We are in our 40s and vaca to Mexico every year to relax.I have waitressed, bartended, and managed everything from a biker bar to a true 5 star hotel where I served drinks in white gloves and silver trays. So I have knowledge of good customer service and how hotels work. I am a very hands on homemaker and mother so vaca is my chance to be taken care of. I read previous bad reviews on GOV and thought, how bad can it actually be? Just give me good drinks, beach, a nice room and friends to party and I’m happy. I never even considered whether the service would be an issue. Everywhere we have ever stayed, the staff always said hi and smiled as they walked by and I make a point to do the same.Thats one thing we love about Mexico, the people are happy and seem to really care if you are. Not the case at GOV. We arrived with 2 other couples and were meeting another 10, so we knew the party would be there. As soon as we walk in the lobby, 2 other couples we were meeting greeted us and say they have been bumped but were waiting to tell us. Asking some other people, EVERYONE was getting bumped. So I found someone and asked for Valentina. She wasn’t available but they sent us to the VIP area and 2 very nice concierges helped us. They seemed to care and took wonderful care of us but it was a stressful process and took over 1.5 hours. But they did get us rooms and also the other couples who had already been bumped because of 'maintaince issues'. Not a great start to the trip but hey, we had great friends with us and were in Mexico so let the party begin. We upgraded to a balcony room and it had been remodeled. Nothing extra special but nice enough.( Tips: bring air freshener {every once in a while a sewer smell comes out of the air vents for about 5-10 min then disappears} and a power strip cord. Blow dryer worked well and they had a lighted makeup mirror. Light switches are hidden behind the night stands. Took us forever to find them. Open the cabinet to the fridge and leave it that way or your drinks will never get cold.) Had a great view and loved our balcony. Just ran into the buffet to grab a bite but wasn’t impressed. First night was fetish night and two of us dressed, only one other person we saw did. The shows looked great from what we could actually see. Stage is in a strange corner and there is a huge half wall support blocking it so you can’t sit and enjoy it. I loved that they had male dancers for us ladies to enjoy. But it was very hot so all of us ended up hanging out outside and just talked. We had met tons of people here so had plenty of new friends to get to enjoy. Lots of young kids and a huge sausage fest. We are very vanilla but also have met plenty of swingers and still always feel comfortable. Everyday we had kids coming up and asking if we were swingers and boys and girls hitting on us. Not in the 'polite suggestion' way but the uncomfortable rude way. Kinda put a damper on things. I guess most of the kids booked here looking to hook up with 'swingers'. LOL They had no idea how actual 'swingers' behave. They would just come up and ask it get laid. Very tacky. side note: our room was never cleaned the first day which was kinda disappointing. Next day - had coffee on the balcony and headed to the buffet. No service whatsoever. Finished our food having never seen a waiter. No coffee, water anything. Nice omelet station though and the lady there was nice. I am a big coffee drinker, so I headed to the 'coffee bar' to get a cappuccino. I had a small bubba keg and wanted to just get it filled and head to the beach. This was my first of many experiences at this hotel with the word 'no'. I was given a shot of cappuccino in a cup. No smile , no good morning, nothing. Not a great way to start the day. Ended up going back to the buffet and trying to get my mug filled with coffee and when I couldn’t get anyone to, walked over to fill my own and got 'in trouble' with the waiter. I mean really! I just want some friggin coffee to start my day and it was like pulling teeth. Met everyone on the beach to hang out for the day. some but not many topless. Never felt too uncomfortable though. Only had one Creeper holding his camera low and taking pics. Ran into him doing it again later in the day and nicely let him know proper etiquette and he replies 'what they don’t know won’t hurt them'. Luckily I was sober and just tried to explain that some people had jobs to protect. He just didn’t care. Glad he had left the next day as some of the men were already getting pretty pissed when I told them of my conversation. I think this night we ate at the Mexican restaurant. Some of the days run together so not sure. LOL Service was just OK. They had chips and guac and the food was OK. (By the way, this is the ONLY place we found guac or pico. (None on the buffet which was a disappointment.) Although 2 in our party reviewed the wrong main course and when they told the waiter he ignored them. So again my husband said 'this isn’t what I ordered and the waiter just looked at him and rolled his eyes'. As I have said, they just don’t seem to care and act like you are bothering them. It’s just crazy. We loaded up for the kinky cruise and we pumped up and having a good time. Seemed like the rest of the bus was ready to go to a funeral. LOL We ended up the last ones on the ship and shoved in a back corner where we couldn’t see anything. But the drinks were available and the staff seemed nice. I had worn a costume and had a ton of people want pics which was fine. But we just couldn’t get into the party. I have never been sea sick but when they parked the boat it swayed horribly and I ended up on a stool in a corner making friends with a trash can.(several others on the ship had the same issue) LOL Lots of others seemed disappointed and said there wasn’t much of a show so we didn’t miss anything. Next day, same disappointing service at breakfast buffet but I learned to order 2 cappuccino’s at the coffee bar. Still no smile and he seemed mad that I wanted 2. Enjoyed the beach some and then grabbed one of the other ladies to get a massage. There is a place directly across the street but after waiting and it wasn’t open, walked a little further down and found a place called Bamboo.( Tip: there is a pharmacy, liquor store, etc right across the street for anything you need.) Had a wonderful massage and headed back to the beach for the day. A few more seemed topless but it wasn’t comfortable enough to walk up to the beach bar without putting something on. Just too many single guys that have obviously never seen a boob before. The drinks are plenty stiff, but so were the bartenders and tipping didn’t help. No smiles, nothing. Just got your drinks and sent you on your way.