Hidden Beach trip report December 11-20th 2003
We are a couple in our early mid thirties from Nova Scotia, Canada. Let me say before I begin, that we had one of the best vacations ever, and we plan on returning next December. We stayed 9 nights and it was perfect.
Our trip began at 6am from Halifax, through Toronto, arriving at 1.30pm local time. We had to check luggage, as usual, due to sporting equipment. Tennis racquets instead of diving gear this time though. Upon arriving at the Cancun airport, customs was quick and our luggage came out fast. We avoided the dreaded red light upon exiting the customs area. They have a button you press when exiting and if it flashes green you leave immediately, every so often it will flash red, and everything will be searched. It’s totally random.
When you are in the airport, salespeople of all kinds will yell at you, telling you that you need a token or whatever, just ignore them and locate your transportation. They are trying to sell you a timeshare or whatever, and I can see how an unseasoned traveler would get confused by them.
We located the teal shirts of the Lomas staff just outside the exit and to the left. We had ordered a stretch limo and it was there waiting for us. We got loaded in and hit the road quite quickly. The cost for the limo was $160 USD return and it was worth it to us. It was very comfortable and cool. Drinks were available from the driver, beer was $2 each.
The resort entrance is right next to the El Dorado, yet it’s a little out of the way, and most people I spoke to from there had no idea HBR even existed. We entered the lobby to meet John, chief of the village. John is from the Dominican Republic and he was the person we usually went to when we needed something. I know Rueben is the GM, but I never met him directly, I think he spent most of his time at EDR. We also met someone who told us he was the assistant manager, he seemed very nice but I can’t remember his name. Numerous people checked on us sporadically to make sure we were enjoying our food, stay, room, etc. A few times the front desk called randomly right before dinner to insure everything was going well with our stay.
Check in was very quick, but it was at that time that a great mystery started. John told us that the next week, occupancy would be 100%. When we got there on the 11th, there were about 20 couples there, the resort seemed very spacious. Over the course of our stay, fewer and fewer people remained, that is a notoriously slow week for resorts anyhow, right before the Christmas rush, but at one point, for the last few days of our stay, we were one of two couples left on the resort!!! That’s 4 people. And one of those days, the other couple went to Xcarat so we had the entire staff and resort to ourselves. It seemed like something out of the twilight zone, sort of bizarro world-like. Every time we asked someone about occupancy, we received a different reply for when people would be arriving and how many would be there. Finally, on our last day, one of our waiters brought us a piece of paper that had the dates and occupancy listing for the entire month. It was very interesting to take a look at that and see that the resort wasn’t going to be full until right before the new year. We enjoyed the resort both while it was half full, and when it was practically empty.
When we were there, there were a lot of little non biting black flies that were very pesky. The staff said that it was that way for a week or two most Decembers. For the most part, they weren’t too bad, but there were a few times when eating outside was difficult, so we ate indoors during those times. Bring some bring some OFF spf15 cream just in case. I had some and they may still land on you with the OFF lotion on, but they don't like it, and they fly off.
We were in room 1206 and although we loved our room, there was a supply closet right outside our door and we found that people were in there all hours getting brooms and stuff and making noise. We did move for the last few days, to room 1209 and that room was quiet but the shower pressure there wasn’t very strong. We did complain and they came and tried to increase the shower pressure and cleaned the shower head, but it didn’t help much. We didn’t complain any more after that because we usually expect for a little something to be wrong when we travel, and it wasn’t a big deal. We were very happy with the staff and service and anything that was wrong they tried to fix it and went out of their way to ensure that you were comfortable. Each room is equipped with a fridge which is replenished daily, containing beer, pop and water. 4 bottles of liquor are in each room but we didn’t use ours. It has a DVD and CD player in the rooms, and the air conditioners seemed to work well. We didn’t find the rooms musty smelling. DVD’s are available for 24 hour loan from the lobby, they have a large selection of XXX and a few blockbuster movies available.
Towels and floats are plentiful. I love that! At Grand lido Braco it seems that there aren’t enough towels to go around, but at HBR they are everywhere, and you can use as many towels as you want. The palapas on the beach are awesome and comfortable. A few people slept out there but Jeff is a light sleeper and thought the waves would keep him awake. Also, the weather was a bit on the chilly side, so we didn’t try it this time.
