Our review of the PV Hotel - Now Amber

This is what I posted on TripAdvisor.

Overall, we had a fabulous fun filled vacation. Our hotel was more than what we expected and we definitely plan to be back. There were a few hiccups but nothing major.

 ROOM - gorgeous 10th floor room 2061 with stunning ocean view. We booked the lowest room category but ask for a free upgrade given we went for our anniversary. I guess it never hurts to ask ;-). Our king bed was heavenly, perhaps even better than the heavenly bed at the Westin. The shower easily fits two people and had good water pressure- very important to me. and the separate jacuzzi tub was nice too. I loved the modern open design of the bathroom. Hubby loved the TV with plenty of free channels including HBO and SHOWTIME I think. The balcony was nice. We slept with the balcony door open most nights. There is nothing like falling asleep to ocean waves.

Hiccups: 1. screen on balcony door was not fully attached. We called to have it fixed but no one ever came. Luckily May is not rainy seasons so very few Mosquitos. We never got any in the room. 2. Intrusive calling - while they meant well to check how our room service etc were. It was weird to receive calls especially when we were napping.

FOOD above average although can vary a lot. Overall we love it as we quickly learned what to order and what to avoid. We love the fact none of the restaurants needed reservations except for teppanyaki. We love the convenience of 24 hr room service and stocked minibar. Our favorite a la carte restaurants were Bordeaux - French. Service was good and food came quickly. Felt like a $$$ restaurant but free ;-). French onion soup and steak with fois gras sauce were our favorite plus the trio sorbet for dessert. Himistu was a good second favorite. Being Asian, I am pretty picky about Asian food but I was pleasantly surprised. Their salads were flavorful. The salmon sashimi were the best and the eel roll was good. Teppanyaki show was also good. We never tried capers, castaway, or market cafe. Buffet breakfast and lunch were good. 6+ fresh juices in the morning and freshly made to order scrambles were my favorites. Grilled meats and seafood were very tasty for lunch and the barefoot grill was handy for pool time snacks

Dining tips: avoid hamburgers. We had it for room service first night. Horrible. Most of the sushi maki was not good and shellfish in general was not good. Shrimp was ok but prawns seemed not fresh. Avoid Tamarindo - service is slow and food was over salted. Ask for fresh cracked eggs for the made to order breakfast. Their pre- mixture and pre-made eggs always tasted funny to me

 HOTEL ENTERTAINMENT - Daytime activities were plentiful and more than expected. We kayaked, tried the water trampoline and inflatable ice berg - much harder than they looked. We did rifle shooting, archery. I also did yoga on the beach, water aerobics, Latin dancing and lessons. Hubby did water polo and music trivia. All were fun. The entertainment staff is always smiling, energetic and created a fun atmosphere. We especially loved Alejandro, Juan Carlos. Best of all, everything was included. Night time shows were just ok. We missed several. I think the best are the ones on Saturday - Caribbean night and Friday - fire show

NIGHTLIFE- We came to party since we didn't bring the kids. We like to dance, drink some and enjoy good music. We don't like techno though. There is a club on site but it was dead most nights. On Thursday we were surprised it was not dead and played some good music and had a small fun crowd. Just when we were getting into it, it shut down as it closes at 1am - bummer. Not to worry as there was plenty of nightlife on Malecon - along the downtown board walk lined at least 4-6 clubs. We had a blast on 3 different nights - Sunday at la vaquita - very casual bar with fun swings and wet Tshirt contest Sundays. Monday at Mandala - no cover and got the best seat on the balcony right in front of dance floor and Friday at Roo.

 I am including this in the hotel review because the hotel offers to bring guests to go out for nightlife every night by the entertainment staff. We had both a good and bad experience with this. The deal is $15 for cover or $40 for open bar including cover per person - both include cab fare there which is usually $6. This is a great deal on busy nights like thurs to sat especially if other people from the hotel go as it facilitates meeting other cool people in a fun way. it is more of a scam on other nights especially if you just paid cover as actually Sunday to wed there is no cover in most if not all clubs. We went with the hotel on Sunday and Friday. Friday was totally worth it as we ended up getting bottle service and had the best table in the club at Roo and partied with 10+ cool people from the hotel. Sunday turned out fun more because two other cool couples went. We were happy we ventured out on our own on Monday and Tuesday as places where entertainment team would have charged us cover or open bar, it was free to get in and we got much better liquor a la carte.

