It has been a long time. . .try years . . .since my last post. Lots of changes for me, my family and the business. But I do want to finish the post on Cabo and then will add more posts for all the other travel we have done.
As I said, we loved Cabo. It is desert and I was worried about going there in July, thinking it would be oppressive heat. Yes, being from Texas we do have heat, but since Cabo is desert, the heat is much easier to take, at least for me. Once the sun goes down then the wonderful coastal breezes kick in and it is very lovely. One evening I even wished for a sweater--in July. That is almost unheard of in Texas.
The first All-Inclusive Resort we stayed at was Posado Real just outside of village of San Juan del Cabo. It is a Best Western so we expected a good level of service and food. But that is NOT the case at this resort. To get any service at all, we had to tip. .. something that is not supposed to be allowed, but without this, you would be overlooked and ignored.
As for the food. . .it was sub-standard quality at this resort . Now I enjoy all kinds of food from Mickey D's to high end gourmet restaurants, but this was pretty disgusting. The choices were not only very limited, but also greasy and sub-standard for any Mexican restaurant in the States. The quality reminded me of dorm food during college. The first night was OK, but the second night I went to bed hungry--I refused to eat their offerings.
As for having the drinks included, if you wanted a beer, you did not ask for DosXX, or Modelo or any brand, but they had one big generic bottle they used for "beer". We asked if they had dark beer as well and were told "no", but the second night found out they did have it. And the wine. . .well, just say that we used to make our own in my younger years and our was better. The only selections they had were red or white, never White Zinfandel or anything else. And the same story for the wine as the beer--no brands. They looked at me really strange when I asked for Beringer wine--no way was it provided. Twice I asked for white wine and was given red despite using the Spanish words for the color of wine.
And I would never suggest you drink the water here. We used bottled water to even brush our teeth. Montezuma's revenge can be a very real situation you do not want to encounter during your vacation. If you ordered a Margarita, they used their "tap" water and ice made from the tap water for those mixed drinks. So always be very careful with the drinks they create in the machines.
At one point on the first evening, I asked for a bottle of water. Well, the one they brought had the cap popped and had been previously opened. We had been warned that this is something some of the lower end hotels did. . .they reused the bottles and instead of having the original filtered water, they refilled them with local tap water. When I asked for another bottle that had NOT been opened the waiter gestured to a local store about a couple blocks away and told me that I could go there and purchase one. Boy, was I angry. . .they could not even provide an unopened bottle of filtered water for a paying guest.
We were supposed to stay one more night, but when we returned to our room on the second evening, we found a checkout notice for our room for the next day. Housekeeping could not get things straight. We talked it over and decided with the poor service and awful food, we would check with one of the other resorts along the "Tourist Corridor" and see if we could check in for just one night.
The next morning we visited the Melia Cabo Real and got a better price for that hotel than staying one more night at the Posada Real. We went back to the hotel and talked to the manager. He expressed surprise and disappointment that we had not found the hotel service and food excellent. After a long discussion, we cancelled the last night at this hotel and moved to the Melia.
What a difference in the hotels! We had a gardenview room (nothing special) but the appointments in the room, the sheets (high thread count), towels and overall atmostphere in the room was much more comfortable. Since it was an all-inclusive, too, we went to enjoy lunch. And enjoy we did.
Much better food and drinks, good service without the mandatory tipping and one of the best rice dishes I have ever had. . .it had champagne in it and was excellent. Since we came too late to make reservations at the specialty restaurants, we enjoyed the buffet. It was such a pleasure to eat there after the other resort. . .I would recommend anyone staying at the Melia.
The beach at the Melia is also a swimmable beach. . .something that is not possible at all the resorts in Cabo. The Posada Real beach was not swimmable . . .and the"red" warning flags had been out in the weather so long that they had turned pink and faded.
We enjoyed the pool and also the beach at the Melia so much. Met some great people at the swim up bar . . .loved being in the pool and watching the sunset while enjoying some refreshment.
One of the days we explored Cabo San Lucas. This busy and bustling town has grown by leaps and bounds. It used to be a sleepy village that only insiders knew about. But that has certainly changed. Now the port has cruise ships docking almost daily, upscale restaurants and funky shops and has a very lively nightlife. We had always heard about Sammy Hagar's Cabo Wabo, so we visited there and enjoyed some of his tequilla. The place is huge. . . and does come alive at night I was advised by good party sources.
We were told that Sammy named his tequilla, Cabo Wabo, because one morning he saw a local staggering home after a night at a bar. He laughed and said. . .he must be doing the "Cabo Wabo". The name stuck and that became the name of his brand.
I mentioned that the nightclub is HUGE. Well, we were also told that the architect Sammy hired to design the club visited with him during one of the band's tours and brought along the plans. He presented them and got them approved. However, Sammy did not realize that the dimensions were in meters, not feet. . .so it ended up about 3 times larger than planned. Now I am sure everyone is glad it is so large since it is very popular and the even now can be really crowded.
We were sorry to leave Cabo after such a short stay, but I will be going back to visit the town and a couple resorts at the end of this month when I am on a Norwegian Cruise Line ship. And I hope to visit there in the upcoming summer/fall.
The reservation noted that we were to report to Terminal One to catch our plane. . . well, that was easy since there is only one terminal. I got a real laugh out of that. Since visiting there, I have found one other country where the airport terminal is smaller (Turks and Caicos Islands) but it was very convenient. We flew back to Dallas/Fort Worth, spent the night again and had a chance to meet my daughter G and her husband (from Ohio) who were in the area for training. So it was a perfect way to end a great trip.
