| Cheaper than hotels, but a fairly poor location and so-so maintenance and quality. |
| Hotel Villa Tropical |
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Maurice >
1 contribution(s) Canada |
| Apr, 2010 | Leisure | Family
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First off some facts:
1) This is a place you go to with a family or larger group.
2) One needs to rent a car for your stay, or this location is totally useless.
It is several blocks to the closest grocery store, and a few kilometers to any beaches.
Punta (Downtown Willemstad tourist area) is over 5km away.
There are few or no cabs, and bus transit is fairly minimal.
The closest beaches are at the Sea Aquarium and Jan Thiel, both of which are about 4km away.
3) This is not so good for larger group of adults, as 4 of the 5 bedrooms are very small. Only the master bedroom is an "adult" bedroom.
If you are traveling as 2 adults with 2 to 4 children or teens this could be a good choice.
I suppose if the group was all adults who are into partying it might be a pretty good place, as one basically never sees the neighbours.
4) The electrical power usage allowance and damage deposit ( as has been reported by others) WILL be a problem. Being aware in advance we watched this closely. There is no way one may stay within the allocation if you use ANY air conditioning. More detail on this follows.
5) For those who are trying to find this place on a map, it is the Salina district, on a corner lot, on the intersection of Anasaweg and Carawaraweg, 3 blocks south of Caracasbaaiweg.
The address is 14 Anasaweg.
6) Privacy is better than hotels or other more commercial accomodation.
Yard maintenance:
Almost non-existent. There are fallen branches and foliage everywhere, and it is very messy. As the island is quite dry, watering is needed to maintain a garden, and as that costs money, one may easily surmise that is not happening!
The garden here is dying. It's a pity, as it must have been very nice at one time.
Towards the end of our stay it rained for a couple of days, and one could then begin to see what it might look like if properly watered, as we finally saw some flowers on the plants. |
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| Activities on and off the Resort/Hotel |
There is one supermarket a few blocks away, and it is fairly good.
There are pharmacies, gasoline/petrol stations and other similar amenities stores within a few blocks.
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| Beach/Pools/Grounds |
Swimming Pool
This is one bright spot in the picture. Clean, well maintained and very kid-friendly.
Just out the gate from the converted car park.
There are several lounge chairs, a picnic table, and a Weber charcoal barbeque.
There is also a big comfy hammock, but as birds perch and nest in the tree over it, this is covered in bird droppings.. Pity.
The car parking area is accessed through powered double gates. There is a remote control provided for this. Unfortunately, while we were there one of the 2 gates broke down, so we had to manually get out and push it each time we came and went.
Privacy:
The neighbours are very unobtrusive. We did not see or hear them during our stay. The yard is fenced and quite private.
Noise:
The property is on a fairly busy street and there is quite a bit of traffic noise.
The neighbours have dogs, and these tend to bark frequently and loudly. They are big dogs.
Insects and pests:
When we first arrived we were greeted by many singing birds, and in the yard friendly geckos and lizards.
We also had many very large cockroaches in the house. Over a couple of days I was able to hunt them all down. However, within those couple of days the children were a bit scared to use a bathroom!
The one thing that was sorely missed is screens on the windows.
Curacao is blessed with some really nice steady breezes, and it should have been really a pleasure to open all the windows and let the wind cool the house.
Unfortunately you will see I said "should have".
In reality the mosquitos are quite aggressive, and if one is to pass a night without waking up covered in bites and welts, it pays to keep the windows and doors all closed and make sure the mosquitos do not enter. So much for the breezes.
You see, there are no screens anywhere on windows and doors.
And there are no mosquito nets in the bedrooms.
Bed bugs - One of the smaller bedrooms had the beds infested with bed bugs.
When our 9 year old woke one morning, she was covered in itchy, red, swollen bites.
I inspected her bedding and found bed bugs on the folds of the mattress seams.
I went to a local pet store, and purchased some pet insect spray, and stripped the beds and everything else in that room. After that, and freshly washed bedding, the bugs no longer bit our little girl.
When I brought it up with the property manager, he informed me he had never heard of bedbugs (and you could tell he thought I was making this up!).
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Water supply
There is very little water pressure. As a result things like washing dishes, for example, is a bit tricky.
Hot water only worked sporadically.
The water supply failed for most of a day. The maintenance trucks were to be seen fixing this.
When the water worked again it was rusty and dirty for a day. |
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| Other Comments |
In summary:
This is a reasonably comfortable house, in a decent, but not luxurious neighbourhood.
Noise is an issue, due to it being on a fairly busy street.
The management do a fairly good job, but tend to respond more to complaints than to pro-actively deal
with problems.
If one is travelling with 4 to 8 people, it may be a better or more economical solution that resort hotel rooms. |
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| Restaurants and Bars |
There are very few restaurants or bars close by.
Those that are around are mostly local Papiementu places, and not so "family friendly".
The closest thing to a family restaurant we found was a bar and grill called Larrys Place.
It is about 2 km from the house.
