Trip Report: Spring Break Group 4/24-5/1/10
Occupancy and attendance:
Final count .....74 guests registered but I think just about everyone joined our fun at the resort.
Rumor had it that the resort was 70% occupancy as of Monday...I believe that was overly optimistic. More like 50% most of the week from what we saw.
Many guests arrived on Friday this time...anxious to be READY to begin to party by Saturday. Weather was sunny and HOT all week long. Very humid most of the week. The mosquitos were a pain in the butt!!!
For the most part rooms were ready early but pool front rooms ran a bit behind schedule. However they did what they could to get everyone situated and room requests accomodated.
Food: I was disapointed. It seems like a lot was cut back on. No freshly grilled hamburgers or fish on the lunch menu as we had in November. Salad bar was lacking shredded cheese and bacon almost every day for both lunch and dinner. Fresh fruit choices were limited though the pineapple and mango was fantastic. Only saw pizza offered once during the week.
Nude grill: WE LOVE JOHN!!! Still putting out great service and making everything special and taste great.
Reggae Cafe: They are building a bar right IN the cafe now to make service better so staff doesn't have to go upstairs for service.
**Pasta bar is now open every night from dinner until they open the midnight buffet!
Also after all these years we learned that you can order a "snack attack" which consists of a sandwhich, cheese, small cake/sweet bread from the front desk after the midnight buffet closes. We never heard of this before but we were told they've had this for years!!!
Staff: ECs are doing their best to keep things entertaining. A few new ECs still getting the hang of things. Melody and Sonny were in charge all week and worked their butts off! However it continues to be a tough job to get most people involved in the games.
Music: In the disco was improved over last trips all except ONE night where we had words with the DJ. A couple of times music was too loud and the other DJs were all accomodating, taking requests and kept the music at a tolerable but fun level.
At dinner however the music was terribly loud. We did speak to Mr. Parrish toward the end of the week and it was better that night but unfortunately we miscommunicated and he thought we meant ONLY the DJ music was loud but the band (Extacy) was also too loud and no one could talk at all during dinner. We will clarify that with him in our report and I'm certain he will attend to it.
Dining Room: Due to the extreme heat and humidity and poor circulation in the dining room, unfortunately it was very uncomfortable and people didn't stick around any longer than they had to after dinner so attendance for shows and games was low.
Overall Resort appearance and atmosphere: Things continue to be spruced up and cleaned. Staff is trying really hard at in all areas from food service to bar staff to ECs and housekeeping to be helpful and friendly. Everyone is pleasant and saying hello.
Pools: Nude pool was a bit murky all week but you could see the tanning lotion/oil floating. As I said it was VERY HOT this week and I know everyone was dousing themselves regularly to prevent burning.
Nude pool had a lot of people around all week and I think the quad pool had more guests there this week than I've seen in the past.
Prude pool and beach were mostly deserted all week.
Other fun in the nude pool: HUGE thanks to B who brought squishy water balls, blow up balls and other pool toys to the pool each day to keep all of us kids entertained. Watch out for those nude beach bartenders....they have some WICKED throwing arms and great aim!
PDAs: Low PDA sightings during the day but the nude pool was busy early every night due to the heat. PDAs started earlier with occasional bursts of extreme participation! :creepy:
Theme nights: Less participation than we've seen in the past which again I think was due to the heat. Everyone just wanted to be comfortable and have fun.
VERY limited participation in the PJ Party at the disco...never saw this before. I think only about 50 people showed up that night. However, those who did were HIGHLY entertained by D who came in his wife's red satin chemise, pole danced for all of us (for those who were wondering NO he never had a lesson with me!) and showed great spirit and sense of fun.
However creativity abounded with some very good natured participation! Several of the guys kept us highly entertained with stockings and garters and schoolgirl and sexy lingerie costumes!
One gentlemen (whom I will keep anonymous unless he decides to come forward himself!) was very creative with his "penis attire" throughout the week and had a great attitude about participation!
Nude cruise: Cost is up to $77 per person. Unfortunately they did not have enough participation and had to cancel it this week.
Fitness center: They now have a large floor fan to circulate and two of the three a/c units are back working again. The nautilus machine is now working at all stations.
Towels and drinking water were well stocked every day.
Unfortunately one bike kept shutting off, on elyptical didn't work and one treadmill is still out of order. :(
Specialty Restaurants: Munasans is the same and still good.
Martinos is the "new" Pastafari. Minimal difference in the menu aside from appearance as it's been reprinted but a couple of new things were added.
Wedding vow renewals: I had to mention this as this was also our week for our vow renewals. As always the resort did a fantastic job! We had 3 couples renew vows this week ...one at the gazebo, one on the prude/clothng optional beach and ours was on the prude beach pier - which I had never seen them do before and I loved how it was set up!
You can take pictures with your own cameras for renewals - there was some question about this prior to the trip as the policy states no personal cameras but that may only apply to weddings not renewals? We did hire a photographer and though it was quite pricey, the photographer did a fabulous job!
Final Note: Every year we just wind up with more and more fantastic group members with everyone hitting it off so well! Even our veterans commented many times this week about what a great group we had so it's not just me bragging! So many smiles so many people from outside our group commenting on how friendly everyone was and there was never a lack of laughter any place we went.
Basically I can't emphasize enough what a great week this was.
I'm sure there is more I may think of but that's all I can come up with for now. Let me know if anyone has any specific questions!
