- Thanksgiving week at Zoetry Casa Del Mar in Los Cabos, Day 1
- Day 2 at Zoetry Casa Del Mar
- Rest of the week at Zoetry Casa Del Mar
It was late morning but no one was at the hostess stand. We ventured further into the restaurant, where the manager saw us and ushered us to a table on the patio. When it came time to order, we had the same waiter as the day before. I asked him if they could give me papaya on a plate, and he said yes. I also asked for a side of sausage for my pancakes. He was not sure what I meant, so he had the manager come over to clarify my request and to verify again the entire order. I definitely hoped he was in training, as it seemed out of place to have an untrained waiter at a fine resort. Wouldn't shadowing a veteran server work better? After our orders were taken, we were offered a selection from a basket of breads and pastries. I had forgotten about this in my previous blog entry until I saw the pats of butter in the pictures. The baked goods were dry and lackluster the previous morning. The butter, while it looked appealing on the plate, when spread onto the pastry, did not taste like butter. So Kaleb and I did not select anything today. But all in all, this morning's meal was satisfying, so it boiled down to more informed choices.
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During our meal, I noticed that the couple sitting a few tables away received a bill. The restaurant also served the public and not limited to Zoetry patrons.
The previous night, we had received the next day's resort newsletter, called the "Sundial", that gave some information about the next day's specials. This newsletter would be delivered every night during turndown. It was also accompanied by a plate of sweets.
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| sweets |
After breakfast, we headed over to the beach lounge chairs to enjoy the view and the sounds of the ocean while reading our Kindles. It was partly cloudy, so we didn't have to worry about finding chairs under an umbrella.
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| the beach ends at a slope, cannot see the waves crashing from here |
Unfortunately, it turned out that the Beach Club right behind us was under renovation as well, so the sounds of the waves were intermixed with drilling, hammering, and loud music coming from a radio. This also meant that lunch was not served there, as listed in the Sundial.
There were rarely any servers coming by to take drink orders. We weren't the only guests out there either. A server did pass by once, and we were able to order a couple of drinks as well as some french fries and guacamole delivered to us. We had tipped him, however he did not return until over an hour later. In the meantime, Kaleb had to go to the pool bar and bring back a beer, and fortunately I had brought a couple of bottles of water from our mini-bar to quench my thirst. This was a complete 180 degrees from our experience at Secrets. Despite a great start to the day, my hopes started to fizzle out with all the noise and the lack of service. We packed up and headed back to our room to sit on the balcony instead. At least the pool bar construction had ceased as the workers moved to the Beach Club.
For dinner, we went to Tapanco. The menu was somewhat different than Mezquite and there was a dress code. Men needed to wear a collared shirt, long pants and dress shoes. I forgot to take a picture of the menu, so some of the dishes I cannot identify. I did have to add salt to my fish entree. The best dish that night was the seafood trio.
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| salmon amuse bouche |
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After dinner, we decided to stop by the Maguey bar to get some extra limes and salt to drink with the bottle of tequila in our room. The place was surprisingly empty, with only Esteban the friendly bartender manning the counter. I supposed with Zoetry being marketed as a wellness spa and resort, there wouldn't be a lot of drinking. But not even one patron in the bar for a nightcap? Esteban gave us a glass full of limes and a salt shaker and we returned to our room for the night.
The next day, we were awakened again by drilling and hammering by the pool bar...might as well get up and have breakfast. We had similar breakfast dishes at Tapanco (this time the waiter didn't bring the manager over to confirm our orders), then we walked down the beach to check out the sister resort Dreams Los Cabos. Dreams was next door to Zoetry, but "next door" meant the same as "one block away" on the Las Vegas Strip. :)
The beach was pretty empty, with long stretches of sand meeting the blue ocean. Too bad it wasn't swimmable!
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Arriving at Dreams, we noticed there were a lot more people there because the resort caters to families. It seemed livelier as well. We stopped by Portofino, the Italian restaurant, to see what was offered there. Staying at Zoetry also includes privileges at Dreams, so you can use the facilities there as well as eat at the restaurants.
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Portofino wasn't open for lunch, and I didn't see anything exciting to eat amongst what was open, so we walked back to Zoetry to have lunch. On the Dreams beach, there were a bunch of horses tied up on a wooden post. We had seen people riding on horseback up and down the beach the past few days, so we had found the origin. It looked to be an independent business, not associated with Dreams. I think the best time to ride would be sunset; pictures would be beautiful and romantic with the pink light and hazy horizon. We didn't get around to doing this though.
