Day beach in Cabo

[Bob7]

CQ, I agree, with kids it would have to be the calmer beach. It would be fun on the ocean side to go in a little ways and take some nice big waves, but the undertow might be too dangerous.

Since you got that nice reply from the Hacienda, and they are closest to town, right beside the Puerto Paraiso Mall, it looks like a good bet. And did you see the new resort under construction next door? .... the Medano Beach Resort. I haven't looked for a web site for them yet.

Are you arriving in LA early or departure day?

-Bob

[ciship]

hmmm Bob7, I havent checked into Medano Beach Resort yet. I'll start searching for some info.

 

All of my husbands family lives in Long Beach and Huntington Beach, so we will be arriving a couple days early and staying with them.

 

How about you?

[househunter]

:) Hello everyone! It's been a few days since I have looked at this site. As far as I remember, most of the hotels but especially the Pueblo Bonitos ( there are three of them) and the Finesterra will allow you to use their pools. Not sure about the Playa Grande. It is beautiful, we toured it last year while were there. We almost booked to stay there this year but it is very expensive!

 

You definatly do not want to even attempt to swim on the Pacific side, It might even look fairly calm but there are serious rip tides!

 

I am leaving for Cabo on Saturday for 10 days and will try to find out for sure about the different hotel pools. Let me know if there are any in particular that you want me to check out!

[ciship]

Great Househunter!!!! Thanks for offering to check into these hotels. Atleast as far as I'm concerned, these are the two that I am most interested in.

 

Melia San Lucas

Hotel Hacienda Beach Resort

 

I'm sure they are both beautiful. I just want the best facilities as far as beach access from the pool, swim up bar, and food vendor proximity. If either look "kid" friendly, I would prefer that as well.

 

Have a GREAT trip. I look forward to hearing from you when you get back.

 

ciship

[Bob7]

Hey everyone, this is weird, I can't see Househunter's or CIShip's messages on the board, but if it do a new message I see them being quoted below my message.

 

Anyway HouseHunter, as CQ said, thx for checking those out, and tell us what shopping you liked, what tours you took ... are you doing a cruise review? ... after you sober up?

 

I dunno if the rip tides are a problem, Wendy said if I got pulled out to sea she'd come in and get me as soon as she finished her drink.

 

CQ, we are arriving 2 days early and planning to stay somewhere between Redondo Beach and Marina del Rey, we want to hit Venice Beach and also get in to Rodeo Drive. We heard there are bummy areas around LAX, especially east of 405, Inglewood is iffy in places, and it's better to stay nearer the beaches, Manhattan, Redondo, Venice, or Santa Monica. But we wondered how nice it is in El Segundo, lots of hotels there, would you ask your family in Long Beach what they think?

-Bob

 

Oops, now those message are there, it's some spooky Hallowe'en thing I guess.

[ciship]

Ok Bob7, my husband (who up until two years ago lived in California all his life) says STAY OUT of Inglewood at all cost!! He says there are a few nice spots to El Segundo, but only a couple of 4 star "type" hotels if that is what you are looking for. He said you MUST do Venice Beach area and Marina Del Rey area if you have the time.

 

Hope that helps a bit.

 

cq

[Bob7]

Thx CQ. Would you ask him if he'd have a preference between the Hilton Garden Inn on E. Mariposa in El Segundo and the Ramada on Washington Blvd at Hwy 1 in Marina del Rey? ... (both about the same money).

Hey we'll probably see him, you're there the same weekend as us, so he'll probably be on the muscle beach section of Venice Beach huh? :-)

-Bob

[ciship]

Righty-O Bob7....my husband may be on the muscle end of the beaches....but I can assure you I won't be!! Wouldnt want to ruin the beautiful scenery for everybody else...lol......

 

My husband said anything in Marina Del Rey is going to be the better bet....but, that is just his opinion and he hasnt lived in California for 3 years now.....but, he doubts it has changed that much.

 

Hope that helps.......

[Bob7]

Hey CQ, yer DH was right. I found reviews of the Ramada, I think it was on Trip Advisor, and about 10 ppl said it was a dump. And they trashed the Furama at LAX, said wallpaper was peeling off, mildew in the bath, things not working. But everyone liked the Holiday Inn in MDR ... wouldn't you know it's another $30 bucks :-(( We have a corporate discount with them but the rate comes up the same as doing it on the net :-(

 

Jeez some ppl have been getting great rates on PriceLine, the Ritz in MDR for $40, and another 4 star near there for $50. But Priceline bugs me, you don't know what hotel you'll get when you give your credit card, just that it fits their star system, and yer locked in to what they give you. If they had a list of hotels showing their star ratings that would help. Had any luck with them?

-Bob

[househunter]

Ok, I am back from Cabo and sobered up nicely,thank you very much! I checked out both the Hacienda and the Melia and I think I would choose the Melia. The pool was beautiful and it is right on the beach, close to my favorite beach restaurant/bar, the Mango Deck. We spent 4 days in a row there, we liked it so much! Great food, happy hour 2 for 1 drinks all day and really fun waiters! The beach in front of the Mango Deck has great swimming and the water was bath water warm!

We are not big shoppers so I can't help too much there. Since we were there 10 days, we did check out many restaurants and bars so let me know if anyone needs details. It was a great trip, great weather and not too humid. Now the problem is trying to deal with the cold and having to cook and clean for myself!

[ciship]

Bob7,

 

Yes, I LOVE Priceline for booking hotels. I always pick 4 star in the region/area that I want and I have always gotten fabulous and beautiful hotels. I have never paid over $50 a night for these gorgeous hotels and I quit booking any other way a LONG time ago. Most of the 4-star hotels would be $200 or more a night if you booked any other way.

 

ok.......hope that helps......I'm just really sold on Priceline for hotels and car rentals.

