This is a little long, but tried to cover follow-up questions to what I would report also. We have been to TTR 10 times before in last 3 years. Review for first trip back to new TTR We were a little apprehensive about return and what we would find based on some of the recent posts. As usual, those with a bad experience are the ones most likely to talk about it. It does not make their own experience any less valid just because they may have been the exception, it is just what they experienced. Everyone should not attack them or their character just because they reported what they perceived. I talked to most staff I came into contact with. Each time I passed the desk I made eye contact with the person and said hello. On the 2-3 times I needed something at the desk, I smiled, asked how they were doing told them we were having a great time and then said “please could I….”, I always got quick, great service. We are on vacation, they are at work which is a good thing to try and always keep in mind. They may have just gotten chewed out by a boss that was wrong just like at your job. The new resort is overall awesome with lots of improvements. Desk staff We were given our room immediately upon arrival at noon. Check in was fast and they did not require a deposit. Every time I went to the desk for a new room key, to ask for something or when we decided not to switch from our jacuzzi room to a Bash Tower room, we were helped immediately and with a smile. Room We had a jacuzzi room. This was a room next to quiet pool. 7314. We like the cabinets versus the old drawers. The cabinets have lots of shelves and when you open them you can see everything brought. I think it gives you better organization. The only negative on new set-up is you have to stack your suitcases in a corner. Shower is just kind of odd. It is long and narrow and no door. You definitely get a lot of water on the floor, but the old showers leaked under the door and you got a lot of water on the floor. Careful you step over the little glass at bottom of opening. We always had hot water. A/C worked very well in our room. NOTE: the sliding glass doors to the patio have a sensor in them. When the door is ajar the A/C will be OFF. The new tubs fill and drain much faster than the old ones. The tubs are not as deep as the old tubs, but are longer and wider. Room floor is smooth marble which is just as slick when wet in Mexico as it is in the USA. Did not find it more dangerous than the old floors. The light on the patio cannot be turned off. You cannot unscrew the cover to remove a bulb. You can pull the fixture out and unplug it at the fuse. Fixture has spring clips. The blinds work easily from the remote on the wall. Never figured out though why the blinds sometimes raise automatically when you open your door to the room and sometimes did not. If I had blind down and went to get breakfast, blinds would not open upon re-entry into room and disturb my wife. The blinds definitely keep out lots of sun so you can sleep in after getting to bed at 5 am. Bed is much more comfortable than the old beds. The pillows are awesome. The screen on the porch now has a long rod to turn a buckle to move the screen up or down, they used to have a metal chain. The buckle connector is plastic and was broken. I read another review where that room also had the screen buckle broken. They will need to make these metal because the torque is too much for plastic. The wall control is easy. You touch once to “wake it up”, then simply touch the specific button you want to activate the specific control. Bash The new club is very large and several nights was still wall to wall. Overall, I think the music is very much improved over the old. The music would sometimes drag in the afternoon. The thing about the music is there would be no way to please everyone. My wife does not like lots of old school rock. We talked to a lot of people that complained about the Pit Bull or the EDM music. Overall a pretty good mix and I never recall hearing music at Bash that I felt they were killing the party. The shows they put on were very good. Higher quality and not too long. No violin player and hope to never see that again. They had fire dancers one night, they had a girl that was a gymnast/contortionist and she was amazing. Again, they did not go on too long. Short show then on to the party. The breeze you get in Bash is much nicer than the stuffy air at PattyOs. Bash is big, but on several nights it was still wall to wall people. Restaurants Romanza (Italian) is still great. Does not require reservation and lots of choices on food. New décor is nice and they have the most normal chairs of any of the restaurants. Flame (steak house) requires a reservation. Steaks were thin and not a lot of flavor and pretty tough. Seating is a bench on one side and a chair on the other. They have flames being projected on screens. Flame is really just part of the buffet area they convert at night by pulling an accordion wall closed. You can still hear everyone in the buffet. The lighting is very bright and the music is very loud. Sutra (hibachi) the food was very good and just like going to benihana. Requires a reservation. They had seating at the hibachi counter and at tables. We were not asked what we wanted. They sat us at the counter. We were seated in