Temptation - NYE trip - sceptic’s report…… Our 6th trip, 1st at the newly refurbished resort. Grabbed a last minute bargain, flew in New Year’s Eve in time for the big event. Had a Trendy Garden View room, nice & quiet (this resort still struggles with quiet rooms). Loved the new beds & pillows. Only gripe was there is no drawer space. Large TV - lots of English speaking TV & movies, usual porn ($12 for entire stay), can also order room service etc from here. Free safe. Nice bathroom, but struggled getting any amount of hot water in the mornings, had to let it run for ages (complained 5 times). Housekeeping was amazing, clean sheets & robes everyday, floors cleaned, shiny wardrobes polished, tons of towels & mini bar well stocked with water. Hotel has a completely different feel now, trendy, slick, but not plush. A big plus for us is that there are now tons of places to be indoors if the weather isn’t great. Reception has plenty of sofas & chairs with waitress service from the lobby bar. The new coffee shop is an amazing addiction, with snacks changing throughout the day, cookies, sandwiches, cakes to die for. The new sports bar is huge, with loads of TV screens, pool tables, card tables etc. The new Sexy Pool. Not so sexy. It’s big and separates itself out into the quiet end, where we hung out, and the pool bar end where it was too loud to hear yourself think, the DJ needs to tone it down a bit during the day, we like to talk to the other guests, not shout at them! And it’s way too deep. GG is 5’2” and the water comes up to her neck, impossible to drink a cocktail whilst in the water. Consequently when the pool games were on, people (ladies particularly) were cramming themselves on the ledge near the bar to watch. The days of the pool being packed with guests cheering on the contestants seem over. At least the water was warm, even in January. A nice addition are the in pool beds, sitting half in, half out of the water they’re a great place to chill. The ridiculous looking pool loungers aren’t so bad, apart from the fact that the mattresses aren't going to last 5 minutes. Already half of them have the strapping broken, so they don't stay firmly attached to the base. Plenty of towels though, and none of this ‘ticking off your room number’ business. However this meant that guests tended to just leave their towels anywhere, when you’re done, take them back and free up a bed people!! Poolside waiters/ waitresses in abundance. Foam Party. Disappointing. Seems like the company they hired to run it also provided a guy on stilts and 2 girls that stood and danced on the poolside for and hour or two. Seems very…sterile? Where were the Playmakers? Why weren’t they in the pool pouring shots? Where were the floaties? Bash. Seem to have sorted the silly furniture issue, now with tall tables & stools. The raised dance area is just an accident waiting to happen. Again, DJ is just too loud, conversations impossible to have. Same music. Every. Single. Night. Waitress service was amazing. Shows were very professional, very slick, but again, a bit sterile? A bit like every other resort? We hanker after Michael the policeman stripper, the scavenger hunts they used to have in Nice Shoes, now we are just the audience, not an integral part of the entertainment. Security was all over it. Everywhere. In the day time escorting anyone without a band off the premises double quick, shutting down anyone taking pictures at the Sexy Pool. Good. Not so good though, stopping people taking pictures of the shows. Why?? They’re on a raised stage, it’s not like taking pictures of guests. A couple of the Playmakers were dancing on the bars, only the bar staff behind them, again “No pictures!!”. I get we need to respect other guest’s privacy, but can we have some photographic memories please? The Playmakers. 11 of them. Eleven! All wonderful. Young, gorgeous, both the girls and the boys, and all super energetic & friendly, always had time to stop & chat, and did a pretty good job of running the games under JJ’s guidance. (Why yes, GG is Miss Wet T-shirt 2018!) A lot of the games were familiar (Mr.Temptation, Iron Woman, Belly Flop etc, but still lacked a bit of edge, but I expect this will grow as the resort and it’s new staff finds their feet. Guests. 50% newbies…wow…… The average age seems to have dropped significantly to maybe 30-40 rather than the 40-50 we’re used to. A lot of ‘beautiful’ people, a lot of whom were too busy taking selfies all day to have any actual fun. But of course there were still a lot of great, fun, cool people there, we met some smashing folk, both old & new. Restaurants. Big, big improvement. No reservations (apart from She & the Hibachi grill), after all, who needs a schedule? Sea Flirt for waiter service breakfast was a nice alternative to the buffet. We tried, and enjoyed every restaurant. The ‘She’ experience was amazing. Will we be back? For sure. At a price. But (for UK readers) when you look at the full brochure price, especially if you upgrade to a Tower Room (an extra £3K for 2 weeks!) it’s crazy expensive for what you get, however improved it is. There is still that “you’re not members you can’t have that” attitude (yawn), so it’s still not a proper 5* resort, unlike our next (cheaper) Mexican holiday in April……
And we got a bash tower room in November/December, from the UK for 2300 all inclusive, upgrade on arrival...
Nice review, and I am glad you both had a great time! Also, nice to hear again the furniture issue at bash continuing to be sorted out!
Great trip report! Loved it! Had a few questions... That's a little disappointing. I loved how everyone would congregate for watching/participating. You didn't have to be *with* a particular couple or group, but it was perfectly OK to wedge yourself in amongst them. I am also 5'2" (closer to 5'1") and I do not look forward to near-drowning. On what day is the Foam Party? Is it in the main Sexy Pool? Do people get away with "doing the deed" within all the bubbles? Does Bash have those Members Only sections still? Does it smell like hamburgers like PatyO's did? (That was the *only* thing I did not like about PatyO's) So there aren't audience participation events like Nice Shoes used to have? Well I'm glad they're diligent with people taking sneaky photos, but too bad you can't take your own photos of your own partner? Or the shows? It's not Cirque! I would think the dancers would appreciate the exposure. So happy to read this. Where's the next holiday?
Well @Cheers2US ......yes, I was disappointed with the pool depth too, as it is actually beautiful. The foam party was on Thursdays in the Sexy Pool. Who knows what went on in the bubbles? I was struggling with the pool depth, never mind adding another 6-12 inches of foam! I never went near...... There isn't a Member's Only section in Bash as such, but we saw people reserving a VIP table, I'm pretty sure you had to buy a bottle of extortionately overpriced wine/ fizz to do so. No smell of food, although there was plenty of it, all looked really nice. No, no audience participation in the evenings The next holiday is here.....Luxury Bahia Principe Sian Ka'an - Bahia Principe Hotels Adults only....but not TTR!
