Ok, finally starting this thing. Going to do it a day at a time as I cant seem to find enough time to sit down and include everything we want to (work and a 4 and 2 year old will do that to you). Will try to highlight some tips that were useful to us during our first visit. This was one of the best weeks of our lives and we cant wait to do it again!!! Hopefully next February so we can see some of the same people again. Wednesday 2/24 On time arrival at 10:45am. Quick thru customs and easy baggage pick up. TIP: Not sure what you can and cant bring into the country but this is where all the dogs are. We saw 3 or 4 people having items taken away. Looked like nuts or other snacks? Might be worth while checking out what you can bring into the country if you plan on bringing snacks or ? Red light/Green light check of bags, I assume for more items you cant bring into the country, was also easy and quick. Ran the gauntlet thru the timeshare people, several people were also trying to pretend they were our transfers by throwing out transfer names. Dont stop. Just keep walking until you get outside and start looking for your transfer name. We used USA Transfers and booked thru the link on this site. Cost us $45 to the resort and $10 to get back plus tip. Well worth it since it was just us and no other stops. Figure that is the quickest way to get to the resort. And with this being our first vacation away from the kids in 3+ years it made sense to get to Temptation as quick as possible. Plus with all the over bookings that is another reason to get there fast. TIP: I hinted to the driver that we wished the resort had red bull and also snacks in the room. He of course then offered to stop at a convenience store free of charge (we of course made it worth his while with a tip). This got us reasonably priced red bull, snacks and extra water for the room. We loaded up and it cost us only $28 USD. Negative is I used a credit card and this got my credit card suspended as they saw a charge from Mexico and got suspicious. TIP: Tell your credit card company you will be using your credit card in mexico in advance. Ours is Bank of America. This would of saved me a 15 minute phone call to get it turned back on once we reached the resort. We arrived at the resort at noon. This was great as it only took us 1 hour 15 minutes to clear customs, get bags, go thru red light/green light, get our transfer and stop at a convenience store. We then attempted to check in but no rooms were available. We requested a room overlooking the quiet pool and they said they would have one available at 1pm and to come back then. They gave us our wristbands and said to have lunch and come back. This is a good time to mention we booked thru skoosh.com and had ZERO issues with our reservation. Smooth as can be. Cost us $1068 total for 6 nights. What a bargain. We decided to check out the sexy pool before lunch as we knew Miss Temptation was going on today and our friend that we met online in advance on this site, MrsDiesel Mindy, was entering. So our first introduction to the sexy pool, as we entered and looked on from stage left, was Chinos running at us with a bucket full of suits and emptying the bucket at our feet, then 10-15 guys jumping out of the pool fully nude and running right at us. I just turned to Jen and said welcome to Temptations! In hindsite it is funny but I dont think she found it so funny at the time We did lunch at the a la carte, Margarita's I believe it is called. Enjoyed a deli sandwhich and some chicken enchiladas. We are not buffet people and were very worried about the food quality at an all inclusive but we were impressed across the board. Our first meal was definitely a good start. And the service was great also. A $5 tip to our waiter Omar (amazed that somehow I remember his name at this point) seemed to be very much appreciated. By the way, sorry about all the detail in this report. I am doing this for 2 reasons 1) I want to remember this trip for a long time and 2) to help any first timers as I learned so much from others trip reports. A little after 1 we returned to the front desk and were told 30 more minutes. After 30 mins we returned and were told 20 more mins. After 20 mins we returned and were told 15 more mins and so on until we finally got a room a little after 3 when I started pushing a little more. I tried to upgrade to a jacuzzi room but they said they were all sold out. Then they told me I could pay $108 for a jacuzzi room but it had two double beds. I told them I would only do $50 for one with a king bed and they said they were all sold out of those but would put me on the list for Friday when they thought they would have some available. Finally they checked us into room 1113 which was in the quiet pool block of rooms but facing Margaritas and the grass behind it. The room was fine. Nothing special. We heard a lot of noise from Nice Shoes until 2am or so but at least it was not overlooking Patio O's