Sunday, June 22, 2014
Sunday, June 15, 2014
A very happy Father's Day
We first had lunch at straits cafe in Burlingame and then saw the movie - how to train your dragon 2. It was awesome.
Saturday, June 7, 2014
A great anniversary at Secrets Vallarta Bay hotel.
I would give this hotel a 4.5 stars. I will tell you at the end why it's not yet 5 stars. We know we will be back here again and perhaps with some friends next time. ;-)
We stayed at the sister hotel next door Now Amber last year. We loved it so much we came back this year to try Secrets. Secrets is adult only vs Now amber allows for kids and is a little cheaper. At least we thought that was the only difference. We were wrong.
Secrets is a class above. The room decor are the same but the lobby furniture are better, and the food overall is better. We only paid $60 more to stay at secrets for the whole week. We will probably choose that in the future.
Another wow factor was we told them it was our anniversary and ask for a high floor. We ended up on 12th floor with beautiful ocean views. When we first walked into our room, we were greeted with a bottle of chilled champagne, rose petals in the shape of a heart on our bed and a full aromatherapy bath ready for our stay in perfect temperature. The bath was Divine. We were off to a good start.
We discovered new favorite restaurants. Last year our favorite was Bordeaux and it was still good but this year we loved oceana for lunch and dinner. The marlin tostada was amazing as was the filet mignon, octopus stew, etc. It's right by the beach so we had a lovely dinner watching the sunset. Apparently the menu is a little better than the castaway on the Now side and only secrets guest can go there.
The barefoot grill was also better on the secret side. More adult choices plus the lunch buffets at the market cafe were delicious complete with separate grill meats and grilled seafood stations. We loved the seafood soup and the Mexican minestrone soup.
Our favorite drink was still the fresh mint - no alcohol by the pool and with our meals. I don't drink much but did have a few shots prior to going clubbing on some nights.
Having an all inclusive with premium liquor included and free room service were awesome.
So why the 4.5 star? Well we had two weird hiccups in the back office services
1. Room service one night - the guy answering the phone had a major attitude issue. He decided to play with us - telling us food will be there in 1 min as it was late. We called back in 5 min still without food. and he asked why we are calling him so much. He also pretended the line was not clear and his voice was in the distance. We were pissed and only got after food after 5 calls.
2. Housekeeping - wouldn't come and clean when we asked even though they said ok. Another time dare to knock on our door when we said do not disturb on the door.
For both incidents, we complained to the concierge and asked that their manager send me an email with a response. The concierge handled it fine but obviously they have some personnel and training issues in the back office. It was a small annoyance which is why it's not a five stars. It's been 3 days but I haven't gotten an email response yet.
Will this deter us from coming back? Probably not. No hotel is perfect. This one is still probably one of the best all inclusive hotels we have been to on all of our vacations. ;-)
Sent from my iPhone
We stayed at the sister hotel next door Now Amber last year. We loved it so much we came back this year to try Secrets. Secrets is adult only vs Now amber allows for kids and is a little cheaper. At least we thought that was the only difference. We were wrong.
Secrets is a class above. The room decor are the same but the lobby furniture are better, and the food overall is better. We only paid $60 more to stay at secrets for the whole week. We will probably choose that in the future.
Another wow factor was we told them it was our anniversary and ask for a high floor. We ended up on 12th floor with beautiful ocean views. When we first walked into our room, we were greeted with a bottle of chilled champagne, rose petals in the shape of a heart on our bed and a full aromatherapy bath ready for our stay in perfect temperature. The bath was Divine. We were off to a good start.
We discovered new favorite restaurants. Last year our favorite was Bordeaux and it was still good but this year we loved oceana for lunch and dinner. The marlin tostada was amazing as was the filet mignon, octopus stew, etc. It's right by the beach so we had a lovely dinner watching the sunset. Apparently the menu is a little better than the castaway on the Now side and only secrets guest can go there.
The barefoot grill was also better on the secret side. More adult choices plus the lunch buffets at the market cafe were delicious complete with separate grill meats and grilled seafood stations. We loved the seafood soup and the Mexican minestrone soup.
