My husband and I just returned from our trip to Dreams in Los Cabos. It was our first all inclusive vacation. After reading the reviews here I was a little worried since we usually vacation in Grand Cayman and have become accustomed the gourmet restaurants and perfect beaches there.

When we arrived at dreams I was pleasantly surprised at how nice the hotel is. The grounds are beautiful and the staff is helpful and friendly. Our room was poolside, with 2 double beds and a sitting area. It wasn't anything special but they kept it very clean and replenished the mini bar and towels daily.

Here's a list of thing to know before going the Dreams:
1. You can't swim in the ocean there due to the dangerous currents. The waves were huge walls of water that sounded like thunder when they hit the beach!

2. For some reason everyone gets up at 6am and "reserves" the best seats at the pool . I found it very annoying at how petty and childish the other guest were about the pool seats. Also the pool water was VERY cold which made the swim up bar impossible to enjoy.

3. The food isn't great but it's good. The breakfast buffet was the best meal. The fruit was fresh and scrambled eggs were decent. I liked the smoothie bar the best. The Asian and Italian restaurants were good (We eat in NYC a lot so it has to be outstanding for me to think a meal is great) I enjoyed the sushi and pasta.

4. The spa was nice very clean and relaxing although a bit overpriced. It cost me 240$ for a so-so massage and facial.

Overall I liked Dreams and had a great time.
I definatly recommend taking an ATV tour if you are into outdoor activities(bring your own bandanna and clothes that you don't mind getting really dirty) and taking a shuttle to downtown Cabo. There is some decent shopping and Cabo Wabo had the best food and Margaritas we had the whole time there.

From the moment you step out of your vehicle and into the lobby of Dreams los Cabo you are in awe. It's a paradise getaway like no other. Everything from the staff to the food, the activities and entertainment, rooms and service, it doesn't get any better or easier than Dreams. The atmosphere is relaxing but they know how to make things exciting especially with their outgoing and very friendly staff! There are numberous activites not only for the children to partake in, but also the adultsl! Everyone of all ages will have a blast whether its the water aerobics, putting contest, water and beach volley, the cooking and salsa dancing lessons. Whatever the activity you're sure to have a blast! The location is also perfect because you are right inbetween San Jose del Cabo and Cabo San Lucus, both relitivley close so it's easy to travel into the cities. Overall everything was excellent and i wouldln't have changed one thing about my trip, except maybe next time i'll book my stay for a bit longer!


-Nicke
Chicago, IL

Dreams was a great choice for an AI. Because it is in the middle of the Corridor, it's worth it to do the AI for meals and drinks. Traveled with a friend and our 2 kids, 17 and 18 y.o.

Rooms: All rooms are "ocean view" according to website; there are none designated as "ocean front" - but, they do have rooms that are actually fronting the ocean and they're the same price. If I owned the place, I'd charge more for those! The resort is "U" shaped, and the ocean front rooms are the ones at the flat ends of the U. The ocean view rooms are inside the U overlooking the pools. Don't bother asking for an "ocean front" room, just tell them you want to be on the flat front of the resort that looks out over the sea. We were in room #3301 and it was one of the best views of any 1BR suites in the place. #3302 just as nice, a junior suite. I assume #4301/2 and #5301/2 would be just above and have the same awesome view. These were on the north part of the "U", so there would be corresponding rooms on the south part as well. Floors were tile, mopped every day. Screen doors on bedroom sliding doors (no patio there for sitting, but enough room to stand out side the doors and enjoy the sounds of the surf), no screen doors on the living room patio, which would have been nice.

Beds: Yes, they're firm, but not hard. I was very comfortable and slept exceptionally well in a huge king. Pillows were soft and cozy. The sofa beds however were very uncomfortable according to my teenager and we had to ask for sheets for the sofa bed and extra pillows.

Kitchenette: Take or buy paper towels. No kitchen linens provided. Small frige, bigger than a mini, but not full size. Stocked with 4 beers and 4 waters each day, but all you had to do was ask and room service would bring as many as you like on the AI plan.

Balcony: huge in the 1 BR suite, a bit smaller in the junior suite but still nice. 2 chairs and 1 table. They should really add some lounge chairs and big pots of bouganvilla to up the rooms to 5 star status.

Amenities: I'm a gym rat and I loved the gym. Yes, the equipment was not brand new, but worked perfectly and they had plenty of weight machines and free weights, plus 3 elipticals and 4 treadmills. Go back up to your room to stretch on the balcony; it was soooo wonderful!

Restaurants: Didn't try the Aisian restaurant cause we didn't read a single good review of it. The Italian restaurant was the most elegant (Portofino) with the servers placing the napkins in the ladies' laps, and they had my favorite bottle of Tuscan wine, a Brunello, but it was not included in my AI! No wonder, it's kinda pricy, but it impressed me that they even carried it. Food was excellent, and when we didn't order appetizers, the server offered to bring out a sampler. Calamari was a bit over breaded and somewhat chewy, but I'm picky about that sort of thing. Grouper was nice, as was the salmon. Oceana was also elegant and everything we had was very good. I'm not talking 6 star restaurants here, but for an AI, I thought it was excellent and far more than I expected. Seaside Grille also good for lunch, as was El Patio. No problems with flies on the buffet as I had read in other posts, but perhaps it was the time of year we were there.

Bars: Drinks definintely watered down at pool bars, but not at the lobby bar. Javiar at the lobby bar makes a mean mango margarita and is happy to pour an extra shot which you can add to your drink if you so desire. Love that AI plan! That bar is open till 1am, which isn't late enough, but get your drink and go sit out by the open fire pit on the level overlooking the pool and the sea. So peaceful, so nice. Sure wish I were there right now......

