Trip Review (March 7-12, long TR)

Discussion in 'Grand Oasis Viva' started by dubz1, Mar 19, 2014.

  1. dubz1

    dubz1 Enthusiast Registered Member

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    Grand Oasis Viva Trip Report (March 7-12)

    Backround: 40 year old couple, we love to travel, we like nice hotels (4* plus), we enjoy nightlife with DJ’s, pool parties, Nightclubs, Vegas clubs, dressing up, we like meeting new people. We are not food people (we don’t go to places for the food), we love the sun, and like to go to places where the ambiance is lively & sexy. We have been on several cruises, as well as to Europe. I will say again, we are NOT food people. We have had minimal “all inclusive” resort stays, but have traveled quite a bit.

    Check In; Our flight arrived at the airport at 6:30 am, USA Transfers was waiting for us when we arrived, Very courteous, very easy. We pre booked thru Cancun Care, and paid ahead. He spoke very good English, and gave us a “tour” as he drove us to the hotel. We got Round trip private pickup for $55 USD. The van was very new & clean. We arrived to GOV around 8:00am, nobody was there so no issues with long lines or check in. We went to the front desk, the lady advised us to go to the concierge VIP area, to check in. We did so…..our room was not ready (obviously checkin is much later), they took our bags, gave us wrist bands, and said to return in a few hours for room keys, quick and easy just as we have experienced at many hotels we have been at….
    During our wait, we ate breakfast, and enjoyed the quiet ambiance of the place. Breakfast was normal resort breakfast, not too special, but nothing bad. We ended up eating the same thing for a few days, no big deal to us, I love eggs, and omelets as does my wife (by 4th day she was tired of omelets tho, I was not). The coffee, Orange Juice & French toast were good as well. They had a large spread of Pastries, I didn’t have any but they looked fresh. We only ate breakfast at the buffet all week. (Takeaway: USA Transfer was GREAT USE THEM, you get to the hotel QUICK, van was clean, nobody else to drop off!! Check in was a breeze ZERO ISSUES, my wife speaks Spanish so we checked in with her talking Spanish since its THEIR language, so I can’t comment on the lack of English or not for the check in folks. I did have a few words with the lady, and her English seemed fine.Breakfast was good enough for us! Complaints: the male omelet maker was a bit slower than the female one. They ran out of some sides one day, and maybe a fresh waffle maker would be nice!)

    We were able to meet Valentina, chatted with her for a bit she told us to return in an hour, and our room would be ready. We did so, and we were given our room key. I will probably say this 10 times, Valentina is THE NICEST lady you will ever meet! She was truly helpful to us, she personally made sure our room was ready early. She is a great asset to the resort, especially for the CC people. I had read on the GOV website, they do something “special” for anniversaries. SO, I did that prior to arrival, and I believe Valentina went above and beyond the call of duty for my wife and I.
    Ok, so we head up to our room, 1st floor, and walk in to an AMAZING room! The room had rose pedals all over the bed, bathroom, and tub. Some on the floor. MY wife melted! I was shocked to see they did this for us. SHOCKED! I had no clue, and am truly thankful to Valentina for doing this. Ok, so it get better. We open the blinds to look outside, and we see a tub, and a bed outside. OMG! We got a bomb ass room! Walked outside, and the view from our room to the ocean was amazing! We knew the outside bed would be fun to use during our stay lol….(Takeaway: room setup was a surprise we were impressed, room AC got cold enough, sometimes too cold. Fridge was fine, not freezing but not warm good enough for us. Valentina was very helpful, went out of her way for us. Complaint: Secure the beds to t he wall, we had quite a bit of movement, some water leaked on the floor during our shower, and we only got 2 towels, 1 more would have been nice since the water was on the floor. Sink water sometimes smelled a bit. I used bottle water to wash my teeth. Smell was not terrible, but just not what we are used to.)

