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Sept Visit to Club Med Turks & Caicos



 
 
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  #1  
Old October 16th, 2004, 04:49 AM
Mike H
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Default Sept Visit to Club Med Turks & Caicos

This report, with some accompanying pictures, is also
available on my personal web site:
www.hammocktree.org/ms/trips.html

Our visit to:
Club Med Turkoise
Turks & Caicos

Setup:
We visited the Club Med Turkoise, Turks and Caicos
from Sept 25 to Oct 2, 2004. We had initially planned to visit the
Club Med, Columbus Isle, but Hurricane Frances and her 140 mph
winds, which passed directly over the island of San Salvador, closed
Columbus Isle for several months, and we diverted to Turkoise. This
was our fourth trip to Turkoise, with the last visit there two years ago.
As we were leaving two years ago, workers were starting to tear up
some of the pool area to start renovation work. On this visit, the
renovation was still ongoing, with probably about half of the rooms
renovated. I would guess that about 30% to 40% of the village's
rooms were closed for renovation the week we were there. The rest
of the rooms were not highly occupied. We heard that there were
about 175 GMs there that week, at a village that was designed to
accommodate about 600 GMs. Needless to say, the village was not
crowded. Quite a few of these GMs, and many of the GOs were at
Turkoise because other clubs were closed, including Paradise Island,
Columbus Isle, and Punta Cana. I can only wonder how deserted it
would have been without these GMs who had been diverted from
other clubs. At times it seemed that there were more GOs at Turkoise
than GMs.

Facilities:
We had one of the "renovated" rooms and it was a
definite improvement over the previous standard rooms. They are the
same size, but the "built-in" storage units are an improvement and the
bathroom and shower area is a major upgrade. We felt the rooms
were much more "liveable". The one downside was the bed. We
had the requested king bed, but it was, to put it mildly, firm… very
firm. We tend to be very active so most nights we were rather tired
and managed to sleep well, but be forewarned.
The common areas had been upgraded some, but we didn't really see
any major differences. Some work was ongoing, such as refinishing
some of the exterior floors and walkways and several whole buildings
were closed for renovation. The only real negative impact we
observed was that the annex restaurants down by the tennis courts
were closed, although they certainly were not needed with the small
number of GMs.

Storm Damage:
It is probably worth mentioning that there was
a little damage from the storms that passed near the Turks and Caicos.
We talked to some of the GOs who said that a number of trees were
uprooted and it was obvious that some had been severely pruned and
put back in place. (I wouldn't bet on their chances for survival.)
There were a number of repairs to roof shingles, including some still
in process.
None of the damage had any real impact on our activities. I suspect
that the primary downside of the damage was that workers were
shifted from normal maintenance and renovation to damage repair.
Although not really "storm damage", the recent stormy weather, with
quite a bit of rain, had resulted in a major invasion of mosquitoes.
For the first time in our visits, we had to consistently use insect
repellent in the evening to avoid major problems. The club boutique
sold out of repellent and some people took taxies into town to find
some. After a couple of days, the club started a rather vigorous
spraying/fogging program, which appeared to help some.

General:
Speaking of rain, it apparently rained hard the
morning of the Saturday that we arrived. It rained a couple of times
during the week, but mostly at night or early morning, so it did not
interfere with any activities. Apparently the Saturday of our arrival
was the first day in a week that most of the beach activities were
"open for business". The entire previous week there were huge
swells coming in from the storms (especially Jeanne) to the north,
causing very rough waves along the beach. GOs and GMs there the
previous week said that the waves were easily 8 to 10 feet high at the
beach, and that was after coming across the reef. Sailing,
windsurfing, snorkeling and diving were all closed down for the
week. Since the weather was fine, non-beach activities such as
tennis, were "business as usual". The morning of the Saturday we
left, it rained hard again for at least an hour just before we left: it
made leaving a little easier.