Lunch was at the Beach Club. The construction was done so the restaurant was open, but the loud music remained. I had thought that was only for the construction workers, but it seemed to have become part of the restaurant. In addition to the food we ordered last time (french fries and parrotfish ceviche), we also tried the fish tacos. They were decent, especially with fresh pico de gallo. Again, our water glasses weren't being filled when they got empty and the wait staff were hardly around. I overheard one couple remarking on how slow the service was. There were plenty of open tables in the restaurant so it wasn't because it was too busy.
Since the music was pumping again at the Beach Club, we didn't lounge out there, so we found a quiet pool amongst the condos that were adjacent to the main building. The water was not heated, so it was brisk. We had also found the main pool to be cold as well. If the weather was hot and humid like other times of the year, the cool water temperature would be refreshing.
After swimming, we returned to our room to get ready for our spa services. In the meantime, I set out to try the complimentary laundry service that Zoetry provides as part of the "Endless Privileges", filling the bag in the laundry basket with dirty clothes and wet swimsuits, then called down to the front desk for pick up. A few minutes later, someone knocked on our door. He picked up the bag in the closet and told us that the clothes would be ready the next day.
We headed over to the spa and checked in. There was no one in the lounge area, nor in the jacuzzi room. There were snacks available in the lounge such as cookies and fruit. The massage was decent, but not eyes-rolling-into-back-of-head-good achieved by my preferred therapist at Massage Envy.
That night, we went downstairs to eat at Tapanco again. At this point, it felt like repetition. I didn't even take any pictures of our food. After dinner, we headed over to Maguey bar for a nightcap. Esteban was there again. We had him mix up his favorite tequila cocktails for us. He was so friendly to talk to. We learned about his family, how he met his wife, and where he lived. He made us feel more welcome in one hour than the whole time we had been at Zoetry. The other staff hardly smiled and seemed to not care if we were there or not, even though we were leaving tips. Needless to say, we gave Esteban a huge tip!
I ended up having one too many tequila drinks and enjoyed the aftermath later.
We received another copy of the Sundial that night...for some reason, they weren't delivered to our room every night.
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We also got little "sweet dreams" cards some nights, printed with wise sayings.
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The next morning, there was no construction noise so that was a plus. But I couldn't help yearning to go home, not because I was homesick, but there was just a feeling of dread. I told this to Kaleb and to my surprise, he also felt the same, and this is coming from a laid-back kind of guy who doesn't let things faze him.
Today was our last full day at Zoetry. We went down to breakfast and tried some different entrees and juices.
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I thought that having a bagel would settle my stomach from last night, but to no avail. I ended up not eating lunch, just sat on the balcony during the day, and ordered room service for supper. (the "seafood trio" was on the menu so we had that again) I didn't feel like I missed out on eating at the restaurant since the food and service wasn't super exciting.
In the late afternoon, we had received a phone call from the front desk informing us that the laundry deliveryman was just outside our door. We had put the "do not disturb" sign on the door so it was considerate of them to call ahead just in case. All the clothing that was taken was there, with every article of clothing either hung up with a plastic bag, or folded and wrapped in tissue paper. To lighten your luggage, you could bring a few days' worth of clothing and use the laundry service halfway through the week. It was a treat to pack clean clothes into our carry-ons.
I also called Terramar transfer services in the afternoon to reconfirm our pick-up the next morning. Worldwide phone calls were free (part of the Endless Privileges), a plus for making restaurant or activity reservations, parents wanting to check on their kids while away, workaholics to dial into the office, etc. There was also wireless internet in the room, so you could get your Facebook fix.
We were so happy to wake up the next morning, because we were going home. At breakfast, I decided to go completely off the menu and ordered "huevos con chorizo" (scrambled eggs with chorizo sausage), a popular breakfast entree in Mexico. Our same waiter was surprised at my request and had to bring the manager over again to re-confirm. Kaleb went with the French toast, since he wasn't feeling very well after eating the seafood trio during last night's room service. Unfortunately, in keeping with the wellness theme, my huevos con chorizo looked like scrambled eggs with ham.
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When the bread basket came, I saw some croissants in there, so I gave the baked goods one more try, but it did not satisfy. It didn't seem like there was any real butter on property. The pat of "butter" on my plate did not spread smoothly or melt at all throughout the meal.
After breakfast, we returned to the room to pack and check out. The front desk agent gave me a massive comment book to sign, so I wrote an entire essay about our experience at Zoetry, the good and the bad. I doubted that anyone would read it. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if it got ripped out of the book.
