Visiting Cozumel Occidental Grand Beach Resort, Carnival Conquest

Never in a million years did I think I'd be back in Cozumel this year. When we went in January, I was very sick (and it wasn't from drinking). I had a fever, flu symptoms and didn't want to look at Mexican food or margaritas, which is how you know I'm truly sick. Although I made the best of the day, truth be told I was pretty miserable.

Hurricane Irma and Hurricane Maria put me on a path to visit Cozumel twice in a year. On our recent cruise on board the Carnival Conquest, we were supposed to stop at Turks and Caicos for our last port - instead we were Mexico bound (in the meantime, Turks is close to reopening their port)! I personally love Cozumel and was excited that Gabe would get to visit it for the first time.

Since this was Gabe's first visit to Mexico, we decided to book an all inclusive. I did quite a bit of research and found the Occidental Grand Beach Resort. Since we had a last minute port change, the only way we were able to book excursions through Carnival was on the ship - so we ended up booking through Shore Excursioneer.

I am usually a little hesitant about all inclusive resorts. They water down the drinks, the food is not great, they're over crowded. NOT the case at Occidental Grand Beach Resort. There were multiple pools to lounge at if the beach wasn't your thing (including an adults only pool).

The food was good!!! There was a wide variety of options including Mexican food, pizza, salad bar, hot dogs, fresh fish and grilled burgers. I was very impressed. We consumed more margaritas than we probably should have. They were delicious and made with premium tequila. Although we both took a 3 hour nap and missed dinner, neither of us woke up with a headache.

We nearly had the beaches to ourselves. We went swimming and could have gone snorkeling - but preferred more margaritas. Overall, Occidental Grand Beach Resort WAS GORGEOUS. The staff was beyond polite and we had a really great time and we would consider coming back and staying for an extended period of time. The only negative, which became a positive, was no wifi. We would have had to pay for a package. This annoyance turned into a blessing as we were able to 100% shut off, something I haven't done in a very long time.

The taxi ride was $20 each way and this isn't a common place for cruisers to visit. We paid $60 a person for the excursion. Considering the amount of margaritas we consumed, we more than got our money back. I strongly suggest Occidental Grand Beach Resort as an all inclusive option while visiting Cozumel!

Once we got back to the Puerta Maya, before we headed back to the boat we made a quick stop to  stopped at Pancho's Backyard for a margarita. I am quite partial to the margarita's at Pancho's, made with fresh lime, cointreau and premium tequila. Their food is pretty decent too. On my first visit here, we were hesitant it was a tourist trap with the proximity of the pier, but it isn't. I suggest a stop in here if you are at the port.

Special thanks goes out to Carnival for hosting me and my husband on this cruise. I was not compensated to write this post and all opinions are my own.