So, we just returned from a family trip to Runaway Bay at Grand Bahia Principe. This is a review stacking Hedo against GBP. Our daughter wanted to go to Jamaica so we took her along with Jay's parents. You will see, from this, why Hedo is so much better.......
1. Friendliness. Hedo outdoes friendliness by FAR than GBP. The staff was friendly, but not as friendly as our Hedo family. The guests? Forget it, once in a while you'll get a hello out of a guest, but not often.
2. Food. The food was great at GBP, don't get me wrong but it wasn't "readily available". They didn't have beach grills, and you pretty much had to fully dress to go eat. Jay got denied at dinner because he was wearing a tank top to the buffet. Yes, <GASP> a tank top. Also..........Jerk chicken? Once...ONCE on the buffet, and not to mention I never NEVER saw any meat patties. Now, they did have a "grill" there but it was this fancy round building that you had to be fully dressed to go in and eat. So, we went only once and got burgers, but the food was delivered to us, the buffet part of the grill opened a bit later after we were done eating. There may have been Jerk Chicken and meat patties there, maybe. There was never anywhere to get snacks unless you wanted to buy a bag of chips for $7. We went to one specialty restaurant while there, the Japanese cuisine...let me tell you that those cooks have NOTHING, and I mean NOTHING on Ricardo and Chris. They slapped their spatulas on the grill a lot and tried to throw chicken that no one caught. So, yeah the show was NOT all that great. No rice shaped penises! WTH? LOL They had a "kids' buffet" but I thought the Kid's food was not all that great and most kids wouldn't eat it. My kid was eating more of the other food than what was on the kid buffet. One night they had calamari on the kid's buffet, but not on the adult's buffet. Many of us adults were getting the calamari! If your kid is a picky eater, good luck. It was quite rough getting our kid to eat anything. She is quite the picky eater.
3. Beach - Ok, so the beach in front of the resort was, well, you pretty much could not get in the water there. However, the resort also owned the beachline to the left of the resort out about a mile (at least it felt like you were walking a mile before you got there). The beach wasn't very "sandy" though, it was pretty rocky and thankfully I read reviews and got myself some water shoes or I would not have been able to get in the water for long. They had plenty of little bars stationed along the beach but...no where that you could get a snack. If you wanted food, you had to walk that mile back to the resort to grab lunch or a snack. Needless to say we got a lot of exercise there. Now, GBP does have a nude beach on the very tip of the long beach. We had intended to go, but we had our daughter and in-laws with so we never had a chance to break away to check it out. I am sure it is NOTHING like "home".
4. Booze - Other than Appletons, the rest was booze I had never heard of. So I stuck with either Appletons Dark or Red Stripe. Jay drank Appletons white. The house wine was pretty good and when I asked what kind it was all I was told is that it is "house red". While she was pouring I read it and it was a Pinot Noir, so it was not bad.
5. Entertainment - They seriously need help in this area. We never saw any of it but they did have it way too close to the building, it was loud and not good. My daughter was kept up way too late from the sub-par entertainment. Bring ear plugs for the kids.
6. Bars - The bars were ok. But it seemed like no one knew about most of them because they were kind of barren, not many people in them at all. We watched Monday Night Football the night we got there at the sports bar, then walked over to the Disco for a bit and shook our booty's before we returned to the room. It was ok, but not many people in either of them.
7. No hot tubs. None. Maybe there is a reason for that since it is a family resort.
8. Rooms - The rooms were nice, but just like Hedo, we had one temp in the shower. However, it was HOT, not cold. LOL. The beds were comfy but the pillows sucked.
Overall the vacation was pretty good for what it was, but it was NOT our Hedo, it wasn't "home" and I am 1,000% sure we will never go back to GBP. Hedo is the only place for us!
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