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Cozumel Trip Report
Posted by Audrey on 04/04/01

Reef Club Isla

I stayed from Mar 23-30, 2001 at Reef Club in a party of 6.

Traveling - I got the whole travelling pacakge from TNT. They did a great job to make sure that the trip was smooth. Aside from the long line at the checkin counter in Boston Airport, they was very well-organized. Once we landed in Cozumel, there were staff waiting to bus us to the hotels in shuttles. Arrive at the Reef Club in 15 mins. Before the end of our trip, the TNT staff actually bothered to call every single one of us who forgot to pick up the taxi vouchers in the morning to remind us (we overslept majorly since we are partying way too much the night before). There was also an representative from TNT at the Reef Club to let us know the flight is
leaving ontime at the day of departure.

Hotel - I have heard some negative comments about the place before I went to Cozumel, but I have found it much better than I expected. There are some problems with the resort, but you have to keep in mind the price you are paying for your stay there. As far as I am concerned, I was getting "bang for the bucks" at the Reef Club. Food was general good, the main buffet
usually offers enough variety so that I found something I like to eat every night. The Italian restaurant and the steak house were both good overall. I got a lobster ravioli at the Italian restaurant and it was too salt, however my friends ordered duck and lamb and they were every good. At the steak house, remember to order the filet mignon or the beef kabob. Both were
excellent! I ordered lime pie for dessert at the steak house and it wasn't good at all, we left it untouched and walk straight into the buffet and had our second dessert there. (That's the beauty of an all inclusive resort!) Our rooms were very clean, the maid did her job promptly at 1 to 2pm everyday. The entertainment staff also tried very hard to amuse us, I could feel that they genuinely care about the guests. The drinks were a little bit on the weak side, but since it was free we just kept going back to the bar to get more drinks. We eventually got tipsy anyway!

Chankanaab - We heard some bad things about the place about we decided to give a try anyway. At the end I have found it a lovely place! It probably has to do with the fact that I went on Sunday (no cruises in town). We did some snorkeling and took some photos. Since we are beginners we have enjoyed viewing a good deal of sea life there. But if you are a diver or an advance snorkeler you might not find the place worthwhile. We also saw the lagoon (it was beautiful) and found a HUGE lizard on the path while we were walking around the botanical garden there. What a pleasant surrpise!

El Zorro Catamaran - We booked with El Zorro through Fiesta Holidays at the Reef Club. As far as I could tell, it is not a cattle boat operation. At the day I went we had 10 snorkelers (including myself). The guide was very safety conscious and fortunately everyone in the group was good swimmers. We went to 3 reefs including the Columbia and Palancar. Visiblity was very good that day and the view was breath-taking! We saw a ton of angel fish, barracuda, sting ray, lobsters, sea urchins, star fish, conch and even a sea turtle! The guide also pointed out sea life to us. It costed $55 including a pretty good buffet lunch.

Dzul-Ha - We went to Dzul-Ha on our own since we heard so much good things about it. Took an $8 cab to the beach from Reef Club and rented an locker. The guy who was running the place was extremely nice and pointed out tips on snorkeling at Dzul-Ha to us. Unfornately it was too windy that day and underwater visibilty was low. Also there were wayyyy too many cruiser snorkeling tours around the beach that day. Everywhere I swam I seemed to be bumping into cruisers. However the view was great for an beach close to shore. This is definitely a place I will return to - hopefully the weather condition is better next time!

ATV - I went with my friends on an afternoon ATV tour with Wild Tour. It was also very fun. We get to see several remote beaches on the East side and also an mini Mayan ruin. The track was very bumpy though and it took a lot of strength to secure the steering bar of the ATV. Since the driver had a lot of control over the bike, you have to be pretty conscious of your own
speed at all time. The tour before us had an accident and a woman broke her leg on the tour and we saw an ambulance driving her away. It was definitely not a funny scene to watch before we start our own ATV tour! ATV tour is not something you want to take your kids along, but if you believe that you are responsible adults then I highly recommend it. In our tour all 12 people had a blast and 2 were honeymooners!

Playacar - We went there basically because we get to use the amenities at the Reef Club in Playacar for free. It was a nice break from our usual resort beach. However don't expect the shopping and the crowd to be much different from the ones in Cozumel. We have heard that Playacar has a younger and more European holiday atmosphere, but when I walked along the
beach pass the 9 resorts in Playacar, all I saw were more American families! Since Playacar has no reefs, the sand there is much finer and it is more suitable for swimming in.

Santiago's Grill - We ate out in town one night for a seafood dinner. The waiters are quite nice and the food was excellent. We had very fresh seafood. I highly recommend the seafood platter and the conch chowder there!

And that's it.... all I can say is that go to Cozumel! Your money will be well spent there!

Thanks,
Audrey

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