    We quickly changed into our suits, and proceeded to the beach. Grabbed a few of the MANY sleeper lounge chairs and moved them to wherever we wanted to. We had the freedom to do so, nobody said anything. Grabbed a few towels, and enjoyed the sun. The bar at the pool/beach is quite busy, but the bartenders (usually 2-3) were cranking out drinks quickly. We relaxed for a few hours at the beach, just laying out, dozing off here and there. Later in the day we moved to the pool, I saw one couple that had on some cancuncare wristbands, so I went in and started talking to them.
    They were super cool and we met some of the people they were hanging out with. Now the party was starting up, we had many laughs and drinks at the pool with our group, we didn’t venture out much to meet others because of the fun we were having. The music is background music. I personally would like it if it was a bit louder, maybe 3-5 clicks louder. I’d also like it if they put one more speaker up and point to the beach so we can hear a bit more of the music. The beach is PUBLIC, we did see a kid on the beach, it was a bit of a buzzkill when we saw him. It only happened once but it seemed like it was on one of the wilder days our group was having. The kid and parents stayed for a short time, they left, and we cranked up the crazy with topless girls, and drinks and sexy conversations.
    Their were more guys showing up with the group so we now about 14 people, mixed women and guys, we continued to have a great time on the beach. I will say, the beach at GOV is amazing! We spent every day there, that was the first place we headed to in the AM after breakfast, I never reserved a seat at night, or in the AM. We had no issues finding 2 chairs and moving them to our spot, and we are NOT early risers. Normally got to beach around 10ish. Several times, our group would walk out 30- 40 yards, be knee deep in the water, and just BS with eachother. The water was warm, no waves, and cool fish swimming around touching out legs and feet. Being in the ocean, talking to new friends was priceless. The sand is VERY soft was well. (Takeaway: bar at beach is busy sometimes it moved quickly others it didn’t..At times, I walked to the lobby bar, it had no lines, its not a far walk either. GOV Beach is AMAZING! You go to GOV to lounge at the beach! We personally love the beach, and had no problem relaxing there, we saw other topless women, nobody was with cameras taking pics from what we saw,tho we were more interested in our own ongoing conversations rather what others were doing, saying etc. etc..COMPLAINT: They need more towels.
    A few times we went to get towels, they were out. To us, not a big deal, we simply waited. This is a minor complaint, but one they should address IMO. Complaint: Louder music during the day, maybe 1 added speaker pointed to the beach. If not louder music, add a speaker so beach people can hear some of the background music)

    Each evening around what seemed to be 2-4 ish, the music would get turned up a bit, more people would hit the pool, and the party started getting lively. One thing I LOVED about GOV was the performances they had at the pool. One day a guitar player was playing, all suited up, black suit, good looking Latino man (that’s what the girls said), he was jamming to some house like music. I’ve never seen this, or heard one playing to house music. We all loved it and thought it was cool! We watched him and listened to him play for a bit. Very good GOV! VERY GOOD! Keep that up. They also had a guy doing the same, but was playing the saxophone. I thought it was a very cool, exotic vibe, got the wife to smile a lot, and move her body.
    Most of the people seemed to enjoy this. Other entertainment was a fire show on the beach, We caught the back end, but enjoyed it as the entertainers were pretty dam good at entertaining! It was at least a half hour. The music was upbeat! The lights around the pool area at night are pretty cool, glowing BLUE! The BIG WHITE chairs around the pool are also cool to sit in, and take some pics on them. Other entertainment I saw was the Sax player in the VIP bar lounge area. He was just jamming, cool place to relax and enjoy some jazz like live music. They did have other shows at the beach, we missed em as we were at dinner. Kinda bummed we missed them. Coyote Bar shows….They were entertaining.
    They have some dancers that did some pole dancing, they had a show that had some singing involved with some guy dressed up in some “outfit” Again, just some entertainment….The dancers were GOOD, not great tho….But good to watch. We watched for a bit, then continued to conversate, and play pool. They have 2 pool tables in the Coyote Bar, use em! Coyote bar could use 1 more bartender, the line was long, and wait at times was long. One Cougar saw me waiting, called me over, asked what I wanted…She had me a drink in a blink of an eye. Not sure how she had the bartenders attention…Banda Sombra I believe was the live band. They were good, but just not my cup of tea, so I won’t knock them for that. We LOVE club music, not rock n roll, or old songs done by Journey. No offense to anyone. They were entertaining, played for a bit, then the DJ would take over. However, I will say….The nightlife here needs a bit of work. The dress or lack of dress was a bit depressing to be honest. My wife LOVES to get dolled up. FULL ON DOLLED UP! Heels, short skirts, short cut tops, bra/less….she was maybe one of 3-4 IF that that was dressed up. You CANNOT have a sexy vibe if people are in jeans and t shirts, shorts and tank tops, etc….
    As I stated, we are VEGAS type people that love to dress up…Slacks and Button ups for me, The place cleared out quickly, and by 1:00 it was pretty DEAD. Just the drunk Spring break kids who were drooling over my wife. Since nightlife was not good here for US, we enjoyed our bed on the deck at our room quite a bit, I have my own small speaker and music. We used the spa only once briefly. (COMPLAINT: Put something over the spa’s ONLY…We had ashes, and cigarettes butts in it every morning.)