ALL INCLUSIVE - overall very worth it. Hubby got great premium liquor free and service was good. We did tip generously although we still prefer the club med experience better where no tipping is allowed. Figuring out how much to tip and bringing enough cash can get stressful. POOL AND LOBBY - our favorite pool was the one with the swim up bar. Loved the blue floating mats that we can just get on and tan in the water. We LOVED the lobby on 3rd floor - stunning grand with beautiful sunsets and awesome breeze. Overall, we really enjoyed ourselves and for the price we paid $2450 for a week at Now Amber including direct flight from SF, it was truly a luxurious vacation. ;-) We look forward to returning

Lexi's new favorite! The swing

Ling used to be scared of swing but I guess she got passed that point.  Now she loves it.  See this video

Puerto Vallarta Remembered

We went to Puerto Vallarta in late May for a week for our anniversary.  We had an awesome time and already miss it.  Here are the highlights.

• Hotel Now Amber all inclusive was great.  We had a ocean view room on the 10th floor and it was divine to sleep with the ocean waves.  Swimup bar was awesome.  also loved those free blue floaters in the pool.  You can tan and stay cool all in one shot.  See my detailed review of the hotel on another post
• Clubbing at Mandala, LaVaquita, and Roo were all pretty fun on 3 different nights.  see pics below.  Nightlife in PV is much better than Cabo- more variety.  More people were dancing as well.  We met a ton of Canadians - including Chris and Sarah from a small town in Canada - we had so much fun at LaVaquita with them.  Hope they will visit us in SF.  Sarah is the very tall model looking person in the photos.  
• Free activities at the hotel - we did archery, rifle shooting, waterpolo (see video below), water aerobics, dance lessons by the pool, kayaking, trampoline jumping on the ocean.  all included.  
• Zip Line tour with speed boat, donkey ride, and waterslide.  6 hours of fun and adventure.  see another post for detailed review
• There is just a lot more to do in PV - old town, Malecon are all are a short cab away.  There are plenty of flee markets to bargain at.  next time, we can rent a car and go a little farther to some nearby town. Yes, we definitely plan to be back
• $30 for a 75 min massage - just outside our hotel called Healing hand.  That includes tip.  I was so relaxed I was knocked out for the rest of the day
• May is a great time to travel - No rain means no mosquito or at least not that many mosquitoes.  Also it's after spring break craziness and before all the summer heat and rain.  Best part is it's not too costly.   This will be one of our favorite places to travel for our anniversary.  :-)

Here is Jaime playing waterpolo.

 
 Pictures from our hotel and trips to Malecon and Zone Romantica (old town)
 Photos from Our night out on the town

Isabel's 3rd munchkin run

This is isabel 3rd year in the race. Isabel ran and walked the half mile. Given she just recovered from a fever, she did very well.

We had brunch at Americano after the race. Gorgeous weather and great buffet.

Lei

Isabel is 2013 Karate Champion in Northen California

Sunday we left at 7:50am to drive Isabel down to Cupertino for her first ever Karate tournament. We got there just in time at 9am. Despite some registration issues, Isabel was in the competition with 4 other kids for the K2 divisions - kids 4-6 years old. It was quite an overwhelming tournament with people every where and at least 5 mats out with different competitions going simultaneously She did a fantastic job and WON! We recorded her competition of doing her "kata" and being announced soon after the 2013 Champion. here are the videos and photos. Here she is prepping for the tournament Waiting for her competition to start Her kata in competition - she looks so intense for a 5 year old She was announced the champion pictures from the tournament. You can see how crowded it is in one of the picture Isabel had a blast and it was all wrapped up for her by 10am although the tournament itself will last all day. We are very proud of her. Lei

Isabel gets Gold Belt in Karate

It was a Karate weekend. Sat, we took Isabel to take her Karate belt test. She is testing for Gold and Sunday Isabel went to her first Karate tournament in Cupertino. Here is her test and her photos with the other students. She PASSED with flying colors. Now she knows two forms "katas." We are very proud. Here are videos and photos. Lei

A leader in the making

Isabel is a little leader in the beginning. Since she is the most senior of her class, her sensei asked her to lead practice for 3 other kids that don't know the first "kata" as well. Here is her leading the practice

Sister play times

I know I was hesitant to have two kids initially since I was an only child and I was worried that isabel may not get enough of our attention if we have another.

I was so silly. Seeing Alexis and isabel together, I am so glad they have each other to play with and be with for the rest of their lives. It's lonely as an only child.

I just love watching them develop together. This morning Isabel was teaching Alexis the alphabet. So cute