la pacifica los cabos

[yodaDaenerys]

is there an all inclusive option here? i don't see anything mentioned in the write up.

if not, how are typical meals and drinks priced?

are the restaurants high quality? any bargain options, if i want to go on the cheap some days?

 

[buzglyd]

Meal plan is optional. It’s about $170 per day. It is a very expensive resort. The restaurants are high quality and the drinks are pricey. No bargain options that I’ve found other than bringing some meals into your room from outside the resort.

If I plan to stay on property all the time I take the plan.

 

[yodaDaenerys]

Meal plan is optional. It’s about $170 per day. It is a very expensive resort. The restaurants are high quality and the drinks are pricey. No bargain options that I’ve found other than bringing some meals into your room from outside the resort.

If I plan to stay on property all the time I take the plan.

thx for the reply. is the $170 per day, per person? does it include drinks, or just meals?

 

[buzglyd]

thx for the reply. is the $170 per day, per person? does it include drinks, or just meals?

Yes it is per person. It includes all drinks except some bottles of wine if I recall.

 

[Wright17s]

Does the $170/day include taxes & tips or is that extra? I'm curious with the all inclusive if there is a daily charge for gratuities (like a cruise ship) or if you still need to carry cash for tips?

 

[h2oflyboy]

is there an all inclusive option here? i don't see anything mentioned in the write up.

if not, how are typical meals and drinks priced?

are the restaurants high quality? any bargain options, if i want to go on the cheap some days?

FYI - the pool and beach chairs get “reserved” by guest starting before sunrise! (books, hat, shirts, and clips). There is a small office just past the check-in desk on your left that will reserve a chaise for you.
it’s a hotel, convention center, and timeshare all in one property. Plus it’s in between San Jose del Cabo and Cabo San Lucas, no options for dinning without using a car/uber/taxi.

 

[HedonisticEpicurean]

I'm not into all inclusive because I like choices. There are three great choices in walking distance of La Pacifica. I'm told there is more but these are my favorites.

I really like:
- Arbol
- Alebrige
- Sea Grill

The above are all at Las Ventanas which is a Rosewood Resort and owned by Ty Warner (Beanie Baby fame). It has been my favorite property that I discovered about 11 years ago. The best part is that it is a short walk from La Pacifica. I'm surprised that Arbol is not Michelin rated as it is as good as many 1 and 2 star Michelin restaurants - IMO. We really like Alebrige and Sea Grill as well for both the food and the service. My wife has taken groups of 10 to 20 to Alebrige in the past and the service was still perfect.

When staying at La Pacifica do the short 'romantic' walk on the beach to Las Ventanas, have an amazing dining experience, and walk back to La Pacifica on the access road.

 

[letsgobobby]

nm

 

[cdwillie76]

I'm not into all inclusive because I like choices. There are three great choices in walking distance of La Pacifica. I'm told there is more but these are my favorites.

I really like:
- Arbol
- Alebrige
- Sea Grill

The above are all at Las Ventanas which is a Rosewood Resort and owned by Ty Warner (Beanie Baby fame). It has been my favorite property that I discovered about 11 years ago. The best part is that it is a short walk from La Pacifica. I'm surprised that Arbol is not Michelin rated as it is as good as many 1 and 2 star Michelin restaurants - IMO. We really like Alebrige and Sea Grill as well for both the food and the service. My wife has taken groups of 10 to 20 to Alebrige in the past and the service was still perfect.

When staying at La Pacifica do the short 'romantic' walk on the beach to Las Ventanas, have an amazing dining experience, and walk back to La Pacifica on the access road.

Thanks for the recommendations. We are heading there in September for a few days then to Vegas for a concert.

 

[Wright17s]

Does the $170/day include taxes & tips or is that extra? I'm curious with the all inclusive if there is a daily charge for gratuities (like a cruise ship) or if you still need to carry cash for tips?

I found the following on a HGVC facebook group... looks like it's $170 + 16% tax + 15% service charge (which I'm assuming is gratuity/tips) so $222.70 total/day.

 

[CalGalTraveler]

We were told you needed to stay a minimum of 3 days for AI. Were were there for 2 and it was not offered.

Thanks @HedonisticEpicurean for the restaurant recommendations. There are very few options within safe (off highway) walking distance so it is nice to know there are options. Are any of these casual inexpensive options? e.g. seafood taco bar. We don't always want formal sit-down.

This is changing my perception of the resort as I found it quite isolated unless you planned to stay onsite or use Uber.

Do you need reservations?

 

[Wright17s]

I’m at La Pacifica currently, we just arrived yesterday. The resort seems really nice, great ocean views, pool areas, lots of restaurants, and the rooms are HGVC quality.

The all inclusive does not include the two coffee shops in the lobby area or the mini bar in the room, although it does include room service. We did opt for the AI as the prices seem rather high without ($117 for breakfast - 2 buffets, 2 mimosas and a bottle of water). They still make you sign for your purchases for their internal auditing purposes so easy to keep track of what you would have spent without AI.

