El Cid La Ceiba Beach Hotel

My family and I traveled to Cozumel with another family. Unfortunately we fell for one of those promoters in downtown Cozumel. He promised to give each family a jeep for 24hrs for $20 if we attended a short presentation at El Cid. He stated he would provide transportation to and from our resort. Both families attended this meeting, but beware they will put the hard sell on you and they can not take no for a answer. Our presentation ended earlier then they other family so we decided to head back to the resort. The people at El Cid refused to provide transportation back to the resort, I tried to explain that we were promised a taxi back and the person at the front desk refused to listen and threw her hand up and walked away. I was so thankful I had some money on me because I truely believe they would have left us stranded there with 2 children. I later found out that the other family we were with was provided to a taxi back. I have no idea why El Cid discriminate against us. The El Cid claims we received everything we were promised but have not been able to explain why we were denied a taxi but our friends were given one. I believe our friends yelled a lot louder then we did and they had no other choice. I have tried to receive reimbursment but the El Cid has refused. I guess the $17.00 US is worth more to them then their reputation. Now let me tell you about this jeep they promised, what a joke. They show you a picture of a nice new jeep and when we went to pick it up, it was the most beat up, piece of crap I have ever seen. The first one we got broke down on us. They did replace it but with one that was just as bad. Whatever you do, do not fall for these promoters that try and get you to the El Cid. Do not waste your time. They will promise you the world until you get in there and then watch out!!

I am new to the use of Trip Advisor, so my comments my not have the same value as my trip to La Ceiba occurred in May, 2002. Despite that time lapse, I would like every one to know what a wonderful stay I experienced at La Ceiba. I arrived in Cozumel in desperate need of relaxing as I was running away, so to speak, from extensive remodeling in my home (complete with the dust, dust, and more dust everywhere!) La Ceiba was the perfert antidote for my weary nerves. The staff were exceptional in their service. This includes the front staff who immediately provided me with my room even though it was not check in time. And what a room it was. I had a one bedroom suite with an oversize tub (not a whirlpool, but great for an old fashion soak), separate shower, two sink/mirror areas, and a separate living room with a dining area and a kitchenette. The best part was that the room was on the ground floor with a terrace that open up to the beach!!! And it was cleaned and kept cleaned throughout my stay by a very pleasant housekeeper/maid. The staff at the restaurant and bar always remembered my favorites -- an extra shot on the side and cerviche, thank you very much. The bell man/porter even remember my name and always exchanged pleasantries when I left and returned to the hotel. And anyone that I asked for any type of assistance, helped or found someone who could help me. I am a Fairfield timeshare owner, so I was encouraged to go to the owner's welcome breakfast. I did so reluctantly and was very, very pleasantly surprised by the low pressure pitch to upgrade. After I politely informed the rep that I was not interested in upgrading, the conversation switched over to which gift I would like to have and mutual places we both had travelled. Including the meal, I was in and out of there in less than an hour. Plus, I received a snokeling trip! My trip occurered after the aftermath of the tragedy of 9/11, so the hotel was not full. In fact, Cozumel was a bit empty because of the lack of visitors and the decreased number of cruise ships in the harbor. Nonetheless, I felt welcomed, appreciated and throughly enjoyed the hotel as well as the people in Cozumel. One final thought -- I am a seasoned traveller who firmly believes that a smile, a polite word or two and a tip goes a long way in making mosts stay enjoyable. Although I did these things at La Ceiba, it was mostly in response to the courteous, friendly and professional service I received.

My husband and I have stayed at least 5 times at La Ceiba, and we have always liked the location, the food at the restaurant, and the view from the beach area. We even enjoyed watching the cruise ships come in to the docks. It was fun for us to watch. I must say one thing that bothered both of us to no end, and will probably be the reason why we will never return there, is the fact that the cruisers from the ships because it is the first hotel where they can go to the water area. They overtake the beach and use all the chairs, and if you don't get to the beach by 9am, you will never get a chair. The beach will be littered with cruisers who have not paid to stay at the hotel. Plus, we have seen the majority of them leave their debris all over the beach. On one occasion in particular, a woman from one of the cruise ships was eating a muffin and she left the paper right on the beach next to her chair. I thought I would help her out because I figured she just forgot to put it in the trash barrel that was 8 feet away from her, so I picked it up and put it in her beach bag. We just got tired of that kind of behavior. We just didn't think it was fair to pay for our room and amenities and have the cruise people overtake the beach to the point that you couldn't even find a place to sit unless it was directly in the sand. We will miss La Ceiba.

