My husband and I recently returned home after a very enjoyable stay at Fiesta Americana (FA).
Location:
The location of FA was perfect for us. The resort isn't too far from the airport (about a 20-minute drive), but it's far enough south of San Miguel so that it's in a semi-rural rather than an urban area. A taxi ride back north to downtown San Miguel cost only 200 pesos each way for two passengers, and a taxi ride south to Chankanaab Beach Adventure Park was also just 200 pesos each way. The Money Bar was only a five-minute walk to the north. We enjoy snorkelling, and the snorkelling at FA was excellent.
There's a public road that separates the oceanfront and buffet portion of the resort from the main resort building and lobby/pool area, but that wasn't any problem. The road wasn't busy at all, and the distance from one portion of the resort to the other was no farther than at many other resorts we've visited (actually much shorter than at some larger resorts). We always felt very safe at FA and when walking along the nearby road.
Taxis were usually waiting on the road to take you wherever you wanted to go. If you told the bellhop you wanted to take a taxi somewhere, he could usually tell you how much it would cost, and he'd beckon a taxi over. If he wasn't sure about the cost, he'd go and talk to a driver to find out.
Check-in/checkout:
Our check-in and checkout were handled smoothly and efficiently. Checkout time is 12 noon, and all luggage needs to be out of the room by then, but we were told we could continue wearing our wristbands so we could use the resort's amenities until 2 p.m.
Rooms:
The rooms are in a seven-storey building. We had a king master suite on the sixth floor, Room 603. The master suites are huge and are like two separate rooms with a bathroom in each (shower, vanity, toilet). On the first side of the suite there's one bathroom, a closet, a table with four chairs, a large-screen TV, a sectional sofa, a bar fridge, and a wardrobe. On the other side there's the bed, another long sofa, a large coffee table, a dresser, another large-screen TV, another closet, and the second bathroom. The balcony stretches across the full width of both sides.
All the rooms on the upper floors have a great view of the ocean. Room 603 was in an excellent location because it's toward the north end of the resort, away from the elevators and the noise from the bar/pool area below. The rooms in the middle of the resort (around 607 to 612 or so) were closest to the elevators and the noise. I think there were 20 rooms on our floor, so the rooms at the opposite end of the building (maybe 615 to 620 or so) would have been in quiet locations too.
The rooms themselves were very quiet. We were never disturbed by any noise from the rooms beside, below, or above ours. Through our balcony doors we could hear the music from the bar/pool area, but it always ended by 10:15 p.m. at the latest (often much earlier than that).
The staff kept our bar fridge well stocked with soft drinks, beer, bottled water, mineral water, and snacks. Additional bottles of water were left in other parts of the room.
On the bottom floor (the rooms in the 100s) there are suites whose balcony doors lead to their own private pools.
Restaurants/food:
The buffet is located in a large open-air building on the ocean side of the property, just across the road from the lobby/pool area. It's open for breakfast (7 a.m. till noon) and lunch (1-5 p.m.) but not at suppertime. Its offerings aren't as extensive as at some of the resorts in the Mayan Riviera, but they were perfectly adequate. There's an omelette station where you can get your eggs cooked to order and another station where a woman was preparing something that might have been enchiladas.
There are three a la carte restaurants that are open at suppertime: the Peninsula (Asian), Rosato (Italian), and El Mexicano (Mexican). At all three, the earliest reservation time is 5:30 p.m. and the latest reservation is 9:15 p.m. We made reservations two days in advance to ensure that we'd get the times we wanted. We both liked the Peninsula's menu best. I tried many of the appetizers, entrees and desserts at all three restaurants, and I was satisfied with all of them. At the Italian and Mexican restaurants you have the option of eating either indoors or outdoors. The Asian restaurant is normally located indoors, but it's currently being renovated so it's temporarily operating out of the Vina Del Mar (the buffet building). Renovations to the Mexican and Italian restaurants have already been completed, and the decor in both is very nice, especially in the Italian one.
On the ocean side of the property there are two additional places to get food. The Grill is open from noon till 5:30 p.m. and serves things like burgers, fries, chicken fingers, hot dogs, nachos, quesadillas and drinks. La Cevicheria, also open from noon till 5:30, serves ceviche and other seafood dishes. I loved the ceviche and the shrimp tacos. The ceviche was very flavourful and was probably my favourite of all the foods I ate at FA.
Near the resort's lobby there's a Coffee Corner, open from 7 a.m. till 11 p.m., where you can get coffees, teas, baked goods, ice cream and yogurt. We thought it was a nice touch. We often picked up one or two pieces of baking in the evenings.
On many days, some type of snack (popcorn, baked goods, etc.) was available in the lobby/pool area for a while in the afternoons.
Pools:
In the pool/bar area there's one large pool that's divided into three sections of varying depths, and over on the ocean side of the property there's another pool. The water in the pools was a comfortable temperature. One thing that really impressed us about this resort is that we never had any problem getting loungers in either the pool area or across the road in the ocean/beach area. Also, there were quite a few cabana beds in the ocean/beach area, and quite often we could find an unoccupied one if we wanted one.
