Temptations Resort Cancun
By Sue “Sex with Sue” , and Blaik , Clinical Sex
and Relationship Therapists
Authors of The Ethical
Hedonist
Cancun is sometimes called “Disney Mexico”. Cancun
isn’t siesta, and tortillas, and shy dark-eyed Mexican children, this is
a narrow strip of land thrust out into the Caribbean, on the side of the Yucatan peninsula that is
home to hundreds of hotels, restaurants, night clubs and designer
stores. This is where the
fish-belly white northerners and Europeans come for a week or two of
sun, sand and debauchery in the all-inclusive resorts. Temptations
Resort is at the far end of the zone hotelera through the downtown core
that houses the infamous landmark bars such as Margaritaville, Coco
Bongos and Senor Frog’s.
Temptations has been
recently re-named from
Blue
Bay over the last few
months. Wedged between two marinas, on a narrow beach, Temptations
doesn’t have the coastline of some other Cancun
resorts, but is still well worth looking at as a resort destination for
singles, groups of friends, and more outgoing honeymooners. Like its
name, Temptations is the riskier, saucier version of the larger, more
family resorts along the strip. It’s a flirty place, but it maintains a
sense of decorum in a fun way. Temptations big appeal is that it is
adult-only. This means, no babies crying at 7 am, no unsupervised kids
splashing you in the pool, and no reason not to keep the games (both day
and evening) ever-so-slightly naughty.
Temptations is known for it’s raucous activity
staff, who are always looking to engage guests in fun and energetic
beach and pool parties. Typical events such as beach volleyball, water
polo, salsa dancing lessons were popular,
along with water balloon fights, and sensuous fitness, where women learn
the basics of pole, chair and lap dancing. They have a game of tequila
pool volleyball – where whomever flubs the ball takes a swig right out
of the bottle. The Friday game we saw had everyone hang their bathing
suits on the net and left the entire pool filled with naked bodies.
Finally, evening entertainment includes live bands, lingerie shows, sexy
Latin dancing, and body shots before the bus takes guests still raring
to go up the road to Coco Bongo’s for more late night revelry.
The activities are only slightly
risqué but stop before that invisible comfort line is crossed, and could
be easily avoided if that isn’t your thing. Everyone has a choice as to
whether they participate.
Not to be confused with their sister resort 40
minutes away, (also owned by Original Resorts, the legendary Desire -see
www.desireresorts.com)
Temptations isn’t Hedonism
Mexico. It has toned down since it has
had the renovations and re-invention into Temptations from its previous
identity as Blue Bay,
and is far more flirty than previously overtly sexual. There used to be
much more late night beach sex and sexual games, and lifestylers looking
for more will be quite disappointed. Temptations have watered down
the sexual nature of the resort, and it has
certainly changed from years gone by. Temptations is perfect for a first
foray into “adult-only”, or a holiday where you want to gaze into each
others eyes and know that kissing on the beach will be indulged, not
frowned upon. Serious nudists or swingers will find Temptations much too
tame sexually. The average age was about 21-30 but doesn’t have the
“spring-break” feel of all night parties – it is more upscale than that.
You can have that kind of “into each other” vacation, but the whole
resort has an underlying party feel to it. Most of the guests go out
clubbing at night, and if you want to avoid the loud noise upon their
return ask for a room off the beaten path.
There is no full nudity allowed, and you are only
allowed to be topless around the pool and on the beach.
Through the entire time we were there, we only saw a handful of
women enjoying the freedom of removing their tops. They have you sign a
waiver at check-in that underlines that overt sexual behavior in public
is prohibited and the resort will have you kicked out if caught.
There may be lots of sex going
on- many of the guests were down as groups of single men and women, so
you saw lots of hooking up happening in the martini lounge every night
but it all happens behind closed doors. This is the place to go if you
want to feel gently sexy, or if the thought of Hedo
Jamaica’s reputation scares you to
death. Temptations is the much more modest, albeit friendly and
outgoing, little sister. For single women, the pickings are great. There
were lots of attractive people drinking by the “swimup bar”, in one of
the four pools, especially the one known as the sexy pool, but the men
definitely outnumbered the women. The sexy pool has swings, four
whirlpools (not to be confused with hot tubs as they were the same
temperature of the rest of the pool), and a little harder drinking
crowd. The sports pool is where the bulk of the games takes place and is
also the “cast headquarters” or home to the activity staff who will
tease you into a game of something if you’re lounging too long. The
quiet pool (again with a swim up bar) is for the newly-weds wanting one
on one time and is the location older guests could be found. It had the
stereo-typical beach resort vacation type feel to it. In fact, we found
that daytime noise in this area is virtually non-existent.
With the renovations and ambient sensuous feel, the
rooms were some of the nicest we have experienced in
Cancun. More upscale than the one we had at Desire and they
came with “sexy mood lighting” (labeled as such), and a balcony hot tub
that was separated from poolside access by a blind. You could enjoy the
feeling of having sex in the Jacuzzi outside while maintaining your
privacy. The rooms displayed on
their website (www.temptationsresort.com)
were exactly as advertised.
The food was acceptable and service was
outstanding. There was a good variety of choices, decent buffets, and
there was lots of it. Temptations emphasize their central buffet
restaurants for feeding guests in the close to 400 rooms they had
filled. They also had smaller theme restaurants but we had difficulty
getting into these restaurants at night (they take reservations at 10 am
and they were all full for the days we wanted- they had been booked
before we arrived at the resort), and compared to the glowing
recommendations we made about the food at other restaurants in Cancun,
(and at Desire), the food at Temptations was mediocre. The Asian
restaurant had great ambiance (located right along the shoreline), but
the food quality was consistently middle of the road.
If you are looking for a variety of blender drinks (ask for them
made strongly, and the bartenders are happy to oblige), with fresh and
beach food available day and night, then Temptations is exactly what the
doctor ordered. But it isn’t a fine dining kind of resort.
The resort was filled with lots of visitors from
the UK and other parts of Europe
when we were there. Many guests had been there previously and found it
modestly priced and loved the fact that it was adult only. As one couple
from England explained, “we had our Greek vacation
ruined by out-of-control kids, and this was a chance to lie in the Caribbean for a modestly priced vacation”. The guests we
spoke to felt it was great value, and would recommend it highly. The
couples we spoke to paid 900 pounds sterling for a two week all
inclusive vacation including air fare. We’ve seen it posted online for
$550 US a week, which is a very affordable vacation, and priced well for
the young couples and singles in their 20’s they seem to attract.
Based on the reviews online, lots of guests loved
Temptations, and had a great holiday. Anyone who didn’t recommend it
tended to come from the over 40 crowd who “had been there, done that”
when it came to lots of drinking, dancing, and outgoing games. Spend the
extra money to visit Desire down the road if you are looking for a more
upscale, or sensuous experience. Temptations is great for young couples,
and is a well priced singles holiday if you want to meet lots of people,
have a holiday romance, or just have great Cancun stories to bring home
about toplessness and naked co-ed water volleyball.