While we were waiting in the lobby for our Terramar transfer, we met one of the staff named "G", who was very friendly and welcoming. Where was he during our stay?
Our trip to the airport and flight were uneventful. It was nice to finally go home, something that I hardly ever say when I am on vacation!
In summary, a vacation is usually what you make it out to be. It'll never be perfect, and you roll with the punches. My being agreeable and open-minded means most of the vacations I take, I have a great time, even if the trip is affected by events that are out of my control. I do go in with certain expectations, especially if those expectations are advertised as part of the package. When I read reviews with generally 4 to 5 star ratings, I usually discount the few bad ones as the guests may have been too picky or chose the wrong resort for their tastes. Now I have become a "bad apple" in a sea of positive reviews. In this case, I felt led astray by the marketing of Zoetry. With its higher price point, Zoetry was advertised as the ultimate resort, with "Endless Privileges", gourmet, organic restaurants, and pampered luxury, so I expected this. I certainly expected more than my experience at Secrets. The material "privileges" were fine, such as the Bulgari toiletries, complimentary laundry service, top shelf cocktails, and complimentary 20 minute spa treatment. But I would not label Zoetry's food as gourmet, and I have eaten at so many distinctive restaurants; I felt Secrets had generally better tasting food (except the Japanese restaurant). I doubt many of the entrees would have made it past the "Chopped" judges! It is possible to make healthy food tasty through use of herbs and seasonings. In terms of service, we were hardly pampered in the restaurants nor on the beach. We left tips even though gratuities were included in the all-inclusive Zoetry package, but it didn't improve the service; in fact, we felt like unwelcomed guests. I don't like servers hovering over me every minute but being ignored is unacceptable. So giving the benefit of the doubt, I theorized on what might have contributed to our less-than-stellar experience:
* "Regular" staff on vacation - I read a lot of names being called out in glowing reviews, but we did not meet over half of them, so perhaps those folks were on vacation and we had less than stellar service because of it, for example, the waiter in training at Tapanco.
* Construction at the resort - the noise was everywhere; changing rooms wouldn't have gotten us away from the hammering and drilling since the work was being done in the resort's beach area and the main building. We were looking forward to peace and quiet and Zoetry had advertised itself as a "private getaway". There was no announcement about construction at the resort on the Zoetry website or any other travel outlet. If I had known ahead of time, I would gone to Secrets Marquis instead. Based on the current postings on Zoetry Casa Del Mar's Facebook page, it looks as if construction is complete, so future guests will hopefully not be disturbed by the disruptions.
* Not being honeymooners or big spenders - we were there on a sale rate in the lowest level of accommodation. We didn't upgrade to a prime oceanfront suite, indulge in "romance packages", buy bottles of wine (despite being all-inclusive, bottles cost extra), or schedule extra spa treatments.
* Not tipping enough - I had witnessed a couple tip $20 for breakfast...perhaps the $5-$10 tips we'd leave at each meal service and room cleaning was chump change. I couldn't tell if that couple had better service as they were leaving when we arrived.
We weren't the only guests who had this experience...recently there were reviews on TripAdvisor that mirrored how we felt.
Read review 1
Read review 2
Would I return to Zoetry Casa Del Mar? Probably not. I may give Zoetry another try, but at their flagship resort in the Riviera Maya, and if I was looking for a wellness retreat and lighter fare. I'm glad I experienced Zoetry, so I can avoid recommending it to my foodie friends, as the cuisine is certainly not what most of us consider gourmet. We could have eaten some dinners at Dreams, but that would defeat the purpose of staying at Zoetry (which cost much more), and we'd either have to pay for a taxi to Dreams and back, or walk down the beach in complete darkness.
The resort itself is very quiet (minus the construction) and you hardly see the other guests. If you're looking for a secluded getaway, Zoetry would fit the bill, as long as you are okay with "wellness" cuisine, or say, if your normal day-to-day life involves eating out all the time and you need a break from the richness. If you are a foodie, and have no choice but to eat at Zoetry, my recommendations would be any seafood entree, pancakes at breakfast, fresh cut papaya, pico de gallo, guacamole, french fries, or go eat dinner at Dreams. :)
Now that this trip is finally blogged, I can move onto all that has happened since Thanksgiving, including a spectacular trip to the Big Island of Hawaii, foodie heaven in Las Vegas, as well as an unforgettable adventure in the Canadian Rockies! Stay tuned...I promise I will take less than 8 months to write the next entry.
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