 

cq

[ciship]

Hey househunter.......thanks for checking things out. Sounds like you had a great time!! I think we are going to do the Melia for sure. Do they let people just walk up from the beach and swim in their pools and buy drinks at their hotel?

 

If we went to the Mango Deck, would we be able to take our kids too or would they be out of place? Is it just a bar or do they searve food? How close is the Mango Deck to the Melia?

 

Did you go to "the Office"? If so, what was your opinion of that?

 

Thanks,

ciship

[househunter]

We just walked through the Melia and no one said anything. I would probably tell them that you are just there for the day so that you can get towels and that way for sure they would know your situation.

 

You can definatly bring your kids to the Mango Deck. It is both a bar and restaurant that has great food. They provide lounge chairs and even towels if you want. It is set up right on the beach which is only maybe 20-30 feet from the water so we were in and out of the water and back to our chairs all day. There are jet ski rentals and banana boat rides literally steps away if your kids are old enough for that. Otherwise they will have a blast just swimming.

 

The office is right next door. It is just a restaurant, no lounge chairs set up for being there the whole day. They do have great food, even better than the Mango Deck. You could stake out your area at the Mango Deck and then just walk over to the Office for lunch leaving you things on your chairs. I wouldn't see a problem doing that. The waiters are amazing and will do anything to make your day a great one.

[househunter]

Oh, almost forgot. They Melia is less than a 5 minute walk from the Mango Deck. It is the big yellow hotel right on the beach to the right if you are looking fr9om the water!

[Just_Cruising]

If you are thinking about using Priceline, I must insist that you go to www.biddingfortravel to learin how to use it most effectively. It will show you recently accepted Priceline bids. Read the Hotel FAQs carefully, paying particulary close attention to the concept of "Free-Rebids". You don't need to use their bidding assistance service, but certainly use their information.

[ciship]

househunter,

 

Sounds like we could just go to the Mango Deck instead of the Melia if they have all the same kinds of things?? The only think lacking is a pool...right???

You say they have lounge chairs on the beach....so, do they just allow you to use the lounge chairs all day as long as you are buying drinks or something from them?? Or do you have to rent the chairs from them?

[househunter]

That's right ciship! No need to rent the chairs. They are happy to have you use them as long as you buy something. We were there four days in a row at least four hours a day. One day we only bought 4 beers.

If the pool is no big deal and your kids are happy swimming in the ocean, the Mango Deck is the place to be. Better prices than the hotels too!

[househunter]

Another plus for the Mango Deck. VERY, VERY clean restrooms- a big deal for me! And your ship will be anchored right in front of you. Very good photo ops. Have fun!:)

[Bob7]

Hey HH that's great info, thx! But you know yer not fooling anyone that you only had 4 beers one day ... it's way to hot for that. Maybe 4 an hour? It sounds like you visited the Melia but didn't stay there? ... where did you stay?

 

CQ and JC, thx for the Priceline tips. The successful bids on that site and on BetterBidding are amazing. And the good thing is that the money ya save on hotels can be added directly to yer booze budget. Win-Win. Have you ever tried Hotwire?

-Bob

[ciship]

househunter,

 

When you say the ship will be anchored right in front of us.....is the Mango Deck really that close? We were planning on taking a taxi to the Melia, but are you saying we can just walk from the ship to the Mango Deck?? Or would you suggest taking a cab from the ship? We will have 2 kids under 11 in tow with us.

 

ciship

[househunter]

Even thought the ship will be anchored right in front of Medano Beach (where the Mango Deck is) the tenders will drop you off at the Marina dock. Then the easiest way to get to the beach is hop on a water taxi. This should cost between 1.50- 2.50 per person each way. Just tell them to take you to the Mango Deck and they will pull up right in front. You are in about a foot of water when you get off but it is an easy jump, much better than being let off at Lover's Beach which is hard because the water is so rough. When you are ready to leave there are water taxis lined up at the beach ready to take you back to the marina area and the ships tenders.

It is only about a 5 minute ride and much more scenic than a regular taxi. Cheaper too.You could even ask the water taxi driver to take you over to the arches for a few dollars more for some great pictures.

[househunter]

Bob7- We stayed at the Costa Real which I think is the largest hotel/timeshare in the Marina area. It is really getting run down and I would not reccommend it. We stayed there with a big group of people since my Dad has a timeshare there and got us a great deal. The pool area was being worked on while we were there which is why we spent so much time at the beach. And yes, one day we actually only had 2 beers each! After 5 days in Cabo, we moved down to San Jose and stayed in a brand new all inclusive hotel, the Crowne Plaza. That was incredible but very remote, a great way to end our trip. We prefer staying right in Cabo but this will be the last time at the Costa Real. It has gone downhill very fast over the last few years.

We will be staying at the Marina Fiesta next October which is on the far side of the Marina and only a 5 minute walk to the Office/Mango Deck area. The best of both worlds. We love the beach but also love the nightlife of the marina and town area!:)

[CruisingAgain]

Bump .... Any recent cruisers out there that did a day at one of the Cabo hotels? Would like to hear about the pools, the cost, and if had any trouble using the hotel facilities. Thanks!!

[LovetheSea]

Thanks for all the info for us Mexico cruisers. We are leaving for the Mexican Riviera on the Mercury in 4 days!!!! We have been to Cabo three times and never spent one minute on the beach. This time I am planning to spend the whole day there. I like to PAY a day pass fee at a resort. Then they give you access to the pool and everything. No sneaking around. Anyone know which resorts sell day passes?

[househunter]

No need to "sneak around". All of the above mentioned hotels are happy to have day guests as long as they are purchasing food and drinks. I have been to Cabo many times and have never come across the paid for day passes that many places in the Caribbean have. Enjoy!