YESSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!

The Dolphin Swim Express is a fantastic opportunity to do the classic Swim with the Dolphin interactive program and have much of the remainder of the day to participate in an additional excursion, go shopping and to discover the traditional Mexican flavors of charming Puerto Vallarta!

A quick transfer from the dock to Sea Life Park Vallarta by Dolphin Discovery gets you to the Park first before your cruise mates and directly to the fun and excitement of a dolphin swim adventure for the entire family. Photos and DVD will be made as you do the world famous dolphin kiss, the pectoral tow across the surface of the water and other fun and exciting interactive moments. Snacks and beverages are available for purchase at snack bars throughout the park.

It is recommended that guests wear a swimsuit under clothing and bring a towel and waterproof camera. Souvenirs, photos and DVD's are available for purchase at Sea Life Park.

This was my second time swimming with the dolphins. My first time at this facility. The first time was in Ixtapa Mexico and it was amazing but this facility in Cabo was even better. The trainer talked to us and told us about the dolphins. The dolphins themselves just amaze me. They are so smart. They move through the water with such speed and amazing grace. We were able to be pulled by holding onto the dorsal fins.  This was my second time swimming with the dolphins and I am still amazed by them. It was a little pricey but it is one of those things that you cannot go and do just any day. The next step would be being trainer for the day. A friend that traveled with us said that next year when we return she is going to be a trainer for the day. I'm sure that also will be amazing. I cannot wait to return!!! If you are considering swimming with the dolphins... do it! You wont regret it.

This hotel was amazing! There were several pools and a view from every room. Staff very friendly. The hotel is on a hill but they have little shuttles to take you up and down the hill to different parts of the hotel. We will be returning next year to this hotel!

Cute little resturant in downtown San Jose Del Cabo. Great service and really great food. The salsa was the best we had on our trip. They have an outdoor eating area that is really cute. one night we were there they had a young man who sang and played the piano.

