Frequent Miler's latest team challenge, Million Mile Madness, is almost done! The last two weeks Greg, Nick, and Stephen competed to earn 1 Million SAS miles by flying 15 airlines. But who completed the challenge with the most Speed, Affordability, and Style?
Last week, I spent 5 nights at the Hyatt Ziva Los Cabos, and it was awesome. Travel has long been a hobby for me, but this was without a doubt a vacation. I slept in (as much as a 7-month-old allows), ate delicious food, and enjoyed the relaxed pace. Whether you’re stacking the 4th night free with a best rate guarantee or using 20K Hyatt points per night, I think the Hyatt Ziva Los Cabos All-inclusive is well worth it. Rather than a comprehensive review, I thought I’d share a few things I think are worth knowing about it beyond the standard details.
The staff is awesome
Hats off to the staff at the Hyatt Ziva Los Cabos. The level of customer service was well beyond what I usually expect in North America. I was impressed from arrival to departure.
Victor, who escorted us to our room with our bags, not only gave us a warm welcome and thorough rundown of the resort layout, but he remembered my name every day. And not just my last name – he called me by my first name every day up through the moment we were loading up the car to leave. He really set the tone with his upbeat, jovial spirit.
At breakfast every morning, the hostess Margarita greeted us with such warm enthusiasm that by the day we left and were saying goodbye, my son was reaching out to hug her.
Marcos, who waited on us at the on-property Italian restaurant “Zaffiro”, gave us excellent recommendations, including the fact that I should substitute out the potatoes that come with the beef osso buco for the creamy asparagus risotto that comes with another dish as he thought the creaminess was a great complement to the savory meat dish. He was not wrong. I don’t even like asparagus, but he had really lit up explaining it when I asked him about the osso buco dish that I had to try it. I’m glad I did.
And those were just a few of many people at the Hyatt Ziva who really stood out amongst a great staff. I initially felt like management deserved a lot of credit for excellent training, but later decided that HR deserves at least as much credit for hiring good people. Some will take it as a given that customer service at a resort should be good. I thought it really stood out here.
Food is better than expected
My wife and I had never done an all-inclusive property before and didn’t know quite what to expect. I’d read mixed reviews about the food, though most people seemed to agree that it was good for an all-inclusive resort. Perhaps it is because I had adjusted my expectations downward accordingly, but I was really impressed with the food. It wasn’t Michelin-star-quality, but most of it was better than your average tourist restaurant. Here’s the caprese salad at Zaffiro:
And there were plenty of other great dishes along the way (plenty). I sampled enough of the menus to tell you that you will not walk away hungry. If you do, it must be because you somehow skipped the coffee shop, where you’ll see that the tongs on the pastries face outward since it’s all-inclusive and you can just serve yourself on those.
The resort has several sit-down restaurants:
- Zaffiro (Italian, by the beach)
- La Hacienda (steakhouse / grill, by the beach)
- La Cortija (Spanish)
- Dozo (Asian)
- Bon Vivant (French, adults-only)
But those aren’t the only options for food. Other options:
- La Plaza (buffet)
- El Molina (Mexican buffet)
- Coffee Shop (with pastries as shown above, plus gelato and an additional special case of cakes and other baked goods)
- Coco Loco (pool side “snack shop” serving tacos / quesadillas / chips and guac / etc)
- 24hr Deli (just an unmanned buffet with pre-made sandwiches / burritos, coffee, and soft drinks (all serve yourself)
- Food carts by the pool that vary – there were taco / quesadilla carts and a nightly crepe cart)
- Room service (Don’t get the cheeseburger. Trust me – don’t do it.)
With 5 nights, I expected we would sample everything above. As it turned out, we liked Zaffiro and La Cortija enough to go back to each a second time and we ended up skipping out on La Hacienda or either buffet apart from breakfast (and we ate enough at breakfast that we usually just ordered a quesadilla by the pool for lunch). I should note that the breakfast buffet spread was impressive. I felt like I ate both breakfast and lunch there in the space of an hour each day.
