Trip Report - March 10-13

Back from 4 days at TTR.

Food

If you are a foodie you will be sadly disappointed. The food in all restaurants is overcooked and bland. The buffets are on the level of most corporate cafeterias; Margaritas on par with a low-end Mexican restaurant; Italian was similar to airplane food; seafood restaurant was heavy on the oil.

The presentation of the food was well done but the taste of each meal was drab. The only except was the guacamole and chips at Margaritas; both were fresh and tasty.

Granted, we live in NY so have been spoiled with good food; many people loved the food.

Drinks

They use artificial sweetners in most of the drinks. You will actually see it listed an ingredient on the menu at Patty O's. The blended drinks like pina coladas and daiquiris use prepackaged mixes--first taste is fine but then the chemicals take over. We filled our large cups with juice from the buffet and had them add alcohol at the bar.

We found the ice to have an odd taste, perhaps they use treated water?, so ended up drinking a lot of beer.

Mexican Blow Job shot was quite tasty; a coffee liquor base with a varying float of either coconut freeze or strawberry shake depending on the bartender.

Mayan Coffee was a beautiful thing to behold (but tasted like a stale cigar). Still worth it!

YOU WILL BE OVER SERVED. We got hammered on Saturday and regretted it...hard to remember to pace yourself when new friends are handing around shots left and right!

The red house wine at the Italian restaurant was decent, but skip the wine at the other spots unless you get a cheese plate to dull the palate.

People

Aside from a few snobby hotties we found everyone to be quite friendly. We were not there to hook up (with other singles or swingers) and found that once guys chatted with us for a bit they would politely move on to riper waters. Don't go to TTR for sophisticated conversation.

Entertainment

You have to willingly suspend disbelief to enjoy the pool-side entertainment. We had a good time once we were smashed and stopped paying attention. There is definitely a fun scene at the sexy pool if you look for it. We found Chino's patter to be robotic, as though he's said each line thousands of times and was repeating them whether or not they were contextual. The music is nice, you can hear it softly at the beach and it's louder at the pool. We did not partake of the evening entertainment.

Beach

Biggest disappointment after the food. The sand is fine but the water is a let down. Once you get about waist deep you are over run with seaweed so you can't really swim. TTR does a good job of raking up the seaweed each morning. Waiters will bring you drinks. Plenty of chairs.

Pools

You do need to reserve chairs between 6am and 7am if you want to be by the sexy pool. Water was pleasant--we were in it all day on Saturday.

General

No one was greedy for tips. The guest services (not the front desk) was ornery about calling our car rental agency to let them know we'd arrived. The guy said it was no problem to call them but he didn't; if we hadn't checked back in it could have been quite a fiasco.

We won't go back and would not recommend it to people who like good food, great drinks and a solid beach. I would recommend it for people on a budget who don't plan on having an active vacation. The rooms were clean and pleasant; in the transfer on the way back to the airport, a couple from TTR said they'd had to change rooms due to the mold but we didn't have any troubles.

**We went to Chichen-Itza on Friday. Executive Car Rental was great: $26/day including insurance, picked us up Thursday night to fill out the paperwork (northern office is right near Wal-Mart!), didn't charge us extra for returning the car two hours late, drove us back to TTR on Friday night.

For details on Chichen-Itza, we took the toll road up (3 hours, $26 USD toll to Piste, $7 USD toll to Chichen-Itza. $166 pesos for entry. Afterward, drove 1.5 mile to Il-Kil cenote to swim for 70 pesos (highlight of the trip!). Took the local/free road back (6 hours, lunch in Viavolladid).

This forum was great in preparing us for what to expect at TTR. Thanks so much to everyone who has posted and kept the festive atmosphere going!

 

Special shout out to *redmuller* for being a great dinner companion!
His recommendation of the Mayan Coffee was greatly appreciated.
xoxo

 

Wow i'm shocked! I rarely hear anyone complain about being overserved lol. Hey everyone is entitled to their opinion. Sorry it was such a disappointment to you. Have you been to many all inclusives before? Cause as far as all inclusives, the food at TTR is usually considered really good.

 

I would suggest you not come back to Temptation. Having a good time is 99% attitude !! You are the 1%. There is always Miami !!

 

I don't think there's any need to berate the OP because she didn't like the place. It's horses for courses and let's face it, if everyone loved the place you would never be able to get booked in.

 

Greg was drinking Coffee or Just recommending it, Id be shocked to see him with a coffee in his hand. Just kidding, he is a good guy but he left weeks before me and its cold and rainy in our hometown area.
Sorry to hear TTR was not all you had expected, it is a niche hotel that some are addicted to (like myself) and some dont care for, but at least ya tried it....I am hoping to get overserved myself on several occasion throughout my trip next month.

"Don't go to TTR for sophisticated conversation"
I think that may be a rough generalization though, Ive met lawyers , Doctors, politicians, business owners etc down there, People just let their hair down in different ways....

 

NYW,

Thank you for the straight on trip report. It helps to have balance about the property and it's srevices. We all have a point of view. When we return I will post our experience too.
We land on property in 18 days. This 'enthusiast' forum has been essential in helping our group of TTR Virgins learn what to expect and hopefully make our visit as enjoyable as possible. Having been to two of the top ten resorts in the world for work rewards (Hilton Waikaloa and El Conquistador PR) I know what 5 star looks, feels and tastes like. I am not expecting 5 star or even 4 star (Riu Palace Mexico down the coast a ways was our last Cancun / Riv Maya trip). What I am expecting is a good time. Sorry the resort did not meet your expectations.

Zoe, what we really want to know is.....did ya have fun? Did ya play any volleyball? What was your favorite drink? C'mon, inquiring minds want to know....... did ya lose yer top? ;-P

 

I do not have a budget for my vacations. None of the people we go with do either. We'll all be there tomorrow. Retired in their 30's entrepreneurs, real estate geniuses, Doctors, nurses and succesful business owners all. We typically try to keep the conversation to titties and beer.

I could be spending this week in a suite at Fontain Bleu, I'll stick to TTR I can't stand the pompousness of upscale resorts or big cities.

 

for those of you who just went... how long did it take you to exit the airport once you de-boarded the plane? That includes time for customs,baggage claim, and aduanas, etc. Let me know! Thanks! Hope you guys had a blast!

 

TTR is definitely not for everyone. Being over-served happens to me also when at TTR. I am surprised you liked the vino at the Italian, but glad it worked for you. You did not mention the Asian and am curious what you thought of it.

The Cancun food is definitely NYC or Chicago quality, and I would not expect it at a 3-star resort.

There is absolutely no reason to be surprised with the quality of the beach at TTR. It is exactly like everyone on this site says it is.