To Whom It May Concern, I would like to take this time to voice my complaints regarding my stay at Playa del Sol, San Jose Del Cabo. Shortly after we booked our stay at Playa del Sol we started e-mailing Catrina Diaz and Sandra Shuster making sure we had handicap accessible accommodations. We were told there were indeed handicap accommodations and needed to contact them closer to our arrival, we continued to stay in touch as our vacation drew nearer. We kept copies of our e-mail conversations with the two people previously listed. Unfortunately when we arrived we discovered our resort was not accommodating or equipped to handle wheelchairs. After waiting 45 minutes to be shown to our room our first hurdle was the step leading onto the hallway that lead to our room. In the middle of the room between the kitchen and living area was another step, which made moving throughout the room difficult for a wheel chair. In order to move throughout the room, the person in the wheel chair was completely reliant on others and needed help to leave the room. Another problem area immediately noticed was the accommodations in the bathroom. First we were unable to fit the wheel chair in the bathroom, making every trip to the bathroom risky. Second, the shower was not equipped. The ledge was approximately one and a half feet high and six inches wide, making it impossible to step into the shower. Third, the shower was not equipped for someone with a disability. There were no grab bars and the resort did not have any shower chairs to accommodate someone who could not stand in the shower. These less than ideal accommodations made it necessary to have someone help assist her into and out of the shower. Not to mention we had to use a lawn chair off of the patio to aide in showering. We were told they had wheel chair accessible rooms we expected that the above mentioned concerns would not have been an issue. This is concerning because all of these issued listed above are a huge safety concern for anyone in a wheel chair. With safety being an issue we went to discuss our concerns with the front desk supervisor. We were told there were no other rooms available except one other which they allowed us to look at. However upon entering this room we found it to be identical to the original room we were placed in. They told us at that time we would be put on a list for a more equipped room if it opened up. Trying to make the best of the situation we decided to check out the other amenities the resort had to offer, most importantly the pool. When we set out to explore we discovered that getting to the pool had its own obstacles. The only way to get there that we noticed was a flight of stairs. This was extremely frustrating and disappointing for we had a wheel chair and we were not able to take the chair down that long flight of stairs. After looking for several minutes and with help from other guests of the resort we were finally approached by a resort staff. At that time he showed us a back way that was not designed for guest usage. This way took us behind the restaurant and down an extremely steep hill that wrapped around a corner and continued down through a very narrow hallway. We were able to reach the pool, however the trek back up the hill was very difficult and strenuous. This usually took two people to safely push the chair up the steep hill. The next day we checked in with the front desk. At this time when we expressed our concern we were told that because we went through RCI those were the only room available to us. This of course was different than what we were told the day before. We decided to make the best of our vacation, and spent most of the next couple days outside our resort. When we decided to spend the day at our pool, we were disappointed and shocked to find the pool was too cold to swim in. Not to mention the lack of staffing around the pool area to offer drinks and assistance. The pool was not the only time we found resort staff were not helpful. Twice we called the front desk for assistance and were told they would return our calls. However our calls were never returned and we always ended up walking down to the front desk for assistance. As we continued our stay in our less than satisfactory room we only discovered it continued to get worse. The noise from the busy highway in combination with the hard beds made it difficult to get a good nights rest. Showering was also another issue. We quickly discovered the first person to the shower was the only person who would get warm water, everyone after that first person would have to shower in cold water. It did not matter how long we waited between showers the second person never had the luxury of warm water. On top of that, the room was not even equipped with simple clock, so we never knew the time. We also found the furniture to be old, dirty and worn. This made it exciting when we returned to our room one day to find a new couch. However, upon attempting to pull the couch out for our second bed we could not figure out how this couch worked. We again called the front desk and when we did not receive service we ended up going down to talk to them. They assured us the bed pulled out and would send a maid up to our room. The maid confirmed that the couch indeed did not pull out into a bed. We then were given one cot bed and our fourth person had to sleep on the couch. This make for a very uncomfortable evening of sleep. When approaching the desk again to voice concern about our room, we were told that we could upgrade to a better room in the newer building for 60 additional dollars a night. We then asked to speak with the manager; we were directed to the office supervisor. When we approached her she was on a phone meeting and we were told she would come and find us when she was done. We waited by the pool for about an hour and it was very clear she was not coming to find us as we watched her walk around the resort continuing on with her business. We decided we would approach her once again. Once entering the office we found the office supervisor was accompanied by the general manager. When we started to express our concerns we found him not very helpful. The general manager continued to interrupt us when we were trying to speak and would not let us voice our concerns. He also did not attempt to help solve our problems he instead made excuses for why things where that way. We were told then that there were no other rooms available. This was upsetting as we felt we were being lied to because every day when we approached the front desk we were told a different story. Talking to the manager only upset us more as he did little to help besides switching out the couch with another that folded out into a bed. With a bad day behind us we were looking forward to getting back to our room to shower and call it a night. However when we started our evening routines we discovered we had no water to our room. We later found out this happens once a week however no staff had mentioned this event. This was upsetting as we were hoping to shower and were unable to do so, forcing us to sleep very uncomfortably as we were all sweaty from the events of the day. A vacation to us is a time where we can relax and enjoy our time with friends in a nice place. Unfortunately the resort staff were not up front and honest from the first time we e-mailed to the last day we spent in the resort. This disastrous vacation could have been prevented if we would have been told the truth about the accessibility of the resort and been accommodated once we arrived. This vacation was a huge disappointment to us as we planned it out a year in advance, made the effort before going to make sure things were accommodating and nothing turned out the way we had hoped. Instead we ended up with poor service, an unsafe living situation and less than ideal room accommodations. We are writing this letter to inform you of all the issues we had at our stay at Playa del Sol. We hope you take the time to look into this resort and our situation. Thank you for your time, If you have any questions feel free to contact us. Sincerely, The unhappy travelers

miserable experience. food worse than cafeteria food; booze watered down; high pressure sales