There is a lot to do and it is very family-friendly
Along those same lines of our inexperience with all-inclusive resorts, we didn’t know what to expect in terms of atmosphere. Before we started looking into this for vacation, I think I had assumed that an all-inclusive property’s main focus was on a party atmosphere and that it was probably only worthwhile for college students who could drink their room rate in free alcohol each day. While I’m sure it probably feels that way at times like spring break, I was very pleasantly surprised at how family-friendly the place felt. Sure, there were plenty of drinks being served to satiate any adult’s thirst, but there were also tons of other things to do. An activity schedule posted for the week shows organized activities from beach yoga to a ping pong tournament and Spanish lessons.
There was water aerobics daily and live music by the pools nightly. Our son doesn’t stay up late enough to have made it to any of the nightly 9pm shows in the theater, but the performers roamed the restaurants each night to drum up interest. Two of the singers from the Three Tenors show performed a snippet one night during dinner and I was impressed.
There is also a kids club with its own activities schedule, including face painting, craft making, movie time, etc. The minimum age for the kids club is 4 years old, so we didn’t spend any time there though it looked like kids were having a blast there.
There is a much cheaper spa across the street
This tip came from a reader (H/T losingtrader). If you’re looking for a massage and don’t care so much about the full spa experience of the resort, head across the street. If you head out the gate of the Hyatt Ziva and make a left, you’ll see a little strip mall across the street. It has a small grocery store, a dentist, and Natura Spa among other things.
The spa is very reasonable. My wife got both a 1-hour massage for $40 and a 90-minute massage for $60 while we were there. Two and a half hours of massage across the street totaled less than the cost of one hour at the Zen Spa on-property at the Hyatt. Natura Spa certainly didn’t have the same atmosphere you’d expect at the on-property spa, but they had a number of massage therapists on duty and my wife reports that the massage was a solid very good (and well worth the cost). She felt that was especially true here since a random massage therapist (as opposed to someone you visit regularly at home) is always a bit of a gamble in terms of the quality of the massage. While Natura wasn’t the best massage she’s ever had, she went back for the 90-minute massage after trying the 60-minute to start.
There is also cheap laundry nearby
One of the many things I didn’t know about having children until this year was how much laundry a baby can create. Wow. We packed a suitcase for our son that weighed roughly three times what he does…and I’d say we didn’t overpack. Carrying around clothes caked in baby food isn’t really my idea of a good time. Furthermore, we’d spent a couple of nights in LA before heading to Los Cabos and we would be spending several more in San Jose after, so we accumulated some dirty clothes and needed to do laundry. I had read in a review that there was a laundry spot nearby the hotel, and it turned out to be really easy to get there. They charge 80 Mexican Pesos per load (about $4.21 based on today’s exchange rate) to wash, dry, and fold. That sure beats paying by the piece at the hotel. They weren’t fast — we dropped it off on Wednesday afternoon and they initially told me it would be ready on Friday. When I was clearly surprised, they said they could have it done Thursday after 6pm. Still, for less than five bucks a load I won’t complain.
The laundry place is in the basement level (at the bottom of the escalator by the parking garage) of the shopping center with La Comer, which was described by everyone at the Hyatt as a Mexican Walmart. If you need some sort of supplies, the store had most of what you would expect to find at Walmart – so basically everything you would need. Prices were US-reasonable.
To get there, head out the gate of the Hyatt and make a left. Just after the strip mall with Natura Spa, you’ll see this staircase:
At the top of the staircase, you’ll see the entrance way / escalator for the La Comer shopping plaza on your left. Again, the laundry place is at the bottom of the escalator towards the parking garage. It has Max in large letters and is clearly a dry cleaner. It’s to the right of the escalator as you can see here:
Sunsets are awesome
While not swimmable due to dangerous undertow and strong waves, the beach at the resort is stunning. And it gets better at sunset. These photos from my phone won’t do it justice — it was hard to leave.
Bottom line
I didn’t know exactly what to expect at the Hyatt Ziva Los Cabos. It was our first all-inclusive experience and I didn’t know how it would work out with a baby. It turned out to be a fantastic stay. An all-inclusive property was perfect with a baby — if he got too fussy during dinner, it was easy to return to the room and order room service or pick up something to grab-and-go (though we only had to leave early once). This was probably the most relaxing vacation I’ve ever taken. Food was better than expected and there were a number of things located nearby, so we saved money on laundry and massages. I’d definitely go back to this property and I am sure we’ll check out the other Hyatt Ziva properties on future vacations.
