Cathy and Steve G
Hidden Beach Resort – November 15 – 22, 2003
We decided to visit Hidden Beach Resort for our November vacation. We have gone to Grand Lido Braco in November for the past 3 years and were at Grand Lido Braco this past May. Hidden Beach seemed to be a viable alternative. We have also visited numerous other resorts in the Caribbean and South Pacific. Since this is a relatively new resort, we will give a little more extensive review than normal. We will first go through our trip report of the resort and then try to give some comparisons to other resorts.
We had great flights this trip. This was a Funjet vacation and we flew charter (Ryan International) out of St. Louis direct to Cancun. Our flight left at 6:00 AM, we were at the resort at around 12:30 PM. Our departure flight was at 7:25 PM and we did not have to leave the resort until 4:30 PM. So we actually got most of the first and last day, which is a bit unusual. Our transfers were included in our package. We were on a large bus to the resort, which broke at the airport and caused us about an hour delay. We stopped at two resorts on the way to Hidden Beach to drop off guests. Our transfer to the airport was via private taxi, paid by Funjet, direct to the airport. We got home a little after midnight Saturday.
We were dropped off at the lobby of the El Dorado and were immediately led through the gate to Hidden Beach Resort. The grounds immediately impressed us. The resort has three stories and has Greek type architecture with multiple domes accenting the roofline. We were led to a nice lobby where check-in was a breeze. Genevieve, the concierge then gave us a tour of the facility. We arrived early, and our room was not yet ready. We traveled with friends from St. Louis. Their room was immediately ready, they were on the third floor….which took some zigzagging up some stairs. We decided to eat lunch while waiting for our room. We ordered off the lunch menu and were immediately impressed. I went to the bar and ordered a Corona, they do not carry Corona. This is no great loss in my opinion, but I was a bit surprised. They did carry a nice selection of Mexican beers, if I remember correctly I think about 5 brands. Genevieve caught us at lunch and told us our room number, 1107, a swim up room. We took our suitcases to our room even though the maid was still cleaning. We got out of our winter clothes and headed to the pool. We saw some friends from Maryland at the swim-up bar that we have known from several previous Braco vacations. We also had friends coming in from Seattle that afternoon. We were all settled in for a great week.
That evening we made reservations for a table for eight at 7:00 PM for dinner. It took us almost 3 and a half hours to complete dinner or maybe more accurately, it took the staff that long to serve our dinner. I realize this was a formal dinner, and we enjoyed the time with our friends, but this was a bit ridiculous. Even the French restaurants in St. Martin do not normally drag out dinner this long. Several of us ordered grilled lobster for our entrée, we asked for drawn butter, but could never get them to understand our request. The drawn or melted butter controversy became quite the joke in the next few days. We all ordered desert that evening, why not when you eat this slow. The special was apple pie, which several of us ordered, it was more like crumb cake and contained no apples. Cathy ordered crème Brule, it was served in a parfait glass and the top was not caramelized…. in other words it was vanilla pudding. Another person in our party ordered cheesecake, which did not seem to contain any cheese. One of our friends ordered Viennese coffee, which was on the menu, but they did not know how to make it. Some of us had their version of cappuccino. Though dinner was good, none in our party was too impressed with either the food or service.
The next morning we got up around 6:30Am and drank coffee and headed over for breakfast. Breakfast is a much smaller version of the Braco buffet. Thy do make omelets to order and waffles. If they make pancakes or French toast, I never saw it all week. Most of the items in the buffet warmers were cold. The breakfast buffet did not score points with us.
Previous reports indicated that if the resort did not carry what you wanted, they would get it for you. One of our friends had e-mailed prior to their arrival and asked in they would have Miller Lite and Asti Champagne available during our visit. They did not have either during our visit. We asked if it would be possible to get some Asti Champagne, Cathy does not like the Brut Champagnes that they carry. She never could get them to understand; instead they tried to sell us a $100 bottle of champagne. Cathy told Reuben that she preferred a sparkling or sweet wine. Rueben told her no problem, that evening our room refrigerator was stocked with 5 bottles of Boones Farm wine. This kind of became the joke of the week during our visit. But, we certainly have to give an A for effort for trying. At least the Boones let many of our friends reminisce about their teenage years.
Each day for lunch, they would set up a buffet outside. It varied from sandwiches, Mexican dishes, seafood, etc and was often very good. You also had the option of ordering off of the menu. People headed to the hot tub prior to dinner. While at the hot tub, I ordered some nachos. We waited for an hour and they never did come, I had someone tell us at dinner that the nachos arrived about a half hour after we left. That evening, we reserved a table for 10 at 7:00PM for dinner. Once again it took over three hours to complete dinner. It was taking 2 hours for lunch, an hour for breakfast and 3 hours for dinner. We spent most of your time waiting for food. Since we had talked 5 other couples into coming to the resort with us, we were feeling responsible for their unhappiness with the resort.
To try to give the resort an excuse, they were pretty full during our visit. In addition to our group, a group from Castaways travel was there. Rueben came up to Cathy the next day to ask how it was going. After well over an hour conversation, he was well aware that our group was not pleased. Although for the most part, he made excuses, he did follow through on improving many of the issues for the remainder of our visit. A new food captain, Jaukim, was brought over from next door. Jaukim was very attentive for the remainder of our visit. We made reservations as usual for dinner at 7:00 for eight people. We took the little Spanish lesson that they give around the pool. We had a lively discussion on how to say melted butter. That evening for dinner several of us had lobster and they had an entire vat of melted butter for us. After dinner Jaukim told us he had a surprise for us. He brought us out apple pies with apples! He had made them the night before at home just for us. Dinner that evening only took about two hours.
