The Trip of a Lifetime – Where do I even begin?

We took a trip to San Jose Del Cabo on May 31st to celebrate our upcoming anniversary (and to take a much needed vacation). We researched and researched and watched just about every resort video YouTube had to offer and decided to stay at Secrets Puerto Los Cabos.

This resort was all-inclusive, which means that all food and drinks are covered (unless you want to buy top-shelf alcohol). It had 7 restaurants and a little poolside grill for quick day-time snacks, 4 different bars as well as a little coffee shop where you can get specialty coffee, and 2 separate pools, one of which was exclusive to preferred club members.

Israel and I honestly had the BEST time. There is so much to tell you about so I’ve decided I’m going to break down our trip into 3 separate blog posts. This post will be all about the resort, everything we learned about booking, travel, and staying. I’ll make another one for your packing list, and then finally, a very personal post about anniversary-moons and why we loved ours so much.

If you don’t need all the info in this post…Check out the video I made of our trip!

Here’s what’s in this post:

• Booking the Resort
• Booking the Flight
• The Resort
• Activities
• Food
• Resort Tips + Good-To-Know Info
• Our Honest Opinion
• If you’re not a reader, here’s a video!

Booking the Resort

Two of my cousins had gotten married at a Secrets/Dreams resort in Mexico a few years back (one in Puerto Vallarta, and another in Cancun) and I remember having the absolute BEST time, so I really tried to convince Izzy that we should stay there. The problem was, for a six night stay, we were looking at quite the price tag. My husband loves a good deal so, for a while, this resort was out of the question. However, the rest of the resorts were either more expensive, weren’t all that appealing, or were for college kids on spring break. It took so long for us to decide which resort we wanted to stay at that we ended up booking our flight before we even knew what resort we were going to! (More on that in a bit.)

When we finally narrowed it down to Secrets, we searched EVERYWHERE for a deal (and when I say “we,” I mean Izzy). He searched Costco, Kayak, he called the resort to see if booking over the phone would be any cheaper – anywhere and everywhere you can think of, Izzy was trying to get us a price that made sense. We finally found a somewhat reasonable price on Priceline’s website. It was still out of budget, but better than everyone else. Izzy decided to call and see if he could get a better deal and more information, and I kid you not you guys, they knocked HUNDREDS of dollars off the price on their website. It ended up being almost half the price of anywhere else we looked (this is not an ad for Priceline, I repeat: not an ad).

Here were some of the places we looked and some of their benefits:

• Costco: obvi we love Costco. They were offering the room we wanted (preferred club) plus transportation to and from the airport once we got there. They also offered a resort credit that you could use at the Spa, and a Costco gift card once you returned from your trip.
• Secrets Website: There were certain incentives for booking through their website. You could book like a “honeymoon” or “eternal love” package that would get you little things like flowers on the bed, or a romantic dinner for two, or champagne breakfast in bed. They run specials on their site and say they will match any price (not sure what the particulars are for that, but good to know!)
• Priceline: Again, their price was probably among the most reasonable but because we called we got a better price. The agents over the phone are the only ones with the ability to give you a better price and they also run promotions through those agents so, if you’re even thinking about booking, CALL THEM!

Take me back to the menu

Booking the Flight

The last time we went to Cabo we flew out of the Tijuana Airport, and I swore I wasn’t gonna do it again but…we did it again. The flights were just SO much cheaper that we almost had no reason to fly out of the San Diego airport. Like I’d tell anyone, crossing the border by CBX is SO easy. The Tijuana airport is nice, safe, and clean, and when you cross using CBX, you cross the border, go through security, and get over to your gate without every leaving the building so it feels very safe. Plus, there are tons of Americans doing the same thing, and most of the employees either speak English, or repeat all the instructions and announcements in English so you don’t need to be traveling with someone who speaks Spanish in order to fly out of there.