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Nick – Do you think it is worth it to use points and cash? For a family of 4 to stay five nights it would cost 100K Hyatt points and $1,500. Was planning on staying in April. Thanks
I guess that really depends on room rates. That seems very expensive to me — what are the cash rates if you paid outright? Do you have a Citi Prestige card where you could get the 4th night free on a paid stay?
My short answer is that if paid rates are under $3,000, I’d be hesitant to use the points as that’s not great value for the Hyatt points — but I’d probably be even more hesitant to spend $600 a night on a room.
Are standard rooms available? I might rather just book two rooms and use 200K Hyatt points than pay $1500 cash…
Hey Nick,
I’ll be traveling to the Ziva with my first born soon. I noticed the seat your son is sitting in in the picture of your wife and son at the restaurant. I’m curious to know what seat that is?
Thanks!
It’s called the Inglesina Fast Chair. Here’s a link to it on Amazon (our affiliate link): https://amzn.to/2CaJTvV
I highly recommend it. My wife found it on some sort of sale where I know we paid a lot less — it looks like some sites have it for $69 and she thought we paid something more like $35 or $40, but I don’t recall exactly how much. At any rate, it has replaced his high chair at home as well — he really seems to prefer being right at the table. It comes apart easily for cleaning (toss the seat itself in the washer) and it feels very sturdy (the bars are metal). We’ve put it on quite a number of different surfaces and haven’t scratched anything (including an antinque wooden table).
I intend to do a traveller’s gift guide around the holidays with stuff like this that comes in handy. I can’t see us going on a trip without this — it’s even convenient for visiting family members (who don’t have a high chair).
We just booked tickets to SJD yesterday for Christmas. Looking at the Hyatt Place which is just next to the Ziva. Curious about how you found the immediate surroundings- felt safe, easy to get navigate, anything to be aware of, etc?
I actually walked to the La Comer shopping plaza “the long way” several times, which goes further toward the Hyatt Place. Seemed totally fine to me and easy enough to get around. You can see the Hyatt Place from the Ziva gate (and it looks like one side of the Hyatt Place has rooms from which you could see the Ziva). You could easily walk to the same spa and shopping plaza with the laundry place. I only walked during the middle of the day, so I can’t speak to the situation at night. I saw other (local) people, but not a lot of people. That made sense since it isn’t really a residential neighborhood — most of the people around were waiting for a bus home from work or walking to their cars after doing some shopping. There is a little playground on the corner where you turn to go to La Comer going the long way (taking the stroller up the staircase was a pain, so we went to the next intersection you can walk up the sidewalk instead after the first time). I saw a couple of people with kids at the playground. I didn’t see anyone who appeared dangerous / on drugs / threatening. Just my experience and I was only there a few times and didn’t venture off property every day, but I found the surroundings felt safe and easy to get around. Like I said, federal police came by a couple of times — so you’ve got guys standing in the back of a pickup truck with machine guns and their faces covered. That’s probably unnerving if you’ve never seen that kind of thing, but on the flip side I’d rather they were patrolling than not.
My wife walked to the spa and back by herself one day because the baby fell asleep for a nap and she figured she’d take the opportunity to do the 90-minute massage. I’d have preferred to have walked with her, but she didn’t feel uncomfortable at all.
As far as things to be aware of, be aware that tour guide salesman will approach you in unexpected places outside of your hotel. They are nice and friendly and usually strike up a conversation that has nothing to do with tours at first. We bought baby-related supplies at the La Comer store a few times. Each time, someone came up with an ID badge that made it kind of look like they worked at the store and they would ask if we were finding everything we were looking for and if they could help. The typical “Is this your first time in Los Cabos?” kind of chit chat. Then they’d inevitably ask if we were interested in any tours, they can give us a much better price than our hotel, etc. None of them were aggressive salespeople — just hustling to earn a living. When we explained that the baby is still too much of a wild card to book a tour and we really weren’t interested, they let it go pretty easily every time. I don’t mind that sort of thing — everyone has to make a living and they are thinking outside the box a bit roaming the aisles at the local Walmart. Nobody talked to us at all on the street apart from outside the spa. There is a tour guide office next door to the spa, and as soon as we walked into the parking lot they came up asking if we would be interested in any tours. Again, they gave up pretty easily each time. Nobody was rude or pushy.
