Mike & Julie here. For those of you who were there with us this past week that we didn't have the pleasure of meeting (or were too hammered when we met to remember our names ), my wife is the tall one with only one hand (born without her left forearm) usually found reading her geeky vampire books by the sexy pool, and I was the much less good-looking guy with her always wearing the "Keep Austin Weird" ball cap. So where do I even start with this trip report? This was our third trip to Temptation and our second time in May. The best part of going at the same time was seeing so many of the same people again. From the minute we walked in we were saying hi to familiar faces and always had someone to hang out with. We go to Temptation mainly to relax and read by the pool where we can watch all the crazy fun from a safe distance. However, we also really enjoy connecting with all the awesome Cancuncare people as well. Gary and Jen, you guys were as fun as ever, and Jen, your sexy oufits on theme nights really helped Julie feel more comfortable wearing hers too - especially on White Night/Glow Night when she thought for sure that hers would be the skimpiest outfit there... until she saw yours! Skinny-dipping with y'all (and Chris & Tracy, and Ann & Julian) after the lingerie night was a riot! Milton & Michael, you guys also made our week. Cheers to you for all the boldness and creativity you showed with those costumes. It's been said many times now, but they really should have been paying you as part of the entertainment staff that week (or at least given you a discount on your rooms or something). In retrospect it's sort of ironic how worried you were at first about being accepted as a gay couple at TTR - you guys were the most popular people there! And I'm really glad we also got to have a "real" conversation with you over dinner that night too. There were so many other great new friends we met and got to know last week that I hope to stay in touch with: Mike & Traci - thanks for letting us spend so much time with you all week. We enjoyed chatting with you, joking around, and partying (especially the "hip-hop line dancing" - sorry again for bailing out on you Traci!) We were sad when you left. Maddie & Brian (who I don't think are on these boards but hopefully will be soon) - we greatly enjoyed our dinner with you, it was fun to get some fellow geek conversation in this week. Steve & Julie - glad we got to know you a bit, hope you enjoyed that bottle of Jameson after we left! Tom & Jen - it was great talking with someone from such a similar background, really wish our trips had overlapped even more so we could have hung out longer. Hope the rest of your trip was fantastic! Apologies to all the other great people we met and chatted with this week. There are too many to mention by name but we enjoyed our time with all of you! What else? The Boobs Cruise was off the hook as usual! Last year Steve said our cruise was the craziest he had seen yet, but this one topped last year's exponentially. By the end of the day it was literally dangerous to go to back of the boat if you didn't want your swim trunks ripped off of you, your ass smacked with a leather belt, or some strange woman grabbing you and sticking her tongue down your throat (ask me how I know that...) Chinos and Omar were fantastic as entertainment staff. Chinos seemed to be doing well and both of them found a good balance of silly, embarrassing games (and knowing which repeaters it was totally fine to pick on - *cough* George & Debbie *cough*), sexy fun, and just plain old friendliness and "customer service" (after my wife asked for a rum and Diet Coke at the beginning of the trip Chinos seemed to make it his personal mission to make sure it never ran dry the rest of the day). The new entertainment staff at Temptation were great too! The new girl Sara69 was hilarious and Amy was back too (we were there on Amy's first week in February 2010 and her last week in May 2011, and now she's back! guess she couldn't get enough of us). With two girls running the games, I have to say that I saw more cock this week than I ever wanted to! They seemed to find any excuse at all to get guys to drop trou. But it was all in good fun and they were really good at getting people involved (they were smart enough to recruit contestants for all the embarrassing games from the group that had been drinking in the pool since 9am and doing body-shots since 11am). The new guy entertainer, Nathan from Australia, was great too - he was such a good sport with all the embarrassing things the girls made him do. Evenings were fun, though a few rainy days and evenings meant that we never got to do the evening pool party or the Caribbean night and even Paty O's was pretty soggy at times. Too many of the events got moved into the Nice Shoes bar, which is unfortunate since that is such an awkward and uncomfortable venue. We loved dancing on the nights they had a DJ, though we weren't a fan of how he'd run through all the songs people actually know and will dance to (e.g. classic rock and Top 40 pop/hip-hop) in the first hour or two, and then switch to a bunch of house music and even Latino pop that no one knows or likes that much. As a result, we ended up going to bed shortly after midnight