Tammy (host) Dreams Los Cabos Resort Wedding Review 5/27/06

[Tammy Host]

I realized that my review on the old forum was never moved over so here it is:

Overall the week was F-A-B-U-L-O-U-S!!! I could not have picked a better resort/location for my wedding. I was worried the cascade terrace (where i had reception) was not going to be private enough….but it was fine…the oceana terrace is also very beautiful…we had our welcome dinner there.

Dreams Resort (A+): The resort is beautiful and just as beautiful in person as it is in the website pics. There were a lot of people of all ages there and our group loved it. It was a little bit of a downer that the beach is not swimmable but you only need to walk like 10 mins down the beach to the Hilton to swim in the ocean…or we took the bus to Costa Azul / Zippers and went into the water there but I would have been just as happy to have another pool day

Cons of resort: you have to take a taxi or shuttle into cabo san lucas. you can take the bus to san jose. also, they make you shut off music around 10:30...you may be able to push it to 11:00pm. service was inconsistent and slow at times. hard to get straight anser...lots of people nodding like they understood your problem but then nothing done to resolve it.

people by the main pool are chair/floatie hogs but i have a secret way to deal with them...

Weather (A+++): Could I say PERFECTO! My reception started at 6pm and it wasn’t too hot at all…in fact I am so glad we didn’t start later because they day/night just fly by…By the time pics were taken, dinner served, cake cut etc. there was very little time for dancing.

The Explorers Club: The explorers club was great. A friend dropped off her 3 & 5 year old and they didn’t want to leave. They had stuff planned all day like: how to make Papier Mache piñata, to collecting sea shells and the kids really loved it.

Food (B): The food for my welcome dinner was a Caribbean/Mexican buffet and it was fantastic! The food for my reception was also good but not as good as the welcome dinner. The service was impeccable for both events. The food at the resort was ok…not bad but not awesome either…I mean it is Mexico, people….not San Francisco. Portofino is really good. El Patio and Oceana are really good. Himitsu was not so good (my friends at there and didn’t like it). The Seaside grill has really yummy fish tacos. Breakfast at El Patio was probably my favorite meal.

Room Service (B+): a couple of nights we had a poker tournament in our suite and it was so great to order food at like 2am…sometimes they took awhile though and I had to call back and be a pest....food choices limited but anyone that will bring food to my room in the middle of the night rates at least a B.

Pool (A+): during the weekend the pool got busy and the best chairs were gone by 8am…even though it says not too, I would save about 10 chairs for my group THEN go to breakfast. If you want to be really sneaky, get fresh towels the night before and put them out in the morning because towel guy sometimes didn’t get out until 8:30am.

Night time entertainment (A-): Pirate night was really funny….karaoke night was funny in a “she sucks and must be so embarrassed” sort of way….mime night…well I skipped that one….mimes scare me.

Service (A-): overall everyone is really friendly and helpful…the shuttle service was a pain in the ass because they were really inconsistent with their policy. Like they wouldn’t shuttle 1 group because they said you had to make a reservation the night before…but when I tried to make a reservation for the next day (like they said i had to) they told me to come back in the morning to make a reservation for the same day….uhhh…ok.

Or some hosts would not combine tables for larger groups even though there were 4 table right near each other…she would tell us it was “impossible”…but the manager the day before did it with no problem.

And Hector, host at the Seaside Grill is a major prick.

Shuttle to Cabo San Lucas: Also, I had negotiated with the hotel to have free shuttle rides into town for my wedding guests…well every time someone would try to use it, they were told it wasn’t free…so Marianna (wedding coordinator) came out and would tell the concierge/bellboy it was free…and all was good until there was a shift change and I would have to go through explaining we got a free shuttle and Marianna would have to come back down, etc…this happened like 5 times.

Maye (B): she was really nice….i met her a few hours before the wedding. She didn’t stay for the wedding. Her husband just set up the flowers and left. No one stayed to direct the mariachi’s but luckily Marianna helped me with that. I would probably only give her a C but she saved me some $$.