which goes until 5am. You will see when I get to the Friday report that upgrading to a jacuzzi room was well worth it! After checking in we headed off to the sexy pool. It was cloudy with drizzle so not a good pool day at all. We ran into some people we had met on the board and quickly realized they were just as nice and friendly as expected. I cant remember exactly who we met which day (it all kind of runs together) but pretty sure day 1 was misbehaving, mrmrsdiesel and rick and alesha. All great people. Got some shots and day 1 drinks in to start the fun. We were very worn out from our travels (started at 3am Cancun time). And we did not make it in time to make dinner reservations. They take reservations between 10am and noon in the Bellavista restaurant which is the Carib/Seafood restaurant. So we did an early dinner at Bellavista (6ish?). TIP: The only restaurants that require reservations now are The Village Wok (asian) and Il Piiacere (italian). Bellavista (Seafood) and Tex Mex do not require a reservation. If you go early you can pretty much walk up and get a table. Later (8-9) there is usually a line but nothing horrible. We enjoyed Bellavista a lot. Cant even remember what we had but liked it. After a little 'fun' in the room. We went to The Main Event in Nice Shoes at 9:30. The show was a good intro to the resort. Some people lined up to get in as early as 45 mins in advance. We found this wasnt necessary. Plenty of seats. And the people who took the front row table seats actually moved once they announced those seats meant there was a risk of having to participate. So once they vacated them we moved up. The show was a strip show basically. Nothing too out there. No full nudity really but they did pull people from the front two rows to get lap dances. It was all in good fun. If you are a lady then I would recommend wearing undies unless you are OK with a little exposure Afterwards we did a mix of Patty O's and the Sports Bar. Patty O's was rather empty. I was told this was due to the weather and in the following nights we realized that Patty O's is really the place to be so Wednesday being slow was definitely due to the bad weather. Did learn that a buck or two to the bartender for each round got noticed and picked out of the crowd for future rounds. We had a great time getting to know some people and the resort but cashed in at 1am since we had almost been up 24 hours. Definitely the slowest, most uneventful night of our visit but a good into. Will get into the fun stuff in the nights to follow!
great report, love all the detail!!!! thanks for another tip (as well as stopping for some snacks on the way), don't plan on using the phone in Mexico much either, have B of A as well.
No problem. Glad to help. On the phone topic I used ATT and had full bars the whole time there. Got the 5.99 plan which lowered the mins to .59 a minute and 20MB plan for 26.99 but only used 10mb to basically check gmail once a day. We finally just uploaded some pics of the booze cruise to our profile. Only the PG versions though. But I sure did enjoy going thru them for the first time since returning. Oh the memories.
Thursday 2/25 - Day 2 Day started with Jen waking up at 4am, thinking it was actually 5am but we hadnt switched our watches yet, to save a chair. TIP: I got this one from this site. In our opinion the best chair locations are the chairs on the strip between the pool and the beach, but not too close to the bar. The benefit is they are close enough to the bar, you can see all the action across the way with all the events and you get maximum sun exposure. If you are too close to the bar then people block you to watch the action with the events. If you are on the other end then your sun gets blocked later in the afternoon by the buildings. After reserving the chairs she took a little nap and we both got up at 7 to use the gym. All the power was turned off so we had to find someone to turn it on but this was the only day this was an issue. Gym was better than some resorts we have stayed at in the past but still was just OK. Had a treadmill and a broken treadmill. A couple other cardio items, free weights ranging from 5lbs to 40lbs, a nautilus like bench and one other nautilus machine for legs. Definitely just adequate, not special. Nice view of the water though. After the workout we did breakfast at the buffet. Typical breakfast items with mexican options which were nice. Easy seating and quick service. They definitely appreciate a buck or two and remember you. Jen just walked in while I was writing this and said 'dont forget to say how good the Mimosa's were!'