Upscale all the way... except for the resort.
The trip from Dallas' Ice & Snow to Sunny... Opps, I mean Cloudy and Rainy Cabo San Lucas...
This was a trip planned by my Step-Mom for her 40th birthday. She is in love with Sammy Haggar, so fun in the sun, fishing and Cabo Wabo was the ideal vacation for her.
Our little group included my Step-Mom (L) and my Dad (D), their travel buddies K & J and me (R) and my husband (C). We range in age of 36 to 53, which seemed normal for this time of year, lots of older men with younger women. The only young people we saw where children, and lots and lots of them at our resort. There where also a pretty large amount of elderly vacationing.
The flight is pretty short from Dallas to Cabo, which was really nice. The cab when you first get there is not so nice. It can range between $75 - $ 100 depending on the cab (Van). Share a cab with other travelers the price for you goes down, and you get to meet other travelers!
Villa Del Palmar Resort & Spa
Check- in was long but easy. You just have to sign alot of paper work, and the get an electronic copy of signature which you use every time you sign something to your room. The lobby was quite and very nice, but smaller than I thought from the pictures. My dad, L, K & J, where all in a 2 bedroom suite in building 2. My husband & I where in a 1 bedroom suite in building 1. By the way there is no such thing as a non-smoking room, however, the rooms never recked of smoke. When I went on line, I saw floor plans for our rooms. Our room looked exactly like the floor plan, theirs didn't. It looked like ours with a room added to the side. So the paid twice as much for the same exact room. We at least got a view of the pool and some of the ocean, they got a view of the timeshare that Villa Del Palmar was trying to sell.
So after check-in we get setteled into our rooms, then meet at the bar that over looked the beach, next to Baja California resuarant. It was a chill 62 but not too bad. It took about 15 minutes before any one came over to us, and asked if we wanted something to drink. This never really improved any where any time through out our trip. I always forget about how slow the service is anywhere south of the border. So we have some drink while we wait for L & K, who got snaged by the timeshare hawks. DO NOT, I REPEAT< DO NOT PAY MONEY TO RESERVE A SPOT FOR ANY PRESENTATIONS!!!! You are pretty much paying them money to eat your vaction time and to tell you how unintellengent you are for not finding their offer a good deal and not buying! Because all the lawyers and accountants and doctors buy! L & K made this mistake and payed $40 for each couple to go to this presentation, which I will tell you about latter.
I was in charge of the food. My husband & I are chefs. My first choice was Edith's. Well, it turns out you need to make reservations at least 2 days in advance in the off season. So I guess make arrangements with your concierge before you go, to make the reservations for you. Maybe even for 2 different nights. Yes it is that worth it. So we got our reservation and then the concierge got us reservations for The Trailer Park, sorry I can't remember what it is called in spanish.
The Trailer Park, don't let the name fool you!
We where told that they have the best lobster by our concierge. Once you get into Cabo, cabs are $7 per person, no matter where you are going. Sorry, I don't have the address, but everyone in Cabo knows this place.
The restuarant is an open air, bright lights, marache band playing for tips, extensive menu kind of place. We start off with tres-generations double shot pitchers of margaritas. We went through 2. OMG, ok if you have the deniero for this (about $500 for both) go fo it, it was very very good and no hangover the next day!
So I asked our waiter what was the best lobster dish. He suggest the lobster tormordor. Don't ever get this, it is terrible. No matter where I go in the world this dish sucks. It is for people you can't appresiate good seafood and need ot cover it up with cheese sauce. YUK! It's not his fault I wasn't clear in what I was looking for and I looked like every other gringa that walks in.
My husband C. had the whole grilled snapper, with mexican veggies. Unbeliviable fresh and delicious. My Dad had the stuffed fillet of snapper, with chedder and shrimp, he said it was good but his face said it was ok. My Step Mom L. had the same thing, she loved it, understand though, she has a long love affair with cheese going on. Her best friend K, a vegiterian, got a salad, veggies, and cheese quesodillas, she was happy. J, K's husband got the surf and turf, a lobster tail in garlic butter and a ribeye, he was in heaven. It was a fun night, and the food was really good. I would definatly suggest sticking with grilled or garlic butter lobster. the whole meal including apps & the margaritas was around $800. Even though Cabo is extremely over prices, I really don't think it would cost even close to this much for a normal group of people. We are far from being close to being normal, LoL
WE HAVA A WEEK WE CAN USE AT THE VILLA DELPALMAR..PLZ LET US HAVE AN OPINION AS TO WHETHER OR NOT WE SHOULD CONSIDER AN ALLINCLUSIVE INSTEAD!!!! THANKS.. WE HAVE HEARD THAT CABO IS EXPENSIVE, MORE SO THAN OTHER MEXICAN DESTINATIONS...
I own in nearby San Jose at Club Regina (part of the Westin) our place is quite famous for it's intensely beautiful architecture (one of the top 10 in all of Mexico), I cannot imagine staying anywhere else. We have stayed in Cabo (Playa Grande) once but it is so windy and loud there I hate it compared to our place... so we rent a car every year as that it would cost a fortune to constantly take cabs/shuttles in order to affordably get around, a word to the wise, get insurance when you rent, they sometimes pull scams on people and in a place where you go to jail for a minor car accident you don't want to mess around with this. It is about an 18 minute drive alongside the coast to get to downtown Cabo, not bad. Being in San Jose means swimmable beaches, surfing (Costa Azul) jet skiing in a quite setting, it is more upscale than Cabo and just gorgeous, downtown Cabo is for the party-crazy...which we enjoy once or twice during our week there, but I go to take in the beauty of it there, not get so drunk I don't remember anything...food: don't miss Pancho's it is very good and they have rattlesnake tequila, (so you know..it tastes..."snakey")...
Laslty, Cabo is a great place you just have to learn to tell all the folks "working" down there, No, gracias", because they will follow you if you utter anything more than that...and keep walking!!! Enjoy!!!