Generally, the hotel was serviceable. My room was made up daily although we think it was truly cleaned only once during our week stay - but we are pretty neat so it didn't matter to us too much. The beds were rock hard and the pillows felt like day old - not I mean week old biscuits. I never slept the whole night through because of the lack of comfort. Our refrigerator was always very cold - froze our beer one day because it was set on the coldest temp. They also changed our air conditioner with a new ac one day. We don't know why. The old one worked fine and the new one hardly cooled down the room. Weird customer service. I wish the balconies had more room to dry our equip. Too small for two divers and the htoel dive shop (which we did not use - we used Del Mar down the street) was insecure and smelly so we didn't want to leave our stuff down there. One of our group had his glasses stolen from the dive shop while we were on a night dive off of their pier. My biggest complaint was the elevators. They are tiny tiny tiny. AND, only one worked during the whole week. They turn the second one on only on Saturdays when people are leaving or checking in. During the week, the one elevator that was turned on broke and we had to climb the stairs. Tough with all your gear. Avoid the restaurant for lunch and dinner. It is not good and too pricey. Breakfast was included for us and it was pretty good. I wouldn't go back. One last negative - there are TWO cruise ship docks right outside the hotel. Sort of annoying to hear their hoots at midnight when they leave port and if you are shore diving in front of the hotel while they are docking or leaving port you can go deaf from their engines!

I just got back from my first dive trip ever... it was tremendous. This hotel is located in the best dive location. It is right in front of some of the best snorkeling/shore dive/certification dive waters on the island. It is also just north of the better reef dive sites. There is a sunken plane just off the shore in about 35 ft. of water. The hotel is older, but well kept. The rooms are clean, comfortable and reasonable considering the oceanfront location (I payed $79/night plus tax on a prepaid Expedia deal). The A/C was great, hot showers, good pressure and what a view. Try to reserve a room on a high floor. The "beach" was nice, with steps down to the crystal clear water. The pools were OK. A shop with Internet ($2/hr)and Phone ($.50/minute to USA) was right across the street. Don't shop in San Miguel or near the hotel until nighttime... prices drop and vendors will haggle once all the cruise ships are gone. A warm staff and very good food at the waterfront restaurant. Also, take a short cab or scooter ride into town and try Prima or the Mission for excellent dinners. We rented a Jeep one day and rode around to the virtually undeveloped ocean side of the island. There is a great Reggae bar at the southern tip of Cozumel where you can while away the hours on an off day by hanging out in a hammock, reading a book and swilling a few cold cervezas. Also Coconuts on the Hill has the greatest beach and view on the island. It is only open until 7:00PM... a good place for lunch or an early dinner. We dove with Aqua World (a short walk north of the hotel) who were highly professional and had new, well designed and well equipped dive boats. I took a Resort course and was very comfortable with the staff. I dove with instructors as dive masters (ask for German, Mario or Carlos... all excellent). Had three 2-Tank dive days with my fellow travelers who were certified divers. Some people we met who dove with Del Mar were very disappointed in their small, old, rinky-dink boats and ancient rental gear. I will stay at La Ceiba again... good rooms; good value; nearby all the dive action. See elcid.com for more info... Happy Diving!

Just returned from the El Cid La Ceiba. I read all of the reviews of this hotel before going to Cozumel. I must say they ranged from great to awful. Had me nervous. First, I agree the La Ceiba is not a 5 star hotel. It is a 3.5. That does not make it a place you shouldn't go to. The staff is very nice. We didn't meet one of them who wasn't smiling or helpful. The rooms are kept immaculate. Left a couple dollars tip each day and Maria our cleaning lady took very good care of us. The beds are a little too firm but that can be overlooked. We had a studio room, it had a queen sized bed and a pull out couch bed and TV cabinet that had 6 medium sized clothing drawers. The room had a table with two chairs, a kitchen sink, cupboards with dishes and utensils. It also had a small two burner built-in stove. Our friends room had a microwave also. The TV had about 60 channels with about 10 that had english speaking. There was a nice sized closet with a safe, an iron and ironing board inside. The bathroom was decent sized. The toilet was sanitized every morning, I mean it was clean!! The tub-shower had a line to hang things to dry. The room air-conditioner was magnificent, there are many 5-Star hotels that could learn something from the La Ceiba and install such a whisper quiet unit. Sleeping was never a problem because of noise from it like it is at many hotels. We had a balcony with a table and two chairs and attached to the wall was hooks to hang wet swimsuits. All rooms face the Caribbean. The food was above average, service great. The restaurant is covered but open air on the sides and sits next to the water. There is an on-site massage therapist. Cars are available for rent at the hotel. The place is not new, it will not knock your socks off, but it is a very pleasant place to visit. My wife and I have been to Cancun, Cozumel and Mazatlan, staying in slightly below average to elegant places. This is in between. We had two other couples with us, one felt like we did. The others are more at home in ritzy digs, they were not as happy as us. If you want a nice place that is probably mid-price (we used Fairfield time share) and is very safe, this is a place you might enjoy. I would have no problem going back. As far as being bothered by the timeshare sellers, Just say "not interested" firmly and you won't be bothered again. One other thing, the snorkeling and scuba diving is awesome right in front of the La Ceiba.