While it looks much like the typical American restaurant, we went there for lunch once, and the staff were totally clueless.
One meal was supposed to come with corn on the cob: No corn.
One diner asked for a side salad. When the meal was served there was no salad, and when we inquired we were told they had no salad.
One meal was a pasta and shrimp dish. It was ordered by our young teenage girl. She complained, and, at first, my wife and I thought she was just being fussy, which is not terribly unusual.
When my wife looked at it, she noticed a smell: The shrimp were completely bad, and smelled rotten!
We left rather immediately, and after my family was out of the door,
I brought this to the attention of the staff, who basically did not really care about it.
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| Rooms |
Amenities:
The kitchen and rooms are reasonably well equipped.
While there is a decent set of cookware, and items for eating, one must also be prepared to buy any and all consumables. That means toilet paper, food, cooking staples, cleaning substances, etc.
The kitchen has a fairly good gas top and a 2 element electric top.
There is a dishwasher that is broken down, a microwave and coffee maker that works, and the usual things such as a toaster, etc.
There is a clothes washer and dryer, and they are fairy decent quality.
However we did not use the dryer as that would certainly have driven our electricity bill out of sight.
Luckily there is a great clothesline tree in the back yard, so drying was no problem, except for when it rains, of course.
If one wants to lounge in the evenings, there is very limited furniture, nothing in the way of comfortable couches or recliners. However there are 3 separate dining tables! One that is in a converted car parking space, that seats 10!
But no couches or comfortable chairs..
Basically it looks like they furnished this place with the remnants of a couple of auctions.
Internet: There is a DSL connection and modem provided. No WIFI.
I brought my own WIFI router as I had heard this in advance.
The DSL modem died 4 times. They were quite good about replacing it, generally within a day.
The speed of the service is VERY slow.
Do not plan on watching your favorite TV shows from the internet!
Even Skype calls were noticeably choppy.
Speaking of TV, there is a satellite receiver and a 29" tube TV and a DVD player.
the channels available are mostly US and S.American networks for the central and S. american market. Many are in English, with Spanish subtitles.
Some of the more common channels are available, such as CNN, Fox, etc.
No BBC, US networks, European, or other stations.
Several specialty cable/satellite channels such as Cartoon Network are there.
It is a bit of a mixed bag, but overall not too bad.
Do not expect to keep up with your favorite series and you should likely be fine.
It is suitable for keeping some kids entertained in the evenings when there is little else to do. |
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| Your Arrival |
When we arrived it was quite clean, except for some cockraches , which were easy to catch and remove.
Cleaning and maintenance was Minimal.
We stayed for 2 weeks. They came and cleaned once, after were there for 4 days.
Over the next 10 days there was no cleaning and no change of sheets , towels, or bedding.
We asked them to pick us up a few groceries for our arrival, which they did. |
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| Not too bad, but not as good as most other resorts. |
| Hotel Breezes Resort Spa & Casino Curacao |
| User Rating:
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Steve >
1 contribution(s) Canada |
| Mar, 2010 | Leisure | With Spouse/Partner
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| Activities on and off the Resort/Hotel |
| Willemstaad is a beautiful little city and we ventured there a few times for shopping and sightseeing and enjoyed it tremendously. |
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| Beach/Pools/Grounds |
| The beaches were not bad but people should definitely bring surf shoes due to the rocks and coral. The pools were good but small. More umbrellas both pool side and beachside would be a huge improvement. Most afternoons the poolside was barren of people, possibly due to the fact that there were only 3 umbrellas for shade. With temperatures approaching 30+ celsius, more shade would have been appreciated. Overall the grounds were fairly clean. |
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| Other Comments |
The biggest disappointment was the construction just east of the resort that started every morning at 7:00am when the manager assured us the first day that it wouldn't start before 9:00. Rather than lie to us it would have been nicer if he said he had no control over it.
Overall, not a bad resort, just little things that need improving to make it a great resort. |
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| Restaurants and Bars |
This is where breezes really needs to improve. Jimmys buffet had a very poor and limited selection of food at every meal. Most times the food was luke warm at best, cold at worst. The wait staff didn't look well organized and just a half hour into service they were short on cutlery, plates, glasses etc.
The bar staff most often than not didn't know how to make simple drinks without instructions and the bars should have a master list of specialty drinks they serve.
The Italian restaurant was pretty good but again service was slow. The Japanese was much better. |
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| Rooms |
| The rooms were the one pleasant surprise. They were larger than some resorts I stayed at and very clean. The only downside to the rooms was the lack of a refrigerator. |
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| Your Arrival |
| No real organization. Almost a figure it out for yourself setup. |
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| Photos: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=139553&id=143616623808 |
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| Top location for your stay in Bonaire |
| Hotel Eden Beach Resort |
| User Rating:
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Debbie >
31 contribution(s) |
| Jan, 2010 | Business | With Spouse/Partner
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| Here we go .... |
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| Activities on and off the Resort/Hotel |
Scuba Diving:
The diving school Wannadive is at the same location as Eden Beach and have their facilities and a small dock in front of the beach, very relaxed for divers.