Getting there and back:
As I mentioned previously, we
had planned on going to Columbus Isle, but even with the last minute
changes, we got reasonable flights. (Except, perhaps, for having to
get up at 4:00 AM to catch the flight from Atlanta to Miami.) We
got connecting AA flights through MIA (rather than the Delta non-
stop to Provo.) but all flights were on time and reasonably
comfortable. Our travel agent,
Hal Segal of LeBeach club, was a great help in dealing with Club
Med and getting us the best deal possible on the change of plans. As
usual, Club Med set the departure (return) schedule such that we had
a long wait at the airport in Provo. Since there were no lines to speak
of at the airport, I suspect this early departure schedule is mainly to
get us out of our rooms so that they can be cleaned and readied for the
incoming GMs. As we learned long ago, we made sandwiches at
breakfast and took them with us and ate at the airport. They were
much better than the food that we saw for sale at the airport.

The Food:
No matter what activities you might participate in,
everyone eats, and eats well, at Turkoise.
As expected, the food was not as good as at Columbus Isle, but there
was usually at least one dish that was especially good. This time, the
meats seemed unusually good (the beef tenderloin on Friday night
was to die for!). Perhaps it was partly because of the GO Chef,
Michael, who was the butcher. Michael was an unusual chef. Most
chef GOs are quiet and reserved and mostly forgettable: not Michael.
He was almost constantly chattering and carrying on with the GMs
and other GOs. In another unusual move, the Chief of the Village,
Alessandro, introduced the entire Chef team one evening after the
show. We were somewhat disappointed in the seafood dishes.
Seafood is usually so good in the Caribbean, but most of the dishes at
Turkoise were relatively bland and unimaginative. We noticed that
the rooms in the main restaurant were cooler than our previous
several visits. I'm not sure if this is because they got the A/C
working better, or because the restaurant was only half full. Even
with the annex restaurants closed, the staff only set about half the
tables at each meal. In any case, the rooms were cool enough to
enjoy several cups of coffee after the evening meal and that was
appreciated. All in all, I'd say the food was a small notch better than
our last couple of visits to Turkoise. Pascal (a sailing GO) clued us in
on a definite "Grade A Desert". When there were fresh Passion Fruits
on the fruit table, we took a couple of those and scooped the inside
part onto a cup of vanilla soft-serve ice cream: definitely a good
discovery.

Entertainment:
The evening entertainment was about the
same as usual. They did not have as many of the normal evening
shows, sometimes having other activities instead, including a
"Comedy Tennis show", and two Circus related shows. The normal
shows in the theater were some of the standard Club Med shows, but
it appeared to me that the GOs had rehearsed more than usual and the
routines were a bit smoother and less amateurish. After the shows,
the "nightclub" was actually the open area around the main bar.
Sometime around 2 AM, the main bar closed down and all activity
moved to Sharky's bar, down by the beach, which continued until
about 4 AM. (Or so we were told…. we never made it past
midnight.) With the "Total all Inclusive" aspect of Club Med now,
all drinks are included. Most of the alcoholic drinks were made rather
weak, especially the pre-mixed specials and some expected drinks
were not available: I asked for a brandy after dinner one evening
(purely to calm a slightly sore throat) and they did not have any
brandy at the main bar. I'm probably fighting against the tide here,
but I'd really prefer to go back to the old mode where the drinks were
extra cost, but were made stronger and a better selection was
available. Since the adoption of the "all inclusive" mode, we have
also noticed a much larger percentage of people who are
"significantly overweight" and who primarily sit around the pool or
beach and don't take advantage of any of the activities. They are
certainly entitled to do this, but it does seem to have changed the
"personality" of Club Med somewhat.

Sports Activities:
Our main reason for going to Club Med is
the quality and variety of the sports facilities and equipment,
especially sailing, windsurfing, and snorkeling. Although there are
numerous other sports available, such as SCUBA, tennis, soccer, and
others, I'll only talk about the sports we participated in. (I will
mention that the main Tennis GO was Ross, who we have seen at
other clubs, including Turkoise, previously and he seems to be a very
capable and tennis "Pro" and also turns out to be a very good juggler.)

Snorkeling:
We went snorkeling twice and, unfortunately, the
snorkel boat went to the same location both times (although the GO
had told us we were going to a different place). We went to a site just
outside the reef and I think there was still some sand stirred up from
the rough water the previous week. Although the water was
reasonably clear, it was not the same as we have seen there
previously. The boat is very good for snorkeling and there are at least
5 or 6 different good locations that can be visited and offer some very
good coral formations and fish for viewing.