. Back to the room for some 'fun' and then to the pool early to start the partying as there was some sun but still chilly with a good wind. The days kind of run together for me but pretty sure Thursday more folks from cancuncare rolled in and we got to meet Mike/Christen, dave, fun in the sun, kaboom, ntbaby and many more. Plus we met others that were not from the site but fit in very nicely with the group like Matt/Leann (see profile pics). Lots of shots this day. It was a huge advantage having met all these folks in advance on the site. Usually it takes us 3-4 days to get comfortable to say hi to folks but we felt like we already knew them from the site. Nothing is an easier intro than saying 'hey, arent you ____ from cancuncare?'. TIP: the cups are small. we brought a large coffee cup that kept my beers and red bull vodkas cold. we wish we prepared better and got the bubba cups that some folks had. The cups save trips to the bar and keep your drinks cold. TIP: if you dont ask then they give you the standard stuff. We asked for captain for our rum drinks and stoli for my red bull vodka drinks (if they didnt have stoli then they always had smirnoff which was better than the other option, cant remember the exact name). Some bars did not have them but most did hidden away. Once they see you are a tipper then they always seem to 'find' the good stuff for you. I think Thursday was the day of the couples contest. We did not participate but wish we did. It is like the newlywed game. Some embarrassing moments but nothing over the top. Congrats to Kaboom for winning it! We had so much fun with our new friends by the pool we were invited to a hot tub party! Being newbies we did not know this was code for a different type of party. Our friends were very respectful though and we were allowed to do some shots, watch briefly and slip out when it got a little too heated for us. We are not prudes by any means. I think I would put us in the swayer category but to be honest I am still unsure how all the definitions work Regardless it was a fun experience and it is always good to expand your mind. We then did the buffet for the first time. Average, not nearly as good as the night before at the seafood restaurant but we were in a hurry and got to eat with some more cancuncare friends before they departed for home Friday and this also gave us enough time to get ready for lingerie night. lingerie night is simply the BEST! We both participated fully. You have to be dressed in lingerie in order to play in the casino games. Anything goes, there were some great crazy outfits. In our opinion the biggest negative with the resort is the cameras. There were many people who did not participate who sat on the side fully clothed and took pics. Chinos yells at them and tries to stop them but he is busy running the casino games so it is impossible. Regardless the night was a blast. The object is to accumulate as much play money as possible and at the end there is an auction for items like hats, tshirts and champagne. I would guestimate that 60 people participated? About the same amount sat on the side. Outfits included nice silk bozers and socks for guys and the smaller the better for girls. At Chinos table the girls could remove their tops for more chips. Easy to meet people in this setting. Was a great party. My dealer kept on busting so I ended up with a bottle of champagne which we made good use of later at a smaller hot tub party :wink3: After the lingerie party at nice shoes we went to Patty O's with our new friends Matt/Leah and met up with other cancuncare people. Most of you that were there on the 25th likely remember Matt, he was one of the 'sock' guys. He had a sock on front and then 2 socks that tied together that made it look like he had a thong on in addition to the sock covering, well you know what. What was hillarious was eventually he took off the 2 socks that were making up the thong part and got yelled at to put them back on. Some how 3 socks was ok but 1 was not. Funny place. Surprisingly we were the only ones still in our lingerie at this point of the night (it was rainy and 50 degrees) but we were so lit at this point it didnt seem to matter. Like the saying goes, no body knows you and nobody gives a ___, or something like that. The saying worked well for this night. The night ended with a smaller hot tub party that we were more comfortable with. Definitely a crazy day/night. TIP: Lingerie night is the best night to just go all out. I felt bad for the watchers. All shapes and sizes participate. Even if you dont feel comfortable showing skin then go in lingerie that covers everything. You will have more fun than sitting on the side!
Really enjoying your report, we appreciate the tips--they seem like they will be very useful for our first trip. Thanks for reminding us to call the bank! What a pain it would be once we are there!
Makes me want to come in on thursday... still could do, (add a day off work, 1 more night at TTR, and 1 more night of grandparents watching a 4 and 1 year old, would add up, grrr). We will have to try to make our own lingerie night FRI or SAT... Looking forward to the FRI and SAT review as those are the 2 nights we will be there (SUN afternoon as well).. staying 2 nights with friends elsewhere thereafter -4 night trip.
