That's how we started out--nervous, unsure, and hoping for good things. Thank you to everyone here for you recommendations and comments!! We had read the good and the bad, and choose to go here. After a few days, I'm not sure we were tamer, just wild in different ways. We arrived and were assaulted at the airport, and my wife was initially upset that I callously waved away the many uniformed sales and travel staff and pushed outside the airport looking for the USA Transfer sign, just like I was told to. They found us on their list and got us to TTR in excellent time. They were friendly, polite, and got us in and out with no trouble. Check in at TTR went equally smooth, despite being barely able to understand the nice young lady at the desk. Our ocean view room was above PatyO's facing the sexy pool. (Yes, we see can you in the hot tub at night, and your laughter told us to go peek.) The noise from PatyO's was much better than kids running down the halls or elevator noise. We met briefly met Lenny (who we later passed wandering around with what I believe was the same watered down tequila they use for the volleyball game), and we really tried to stay up, but we were so tired from the week that we crashed by 9pm. Then the week started with room service delivering a basic breakfast snack, then downstairs for the breakfast spread. We realized the sexy pool chairs were all gone as we looked out the window at 8am. We planted ourselves on the beach and were in the pool for much of the day. I committed the first day sin of poor sun care combined with over aggressive sports play on the sand court. (The sand volleyball court is a couple inches of loose packed sand with rock hard packed sand below--don't dive hard.) We brought the fancy $5 Walmart insulated cups and cheap sunglasses, a very good decision, and no hats--which was a very poor decision. From that point on, the place is a bit of a happy blur!! artytime: We spent a week and two weekends, and enjoyed pretty much every moment of it. We met, talked, and hung out with all types of people and had a great time. We had tried to leave our religiously prudish midwestern sensibilities behind, and they were thoroughly burned out after encountering a day drinking in the sexy pool. I saw some creepers and cameras, most of the cameras dropped politely after a short word. It was a very open, non-judging environment, to make what you want of it. As we attended our first evening event by the pool, we asked a group if we could sit by them on the bed to watch the show, and they invited us to join. We were treated to a bit of a show both across the pool and very close up. We had encountered the first open swingers we'd ever met--oh my! One of the couples were really nice people, we ran into them a few times, and we even went to dinner with them a few days later. (The only swinging for us is on the swings by the pool bar and enjoying the ocean breeze in the hammocks.) We joined in the dancing by the pool after the show, and a few glasses of champagne later, we were in pool instead. By the third dripping wet trip to the bar for mimosas in my drawers, I decided to just ask the server walking by, and suddenly we were never without drinks as we partied in the pool by the dancing (we may have ended up in the pool on several evenings). Warning: They will happily over serve you...with a smile. Several times we went to bed with full glasses and saw people passed out in the lawn or sand from over indulging (security will help see them carried away). We spent the days by the ocean or the pools, and we tried to do a bit of everything. We really enjoyed sailing the hobie cats much more so than paddling. We played games in the sport bar. I joined the "tequila volleyball" game, but after drinking so much straight tequilla, it seemed more like soda volleyball. Despite the rumors, I encountered very little nakedness with that event, perhaps because it was mostly staff vs guests and we stomped them badly, or perhaps it's been toned down a bit? Some of evening events were moved inside, and we never found them or found them as they ended. I never saw a band. Some events and nights at PatyO's were wild and some tame; it all depended on the guests in attendance (or maybe the time of night). We did get a kick out of Bill's tuxedo outfit on Thursday night. We signed up for the timeshare, and spent half our trip in a jacuzzi room. (After a few visits I'll be able to determine if that was a good choice or not.) We burned up our excursion budget for this, but we found we really weren't anxious to leave the resort anyway. We really enjoyed the butler service. The service staff were truly excellent. More so than anything else, the service staff and guests, make this place great. We are anxious to return... Rooms: Acceptable. Very clean as in way above average clean, but the room was not what you get in a big modern resort hotel. It was half the size of our last suite at HRH-Vegas. These were hotel size. The jacuzzi rooms had a decent sized jacuzzi tub, it's bigger than ours at home, and it was roomy with just the two of us (and blissfully warm on the rainy days). Shows: Fair. We've been to live shows, and these were by no means spectacular, unless you've don't get out. Daytime Events: Varied. It was cold/rainy several days. It really is up to the crowd and participants how wild these get. Relax and have fun with it. Food: Much better than we treat ourselves at home. To set the scale, we call Outback and Olive Garden fancy restaurants; so the food was great to us. We've only been to truly 5 star restaurants a couple times. We enjoyed everything. I was surprised that there wasn't any spicy food, I've never had such a bland Cajun fish. The Italian and Asian restaurants were both great. Staff: Excellent! We did have some annoying table waits at the breakfast buffet when staff were busy, and some the servers are much more attentive than others. Drinks: Varied in quality, we really enjoyed mostly everything. OMG, they use real fruit ingredients, not cheap flavored mixers! That's not something we get often at home. Oh, the look as the wife's face as she tries to ask for more wet pussies--priceless. As far as drinks at the evening bars, I learned to push into bars in busy clubs, getting drinks here was easy. The bartenders did a good job keeping track of queuing (not letting me cut too far ahead). Admittedly, I never tried to order more than 4 drinks at a time and mostly kept the orders simple. Other guests: The vast majority were awesome. We're at the age 40 boundary and were very comfortable here. We often fit in better with older couples as our kids are older too. We'll probably avoid March completely next time; the average age dropped rapidly as we entered March and with it some minor hassles with inconsiderate guests (we had none the first 8 days). Negatives: Front desk staff's English was difficult to understand. The hot tub tends to fill with sand and look pretty awful after midday. You still run into self-destructive young adults that make you worry for their safety, and guests who are belligerently derogatory to the wait staff. When the clouds roll in and the breeze gets cold, the ladies (including mine who said it wouldn't happen) feel a need to put their tops back on. I can't handle so much of the caramel flavored, alcohol infused whipped cream; it started to upset my stomach (I don't think I've ever had as much whipped cream in an entire month, as I did in one hour). And finally, we had to go home. The real open question for us is will we get back in September or will it be February again...
wow what a fab report it will be our first time in 4days and my partner is a little apprehensive two hope this will put his mind at rest
We were nervous the first time, too. I'm so glad you guys were able to go with the flow and have a great time!
Great TR... I like the part about leaving your religious prudish ways behind, being from the south we had our reservations last year but best vacation we had so far. March 25th we might 1 up it!!
Thanks for the report. You reference a butler service? Did you gets drops of love? Or become a member? I know they advertise butler service with drops of love but many say it didn't exist for them. Please describe the service. Thanks!
September will be warmer than February but with that runs the risk of either a tropical storm or hurricane. If you avoid those in September, the weather will be nice. However, leaving a cold midwestern winter for the tropics is always nice, too. Either way, I'm sure you'll enjoy your second trip even more.
Thank god I don't make the drinks, some say it taste like Tequila mixed with Gasoline which I call it Chinos DNA and then there is one that is tamer and taste better which is Tequila mixed with Strawberry Juice and called Chinos Lab Results lol. The squirt bottle is half full of Tequilla and half mix, the difference in taste is quality tequila and walmart tequila. Glad you had a blast and enjoyed your stay, September is fun, but Jodie & I both have a way better time in Feb, April / May is on our do to list
