Great Location & Accomodations BUT Horrible Management

My wife and I stayed there the first week of December 2002 (resort only about one month old). First, the geenral staff were wonderful and friendly and very curtious, etc. However, the management of the resort (especially front desk employees) were HORRIBLE!! We have been to many resorts, some 10 times the price and other resorts on a comparable price level or even below, and I have only once, ever been treated as poorly as at this resort. The front desk employees specifically told me, after I complained about some problems and asked for them to be rectified, that they don't have to listen to my complaints and that I should fill-out a comment card at the end of my trip, that it is a new resort so I have to understand that they don't have enough staff and other excuses. Never tried to fix the issues or even listen to me. Unacceptable! I even had one of them threaten me after I informed him I was writing a letter to corporate about him. I would not return to this particular resort, there are more than enough other resorts -- even the next door property owned by the same company is run much better. i would return to other Allegro, but not this property.That said:The accomodations are wonderful -- beyond wonderful. The size of the rooms are quite large, with a seperate walkin shower and a bathtub. The location of the resort is also incredible as are the grounds of the resort. However, the next door resort (owned by the same company - the Allegro) has a much better beach!, but smaller rooms and older facilities. Also, the dive shop staff is great, but the facilities are again, not anything compared to the Allegro next door. I know it is new and there are plans to add to the dive facilities and improve it, but for the next year or two, there will not be a dock. You have to get on and off dive boats from the beach - not a big deal, but it gets dive gear sandy, etc. Just isn't the same level of the facilities of the less expensive Allegro resort.The food was good too. We enjoyed the restaurants and the drinks. Only good things to say about food and drinks.

Nice and relaxing

We just came back from Cozumel. We stayed at the Occidental Grand for 7 nights. It is very new and beautiful resort. They have Villas (I think 20 - 22 of them), each has three floors. Rooms are very very nice, big and clean. Bathrooms are just amazing. It was our 5th time in Mexico; previously we stayed in Club Reef in Cozumel, Cancun Palace, Club Marival, and some regular hotel in Cabo San Lucas. None of those hotels had rooms and bathrooms as nice as Occidental Grand. It is not very big resort. They have big snack bar, and three restaurants. Food was not bad, but really nothing special. Unfortunately service at the restaurants was not great. Waiters hardly remembered what you asked for 5 min ago, and we had to remand them to bring coffee or water several times. The only one female waiter they have there is very good and careful. There are three swimming pools (very clean). Employees are very friendly. I also think it is very good place to go with kids. There are kids discos every night with balloons. We did not have any problems with mosquitoes, probably because every evening they sprayed chemicals all over the resort. If you are coming with small kids bring stroller with you. We stayed in villa #16, which located in between ocean and restaurants. So it was very convenient. Beach is pretty good; they brought lots of sand there. Overall everything was great and we loved it there. We definitely would go back there again.

Quiet & peaceful getaway!

We arrived in Cozumel saturday, 01/18/03...(continental airlines has non-stop from Newark to Cozumel every saturday).

things we loved:

champagne while we checked in

amazingly beautiful landscape

Villas were beautiful with huge bathroom

Good food & very friendly staff

Quiet & peaceful

Things we didn't like:

No ocean view

bit by lots of mesquitoes (bring bug repellent)

Not much going on after dinner but didn't mind too much

the beach was not at all what I thought, it was not very wide, it was slightly down a cliff, the sand wasn't as nice as other places Iv'e been

It appeared to us that everyone dives who stayed at the hotel except for a few of us. I kind of felt out of the loop not diving but did take the free scuba lesson in the pool one morning to see if I liked it, it was a lot of fun. Cancun is definately more happening than Cozumel. If you like quiet this is the place.

Luxury in jungles

We have spent 8 nights at the hotel.

It was such a pleasant suprise to find everything exceptionally clean. The design and ground arrangements are beautifully laid out. You have a feeling that you are in your own hasienda due to the separate villas location,rooms are large and spacious with marble fllors. The food was superb!

The open bar policy helped to enjoy it ven more.

Special praise goes to Management, mr. Erick Euia, in particular,they made our trip very special.

Me, being a travel agent, was specially important to see the facilities and I will not hesitate to recommend that hotel to my clients.

Lina Stein

Tropical Paradise

My family and I just returned last night from a week at the Occidental Grand Cozumel. All in all it was a wonderful vacation. Above all, it was peaceful and relaxing. The hotel is new and with time will run more smoothly. We did not have any problems at all.

The natural surroundings help contribute to the beauty of the place. We saw hummingbirds and butterflies almost every day and huge lizards, too.

ROOMS - Very large. Huge bathrooms - all marble.

