Golden Parnassus , April 20-29th Trip report

Hello,
I hope this trip report does two things. Helps anyone who is trying to determine if Golden Parnassus is right for them and also maybe make a small impact on the management at GP , if enough people do not end up going there.
Lots changes need to be made, to make it better for everyone.

I will start with the positive:
We got there around 10:30am , thanks to a quick transfer from USA Transfer. They always do a great job! I always recommend them for you transfers.
We got to the front desk and there was only 1 person in front of us checking in. When we got to the desk they said that room would not be ready till 3pm, which we expected. The nice thing was that they upgraded our room to a deluxe with the in room Jacuzzi tub , because I notated in the comment section of our Booking ,that it was our Anniversary. This was a very nice unexpected plus!

The servers there work extremely hard and some deserve mentioning. Jose at the Tiki Bar , was a Shining example of great attitude , personality, and hard work. I want to Add both Maria and Mariana, who were servers around the Pool. Also Jose at the bar, inside the Old Barn. He went out of his way the get cucumber for a Gin drink for my wife. Sebastian at the lobby bar was good too!
We tipped them all very good, because we appreciated their hard work and great attitudes.
After being there for a few days and observing all the staff , you could tell that the resort was greatly under staffed and they tried to do the most with the least when it came to staff.

Now the negative:
This resort lacks any kind of creativity !!!! They really go out of their way to kill the fun!
We were lucky that we came with a fun and resourceful group , because you will be EXTREMELY bored at this Resort!! Bingo at the pool? Are you kidding me? That is a JOKE!! They only had two activities , during the day ,that were entertaining. Tequila Volleyball in the pool and beach volleyball. That's it! At night the 60's bar was usually dead, unless they had karaoke. That was the most entertaining thing to do at night. The bar was dead otherwise. The Tiki bar was open late and was the place to be for late night drinking, but the music was repetitive.

The Pool:
The pool was ok, sort of small.
The girls had their tops off for a little bit when we first got there, but management came out and asked them to put them back on, as someone complained. I live by a motto to live and let live. As long as its not hurting anyone , I don't see how girls with their tops off could ever be deemed offensive.
The crowd was much older during our stay, than I anticipated. Lots of 60 to Mid 70's. Nothing against them , but it made for a much different vibe , than what I was looking for.
If it was the least bit windy they took away all the pool umbrellas and it was windy most of the time.
They would rope off complete sections of the pool not allowing chairs , making the pool area completely crowded and uncomfortable! Other than the tequila volleyball in the pool , no good entertainment or creativity!!!

The Restaurants:
The food at the Pier restaurant overlooking the water was good!
The food at Shangra-la was ok. This was one of the nicer restaurants on property , which was surprising that the food was not exceptional.
The food at Sumo was horrible. They completely got the order wrong and what we did get, was bad!
The Old Barn was hit or miss! One night it was good and one night they messed up the order and it was not good at all!
The Buffets at morning and night were decent. Middle of the road!

The Room:
The air conditioner worked good and you could come adjust it up or down to your comfort.
The room was comfortable , except that you had to point the shower head toward the wall to keep it from coming out of the shower and drenching the floor. The toilet had to be flushed twice sometimes to flush properly.
We came in about 6pm from being at the pool one day and it looked like the Maid had stripped the bed and forgot to remake it , even though she left towels. She never came back on that day.
We tipped her well, so I'm not sure if she just forgot or what happened.
Another day we came back from the pool and both our cards did not work anymore. We had to go to the front desk and get them to re-activate them. No explanation was given. I heard from other people that this happened to the on multiple occasions during their stay also.

The beach was very nice , but the surf was rough and the red flags were out most of the time during our trip.

In summary,

I read the reviews before we went and had somewhat of an idea of what to expect, but decided to still take a chance. To say I was disappointed, is a HUGE understatement!!
I would NEVER go back to this resort!

 

Thanks for the review. Praying for at least one of Steves cruises while we are there June 20-28. Otherwise taking a bunch of money to get out of there often if it sucks as bad as people are letting on. Too expensive to switch hotels at this point unfortunately.

 

We used to play bingo at the sexy pool during the day... just sayin' Of course women got extra cards if they gave up their tops.... all in the attitude.

 

Hey Jamie,
No offense but Im used to the entertainment at TTR and it just did not cut it for us. Also if I was at TTR , I would only have excellent things to say. This place frowned on the girls taking their tops off.

 

You can read my review. Sort of echoed what you said. Except we thought the food was excellent for the most part at least in terms of a 3-4 star all inclusive goes. Crowd always matter from week to week that changes. When we were there probably a bit younger.

To be fair we knew this wasn't going to be TTR and never was advertised as such. So really what was advertised and the price point, thought it was pretty good place. Only thing that perplexed us was an adult resort shunning topless.

 

Great trip report, we were there at this same time and and pretty much would have said the exact same things. Jose was definitely the night life at this resort.