Staff: Top notch. No complaints at all. We did leave a dollar on the pillow every day for the maids and they did a super job, but I think they may have done a great job even without the tip.

Which brings me to Tips: We also tipped the bell staff $1 for getting taxis, getting bags to and from rooms, etc. but again, I think the service would've been the same anyway. These folks here just work so hard and I'm sure for very little, it was good to leave them a little extra.

Location/Transportation: In the middle of the Corridor, $25 cab fare to Cabo and $20 to San Jose, one way. Yes they have a shuttle, but it's $6 per person one way, so for four people, you might as well take a cab. Local bus is the way to go at $1 to $2 per person one way, but only take it into Cabo. The stop in San Jose is a 15 block walk to the town center. Also be careful crossing the highway to get to the other side and catch the bus to Cabo. There's no marked bus stop on that side; you just stand there and make the sign - arm outstretched toward Cabo - and the bus will pull over and stop for you; there's plenty of room, almost a whole lane. The bus will turn on their turn signal to indicate they've seen you and are pulling over. Great during daylight hours, but we took the cab at night. Buses also run on Mexican time, so you may wait 15 minutes or so, but for $1-2 per person, it's worth it. It was also kinda fun, and the local on the bus were extremely nice; the guys always got up to give us their seats.

Complaints: Only 2. The towels were huge, but a bit scratchy, especially when coming up from tanning on the beach or at the ppool. Again, softer towels would up them to 5 stars. Also they ran out of bottle water occasionally (once with room service, 3 times at restaurants), but we could always find some at the lobby bar or spa. Also, every day I went to the gym they were out of water in their dispenser! Not acceptable. But, I just went across the hall to the spa and they had plenty of cold bottled water.

Spa: didn't try it; wish I had!

Beach/pool chairs: yep, they go fast, but we always found some. We opted for the beach instead of the pool most days, and it worked out fine. Stop and get towels, but be sure and return their towels before 6pm or they really will charge $150 to your room - we were good and turned all ours in on time except once; I got them to hand write a note that we had turned them in that time and took it to the front desk just to be sure!

Activities: Didn't do anything except yoga on the beach which was awesome, from 5 to 6pm daily. Did see the putting contest which looked like great fun, and the water aerobic class was mostly young adults who were having a blast. Miguel leads it, and also the stretching class at 10am, and he's a lot of fun.

Summary: A truly beautiful resort. Our AI package was $2200 for 2 people in a junior suite for 5 nights, but Erik had to upgrade us to the 1BR suite cause they had sold out all the junior suites. We tipped him $10 anyway cause the room was so awesome. The sound of the waves crashing at night was wonderful, but loud some nights so I had to actually shut the patio doors! I'm going back a.s.a.p. and taking my younger kids (9 and 12) cause the Explorer's Club at Dreams looked so incredible!

We just returned on 3/18/07 from a one week stay at Dreams. My boyfriend and I stay at about two all-inclusives per year (Dominican Republic/Playa del Carmen) and this was our first time in Cabo. We have always heard good things about the Dreams/Secrets resorts, so perhaps we had too high of expectations going in, based on what we paid for the resort.

Upon arrival - which was around 8:30pm - we checked in with no problem but were left to find our room on our own with no offer to help with our luggage. This was a bit surprising, but not a huge deal. The room was nice, clean and had a wonderful view of the ocean - so no complaints there.

Food/Drinks - Compared to other all-inclusives we found the drinks to be better than most places, but the food just did not compare. The breakfast buffet was average at best. It just didn't offer the huge assortment of homemade breads, jams, yogurts, and other choices that we've enjoyed at other resorts. The store-bought bagels/
breads/yogurts just didn't compare to what we've had before. The lunch choices were also very average. The buffet options were very limited, as were the menu choices. The pizza/burgers were not good - they tased like they were frozen and heated up on the grill. The mexican options were a bit better - but for example the chicken quesedillas were barely grilled or warm, and had maybe 3 strips of chicken. Dinners were better - the menu choices at all the restaurants offered a nice variety in some very romantic settings.

We liked the no reservation policy for dinners, but what we couldn't understand was why they closed one restaurant per night when the hotel was at full capacity!? One evening in the middle of the week we had to wait over an hour for a table and were eating dinner at close to 10:00 at night! There were so many people just waiting around for a table or somewhere to eat that night, that it just didn't make sense to us to close restaurants and make people wait that long for dinner. The dinner buffet was available, but it was very limited and just did not look appealing. Again, not what I'd expect for the money we paid.

The one thing we found most disappointing was the large amount of children at this resort. It seems like Dreams advertises themselves as a romantic, honeymoon spot for couples, but at the same time they market themselves to families w/children. I would NEVER recommend this resort to someone looking for a romantic honeymoon spot! It just seemed odd to be having a romantic dinner at their beautiful seaside restaurant, and look over and have a table full of crying, tired children who've been kept up too late! Or another evening we were enjoying their romantic Italian restaurant and were right next to a kiddie table of about 9 children. Again - not what we expected.
The pool was also very croweded with lots of kids running and splashing around - lots of family groups who'd brought 2-3 kids each made for some large, noisy settings at times. While they do have the Kids Club - it doesn't seem like a lot of parents use this option.

Overall, the resort is truly beautiful, but we've had better food and more relaxing vacations at resorts that were less expensive than Dreams. I would not go back, nor would I recommend it to couples looking for a quiet, romantic get-away.