It might be handy to rent a scooter or car when you visit Bonaire. When you do not dive and don't have to carry a lot of stuff a scooter is enough since Bonaire is a small island.
Visit Sorobon beach, the donkey sanctuary, Slagbaai natural area, Klein Bonaire, snorkle, dive, dine ... to much to mention in this review. I will write about all things to do, tours and excursions in Bonaire at other pages at Debbie's website |
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| Beach/Pools/Grounds |
Pool:
Small and could be improved, first things first because Eden Beach Resort is still busy with reconstruction of the last apartments/hotelrooms.
Beach:
Bonaire does not have many beach options and Eden Beach has one of the best. Not too big but big enough and a lovely view on Klein Bonaire. For snorkle addicts, you can walk right off the beach into the sea and you are in the middle of the aquarium of a Chinees restaurant, unbelievable colored and so many fish.
They have enough sunbeds which costs for non-hotel guests 5 USD per day but free when you stay at Eden Beach Resort.
Kralendijk, the center of Bonaire, has a few times per week visitors from cruiseships, some of these tourists who want to go to the beach are dropped of by taxi's at Eden Beach, nothing to be worry about, it is just a little bussier and at 4:00 pm they are all gone again back to the ship.
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| Other Comments |
Eden Beach Resort in the past had some bad reviews, I must say honestly, I was keeping my breath when we arrived at the hotel because of these reviews, and expected nothing ...
I was pleasently surprised and find Eden Beach a nice, good, three star hotel with honest, hard working, enthousiast personel, who just had some rough years and have made some wrong dicisions who they now regret. Soon people will fight for a night at The Eden Beach Resort ... if I may believe the manager ;)
Four Debbie-Flowers from me, next time five ok? Because I love Bonaire and will be back |
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| Restaurants and Bars |
Well ... this was at the moment we were here a bit of a problem, that will say, the restaurant was.
First the bar:
The (beach)bar was fine, hardworking funny girls who might need a manager to teach them some details on how to treat your guests but still, good girls. We thought some drinks were expensive, I find a smoothy coming from a package for 5 USD is too much, a hamburger for 10 USD is rediculous. But it did not keep us from drinking a capuchino in the morning nice cold beer and some white wine.
Restaurant:
This is the only negative point of Eden Beach, but what I have understand from the charming Venezoelan owner not for long, since they are in negotiating with one of the best restaurants on the island to lease the catering from the hotel. If this will be true then Eden Beach will be THE place to stay at Bonaire.
For now ... the manager from the catering just don't get it, he offers one kind of breakfast, there is no a la carte, he just tells what he has which is not much. It's a shame because the restaurant is an open two-story ranchon/palapa with a stunning seaview.
Lets not talk about it any further because soon it will be better as promissed
All was solved soon enough because Bonaire has so many really outstanding restaurants like It Rains Fishes, Unbelievable, la Barca, Bambu, Sense, La Guernica ... too much to handle :) |
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| Rooms |
The one bedroom apartments at Eden Beach Resort have been nicely refurbished. It has a seperated kitchen with cooker, fridge, coffeemaker, a small bar to have you meal if you want eating inside but who cares because outside it is 30C degrees. The bedroom, which was big enough, has a huge kingsize bed, new airconditioning, closet, satelite TV, telephone.
The bathroom also from a good normal size has a big walk-in shower.
Now the best ... a spacious balcony with beach and ocean view with 2 sunbeds, 2 chairs and a table. Nothing to complain about.
Daily the maid cleaned our room and even did our dishes, perfect
... oh ... wireless internet for free ... and FAST! |
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| Your Arrival |
| We arrived by KLM flight at 4:30 am, check in was fast and easy, a very nice Spanish talking Dominican man at the open air reception helped us with our suitecases to the top floor (second) of the accommodations building. We booked the 1 bedroom apartment. Since it was still dark and we were tired because of the long flight we took a nap until 7:00 am ... the sun came up :) |
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| Certainly been one of the best times we've ever had |
| Hotel Breezes Resort Spa & Casino Curacao |
| User Rating:
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mvl >
1 contribution(s) Canada |
| Nov, 2009
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December 4 2009
Arrival: Nov 21-29,2009
Just returned Nov 29 from Breezes and had another great vacation snorkeling, diving, golfing, celebrating, shopping and relaxing. We have been to this hotel several times but in the past 2 years have seen improvements to the quality of food, more sand added to the beach and a more helpful attitude from buffet and bar staff.
The weather was hot and sunny, shady areas on the beach, lounges and towels always available and the hotel rooms were cool and clean. Overall this place is absolutely fantastic and is a great value for us out of Toronto.