We were on the ground level so, instead of a balcony we had a small patio on the other side of the sliding glass door, so the only thing I would suggest is to request the top floor (if you don't mind walking up 2 flights of stairs - no elevator) so that you can leave your screen open and use the ceiling fan over night on the cooler nights. The screens don't lock and we did not feel safe sleeping without locking the sliding glass door on the ground level. Also you won't hear the people walking around on the floor above you if you are on the top level. I would also suggest requesting the villas closer to the pool area as that area is more peaceful at night and a shorter walk to the beach and pools.

BEACH/POOLS - The beach is beautiful. You have to walk down a steep embankment by the pool to get to the shore. It is a very narrow beach area and can only accomodate a few lounge chairs. But they have lots of chairs facing the beach at the pool area and this was our favorite place to sit. Not the best beach for little ones. My kids are 10 and 12 and it was perfect for them. I think they are having problems with erosion and have some sand bags set up as steps to get down to the beach in a few places. I think with time they will figure this out. The water is clear and snorkeling is great fun right there. Oh, there are microscopic jelly fish that give a little sting and you may end up with a small rash, but it only burns a little and goes away rather quickly.

They have 2 pools. The one by the beach is very large and they play music and sometimes have activities there - like water volleyball, aquagym, snorkeling demonstrations, etc. They have plenty of very comfortable lounge chairs and towels. From this pool it is just a few steps to the beach bar and restaurant. The other pool is just across a footbridge through the mangrove swamp and is a perfect place to relax and read. Again always plenty of loung chairs and towels available, but further away from the bar. The water in both pools was very cold, but refreshing.

You can get snorkelling equipment around the corner from the dive shop (this is located just past the beach bar) and you can have it free all day till 4:30. If you keep it after that they charge you $5. Take advantage of this. The ocean water is warmer than the pool water.

The tennis courts are really nice in the early morning and late afternoon. You get your balls and rackets at the front desk.

FOOD/RESTAURANTS - The breakfast buffet at La Hacienda was very nice. The wait staff very attentive. Lunch was usually at the beach club and was also a buffet. The food was not very good and we always had to wait for utensils and napkins and only sometimes were offered drinks by the wait staff otherwise you get them yourself at the bar- very inconsistent service here and lots of flies. Desserts were always a treat. After buffets for breakfast and lunch, we preferred to dine at one of the sit down restaurants for dinner. Don't be put off by the dress code, there was quite a mix - just no beach wear - my husband and daughter wore jeans and had not problem. You have to make your dinner reservation between 8am and 1pm for either of the restaurants and present your ticket to the host/hostess. None of the restaurants have signs outside, so you have to ask which is which. El Olivo is the one with the cement horse statue inside and the food there is good - more italian than mediterranean. The steak house (Las Reses)in the one on the corner (kind of dark) and has very good steak, so if you want a nice grilled filet mignon, go for dinner there. On their brochure they also list La Troje as a Mexican restaurant, but it does not exist as yet. We only went up to the pizza place one night. Just so you know where it is, go up the large staircase on the left just past the reception desk. It is outside dining and the mosquitos are very bad at night. Sit at the tables with table cloths to be sure to get served.

STAFF - The front desk personal are not very helpful or enthusiastic. Hopefully you won't need too much from them. The bartender in the lobby bar is a really nice guy and the hostess at El Olivo is also very pleasant.

I think overall it was a most relaxing week and I really did not go there to eat, so didn't expect too much from the food to begin with. My daughter did get sick and we are not sure what caused it, but we think it was food poisoning. But they have a doctor on call 24 hrs a day and he came out to treat her at 4am and she was better within a day and a half. That was unfortunate, considering we were very careful what we ate and drank.....so, I guess it could happen anywhere in Mexico.

HEALTH CLUB/SPA - The fitness room was very large and had lots of good equipment. My daughter got her hair braided at the spa $65 - a bit more than they charge down town, but when you add in the taxi fare, you're pretty close.

THINGS TO DO - The tour operators offer lots of different side trips. We took the Manta Catamaran snorkelling trip and it was fantastic. You have to walk along the beach to the pier just past the Allegro resort to get on the boat. They take you to 2 different reefs and give you about 45minutes in the water at each reef. Very well run tour and very helpful and nice guides. We also went horseback riding, but I wouldn't recommend this - too many mosquitos and the horses look a bit sad. Also the Dolphin Discovery at Chankanaab was a wonderful experience for my children and I would highly recommend this if you have the time and money.

The resort is about a 20 minute taxi ride from downtown and the taxi fare is about $20 each way for 4 people. It is only about 25 minutes from the airport.

I would definitely recommend this resort to anyone. It is clean, new and has everthing to offer. Maybe if you travel with kids pack a jar of peanut butter and make them sandwiches at the lunch buffet because my kids wouldn't even eat the hot dogs there.....But if you want to relax and get away from it all, this is the place......