Lovvvved it! We went here November 2006. All inclusive is the way to go! The hotel is very pretty, and it's huge. The pictures on-line, look exactly wut the hotel looks like in person. We went parasailing, which I would recommend to everyone. It's a great view. The only thing is, if you decide to parasail, the staff told us it would be a 15 minute walk up the beach to the rocks, when it really took us a little over an hour to get there. Take a cab! The hotel's right on the beach, so it's easy access. You just can't swim in the water, as they say when you walk out, it just drops. So the waves come crashing, as we found out the first night. We went on the beach towards the water, and were just walking around. Next thing you know, there's a big wave coming for us, and we took off running, and it still got us! I would recommend to everyone to stay here. I wanna go back!

I’ve stayed at the Hotel Mar de Cortez a handful of times and have never been disappointed. The hotel is situated in the middle of the city and is near many of the local attractions, restaurants, grocery stores and bars. Such as Cabo Wabo, the Giggling Marlin, Squid Roe etc… The beach is also fairly near. As for the actual hotel, the prices are very reasonable, the rooms are clean and nice, and the crowd that typically stays there are very friendly and outgoing. When requesting a room, ask for a Terrace room, it’s a little more expensive but much nicer. Also they have a restaurant on site that has the best breakfast deal in Cabo, for $1.99 you get eggs, potatoes, and toast/w home made jam! There fresh squeezed orange juice is also amazing. If you want more information about the hotel or the area, just shoot me a message.

It was a very relaxing and enjoyable trip. Getting on the plane and to the cruise terminal was relatively easy, despite the turbulence which made my upgrade to first class rather pointless, as the flight attendants were seated for the entire flight. I was rather surprised at how organized and easy flowing the cruise terminal was, and I was on the ship within about an hour of landing in San Diego. Of course, the feeding begins, and I got some lunch before I went to my room. The room was small but enough for one person. I got unpacked and settled in, then off to the late dinner at 8:30. I have grown used to the late dinner on these cruises, which is fun. I was apparently seated at a singles table, the first night there were 4 of us sitting at a table for 10, and we had some good conversation and made friends with each other throughout dinner. It was nice. The show on the first night was basically a welcome aboard show, some dancing, a comedian, and meeting the cruise director.

Friday was a sea day. I basically hung out, relaxed, read a little, and this was also the day that we had the scavenger hunt. I ran into one of my dinner mates at the hunt and we teamed up with another lady to have the required / recommended number of team-mates. The scavenger hunt was 2 parts, half questions about the ship and the crew, and half items we had to find and bring to the hunt. They gave us about 20 minutes and then they gave everybody a score. WE were the winning team for quite some time, but at the end a team came up with 3 more points than us, so we didn't win. We did get points for our red team, though. Friday was formal night, so we had a nice dinner, of course Lobster! It was nice to get dressed up and eat expensive food. lol. The Friday night show was the comedian Tommy Drake. www.tommydrake.com He was very funny. He did the after dinner show on Friday and then the midnight show on Sunday, which was r-rated. That was even funnier, in my opinion.

Saturday was spent in Cabo San Lucas. I signed up for the Land's End and Beach club excursion in the morning, and the parasailing in the afternoon. Since Cabo is a tender dock, we all met in the lounge at 8:30 to get to the dock and off on the excursions by 9. First was the boat going around Land's End.  I really enjoyed that part of the morning excursion. After we got off the boat, we got on a bus that went out to a beach in front of a timeshare hotel. I had to decline the customary many people walking by selling anything from hats and tshirts to ceramic items and mexican blankets. A timeshare salesman stopped by and tried to get me to go on the tour of the hotel behind us but I got hot before he came back again and was able to get off the beach and back into town without buying anything. Lunch was at the Cabo Wabo cantina. I got a burrito which probably was the biggest burrito I have seen in my life, and ate about half of it. Then as I was walking back out to the pier to get on the boat for the parasailing, a guy got me to buy a bracelet. It started at 20, and by the time I was done, I had gotten down to 5. And it turns out, it's real silver. So I did good with that.. lol. Then we got on the boat to go parasailing. Nobody wanted to go first, so I did. It was just as much fun as I remember it being in Hawaii, and I am definitely not opposed to doing that again. One of the ladies on the boat took some pictures of me, but I haven't emailed her yet to get them. The show that night was nice, mostly singing and dancing.