There are local buses that will take you around San Jose del Cabo. We didn’t take them, but I’ve read reviews from people who did and said they were fine. They looked like old well-used school buses. You’d have to ask someone else about taking them / safety / etc, but they exist for getting around. We drove from the airport to the hotel and down to Cabo San Lucas and back. From the airport/car rental place, a timeshare salesman told us to take the toll road to San Jose del Cabo. There is also a local road. He said it’s got a bunch of traffic lights and gas stations, but nothing to see. The toll road is $2 or 35 pesos and they take USD or Pesos (and he said they’d give us change in USD even if we paid with a $20 bill). I had Pesos for that and I think he was right. I gassed up on the local road on the way back to the airport. Unless it got really scenic somewhere (doubt it based on the map), I think the toll road was worth two bucks. I read that stop signs are considered optional and you should keep an eye on your rear view mirror as the person behind you likely assumes you know that. It wasn’t inaccurate — nobody else around was stopping at the stop signs in town. I’m sure that a stop sign is *not* optional if there is a cop waiting to pull you over for a bribe, so I came to a rolling stop that was pretty close to a full stop at each one, but made sure there was safe space behind me to do so as people in other lanes weren’t stopping.
Also, I rented a car from National through Rentalcars.com. I was pleasantly surprised at the easy, no-BS (almost) nature of it. Rentalcars.com included (mandatory) Mexican liability insurance in my rate. Based on what I’d read, I expected to have to argue about that and about the fact that my credit card covered CDW, but I did not. They proactively explained that my rental included the minimum liability, they showed me what that covers and other options, but we didn’t even talk price when I said I was happy with the coverage I had. No pushing, no issues. No problem on return — quick and easy and no surprises. The only “issue” is that they let you get swept up by a timeshare salesman before you get your car. That said, I would have taken him up on his offer had we not had the baby with us. He started out offering me $100 and cheap tickets for tours. My rental car was only $93 all-in for 5 days. When I said no, he upped it to $150. I’d have probably taken that for the hour or two of saying no, but it wouldn’t be realistic with the baby (maybe that would have been more reason to go in hindsight!).
Anyway, hope that all helps some.
Thanks for the comprehensive reply, very much appreciated. I’m leaning towards skipping the rental car even with a good rate like that, the potential hassles seem not worth it. This is going to be a similar vacation to yours, we’re just going to relax and enjoy the scenery, try to avoid as many stressors as possible.
We booked AA direct from PHX in economy via BA Avios at 15k +~$100 taxes/fees per RT. AA cash price was almost $800 per, so we got about 4.5¢ per point which I’m very happy with. The Ziva sounds great but Hyatt wants $1100/night for our dates, so no thanks lol. This will be our first trip to Mexico, really looking forward to it.
We are also from Phx and it is going to be our first time in Cabo. Can’t beat the Avios redemption for sure. We are staying 4 nights at Ziva but we are using points. Nick did you pick up the car at the airport?
As nick pointed out, the lobby shootout was some time ago (not recent) and it’s obvious that the fence perimeter at the street-side entrance to the driveway is new and in response to that. A couple of things to call out/mention:
1) I read a posted Q&A response on tripadvisor from the property that La Plaza Buffet will be open for DINNER, which is great as before you could only do to a specialty restaurant ordering off the menu or next door to the Mexican Buffet, which gets old fast. This was one of the limitations here compared to Puerto Vallarta. I don’t know the date of when this is to begin/start.
2) This resort is popular with travel groups, corporate and private parties, which I imagine is seasonal. One visit there were private parties every night in the outdoor pool areas, with one night 4 (yes FOUR) going on all at once. Another visit, there were none. With the pools normally open till 10:00 they might close down areas early to accommodate these groups.
#1 is already the case. Each night La Plaza has a different theme (one night was Indian, one was Caribbean, Friday night was a “seafood party”, another night was Italian, etc. So it is open for dinner. We opted for the specialty restaurants for dinner each night though, so I can’t comment as to how it was.
It looks like they did a great food presentation with the caprese salad! The great thing with AI you can eat and drink as much as you want. Only bad thing as a previous poster mentioned about Cabo is the beach is too rocky and can’t enjoy it. We’ve been once and that’s the reason why we haven’t gone back.