Occidental Grand 1 week vacation experience

We just return on Friday Dec. 13, 2002 from a one-week stay at the Occidental Grand Cozumel. Over all it was great vacation. We give it a 9.5 out of 10 rating.

We stay at the Grand primarily because they offered two free scuba dives when staying with them before the 21 of December. As well the ability to eat and use the facilities at the Allegro was attractive. Unfortunately we discovered that we could only use he facilities at the Allegro between 6am to 6pm. This means that we could not stay for dinner or watch the evening shows.

The rooms at the Occidental Grand are fantastic - very large and well appointed. The rooms are arranged in several separate buildings located between the beach facilities and the main lobby building, which houses most of the restaurants. The resort is separated from the beach facilities by a natural swamp that must be crossed using a long wooden bridge. This means that a person must walk a considerable distance between the main building, rooms and beach. As well if it looks like it might rain take the umbrella provided in each room with you.

The food was very good. The Grand has two alacarte restaurants, one with Mediterranean cuisine and the other with steak house cuisine. Neither restaurant required advance reservations yet. The breakfast buffet served made-to-order omelets, waffles, hash browns, bacon and lots of fresh fruit as well as cereals and many Mexican dishes. The lunch buffet at the beach has a wide selection of salads, sandwiches, pastas, seafood, barbequed pork ribs, desserts, etc. The evening buffet had made to order steak, fish, pork and pastas as well as Mexican dishes. It also featured a salad bar, fruit bar, pastry bar, juice bar and dessert bar. The Grand features an elegant open-air roof top pizzeria that made a delicious thin crust pizza. The pizzeria was open from 6pm to 1:30am nightly. Although we never ate at the Allegro, other people that did said the quality of the food and selection was better at the Grand.

The bars serve every conceivable drink imaginable made with premier liquor. The bartenders were friendly and very good at mixing our favorite drinks. Drinks and wine were available with meals in the restaurants and buffets. The main bar and lounge area had very comfortable couches arranged around coffee tables that made for great conversation areas to visit with new friends.

The pools are fabulous. The quiet pool locate in between the villas and the footbridge does not have bar or food service. This means that a person must walk to the beach for food or drink. The beach and beach pool areas are well appointed with umbrellas and lounge chairs and has poolside bar service. Daily activities such as pool games, aquatic aerobics, horseshoes and beach volleyball take place in or near the beach pool. This makes it very noisy at times around the beach pool.

The beach is small and is located next to the pool and buffet facilities. Access to the beach is down a steep six-foot slope that resulted from erosion caused by the last hurricane. The beach was groomed regularly but still had enough seashells on it to satisfy most beachcombers. Remember that in this part of Cozumel from the high water mark to 500 meters off shore is a protected wildlife zone. Collecting seashells from in the water could result in a $5000.00 USD fine.

The snorkeling is great especially to the left of the beach buffet facilities. We saw, stingrays, spiny lobsters, eels, coral and a lot of different fish. The on site dive shop has new equipment and good dive masters. The dives are priced at $32.00 USD per dive or $29.00 USD for 10 or more dives. The 10 dives can be accumulated between two divers. Equipment such BC, regulators and weight belts costs $6.00 USD per dive. Wetsuits cost $6.00 per dive. Mask, fins and snorkels are free.

Unfortunately, the only evening entertainment is in the disco, which has one pool table. There are no nightly floorshows. Other than dancing or karaoke in the disco the only other evening entertainment consists of drinking in the bar or watch satellite TV in your room.

The resort has a small shop that carries sundry products and souvenirs. The best shopping is in downtown San Miguel. Getting to and from San Miguel is expensive. Taxi fare is $17.00 USD one-way per couple or $20.00 USD one-way for two couples per cab. Plan to go into downtown San Miguel at least once but plan to stay as long as possible to avoid taking unnecessary expensive taxi rides. We could not find any local vans or buses that transported people to and from the occidental Grand Resort area to downtown San Miguel or other attractions.

Although we did not go on any tours the people we talked to at the resort thoroughly enjoyed their tours. The tours available included visiting an eco-park where one can swim with the dolphins, jungle dune buggy excursions that cross through the islandÂ’s interior jungle, catamaran snorkeling tours and great scuba diving.

One of the things that caught us by surprise is that although we booked through a tour operator we still had to pay a security surcharge of $5.00 USD per person each way when flying from Cancun to Cozumel and back again. Even though the tickets from our tour operator said that we could take two pieces of luggage plus a carry on per person to and from Cozumel, the local air carriers have restricted luggage to one piece of checked baggage and one carryon per person. We had to pay $20.00 USD for each extra piece of luggage taken in each direction. As well, the Mexican custom officials inspected each piece of luggage when going to and from Cozumel and when departing from Cancun before checking the luggage for departure. Try to fly directly into the Cozumel airport if you have the opportunity in order to avoid the extra charges and inspections.

