Stayed at GCR 8/20-24 - Excellent service everywhere (bars, restaurants, maids, other personnel) ..... maybe that is because we tipped everyone, but we were one of the few ..... in fact, I was shocked when I would see others tip .... I sat at lobby bar alot, just to get out of the sun when at the pool, and in the evenings, and it seems like the tip glass in front of where I was sitting was filling up fast, but I would look across the bar at others also sitting there, and their tip glasses were empty ..... a couple of hours of sitting at the bar drinking, and no tips ..... thought that was tacky ..... I know we had excellent service and top shelf brands were always offered to us .... I drink bourbon and water mostly, and I was offered either Beam or Jack Daniels .... I drink scotch on occasion, and was offered J&B. Staff was friendly, and really tried to please us, which they did. My daugher is into fruity drinks, and tried about 20 different ones while there, and thought they were always great .... rum and coke was made with Bacardi. Beach bar was also good, but only went there a couple of times, and both times got bitten, I imagine by mosquitos. When we hung out at the lobby bar and pool, never got bitten.
Restaurants were all good, but we are not big eaters .... ala carte restaurants were very good, all service was very good .... but again, we tip, and rather well .... not sure why, but again, people did not seem to tip in restaurants either, which I just considered tacky and cheap .... I doubt that it was because of their cultures .... maybe those are the people that tend to rant and rave about either poor food or lousey service, huh? The portions were much more than I could ever eat, and we were very satisfied with both the food and portions and service. Mind you, their food is different than what we have in the states, which should be taken into consideration. I feel that their coffee is very strong, so I like 1 part coffee to 3 parts water, and the waiters were eager to please .... another reason to tip them!!
Our room was #223, right next to the elevator, the 24-hour AI club. That is both good and bad .... our room was excellent, and never heard noise, except 2 nights about 4 am when the clubs closed, the young punks that were away from home for the first time in their lives, were still partying and yelling and screaming in the AI club, from about 3-6. All in all, our room was perfect, right over the bar, and we could listen to music (not "head-banger" and stated earlier, mostly 80s-90s type stuff, and we both liked it (we are 39 and 62, and like to laugh and drink and watch people), so we had the perfect spot!! Our first room, #423, had no air, so they moved us the next morning by 11am to #223. The frig in our room was very cold, always stocked with XX beer, water, soda, and always stocked full ..... again, tips for the maid, and little treats (new packaged makeup, hair jewelry, gum), and always put in a little gift bag with her name on them. It was worth it ..... again, excellent ..... when we went to check our our room when we were being moved, the maid was in an inch of water, scrubbing the floor for its new occupants .... can't get much cleaner than that, and that was when we gave her our first tip and treat bag; she really liked that ..... and maybe that's why we got extra towels and extra clean service.
Beach is very clean, but small, and the water doesn't look very inviting. We did not go to Gran Caribe, but I think it used to be Continental Plaza, and we had stayed there our first trip ..... can agree that that is a very nice beach.
As for kids, not too many, but the parents do not watch them, and I blame the idiot parents for that ..... again, the bratty kids would splash us intentionally, and their goofy parents never said a word to them; after the first day, we picked another spot. We suggested that the kids should be supervised at the AI club as we saw some of them throwing food, etc., and I wanted to spank them myself ..... they stopped when I told them I was going to start throwing food at them ..... there is no reason for that type of behavior ..... anyway, the unsupervised kids and the punks at 3-6 am in the AI Club is on our critique of the hotel.
If anyone is still reading this, we would rate the service, bar drinks, cleanliness and food as excellent .... their food is different than we have in the states, but they did a great job, and always try to please.
Finally, we wish to thank Jonathan, Don Ramon, Luz, Neri, the Veronicas, and anyone else who we missed to mention, for helping us to have a great vacation.