Sailing:
The primary sailboat at Turkoise is the Hobie Wave, a
simple, safe, but unexciting boat. They also have three Club Med
special Hobie 15s which we used most of the time. (The GOs only
rigged one of the Hobie 15's, but we were the only GMs using it this
week, so we never had to wait for it to be available.) The sailing
GOs, Gui (Chief of sailing), Pascal (whom we had met previously at
Cancun), Emilio, and Luigi, were all very capable. When we initially
walked up and immediately asked for the Hobie 15 Gui was a bit
hesitant, warning us of how easy it is to tip over. Since we have
sailed them several times before, we were comfortable and Gui
slowly came to have confidence in us. The 15s were in reasonably
good condition, but the Waves were a bit rough. I think that the
sailing team had probably done all they could without having a supply
of replacement parts, but some of the rudder parts and tiller
mechanisms needed replacing. The wind was OK most of the time,
but not really up to where you could really have fun except for a
couple of times. It was better than a couple of other times when we
were at Turkoise and the wind didn't blow much at all. The sailing
regatta was postponed on Thursday for lack of wind, and it was
marginal on Friday when we did race. The GO team did do a good
job on the regatta, laying it out and organizing it so that even the
beginning sailors understood what was to be done and avoided any
problems. The sailing and windsurfing area was severely restricted,
compared to previous visits. It turns out that several weeks prior to
our visit two GMs had taken one of the Waves several miles down the
beach, left it on the beach, and took a taxi back to the club, arriving
about 7:00 PM. Too keep this from happening again they had
restricted the sailing area for everyone. On our prior visit they had a
"sail-away" to a small island, but this had unfortunately been
discontinued. One final comment is that the sailing team had the all
too familiar "close up early" disease. While the sailing hours were
9:30 to 5:00, they were bringing the boats in by 4:30 and by 5:00 the
boats were de-rigged, sails put away, and the GOs on the way to the
bar. If you showed up at 4:30 you were definitely discouraged from
going out.

Windsurfing:
The winds were a little light for anything but
beginning windsurfers most of the time, but there were several times
when the wind picked up and I was able to get up on a good plane.
The board selection was somewhat limited, with only one of the type
(205 liter) that both Susan and I like to use. I used it most of the time
and Susan tried several other boards, with little success. I finally
moved to a smaller board and Susan had better success with the 205
board. Perhaps they just had a shortage of proper boards, but it
bothered me that they were trying to teach beginning windsurfing
using Bic 328 boards. I have used these in the past and have found
them very unstable and tippy… just what you do not want for a
beginner. The sail selection was OK, but for some reason they did
not allow the use of some of the newer (and preferred) sails. For
example, the better of the two 6.2 M sails was the normal heavy
AeroTech rig, but there was a much nicer, new 7.0 M rig that they
apparently did not want me to use. Likewise, when I moved to the
smaller board, there were three of them in the rack; two relatively
new ones and one rather old, beat up board. They gave me the old
one, of course. Perhaps they were trying to completely wear out the
old equipment, but it was frustrating to use the old equipment, with
the new stuff going unused. The beach is good for windsurfing,
although the prevailing winds are generally offshore, so the GOs were
frequently in the safety boat retrieving the beginning windsurfers who
could not work their way upwind.

Some of the above may sound a bit negative but believe me, we had
lots of fun. Most of the GOs were friendly and helpful, especially
Pascal and Emilio. The beach is beautiful, the weather great, the
water warm, and we had a grand time. I make it a habit to offer ways
to further improve any resort we go to, but we always enjoy our visits
to Club Med.

Odds & Ends:
The Chief of the Village was Alessandro, from
Italy. We saw him around the village on several occasions, including
seeing the snorkel trip off both times we went. He did not participate
in the evening entertainment as much as some CVs do, but I'd rather
see the chief around the village rather than in the shows.

There was a wider variety of GMs at Turkoise this week than we have
seen there before, with relatively more Europeans present, and fewer
New Yorkers. One of the most enjoyable parts of Club Med visits are
the people you meet there, both GMs and GOs, and there were
interesting people from all over the world, including the US, Canada,
and even the British Channel Islands.