This is an older resort, but the rooms are adequate & it is kept clean. The biggest hastle was the time share, but we checked in late enough (after 4 pm) that the room was ready and when we were given our welcome gift (coffee & cookies in a little baggy) I declined & was seen as rude, but wasn't given the sales speil. If you go out & explore before 8AM you can easily pass through the lobby without being approached, which is easy to do if you go out for morning dives. It is also easy to get to the beach without walking through the main lobby - the sales people did not ask me when I was alone, but they did ask my husband when he was alone. My husband bought a dive package through Diving with Martin & had a great time. He said that they always had his equipment loaded on the boat before he got there & each dive was to a different location with a different dive master. Martin's is not associated with the resort, but is directly south next to the cruise ship port - a very short walk. We did a lot of snorkeling right at the resort & it was fantastic. There were many fish & creatures to see - and the beach was also kept clean. We never purchase an inclusive plan because we like to venture out, but we did eat 3 times at the resort & thought the food was good. We had an unusual amount of rain during our stay & spent a couple of afternoons in the hot tub - it was working & clean & the bar was very handy. Overall we had a very good time & really enjoyed Cozumel. For what we like to do - dive, snorkel & sunbathe we will definitely stay here again if the price is right.

Stay at El Cid: 2/2004. Where to start. Two words: FAlSE ADVERTISEMENT. SALES: How about our entrance into this "so-called resort". After a six hour trip, we were ready to relax. Not at El Cid they want your money and they want it the minute you get there. We had not even gotten our luggage placed in the lobby, when we were engulfed by a "timesharing" saleswoman. She told us that we could not check in yet because our room wasn't ready but that she would be happy to have the bellman take our luggage up to our room and leave it in the closet while we waited for our room to be cleaned. In the meantime, she wanted us to talk to her about a timeshare. We lied and told her we had a dive trip that we had to get to. Instead, we followed the bellman up to our room, and low and behold our room was ready. What a ploy, telling us our room wasn't ready, so they could try to get a sale. We felt bad for the elderly couples that had succumbed to this tasteless sales tactic who had gotten there just prior to us. FOOD: don't get the meal plan here. We found out they have separate, and horrible menu for the meal plan folks. You have to eat off the limited one page menu for both lunch and dinner, and believe me you can get better tacos at taco bell. You are better off paying for your meals on your own, at least you will get a more varied and longer menu. They advertise they have two restaurants. Not so. You will be eating at the Chopa for every meal. The other so called restaurant, the El Galeon, is an indoor dining facility that you only eat in if the weather is horrible and you can't eat at the outdoor chopa. However, we would recommend eating, if not staying, at a different resort. Coral reef restauarant at Casa Del Mar is where we ended up eating our meals just north of el cid. DRINKS: If you opt for the meal plan, they tell you alcoholic beverages are included. Contrar mo frare. Don't expect to drink Dos Equis, Corona, or Tecate, or even Negra Modelo. Oh, no. You will be drinking out of a gallon bottle of el cheapo beer that was probably opened a day or two before. Not too mention, everytime we entered the chopa, the cooks were drinking this beer while they were cooking. EXERCISE ROOM: Don't expect to buff up or tone here, our hotel bathroom was the size of the gym. I got more exercise walking up and down the stairs to my 7th floor room, as one elevator was broken and the other one didn't work on two floors. ICE: HEILO. Don't expect to find it on any of the floors of the hotel. They were out on every floor every day. We ended up having to buy a cooler and filling it with ice purchased from the grocery store. DIVE shop: THey are not affiliated with Del Mar Aquatics as sometimes advertised. They are with Aqua World. Don't dive with Aqua World. They could never get 6 people to sign up for dives to take a boat out. So they would cancel. What sucked is that we bought a dive package with Aqua World before we found out how bad it is. Not too mention, that we were the only two guests staying at El Cid that dove with the onsite dive shop Aqua World. Everyone else 20+ other divers dove with Del Mar Aquatics (up the road from El Cid) or a different dive company. That should speak volumes. If you are going to Cozumel to dive, and want a good dive resort with a reputable dive shop, stay at Scuba Club Cozumel. Rooms: The rooms were clean, and we had good maid service. This was the only positive of the resort. If you stay here, we would recommend that you dive and eat elsewhere. Do not get the meal plan. Also, do not fall for the ploy that the room is not ready. It is. When we checked out, they were already in our room cleaning it within three minutes. I am serious, we checked. If you are interested in a time share, then maybe you will find this environment pleasing, I found it rather offensive and they took advantage of and took vacation time away from a lot of individuals. They will most certainly point out to you that they are a gold crown resort, they are not. There other resorts may be, but not La Ceiba.

