First let me give our background: I am 48 and my husband Jim is 55. We've been to Hedo 10 times and to Desire once. We travel quite a bit to warm climate resorts in St. Martin, Florida, Vegas, Europe etc. Yes, we are "swingers" however, we are and will be swingers no matter where we go, including Disney World and we seldom if ever "hook up" on even our group/lifestyle trips. Typically we stay at mostly 3 or occasionally 4 star hotels. We like to meet others and party and while Jim doesn't dance, I do and I am usually the one to participate in activities and games at the resort. So... This was our first trip to Temptation. Initially I was quite impressed. Having just returned from Desire in November, I thought the facilities at Temptation were just as nice or better than Desire in many ways. Pros: The rooms are great...all of a nice size, clean, pretty and fresh looking. The whole place has a mildly elegant feel to it without being over done. Anyone would feel comfortable here. Room service...INCREDIBLE! They work hard to keep the rooms and in fact the entire resort clean. Pools....very clean and the pool/beach area is beautiful. Resort staff...very friendly and for the most part helpful (see comments later) and outgoing. Entertainment...very good. Shows were great and staff was friendly. Specialty restaurants: we only had the opportunity to eat at Bella Vista and El Paciere as we didn't get to book our first night, wanted to enjoy the "special buffet" for New Years and by Thursday found that the restaurants were pretty booked up and could not get in until Saturday and Sunday. The service and food at both places were great - my favorite was El Paciere. Spa: the "hot tub" in the spa was beautiful but only luke warm so Jim did not try it but he said the sauna was great! I enjoyed one of the best massages I've ever had from Daniel. I scheduled a deep tissue massage which started out great and got even better when I told him he could apply even more pressure...I walked out with weak knees. He is GOOD! Ask for him if you go. Also the spa is beautiful and elegant and very clean. Cons: Having been at the resort for a holiday week I wonder/hope that some things here were off because of holiday staffing but some were obviously the standard and disappointing. Gym: not well maintained. One upper body Nautilus machine was missing a pin and unusable. Adjustment pins were stuck/rusted in palce so that you could not move benches, etc. The gym was pretty filthy. It appeared the floor was swept and towels replaced daily but the same huge body sweat smudges from people leaning on mirrors that were there the first day were still there 6 days later. The yoga mats were so gross and old they were scary to consider using. The equipment did not ever appear to have been cleaned and while the cardio machines all worked (2 treadmills, 3 elipticals and 2 bikes) they were grimey and you could see layers of old sweat having been dripped all over the treadmills on top of thick layers of dirt and grime. Limited dumbells with the smallest being 10 kgs. Most places have a larger assortment with lower weights down to 1 kg through 10 in addition to the larger weights. Worst was the room temperature. Kept at 25 degress the entire time. I requeted it be lowered to a safer temp and the first time they lowered it to 23. The second day I requested it lowered they dropped ONE of the two thermostats to 24! A second request was ignored. Mind you that the lobby, the gift shop and the Premiere lounge were kept much more comfortable than the gym! All were below 20 degrees! Embarcadero/Buffet. Breakfast and lunch were ok. I actually quite enjoyed them though my husband who considers breakfast his favorite meal found it just "ok" However, service was really poor...I'd be half way though my meal before we could be offered anything to drink and a second drink was almost impossible to get. Our main complaint was the dinner menus...food was bland and unappealing with limited choices. Meat and seafood overcooked. It was like going to "China Buffet" or a "Flying J" truckstop buffet for those familiar with these types of places. I hope this was due to low staffing for the holidays. Margaritas was great during the day though we never made it there for Tex Mex....however, we were told that Margaritas was the place for midnight snacks til 5am. Unfortunately that was not the case for the entire week. Paty 0's had a small buffet which after 11pm turned into hot dogs and burgers soaking in water, thrown on the grill to reheat when served. It was awful! Personally we were disappointed in the disco. The resort definitely encourages guests to leave and take the buses to spend the evening at local bars. While this is a great option, it is not what we wish to do every evening. After the evening entertainment was finished in the disco, they turned the lights UP and the music wasn't typcial club/dance music and mostly empty. Again, we found the