The lazy river and pool area was kept immaculately clean, a few people thought that the pool was too cold, and management said they would take it under advisement. The hot tub is large, but like most large hot tubs, getting the proper temperature seemed challenging. It was usually too hot or cold but that didn’t keep people out of it. Around 4 or 5pm everyone would migrate there and have drinks and make new friends.
We didn't see anyone wearing any bathing suits or other clothing during the day. It is definitely a nude resort, not c/o, no women had on bikini bottoms or anything like that. We got dressed to play tennis, run, or train in the gym.
For dinner, it was warm enough most nights to wear what you wanted. Most people wore something, but it was truly optional, and no one cared what anyone else wore. Some people wore towels, clothes, sexy wear, etc. I wore whatever I felt like...one night that was nothing but a towel which I opened, a few nights I wore sheer dressy nighties, our last night I wore a sexy dress, but honestly, most nights I just wore the bathrobe supplied in the room to dinner. Lots of times people would discuss beforehand what they would be wearing to dinner and people dining with them would dress accordingly. No one cared what anyone else wore, so just do whatever you want. It's vacation, be comfy.
I heard there were a few topless people at El Dorado, and I am sure you can wear a thong there, although it would certainly not be commonplace. When we walked over there we didn't see any thongs or topless people but we weren't there for very long.
I have read some people talking about a bad smell, but when we were there, I didn't notice any smell around the HBR grounds. However, when we played tennis (daily) there was a terrible sewer/swamp smell in that area. It's quite far from the HBR grounds though.
You must be dressed for tennis, and it’s a short walk to get there. The court is ok, I have played on worse, but it’s not perfectly level, be careful. One day it rained and we couldn’t play the next day, when we mentioned it to Chava, he said to let him know if it wasn’t dry enough to play on and he would have it dried for us. That’s the type of service we received there.
We didn't try the spa or any restaurants at EDR, the food at HBR was all we needed, and we were there for 9 days. I did get 2 sport massages on the HBR beach though, and they were $60USD for an hour. We walked over to the El dorado once to get some reading material, as I had run out. There was not a book to be found in either of the small stores. However, once I mentioned it to a few people, an entertainment staff member brought me a bag of books to choose some from, and other guests were nice enough to offer me the use of their books too. If you finish anything there or have some spares, please bring them and leave them in the lobby. It would be good to build up a small library there.
For
side trips, we went to Playa Del Carmen shopping for an afternoon/evening with
the 2 NYC docs, don't miss it, it's a great little beach town with lots of
shopping, and it's only 30 minutes away, a taxi would be $16 each way, but
it's easy to find another couple to split the costs with you, just ask around.
Don’t go before 3pm, all the stores wouldn’t be open and it’s too hot to walk
around. If you don’t want to take a cab, talk to
Chava when you get there....he offers a Wednesday afternoon shopping trip to
Playa that he guides. I don't think there is a charge but am not sure because
we didn't go. I wasn’t too interested in shopping this trip, I grabbed a $6
bottle of vanilla and we shopped for a djembe drum for my husband, which we
finally tracked down and bought for $128, which was a great deal. They go for
around $350 here.
We are returning December, 2004 and
splitting our time between Cozumel and HBR because we want to be close to
scuba diving for a few days, which we missed on this trip.
They were working
on clearing the beach/ocean right in front of HBR when we were there, but it
looks like it's going to take quite a while. Take water shoes for sure. Some
people talked about feeding the fish but we didn’t bother since we didn’t want
to put anything on.
I am just going to touch on a bunch of stuff in here that I see asked or talked about on the boards. Singles- they are allowed. New pool area- it will be covered for all weather and is under construction, it’s supposed to be done soon but looks far from it from what I saw. I heard that the contractor is already over his allotted time and that it will start costing him if it’s not finished shortly. Tito- I don’t get this. I introduced myself to him and tried to get to know him because I read so many raves about him. He just didn’t seem interested in us or anyone else that was there, I am not sure if he wasn’t feeling well or what the problem was. Jeff speculated that perhaps he needs the energy of a full resort to feed on, but I just don’t know. He made good drinks and wasn’t obnoxious, he just seemed….uninterested and uninteresting. There is a PC with a free internet connection available in the lobby, and it was usually available anytime I wanted it. No clothes are necessary there either.