Anyone who has visited Turks & Caicos in recent years will probably
remember the Allegro resort, about 1/2 mile down the beach from
Club Med. It was a Ramada Inn prior to being an Allegro. Well, it is
no more... That plot of land is completely leveled. Nothing standing
but the pier and some beach shelters. A local resident said that the
maintenance had gone downhill in recent years and it was slightly
damaged in an storm early this year. Rather than repair the damage
they decided to completely tear it down and a new facility will
be built in it's place. We heard both "upscale condos" and "upscale
resort" mentioned. There are numerous other construction projects
under way, mostly in the small to moderate size ranges; no new large
resorts (like Club Med or Beaches) are under construction. There is
also a lot of road work in process, with nice roads reaching almost
from the airport to the Club Med (and beyond). And, being a British
"colony", they are proud of their "Round-abouts".

  #2  
Old October 17th, 2004, 12:15 AM
Mike H
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Briefly, you are correct, GOs are the 'special' staff and GMs
are the guests... But to get the full definition and some other
Club Med 'lingo', go to my 'reports' page:
( www.hammocktree.org/ms/trips.html )
and then scroll down to the entry titled:

(*) Club Med terminology and other information
Ever wonder what a GO is, or what the heck are "Crazy Signs"? This will clue you in...

Mike

wrote:
Thanks for the very informative trip report, but I have one question.
What are "GM's" and "GO's." The way the terms were used, it seemed that
GM's were guests and GO's were employees, but a clarification would be
appreciated, and maybe an explanation of abbreviations in future trip
reports.

Thanks


Mike H wrote:

This report, with some accompanying pictures, is also
available on my personal web site:
www.hammocktree.org/ms/trips.html
  #3  
Old October 17th, 2004, 12:15 AM
Mike H
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Briefly, you are correct, GOs are the 'special' staff and GMs
are the guests... But to get the full definition and some other
Club Med 'lingo', go to my 'reports' page:
( www.hammocktree.org/ms/trips.html )
and then scroll down to the entry titled:

(*) Club Med terminology and other information
Ever wonder what a GO is, or what the heck are "Crazy Signs"? This will clue you in...

Mike

wrote:
Thanks for the very informative trip report, but I have one question.
What are "GM's" and "GO's." The way the terms were used, it seemed that
GM's were guests and GO's were employees, but a clarification would be
appreciated, and maybe an explanation of abbreviations in future trip
reports.

Thanks


Mike H wrote:

This report, with some accompanying pictures, is also
available on my personal web site:
www.hammocktree.org/ms/trips.html
  #4  
Old October 22nd, 2004, 12:47 AM
Marc DERRIENNIC
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Mike H wrote

Ever wonder what a GO is, or what the heck are "Crazy Signs"? This will clue you in...


These are French initials
GO stands for Gentil Organisateur == Kind Organizer
GM stands for Gentil Membre == Kind Member or Kind Customer

Regards,
Marc
  #5  
Old October 22nd, 2004, 12:47 AM
Marc DERRIENNIC
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Mike H wrote

Ever wonder what a GO is, or what the heck are "Crazy Signs"? This will clue you in...


These are French initials
GO stands for Gentil Organisateur == Kind Organizer
GM stands for Gentil Membre == Kind Member or Kind Customer

Regards,
Marc
  #6  
Old October 22nd, 2004, 12:47 AM
Marc DERRIENNIC
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Mike H wrote

Ever wonder what a GO is, or what the heck are "Crazy Signs"? This will clue you in...


These are French initials
GO stands for Gentil Organisateur == Kind Organizer
GM stands for Gentil Membre == Kind Member or Kind Customer

Regards,
Marc
  #7  
Old October 22nd, 2004, 12:47 AM
Marc DERRIENNIC
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Mike H wrote

Ever wonder what a GO is, or what the heck are "Crazy Signs"? This will clue you in...


These are French initials
GO stands for Gentil Organisateur == Kind Organizer
GM stands for Gentil Membre == Kind Member or Kind Customer

Regards,
Marc
  #8  
Old October 22nd, 2004, 12:47 AM
Marc DERRIENNIC
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Mike H wrote

Ever wonder what a GO is, or what the heck are "Crazy Signs"? This will clue you in...


These are French initials
GO stands for Gentil Organisateur == Kind Organizer
GM stands for Gentil Membre == Kind Member or Kind Customer

Regards,
Marc
 




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