Location
The Melia` is located in the Northern hotel zone in Cozumel and is the Northern most hotel in Cozumel, although still close to town, 5 minute taxi ride. Executive Car Rental is right down the street for pure convenience if you plan on renting a car so this is nice. Also there is an 18-hole golf course across the street, and a horse stable.

Grounds
The Melia` is a nice hotel and very manicured, although I did hear from other guests that have stayed at other Melia`s that this was no where near as nice as other Melia`s. The beach was well taken care of; I did not see any weeds or garbage washed up like I had previously heard of. The vegetation was well taken care of. The only downfall was the back building still has no working elevator and if you are on the 4th floor you will be walking 4 flights of stairs, like me. That was a drag for 7 days; call a bell man for your luggage, they are happy to lug it for you. The only bad downfall was in the evenings by the restaurant it tended to smell like sewage. If you’re elderly, have a problem with steps, are taking kids, this place might not be for you. There are a lot of steps and up and down walking; you can’t get any where without having to take steps!!

Service
Unlike other all inclusive I have stayed at I felt that the staff at the Melia` you if you did not leave them a tip every time you requested a drink, or they waited on you. This was bothersome to me. I have already paid for an all inclusive trip, my tips are included, and if perhaps they go out of their way above and beyond special service I will tip. But it was insane that they expected it every time. Also their diving service was going to charge me 11.00/us to look up my diving number, because I forgot my PADI card at home, no other diving service on the island I spoke with made reference to a charge like this. Most all staff was friendly and courteous though, we didn’t have any problems with the Vacation Club people that were trying to convince you to “buy in”.

Rooms
Ours room was nice and average, once I finally got in to it. I was given keys that didn’t work, so after walking 4 flights of stairs to my room and back down 4 flights all the way to the lobby and back up I finally got in. Although the one thing I found odd was there was no space to put any of our clothes away from our luggage. All of the other places I have traveled I have always been able to put away my clothes and have not left them in my luggage, not at the Melia`. The maid always had 2-3 new bottles of water for you in your room every day which was nice; she did a really fantastic job to see to it that you got everything that you needed. Our remote for our TV didn’t work and they fixed that right away when we asked.

Pools
There are 2 pools at the Melia` one is an adult only pool with a swim up bar and one is a family pool/kids pool. We found the adult only pool to be cold, and had more fun in the family pool. Either way they were both nice, we didn’t mind the kid here or there, as there really weren’t that many.

Beach
Was nice, long and wide at spots, and yes there are sand flea’s but those are everywhere, bring bug spray and use it. I found that during the day I was fine I the sun, but the minute the sun went down those little buggers came out. Snorkeling in front of the Melia` you can see some fish but not a lot. The El Cozumeleno will let you snorkel from there beach and there is a lot to see from there.

Food
Breakfast was the best meal of the day as far as the buffet goes! Dinner and Supper buffets were mediocre and they have the usual themed nights that resorts usually put on. The one and only restaurant fell below my expectations, which is odd because I don’t hold high expectations. The beach grill was the big hit, they had hamburgers, ribs, poppers, fries, onion rings, and salad, steak you name it they had it, that’s where we ate most of the time. As long as you eat the beach grill you won’t starve.

Entertainment
Was pretty good, they had dancers, and a casino night, pop rock night, this is from what I heard, and usually I was not in attendance. From what I was told the casino night was the best.

GOLF
The golfing was nice; the package for the week though I guess is very expensive. My husband went golfing 3 times. If you bring your own clubs it is 25.00 to rent a golf cart and you HAVE to rent a cart. He had free golf greens, with our particular package. I am not sure how much it is to rent clubs, and for golf greens. You have to reserve your game the morning that you want to golf. 18 holes took my husband 6 hours. Many times people let him play through, which is nice but if you get behind a team that won’t let you, you will be there awhile. Also it was advised that to bring extra balls, if you lose your ball you can’t go looking for it, thick vegetation, and crocodiles.

Opinion
Will I stay at the Melia` again? Most likely not Overall I wasn’t impressed that they came right out and said they were fighting with the El Cozumeleno, they shouldn’t tell that to guests. I found they really didn’t go out of their way to really please their guests (aside from the maid) it didn’t seem like a 4 star. I wasn’t impressed for the first time in my all inclusive vacations with the food. It seemed the staff waited for you to come to them, they should come to you.

Well I go back to Cozumel again? Of course I love it there, the snorkeling and diving is always good. The people are always warm and always refreshing. This is the first year we actually rented our own car, it was fun, a little nerve racking at first but worth every penny to go out on our own for 24 hours and just stop any where we wanted to!