We were at Hidden Beach Resort from Sunday, April 3 to Monday, April 11. We had a wonderful time with only a couple of negative points. We will be going back, hopefully by the end of the third quarter this year. All of the guests we met were extremely nice and fun. The staff was very professional and courteous.
We booked lodging and airport transfers through DennyP (DennyP.com). I think Denny uses Go Classy as the wholesaler. The flights were booked through Continental. Lomas travel did the airport transfers.
The food, food presentation and food service were excellent. I don’t think we had a bad food related experience at HBR while we were there. We did try the Mexican Restaurant next door at El Dorado and it was “so-so”. We had lobster a couple of nights, the pasta was good and the Caribbean fish cakes that were on the lunch appetizer menu were excellent. The only complaint Tammy had was there was not a lot of actual Mexican food. We live in Houston, which has some of the best Tex-Mex restaurants around and that type of food was not to be had at HBR. Tammy somehow survived without her daily fix of Tex-Mex food.
We had a total of four massages each. We thought the massages were a little pricy, but they were excellent. Leo and Percy was our favorite massage therapists – both are females. Tammy did get a pedicure which she said was not worth it. It was the first time she has had a pedicure that they did not soak her feet in water. It was overpriced and they burned the undersides of here feet with the hot wax. The spa was located on the El Dorado’s side of the resort which was a two minute walk.
The physical resort was beautiful and well maintained. HBR has 42 rooms with a small restaurant and a small disco/entertainment area on top of the restaurant. We did have full access to El Dorado’s facilities which was right next door. El Dorado’s facilities were beautiful and well maintained. El Dorado’s guests were not allowed on HBR property without paying for a day pass of $90 USD per couple.
The beach in front of HBR is very rocky and sand shoes were needed if you went in the water. There is a very nice section of beach on the southern end of the El Dorado Resort, but you cannot go nude, although women can go topless. Along the beach are palapas, which are queen size mattresses on a stand with a grass cover on top. It was very nice just lie out there, read a book or just snuggle with your significant other.
The rooms were nice, quite adequate and the AC worked well. The room was not “five star” elegant, but more what I would term “Caribbean Tropical Rustic”. The water pressure was good and we always had hot water when we needed it. The room had a mini fridge stocked with water, soft drinks and beer. There was also a liquor dispenser with rum, whisky, vodka and tequila. The room had a TV, phone and DVD player.
We went into Playa Del Carmen one afternoon by taxi; it was $17 USD one way. We had a good time doing a little shopping, drinking beer and people watching.
We did take a nude snorkel – sail boat trip on Wednesday. It was $85 USD per person for the nude cruise. Mike and Chrissy, the vacation club sales people are the ones that sponsor the trip, they are also nudists. If you listen to their half hour sales pitch you get a $100 USD room credit. We thought it was worth it and did it. We decided not to buy anything and never felt any pressure after we said no. In fact we like Mike and Chrissy very much and would highly recommend the nude cruise even if you do not want to listen to the sales pitch.
Now for the negative; we met a nice couple that came over from El Dorado on a day visit. They were having a good time, playing volley ball in the pool and there was a lot of activity around the pool. Their room and safe key were stolen from their beach bag and they think that sometime between 7:00 PM and Midnight while they were still at HBR someone opened up the safe and stole their cash, his driver license, credit cards and jewery. They estimate they lost about $3,000 USD. They were able to cancel the credit cards. Some of the jewery had sentimental value that could not be replaced. The thing that got under my skin about the whole situation was the lazafare attitude the resort management took. The couple was charged $100 USD to drill out the safe. The couple asked if the fee for going to HBR could be waived or if they could move over to HBR, but management refused. The couple felt like they were being treated as the criminal and not the victim. A piece of advice; make sure you know where your keys are at all times and do not take anything of value that cannot be replaced After that incident, our keys stayed on our body the rest of the time.
The other issue I had with the resort was the number of people that went in and out of our room. I estimated that they have at least four to six people on a daily basis going in and out of the room for one reason or another. There is the maid, the maid’s assistant, the person checking the mini fridge and the guy turning down the room at night and God only knows who else goes in and out the room. Room access should be limited to one maybe two employees. The last night I was there I walked in on the guy that was turning down the room for the night and he was going through our suit case. We did not have anything of value in the suit case so I did not report it. The two other incidents we know about while we were there was a couple had expensive make-up and about $100 USD stolen from their room. The other was a couple had an electrical problem in their room and after the repair personnel left a camera was missing.
While I never felt that our personnel physical safety was at risk, I did feel that our personal property were in danger of being taken. Tammy and I will more then likely be back, but if we go back and the theft problem continues, it will probably be our last trip. HBR Management needs to address the problem as soon as possible or the resort utilization will suffer. I also think the resort needs to be more compassionate if some unfortunate incident happens; just my $.02 USD.
Now not to end on a negative, Tammy and I had a wonderful time. The food and service was excellent. The 24 hour room service was nice to have. We met so many wonderful and funny people. We came away with very fond memories. We will be back!!!!!!!