So here goes... (Nov 23-Dec 2) After an interesting wait at the Knoxville airport, the rest of the trip down was uneventful. Breezed through customs, greenlight, navigated the gauntlet and made it to our van. Made it to GP in about 30 minutes. Check in was quick & easy, 5th floor ocean view - no need to haggle for a good room. Room: Adequate. Larger than garden view at TTR, very basic, but clean. Bathroom was twice the size of TTR, lighting was terrible. Beds were rocks IMO, but mom said hers was fine. Balcony view was breathtaking, beautiful blue ocean. Club Rooms had the jacuzzi tub and allowed for a nice room party. 24 hour room service was an awesome addition! Beach: Amazing, no comparison to TTR. Beautiful blue water, soft white sand, huge waves. Can walk forever in both directions. Beach loungers were usually gone by about 10 am. Had the beach beds for rent $80 usd per day. Pool: Never had to look hard to find loungers. Had shallow (6" deep) areas where you could put a lounger and sit half in the pool. It was adequately large. Felt cold at first, but after a few minutes it was fine. No swim up bar, but staff did walk around getting drinks, albeit sometimes rather slowly. One gripe, only one set of stairs/railing for the whole pool at the least convenient end of the pool... but it was possible to crawl onto ledges to get out. Music was about 20% awesome, filled with a lot of stuff that had us looking at each other like "WFT?". Entertainment was pretty sad. They had "tequila" volleyball, which was more watered down pink shit that may or may not have contained tequila. Fortunately Nathan and Donny both had beer pong floats so we made our own fun. Hot Tub: Actually hot(ish). Nice size, kinda private, great view of the ocean. The restaurants were all good, and I didn't have one bad meal. I thought they had a very nice selection. Buffet was pretty decent, had the omelette bar and empanada bar. Did get Sexy Coffee. Also had a crepe station which was delicious! Drinks were good, strong. Wine, well... white wine was actually pretty decent (better that TTR). Red wine, "wasn't awful" lol, however, I only tasted someone else's... it wasn't good enough to actually order (for me). The Tiki Bar was pretty great. Not Pato's by any means, but our group made it awesome. Carlos was a fantastic bartender who actually rearranged his schedule so he could be there for (most of our) last night. Music was hit or miss, although Donny found his jam (bitches!). And they had no problem with people bringing down their own music/speakers, and we closed the place and beyond a couple nights. It ended up being a lot more fun than I was expecting, I think we recruited some people, and probably scared off some too. It was nice to actually talk to everyone (and be able to actually hear them). I finally got to play Jenga. I did the first day curse (a day late) and don't remember anything after about 6 pm on Thursday. Thus ruining my entire Friday. Maybe next time I'll learn... We organised our own Boobs Cruise Light for Monday, not the usual crazy party, but we turned it into an amazing day. It launched from the usual dock, so it was sad to see our 'home' is such disarray. We stopped for snorkeling and swimming. Lunch as usual and this time we did the stop on the island to save a newbie who was having troubles with her sea legs. I got to experience Mexican cheesy-poofs for the first time. Highly recommend! We returned to find that Christa surprised us with a visit! :liebe011: If, god forbid, TTR isn't open by next year, I'll most likely be back to this place. All in all I had a really great time. Couldn't have asked for better weather, had about 10 minutes of light drizzle twice. Great friends are what made this trip. I love you all and can't wait to see you next year (or sooner!) :liebe011: Sorry if I missed anything... I was drinking.
It was a much better trip than I expected, and a HUGE shout out to you, Steve, for arranging the mini BC - It was just what we needed! See you in March!:aktion069:
My review being there at the same time would be about the same. Would mention it became a little annoying when management came out everyday and made the girls put their tops back on. Supposedly due to someone complaining. We knew it wasn't TTR and it definitely wasn't. So without high expectations to begin with, It was a good trip. If the rest of the crew hadn't been there, we would have needed to split the trip up somewhere else a few days. Would recommend it for a 3-4 day get away. Chris
I had a great time! I was there from Nov 27th to Dec 4th (was also there in September!). I met some great people (Shawn, Sherry, Kerri and Christa for starters) and I certainly would not have had nearly as much fun had I not met them. Shutting down the Tiki bar was a regular thing for me and as a standard now I will ALWAYS pick up a bottle of something at the Duty Free on the way out. Then the Tiki party can go a little longer! Yes, the views are very nice! The beach and water was fantastic provided you avoid the bigger waves (talking from experience here haha). As a by-product of the people I met, I found out about this site so a big Hola to everyone! Also as a by product, my name came about because soooo many people agreed that I look a lot like Lt. Dan from Forrest Gump. Too funny! I can clearly say that it was the best trip I have had in a long time and I hope to keep in touch with those i've met as well as others in the future. I've been to TTR only once so far and what I can say is that the people you meet MAKE the vacation and that GP was alot quieter after you all left! Lt. Dan
Great trip report, Kristen. Thank you . Sounds like a fun time to us . We are headed to GP in April with a group of 10 and plan on having a great time too . We can make our own fun , no problem. The pool games and speaker will be put on our list to take. It IS the people that make the party !
topless not an option? Would mention it became a little annoying when management came out everyday and made the girls put their tops back on. Supposedly due to someone complaining. Is this then stating that topless is not an option? My wife was looking forward to being able to go topless there as TTR is under reconstruction (getting an augmentation). SW&TW
