A bit of background on us: we travel south a couple of times per year to Mexico, DR, Cuba – always adults only. Some resorts were absolutely amazing in terms of facilities, food, and service (Secrets Maroma Beach, Valentin Imperial) but completely lacking in social atmosphere and entertainment. Several were not quite as nice but we found the people to be a bit more fun. And then there’s TTR. The resort itself is really not that impressive – the rooms are just ok and the food is decent but nothing special. But we’ve gone back 3 years in a row because we’ve never had so much fun on vacation anywhere else. We’ve made new lasting friendships there every year and the atmosphere both during the day at the pool and at night at PatyO’s suits us perfectly. The participation level in the games and themes is very high, which for us makes it such a blast. I could go out at PatyO’s wearing a couple of band-aids and some dental floss and wouldn’t feel underdressed or out of place, which I love. We tried GOV this year mainly because of the price and the new concept sounded like it would be a lot of fun. Here’s our impression: FACILITIES: We were told we had an upgraded room but I’m pretty sure we didn’t. It wasn’t awesome, but it was fine for us. The bed was comfortable and the bathroom was fairly big. We don’t spend a lot of time in the room anyway. We were on the 10th floor and the view was spectacular. The main pool was great – nice and big, water wasn’t too deep to just stand around drinking and chatting, warm. There were hardly any chairs around the pool but we spent our time in it anyway so that didn’t matter to us. We didn’t use the quiet pool. The beach was awesome – big, lots of chairs. Not comparable to the 5* resorts we’ve been to in Riviera Maya, but certainly as nice or nicer than the others, including TTR. FOOD: Overall the food was pretty good. The breakfast buffet was most disappointing with limited selection. The Moroccan restaurant was delicious, the Italian and Asian Fusion were also very good. Around the pool the Sushi was quite good, but we were not fans of Mr Wimpy’s cardboard burgers. We didn’t opt to stand in line at 7am for the White Box reservations. Again, we’ve had much better food at other resorts for sure, but for the price of GOV found it to be more than satisfactory. SERVICE: This would be one of our biggest complaints. For sushi we waited nearly an hour to be seated (put names on a list and went back to the pool … didn’t stand around waiting) then after ordering waited another 45 minutes before it was served. The buffet is considerably under-staffed … it can take a very long time to get the first coffee or drink and the chances of a refill are pretty slim. The lineup at the omelette station most days wasn’t worth the wait. The bars are not adequately staffed either, and in general the staff just seemed to be dragging their asses. There were a few exceptions for sure, but good service was the exception – not the rule. GOV fell way short compared to everywhere else we’ve been in terms of service. ENTERTAINMENT: Compared to regular AI resorts where there is no “sexy” concept in place, GOV seems fun. The shows in the Coyote bar are entertaining, the foam party was a blast, and it’s just always more fun when there’s a bunch of topless women in the pool J Compared to TTR I found GOV to be super boring. I read a post on the GOV FB page after we got back where Sara69 listed about 20 activities that were scheduled during the day but I never heard or saw most of them. They are so intent on differentiating themselves from TTR and the loud, in your face, soliciting participants at the pool, announcing everything on the mic atmosphere that they’ve gone completely to the other end of the spectrum and don’t communicate anything. If you didn’t refer to your sheet you got when you checked in that lists the weeks activities, or didn’t stand in front of the elevators each morning checking what’s going on that day, you would have no idea there were activities planned. And even if you do check in the morning, unless you’ve got your watch with you and keep track of the schedule you won’t know that they’ve started because they don’t announce anything and don’t walk around talking to people about what’s going on. Same goes for communication on theme nights – there is none – therefore, nobody participates. I love the theme nights at TTR, love getting dressed in the most outrageous outfit I can find, and love seeing what everyone else shows up in. For me, this was the biggest disappointment with GOV. Based on what was communicated on the new concept and theme nights, I was expecting much, much more. Overall we did have an amazing vacation and did have tons of fun. The weather was fabulous, and we met some awesome people that totally made our trip memorable. And we might make 1 of our 2 annual trips to GOV again if the price is right, but GOV will definitely not be replacing our trip to TTR again!! I think the huge variation in reviews is largely based on individual perspective and preferences. Is GOV fun? Compared to what? What does fun look like to you? For us, GOV as a resort fell way short of meeting our “fun” expectations. Thankfully there were some awesome people there with us that more than made up for it.
Thanks for taking the time to post your thoughts on the GOV. We are there next month and believe that with looking at the roster it should be fun. The croud does have a big part of how its going to be.
hey guys thank you so much for the report, the more reports coming in the better, we're pretty sure we can handle most of the issues that have been repeated a number of times. We're looking forward to our time at the GOV because I honestly think this is what we're looking for after 2 Weeks at TTR.
