May 2007
Because there are no recent reviews of this resort on this site, we will attempt to give you an overview. There have been many negative reviews on TripAdvisor, and only a few good ones, so we will keep it as unbiased as we can. We spent two weeks here from from April 20th until May 5th 2007.
HOTEL IN GENERAL
The hotel is organized in 3 sections – the general section where all-inclusive guests stay, the Sabor adults only section that you can upgrade to, and the Regency Club “vacation club” similar to a time share section. Any information we give in this review pertains to the general section.
The rooms are organized in three story blocks connected by sidewalks in a villa type of set up. The grounds are nicely landscaped. No room is more than a one minute walk to the beach.
HOTEL ROOMS
We stayed in two different rooms. Both were decorated attractively in bright colours in a tropical theme.
The bathrooms had a tub & shower and were stocked with tissues, lotion, soap and shampoo. Towels were replaced daily (in varying numbers and sizes) and some days we received face cloths and other days not.
Unfortunately, the bathrooms were very mouldy. Maintenance cleaned and repainted our ceiling, but within a few days, the mould was back. We also found the air conditioning unit to be mouldy. We saw rooms in the Sabor and Regency sections and there was no mould there.
RESTAURANTS
The main buffet restaurant, beside the pool and overlooking the beach, is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. We found the variety to be good, but the quality varied from mediocre to good.
The snack bar, located by the beach bar, serves the usual fare – burgers, fries, nachos & guacamole, fruit, salad and other items that varied from day to day. We did not eat here.
There are two a la carte restaurants that can be booked through Guest Services. The earlier times tend to book quickly, so you may have to reserve a few days in advance.
“Chili’s” Mexican restaurant was open only a few times during our stay. It is the snack bar section set up as an outdoor restaurant. We ate here once. Something here (shrimp brochettes was the suspect) caused food poisoning (severe vomiting, diarrhea and extreme weakness) for 48 hours. We did make the front desk aware.
“Roberto’s” is a Mediterranean theme restaurant serving fish, chicken, pasta, etc. in a very elegant setting. We ate here three times during our two week stay.
BARS
The beach bar opens at 10 a.m. until 10 p.m. we think. There is a bar open during meal times in the buffet restaurant.
There is a quiet bar just off the lobby that opens from 6 p.m. until 1 a.m.
We don’t drink alcohol, so can’t confirm the quality of drinks.
BEACH
The beach is a decent size and the sand is quite course. There are a lot of rocks in the water, so wear aqua shoes. A work crew spent hours daily removing large stones and rocks and making barriers that jut out into the water, dividing the beach up into sections.
There are a decent number of palapas and chairs on the beach, and there wasn’t usually a problem finding a spot, even later in the morning.
You can walk a long way along the beach to the south, but only as far as the dock from the dive shop (Sand Dollar Sports) to the north.
POOLS
There is one main pool, decent sized, where the activities are. There is a smaller pool that previously was an adult’s only pool with swim up bar, but it has been changed to a “kids & families” pool with an adjacent kid’s club. Most of the time it was completely empty except on weekends when Mexicans sometimes stay at the hotel, so it seems a shame that they have taken away the quiet pool.
SNORKELLING
There are quite a number of rocky areas out front of the hotel. Being more advanced snorkellers, the snorkeling was a little disappointing because of the lack of coral. However, there was a good number and variety of fish out front of the hotel, including a resident barracuda that hangs out by the old dock (the hunk of cement you see sticking up out of the water), small eels, small stingray, parrot fish, tangs, sergeant majors, angel fish, permits, grunts, stone fish, etc.
If you are interested in a snorkeling tour, see under “Tours” below.
ACTIVITIES
The entertainment team provided a variety of activities (water volleyball, beach volleyball, stretching, etc.) which were posted on a board beside the pool.
There is a cinema off the front lobby and they showed a movie each day at 5 p.m. We didn’t go, but the movies were all recent – Da Vinci code, Devil Wears Prada, etc.
There was a nightly show at 9 p.m. with a different theme each night. We did not see any of these shows, so can’t attest to the content or quality.
TOURS
The hotel offers a variety of tours – island tour, fishing trips, jungle jeep tours, etc. and the prices seemed reasonable.
We rented a car for 3 days and went to Chankanaab park (overpriced we thought but it has dolphin swimming if you are looking for that), Punta Sur Eco-Park (much better value & good snorkeling here), San Gervasio ruins, Cedral ruins, the town of San Miguel (interesting shops, restaurants and on Sunday nights there are local bands in the town square at 7 p.m.) and a few stops for snorkeling. We probably could have seen everything in two days.
If you are looking for a snorkeling boat tour, go the aquasport kiosk (just to the left of the buffet restaurant if you are standing looking at the water) and talk to Manuel. He owns a small glass bottom boat and for $35 per person (equipment & soft drinks included), he will take you out for about 2 ½ hours. He is very enthusiastic and doesn’t just drop you off – he gets in the water with you and points out things that you might miss otherwise. We highly recommend going with him. Other companies off the resort may take you out to similar sites, but often you just get dropped off at the site and you fend for yourself looking for stuff.
STAFF
We found all the staff to be excellent, from the cleaning staff to the restaurant staff, guest services, the paramedic and the front desk staff. All employees were very pleasant and any request we made was completed in a very timely manner. We found the level of English at this resort to be excellent.
OVERALL IMPRESSION
We felt that this resort offered good value for the money we paid ($1498 for two weeks per person), but feel that the hotel is lacking in two areas. Of concern are the mouldy bathrooms and air conditioners, and lack of consistency in the quality of the food. My husband had a 24 hour bout with severe diarrhea & fatigue but we couldn’t identify what food item may have caused it (we ate at the buffet that night) and as I said, I had food poisoning from the Mexican a la carte.