Every vacation will have some glitches but who wants to spend their vacation time focused on what to complain about? We think that at this Breezes there is nothing major that would hold anyone back from having a great time. You'll have a fantastic time if you enjoy snorkeling off the beach, seeing thousands of fish and can relax in a casual setting. Go really wild and bring some friends and have an unforgettable vacation you'll be talking about for years. It has certainly been one of the best times we've ever had. |
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| This is a divers resort but even non divers will love it |
| Hotel Captain Don's Habitat |
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Carter >
1 contribution(s) SWEDEN |
| Jul, 2009 | Leisure | Family
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| Don's Habitat was started by the legendary Captain Don Steward. The captain not only started the hotel but is responsible for making Bonaire a diver's island and convincing the authorities to declare all the waters a national park. The Captain still frequents the hotel on Mondays. You'll find him at the outdoor bar. The outdoor bar is also where you can listen to Moogies island music and watch the slide show. You will probably end up as part of the slide show since the DMs and others seem to love taking pictures. The motto of the hotel is "diving freedom". Diving is indeed available 24hrs. The dive pier is large with two staircases and a rope leading to depth to make night diving a breeze. Truck rental(car) is on the property making shore diving easily accessible. If you tire of shore diving and house reef diving, Don's has three dive boats going out daily. The DMs are among the best. Likewise, dive education including photo courses, are of very high quality and are located in new buildings, as is the dive shop and spa. Even if you are not a diver it is still a great resort. This is not a luxurious hotel but it has everything you need and it is clean and well managed. There is no real luxury resort on Bonaire although Harbour Village tries to fit into this category. Don's Habitat IMHO is a little less luxurious than HV but still I prefer Don’s for other reasons. There are many great dive resorts on Bonaire. Some of these resorts are too large for my taste, like the Plaza and likewise some are too small for my taste. Carib Inn is one of the smaller resorts and it is an excellent dive hotel but it lacks some of the activities and facilities that Don’s has. Don's has everything I want in a resort but is still small enough to allow me to become friends with everyone. |
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| Activities on and off the Resort/Hotel |
| I think I mentioned most but not all |
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| Beach/Pools/Grounds |
beach; what beach?
Pool; Clean, very well maintained and a good enough size in my opinion. Grounds- Very good. Many of the plantings were the result of the Cap't landscaping skills |
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| Restaurants and Bars |
| Rum Runners IMHO can easily compete with the best restaurants on the island. That said the food quality does vary. This is however, even true of some of the well known restaurants. We have for example eaten at Will's and thought the food was worth a Michelin star but than the last time we were there we were very disappointed. OK I'll admit I never thought Rum Runners was worthy of a Michelin star but still the food is usually of high quality. It is delicious. You won’t go wrong ordering the daily special or whatever fish is fresh. The breakfasts are great too! The restaurant by the way is at the water's edge so you will be able to look down and see the fish, but do watch out for the iguanas who are waiting to hop up and steal your food if you let them (same thing for the gulls). |
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| Rooms |
| There is a wide variety of rooms with new rooms being build 2010. We always stay at the Oasis Cottages. They have two bedooms/bathrooms and are very spacious. A/C throughout. Unfortunately they do not have any ocean views. The cottages vary since they are owned by different people. One of the Oasis cottages is quite luxurious, most are not. The staff does a great job keeping this area clean and well maintained. |
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| Your Arrival |
| Try to do your paperwork at home. Dive liability release forms etc can all be downloaded beforehand |
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| The free shuttle into Willemstad was a nice extra |
| Hotel Breezes Resort Spa & Casino Curacao |
| User Rating:
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Joan from Alberta >
1 contribution(s) Canada |
| May, 2009
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I've travelled for 30 years, a lot of stays at all inclusive resorts throughout the Caribbean, so after reading the mixed reviews on this site, thought I had a pretty good idea what to expect. I was very happy to find the resort far outweighed my expectations!
We were there for two weeks from Apr.5, and enjoyed every minute. I had contacted Valerie and requested a ground floor room in a quiet location, which we received in the Flamingo building. It was wonderful to have the pool, never crowded, right outside our patio door, and incredible snorkeling just steps away off the beach! Never had to fight for loungers, and often had the pool to ourselves for long periods throughout the day. Our room was fine - the toilet 'howled" a bit when flushed, and we did have mosquitoes in our room most nights to some degree, but nothing major, and hey, that can happen at home too! I also made the suggestion to the resort that a mirror be provided in the main living area so if the bathroom is occupied, the other person can carry on with doing hair, make-up or whatever - small thing, but would be a nice convenience.
The grounds are lovely, with lots of palms and other vegetation, and were well maintained. Liked the fairy lights along the walkways at night - attractive and provided extra lighting when moving round the resort. We found the property to be kept fairly clean, and it would help if guests had the courtesy to return glasses, etc. to the bars. We also made the suggestion that the resort provide drop-off areas (bins, baskets, whatever) near the pools and along the beach for this purpose - could encourage people to do their share.
Enjoyed the macaws housed along the walkwaysand chatted with them in passing. They appear well cared for. Also enjoyed the local birds - bananaquits, yellow/green finches, troupials, tropical mockingbirds, and the various lizards scooting around.
