Trip Report
Hidden Beach Resort Au Naturel Club
Gary and Kathie
July 21 – August 1, 2003
As many people have wanted to hear about our recent trip to our new most favorite resort, Hidden Beach Resort Au Naturel Club, here is a rundown of our trip.
Many many of our most favorite parts of the resorts were the guests which for the purpose of this report we’ll leave out as we don’t have permission from all of them to bring them into this report. We’ll focus on the facility, staff, food and other amenities which you can read about to determine if the resort is for you or not.
Many of the observations written here are our personal opinions and many also come from speaking repeatedly to the General Manager of the resorts about what he and his company want the resort to become.
From Indy, we took American TransAir direct to Cancun. Other than an hour delay due to severe storms on the East Coast, the flight was perfect (on a Boeing 757-800).
Arriving in the Cancun International Airport, the arrival terminal was in a state of major renovation which reminded us of many airports in the Caribbean we have visited. As a major comparison, when leaving, the main terminal was as nice as a terminal out there so I can just imagine what the arrival gate area will look like.
We decided to get to Hidden Beach in the most efficient manner and choose a limo. In the limo they had beer for $2 each which seemed a bargain. The smooth drive to Hidden Beach gave time to down two ice cold Dos Equis Ambers which hit the spot.
Along the way, you could see all of the road signs and billboards of the activities along the way.
From the moment we arrived, you could tell you weren’t in Kansas (well, Indiana) anymore.
For us, the main entry kind of reminded you of Jurassic Park with its large wood entrance door.
Waiting for us to arrive was John, the Concierge. Our checking in time was almost as minimal as it could be. If it wasn’t for the fact that after we checked in they wisked our bags (too many of them) to our room, we could have just gotten naked right there and felt at home.
We booked a swim up suite - #1210 – which is at the far end next to the fitness center.
Our room was very large as all of the rooms are at Hidden Beach but there is one thing to remember – the tile is very slippery. The first day after coming back from the pool, we both slipped before getting into the room so be very very careful.
Our room was equipped with a wall mounted cabinet which contained a bottle of Appleton Rum, Absolut Vodka, Whiskey and of course Tequila. We never cracked the bottles as we always always had enough to drink from all other sources.
If I could change one thing though, I would have installed two person Jacuzzi tubs instead of standard tubs as that is always a nice touch on vacation.
Another nice touch happened to us after our first day. We of course overpacked and since the rooms aren’t equipped with traditional dressers, we really didn’t have a place to stack our stuff.
I just mentioned it to John one time. The next day, after we came back from breakfast, workers had gone into our room and installed a cabinet under the wall mounted safe which is in the closet.
The safe got minimal use as the only thing we left in there were our wallets. After our first day, we felt very very safe and left almost everything out during the day and night.
Other than one set of Penthouse playing cards that I couldn’t find, nothing ever came up missing. We brought two sets, and decided to leave the set I had to Chava and to Tito for them and the others to enjoy which they were already doing even before we left.
Everyday we ate and drank as much high quality food and drinks as we could possibly consume. We never felt hungry or thirsty. There was always someone there to help get you whatever you wanted or needed.
If you read any other reports, this will be confirmed again and again.
We enjoyed some of the finest soups we had ever tasted, some of best breads and seafood ever. We took full advantage of their grilled lobster many nights.
There is no reason for me to elaborate more on their food and drink as it is everything that I had been told and more. Many times in the past months people didn’t believe what they were hearing from me and others and all has been proven about the resorts food and drinks.
Some did go next door to eat at the El Dorado restaurants but after seeing our menus, there just wasn’t a need.
Most nights the resort set up a group dining where as many as 24 people at dinner under the huge pool bar thatched roof. The dining attire each night was very varied.
Most nights there were at least 5 women that chose to eat topless, and most nights there were quite a few men that ate in just thongs or in the nude – where else can you do that????
The dining attire for the women ranged from nude, to topless with just a small coverup to a sundress.
Dining in the morning or at lunch was usually very casual with many men dining nude and the ladies dining topless with a small waist coverup.
How can you say anymore that hasn’t been already been said about the staff.
From Chava to Eddie, to Tito, to Ozzy to Evonne ( who at this writing may have moved to El Dorado) to Alexjandro to David, to Oscar, to John to Ruben – they are all fantastic.
Anything we wanted we got from the resort and the staff..
After we got there, a little nagging and cajoling, they brought in a pool volleyball net and strung it from the pool basketball poll to the pool bar and then they got creative and attached it and it worked.
We had some great games during our stay which was a great way to spend some time at the resort.
When Oscar’s on duty, do yourself a favor and let Oscar know that you would like to do a Oscar special body shot, I’m sure he’ll oblige the two of you.
During our stay, the nightlife varied greatly each night based on the guests, not based on resort activities.
We had some fantastic, unbelievable people during our stay. A pair of women that stayed during our stay were total blasts and each night, we just didn’t know what they were going to do next. All that they did was fun with a tint of sexual / sensual excitement. Nothing was ever at the XXX level, all just good clean dirty fun.