A few of our tips for flying Volaris:

• Buy the checked bag online rather than at the airport. We bought a checked bag because I had way too many outfits to be limited to a carry-on and I do not regret it.
• You get a carry-on and a personal item so, we essentially had 3 suitcases (2 carry-ons, 1 checked bag), 2 backpacks, and my little cross-body fanny pack for the passports I never let out of my sight. I didn’t take it off the whole flight cause I didn’t need to, it’s really small but can hold a phone, wallet, passports, seasick bands (iykyk), chapstick, and hand sanitizer.
• You get a little customs paper when you cross into Mexico, stick it in your passport and don’t touch it again. You’ll need it for when you come back home!
• Bring your own snacks, everything on the plane costs money.
• Download your playlists/podcasts/youtube videos BEFORE you cross the border. It’s just easier.
• Print a backup copy of your CBX passes (to/from) and your flights just in case. Izzy was our ticket guy and he dropped his phone in the pool on our trip so we were a bit stressed about making sure we could find our ticket info.
• Bring eye masks if, like me, you never sleep before exciting adventures!

Take me back to the menu

The Resort

Ahhh, the resort! It was so beautiful, so well-manicured I imagine the HOA fees are astronomical lol. But for real, this place was what Mexican vacation dreams are made of. I believe there were 8 buildings, 8 eateries (not including room service), and 4 bars (although you could get a drink at any restaurant). There were pickleball courts, a grassy lawn for lawn games and volleyball, a putting green as well as a BREATHTAKING golf course (that we did not golf on because it was $500 to do so), a spa (that we also did not utilize because it was somewhat pricey), 2 pools, 2 gigantic jacuzzies, a fire pit, a night club, a sandy, beach-front lounging area, and endless activities.

Preferred Club

So, Izzy and I decided to book the preferred club room that ended up being an extra $400-$500 total. Preferred club rooms are only slightly different in that they have a jacuzzi on the balcony, but there are certain other amenities that we thought were totally worth the extra money.

• Jacuzzi on the balcony: I know I just said this, but it was a very cool feature. We got to watch the sunset and chill, it was very peaceful.
• Access to Preferred Club Lounge: When you first get there, everyone is greeted with a cold towel (it’s HOT in Cabo), then if you are a preferred guest, they whisk you away on a golf cart to check in at the preferred club lounge. Before they even check you in, they get you a drink from the bar (which has the best alcohol on the resort, available only for preferred guests), and anything you’d like to eat from their assortment of food. It’s the only place on the resort where you can pop in and grab a tiny snack. There’s computers, sofas, and the place smells like a freaking spa.
• Access to preferred club pool: this is the infinity pool, it’s much more laid back and quieter. It’s so relaxing and you have the best view of the ocean. There is poolside service where you can order drinks and food.
• Breakfast at Oceana: This restaurant is right next to the infinity pool, and is only open for breakfast to preferred members. It’s beautiful and the breakfast is the best here! There’s only one other restaurant open for breakfast which is the Market Cafe and it’s buffet style. It’s good! But Oceana is better!
• Concierge Services: The concierge for preferred guests is a small team of people that you can call and get help from. For example, our concierge was able to get us a reservation for the Hibachi table rather than us having to wake up early and go get in line to get a reservation.
• Daily Mini Fridge Restocks: We found out that if you don’t stay preferred, the resort will only stock your mini fridge and snacks once at the beginning of your stay. For preferred guests it’s every day.
• Better room location: The preferred buildings are closer (albeit, not all that “close”) than some of the other buildings to the restaurants and pools. They’re sort of clustered more around the preferred pool, but there were some rooms that seemed like a very far walk from the main pool and building with all the restaurants.

Take me back to the menu

Activities

One of the best things about our trip was all the activities we were able to do. They had yoga in the morning out on the deck overlooking the ocean, Pickleball, Volleyball, Ping Pong, Water Aerobics, Water Volleyball, Corn Hole, a putting green, Karaoke, live music, themed dinners and shows. They also had things like tequila tastings, and wine and paint night, and the art walk where they’d take guests off the resort to Downtown San Jose Del Cabo for the art walk happening there (this was only like $20 extra). Honestly, I was worried when we booked that a seven-day trip was going to leave us super bored, but there was so much going on all the time, we wish we would have stayed longer!

