Cozumel

Cozumel, Mexico is one of the most beautiful places that I have ever been to. I am definitely one for island vacations and have been to more than a few different islands in the Caribbean. Cozumel is small compared to the other Mexican tourist destinations and with far fewer tourists. This makes it a bit more pricey but in my opinion -- it was worth every penny. My stay at the all-inclusive Melia Resorts couldn't have been more pleasant. The staff was incredibly helpful and friendly while humoring my very out of practice Spanish. They made sure to give us free vouchers and coupons for as many things as possible, such as cab rides and entrance to Carlos&Charlies and Senor Frogs. There was always more food than anyone could handle at one time and the dinners had "themed" nights. The location of dinner would be in a different spot depending on the theme (ie: on the beach, in a fancy restaurant, etc) and the food was always to die for. Although as a vegetarian I always face the problem at places like this with not having enough to eat, I felt I always had a very decent selection of dishes and never walked away from dinner still hungry. They had a large amount of bars with a enormous selection of drinks and the bartenders always knew what drink you were probably going to order as soon as you walked... or swam, up to the bar. Another really exciting part about the "all-inclusive" aspect of this resort was that the water sports were included, along with bartending lessons, dance classes, and things of the like. The rooms were BEAUTIFUL and far bigger than I was expecting with an entire living area and marble bathrooms. And I was in for a very exciting surprise when I realized our balcony was overlooking the water! The pool was a decent size (although I never actually got in it -- I guess I am more of a beach person) and the beach itself was fairly small but not at all crowded. The only thing I could possibly find to complain about would be to comment on the obscenely large amount of seaweed in the water where it met the sand.
The most famous ruins of Cozumel, San Gervasio, were about a 40 minute cabride away and definitely worth the visit. These Mayan ruins are far from ancient (being built around 1200 AD) and sort of... "humble" in size. So while I definitely enjoyed them, I still would like the opportunity to one day visit Chichen Itza.
This has been quite the tangent, but I would definitely recommend Cozumel and Melia Resorts to anyone who is looking for a nice beach getaway. I am even considering looking into the Sol Melia Vacation Club, so there could be another entry similar to this one in the future!

(A few more pictures can be seen on my Flickr -- which I am going to try to actually start using. It is linked to the right.)

Edit: I went to Perez Hilton a minute after posting this and came to find out that Tara Reid was at the Melia in Cancun at the same time that I was in Cozumel, errr - HA!