We were happy with the buffet restaurant, breakfast, dinner and lunch. Typical all-inclusive buffet with a good variety of meats prepared in a variety of ways - chicken, turkey, fish (generally very good!), goat, lamb, steak, roast beef (surprisingly good, and we're from Alberta!). Mashed or roasted potatoes, rice, veggies, variety of salads, fajitas, tacos, cheeses, cold cuts, breads. Desserts ranged from various cakes, cheesecake, flan, cookies, and the most wonderful ice cream you'll ever eat! Breakfasts were typical AI - pancakes, eggs, omelete bar, bacon, sausage (link or patties), fruit bar (pineapple, papaya, watermelon, cantelope), pastries, croissants, toast, cereals. |
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The two snack bars at main pool and at Pelican building had hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken nuggets, cheese sandwiches, grilled chicken on buns, fries, potato fritters . And popcorn or nachos for snack attacks. Top shelf booze - Canadian Club, Seagrams, Johnny Walker, Drambuie, Grand Mariner, Galliano, Bailey's etc. as well as lovely frozen pina colada and strawberry daiquiris (and others) - delightful either virgin or hard. And of course rum, vodka, etc, domestic and imported. Never tried the beer on tap, but seemed to be popular! Soft dirnks (soda) for kids or those who preferred them.
We did the Japanese and Italian a la cartes once - preferred the Italian, but both were good. We passed on the Starlight dinner around the pool (or on the beach).
The entertainment we saw was good - loved both sax players. But found after a day snorkeling and around/in the pool we never made it to the later shows which started at 10 p.m. There was a circus performance one evening, and wanted to hear the reggae band but just couldn't make it that late after a day in the sun! :)
Most staff were friendly, helpful and polite - just remember that they live a slower life style than we do, so practice patience if things don't happen "right NOW!".
The beach was lovely with the new addition of sand, and we managed to find entry into the water at "our" end where we didn't have much dead coral to cross barefoot before putting on fins . It was wonderful to be able to snorkel in calm water whenever we wanted, regardless if the sea was a bit choppy! Snorkeling off the beach is a priority when we're chosing a destination, and Breezes provided that in spades! The variey of fish and sea creatures we saw was wonderful - sergent majors, varieties of parrot fish, surgeon fish, grunts, squirrel fish, schools of tangs, one large fire worm, one small octopus, 3 different moray eels - two swimming freely along the sand! - puffers and various sized trunk fish, schools of tetras, wrasses, blennies, flounders - you name it, it was likely there! Oh, and one barracuda. A few days the water was a bit cloudy, but other days crystal clear. The fish are so habituated to humans they don't even seem to be aware of you! A bit of coral and anemones here and there - good to see!
The free shuttle into Willemstad was a nice extra, and the alloted time was perfect for us. We also took the local bus (van) to the Seaquarium (too hot to walk!) and to a nearby supermarket for $1.00 each way. |
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We did the Seaquarium snorkel encounter ($49 includes admission to the Seaquarium) , which we'd done 4 years ago and enjoyed. On our previous visit we were given rubber pouches of sardines to feed the fish, sharks, turtles, but they no longer do that since they have dolphins in an adjoining pool and the quality of fish isn't high enough for them. You can still see the sea turtles and lemon and nurse sharks through the chain fence or plexiglass viewing area, swim above rays, encounter large tarpon (?) and other fish, including a large puffer, and watch and interact with the dolphins through a plexiglass area (if they're willing!) . Other than those creatures, not a lot to see - we saw more varieties of colorful fish in the resort lagoon. Were it not for the dolphin and shark "close encounters", this wouldn't be worth the cost, but that just my opinion from this year, and I did enjoy being close-up to these incredible creatures!.
We also took a snorkel trip with the resident dive boat - to Tugboat site about 20 minutes along the coast. ($44 plus tax, plus $15 if you use their equipment). We didn't see a large number of fish there, but swimming along the drop-off to deep water and watching the divers and their bubbles was fun, but again, saw more sea life in our "home" lagoon! There was more coral in that area, but not a large amount, and seeing the tugboat wreck was kinda neat., but not sure it was worth the cost - again, just MY opinion!
Breezes gave us everything and more than we wanted and expected for this vacation. I wouldn't hesitate to return or recommend this resort to anyone. Just be aware and realistic of what your expectations are - don't expect more than what you're paying for.
I would compare Breezes Curacao to Sunscape Casa del Mar in Bayahibe D.R., for anyone who's been there (prior to it becoming a Dreams resort this year). Snorkeling was better at Breezes. Both these resorts are on my "will return some day" list.