Rocky? Did you stay somewhere else? The beach at the Ziva Los Cabos is sandy. Further down in Cabo San Lucas it eventually becomes pretty rocky, but not at the Ziva. You definitely can’t go in the ocean though — the waves are clearly too rough. I saw people going down to the edge and running back up to beat the waves and thought they were crazy.
You had me until you mentioned the part where you can’t actually swim in the ocean. What’s the point of going to an oceanside resort if you can’t get into the water on the beach?
I would have totally agreed for you if we hadn’t lucked into this trip making sense because our son is too young to swim in the ocean anyway. I think we likely never would have gone if not for the fact that we had no intention to go in the water anyway. And now that we’ve gone, we’ll go back even though you can’t swim there.
To answer your question, the resort itself is unquestionably the main draw with its all-inclusive food, drink, and entertainment. However, we became enamored with the beach. My wife and I haven’t traveled as widely as some bloggers, but we’ve been to fifty-something countries and most of the states in the US and this was a standout beautiful beach among many beautiful beaches we’ve been fortunate enough to see. I think the fact that people couldn’t swim meant there wasn’t any trash to be seen – either on the beach or in the water — and you felt much more like you had the beach to yourself when taking a walk at sunrise or sunset. By contrast, we went down to a swimmable beach in Cabo San Lucas and it was packed with people, bars, load music, vendors, the aroma of jer ski fuel, etc. I don’t mean to say that I don’t like that kind of beach also, but for a relaxing and quiet enjoyment of a walk on the beach while also having the advantages of an all-inclusive, this was great.
I totally get your skepticism — and I do love snorkeling/scuba diving/swimming in the ocean and will do that on a different trip next year — but I certainly wasn’t sad to wake up to that view from my bed each morning (the pictures of the resort pools and ocean were taking from my balcony – we kept the curtains open at night to wake up to the view in the morning).
I see your point. If you weren’t going to swim anyway, it makes sense for you. I’m just one of those people that needs to get in the ocean – and in general, I’m one of those people that can’t just sit around at a resort relaxing. I need to be climbing a mountain or something. But thank you for your lengthy review – it gave me a much better understanding of an all-inclusive resort and of what to look for when I’m booking my own vacations.
Just got the email with the fall rates sale for the Hyatt aic’s in Mexico and Jamaica…. beginning at just $125/night. That’s awe-some…. (If you’re buying via Chase UR’s points, that’s likely half the equivalent of what you’d pay in Hyatt points…. The trick of course is making sure you can cancel with refund, in case your planned time gets washed out by another hurricane. (and fly southwest for the same reason)
first, the $125 rate is only for Puerto Vallarta, which is only 20k hyatt points and hyatt points are more easily refundable. Second, you really don’t want to fly SW to Jamaica, they they have horrible schedules unless you live in ATL or Florida….we usually get non stop AA flights from DFW using BA points to get to any of the Hyatt AI’s at a bargain rate..and lastly, If you haven’t experienced an all inclusive, hyatt is a great way to start….the only thing that put me off was Cabo has cartel problems and that hyatt had a shootout, with fatalities, in the lobby a couple of months ago…guests ran for cover as police and cartel members had a shootout…no guests were killed, but still, west coast mexico would be low on my list of places to stay.
Using 20k points for a $125 stay is terrible. You would get better value on amazon LOL. Specially considering you get points for the stay and 4th night free with citi prestige.
The $125 rate is per person — so $250 per night. And it’s “from” that price, so could certainly be more on some dates.
The shootout in the lobby was a year and a half ago. As I recall, it was a car being chased by the police that randomly sped into the Ziva parking lot and they had a shootout with police in the lobby because that’s where they ran in. Of course, it’s a reminder that this kind of thing can happen in a place with drug cartel problems, but it was a fairly isolated incident. They now keep the large metal gates closed, with a guard out front. That said, there is another ramp that just has a boom someone could probably ram through if they wanted to — though it’s fairly unlikely.