Sunday was another sea day, getting packed, taking a nap to see the midnight show and still be awake at 6:30 to get off the ship. I had some lunch, and watched Ratatouille in my room in the afternoon. The comedian was at midnight, very very funny. I am hoping to see him again sometime soon. I found out that he was booked at the Tempe Improv but had to cancel at the last minute, so hopefully he will be re-scheduling that.

The flight home was uneventful, I got home earlier than I thought, and it was overall a very nice and relaxing trip.

Riu Palace All Inclusive Hotel, Cabo San Lucas, Mexico The hotel was great. Very big and spacious. It looks just like the photos on the web site and was so much fun. The pools were great, the swim up bars were fun, the entertainment and people were great. Went jet skiing and it was great fun. You can go right out to los arcos and see the seal lion colony. Took the Fiesta Cabaret boat cruise and it was a lot of fun. It was a 3 hour boat ride, for about $50, you saw a lot of sites, danced, ate dinner, saw a show and did some more dancing. All drinks included. We were going to originally do the jungle boat booze cruise, but it was a bunch of mexican teenagers, so we left that and took the fiesta cabaret. I will definitely stay at other Riu Hotels based on my stay in Cabo.

haven't composed one yet

Left San Diego for Tijuana on the 26th of April ! The Route 66 together with finishing my errands added too much stress and I had to really relax before taking off for my Mexican trip. On the other hand, my Chicago to LA and then to San Diego journey was packed with all kinds of little adventures and new information. I post my personal notes on my web-site, those are quite lengthy and reflect my almost immediate impression, and if you are curious, you’ll find those here.

I also uploaded all meaningful (and not really so) pics from the American trip to Fotki.com. That took me literally 5 hours in a local internet cafe. Welcome to a slower lifestyle…

… which is, actually, super-precious. When you slow down and have nothing on your daily to-do list, you start noticing very interesting things about yourself. 

Now I am totally localized taking camiones to neighbouring villages and enjoying the picturesque tides of los Cabos. Julia and I have been in San Jose del Cabo for five days already and I only got 13 pictures! I am not a turist any more…

If you like Murano glass, in Cabo San Lucas they do similar work.  It is very good and not as expensive.

We also went to a place called Cacti world, where they have all kind of cactus and related plants, it is very pretty.

Well. We finally got to Mexico. I say we because there were six of us. It was hot. And Humid. And I Sweat. A Lot. Enough said.  This was starting off to be a great trip to Mexico.  If we were having a sweating contest, I was definitely in the lead. 

The bad news... doesn't matter where you go in Cabo, it's a sixty dollar cab ride. Everywhere.  And everything is 40 minute drive. The good news... the cab drivers always stopped for beer for the ride. 

The bad news... there were a lot of tourists. I mean a lot.  The good news... I never got mugged.

The bad news... The trip had to end at some point.  The good news... the trip finally ended at somepoint.

Hotel Calinda was gorgeous, with a view of the Sea of Cortez and a breakfast veranda where you could sip your orange juice and watch the dolphins play. The price was reasonable, the rooms were spacious, clean and airconditioned, and the staff was friendly and helpful even if their English was not the best (we managed). There were parties in the courtyard, vendors with unique wares, and a small, rocky beach to explore. The downsides were that to get to town, you had to take a taxi or the hotel shuttle, which was $10 round trip for 2 people if I remember correctly. I got sick from drinking the coffee, I guess the water had not boiled enough. And we happened to go during spring break-- don't, unless you are a spring breaker yourself. The constant noise and pool crammed with drunk, obnoxious teenagers got on my nerves after a few days.