Our previous Curacao trip was to Sunset Waters (2005). We were pleased with our stay there, albeit , it wasn't on par with our usual AI experiences, although we did enjoy the food there at the time. But it compares in no way to Breezes, in all aspects, including snorkeling. More corals there, yes, but I enjoyed the larger numbers and variety of species of fish at Breezes more. |
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| Snorkeling was awesome |
| Hotel Breezes Resort Spa & Casino Curacao |
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Brenda >
8 contribution(s) Canada |
| May, 2009
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I had been to Curacao once before and stayed at Sunset Waters. We enjoyed Sunset Waters at the time, but in recent years the price had gone up there out of range and we'd heard it wasn't as good as when we were there. The Sunquest package for Breezes was affordable so we decided to go there this trip.
To sum up before I start giving details, the resort was much better than I'd anticipated. Better food, nicer rooms, nicer beach and better snorkeling than I'd expected. Now for the details.
Rooms - we had a room in Flamingo wing. It's the building furthest from the main pool. It was very quiet, not crowded (tons of empty loungers on the beach even when it was busy), nicest pool. Drawbacks to Flamingo wing were longer walk to restaurants and lobby and no pool bar for refreshments. However, closest bar was in Pelican wing, right next door. The rooms themselves were reasonably spacious, much better than other rooms I've been in. The room had just been updated with new paint. Bathroom, while not spacious, was beautiful, marble countertops with bowl basin on top of counter. Glass walk-in shower. Our room had a large flat screen tv on the wall, but can't say channel selection was great. Not a biggie after all, you have the Caribbean and beach right out your doorstep!
Beach and pools - Pools were immaculate. Main pool is more like a river - very narrow and broken up by various "things" - islands, pool table, fountains, tables, stools etc. Pool at Pelican wing also broken up into smaller sections. Pool at Flamingo wing is the most open and quiet. Beach had reportedly just gotten new sand and it was very nice. Beach was clean - never saw any litter at the Flamingo end. Beach was a bit crowded near the main pool and the snack bar.
Buffet - well, let me just say anyone who complains about the food at the buffet restaurant is out of their cotton picking mind!! The food was great. My only complaint - and its minor - is not a lot of vegetables. Lots of meat dishes - almost every meal had selections of chicken, beef, fish and pork. Sometimes lamb, sometimes goat stew (which is the national dish by the way). Often prawns and calamari. Always rice, pasta and potatoes of some sort. Desserts were plentiful - cheesecake, layer cakes, cookies, and ice cream (best I've ever had to be truthful!). Cappuccino machine was always on at breakfast and dinner and I used it a lot. Service was almost always fantastic. There were a few nights where there were glitches in the service - one night when a large group of women came in for a conference, and then just a couple of nights when the wait staff couldn't get their act together. However, that being said, the service was much, much better than most other buffets I'd been to and it was always pleasant with genuine smiles and greetings. |
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Ala carte - we did the Munasan Japanese restaurant. The food was good, however the night we went the service was very slow. No desserts there and we were still a bit hungry when we were finished, so we went to the buffet afterwards for coffee and dessert. Pastafari - food was very good, service a bit slow, but nothing to complain about. Only problem there was huge line-up at the salad bar - too many people trying to go through it all at once. We didn't bother with the BBQ ala carte because by then we were just pleased with the buffet food.
Entertainment - for the most part was good, albeit spotty, time-wise. The three sax players (on different nights) were all good. The second sax player was the best musician, but all were good entertainers. The steel pan player was barely audible over the congo drums, but was also good. Nothing ever seemed to happen with guest/staff talent night. There was one night, I think Wednesdays, that all the ala cartes are open and the pool deck is loaded with people. The entertainment on that night was great and it was like a big party atmosphere.
Snorkeling - was awesome. There is no reef as some people had said - unless you go outside the breakwaters. The days that we were there were a little too rough for our comfort to go outside the lagoon. If you do want to venture out, it's advised to check with the dive shop as to currents for that day as there can be rip currents in the area. The breakwater has an abundance of sea life to view. We saw thousands of tangs, grunts, goatfish, yellow-tailed snappers and tetras. We also saw at least 3 puffer fish, 4 morays, an octopus, a barracuda, schools of halfbeaks (some people call them needlefish) and zillions of red-lipped blennies.
Children and activities - the resort is definitely family friendly. There were tons of kids there. The climbing wall never seemed to be used and the skating rink wasn't really useable (and who wants to go skating anyway?). There were lots of pool activities, a giant chess board, shuttle boards, bikes, a game room (with the arcade type games), ping pong tables, water bikes, kayaks, hobie rides and more. Lots for kids to do. There is a spa and a gym as well. Also a small library to leave/take books in the TV room in the lobby. The gift shop is okay. More expensive than town, which is usual and didn't seem to be restocked very often, but did have a few choices and necessities.
Minor glitches
- our toilet plugged the first night but maintenance people were there within a few minutes to unplug.
