Rustic with Roosters
Written: Jun 05 '03 (Updated Jun 05 '03)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Charm, customer service, rustic
Cons: Roosters, and a touch of mold
The Bottom Line: Too many roosters for a recommendation.
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| glengreen's Full Review: Aston Waimea Plantation Cottages |
Waimea Plantation offers a rustic get away from the hotel monstrosities of Oahu, but at the cost of sleep.
Waimea Plantation sits on the beautiful southern coast of Hawaii's garden island of Kauai near the famous Waimea Canyon, the "Grand Canyon of the Pacific".
I was honeymooning in the last weeks of May, 2003 and was staying on Kauai for the first time. My wife and I are not 'party people', and enjoy getting away from the crowds, so we were looking forward to our stay at this one-time sugar plantation.
Myself and my new bride were booked in the $200 (+/-) 1 bedroom/1 bath - 'Superior Grove View' cottage, but were upgraded to a 3 bedroom/2 bath cottage upon arrival.
Although the Plantation was advertised as having honeymoon amenities in a third party brochure our travel agent gave us, we were informed that they had no such offers when we checked in. The upgrade we received was due to some internal consideration, and was not a special honeymoon amenity.
Our stand-alone weathered, cottage stood among a grove of palm trees, and flowering plants, with a pleasant sea breeze blowing through. As we walked up the creaky steps of the raised cottage, we passed a plaque that featured the name of the last resident who'd one lived there. As we stepped into the old building we felt like we'd entered old Hawaii.
The cottage featured three bedrooms, two with queen sized beds, a third with twins. In the middle of this small house was a full kitchen (complete with kitchenware), and a sizable living room. The two bathrooms featured showers with unique, spacious stalls. There was no air conditioning, but every room (except the baths), contained a ceiling fan that when combined with the many screened windows, did an adequate job of keeping the space a reasonable temperature.
After we settled in we revisited the front desk and were helped by a very friendly clerk. As we stood chatting flying termites crawled and fluttered around the desk. For all of the bugs that we saw outside (and within this open air lobby), we never saw one in the cottages which were clean and tidy in spite of the insect rich environment.
That night we ate at the adequate and reasonably priced Waimea Brewing Co. located on the grounds.
Along the short dirt road from the restaurant to our cottage we saw twenty or thirty fist-sized frogs feasting on the termites. Brightly colored geckos could be found crawling along the outside of the house partaking of the insect banquet. While we were not bothered by this 'wild life', others may not be as comfortable with the crawling critters.
If I ended the review here, I would list the cottages as above average given their rustic, creaky charm. However, the advertised peacefulness was not to be found.
As we'd driven from the airport to the plantation we'd noted with some amusement wild roosters, and chickens wandering the island. That amusement ended as night settled in and we discovered that all of the roosters on the island apparently met at Waimea Plantation for evening revelries.
When one thinks of roosters, they conjure the iconic image of a single rooster, silhouetted on a fence, crowing at the dawning sun. Such is not the case for the Kauai roosters who crow continuously all night long. Even with ear plugs in the roosters had me tossing and turning all night long culminating in a raucous cacophony at dawn. Matters were made worse as I suffered the ill effects of unseen molds that seemed to melt my head with allergies. Bleary eyed, I called my travel agent and asked to be moved to another hotel.
The Waimea Plantation staff was friendly and understanding and did not penalize us for leaving two nights early.
Final Thoughts
I would really like to recommend the plantation for its positives, but the incredibly noisy roosters made a good nights rest impossible. My wife was not affected by the molds, but if you have mold allergies it as serious consideration.
After leaving the plantation my allergies cleared, and I ate a chicken dinner for revenge.
Visit Waimea Plantation Web site http://www.waimea-plantation.com/ to learn more.
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
glengreen
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Member: Glen Green
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
Reviews written: 2
Trusted by: 2 members
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