disco to be extremely over heated and uncomfortable. A few couples tried dancing most evenings but it wasn't any fun and too hot. No one danced in the cages, they do not "allow" guests to use the dance poles - though I did use it a few times when there was no staff to stop us - and on Sunday they had a band on the Paty O deck which while some people danced for a while it's not a great area to dance in so many didn't bother. It also ended quite early. General: Unfortunately we did not run into many people from the forum...we couldn't recognize anyone and only Kevin recognized us. It was great to meet someone and of course we enjoyed meeting many people. The crowd was a lot of fun and the age group was quite widespread with a lot more people in their 40s and 50s than I expected, still plenty of younger guest around as well. I definitely pushed my dress up clothes for the eveing and while there were a few ladies who enjoyed dressing super sexy or risque, there were not that many of us. Casino night was great though with a lot of ladies (and quite a few men) dressing up for the occasion. The sensual fitness class is great! Being a certified pole dance instructor myself I was very impressed with the workout and the method of teaching. Ayisha does not teach it any more...her MOM does and she is very good. Ayisha now works in Premeire sales and I met her there. She apparently occasionally dances in the shows but mostly works in sales now. They did have Chantal come in on a couple of occasions and dance in the shows and do the weekly pole competition pole side with a few guests. We also took the trip to Isla Mujeres which was enjoyable but not overly exciting. It was typical tourist shops with sandals, shirts and sarongs and cotton dresses. The beach was VERY crowded with picnics and noisy but all in all it was fun to see. We took the golf cart around the island...but if you get there after noon, it's quite difficult to find a cart to rent. I much preferred our time in Play Del Carmen last month and found the beach prettier there...but Isla should not be missed if you get the chance to go.
YES! I remember you very well and we talked a couple of time, but I didn't make the connection that you were on the message board. Your beard is trimmed a bit different too isn't i? I think you said hi to my husband first and if you mentioned it to him he didn't pass that on when I came up.
... Mary Ellyn, I did not mention it at all but it was here on the board that I discovered that it would have been Red and White night. That's ashame we didn't put two and two together! When will your next trip be? Nick
Great trip report - honest, concise. Well done! "I am a certified pole dance instructor" ... is it just me or does that sound like one of those things where you sure would like to be a fly on the wall watching that certification test? LOL Thanks again for a great report.
I can honestly say that you would enjoy her technique on the pole. My husband and I wondered into the disco one evening and she is amazing on the pole. I have always wanted to take lessons but where I live, I would have to drive an hour and a half to find an instructor. I am sorry that we did not get a chance to meet you both. We are still here on our last night. I will post a trip report in a few days. I love to dress up in the evening and I also prefer to stay at the resort in the evening. Last night there were about 6 to 10 at the most in the disco. It is a shame. I better get ready for dinner!
Geez...I guess i ran into more people than I realized it's just a shame I didn't realize it. RobnStew...I can guarantee it's not as exciting as it sounds! Now...our class field trips would probably be more exciting! Teresa...thank you! I would have been happy to show you some moves and suggestions to get started on your own. I was self taught for the first few years as we had no instructors here in Chicago. If you ever get the bug to try it, write me and I can give you tons of info on learning on your own. It's much slower but it's possible. It's good to know others feel the same about spending time at the resort or dancing. I hope I did not come across as negative...I really just want to be honest and hope to see changes as some of them certainly seem doable. I WOULD go back again but not certain how often or how soon at this point. Right now we have a group trip to Hedo coming up in April so that is next on our minds.
Great TR, and I appreciate the honesty. I saw that two of you a couple of times, and was hoping to say hi but we never ended up at the same place at the same time. Probably should have made a better effort to meet the two of you. A great thing about TTR is that you can go up to about any group at any time, and you will be welcomed into the conservation. We ended up with a large group from CC that we had met on previous NYE trips. Usually several CC posters playing horseshoes in the am, and another great way to meet up.
