get out of the sun for awhile) and watching the sunset.

Rent a vehicle and drive the the other side of the island- it's safe and the beaches wonderful-

have a cool drink at Cococnuts on the East side.

Bring sun screen.

Great Experience

Stayed at the hotel w/our 9 year old and had a wonderful experience. The staff was wonderful, the food is fantastic and the the grounds are gorgeous.

Its convenient to town (which is a problem w/the all inclusive hotels -- the cab fare can be very costly). The food in Cozumel is delicious and reasonably priced -- we like to go out to eat so the idea of being stuck in an all-inclusive w/institutional food did not appeal to us. When we did eat at the hotel -- we were really impressed -- the quality is outstanding.

We would definitely stay here the next time we go back to Cozumel.

Great Rooms for a Price

Hotel Presidente Inter-Continental is a very nice place to stay in Cozumel.

The facilities are very posh, what we have come to expect from the Inter-Continental chain of hotels, and the service is perhaps 2-3 notches better than most Inter-Continental Hotels we have stayed at.

The staff is very courteous and efficient. Food at the onsite restaurants is excellent, if a little pricey.

Rooms are a bit pricey, but we grabbed a discount by booking with an airline (which turned out to be a mistake because the airline was foul).

The hotel has a lovely beach and very good snorkeling and scuba right off the shore of the hotel.

Large pool, decently maintained. Facilities for children and day care is available, and the kids can even finish locally made pottery for fun.

The on-premesis dive operation (Scuba-Du) is pretty decent, with excellent divemasters, though their gear is somewhat dated.

The dive boats used by Scuba-Du are slower diesel boats that hold 8-20 divers, and the crews are good.

The hotel is a few miles from San Miguel (the main part of town), so $5 - $7 (US) cab rides are a necessity to get into any shopping or dining out.

Humidity was very high in late May/eraly June which had some interesting side effects:

The air conditioning in the rooms makes everything relatively cold, when you bring stuff outside it fogs up (cameras, sunglasses, dive regulators, computers)

If you open your room which is already cold, the humidity condenses on the marble floors, walls, and mirrors

My only complaints about the hotel are the prices on everything (but then you should expect to pay for luxury and tranquility), and that they (like most hotels in this class) over water their uneccessary lawns and shrubs and therefore there is a serious mosquito problem at the hotel.

Bring lots of repellant, stay away from the edges of a crowd (the people at the edge get bitten more).

A VERY nice feature of the dive shop is that you can store your gear with the shop between dives and even pay (via tips) a man to care for your gear while you are staying. Saves lots of lugging of gear around the hotel if you want (some chose to lug gear to rooms, I used the dive shop storage).

If you stay here and you like seafood, be sure to try the mixed ceviche - wow.

Also, it pays to ask what tequila they will make your drink with - if you don't ask, Jose Cuervo is used. If you ask, they will switch to something much better (Don Julio or Herra Dura).

Since September 11th (at least) one should avoid using Miami as their re-entry point into the USA.

Miami has become a complete mess as far as immigration and customs and re-checking baggage, and American Airlines is NOT being helpful to their customers stuck there.

Find another way to re-enter the US unless you want to spend the night at the airport.

In Cozumel the diving is very good, the food is excellent, and we had a great trip.