After Cathy’s conversation with Reuben, the general manager, food quality and service improved considerably. On subsequent morning the food at the breakfast buffet was warmer. They said they did not turn up the temperature; they just put less food in the trays, which in turn kept it warmer. At dinner we received good service. We found the food at the resort to be good, not excellent. Like most resorts in the Caribbean, ordering beef is a mistake. Each day around 4:00 Pm they set out coffee and cookies in the patio area, we found this to be a very nice touch. One evening we did eat next door at the Mexican restaurant at the El Dorado, this was a mistake. The service was good but the food was cold and medoricre at best. We did not eat the Italian next door, but other guests told us that the food was not very good.
The pool is nice and the swim up rooms is a nice novelty that is worth the extra cost. The main portion of the pool is relatively small. There is volleyball net across the middle tied to the pool bar. There is really no room for floaties or serous swimming. The beach is very narrow. It is pretty sandy down to the water, but once you get in the water it is very rocky. It is really too rocky to get in even with water shoes. The palapas on the beach are great! These were really our favorite places to hang out. The palapas have a mattress and curtains like a bed. They were wonderful to lie in and watch the ocean or just get out of the sun. They also had plenty of beach chairs for soaking up the sun. We also never had problems in getting chairs around the pool. Towels were abundant and always available. They always had towels neatly rolled sitting on the bar. Lying in the sun was delightful except for the foul sewage smell. We have been told that it is a nearby swamp.
The bar serves top shelf liquors. Tito is a great bar tender and will try to fix anything. Snacks were always available from the restaurant. After the first couple of days we found the service for snacks to be good. Our last couple of days we were brought nachos and guacamole without having to ask. The food captains, Juakim and Joel were great. Our waiter’s Santiago, Ismael, and Jaime were always personable and wanting to please. Over all we felt Hidden Beach has a great staff. Chava is the activities director. He is personable and fun but did not often follow-up with the listed activities. As a matter of fact we did not find that most of the listed activities to occur. Some days, the activities board itself was never up dated. Volleyball did seem to occur everyday, as did BINGO. They had Spanish lessons, body painting and a few other activities.
The disco is an open-air room located right above the restaurant. It is very nice. It has a bar, a pool table, several couches and chairs. It was a nice place to go after dinner and have a drink and maybe a dance. Even though the disco did have theme nights, there seemed to be little promotion or follow-up. The disco was more like an informal place to listen to some music and have a drink.
One evening we did go next door to El Dorado to watch the Mexican Dance Show. It was very enjoyable. It would be nice to have more of these types of shows, and maybe even a show at Hidden Beach instead of next door. Overall, we found activities to be sparse. We had several friends at the resort, but felt we may have been a little bored had we not traveled with friends.
The rooms are nice. They have a refrigerator and a stocked bar. The bed is a king size mattress sitting on a concrete pedestal, no box springs. There is also a built in couch a small table with two chairs. There is no drawer space for clothes. There is a nice size double closet. The bathroom has a large tub/shower combo. There is a coffeepot and hairdryer but no iron and ironing board. The maid service was excellent.
We had a good time and enjoyed the resort. No resort is perfect. Any resorts we have ever been to we enjoy certain aspects and wish they would improve other areas. Hidden Beach is certainly no exception. I think a key question to a person’s perception of a resort is, “Would you come back?”. We asked this question to our friends and many of the couples we met at the resort. Most of them answered No. The reasons seemed to vary. A good friend will not return because of the beach/ocean. Swimming and snorkeling in the ocean is important to him and going next door to El Dorado is not the answer. Others thought the resort to be over priced compared to the competition. Others just thought the resort did not offer enough amenities compared to the competition. Would we return….. Yes. Even though we also felt the resort was somewhat overpriced, it provides a nice alternative to some of the Jamaican resorts.
Comparison Hidden Beach – Grand Lido Braco – Caribbean Reef Club
Since we have been to all three of these resorts and thought Hidden Beach would appeal to many of these clientele we thought we would give you our comparison.
Grounds – Goes to Grand Lido Braco though HBR is a close second
Beach – Grand Lido Braco wins hands down the other two resorts have small rocky beaches
Food – Quality is close between Hidden Beach and Grand Lido Braco. Braco gets the nod due to the selection of restaurants. You can go to El Dorado at Hidden Beach, but this is really not a viable option due to the much poorer quality at El Dorado. Our last trip to CRC, the food was bad. We spoke to several guests at Hidden Beach who have also stayed at CRC. They will never return to CRC due to the food and several reporting getting sick.
Pool – Hands down Grand Lido Braco. The pool at HBR and CRC are similar in size but HBR has the added touch of the swim up rooms.
Hot tubs – Grand lido Braco has one very large Jacuzzi and a second smaller secluded one. HBR has a large Jacuzzi right next to the pool fairly comparable to the one at CRC.
Service – We found Hidden Beach and Grand Lido Braco to be comparable in service.
Activities – Grand Lido Braco is much more coordinated and carries through with activities much better than Hidden Beach.
Cost- Actually Hidden Beach and Grand Lido Braco are very comparably priced. For the cost Braco is a better deal. The only reason to choose Hidden Beach is for a change, CRC is much cheaper and should be…. it is not in the same league as the other two resorts.
Rooms – Grand Lido Braco wins again. The rooms are larger and well appointed and have plenty of drawer space. HBR has lovely décor but lacks in drawer space, as does CRC.