Guest User
April 2, 2025
Overall, the trip went well during March break. We went with 2 other families with young children (between 5 and 12 years old) a total group of 13. We had nice weather (sunny every day after 9:00-9:30) and the overall experience with the Dreams Estrella was pleasant but not exceptional. The resort is beautiful and well-maintained, the rooms were magnificent and the housekeeping did a good job. However, the 3 families were separated into different buildings, which made our evenings more difficult to deal with. We were told there that we would have had to pay extra to get adjoining rooms (but obviously that was impossible once we got there). It was despite the request from my travel agent and 2 calls from me 1 to 2 weeks before our trip. The pools were heated and shallow, great for our kids. However, the beach is definitely not swimmable. It's very windy and even cold at the edge of the beach. I admit I was a little disappointed. The temperature was also very cold (15-16 max) in the evening and very windy during the day and night. It would be interesting to know the best times to travel there (little wind and warmer at night) There are 4 restaurants; Meraki, which we went 3 nights, Porto Fino, Oceana and El Patio (definitely not recommended, I had stomach cramps and the food was really bad). Otherwise the other 3 are good. My only other comparison was Cuba... and we know that food is not their strong point. However, other than tuna tataki, there were no oysters (which are easy to find everywhere in Mazatlan), nor any shellfish like lobster or crayfish. But we ate well all week and all the restaurants accepted us even with young children! Plus, we were always able to get dinner places everywhere we went (no waiting time of more than 15 minutes). They even managed to accommodate our group of 13! If you're looking for entertainment, this isn't the right Resort, since at 9:00 p.m., there's no one outside. It's a very, very family-oriented resort. But that's what we were looking for. Also I think we had great time because we were with friends….. The staff is amazing. We had our drinks, the kids' drinks, and even food delivered directly to our poolside chairs all week. The staff who work in the bars speak fluent English otherwise, the maids only speak Spanish, but for my laundry, she called the front desk to do the translation. The Resort states that it is not possible to reserve our pool chairs, but the reality is that you have to get up at 7:00 to put towels on your chairs otherwise it is impossible to get any during the day. There is entertainment during the afternoon and the kids club and the Core club were really great. We saw dolphins by the hundreds but no whales and no observation point … it was directly from my room. They ring the bell when there is a pod of dolphins. The turtle sanctuary is a tourist trap, there is not much to see honestly and we did well to visit on our own. Tourist tours are also very expensive tourist traps. We