Juan Carlos Tapia (A+): Photographer- well, I haven’t seen all his pics yet but the ones I did see were fantastic...he was supposed to give me my pictures on a cd last week….steve’s mom is a photographer and she was bugging him to see the pics and he showed her on his digital camera and she LOVED them and she is picky-picky about photographer etc. also, he did some cool type group shots instead of the usual pictures. He was really nice also, came early. I will update his review and grade when I see his pictures.

update: saw his pics and posted them...they are beyond beautiful and exceed my expectations!

DJ Antares (B): He played what we wanted but didn’t MC…I kinda already knew that and had one of the groomsmen MC and he was hilarious so it was so much better…I think it is best to have a funny friend MC for you. He had everyone dancing so I guess no complaints.

Sam Perch (A++): Videographer- ok, he was GORGEOUS and all the girls were crazy about him and he had the cutest british accent…oh wait, you guys want to know about how good he was…he came with an assistant and I would be surprised if he missed even 1 special moment of the day. He was everywhere…I would totally recommend him and he was the cheapest of all videographers I spoke to ($900 for 6 hours!)...and he was cute, cute, cute and sweet!

Mariachi Band (A+): Maye booked them. Truthfully I don’t remember how they played because I was sobbing too loud walking down the aisle to hear them…I know, I am a big baby…also, when they played during the cocktail hour, I was taking pics on the beach…but no news is good news, right…they were on time and the guests loved them so enough said....update: spoke to steve (he is a musician), and hesaid these guys were awesome...they played all the right songs at the right time...i had 7 person band and they were as cute as can be! i think they are a MUST HAVE for your ceremopny.

Palmela Floreria in SJD Flowers (A): turned out beautifully. i had green and pink cymbidium orchids for the ceremony and bouquets. I will post pics when I get them.

Marianna (Dreams coordinator) (A): she was really great, helpful, super responsive and nice.

Welcome Dinner (A++): Marianna booked casino night for us after the buffet and it was super fun…we became obsessed afterwards and had poker tournaments in our rooms almost every night. (see “food”) for more info.

Spa: ok, the massage I got was awesome!! And I am such a spa whore…3 other gals got them and said they were great as well. Also, they didn’t charge my guests $20 for the spa party.

Redrum Deep Sea Fishing (C): the guys probably wouldn’t do it again. 2 of the guys got really sick. Also, the crew was kind of grumpy and mean and yelled a lot but i think it was because they had to work on a sunday which they normally do not do...but steve caught a 100lb marlin and said it was beautiful.

JT Watersports (B+): the sailing/snorkel trip was really fun…we had the sailboat to ourselves and lunch was really good…but it did get choppy on the way back and the last ½ hour of the trip was brutal but not the companies fault.

The Office (B-): we went to dinner in town and went to “The Office”…the food was really good but SO EXPENSIVE! I am talking $50-80 and entrée. Thre was a band that played when you ate but they were really pushy...even if you didnt want them to pay, they played anyways and expected a tip from EVERYONE...my fiance gave them $10 and other people gave them $2-3 BUTthey were still hitting our friends for more money until they got some cash from everyone....and the flan was gross and i love flan and custard.

Cabo Wabo/Giggling Marlin (C-): can I say Cougar Den?!?...unless you enjoy watching 50-something year old divorcees that have had too much sun rub themselves on 20-something year old frat guys trying to make them get hard-ons to win a prize of….FREE DRINKS….so scary and a waste of time…at least for my group.

[cessyboston]

thank you tammy for posting this again................great info............

[MsShelley]

great review, thanks

[DreamsTulumBride]

The more I read about Los Cabos, the more I can't wait to go !

This year is the wedding trip, next year Walt Disney ( I promise my girls that we would go ... I think I am more excited than them !) so I guess I could only go in 2 years!

Is it true, you can't swim there on the beach...except at the Hilton resort?