We honeymooned at Palmilla in 2006 and then returned to celebrate our 10 year anniversary - this time with our little kids. I found the Trip Advisor reviews helpful during my planning so am writing my first review ...
FOOD
Although we were ready to splurge on food, I was anxious about the potential cost after reading other reviews. But I am happy to say our food cost at the end of the trip was not exorbitant. It is expensive, but it is out of line with what you get (quality, views, service) at a 5-star resort.
There's a fair amount of complementary food at the resort (fruit and snacks delivered daily to your room, mini-smoothies and other treats occasionally passed out at the pool). And most entrees at the restaurants are sizable and filling. Our typical lunch was guacamole and a margarita at the pool since we were still full from breakfast and anticipating a big dinner. By the way, Suviche is fantastic if you like sushi.
SPECIAL OCCASSION
We had a vow renewal on the beach at sunset to celebrate our 10 year anniversary, and then a private dinner on the beach -- lovely! Just us. We ate gourmet food at a white linen table with our feet in the sand while our kids played on the beach a few feet away. I was happy to splurge on this celebration, but didn't want to spend a fortune on flowers, etc. since it was just for us; so our event coordinator, Marie Camilli, worked with me on my budget and every little detail and went out of her way to make it special. If you are planning a celebration, I recommend you challenge the O&O to plan out something wonderful for you.
ROOMS
We skipped the suite this time since we had to get two rooms (kids shared with their grandmother). We got the least expensive rooms and they were impeccably clean, decent size, cute patio with lovely unobstructed views of the ocean.
However, I would fork out the extra $$ to go at least one category up next time, since the rooms weren't as special as the one on our honeymoon trip. I was disappointed we didn't get an upgrade since the resort was pretty empty during our stay, but I guess I can't complain about something I didn't pay for.
SEPTEMBER
September is hurricane season so the resort was nearly empty while we were there. Great for us! And sunny every single day. Seems September weather in Cabo is mostly perfect, except for the occasional hurricane. So if you can plan a trip that can be cancelled or rescheduled without too much fanfare on your end, you might want to gamble on September. Even though there were not many guests (that we saw), the O&O did not cut back on staff (that we noticed) and kept all their restaurants open with full menus. It was lovely and quiet and we felt really lucky to have the place (seemingly) almost to ourselves.
PHOTOGRAPHER
Through the resort, we hired a photographer for our vow renewal. It cost around $600 for an hour, but if you are looking for some quality family shots, consider a photographer (cheaper than most wall artwork, right?!). We used Bernardo Arce, and he was fantastic.
THE LITTLE THINGS
Here's some of the small touches that we loved that you can expect from the One & Only: verifying the size of my kids before our trip so they'd get the right carseats installed for our airport rides, toddler-sized bathrobes and slippers for our little ones, our gracious butler Pedro (we kept him busy!), Jorge giving my kids fruit to feed the iguanas at the pool, a surprise bottle of Veuve in our room for our anniversary, a surprise chocolate cake (at breakfast!) the morning of our anniversary, the poolside sunglass cleaning service, carrying our (plentiful) luggage all the way to the check-in counter at the airport (even waiting in line with us so we wouldn't have to lift anything ourselves).
Like many others have said, the O&O is a splurge you won't regret.