Entertainment:
I'd classify FA as having a bit of a party atmosphere. In the mornings there was usually soft, relaxing music playing in the pool area. In the afternoons the music usually got somewhat louder, and there were organized activities such as bingo, competitions to "name the song title," etc. There were no organized activities on the ocean/beach side of the resort, so if you preferred a quieter atmosphere you could always go over to that side.
There was always some type of entertainment in the lobby/bar area in the evenings, usually starting at 7 p.m. While we were there, the themes of the shows were: Disco; Neon; Mexican (dancers and a singer); Musical Duet (two male singers); Show Fuego (fire show); Tropical (dancers); and International (dancers and a singer). We didn't manage to see all the shows, but the ones we did see were good, with talented performers. My husband especially liked the fire show and the international show. The shows usually lasted about an hour. There was also a karaoke night and a casino night.
Our biggest complaint was that the music in the lobby/bar area in the evenings was very loud, making it difficult to hold a conversation. Because it was so loud, it tended to drive us away from that area instead of attracting us to it. There was really no quiet place around the lobby area where you could just sit and relax tranquilly in the evenings. When we were in our room in the evenings we could hear the music through our balcony doors. But, as I mentioned above, the music always ended by 10:15 p.m. at the latest, and things were very quiet after that except on one night when a boisterous group of resort guests continued to make noise in the lobby/bar area until about 11.
Many evenings, a few vendors were selling souvenirs at tables in the lobby/bar area. The vendors tended to be the same from one evening to the next.
Cleanliness:
All areas of the resort were always very clean and tidy.
Staff:
We found the staff to be very friendly. We didn't have any difficulty communicating with them because almost all of them spoke reasonably good English. A couple of staff members in the lobby area tried to interest us in time shares, but they weren't pushy about it and they didn't persist after we said we weren't interested.
Snorkelling/swimming:
The snorkelling at FA was excellent. The water was very clear. While snorkelling we saw a small shark and a decent-sized ray as well as tiny jellyfish (some pink and some clear) and many kinds of beautiful fish. We also snorkelled at the Money Bar and at Chankanaab Beach Adventure Park, but we found the snorkelling at FA to be equally as good as at those places. The only significant creature we saw at the Money Bar and Chankanaab but not at FA was a small, spotted type of ray that hung around the ocean floor.
At FA there are five wooden ladders that lead down into the water, and they're not too steep, so you can sit on the bottom rungs while putting on your fins and mask. There are also some wide, flattish stones that lead into the water, but they appeared to be algae-covered and probably quite slippery. And there are some concrete steps that also lead down toward the ocean, but you'd need to walk across some rocks to get from them to the water. We preferred using the wooden ladders. When we entered from the ladders, there were always some fish swimming around us as soon as we got in.
When we snorkelled, we usually began by heading north toward the Money Bar, usually staying fairly close to the shore while heading in that direction. The current seemed to be flowing from north to south whenever we were snorkelling, but we had no trouble swimming against it when we stayed close to shore. One day we went as far north as the buoy that indicates the boat lane for the Money Bar. We often went out further from shore when snorkelling back south toward FA. We were out in the deeper water when we saw the shark and the ray. The current usually carried us back to FA fairly quickly. Whenever we got close to FA's pier we could tell how strong the current was because we had to keep kicking so we wouldn't be carried south of the pier. There were lots of fish near the pier and underneath it.
On two consecutive days while we were there, the lifeguard had to rescue someone from the area just south of the pier. The first day, a young man was swimming beyond the end of the pier and, because of the current, couldn't get from the south side back to the north side where the ladders and steps are. The second day, the lifeguard rescued two or three children who were also in the water just south of the pier. I don't want these comments to discourage anyone from going into the water, because the current isn't so strong that it should deter anyone from snorkelling or swimming, but just be aware of the direction it's flowing, and I'd definitely recommend wearing fins if you're not a strong swimmer. Snorkelling equipment can be rented from the pool area of the resort. The cost is 300 pesos for the day, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
If you do get caught in the current south of the pier, I think you could get back to land safely by swimming toward the shore to an area just south of the "Cozumel" sign (just beyond the curve in the shoreline) where the water is calmer and is shallow enough to stand in. To get out of the water from that area, you'd either need to walk over some rock ("ironshore") that would be hard on the feet or would need to swim back north along the shoreline until you got past the pier.
There were several days when snorkelling/swimming wasn't allowed because of strong winds. The waves can get fairly high on windy days.
At FA there are only two buoys to indicate the dividing line between the area near shore where it's safe to swim and the area farther out where boats go back and forth. Those two buoys are quite a distance apart, and it would be better if there were at least a couple more of them.
Summary:
If we ever return to Cozumel, we'd probably stay at FA again, largely because the snorkelling is so good there. We enjoyed our stay there and found FA to be very adequate for a mid-sized, mid-price-range resort.
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