- security guards at the flamingo end were often not attentive enough and we frequently had local invaders in the pool that would sneak around the wall
- minor workmanship issues with the room, but nothing that was a problem
- check-in was not very efficient, but not time consuming
Impressive extras
- twice had supervisor types knock on our door and check that everything was okay
- a personal letter from the hotel manager asking if our room was satisfactory
- iced tea on request in the buffet restaurant
- servers around the main pool deck after dinner to get drinks
- cappuccino machine was an unexpected bonus
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| Lovely view, great snorkeling |
| Hotel Captain Don's Habitat |
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Annies >
1 contribution(s) The Netherlands |
| Jan, 2009 | Leisure | With Spouse/Partner
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| Bonaire itself is such a cute unspoiled island. I wish I could live there, sun, nice temperature, great dining options, far away from the rushed western life |
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| Activities on and off the Resort/Hotel |
| Bonaire is famous because of the best snorkeling and diving opportunities in the Caribbean. We rented two scooters and drove the whole island, visted the donkey sanctuary, Sorobon Beach, Slagbaai with its flamingos, took a boat to klein Bonaire to see where the turtles lay their eggs, had delicious lunches and dinners ... what ese do you need on vacation? |
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| Beach/Pools/Grounds |
| The pool is kind of small, but who needs a pool with such a beautiful giant sea in front? :) |
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| Other Comments |
| Again Bonaire is lovely and unspoiled. You do not need a huge resort with lots of amenities because Bonaire IS a resort itself. |
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| Restaurants and Bars |
| Captain Don's Habitat rent its restaurant to Rum Runners, a very nice open air restaurant with a big variaty to choose from. They offer from delecious pizzas to filet mignon, a nice wine menu and all for a good price. Besides dinner they also offer breakfast and lunch. At night the bar is open to have a drink before you go to sleep after a long and tiresome diving/snorkeling day. |
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| Rooms |
| We had a nice complete seaview room with a big terrace looking at the deep blue-turqoise sea. Room was spacious with two queen size beds, minibar, big bathroom and all very clean. |
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| Your Arrival |
| Arrival went smooth, customs at Flamingo airport is like the rest of Bonaire kinda cute. |
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| Intro |
| Hotel Kontiki Beach Club and Lac Bay Apartments |
| User Rating:
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MikeUSA >
1 contribution(s) United States of America |
| Jan, 2004 | Leisure | With Spouse/Partner
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| Anyone who has read my previous trip reports knows that Susan and I tend to like to to go to Club Med resorts for sailing and windsurfing. But we also like to break out of the mold occasionally and try something (and some place) different. This time we decided we wanted to work on our windsurfing skills a little and go some place different. Since this was January, it also had to be WARM!. We had overheard some other travlers talking about Bonaire and we knew that Bonaire was supposed to have a great windsurfing area (good enough that some say it is better than Aruba's "Fisherman's Huts" area). It also has a reputation for good (excellent!?) snorkeling, which is another of our preferred activities. But, there are none of our normal 'resorts' on Bonaire and air travel is limited, so it was a bit of a challange (on a budget, anyway).
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| A little geography |
| Bonaire is one of the "ABC islands": Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao. Bonaire is the middle sized island of the three, and has the smallest population (about 16,000). It is about 50 miles north of Venezuela and the weather (and surrounding water) is always warm. It is mostly a dry desert-like island with lots of cactus growing in the open areas. However, we were there during the rainy season and we got some rain every day, but it didn't really get in our way very much. Besides tourism, the main industry is sea salt; there are large salt evaporation ponds on the eastern end of the island. There are some hills on the northern and western sections of the island and they offer some nice views. The island is mostly volcanic in nature (none active now) and the soil is rocky and hard. As in Aruba, most of the population speak english, spanish, dutch, and the native papimento so there are seldom any language issues. US dollars are welcome, but you will probably get change in N.A. Florins (also referred to as Guilders).
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| Accomodations |
After some research we settled on the Kon Tiki (Lac Bay) apartments. This is a small (probably 10-12 units) facility on the edge of Lac bay, where the Windsurfing is. It is truely out by itself, more than we had expected it to be. The only other facilities anywhere close by (within about 7 or 8 miles) are the windsurfing 'outfitters' and the Sonora Beach resort (a "naturalist" resort, which we decided against). The Kon Tiki arranged for the windsurfing rentals (at a slight discount) and a rental car (which is needed).
The Kon Tiki provides apartments, with a living room, kitchen, bedroom and bath. Lots of room to spread out. While we did not miss a TV, we would have liked to have screens across the sliding door to keep out the relatively small and non-aggressive mosquitoes. Then again, chasing the mosquitoes that did get in provided some entertainment during the otherwise very quiet evenings. We had a 2nd floor apartment with a view out across the flat part of Bonaire and out over the bay where the windsurfing took place. The Kon Tiki has a small restaurant as part of the resort and during the winter season the Kon Tiki includes breakfast with the cost of the room. They served a very good and complete european style breakfast, although it was starting to get a bit boring by the end of the week. There was so much breakfast that we took some of it to make small sandwiches that we used for lunch. We ate dinner there three evenings and they served very good meals. The chef obviously took pride in the preparation and presentation of the food. |
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| General comments |
| For anyone doing a lot of windsurfing, or anyone just wanting to relax in a very quiet and peaceful area, I would certainly recommend the KonTiki. Anyone with a primary interest in diving or snorkeling would probably be happier in town at one of the more centrally located resorts. Anyone wanting to learn to windsurf should consider Bonaire, but perhaps during a season with slightly less robust winds. Lighter winds are better for beginners and also means that there will not be as many advanced windsurfers zipping around. There was a definite difference betwen Aruba and Bonaire. Although Aruba is marketed as "The Happy Island" (and it is), Aruba is much more developed and commercialized than Bonaire. Bonaire is still very relaxed, definitely friendly, with few of the Americanized restaurants and such. Bonaire is more like a European community (in a warm climate) compared to Aruba which is more like an American city. A few cruise ships stop at Bonaire, probably two or three a week. On days where there was ship in port there were many vendors around the dock and much more activity in town. Something to either see or avoid, depening on your preferences. If you stay in a centrally located resort in town and use the in-town dive operations, you may not need a rental car. Most people, however, will probably end up renting a car for at least part of the time.
