Villa Del Palmar in Cabo San Lucas

On December 11, 2015 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn MexicoLeave a comment

We stayed at the Villa Del Palmar during our recent trip to Cabo San Lucas. This is the sister resort to the Villa Del Arco, which is where we bought our initial time share. We have also stayed at the Villa Del Palmar in Puerto Vallarta. All of the resorts that we’ve stayed at that are part of the Villa Preferred Access Club have been wonderful. They are part of the larger Universal Vacation Club and have great locations with friendly and helpful staff.

All of the rooms at the Villa Del Palmar have ocean views and are clean with up-to-date furnishings. Even the rooms that are considered to be studio rooms have a full kitchen as well as a couch and lounge area, they just aren’t separate from the bedroom(s) as they are in the suites. All of the rooms also have a balcony with at least a table and chairs. Grills are also available by request.

There are several pool areas at each of the resorts, each featuring their own unique features. At the Villa Del Palmar, there is an adults only pool, a family pool with a slide shaped like a whale where you shoot out of its mouth, a small wading pool with a hot tub, and a pool for small children. We have to admit, though, that we missed our pirate ship from the Villa Del Arco, which we were able to use during less busy times of the year. Every day there a variety of activities in the family pool area including pilates, water aerobics, volleyball, and dancing. There was also a trained hawk that flew throughout the resort during the early afternoon, which was quite beautiful. Although we didn’t join in on any of the activities, people certainly seemed to enjoy themselves.

There are also multiple restaurants at the resort and you’re also able to go to the restaurants at the Villa Del Arco. We decided to go ahead and do all-inclusive for almost all of the days, so we definitely took advantage of the food at the resort. As you would expect, the food was fantastic, fresh, and delicious. Even the buffets had an excellent variety of offerings, plenty of fresh fruit, and multiple cooked to order stations for things such as omelets, waffles, quesadillas, etc. As you would expect, there are also plenty of bars around the resorts as well as the pool staff who took care of everyone sitting around the pool.

Bird that Joined Us for Breakfast Everyday

We may be a little biased since we own a timeshare with the resort, but we’d highly recommend either the Villa Del Palmar or the Villa Del Arco to anyone who is travelling to Cabo San Lucas. Their prime locations, friendly staff, and well-appointed rooms make them an ideal vacation destination. We will definitely be going to some of other properties that they offer, but we absolutely will be returning to one of the Cabo San Lucas properties very soon. These resorts are a lot of the reason that we have fallen in love with Cabo.

Punta Cana, Dominican Republic

On December 4, 2015 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn Caribbean5 Comments

A year ago at this time, we were spending a week at the Paradisus Palma Real in Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic. If you get the chance to travel to the “DR” as it is often called, you should definitely do so. The beaches were amazing and the resorts are spectacular. The only downside to our visit was that it wasn’t really close to any local towns, so it was a rare trip where we didn’t get out of the resort. Needless to say, that didn’t stop us from having a very relaxing and enjoyable stay.

The resort offered royal service, which apparently is quite common in Caribbean resorts. It entailed us getting a beach front room in a private, all adult, area of the resort, with a private concierge. We were able to eat at any of the restaurants on the vast compound, which is really three different resorts in different areas of the overall property. We were given a cell phone with a direct dial number to our concierge who would make reservations for us to any of the restaurants or various shows. We were quite spoiled. It was an all-inclusive resort, but based upon the research that we had done prior to choosing this resort, it seems that pretty much all of the resorts in the Caribbean are all-inclusive.

Probably the best part of getting the royal service was the staff in our private area. On our first day, we picked out a cabana on the beach where we could sit in the shade and they brought us a couple of lounge chairs for sitting in the sun. That became “our” cabana and chairs and every morning Pedro would put towels and magazines out so that our spot was reserved. No reason for us to rush to get a prime spot on the beach. We had a private, secluded pool and we also had our own pool bar where they took very good care of us.

We will definitely try some other resorts in the Caribbean, but Punta Cana, with beaches that face both the Atlantic and Caribbean, is definitely worth a visit. We would also recommend the royal service to anyone who has the opportunity. It is a bit of a splurge, but truly worth the extra expense, especially if you’re not travelling with children.

Cabo San Lucas

On November 23, 2015 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn Mexico1 Comment

We’ve been home from Cabo San Lucas for a little over a week now and we’re already going through withdrawal. We’ve had one blizzard since getting home and are expecting snow on Thanksgiving, so the sun and beach seem like a distant memory at this point. We truly had a wonderful time visiting Cabo and walking around town and through the marina.

As you walk through the marina, you’ll continuously be approached by sales people trying to get you to take a glass bottom boat, take you deep-sea fishing, go on a time share tour, or play golf at one of the many courses around the area. It is definitely worthwhile taking a glass bottom boat out to the arch and to go to lover’s beach. The marina is also where you board the different dinner cruises, party boats, and fishing boats. We’ve done many of the different dinner and sunset cruises, but haven’t gone deep-sea fishing as of yet, perhaps on our next trip to Cabo.

There are many wonderful restaurants in the marina as well, all of them offering fresh seafood and tasty drinks. On Sunday, while we were there, we came across a restaurant offering all you can eat oysters. Since we love oysters, we definitely took advantage of that opportunity. At night-time, the marina area really comes to life with plenty of things to do and opportunities to people watch.

The downtown area also has plenty of vendors where you can purchase local trinkets and bargain with the store owners to get the best price on you souvenirs. At first it might feel awkward haggling over the price, but it is expected and don’t feel intimidated. If you don’t want to go downtown, there are plenty of vendors walking up and down the beach bringing souvenirs to all of the resorts for you to purchase.

At the resorts themselves, you can arrange kayaking, paddle boarding, parasailing, jet skis, golf, and more. There are also people walking the beach with horses so that you can take a romantic horse back ride along the beach. Our favorite thing about Cabo is the size of the resorts. There aren’t huge resorts with thousands of rooms, so whether going into town, walking the beach, or sitting around the pool, you’re not overwhelmed by tremendous crowds. We can hardly wait for our next trip to the beach, but it is going to have to wait for a little while.