Our favorite drink was still the fresh mint - no alcohol by the pool and with our meals. I don't drink much but did have a few shots prior to going clubbing on some nights.
Having an all inclusive with premium liquor included and free room service were awesome.
So why the 4.5 star? Well we had two weird hiccups in the back office services
1. Room service one night - the guy answering the phone had a major attitude issue. He decided to play with us - telling us food will be there in 1 min as it was late. We called back in 5 min still without food. and he asked why we are calling him so much. He also pretended the line was not clear and his voice was in the distance. We were pissed and only got after food after 5 calls.
2. Housekeeping - wouldn't come and clean when we asked even though they said ok. Another time dare to knock on our door when we said do not disturb on the door.
For both incidents, we complained to the concierge and asked that their manager send me an email with a response. The concierge handled it fine but obviously they have some personnel and training issues in the back office. It was a small annoyance which is why it's not a five stars. It's been 3 days but I haven't gotten an email response yet.
Will this deter us from coming back? Probably not. No hotel is perfect. This one is still probably one of the best all inclusive hotels we have been to on all of our vacations. ;-)
Sent from my iPhone
Another great vacation in puerto Vallarta
Here are all the highlights
- first time scuba diving :-) we took a class at the hotel in the pool for an hour and then went snorkeling and diving the next day to Marietas island. So glad we did it. It was always on my bucket list of things to try. The hardest part was actually equalizing our ears to the depth both on the way down and up. Gotta go slow. We were diving for about 30 min at 30 feet with an instructor and two other beginners.
- salsa dancing on the malecon. It was pouring on Thursday night but it didn't stop us from taking a cab to downtown to the most popular salsa club enjoying live Cuban music. I danced with some locals while jaime watched and relaxed. It was a small floor but very lively with some great Cuban dancers. By the one we came out at 1am the rain cleared. I was drenched from the humidity and dancing and felt refreshed at the same time
- learned a new bar trick - tilting a glass with a napkin and toothpick. Will have to show you.
- saw rope based circus performance up close. In sat night the first night we went to Zoo a night club downtown and stood 10 feet from their club performers who dressed in skin tight animal outfits and did some amazing antigravity feet on a rope hanging from the tall ceiling
- eat local tacos after clubbing at republica tacos on malecon
- having coco frios on the beach in late afternoon. They cut up the fresh coconut after we drank the juice and dress it from salt lime juice, and prapika. It was delicious
- being active at the hotel. We played water polo and do morning yoga. I also took a dance class, 3 water aerobic classes, and did rifle shooting and one crazy game. Fun!
- climbing the iceberg, an inflatable structure floating on the ocean. Needs two people one on each side to counter balance. I almost made it to the top but then my top started slipping. I let go since I was about to flash people. ;-)
- eating lunch at 8T a local restaurant walking distance from hotel. Had 3 different kind of cerviche. Very fresh although the food at the hotel was equally good
- enjoying all kinds of food at the hotel. Will tell you more about it in the next post about our hotel.
- meeting people at the bar or pool. 3 couples - A mixed Filipino and white couple from St. Louis. Charmaine and Kevin. one Indian couple from bay area. Anupam and archna . And then another couple from St. Louis. James and Elizabeth.
- we had all kinds of shots with the last two couple at the pool. The bartender just created different ones to surprise us.
- going to mandala with James and Elizabeth on Monday night. Elizabeth is gorgeous and tall. All the local boys loved her. Mandala is a fancy nightclub on malecon. We danced the night away and even got the DJ and change to hiphop music from techno. Yay!
- we got pretty dark. Didn't get burned.
Can't wait to see the kids. I am writing this one the plane home. A great trip.
Fresh haircuts for the summer
First Alexis - she has been pulling her hair on both sides, so we decided the best way to stop that habit was to cut all her hair off. I first just used scissors to cut it super short. Two days later, agnes got a shaver and shaved her head bald. She is still so cute and looks like a little monk.
Then isabel got her first professional haircut in Chinatown for $7. While I loved her long hair before, its nice to have a change and she is super happy with the experience. Agnes also gave her hot oil treatment at home after. Nice and pampered. ;-)
Ready for summer!
Lei
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