by spanky67 » Fri Nov 18, 2022 11:12 pm
Our first trip was in June. I will tell you that so far everyone's answers are pretty accurate...including the "don't worry about a schedule, you're on vacay and it will take care of itself." I also understand the nerves of a first trip, FOMO, and just generally wanting to fit in. Here's what we did.
First off we are members so our butler made all our dinner reservations. We are gym people so we would stop by the pool, get chairs and head to the gym around 8ish. About an hour later, we'd hit Aphrodite for breakfast. We ate a big breakfast as lunch was sort of a moving target. We'd go back to our room, get our shit together and be at pool sometime between 11-12. Personally, I'd skip the beach...and we're big beach people. All the fun, and 99% of the people are around the pool. It's not an early rising crowd, so the pool is still pretty quiet around noon. We're not big day-drinkers, so it was hydrate, hydrate, hydrate all day. We'd usually get some sort of snack around 3p...could be pizza, could be something from the kitchen (Pro tip: you can pretty much ask for any sort of food. If they have it, they will make it...we ordered "off menu" pretty much every afternoon). We also started our drinking around 3p. Call us lightweights...but we can remember every event from those 7 days!! The pool starts to empty out around 4ish. Some hit the jacuzzi, so go nap. You'll probably miss something good/funny/sexy if you nap...but you'll soon figure out how important that nap can be
We'd leave the jacuzzi around 6-630p to get ready for dinner...we usually had a rez around 8ish (pro tip: always make a dinner rez for 4 people...it's a great way to make friends and get to know people). I'm not sure if we actually went to any of the reservations we made. We would meet people in the pool/jacuzzi and either they would come with us or us with them.
We'd run back to our room, throw on theme night clothes and get to the disco usually in time to plow through 1 drink just as the doors were opening for the show. We'd hang out for the show, then make fools of ourselves on the dance floor for about an hour (usually about the time it was thinning out).
From there, it was straight to the jacuzzi for late night trouble. Don't worry about going back to your room. Unless the place is mobbed, there will be plenty of towels at the jacuzzi. Keep in mind, we were there in June so nights were pretty warm. We'd stay at the jacuzzi until it closed. We really had no concept of time, so I'd assume it was sometime around 2-3a.
Once you get there, and get through your first day, every other day will take care of itself. I know how useless that advice is to a first time visitor...but it really will make sense once you get into the flow. Hence the "don't get hung up on schedule" being good advice.
I won't tell you to relax and enjoy yourself, as I distinctly remember how impossible that was as the date approached.
We're heading back in about 20 days, and just typing this has given me such great memories of our time.