I am no expert on drug cartel problems, but I imagine you saw the story about the 8 bodies found in Cancun last week (to my knowledge, none were tourists) and I don’t think Jamaica has been immune to violent crime, either. Don’t let my unqualified opinion sway you to go to Cabo, but the shootout you’re referencing seems like the kind of thing that could have happened in any of those places, and indeed we’ve seen can happen in the US in any random place more often than almost anywhere else in the world. Everyone has their own barometer when it comes to safety and acceptable levels of risk. I did see federal police roaming in pickup trucks and they had a checkpoint off the highway somewhere along the way, so security is obviously a concern – I don’t mean to minimize that. But I didn’t feel like I was more likely to be the victim of a violent crime at or near the Hyatt or in Cabo San Lucas (took a short ride down to look at the arch from the highway) than I do any time I go to any crowded place at home.
well nick, all i can say is that im glad ur family is safe. like u said, everyone has their own safety compass, but lets be honest. all it takes is just ONE time to change ur life. 99 safe trips will never replace that last 100th time “isolated” disaster. in the end, its all about probability. this planet has many other amazing beach locations, but i can safely say people have short memories and forget the dangers too easily.
You’re absolutely right that it only takes one incident — I’m sure if I were the American that got shot in the leg in the Hyatt Ziva shootout, I’d not be in any hurry to return. On the other hand, by this logic I should avoid video game tournaments in Jacksonville, night clubs in Orlando, concerts in Las Vegas, movie theaters in Aurora, churches in Charleston, schools in the US….. My point here is that isolated disasters happen everywhere. I haven’t closely followed the stories of cartel violence against tourists in Mexico, but logic would dictate that the cartels stand to make money on tourists – no sense in scaring them away by killing random tourists. Of course there could be a wrong-place wrong-time incident – but that’s hardly isolated to Mexico. What what was it — 59 people killed and 500 injured in the concert shooting in Vegas last fall? I’m much less concerned about the cartels warring with each other in Cabo than a shooter randomly firing into the crowd in any crowded place in the US. I think it’s important to take sensible safety measures and consider the risks of travel. But I also try to keep in mind the fact that more people die in car accidents every day than in random acts of violence in most places.
In fact, according to Wikipedia, 2017 was Mexico’s deadliest year on record, with 31,174 murders recorded. That’s certainly not to be ignored — that’s almost double the number of homicides in the US. It’s also less than the 37,000+ people who died in car accidents in 2016 (most recent year with data) in the US. The CDC says that worldwide, about 1.25 million people are killed on roadways globally each year. I’m willing to bet that a much higher percentage of the car accidents were random isolated incidents. I still drive almost every day. And I even hop in Ubers/Lyfts/Taxis with drivers who I don’t know. You’re right about considering probabilities, I think we just have different views as to what those probabilities are.
The Hyatt Ziva/Zilara Montego Bay is super nice. Great rooms, unusually good service, lovely beach and water, and superb food. Just a thought.
A nice thought too. Concur re. the superb Rose Hall food. 🙂 We were there just after it had opened, and the beaches were still rather narrow/ragged. Have they been able to build out the planned beaches? One of two things holding us back a bit from return vacations to Montego Bay is the astronomical taxes on airfares, coming & going. (London-class, worst in the region) While I can “discount” them a bit if buying via CUR, they do rankle…. The other issue has been local (if comprehensible) resentments & unrest — focused especially on the lack of public beaches. (google it — ironic and yes, very sad)
Helpful report indeed, and glad you and your family could enjoy the Hyatt aic experience. I’ll give you slight extra credit that you did briefly, if barely mention the one huge negative for the property — the beach being quite dangerous, and unsafe for swimming or any water activities. For us, that’s still a key reason to skip this one, even though it’s 20% points less than other Hyatt aic’s. (unless they start busing to beach areas nearby that are swim safe?)
By contrast, we have been to three other marriage-saving 🙂 Hyatt all-inclusives (we were first enticed into this realm long ago by Daraius of MMS)…. In our experience, the (adults only) Hyatt Zilara at Montego Bay by far had the best, most incredible food experiences (in part as you can also imbibe the dining delights at neighboring Hyatt Ziva). The Cancun Zilara’s superlatives included the nicest rooms and views. (most rooms having huge two-person whirlpools, and EVERY room is ocean front there — none of this “ocean view” partial nonsense sooo common at beach places…. and yes, we got the post-card wine & rose-petals everywhere treatments too. 🙂 On the other hand, because of it’s location, the Cancun Zilara (unlike Cancun Ziva) is prone to having its beaches closed due dangerous red flag conditions…. lost one of my best uva students long ago to those Cancun undertows…. not to be trivialized or ignored…. )
Nick has been an awesome addition to FM. Love his articles.