Oscar did liven up the place a few nights by setting up body shots on first the bar and then the pool bar and then on a table In the middle of the disco floor. Each time, there were willing participants who with their husbands demonstrated the fine art of body shots. They were as much fun to watch as to participate in.
Other nights we danced with Eddie, Chava, Evonne, Oscar, Tito and any other staff member that wanted to dance. A couple of nights the women staying with us tried to get the one person to take it off to no avail – Ruben the general manager.
One interesting difference between our trips to Braco and Hidden Beach – at Hidden Beach the staff many times gets naked with the guests which can be a bit different. We don’t know if it was just our stay or a common activity now. This also happened in the pool during volleyball.
Other times the nightlife was a bit slower simply due to the lack of guests. Each night the staff was more than willing, but the amount of guests just didn’t allow it to happen.
One night a group of lifestyle couples (we assumed they are, that isn’t the kind of thing that you just ask) were up in the disco in the corner where there are two chairs and a couch. As you can let the curtains loose kind of making the corner more private, the group in there seemed into each other and things might have been going to happen. As this is not what the resort wants, Oscar did the right thing, he went into the area, started dancing on the table, effectively stopping anything that might have happened.
This resort will not become another Hedo II or III in it’s nightlife according to resort management – it will become a better version of Braco which it most closely resembles.
During our entire stay, at no time did we observe or even hear about any PDA activity in the pool, hot tub or even in the palapas. If it occurred, guests were very quiet about it. There was no PDA activity durring the day either by the pool or the palapas which is what the resorts management and ownership wants.
We had some unbelievable people during our stay who made the trip great. Many of these people have already talked about going back next year around the same time as we do so we can really do the place right.
The ages of the guests during our stay ran the gamut. We went from 70 down to 25 and all seemed to get along. We had the birthday of the 70 year old (who looked like he was 55) during our stay.
Many have been asking about the beach area. This is one area that they are now improving on as they know they have to improve the actual beach area and also need to remove the rocks from the ocean bottom to allow guests to easily go into the sea. Right now, remember to bring some water shoes as there are many rocks to walk on and around.
Out in the sea, there is an excellent snorkeling area which is about 100 feet into the sea. There were many varieties of fish in the sea ranging from minnow size to about 2 feet in length.
Hidden Beach is planning to add a pier into the sea so that you can walk out to the snorkeling area and feed and see the fish much like at El Dorado.
Don’t forget to go to the El Dorado pier when they feed the fish as there are tens of thousands that flock each day for the food.
For us, the next door El Dorado Resort just wasn’t needed. We went there to their two gift shops but that was the only thing that El Dorado had that we needed.
The tour desk for Lomas travel is located in the lobby at El Dorado though so if you intend on visiting any of the great Mexican Mayan Riviera attractions you’ll need to go to the Lomas desk.
The PC in the front lobby area was a nice touch as we used it to keep in touch with home.
The resort has added about 6 more beach Palapas as they were needed.
We are somewhat ashamed that we only left the resort one time. We took the day trip to Playa Del Carmen to see the sights and do some shopping.
We were glad we did as Playa is a fantastic city to visit and was only about 30 minutes north of the resort.
We took the group tour bus to Playa but we should recommend to anyone – take a taki for $16 one way. Find another couple and split it. The bus was extremely crowded and hot as hell. Take a taxi and save the grief.
Others in our group went cave diving, went to Xel-Ha, went to the ruins at Tulum and to Chichen Itza. As far as we heard, we never knew of anyone that made the 1 hour trip to Cancun.
From all we talked to, all tour sites were fantastic and we didn’t hear any negatives from any that had visited the sites.
We just loved Hidden Beach so much, we just didn’t want to leave the site during the day.
There really aren’t many but one that you should prepare for. We don’t know if it was the rich food (as we are more accustomed to boring food at home) our stomachs a few days felt unsettled. It wasn’t enough to really slow you down but you had to be aware of where the closest rest room was if you needed it.
Take some Immodium or it’s prescription only form as people that used it stopped the problem immediately.
During our stay, due to Hurricane Claudette, they moved up construction of a brand new sea wall as Claudette washed up a lot of sand and surf into their pool. Right as we left, they finished the construction of the new wall, so when you get there, you will see a new beautiful 3’ sea wall constructed of rocks that they brought up from the sea.
If you are looking for wild, non stop partying in a disco, this isn’t your kind of resort. If the resort is fairly full with all like minded adults, then it will be more lively. During our stay, for various reasons, there were about 18 people staying in the resort that never were in the disco at night not that we wouldn’t have welcomed them. Some of these were Italian couples that ended up going next door to El Dorado to be with other Italian couples as they spoke no English. For the resort to be lively, as there are 42 suites, that means that most of the people staying need to participate in the later night activities.
Hopefully as the resort picks up each week, there will be more and more people that will be wanting to stay up late and party in the disco.
The future is bright at Hidden Beach with expansion in the near future with some very exciting enhancements. These enhancements will further set this resort off as the best Au Naturel resort around and one that all others will shoot at.
If you would like to hear about any part of this report and any other details, please write me at:
Gary and Kathie
Indianapolis, IN