(did have a new one on a later day named Cearar who was friendly) They are supposed to have beach service but the entire 6 days I saw her maybe 4 times and she never offered me a drink. One day I did call her over and tipped her but didn’t get a smile and she never came back. This is the first time I have left Mexico with tons of tip money. I always tip well, but found it didn’t matter, and they didn’t even say thank you if you did. Decided to have Sushi for lunch. The few tables we full so we leaned against the wall waiting for a waiter. He told us he wouldn’t serve us unless we were sitting at a table. LOL so a nice couple overheard it and let us join them. Had a great convo and 1.5-2 hrs later (no exaggeration) the sushi actually got there. If we hadn’t enjoyed the conversation, we would have just left. Food was good but not worth the wait to do it again. We had a nap and ate at the Moroccan. Food was good, service was good. Great location on the beach. But when we told the waiter we might have 2 couples join us he told us that if they came after we had started eating, they had to eat the same course we were on. Very strange... But they never showed. The restaurant had a belly dancer come in. Very nice touch. They had the best cappuccino here. ( I had 3) LOL. Pretty quiet evening and we just stayed outside Coyotes visiting. Had new young kids wanting to get laid. LOL I don’t know where they are marketing GOV but they all had the idea it was just a huge orgy I guess. LOL Saturday was the Boobs Cruise and foam party so had an early night. One couple was nice enough to get a couple of vans to take us all to TTR and home. So transportation was easy. As far as cruises goes, it was rather tame. We had one couple swim out from GOV. Hung out with Miss Dilious and had my fair share of Gummies and tons of tequila. Ali and Noah would be proud of me; I ended up naked twice which is huge for me. Omar tried his best to keep me naked by wearing my bottoms so I ended up wearing my CCC wrap. Like I said, I’m a prude. LOL Headed back for the foam party and had a blast with our group and Janet and Delious. But again with the sausage fest and boys who were too pushy and a couple of creepers with cameras. Had one come up over and over who wouldn’t take no, even with one of the ladies saying I was with her. He just wouldn’t take the hint to go away. Luckily I was too drunk to care. Cleaned up and went for a late dinner at the Italian. There were just the 2 of us so we offered another couple to join us rather than them waiting 20 min for a table. This was the first really great service and food we had. If you go ask for William. He treated us great. By the end of dinner most everyone was gone and he and the host joked and had a good time with us. I know they had to be ready to clean up and go home but they never showed it. So we all took turns taking pics with them and had a ball joking around. Like I said, absolutely the best service and food we had the entire trip. (we even went back the next night and asked for William and it was just that good!) Ate at the Japanese on our last night and the service and food were great but we ate with another couple and were told that we all had to order the same thing. Again kinda strange. And one in our party left hungry because he liked different food than we did. This was the only place that had ceviche at the hotel. It was very good but done with coconut milk which was different. Most of the last days run together but had the same pattern. We loved all the people we were with and lots of others we met. Hotel was nice and clean with a great layout, lots of great shows and plenty of great services but using any of them was just too frustrating. I dreaded going to breakfast or lunch and we ended up leaving a couple of times to eat out. Had one day that we decided to have breakfast at the Mexican and couldn’t get a cup of coffee to save my life. The waiter even got mad when I tried to pour my own. Then 20 min later I still didn’t have any. So in 45 min NO COFFEE. That is just crazy. So we went to the buffet because hubby had taken his meds on an empty stomach. Looked in and only one of the omelet bars were open and at least a 15 person line, so we just got frustrated and went without eating. Same grumpy guy at the coffee bar and I had finally had enough. I wanted to stand in the lobby and throw a tantrum at this point. So I headed to Bamboo for another massage just to calm down. This time Gloria gave me the best massage of my life. So if you go make sure to ask for her by name. I went back to GOV with a smile and ready to enjoy my day. This is getting long and I may have a few of my days mixed up but I wanted to be detailed. I know it seems like a bitch fest and I hate that. I really wanted to love this place, but couldn’t. Everything is there to make a great hotel but service is just horrible. Another example is hubby went to the beach bar as it was just closing to get a little ice in his drink and the bartender refused to give him ice. It is crazy that the guy flat out refused to give him a scoop ice. I would have understood if they were packed up and he was wanting a drink but it was sitting right there. Valentina is great and you can tell that she really cares but she can’t be the only one who cares and this hotel have a chance. This is the first time I have WANTED to go home at the end of vacation. So take this review for what its worth and make your own decision whether to go but if you do, I hope like hell you have a better experience than us. If you have any questions about specifics I would be glad to answer them. And where ever you spend your vacation, I hope it is wonderful!
I am disappointed to read of your frustrations. You appear to be ppl very much like ourselves. Thusly I was wlecoming your report. And had it been us, a massage wouldn't have prevented a lobby meltdown or 3. Will you return to GOV? Or is it 1 and done.
Let me say....I SWEAR I HAVE NEVER BEEN ANYWHERE WHERE GETTING A CUP OF COFFEE IS SO DAMN HARD!!!! I mean...hell its coffee! You can get coffee in abundance at any resort....except this one. Another note: If you get the courage to eat at the buffet, get everything you need the first time, cause you wont see your "waiter" again.
Sorry to hear about your trip, must have been so frustrating trying to get a meal. Being a wife and mama, that is one of my favourite parts of being on vacation.....NOT HAVING TO WORRY ABOUT FOOD!!!!
Thats why I put specifics so people could decide what would bother them and what wouldn't. Its really too bad as we loved the beach and layout overall...
Mine too... I wait on my family all year so I want a few days of someone waiting one me. As I said, even with the beach service, i had one drink brought to me ALL WEEK and I had to flag her down. Then tipped her well hoping she would come back but never did. We all took turns getting drinks for each other. LOL
