Finally have a chance to sit down and write this TR before getting out and enjoying the sun and beautiful weather that we came home to here in Vancouver. Anyway, to give a bit of background, we are both 40, have travelled extensively to around 30 countries now and this was approximately our 30th trip to Mexico. Our tastes range from the very high end all the way down to the basics, but mostly what determines our satisfaction with any place we travel to is the value we receive, not strictly the price we paid. CHECK-IN: We emailed Valentina after hearing the horror stories of hour-long check-in lines and bumping, so we wanted to have this part covered. We arrived after 6:00 pm after some flight delays and after about 10 minutes or so, we had our room. No problems there. ROOM: Clean, newly renovated, and met our needs more than adequately. The view was what put it over the top though. Our view at TTR has normally been concrete and metal at PatyO. Kinda depressing really. At GOV, the view was simply amazing. I would take one of the older room with this kind of view over TTR in a heartbeat. There has been some talk about room flooding from outside. We experienced a bit of this as well. Rather than declare a state of emergency, we grabbed a towel from the bathroom and put it near the window. I don't think I've seen anyone mention that the cause of the water ingress was what from our experience was the most torrential rains (practically a typhoon) that we've ever experienced anywhere on the planet. I'm not about to blame the resort for this. BUFFET: The first morning we were there, we tried the buffet. It was not the best we've ever seen, but the omelettes were good and that's all I realy cared about anyway. Service was slow, although the waiter was very obviously working his tail off. It's just that they seem short staffed in some areas and service can suffer. Should it be better? Yes. Is it a deal breaker? No, mostly because this only occurred when it was really busy. Otherwise it was fine. Our first night prior, the buffet was sweltering on the only night we tried it and never went back. Besides, the food at the buffet anywhere is not our first choice, so no big deal. AC needs to work better though, but seemed like it was fine a few days later. Not sure what the problem was. Should also note that the food quality on some of the buffet items could and should be improved. COFFEE: Other than the slow service at the buffet breakfast on one or two occasions, we never had issues with coffee. We drank plenty at the buffet, and even went to the coffee shop for iced coffee and double espressos on several occasions. We could have used the coffee maker in the room (it was one of those 2 or 3 cup Sunbeam models) but never saw the need. POOL & BEACH BAR: Again, this is another area that seems to be understaffed often, yet it still doesn't take long to get a drink. Besides, we met many people while waiting. It's really just not that big of a deal. I feel bad for the bar tender, not the guest. RESTAURANTS: We knew we had some work to do after eating at the buffet the first night so we went on a mission to find a good place to eat. This is where we stumbled upon the Moroccan restaurant at lunch. Didn't expect much after reading other people's reviews prior to our arrival, but it was actually very good. We returned several more times over our stay. Service was very good as well. In the evenings, we found the Mexican restaurant, and the first night, again the food was excellent, but service was slow. Some areas definitely need an additional server. One guy can't cover 10 tables by himself. Every other time we went though the service was excellent. We tried the White Box for lunch one day but didn't really care for it. Didn't matter. The Mexican and Moroccan were both great and took good care of us. BEACH: Ok, so it's not Palm Beach in Aruba or Grace Bay on Providenciales, but as far as Cancun goes, it's pretty darn nice. And compared to the beach at TTR? Well, there is no comparison. We really like the stretch of beach and being able to walk a long way on sand that is actually soft and clean. ELEVATORS: It's been mentioned so many times so I'll address it. At first, we thought there was one small elevator to service the whole building. There are in fact a few banks of elevators in different locations of each building and we found that out by accident after the first day. As for the darkness? Sure, it's a bit quirky, but anyone who would complain about such trivia could definitely find worse to complain about...and they probably will. We simply won't let such non-issues bother us. THE RESORT: Grounds are clean as are the lobby and common areas. Just a far nicer property overall than some of the competitors out there....by a wide margin. THE POOL: The pool is not the tired lameness that goes on at TTR. It is about people drinking, socializing, hanging out and having a good time together. It is most certainly not the yawn-inducing, repetitive games and contests that go on at TTR, along with the constant screaming into the microphone. It was fun the first hundred times we saw it, but for us, this is not a draw any longer, it is a deterrent. If this is high on your list, GOV might not be for you. PEOPLE: Were there some assholes? Maybe, but we never saw any and to the contrary, we met a lot of fun, cool people. To be honest, we've never met any really assholes at TTR either so who knows? Not really a problem either way. Find a few fun folks to hang out with and all of the rest won't seem to matter. We didn't really know anyone before our arrival at GOV, other than a handful of people we've met at TTR on past trips. LOCATION: Situated close to the clubs and shopping, the location suited our needs well. Walking distance to everything in the Hotel Zone centre. CHECK-OUT: Valentina arranged a late check-out for us and since we were not leaving the resort until late afternoon, we were able to enjoy almost another full day at the beach. The late check-out for us was a huge plus. It is so nice just being able to go back to your room, shower, change and leave, ending your vacation on a perfect note. I can't stress enough how much we appreciated this. Never have we been able to get a late check-out at Desire and especially not TTR. VALUE: The bottom line is that we paid $1050 each including airfare, accommodations, food and drinks. For us, this was a very inexpensive holiday and we were more than happy with what we received. Sorry for the long report. Hope I've covered everything. Feel free to ask questions if I've missed anything.
How many days were you there. We will do 4 or 5 days, but find that price that you quoted closer to what we paid at the Golden, and GOV is about $700 more.
I was waiting for your report! Thanks for sharing! This is encouraging. We toured GOV when we were staying at TTR in December and we liked what we saw. Glad to hear you had a good time!
I love how you make an Average report seem great. Your report and positiveness shows you can have fun anywhere, even at GOV I would love to be stuck with you and party at a bad or sub par resort. ( that was a compliment and not sarcasm )
To be fair, if I were writing about TTR, I would probably make a shitty resort sound average. So yeah, we can find the positive everywhere....lol.
LOL...Truth. I really like TTR but it's not exactly high-dollar and I think if were weren't in a little online community surrounded by tons of repeat visitors like we are, the reviews would probably be more harsh on TTR, ya know? You can't help but feel bad for those at GOV that are trying hard but woefully understaffed.
We arrive next week for 10 days and I was really glad to read your review. We have been to Temptations and although it was great we want to try something else. Of course everything is what you make it and we intend to have a fantastic time.