Over all this was a very enjoyable and laid-back 5-star plus vacation that we would recommend for people that want to relax on the beach, enjoy fine dinning and a quiet resort atmosphere.

Ingrid and I own a travel agency in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada and have spent the last 15 years traveling extensively throughout the Caribbean and Mexico. We have found the advice and reports posted by travels on websites such as this indispensable when planning our own vacations and advising our vacation clientele. If you need advice or help planning your next Caribbean/Mexico vacation weÂ’d be pleased to help with no obligation.

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Beautiful Occidental Grand

This was the nicest resort we've stayed in yet. The rooms were gorgeous with a huge bathroom, a walkin shower and tub. The fridge was stocked daily with beer, bottled water and juice (all included) and the air conditioner worked well even when you removed the card for the lights. They were very clean. The resort itself was lovely with two pools, one with music and the other without, hardly anyone was at this one, probably because there wasn't a bar close by. The beach was great to snorkel from, we saw lots of fish and starfish, and also took advantage of their free scuba lesson in the pool. The staff were friendly and not pushy. The drinks were great, not watered down like our other resort trips and we found the food super. The guacamole was out of this world. Didn't notice a problem with mosquitoes at all. If you want somewhere quiet and relaxing, this is the place. They earned their 5 star rating and we'd visit again.

Relax and enjoy

We were at the Occidental Grand over Christmas. It is a BEAUTIFUL property. The rooms (and bathrooms) are spacious and are kept very clean. In fact - everywhere on the propery it's spotless. The staff is very courteous and accomidating.

The pools are very nice. Plenty of chairs and towels. The beach is narrow but the surf is gentle and the snorkling right off the beach is nice. We saw a decent variety of sealife right off the beach. We took a snorkling excursion from the dive shop to the reef that was very nice. Also took the free diving instruction at the pool which led to 2 dives (fee for dives). One was at the beach and one was at the reef. The dive instructors are very professional - it was a great experience.

There are daily activities at the pool in moderation that don't result in a bunch of wild drunks in the pool. Perfectly appropriate for a family resort. It's not so loud that it drives those who want to read or relax away.

The food is nothing special - it's food. There's very little variety from day to day on the buffet and some of it seems a little tired or overcooked. If spectacular food is your priority, you will be disappointed. The ala carte resteraunts are significantly better than the buffet - be sure to make reservation though. The pizza place is pretty good and is open late. It was our kids first choice for meals each night.

Night activities is limited to a disco. That held no appeal for us. There are a few quiet locations to hang out and drink. Bring along some cards or games for the evenings or plan on going into town. It's about a 20 minute taxi ride in.

We thoroughly enjoyed our week at this hotel. We found it pleasant and relaxing with just the right amount to do. Excursions and car rentals are available so you can be as busy as you want to be. We would certainly consider returning to the Occidental Grand.

Great quiet time

We just got back last night from Cozumel and we had a great time! First the resort is absolutely beautiful! They basically took a jungle and cleared out a section for the resort. The rooms are big with a large bathroom. It's all marble. The staff there is great! Everyone is really friendly. The only thing missing is nightly entertainment. There are no live shows. There is a disco and kids are allowed in until 9:00. Then it becomes adults only. For us it wasn't a big deal because our kids were so active during the day that by 8:30- 9:00 they were asleep. There also is a kids club with playstation, board games and a playground including its own shallow pool. This place is more for a calm and quiet kind of vacation. However, if you stay here you also have access to the Allegro resort right next door. (less than a 10 minute walk from Occidental). We really enjoyed it there. The food was okay but always a wide variety to choose from.

My only suggestion is take mosquito repellent with you. Because it's in a forest like environment there mosquitos and we did get bitten.

Beautiful resort

This brand new hotel has yet to be discovered. It will accommodate 600 guests and when we arrived there were 94.

The hotel setting is fantastic and has retained a large number of the natural trees and wetlands for landscaping. The arcitecture is wonderful and the villas, housing 24 rooms each, are separated well apart from each other by treed areas.

The rooms are large and very well maintained.

The staff, bartenders, wait-staff, management and cleaners are all excellent, very friendly, and have very good English skills.

Because it was under- occupied, the management decided not to have all restaurants open each night, so the choices were somewhat limited.

We were there for a relaxing holiday and certainly got all we wanted. Many were there for diving and snorkelling and had easy access to those activities. The pools (two) are very good, free-form pools with pleanty of lounge chairs available for everyone, even when at full capacity.

There is also, as yet, no nightly entertainment.

For rest, relaxation and luxury we highly recommend this hotel. We are sure it will only get better as more people find out about it and the management can provide all the amenities advertised.