Highlights

• Fantastic hotel at a very reasonable rate
• Amazing upgraded room made the hotel stay even better
• Weather was amazing
• Meeting up with friends
• Kids practicing their Spanish
• Boat ride to see the arch

Lowlights

• Car rental: Horrible car, no elite benefits, chaos getting to car rental office
• People constantly trying to offer/sell you things. It was tedious
• Long layover in Seattle got longer with delays
• No seatback entertainment on flight from Los Cabos

What Went Well

• Room upgrade via status was fantastic
• Free breakfast and discounted dining was excellent
• Flight to Los Cabos had drama free connection

Takeaways

We didn’t have high expectations for this trip. After our amazing trip to Dubai we didn’t want to set ourselves up for disappointment. That said, this was a very different type of trip. It was much shorter at only four nights. We often spend much longer time periods at a destination, but this one was just long enough to make sure we wanted to come back in the future!

The weather was fantastic and much appreciated after a dreary New England winter and spring and two trips to warmer locales that turned out not to be quite as warm as expected (cruise to the Bahamas for Christmas and Dubai in February). We got our full dose of sun on this trip.

To top it off we got to visit with some friends we haven’t seen in years and spend a relaxing few days with them and their kids. It was like a family reunion only without all the drama usually associated with the family part of a reunion!

I was impressed at how the kids were able to converse in Spanish, though I think the locals were most impressed the kids could speak Spanish at all. Tomatico was especially focused when it came time to order food at restaurants. He knows all the important words when it comes to ensure he gets what he wants! That said, at home they only speak Spanish to my wife so it’s not like they don’t use it every day. As one who’s been the only non-Spanish speaker in the household for most of the last 20 years, I’m happy and proud that my kids are bilingual. I’ve tried learning and I just can’t speak it. I can usually understand what is being talked about (especially when I’m the subject of the conversation) but I’ve never been able to fully understand and speak any foreign language.

I feel we got extremely lucky with the hotel. In reading the reviews, one that stuck out to me called the hotel one of the best values in Los Cabos and I have to agree with that. The resort was huge with many pool areas to choose from, each with a different vibe. The setting on the ocean was beautiful, even if you couldn’t safely swim in the ocean. The nightly themed nights in the courtyard were always very well executed and decorated. You got the classic welcoming Mexican vibe whenever you walked through it. From the building we were in there were public balconies overlooking the courtyard had an amazing view of any live entertainment.

The staff was very friendly and I never had any issues communicating, though the kids were always there to translate for me so maybe that’s not a good data point! The whole vibe was very calm, relaxed and vacation friendly. The kids pool area and the kids club were also well done. There were tons of amenities that we could have taken advantage of if we had more time. The restaurants were numerous, varied, and generally well above average to excellent.

The location was pretty good as well. We were just a few minutes from Cabo San Lucas and the marina area where we got the boat tour to the arch. The boat tour was probably one of my favorite things. The hotel would have charged us $45 per person, but the ride we got was only $10 per person for the same thing. Plus we got dropped off at a beach we could swim at so we got a sort of free beach day out of it, too!

In the opposite direction of the hotel was San Jose Del Cabo which had a different but equally interesting town square area. There were shops, art galleries and restaurants to explore. It’s apparently quite a happening place at night, though we were there during the afternoon when it was less busy.

Our rental car was the most obvious black mark on the trip. It was easily the worst rental car I’ve ever had. I was never confident the brakes would work. It was fairly beat up and had a lot of miles on it. While I didn’t expect a brand new high end car, I did expect something more respectable, especially since our friends ended up with a mid-size SUV for about $20 more total for the same timeframe. I’m still upset I didn’t get the upgrade I was supposedly entitled to with my Titanium status. It was a big reason I originally chose them over some of the other options. I’ll have to think twice about renting from them next time.

Overall, we had a fantastic and relaxing vacation with friends. We got to see a new place and revisit a culture we hadn’t experienced in a decade. While Mexico isn’t nearly as safe as Dubai, we still felt extremely safe there. Since we have kids, we weren’t going out partying at night or going off the normal touristy sections, but we never felt threatened or unsafe.

In the end we can’t wait to visit again!