Trip report GP RM

[Stig]

Hi!

This site gave me great info about my vacation, added to my excitement and I was asked to report back, so here we go…

 

The short version: it was great, I would be happy to call it a 5/5 stars week and I want to go back! Pretty much everything was as I expected or better, and the “not-so-great” either requires some serious nitpicking, or was out of their influence. So, kudos to GP RM!

 

If you have more time and interest, here are some points that come to my mind. Regarding where I’m coming from, I have been on several vacations in Caribbean AI resorts (including GP Punta Cana, in 2014 I think – it was great), never in Mexico though. This was also my first trip with a bigger group (from 12yo to guys in their 50s) and thanks to our friend as PTC guests.

Now, lets start with this … staff was awesome. I never thought someone behaved unprofessionally or “unsmiley” or something less than I could ever expect… they were great and I hope to meet them again.

The grounds are probably the most “jungly” I have seen. Some resorts have manicured grass and a few palms between the buildings (which is not bad, airy and clear), but here it seems like the buildings were dropped into the jungle, while destroying as little as possible, which we found very nice. The grounds at the spa are immaculate. We didn’t see any coati, but some agoutis, some cats and lots of iguanas. We also had very lucky timing and seen turtles hatch 🙂

The disappointment that you can’t blame at the resort was the situation with the seaweed, that is bothering the Caribbean. It was washed up in a thick line (and smelly), but also often like a carpet covering a lot of water, so… not great. That said, we have been in the ocean a few times, when it was better and as a silver lining: almost all loungers at the beach were free 😉

Also, they are making great effort to clean it up, all day, every day, but it seemed like a Sisyphean battle with nature.

Surprisingly, I ran into a little issue, when I ran out of my tipping bills (again, everybody was so nice, even without a tip, that we tipped more). I went to the reception and asked if they could break at least a $10 but they said they don’t have small bills, maybe tomorrow. So I went to the lobby bar (I was thinking they get tips in small bills, so maybe…), the bartender smiled a bit, turned to his colleague and she just said no. I think it isn’t a mystery what for I would want smaller bills and in the end, it is not really for me, so maybe coincidence, maybe bad timing, maybe they are not allowed… don’t know. I tried the next day in Zentropia, they said they don’t have any cash. So for a while I tipped more, but less frequently, or I didn’t, and then my friends came from a tour and helped me out. But I’m left with a feeling, that this should have been very easy (and in their interest to make it easy)… maybe one of the unused “phone booths” around the corner from reception could be re-purposed for a “break a bill machine” (what ever they are called).

Food & drinks… overall great, buffet nice (had dinner buffet just once, but breakfast great), snack options great (buffet & to order at the beach, ice cream at the bar…), restaurants generally nice, though there have been highs and lows (steak house meat perfect, Mexican octopus & Sinaloa beef delicious, Thai green curry great… and then the “sticky rice” dessert… well, either just take it off the menu, or look into it – it is not supposed to be just regular, little bit dry rice, with a bit of condensed milk (?) splashed over it as an afterthought… but “avocado smoothie” dessert great again – if you go for a dinner, have a chat with the waiter of chef, they know whats good 😉 ).

The specials were also great, paella on the beach tasty, chocolate Thursday at Hemingway’s delicious… New for me was the constant question “any food allergies?”… and if so, the chef would come out and talk to you.

Drinks also very nice, bartenders knew more cocktails than those on the menu and were forthcoming with special wishes, including branded alcohols… not to everyone though… I witnessed a short conversation at the swim up bar:

3guys “can we have a cerveza and two tequilas?”

bartender “could I please see your armband?”

3guys “never mind then…”

and walked away with their green (minors) armbands

:)))

Few other notes: the resort was pleasantly “under-crowded”. There were always some free chairs somewhere around the pool, line at the bar was never too bad (when it was getting there and there was just one bartender instead of two, he switched into turbo mode, moved really fast and still did same great drinks 🙂 ). Same for the breakfast buffet line, never too bad, unless you are an irritable grumpy German guy (in front of us one morning, waiting maybe 3-5min seemed to ruin his vacation… but there seem to be one like that everywhere 😉 ).

The music at the pools was not what I expected after the Latino/Caribbean sounds in other resorts, but for the lack of a better word “normal western” music (I let it up to you to file it under pros or cons). Some day there was a DJ at the pool bar, then a great guitar guy, in the evening live band…

I’m not a SPA enthusiast, but enjoyed the Zentropia zone and how quiet, empty, beautiful it is there (also the healthy habits bar)… while on the other, more splashy hand, we had some nice games of pool volleyball (at white sands pool, the other has just a kiddie version)… OK, some more nitpicking: archery with one bow for many people wasn’t great, I did 4 shots in a full hour, my friends went for rifle shooting the next day, but it was full, because those who came for archery signed up also for rifle shooting an hour earlier… and sand at the beach volleyball court could be deeper/softer, but it was still nice to play (just don’t dive for the ball) and they went through it with a cultivator after the foam party (the foam pool/dancing floor was there).

And finally, something that luckily wasn’t relevant for our group, but was nice to notice, is that the resort seems quite ready for handicapped guests. Not just rooms and ramps, but there is a “floating wheelchair” ready at the pool and a sand/ocean ready version at the beach, designated loungers and so on.

OK, this is waaay longer than I planned and still so much not mentioned, but lets just say that all that I didn’t mention was great (e.g. PTC services, PTC responsible employees, airport transport, check in/out, carts, maids, minibar refill guy who seen me walk out of the room with an ice bucked and offered to fill it through his access door so I don’t have to walk a tiny bit to the ice machine without me asking him for it…).

As I mentioned in the beginning, it was a fantastic week, thank you GP RM!

[Anne]

Great report! This for sharing.

 

I sometimes had trouble getting smaller bills. I asked a bartender and he changed some for me.  Front desk runs out. Once I walked to anther front desk and that worked.

Thanks again.

[Blueskies]

Great trip report, I enjoyed the read with my morning cup. Thanks for sharing.

[Author]

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