I escorted a group of 7 first-time tropical water divers and 2 non-divers to Cozumel at the end of November 2003. We stayed at El Cid La Ceiba and dove with DelMar Aquatics on a one-week dive package arranged through Poseidon Venture in California. We enjoyed our stay immensely.Although we all arrived and left on different days, everything worked out exactly as arranged. Our rooms were ready and clean, spacious and comfortable, with a wonderful view of the ocean across to the mainland and the incoming and departing cruise ships. Quite a sight. The grounds at La Ceiba are well kept and safe, with the dive lockers and rinse tanks at the dock a real asset. The staff is friendly and accommodating, and the buffet breakfast (included in the room rate) fresh and plentiful. And the rates are very reasonable.DelMar Aquatics picked us up at the hotel dock on time (morning or afternoon), supplied a spacious and fast dive boat, a helpful boat crew, who switched tanks faster than you could say "gracias," and a very knowledgable and expert dive master, who consulted with me us on the dives we wanted to do and showed us the best of Cozumel diving, including pleasant surface intervals on quiet beaches. DelMar also allowed anyone who had to miss a dive to make it up on another day.So, we have absolutely no complaints. As a dive master who organizes and escorts two or three dive trips a year to various places, I would not hesitate to stay at El Cid La Ceiba and dive with DelMar Aquatics again any time.

The fact that this is rated a gold crown resort is a JOKE. The is a 2 star hotel that El Cid took over. It got this Gold Crown rating because other El Cids are Gold Crown and they plan to build a new resort on the Mayan Rivera across the way. But don't be fooled. You could stay in a $25/night place and get the same thing you get here. Sure you get free breakfast but the variety is lacking and it gets old after the second or third day.First of all, you're lucky if you get the room you were promised. We met a group of four that reserved a 1 bedroom but were stuffed into a studio unit.The rooms are not maintained well and most everything did not work. We had to call maintenance on a daily basis for things such as the A/C not working properly, lamp bulbs needing to be replaced, resetting the circuit because it blew every time we used the microwave, etc. The beds are hard as most are in Mexico but worse yet, in order to close doors, you have to slam them and the walls are thin. You won't get a good night's sleep at La Ceiba. And when you ask to change rooms, they admit they put you into a noisy room on purpose.It's also interesting that if you are a timeshare owner with "VIP" (that's B.S. what a rip off), you can't get an automatic upgrade, however if you are willing to pay extra, they suddenly seem to have the rooms available.Speaking of timeshares, they try to sell hard at this resort but don't get suckered, it's not worth it to stay in place like this. P.S. The concierge is especially part of this scheme. Don't purchase tickets from them, they take a 20% service charge and you'll find you can get stuff cheaper if you go directly to the site. Don't feel like you need to go to a timeshare talk to get discounts. Their "discounts" are normal price. They just mark everything up 50% then tell you that you get a 50% discount if you go to a talk. That's B.S.The worst is that when anything goes wrong, no one there gives a ****and you're stuck. They'll tell you that they will take care of it but after hearing that 3 days in a row, you realize they'll keep on tell you that until you leave.I definitely plan to go back to cozumel but I will not stay at La Ceiba again. Do yourself a favor, research places and find a better place to stay. La Ceiba was not relaxing and the service was horrible.