Here is a little background on us. We have traveled to Mexico too many times to count. The majority of our travels to Mexico have been to the Riviera Maya. We are easy going types, but we require a clean resort and a comfortable, clean room. We booked this resort after much research although it was a hard resort to research. There was not a whole lot of information out there about GOT and what I did find was contradictory many times. Even though a lot of what I am going to say below did not bother us, I felt in order to give an accurate review, all of the pros and cons that we encountered should be written.
ROOM -- We booked a Grand Garden Room and that's what we got at check-in. Our room was bright, clean and cheerful. Unlike many other guests that we spoke with during our stay, in our room everything functioned as it should. The room was cleaned well each day and our refrigerator was stocked each day. The room was not luxurious but, it was what I expected.
I was very happy that we booked the Grand Garden room rather than the ocean front rooms. We had two rainy days and it was very nice to have a patio to sit on when it rained. Also, the bottom floor ocean front rooms are beach level and have a huge window. If you have one of those rooms you have people sitting inches from your window because these rooms open right on to the Grand roped off beach area. Sometimes, I felt like I was right in these rooms when I sat on that beach.
FOOD/RESTAURANTS -- I thought the food at this resort was good for an AI resort. The Arecifes buffet had many choices and each day there were different choices. We dined at all of the ala cartes as well as the buffet for dinner. The Italian restaurant, Dos Lunas was also a buffet at night with a pasta station and a carving station. The better buffet, in my opinion, was Dos Lunas.
At the ala carte restaurants the food was a decent quality but, the selections were slightly limited and the menu did not change. The service was always good and our food was always served promptly. However, your chance of getting what you order seem to be slim. Out of five ala carte dinners, my husband did not get what he ordered even one time. Most of the time my order was right but, not always. My husband said that he was just going to tell the waiters in the ala cartes to bring whatever the waiter thought my husband should eat since he never got what he ordered, anyway.
I thought the atmosphere in all of the ala carte restaurants was very nice and the food presentation was excellent. The Oasis website says there are eleven restaurants. But, they count the terrace and the inside of the same restaurant as two restaurants. There are four restaurants with a terrace. You will get the same meal whether you dine inside or out of doors. So, really, there are only seven restaurants in total. Of course, that is certainly enough to give a lot of choices.
We tried to make reservations for the steak restaurant on four different days while we were at GOT. On three occasions I was told that the restaurant was closed that evening. The written information that I was given at check in was that this restaurant was closed only one day per week.
BARS/SWIM UP BARS -- Service at all bars was good. Selection of alcohol was fine for a lower end AI such at GOT. Unlike many of the reviews on this resort, while we were at GOT, bars did not run out of anything. If you ordered something that the bar did not stock, the bartender would offer to get you some from another bar.
There are three swim up bars at GOT. There are two very nice swim up bars on the Oasis side and one very small four seat bar on the GOT side. On eight of the nine days we spent at GOT the only swim up bar that was opened was the small bar on the GOT side. I found this very disappointing since if you were in the Oasis pool, you had to get out of the pool and go inside of the Serape restaurant to get a drink. On our eighth day, one of the swim up bars on the Oasis side was open.
BEACH -- The beach was fine. I have to say that from my research I expected more. That is not to say it isn't a lovely beach but, just not as great as what has been written, in my opinion.
SNORKELING -- My main reason for booking this resort was because of the excellent reviews on the snorkeling at GOT. For me, it wasn't that great. There were things to see if you snorkeled right off shore but, again, I thought it would be much better than it was. We have snorkeled at a number of places and because of this, perhaps, I expected more because GOT got such good reviews on snorkeling off shore. There were never many people in the water with snorkel gear which led me to believe that there were others that were not impressed with the snorkeling. I have to add that this is not the fault of the resort and I did not take the snorkeling into consideration when I rated this resort.
STAFF -- The staff is the shining star of this resort. Each person I came in contact with for nine nights was just great. Everyone did their job well and everyone was very pleasant while performing their jobs. I loved the staff. I have been to a lot of five star hotels and resort and the staff at GOT can be proud that they compare well with the staff at those hotels. Well, I have to add that I am speaking of all the staff except for below.
OASIS PLUS DESK (CONCIERGE DESK) -- It would take me so much time and space to tell you how incompetent these people were. Dealing with these people is a comedy of errors. My advice is to double and triple check anything that they tell you. I'm sure the people at this desk think they are giving out correct information but, in so many cases the people here are just plain incorrect. It is definitely a case of the right hand not knowing what the left hand is doing at this resort.
Having done so much research I was not disappointed with much except for snorkeling. I loved the way the resort had many different areas with chairs and tables. However, if you are the type that is bothered by things like I posted here, this is not the place for you. Even those of us that are easy going can see that there is that "right hand not knowing what the left hand is doing" feeling to a lot of this resort.
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