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| Getting there (and back) |
| I wanted to use Delta frequent flyer miles to get us to Bonaire, but could only get 'close'. By using Delta "Sky Choice" award tickets, we were able to get to Aruba. (Don't get me started on what I think of Delta's FF seat allocations...) So we took Delta to Aruba and then a new airline, Bonaire Excel, from Aruba to Bonaire. Although I had heard some bad stories about Bonaire Excel's startup, our flights were on time and comfortable using modern equipment (ATRs). On the return trip on saturday via Aurba, the Aruba airport was a true madhouse. Looonnnggg lines everywhere. It seemed that everyone in Aruba was trying to leave that day. The only good thing is that Delta did upgrade us to first class on the way back. I guess they felt a little guilty about how many FF miles the trip costs us.
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| Snorkeling |
Bonaire is known mostly for its' diving and snorkeling spots. Unlike most islands with diving spots, almost all of the Bonaire dive (and snorkeling) locations can be reached from the shore; no boat required. Dive and snorkel locations are marked with yellow rocks along the road and there are several maps available that list all the dive locations, their characteristics, and their name (which is painted on the yellow rocks). Once you understand how it works, you can easily locate any of the eighty-some dive spots. However, the same characteristics that make shore dives possible also mean that there are essentially no soft sandy beaches. All beaches we saw are really hard rocks and coral. Getting into the water was sometimes a challange. But once in the water, there were very nice reefs and coral areas. The sea floor seemed to drop off very close to shore, so the transition from shallow to deep was within easy snorkeling distance.
For SCUBA divers there are a large number of dive shops and outfitters. If you don't have (or take) your own snorkle gear, there are numerous snorkle tours available which will provide the equipment. The only real 'caution' is that there appears to be a problem with locals breaking into cars parked at the more remote dive spots. The general suggestion os to not take anything valuable and leave the car unlocked so it is not "broken" into. |
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| The Windsurfing |
| We went mainly for the windsurfing, so how was it?? In a word, great.... People who had been there for a while said that there had been virtually no wind for the previous two weeks. The week we were there, there was reasonable to good wind every day, for at least part of the day. Lac Bay is on the eastern end of the island and gets the full force of the trade winds with nothing to get in their way. There is a good reef to cut the swells/waves down to ripples. Much of the bay is shallow, ranging from about 1 ft. to 3 ft, depending on the tide. The water was clear and warm with good areas to start from. There are two outfitters and we used Jibe City, but the other facility looked good also. They offer lessons, but really didn't seem to have their heart in that activity. The equipment was good, with excellent sail/mast/boom kits and OK, but not great, boards. (I'm just a beginner/intermediate windsurfer, so take this with a grain of salt.) When the wind got good some of the areas got rather busy, with the more experienced windsurfers tending to (unintentionally, I'm sure) intimidate the less experienced with their speed and maneuvers. My impression was that the bay was slightly better for windsurfing than Aruba. The facilities are not quite as nice, but the natural characteristics are better. The only thing that occasionally stopped us (other than lack of wind) was low tide: when the tide was low, some of the bay was just too shallow to sail across without dragging your fin. 90% of the time, though, it was great.
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| Time to eat |
| As previously mentioned, we ate breakfast at the Kon Tiki and that also provided much of our lunch. We stopped at a local food store and got some crackers and fruit and didn't buy a normal 'lunch' any day. We ate dinner at the KonTiki three nights and it was very good. Other nights we went into the main town, Kralendijk, and found places to eat. We never had a 'bad' meal, and they ranged from 'respectable' (at a Mexican food place) to very good (at an Italian restaurant). Prices were reasonable; certainly not 'cheap', but very little more than we would pay at comparable restaurants in the US, and much less than, for example, Grand Cayman. Most meals for two, with a glass of wine or a beer apiece, ran around $40 to $50. The emphasis is naturally on fresh fish. One evening while eating at the City Grill a truck stopped in front and the guys got out and pulled three large, very(!) fresh, fish (Wahoo?) out of the back of the truck and carried them into the kitchen.
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