The entertainment team was always there to put on the activities and honestly they made them SO fun. This team (and frankly, everyone that worked there) made our trip so memorable. They were kind, funny, and truly kept the activities and entertainment flowing. When we think back on our trip, one of the things that stood out the most was the staff.

Take me back to the menu

Food

The food was good! It wasn’t great, and it wasn’t bad. Some things were really good and others were sort of just…meh. We went to almost every restaurant and here’s how we’d rank ’em:

1. Breakfast at Oceana
2. Hibachi Dinner @ Himitsu
3. Room Service (lol, seriously)
4. El Patio (Mexican) / Portofino (Italian) – The jury’s still out on who gets 4th place.
5. Trattoria – We went here for Asada night. It was good! This is where they have the entertainment like Flamenco dancers, the Fire show, and Mariachis.
6. Barefoot Grill – mostly nachos and burgers for the pool

Sadly, we never made it to Seaside grill. The food presentation was really great! And, as always the service was great.

Romantic Dinner for Two:

Okay, this was AMAZING. I don’t know what Izzy spent on this night but ohhh my gosh. So, we were picked up at the Preferred Club lounge on a golf cart and escorted to the wedding gazebo. There was nobody around except for our personal waiter (yes, that’s right a PERSONAL WAITER). He would give us a lot of alone time as well because he had to go get our food (I don’t know why they didn’t give him a golf cart, that actually upset me on his behalf, but don’t worry he was compensated for all his hard work).

We picked our meals beforehand, and then spent the three-course meal looking out over the ocean during sunset. It was actually super romantic, and the food was delicious! I loved this night, I thought it was well worth the money.

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Resort Tips + Other Good-To-Know Things

• Tipping is not mandatory but it goes a long way. Bring a couple hundred in cash, it will take you far.
• There are cabanas by the pool and by the beach. You must reserve the ones by the beach ($50/day) and can reserve the ones by the pool ($50/day) if you choose. The cabanas and chairs by the pool, and the loungers under the palapas by the beach are all first come, first served.
• The resort is closer to San Jose Del Cabo and is a $6 uber drive away from downtown. It’s about 40 minutes from downtown Cabo San Lucas, and 25 minutes from the airport.
• We called the resort and used their preferred transportation (Amstar) to and from the airport and it was great! They picked us up from the airport with a cooler and got our vacation started in the car, and picked us up and took us straight to the airport when we were done. It was about $80 for both of us round trip.
• Take advantage of the activities and entertainment. They did movies on the projector by the pool, they had different shows going on throughout the week. The entertainment was what made our trip feel so full and how we met lots of friends!
• Bring your own: sunscreen, medicine, and insect repellent. There are stores you can buy from but they are OUTRAGEOUSLY priced!
• Bring comfy walking shoes: I brought a whole suitcase full of shoes, only one of which were actually comfortable. Everywhere in the resort is either tile or cement so, even if your shoes aren’t that painful, just know you are going to be on hard surfaces your entire trip.
• There are no wristbands! Everything is done by room number. It feels less exclusive that way, I really liked it!

Take me back to the menu

Our Honest Opinion

I couldn’t recommend Secrets Puerto Los Cabos More. A lot of the time, the same people end up servicing you so you form a sort of relationship with them. We could tell you by name the people who took care of us at the pool, the bar, for the activities, and our concierge and they truly made all the difference in our trip. The no-kids vibe made this vacation so different from anything we’ve ever done. We met so many people and made so many new friends, it was a blast.

We had such a good time we tried to book another night while we were but it was just way too expensive. Izzy and I could talk your ear off about our experience at Secrets, so heads up! Don’t ask if you don’t want to hear all of this again (lol, kidding – but seriously). We were so sad to have to come back but we are definitely hoping to make another trip back! We would stay at this resort again, too because we really loved the staff and honestly would want to see them again.

If you’re not a reader, here’s a video:

I want to hear from you!

Got any questions about the resort? Have you stayed here before? What was your experience like? Me, myself, and I want to know! Leave a comment below with your question, or your experience!

xo,

Jess