Thank you very much!
Is that a horse I see in the last photo? We are in SoCal and I”ve been trying to get my wife to go there for a couple years now. If there are horses there to ride that might be the push she needs to agree to go!
Definitely horses on the beach. On one of our last nights there, we were sitting on the beach and I was taking pictures of our son playing in the sand when we suddenly heard a faint voice saying “watch out” very sheepishly. I looked up to see a ~9 year old girl on a horse about 3 feet from my wife and son walking (slowly, thank goodness) right at them. We shot up and got out of the way. The girl’s dad was very apologetic. It wasn’t her fault that she didn’t have good control of the horse — but I let them know that’s why you don’t let a kid lead the pack of horses..lol.
So yes, there are horses on the beach. I don’t know about the quality of instruction :-). It’s separate from the Hyatt — there are a couple of beach vendors there.
Stayed there with my husband a couple years ago and agree on all fronts. Except, I found the food decidedly average – good for an all inclusive though. Having stayed at other all inclusives I was very impressed by the genuine service there. We have a 3 month old now and are thinking of returning since it’s very family friendly as you mentioned (that was actually our biggest complaint at the time – it was TOO family friendly! Now that’s a positive).
ETA: I hear the kids club employees are the babysitters that the hotel offers and quite excellent, just as a tip for parents out there 🙂
Fair enough. I will say that you’re right that the food is not amazing — I was thinking better than an average tourist spot (i.e. better than the Italian restaurant across from the entrance to the Vatican that has placards with pictures of its pasta), but you’re right that the restaurants definitely aren’t gourmet. I expected below-average for an all-inclusive and imagined more of a buffet rather than restaurants. If you go in expecting the quality of Olive Garden / Applebees, you’ll probably be pleasantly surprised by most dishes. I found the paella at La Cortija to be “meh”, but the beef osso buco at Zaffiro was excellent. Appetizers / tapas at La Cortija were mostly excellent IMO. Dozo’s menu sounded great, but neither of us loved our dishes there. Quesadillas were good each time we had them. Not amazing, but better than I expected.
I definitely think it was a good vacation with an infant / family. We said we’d go back with other family members.
Sure, don’t bother mentioning that meeting me was the highlight of your trip. I didn’t realize your room could see directly into mine. Good thing I kept the curtains closed.
Ha! I didn’t want to put your business out there :-).
But yes, it’s true. I met losingtrader for dinner the one night that my body was either done being stuffed for days or unappreciative of the poor job I did caffeinating that morning and thus I had about 3 bites of my dinner. I promise that I had plenty of extra bites the days before and after to more than make up for it, and several extra pounds on the scale to prove it.
It was good meeting you!
Curious – did the staff know that you’re a travel blogger?
I don’t think so. I certainly didn’t mention it to anyone. If you Google my name, the first page of results is for the Call of Duty character if you search with Nick (last I checked anyway) and if you search Nicholas (which is how I sign an email to a hotel manager), Google will think you’re looking for Nicolas Reyes, lead singer of the Gypsy Kings. It’s not impossible for the property to have known — but in this instance, I doubt it. Everyone down to the guy handing out towels at the pool seemed genuinely friendly beyond what I would normally expect. I can’t imagine my potential review would have been enough to pass out my picture to the pool towel guys. A place like this has so many people on staff that it wouldn’t seem realistic.
Great review. Rates are so low right now for the one is Cancun. I was thinking of going, not taking the baby, and hopping between the Ziva and Zilara to fill out my Hyatt brand explorer. Hope that one is as nice as Los Cabos.
Yes, the one in Cancun is just as nice as Los Cabos. I’ve been to both Ziva and Zilara Cancun and (at least when I was there), I actually preferred the Ziva. More/bigger pools, larger grounds, more restaurants. The location on the corner of the beach zone is fantastic.
Hal, the Ziva in Cancun is much bigger. The beaches on either side of the property are beautiful and swimmable. I don’t think the rooms are as nice, and everything is a longer walk. Cancun is more humid year-round. The Ziva in Cabo is desert-like in terms of humidity during the late October-March period.