the middle of the grill and were first couple seated at counter. SHE (seductive dinner). This was really odd. The thought and concept is understood, the execution just does not get there. This takes more than 2 hours and we skipped last course and desert. There is a looong time between courses. The music was very loud and the song choices were weird (My Way by Sinatra?), song is not sensuous and not really good for a pole dance. The dancer came in 1 time and danced about 3 minutes on the poles on the stage. It was not sensual or seductive, it was just like being at a strip club. The food was very hit and miss. They give you a menu at the beginning so you can see what the courses were going to be. What they delivered sometimes was not part of what was on the preview menu. Most of the dishes had a little bit of a sweet flavor. The lamb was not right in taste or consistency. We were going to try Sea Flirt Tuesday night but they were closed. Sea Flirt was very nice for sit down breakfast in the mornings. Amores (old Mexican) this is the place to get lunch between 11 and 1. Buffet opens at 1 for lunch. They have the burgers, pizza, chicken wings, fajitas and a few buffet items. The buffet items were usually some type of past a dish and then some type of vegetable medley. They also have a salad bar. You used to be able to go in here and then actually take food to go. We were told management no longer allows you to take out food (they used to give you foam plates). Yet in the mornings I could go into the buffet and get breakfast items for my wife and take back to room on glass plates. Hmmmmm? Buffet. I think overall the buffet has improved from previous. The sushi bar is nice and they have great selections for the grill such as fresh salmon. Buffet has two sides for breakfast but lunch always seemed to be food only on one side. With the exception of Romanza, soup is not good offered at buffet or at Amore. All of the soups offered are a very clear thin broth with no real flavor. The reservation system requires you to go to the desk at the bottom of the stairs from lobby to buffet. They start at 7 am taking reservations, by 10 or 10:30 they are usually full. The coffee bar is a really nice addition. BARS The bar staffs overall work very hard and it is great to see some of the previous staff. The issue with the bars is not the individuals that staff the bars, it is a problem with quantity of staffing and set-up. All of the bars now are much longer and larger than the old bars. In Bash, you have one bartender for every 20 feet of bar. In addition, they are taking care of the wait staff. Unless you have tipped a bartender well (I do this in advance) you often have a long wait at the bar waiting for them to get to you. The pool bar is the worst. The bar on back of pool is easily 100 feet long. They most times had only 4-6 bartenders. These bartenders took care of the wait staff such as Saby (greatest) also. This means at least one bartender at all times is not able to take care of the counter. They do not have all liquor or set ups at each location along the bar. If you walk up to one end and need Fresca, he may have to run 40-50 feet to the next station to get it and bring back. Very unorganized. If you are on backside of pool bar you cannot see anything going on in the pool, on the bar or the activity staff games. The other issue with the bars is inconsistency in drinks. They have a lot of new staff. Ordered scooby snacks at several bars, sometimes the shots were so bad you could not pass them out. Saw someone mention they thought some of the bartenders had “attitude”. I observed this fairly often, but did not experience it. I would have to say based on observation that the new bar staff appears to be more tip motivated. Lobby bar is great for the quality of drinks but also suffers from too big for staff provided. I always went here for a while when wife getting ready for dinner. 1 bartender until 6 then 2 bartenders. At any time there would be 12-15 people waiting for drinks. The lobby bar is about the size around as the old PattyOs bar and you remember how many bartenders they had in that bar. At peak would see 3-4 bartenders in lobby bar. They were just always overwhelmed. Just a note, as stated before I pick and tip a bartender for each evening and give them a good tip at beginning of night. I saw a good 60% of people get drinks and not tip or occasionally drop $1. Chairs Terrible everywhere. Lobby bar has these strange stools that look like joysticks. They have no back and they actually bend when you lean. Saw at least 4 different people fall off and knock it over because of it shifting. The chairs in the Amore have two front legs and one leg in the back. If you lean to one side to pick up a napkin, get something or to speak to someone, the chair tips. Coffee bar has these little bean pods that are really too odd to sit in. The Bash chairs are metal and uncomfortable. The bar stools in Bash have a hard, sharp edge and are too large. Most women in the resort had bad bruises on the fronts and backs of their legs from these bar stools. The pool chairs really need to go. They are not adjustable, you cannot lay on your stomach and even on your back they are uncomfortable. The beach and premier area has good lounge chairs. Vibe It really has gotten better in