First timers to The Golden...Arriving April 6th for seven nights

That does sound like a great price. We paid $1,238/per person, for 7 nights, through Apple. That does include airfare (direct flight from STL), along with transfers to and from airport (also includes all taxes).

 

exactly 3 weeks and counting.......

 

ONE WEEK, and counting.....................

 

Two weeks and counting..till your trip report

 

ok...here is the review I posted on trip advisor:
I came really close to giving this resort a 5 star review. They really need to switch from a key for your room safe to a code safe. It's a real pain to have to carry that key on you all day at the pool and beach. Most rooms don't have a mini-fridge either. The lighting in the bathroom was really bad. It didn't matter to me, but my wife and every woman we talked to said it was impossible to put on makeup in the bathroom. The beds are designed for midgets. I'm 5'9" and that's about how long the bed is. We paid for the basic room. We ended up 5th floor , Lagoon side. It was very nice. Sunsets were spectacular and we had no issues with noise. Room was plenty spacious and the elevators/lifts were always quick to arrive. Cleaning was great. When we checked in, there were only 2 bottles of water in our room (trying to get bottled water anywhere at this resort is an adventure....the only place I found it was the spa). We made the rookie mistake of partying like rock stars our first day, drinking our 2 bottles of water, and waking up in the wee hours of the morning parched, with nothing to drink in our room.
FOOD; We don't go to Mexico for the food. It is what it is....mediocre! I don't know how any one could complain about the breakfast buffet. Everything is available and just fine! Our weather was perfect all week long (April 6-13), so we ate lunch at the poolside snack bar (burgers, chicken, grilled meat, nachos, guac, beans with chili meat). It more than sufficed and we stayed in our swimsuits! We ate at all the restaurants. The only bad meal I had was grouper at the seafood restaurant. I don't think it was cooked enough but edible. It amazes me how many people don't tip. People, you're eating a sit down meal, with great service, and you can't leave the help $3 to $5??? Do you tip when you eat out at home? I'll end this rant, but it really bothers me to see.
BEACH: BEST I've ever seen. You can walk forever either ways. Sand is fine and white. Water is SPECTACULAR!!! Waves are fairly big and that makes it fun! This was our 5th time to Mexico and I can't imagine not returning to this beach. The shaded "umbrellas" that are offered on the beach are taken quickly. We did get one every day but I was down there between 7:00 and 7:30 (one day, we got the last one available). One negative on the beach; Hey Smokers, what makes so many of you think it's ok to discard your cigarette butts on the beach??? You don't throw your other trash onto the beach. What makes you think throwing cigarette butts onto the sand is ok?
POOL; It's fine. It gets sun all day long, which we like. There are very few umbrellas. A swim up bar would be nice, but it's not a big deal. The music is fine. I was concerned it would be too loud. It wasn't. Although the same tape seemed to be played daily. There was only one or two servers for the beach and pool. They were extremely kind and worked hard, they just couldn't keep up with the demand. Which is fine, it doesn't hurt me to walk to and from the bar. Speaking of the bar...Tiki Bar (pool bar) was phenomenal all day and night (closes at 2 a.m.)...I think we close it down 4 of our 7 nights, including the last night when we had to be up at 6 am to get to airport!!! Carlos, Fonzi, and Jose were entertaining, funny, and worked their tails off!!! (reread my tip speech from earlier). I certainly did my fair share of Mexican Viagra (tequila with habenero and other hot peppers marinading in it). The Dos Equis on draft was good and cold. Whatever you drink, bring some sort of insulated cup. There is a 60's bar inside. It has pool tables, table tennis, karaoke (we call it scareyoke). We spent very little time there. I can sit in a dive bar at home....why not enjoy the beach bar, where all the fun people seemed to be?
The Great Parnassus is a 2 mile walk from the Golden. We walked to it one day for breakfast. Walked to it along the street. Walked back along the beach. They have a 10th floor restaurant serving breakfast (adults only) that offers a spectacular panoramic view of the beech. You really should check this out one day. There is a free shuttle if you're not up for walking (bring water for the walk). The Great Parnassus is gigantic, and filled with children. We were so grateful to be staying at Golden (no kids and small). When we left the 10th floor restaurant we waited a long time for the elevator and stopped at every floor on the way down.
On Saturday night, The Golden put on a really nice "pool party" which included a huge buffet. It seemed like the resort went through a lot of work to put this on and we were appreciative.
Entertainment Staff: We don't participate in the games; pool volleyball, beach volleyball, bingo, crafts, water polo, water basketball, beer pong, etc. Having said all that, the staff was witty, funny, entertaining, and just pleasant to have there. We don't go to the shows at night, so I can't help you there.
All other Staff members: I can't say enough about the workers here. Whether it's the custodian or a manager, EVERYONE was pleasant. One of the benefits of vacationing in Mexico is the pleasantness of the workers. Like I said, it's our 5th time to Mexico. This was the most incredible staff we have experienced at a resort. Whatever management is doing at this resort, Keep it up!!!
We did do the "1 hour talk on time share, owning, or whatever it is they call it". It was a very confusing presentation. We were handed off several times from one salesman to the next. It's all done on yellow paper that they just keep writing numbers on and flipping to the next page as they talk. The first simple math thing he did was way off. He had the number being $140,000. The actual answer was $20,000. He had a calculator. I didn't. He admitted to the error when I questioned his number. It was extremely confusing (I think that is intentional). And, after 75 minutes, I had to stand up and say we were leaving. It was an unpleasant experience.
In closing, we generally enjoy visiting different resorts from year to year, BUT I really can't imagine not going back to Golden. It really was an incredible VALUE! Thanks to everyone on your staff, who helped give us one of the best trips we've ever been on!!

This part was not on there. We saw no "lifestylers" other than when we did the Boobs Cruise. The cruise was a total blast. We met a couple on the cruise who brought us into Temptations for a few drinks after the cruise. Interesting place...I'll leave it at that. We took the bus for $1 to Temptations from GP.

 

Thanks for the trip report! Gives us an idea of what we will be experiencing when we get there at the end of May...it can't come quickly enough.

 

Thanks, somewhat our experiences there. But we think the food is better than the average resort. Glad you had fun.

 

Thank you for taking the time to write such a thorough review. You are going to help many people make decisions about GP. We thought the food was much better than the average resort food in Cancun. It was on par with the Moon Palace, which we think is pretty good, and miles better than the food that was available last year at GOV. There was never a wait for anything, and we went during a busy time. The food variety and quality, and especially the service, was outstanding.

Everything else about your review was pretty spot on.