Dreamy Cozumel

Time of year: October

What a little gem of an island. Cozumel is quintessential Mexico in all the ways. We sure loved it! We stayed at the occidental Cozumel in a  double bed suite for a surprise birthday trip for my husband.

The room: this resort does not have beach view rooms and we have started to go away from that anyways because it's an extra charge and we are in the room minimally. The upgraded rooms have their own 2 buildings close to their own restaurant. It is a traditional Mexican decor that was clean and had a large bathroom and shower with a door. If you're looking for modern this was not the spot for you.

Dining: if you upgrade you get unlimited dinner reservations and access to the royal only restaurant. This restaurant serves al a cart breakfast (total game changer), lunch and dinner. Other restaurants included Mexican, Italian, and Seafood. We ate at all of them but ate at the Royal Restaurant 2X for dinner and it was amazing 5 start dining there. For breakfast we only at the Royal Restaurant and lunch we ate at the beach buffet. All food was good, hot, clean and no issues. Bonus if you eat at the Royal restaurant be sure to ask for the ananas foster, it was quite the production.

The Beach: the beach was small and quaint but did the job. Lots of broken seashells getting in and out of the water so I recommend water shoes. My husband and son had good snorkeling right out front of the resort. This also wasn't a beach you could walk down, there was jungle on both sides and not enough space to walk.

The pool: fantastic and the service was great! Recommend the papaya margarita. Start at the beach in the am and flip to the pool in the afternoon to get some shade. If you are going without kids there is an adults only pool although we didn't use it.

The property: Immaculate! You had to walk a bit but there was great foliage and a beautiful boardwalk that led you to the pool/beach.

The island in general is 90% jungle with resorts on a few sides. 1/2 of the beaches were uncommercialized due to the stronger winds and waves.

What we did: Because of the reef right outside of Cozumel it is one of the top scuba diving and snorkeling destinations of the world. And all of our beach excursions it was the first time that we saw a sea turtle. We set up a full day Jeep Tour around half of the island, Mayan City Tour, snorkeling and a meal at a beach club.  We went into town for a couple hours in the afternoon to do a bit of shopping and have a drink. I would recommend asking at the hotel what days are Court days since most of the cruise ships stop here so you can avoid being in the town with all the people from the cruise ship. If I could do it again I think we would we would rent a car on our own and do these separately. At night they had a wonderful outdoor area where they would do the nightly entertainment. Most of it consisted of traditional dancing from the region but they had an amazing Mayan show that was similar to a luau if you were in Hawaii. At night they had local vendors come in and you could shop for souvenirs without leaving the resort.

The airport was tiny and typically received 1-2 incoming flights a day. It was easy to get through and with the island being so small transfers were quick.

I would give the whole experience a 4.75/5. My 2 drawbacks were the small beach and my husband didn't love the nightly entertainment but that was made up in how amazing the staff and facility was. Cozumel and this resort is definitely a place we will return.

What to bring:

Bug spray

Snorkels (we started this during covid and realized it's amazing to have your own)

Yeti style cup with straw and lid

Chair clips

Water shoes