For
tipping, I gave a few special people $10 or $20 USD each in envelopes supplied
from the lobby (I had to ask for some). I also gave Chava about 10 CD’s. I
talked to lots of staff about their wages, tips, and living conditions. There
were a few waiters and kitchen staff who were very helpful. The average waiter
there makes $5 for an 8 hour work day so $10 or 20 is a significant amount for
them. The resort does do a "tip out" and give the employees a small % each
depending on the # of guests there, and what they do on the
resort. For
example, the tip out for grounds staff is higher than the tip out for
entertainment staff, because the management rightly assumes that the
entertainment staff will receive lots of tips directly from the patrons. For
housekeeping and general cooks, chefs and kitchen staff, I labeled them
accordingly and gave them to John to distribute on top of the tip out.
I
found the kitchen and wait staff to be exceptionally friendly and they tried
very hard to please. Dinner usually took 1.5 to 2 hours total, but it didn't
seem like we waited around for a long time for food. Night life after dinner
is quiet, so socializing and taking time for dinner seemed like a great idea.
Most people seemed to hit the hot tub again after dinner. If you are in a
hurry for your meal, let your server know and I am sure they will try to help.
There was 1 staff member they were training who didn't speak very good english,
but they took him off table service after 1 dinner and 1 breakfast I was at
got messed up. He wasn't fired or anything, they just had him doing other
things.
We met lots of great people, especially Mike and Penny, the 2 NYC docs, and Lisa and Mark. We usually all ate dinner together or with another of the couples. They were all wonderful people, and we were all very different, which makes it interesting. One night we stayed up late and went to the disco, where we all got very drunk. Chava tried to initiate some tame bodyshots, which we had done at Hedo(not tame), but everyone else was new to the idea and seemed a bit apprehensive to join in, so after 1 we scrapped it. I talked to Chava about the rules, and he said that there was no open sex, but other stuff was allowed. I suspect a lot would depend on the crowd that is there at the time.
We planned to try the Mexican and Italian restaurants at El Dorado, but we never got around to it, and we loved the staff so much that we would have missed chatting with them if we had skipped dinner at HBR.
For breakfast, we tried the pancakes and waffles, egg omelet, toast, hash browns, etc. Everything was great. I missed my large selection of herbal tea, but made do with the chamomile, and will bring my own next time. The orange juice in the morning was to die for, fresh squeezed and perfectly delicious.
For lunch we always had guacamole and chips and salsa. Everyday. We also ate whatever they had made special on the outdoor buffet, and some days we had grilled chicken burgers for lunch. The last day they surprised us when we came over for lunch with giant hogies they had made just for us!!! The entire kitchen staff, including the chef and the captain and Chava and Claudia came out with them on big plates and made a grand presentation. We split the chicken one and gave the steak one to Chava and Claudia. Also, on the last day, Claudia and I split the fish cakes at lunch and I was sorry I hadn’t tried them earlier, as they were very tasty.
For drinks, we drank a lot of water, they have bottled water everywhere. Also, soda and cranberry, plain or with vodka, lime margaritas and champagne were our beverages of choice.
The dinner menu changed daily. There were lots of great offerings on the specials and the regular menu. We enjoyed the chef’s salad, the clam chowder, and a special soup that was cream of onion with pernod. Sometimes they didn’t have exactly what they listed, one of the NYC docs and I ordered a melon truffle appetizer and it showed up with no truffle. We laughed and pointed it out to the captain, who had the chef make us something else up special, which was a nice spicy shrimp appetizer. Just remember, it’s Mexico, and you are on vacation, and they try hard to please, and everything will be fine.
I had the lobster most evenings, and while it was very good, I do live in Nova Scotia, nothing beats our cold water lobster up here. Jeff ate the salmon quite a bit, and it was properly prepared, on the rare side, so if you like your fish done all the way through, please tell your server or the food captain on duty. They do make some nice flaming dishes, the last evening we were there, they made us a lobster and fish sautéed with liquor at our table that was very nice. We watched them make flaming mayan coffee at a table, and we tried the strawberries flambé, which is served over ice cream and was delicious. In addition, we had mentioned to Chava offhand at our lunch the last day that we missed sushi, and he spoke to the lunch captain, who had the dinner chef prepare us some special. We were very honored and happy that they so obviously went out of their way to make something they didn’t normally do. They didn’t have any wasabi but it looked and tasted very good regardless.
Only 11 months before we go back again, we can’t wait!