some ways. Security is now much more low-key and in the background. Saw lots of activity around resort that in the past would have been shut down quickly. Did not appear to be as many singles as in past. May be the time of year, but definitely did not see the packs of singles that the old TTR sometimes had and some were worried would be the new norm. It was a great party atmosphere all week. Floors The hallways are extremely textured, no problems. The lobby tile is slightly textured and not slick unless it is wet. The lobby tile is also in the buffets. It is really slippery because of food/grease that has gotten on the floors. They mop constantly, but just too much to get ahead of it. Be careful walking in the buffets. There are odd steps located everywhere in the resort. If you are not looking down and paying attention, you will miss one at some point. Only saw one person fall/slip in lobby area. It was at the steps right before you get to lobby bar. This person appeared to have a pre-existing mobility issue and was looking out on the new Bash deck and just did not realize the step was there. Again, watch where you are going. If you are with someone that does not look, you need to be their seeing eye dog. POOL It is just too cold. Now this is a subjective item. For those from the UK, Canada or North US, it probably feels great. We are from South Texas and it was just not comfortable. It also rained very heavily for 2 days and was mostly overcast for most of the days. Would have loved the pool to not be as deep. Most of the gals are shoulder deep. You see a lot more people sitting on bar. Hot Tub was never really warm while we were there. I am not suggesting that it be steaming hot, but at least as warm as the tub at Desire. We were at Desire in June and air temp was above 85 and hot tub still felt warm. At TTR air temp was in mid 70’s (evenings) and it only felt warmer than ambient temp twice. Again, this is completely subjective to each individual. A “hot tub” is usually set at 100-104. Here we want to sit for extended periods so that temp would not be right. So below is what the hot tub association recommends: Air Temperature Also a factor in how hot or warm the water feels, is the air temperature outside. An air temperature of 75° may feel nice walking around outside, but can feel chilly as one sits in water that is below body temperature. 88° may be perfect when the air temperature is above 80°, but feel too cold when air temps are just above 60°. STAFF The new entertainment group is excellent. They have lots of energy, lots of personality and really spend their time interacting with the guests. Great group. Housekeeping excellent as always. Service everywhere was just great. All of the above was our personal experiences and observations. Some of the above are just opinions. The thing I am trying to accomplish is to dispel the doom and gloom about the resort that was repeatedly reported from soft and grand openings. They have a lot of details to continue to work out and improve and construction issues that I could go on about for hours since I am familiar with the industry, but the majority are headaches and issues for the owners that will not affect your stay except a few safety issues that have already been covered. We had an absolutely great week and we really appreciate the improvements made.
Hey guys, thanks for the report. Would be good to see you again. We will probably go in April. We wanted to wait for them to get the kinks out. Sounds like they are making progress
Thanks Ron for the time and effort you took to create such a detailed and decriptive review. Very well-written ! We're looking forward to our 1st trip back post-reno Nov 11. Congrats on your Worild Series win !!!!
Thanks, got back in time to watch from 3rd inning to end. Great series, either team would have earned trophy. You will like the improvements. Just think, it will be your first time as a married couple
Not being able to turn the lights off on the patio/balcony was a real bummer. We were in the new tower, and many nights after Bash, we would have loved to have been able to use the jacuzzi or do other adult things out on our balcony, but the extremely bright light was kind of a mood killer! One night before Bash, I sat in one of the chairs to make it stable, and my husband got on the arms of the chair, pulled the light out of the ceiling and disconnected it! About 20 minutes after we had some fun, our room phone rang, and a very kind lady said, “In about 30 minutes, someone will be knocking on your door to replace the light on your patio.” My husband promptly reconnected the light. At least they waited until we were done!
Yes I bet they did for the tower. The lights being on is part of the architecture appela for the rear of the resort. They probably constantly look up at the back of the resort from bash and pool and immediately note any lights being out. Additionally, if you are in one of the end suites you simply could not disconnect all of teh lights on the patio. These rooms have 8-15 lights on the patio. I understand the look, but they should be allowed to be shut down at least midnight to 6 am.
Agreed. We had no intention of leaving it off permanent as we could tell they were obviously part of the aesthetics. Just wanted a few minutes without the spotlight.