With the exception of these concerns, the Reef Club Cozumel is a nice resort with great potential.
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July 2006
I love this place. The staff is incredibly friendly and the rooms are very nice and spacious. It looks like the Reef Club in Cozumel spent millions of dollars on upgrading the hotel after hurricane Wilma hit the resort in 2005.
Room – We stayed in a JR Suite in the members section of the resort. Our room was right on the beach on the second floor. This room was on the corner of the building so it had a wrap around porch with a hot tub overlooking the ocean. At night it was amazing sitting in the hot tub listening to the crashing waves with the stars and moon overhead.
The main lobby, theater, and gift shop area were redone and enlarged. There are dozens of lounging areas now and a new bar in this section. The old pool table room below the lobby is now a dressing room area complete with lockers.
The main pool was closed the first few days of our stay but the Reef Club staff managed to get it open before we left. The member’s pool and swim up bar/pool were also open. Around the main pool they put down some real nice stone tiles all around the pool deck.
The Kids Club was open and the staff did a great job keeping my kids entertained and safe which is a miracle considering my kids.
All the bars were open and the liquor was flowing. The Reef Club has some of the friendliest bartenders around. By the second day they had my drink memorized. The newest bar - which is indoors - opened up a few nights before we left. This bar is located in the new lobby area just to the left where the old gift shop used to be.
All the restaurants were open during our stay and the food was better this year than any year before.
The buffet restaurant was still being remodeled but we were told it was going to reopen in mid June.
The beach was perfect as expected.
The spa, water sports, fitness room, and tennis courts were also open.
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| Reef Club - Cozumel |
Suzanne ~ Plano, Texas |
January 2005
We have stayed at the Reef Club in Cozumel 4 times in the past few years. We took our whole family encluding a 11 month old baby over Thanksgiving this year and had a ball.
We have found the staff to be very friendly the food good, the drinks, could use some work!!!! they are not. top shelf!!! and served from a spicket... Now there is a swim up bar that does have at least a brand name liquor served from bottles that we did like to visit and the bar tender was a hoot!!!
Most the folks staying on the resort are Americans unlike what we found in Playa Del Carmen. I think we were the only ones there that were American
I like the beach at the Reef also as the water is calm and there are rocks not too far so you can snorkel right off shore and see beautiful fish.
We usualy rent a jeep for 1 day and drive around the other side of the Island . That side is beautiful with Rolling waves and beautiful beaches. The whole Drive is lined with open aired Bars so we usually stop at a few to enjoy the view and drink a few cool ones laying in a hammock. WARNING watch out for the margaritias at the last bar as you round the connor!! they are served in stone MUGS! I think it is white Lightening ....PHEW!! they will buy you a drink if you will stand on their beach topless infrount of the toppless beach sign for a photo for their album. NUTS !! but the sign is fun as we have all wrapped ourselves in towles and stood in frount of it for a pic. ha ha
You can get your hair braided in down town cheaper but there is a gal that brades on the beach as well. The shopping is pretty cool. watch out for the Guy that want you to come in their stores they can be a pain!!!! IGNORE !
I find if you speak alittle Spanisc it goes along way so at least learn a few words.... We love it there and are planning to return again soon
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January 2004
The following are details about what happened on our stay at Reef Club Cozumel from 1-17-04 to 1-24-04.
My wife and I took the trip booked thru funjet vacations. We traveled with my brother in law and his Wife and their 2 children. These are our experiences at this resort. We spoke with several other guests and have collected a few e mail addresses and plan on taking action against the Resort at the corporate level. We will also provide this information to Apple Vacations and Funjet. Hopefully this will help others to make an educated decision on where to NOT stay in Cozumel.
We arrived and asked for 2 rooms that were next to each other. This could not be done. Then we asked for rooms that were at least close together. We were told that this also could not be done. When we arrived the hotel was 40% booked so I can't see why this was impossible. The staff at the resort has a general "I don't care" attitude. There were no salt or pepper shakers available anywhere in one of the restaurants, we were told that we would have to go across to the other restaurant and get salt if we wanted it.
There were never enough chairs in the beach grill area to sit down. We had to take chairs from the restaurant across the resort if we wanted to sit down. When we asked a staff member for chairs, he said "one minute" and that was the last we saw of him. This was the norm throughout the entire trip. Staff members were asked for essential items and told us that they would take care of it and never returned.
No cream for the coffee, there was never any creamer available for the coffee. Also no spoons were to be found anywhere at the resort. When you asked for one you were told, "sorry senior, we no have". We stopped tipping the staff after the third day because tipping didn't provide better service. So what's the point? We bought 150.00 in singles for tipping and came back with most of it.
My wife saw a staff member that was picking up trash trying to kill a kitten by slitting it's throat with a sharp piece of glass. A woman saw this and started beating the man with her shopping bag. He laughed and finally stopped. This was reported to the staff manager and we were told that the matter would be taken care of. 2 hours later the same man was still working, cleaning up the grounds. No pop is available in the morning anywhere at the resort. If you ask a staff member, they TELL you they will get you some, but never return.
We made reservations at the Italian Restaurant for 6 people. When we went in for dinner, we were seated inside. I asked for an ash tray and was told that the inside was no smoking. We were never asked when we made the reservations about smoking or non smoking and it isn't posted anywhere. We told the Head waiter and he told me that it was not his problem and that I should contact guest relations.
In general, the staff doesn't care, the food is lukewarm at best, the pools are cold (75*).
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Last updated: May 15, 2007
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