They recommend reservations for dinner, which I easily made via Open Table, but the resort doesn’t seem too busy this time of year so I think winging it would work too.

As an aside, upon arrival at the airport, our bags were scanned and flagged for electronics… upon inspection the Customs agent asked how many laptops I had, which I said 2 (one for work and one for personal). They said I had to pay 19% duty fee for bringing in a 2nd laptop… they looked up the valuation of my laptop online via the agents iPhone and claimed my three year old MacBook was worth $4600… I was able to negotiate the valuation down to $1500 and had to pay $285 in import fees. Not a great way to start a trip but I guess my fault for not knowing the law, just seems a bit excessive… I guess now I know not to bring two laptops to Mexico (and hopefully this will help others too).

 

[buzglyd]

Way back in the day when I had clients in Mexico, I would go to the Mexican consulate in San Diego and get a work visa. It didn’t cost anything and covered me for questions about business cards and such.

 

[Wright17s]

One more update regarding our experience at La Pacifica

We did the All Inclusive the first 5 days and cancelled it for the last three for a couple reasons:

• Even though it is expensive (~$222.70 per person per day) when ordering at bars/restaurants it felt like we were on the discount meal plan as many times a day the drinks/appetizer/entree we wanted to order wasn’t included in the AI “meal plan”
• Even though the a la cart prices are high (expected for a resort) it was difficult for us to spend ~$450 for the two of us each day)

We enjoyed ordering the wine we wanted, dinners we wanted (which were not available on the meal plan) the last few nights and overall ended up spending slightly less than the AI.

We did an owners update for 150k Hilton honors points… they were really pushing Max and more resort locations, etc. but we declined (although I was nervous for a few min when my wife started to ask the sales guy questions ). Generally I would say low pressure, although they obviously were trying to do their job. The offer was swapping one 16,800 point deed (Trump) for another 16,800 point deed (La Pacifica) to get the 32x Hilton honors point conversion and save $600/year in MFs for $45k. An hour after leaving the sales center they texting me saying they could do $28k this “one time”.

We really enjoyed our stay, the resort is beautiful, the food (specifically breakfast buffet and Vela restaurant) was amazing, and the service overall was impeccable. We will definitely come back… and skip the AI.

 

[audirt]

One more update regarding our experience at La Pacifica

We did the All Inclusive the first 5 days and cancelled it for the last three for a couple reasons:

• Even though it is expensive (~$222.70 per person per day) when ordering at bars/restaurants it felt like we were on the discount meal plan as many times a day the drinks/appetizer/entree we wanted to order wasn’t included in the AI “meal plan”
• Even though the a la cart prices are high (expected for a resort) it was difficult for us to spend ~$450 for the two of us each day)

We enjoyed ordering the wine we wanted, dinners we wanted (which were not available on the meal plan) the last few nights and overall ended up spending slightly less than the AI.

We did an owners update for 150k Hilton honors points… they were really pushing Max and more resort locations, etc. but we declined (although I was nervous for a few min when my wife started to ask the sales guy questions ). Generally I would say low pressure, although they obviously were trying to do their job. The offer was swapping one 16,800 point deed (Trump) for another 16,800 point deed (La Pacifica) to get the 32x Hilton honors point conversion and save $600/year in MFs for $45k. An hour after leaving the sales center they texting me saying they could do $28k this “one time”.

We really enjoyed our stay, the resort is beautiful, the food (specifically breakfast buffet and Vela restaurant) was amazing, and the service overall was impeccable. We will definitely come back… and skip the AI.

The concierge emailed us a document about the meal plan that said you could order the not-included items for an additional fee. Did you do that? If so, what kind of upcharge was it?

 

[Wright17s]

The concierge emailed us a document about the meal plan that said you could order the not-included items for an additional fee. Did you do that? If so, what kind of upcharge was it?

Yes, we did once to determine if it was an “up charge” or if we had to pay the entire price… sadly if it’s not covered by the meal plan you can still order it but have to pay 100% of the cost (no “credit” for having AI). They even will keep separate tabs so when you pay your bill you sign for the meals covered by AI on one tab and the items not covered on a second. I think an up charge (or limit 1 with AI) would be reasonable, but oddly some items covered by AI are more expensive than those not covered, so I’m not really sure what is driving the omission.

 

[audirt]

Yes, we did once to determine if it was an “up charge” or if we had to pay the entire price… sadly if it’s not covered by the meal plan you can still order it but have to pay 100% of the cost (no “credit” for having AI). They even will keep separate tabs so when you pay your bill you sign for the meals covered by AI on one tab and the items not covered on a second. I think an up charge (or limit 1 with AI) would be reasonable, but oddly some items covered by AI are more expensive than those not covered, so I’m not really sure what is driving the omission.

