Club Med is also well known for the show that they put up every night to entertain their guests and all the actors and actresses are the GOs of the village and they are such a talented bunch.
Our team, TEAM RYAN, participating in the Amazing Race at Club Med Bintan Island
For this final part of comparison, I will share on what I think about the service and the show between the three Club Med in Bali, Bintan Island and Cherating.
Club Med Bali
Being my first trip to a Club Med, I was impressed with the level of friendliness that the GOs exhibited. However, during my subsequent trip to the other Club Meds in Bintan Island and Cherating, I had a better benchmark to compare.
Club Med Bali is probably the busiest of the three Club Med that I have been. It could also be the period of which we timed our visit. I think there have the largest number of GOs as well. During our stay there, we noticed that they catered for large groups of tourists from Korea, PRC China and Australia. We honestly did not come across anybody from Malaysia during our stay there. As far as the GO is concerned, we found only one friendly lady managing the tours and excursions counter.
Although most GOs are friendly, we personally did not feel `touched' by any of them. There was not one GOs that we could honestly remembered after our 5 days stay. It is customary that GOs will sit with different guests during meal hours to chit chat. Surprisingly we were not `visited' by a single GO throughout my 5 days stay there. We find that the GOs would prefer normally to click with people of their own country mostly and since, we are the only Malaysian, I guessed we were strangely `missed out.'
The show at Bali was probably the best of the three. During our stay there, they have a spectacular song and dance show presented over their swimming pool.
Club Med Cherating
Club Med Cherating was my second trip to Club Med. Since I am from Kuala Lumpur, naturally I feel more at home in Cherating since there were more GOs from Malaysia, not to mention a host of interns from Taylor's College there having their training.
This is probably the least crowded of the three. It is also probable due to the large village ground. We find the GOs here friendly and more approachable. As far as tourist is concerned, we find more Singaporeans, Malaysians, PRC Chinese and French here. Most of the French stays here for more than a week!
During the stay there, we had the pleasure to dine with several GOs and got to know some of their jobs better. We had the head of lifeguard from Australia who has been in Malaysia for a couple of years now, we had a gypsy lady who was in charge of the trapeze, an intern from Taylor College and yes...Lucy, working at the front desk from Cheras ...Lucy was gracious enough to help take care and entertain our 3.5 years son Ryan at the beach party.
The show here is not as spectacular as the one in Bali but the hilarious. My son absolutely adores it. The only complaint that we have was the theater where the show was being held can be stuffy and hot once it is packed.
Club Med Bintan Island
This was our third Club Med in 10 months. Our expectations were higher especially after looking at the resort pictures and comments posted by some other guests.
We were determined to enroll Ryan into the Petite Club so that he could socialize with other kids while we could have some time of our own. We were glad that we did because Ryan totally enjoyed himself. For this, I must compliment the gorgeous Japanese GO who manages the Petite and Mini Club and the GOs who demonstrated so much patience handling these groups of super charged and super active children.
The super talented children from the Petite and Mini club doing their show. They were simply amazing ...
The GOs here are equally friendly but because we participated in more activities, especially the Amazing Race across the village ground on our second night there, we got to know more GOs better. Ryan, our 3.5 year son was the catalyst in most situation because he never failed to say `Hi' or `Hello' to every beautiful lady GO that walked past ...hahahaha....
Our team comprising of my wife, Ryan and myself and a bunch of GOs working at the back office ACTUALLY WON the race and came out first and we had so much fun ! Due to that Ryan was like a super star from then on and everybody seemed to know him and us of course ...:)
Throughout our stay, we had the privilege to dine with several GOs such as the in-house residence doctor, Dr Olivia, a pretty lass from Indonesia and Joanne from Malaysia. In fact, Ryan got so attached to Joanne that he just could not get enough of her ....
And I must compliment Michael, the village head from Australia who comes across as a very down to earth guy, ever walking and smiling at guests, going round the dinner tables to greet them and actively took part in some very very hilarious shows at night ...Bravo!
In terms of show, I would say that we enjoyed the show in Cherating more but then again, they were still very good ....
Overall, based on our experience, we would rank Club Med Bintan Island as the resort offering the best service of the three.
There you have it, my comparison of the three Club Med that we visited recently. One word of advise would be to try to avoid visiting them in their super peak season because, the GOs would be too busy to entertain you, the place would be overly crowded, the restaurant would be packed and you could get rather frustrated trying to get hold of a deck or beach chair .....
We are now waiting for our next Club Med this coming September ....Club Med Maldives ....
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