most nights once the music changed. As for the resort itself, they are clearly putting in a more noticeable effort to raise the overall quality of the Temptation experience compared to previous years. Here's just a few things we appreciated: - Food at all the restaurants seems to have improved. We especially enjoyed the specialty pizzas they are offering during the day at Margaritas, and the higher quality of the buffet in the evenings. Selections at the sit-down restaurants have expanded and improved too. They're also doing an outdoor grill by the sexy pool (burgers, wings, sushi, even paella - depending on the day), which was very convenient, though the food quality could have been somewhat better (less cream cheese in the sushi and let your burger patties thaw more before cooking them, they were too soggy). - They've revamped the Premiere members program, made it work less like a time share and added lots of very noticeable and worthwhile benefits to it - including the rooftop jacuzzi by the sexy pool and all the orange-shirted waiters who made sure Premiere members never had to fetch their own drinks and always had a bottomless cup of topshelf liquors. We didn't become Premiere members this trip, but we heard a lot about it from very satisfied members and would seriously consider it for future trips once I'm out of grad school and our kids are a bit older. - They seem to have reconciled whatever tension they used to have with Steve and with this website and are now much friendlier towards Cancuncare folks and towards repeaters in general. Besides promoting CC from the stage and telling people to get their orange bracelets from Jamie, they also allowed the Boobs Cruise to gather in Paty O's, and held a nice repeaters reception on Monday night, which I understand is a regular thing they're doing now. I'm glad they've finally found a way to tap into this online community and work together with Steve and all of us repeaters. How many other resorts have such a dedicated fan base like the one Steve has created for them here? Anyhow, that's about it. Let me just wrap up with a few bits of advice that we learned this week: - Get yourself a Bubba Mug! I would fill mine up with a top-shelf margarita twice a day by the pool and they would last me the whole time and be more than enough to get me nice and drunk by late afternoon. Saves you multiple trips to the bar and is very convenient. - Tip all of the staff very well. Not only do they deserve it, they'll also take extra good care of you. Daniel at the pool bar knew exactly what liquors I liked by the end of the week - didn't even have to ask for them, just handed him my mug. And our housekeeper (Rosa) always did a great job and left towel animals and extra bottles of water for us everyday. And be sure to order the Sexy (Flaming) Coffee from Tomas at the Italian restaurant! All of the staff do an amazing job and are a too-often underappreciated part of what makes these trips so good. - If you can, get a later flight home on your departure day and do a late checkout. We didn't have to leave the resort till close to 3pm, so we were able to enjoy a whole final morning by the pool, the Miss Temptation contest, lunch with friends, and still have plenty of time to get cleaned up and check out. It was far less depressing than past years when we'd barely have time for brunch before leaving. Anyhow, hope to see y'all next year!
Let me be the first to say great report, Mike! It was great hangin' out with you two. The cruise was a blast and yes, Chinos, Omar, Debbie and I go way back and they have a way of bringing out the er.. ah.. best in us!:angel2: George
It was so great to see you again! We had a lot of fun with you again and look forward to many years to come. You are awesome people. . Hope you can make it again next May!
Awesome TR! It was great to see you guys again. I wish our times overlapped alittle more. The weather was just getting sucky when we left and I agree Nice Shoes is not the best venue for evening entertainment. Our best nites were pool nites and in Paty O's. Hope we see you again in May next year.
Wow, talk about a comprehensive trip report, nice work. And we have to get on one of your Boobs cruises as the ones we've been on were never that crazy, sign us up!
Nice Trip Report....... Reference the comment on Nice Shoes....... I have to agree with you the atmosphere is just awful in there..... It reminds me of a small high school wrestling gymnasium...
Mike, that's one hellagood trip report! Reviewing it, I could feel myself doing lotsa the same things the same exact way. Next Year, we'll probably be bridgine the chasm between the April Addicts and the MAYhem-ers, so hopefully there'll be enough time to meet you an Julie!
Yeah, it's pretty ridiculous. The chairs are completely uncomfortable and you can't see much of anything unless you're in the front row, it's too small, and no one wants to stay in there and party afterwards - which isn't a problem unless Paty O's is rained out (as happened to us one night) and then Nice Shoes pretty much becomes you're only indoor option for night life. They really need to figure out how to create a better indoor venue for shows and dancing somewhere on the property, 'cuz Nice Shoes just ain't cutting it IMHO.