Oh, that's really helpful. As people who enjoy AIs, this kind of makes me rethink things. We haven't studied them super closely, but it seemed as if the majority of the things we'd prefer to order were not covered by the meal plan.

 

[amirh]

One more update regarding our experience at La Pacifica

We did the All Inclusive the first 5 days and cancelled it for the last three for a couple reasons:

• Even though it is expensive (~$222.70 per person per day) when ordering at bars/restaurants it felt like we were on the discount meal plan as many times a day the drinks/appetizer/entree we wanted to order wasn’t included in the AI “meal plan”
• Even though the a la cart prices are high (expected for a resort) it was difficult for us to spend ~$450 for the two of us each day)

We enjoyed ordering the wine we wanted, dinners we wanted (which were not available on the meal plan) the last few nights and overall ended up spending slightly less than the AI.

We did an owners update for 150k Hilton honors points… they were really pushing Max and more resort locations, etc. but we declined (although I was nervous for a few min when my wife started to ask the sales guy questions ). Generally I would say low pressure, although they obviously were trying to do their job. The offer was swapping one 16,800 point deed (Trump) for another 16,800 point deed (La Pacifica) to get the 32x Hilton honors point conversion and save $600/year in MFs for $45k. An hour after leaving the sales center they texting me saying they could do $28k this “one time”.

We really enjoyed our stay, the resort is beautiful, the food (specifically breakfast buffet and Vela restaurant) was amazing, and the service overall was impeccable. We will definitely come back… and skip the AI.

That was our experience as well when we stayed there last September. Although, they were running a special on AI so we paid slightly less. We did manage to recoup our costs by spending a full day at the pool on one of the days we had covered. In my opinion, AI at Fiesta Americana Cabo was superior with better selection of drinks and food. We stayed at FA in 2018 so my comparison isn’t based on recent data.

 

[easyrider]

I’m at La Pacifica currently, we just arrived yesterday. The resort seems really nice, great ocean views, pool areas, lots of restaurants, and the rooms are HGVC quality.

The all inclusive does not include the two coffee shops in the lobby area or the mini bar in the room, although it does include room service. We did opt for the AI as the prices seem rather high without ($117 for breakfast - 2 buffets, 2 mimosas and a bottle of water). They still make you sign for your purchases for their internal auditing purposes so easy to keep track of what you would have spent without AI.

They recommend reservations for dinner, which I easily made via Open Table, but the resort doesn’t seem too busy this time of year so I think winging it would work too.

As an aside, upon arrival at the airport, our bags were scanned and flagged for electronics… upon inspection the Customs agent asked how many laptops I had, which I said 2 (one for work and one for personal). They said I had to pay 19% duty fee for bringing in a 2nd laptop… they looked up the valuation of my laptop online via the agents iPhone and claimed my three year old MacBook was worth $4600… I was able to negotiate the valuation down to $1500 and had to pay $285 in import fees. Not a great way to start a trip but I guess my fault for not knowing the law, just seems a bit excessive… I guess now I know not to bring two laptops to Mexico (and hopefully this will help others too).

That's a bummer at the airport. The worst thing that ever happened to me was they took my turkey wrap because it had lettuce in it. I think the lady had it for lunch, lol.

Bill

 

[letsgobobby]

That was our experience as well when we stayed there last September. Although, they were running a special on AI so we paid slightly less. We did manage to recoup our costs by spending a full day at the pool on one of the days we had covered. In my opinion, AI at Fiesta Americana Cabo was superior with better selection of drinks and food. We stayed at FA in 2018 so my comparison isn’t based on recent data.

how do the resorts and rooms themselves compare: FA and La Pacifica?

 

[buzglyd]

how do the resorts and rooms themselves compare: FA and La Pacifica?

Rooms are more upscale at LP. FA is nice but LP is nicer. I think the food and beverage is superior at LP. FA isn’t as good since it became mandatory.

 

[amirh]

how do the resorts and rooms themselves compare: FA and La Pacifica?

With the caveat that we stayed in a 1BR at FA and an STP at LP. The LP room felt newer but more like a hotel room. The FA room felt more plush and geared towards a time share experience.
The FA resort is much bigger and has dedicated buildings for time share rooms with dedicated pool and hot tub. It is built on a steep hill so getting to the central building where all the restaurants and other amenities takes longer. They do have golf carts that will take you around.
We would have preferred to stay at FA if AI wasn’t mandatory. We do excursions 3 or more times on vacation which makes AI too expensive.

 

[CalGalTraveler]

I haven't been to FA for several years but would concur that the La Pacifica room is newer and more lux but more converted hotel.

FA is purpose built timeshare. The sink in the studio at LAP was a joke. Narrow rectangle - like a mini-bar sink so not useful. I guess they expect you to eat at the restaurants on-site since you cannot walk to town. 1 bdms might be better.

LAP has a mix of corporate conventions, hotel and timeshare.

Both have nice pool areas. Can't go wrong with either.