My husband and I spent a week at El Cid La Ceiba the week of May 17- 24 2008. First, they pick you up from the airport, which was wonderful. A woman from El Cid called before we left and told us to look for a man named Charlie, and he would be wearing an El Cid shirt. This was great to know, because as soon as we cleared customs, we had all kinds of people trying to sell us trips and rides. We skipped it.

The rooms are dated, but nice. The staff is very helpful and friendly. The resort is gorgeous.

I have only one complaint about my stay at El Cid, but it's a big one. The cruise ships!!! They arrive directly in front of the hotel every morning. The hotel advertises on the cruise ships. They promise free day of snorkeling, drinks, and an ocean front beach, in return for listening to their sales presentation. This attracts a lot of cruisers....so many in fact that every day was like Spring Break with crazy wild drunk cruisers. They arrived in droves.

Owners/members have to pay for their drinks and pay $12 a day to rent snorkeling gear. The cruisers get it all for free.

I went to a resort off season expecting a quiet place and it was loud and crowded. My husband and I made plans to leave the resort every day.

I will absolutely go back to Cozumel, but I will not be staying at El Cid again.

We enjoyed our stay at the El Cid La Ceiba very much. We had the all-inclusive plan and loved the relaxed atmosphere. The staff is very helpful and so pleasant! We enjoyed coming to each meal and being greeted by so many happy faces...we really felt at home by the end of the week!

The rooms are very clean and nicely decorated. I hate tacky hotel furnishings...and I must say this one is very tasteful.

We also took advantage of the SPA at the resort....and it was worth every penny! The Hot Stone massage was amazing!!! and so relaxing!

The food was delicious. We ate at "La Chopa" almost every meal, and not once were we disappointed. I particularly loved the Mango Shrimp! We had breakfast in bed 3 mornings of our stay and the room service was delightful! I also highly recommend the "Romantic Dinner" on the dock. It was truly an experience of a lifetime.

5 star service at a 3 star resort! Top Notch!!!

We are returning in October....and can't wait!

El Cid La Ceiba is AWESOME! The staff is the best ever, thank you Luis and Williams!!! Everyone at El Cid is very accomadating and pleasant and always with a smile. The resort offers everything that you need from, great rooms to great restaurants, to pool and water activites. All you need is here at El Cid. Thank you everyone for such a memorable honeymoon! We loved every bit of it and can´t wait to come again. Thanks again!
Al and Jacque Mosley

My husband and I used a vacation timeshare plan to book this trip back in November 2007. We went with our two young sons, ages 1 and 3. We booked for the studio room which we usually do when we travel as the size of a room doesn't really matter to us since we're usually out and about anyway. We flew into Canun, took a Grayline shuttle to get to the Playa del Carmen ferry, then took a ferry over to Cozumel. You can just imagine the luggage we had: 3 suitcases, 1 toddler car seat, 1 sit and stroll car seat for the young one, 1 umbrella stroller and 1 backpack. We couldn't find any reasonable prices to get a flight into Cozumel. For some reason, many of the taxi drivers in Cozumel had to no idea of a place called El Cid La Ceiba so when getting into a taxi, have them take you to La Ceiba.

We checked in around 8 p.m. and received great service. When we got to our room (#2114), we were pleasantly surprised to see that we had been upgraded to a one room suite for free. We then got a knock at the door and received welcome drinks (non-alcholic). Our room was in the low story building to the right of the resort and we had a ground level room with patio doors that opened up to the beach chairs, hammock area. Our patio even had a table and two chairs. Our room was great. We had a kitchenette that included a small fridge, two stovetop burners and sink. There was 4 seat dining table and chairs and the living room included a Murphy bed that could be pulled down. This is where our 3 year old slept and he was happy to get his own bed and the living room tv all to himself. The bedroom included its own TV set, king size bed, corner bathtub and a separate sink from the main bathroom. Very spacious. We were impressed. We called and asked for a crib and if possible, a highchair from the restaurant to keep throughout our stay for our youngest. No problem and they both arrived promptly.

The next morning we asked for the nearest grocery store and were directed to Chedraui, (think of it like Walmart) and stocked up on grocery items, beers/alcohol to keep in our room to save money on food vendors/restaurants.

The resort did try to recruit us for a timeshare presentation but after we told them that they would only be wasting their time and ours, we were never asked again. Maybe it helped that my husband and I both speak Spanish.

There is a cruise ship terminal located near the resort. I didn't mind seeing a cruise ship coming into port in the mornings and they all left each and every night. I don't think any stayed past 6:30 p.m., so plenty of time to have a sunset view. We only spent one full day at the resort so no bother for us about a ship blocking out the view. Besides, you only had to turn your face to the right side if you wanted an unobstructed ocean view.

The pool was good sized and included a kiddie pool. The resort had sand toys available for kids. At the far left of the resort was another beach chair area and small wading area.
I guess we chose a good time to go to Cozumel because the resort wasn't crowded. No fighting to get a lawn chair. The days were hot and you will sunburn. I was burned by Monday and we had slathered on SPF 50 throughout the day. After a couple of days, many people were very red.

We rented a car for 5 days from Budget rental agency that is located right in front of the resort. The guy behind the counter gave us a map and pointed out some places for us to check out, including beach clubs good for the family. Trust us, the sun will just beat down on you and you'll only be miserable when you're sunburned.

We especially enjoyed returning back to our room and seeing what towel animals the housekeeper had created during room cleaning.

Tuesday night the resort offered a "meet the resort manager social event" but nothing fancy. On Wednesday night, the resort offered a movie at the pool area and we were nicely surprised to find out it was the Disney movie "Cars". Even better for us, since we hadn't seen it yet. We had met a family who had their 3 year grandson with them so the kids had a blast watching the movie together. In fact, we all did.

The only downsides I would point out: For some reason, housecleaning doesn't take away any dirty beach towels from your room. After a couple of days of piling up in the bathroom floor, we resorted to just leaving them on a beach chair at night for pickup. Also, snorkeling gear charges even though you're a guest. I thought it would be fun to snorkel at La Ceiba since the water is so inviting but the on-site dive store wanted to charge $12.00 for usage of the equipment. Don't think so. You can find snorkel/pool toys at Chedraui store. We only ate once at the restaurant, when we first arrived late Saturday night, there must have been 5 tables of diners max while we were dining, but the time it took to get our food after we place our order was so long. We didn't even order anything super fancy. That was odd.

Overall, a great experience. I would come back again with my kids.

While in Cozumel, check out the following places:
Cozumel plaza area on Sunday nights, locals would come out and they have live music
San Gervasio Ruins
Hacienda Antigua Tequila Tour, on the same road past the San Gervasio Ruins
Paraque Nacional Chankanaab
Parque Ecologico Punta Sur
Playa Chen Rio
Museo de la Isla Cozumel
Sr. Sancho's Beach Club

For food, check out these places:
Panaderia Zermatt at Ave. 5 Norte at Calle 4 (great sweet breads)
Cocina Economica Mi Chabelita at Ave 10 Sur at Avenida dolfo Rosado Salas, (all food was delicious and great prices)