    FOOD: As stated, we did buffett for breakfast, lunch we did Wimpy’s..Their burgers are THIN! The server was not so friendly. The chicken was ok at best. I didn’t care for it, and I LOVE chicken. But I ate it anyways. I’m not there for the food as I stated. I did ask for a double, and was told no…Another day a different server abliged my double. Dinner we ate at Schilliabar. That was qood. No issues with the food or service. Beautiful view of the beach/ocean as you eat. Well done! We ate at the Italian place as well, it was ok. Nothing special, they were out of one meat, so I got pasta, it was good. Not great, not bad, but good. We did the Mex/Asian fusion place, and well…We are NOT sushi people at all, so we didn’t like it. We did like the meat the served as the main course tho. The rest was just not our preference in food, so if I don’t like Sushi, I won’t like ANY SUSHI! We also ate at the Mexican food place next to Mex/Asian, and it was ok as well.

    We used the public spa once with some friends, that was fun. They are small, only 4 people fit comfortably, we had 6…..The resort was clean, lots of people walking around doing stuff, cleaning here and there. They were installing Signs saying Entering Topless Area (or something to that effect), and Exiting Topless Area.

    Overall, we had a great time here! Several minor complaints, nothing big. The ONLY big one would be better meat at Wimpys (have an actual grill for fresh burgers & deep fryer for fries) and maybe even have that OPEN till 1:30 am! In addition, PROMOTE theme nights more, and promote a more sexy vibe (tho I see some hotel posts on FB promoting this) . Again, very few people dressed up, we saw some, but not many. The beach was BEAUTIFUL, we loved it, we took late night walks as well, and rarely saw security. We only left the resort one time to the BBQ place across the street, we chilled with friends, and drank late into the night that time. Its close by, drinks are cheap. The Boobs Cruise came by one morning….one couple we met told Chinos and Omar our name….so…when you get called up to Boobs Cruise, you do it.

    We did run into Valentina here and there during our trip, she ALWAYS asked how things were going, if we needed anything etc, etc. As I said, she is a very nice person, quite exotic looking as well. Very beautiful…… Thank you so much for all you did for us Valentina, we appreciate it very much. We had a GREAT time! Please don’t confuse the complaints with not liking GOV. We had an absolute blast with the people we met, the resort is beautiful, the room was AMAZING! The “complaints” are simply look into making this resort BETTER than what it already is. I forgot to mention, we were delivered a bottle of Wine as well. Talk about spoiling guests! Again, very appreciative of that.

    Conclusion: I would return here, and do the same as I did this vacation….Maybe in reverse order tho…We did GOV, then TTR…Either way, my wife and I really enjoyed this place, and we would return. Hopefully some of the minor kinks are worked out before then.
     
  2. StewKris2000

    StewKris2000 Regular Registered Member

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    Thank you for this very detailed TR. Very thorough. Answered many questions I had.
     
  3. Restling

    Restling I can choose my own title Registered Member

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    Did you need reservations for eating, and how long was the wait?
     
  4. vacationfun2

    vacationfun2 I can choose my own title Registered Member

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    Thanks for the time and information in this trip report. Less than two weeks for us.
     
  5. dubz1

    dubz1 Enthusiast Registered Member

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    Only the White box required reservations. We never got up in too e to do so. However we were walking by one evening I stopped and asked if I can get in. The guy said come back in 15 minutes and he will see what he can do. We needed to shower still etc so we never returned. They have timed seating. Meaning like 6:30, 8:00, 9:30 only (example) so they won't seat you at 7:00..

    Wait time for other places was minimal. 15 min at most. We would go grab a drink, when we returned we were seated. Longest wait was the Asian fusion place.

    Achillea bar was good! Very cool ambiance as well.

    Everyone was pretty nice as well, all the servers had big smiles on their faces. Maybe because my wife lol...
     
  6. slopoke3

    slopoke3 Guru Registered Member

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    Thanks for the detailed report. We will be checking in two weeks from today.
     
  7. jandpyoung

    jandpyoung Addict Registered Member

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    Thanks for the review... We arrive on the 2nd. As long as the food is edible, nice room and good service, we will be happy campers. (we are bring our own party) LOL
     
  8. somebeachsomewhere

    somebeachsomewhere Regular Registered Member

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    Awesome report guys.........we had a great time at GOV as well.......and of course meeting you guys. Maybe we'll have a drink in SoCal sometime.
    Cheers.
     
  9. esparamedic12

    esparamedic12 Enthusiast Registered Member

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    Thank you so much for the TR... I am so glad to hear that you all had a great time.. Makes me more exicted about our trip in May... So counting down the days to be there...
     
  10. girlfortony

    girlfortony Regular Registered Member

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    Loved the details!! Sounds great!! Thank you for sharing!!
     
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