Helpful staff but cleanliness a problem
Written: Jan 09 '09 (Updated Jan 09 '09)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Friendly and helpful staff, willing to converse and offer suggestions about area.
Cons: Cleanliness and lighting a problem, plumbing needs help.
The Bottom Line: Would not recommend this as a vacation spot, but if you're stranded on the island and need a place to stay, it is acceptable. Cleanliness a problem but friendly staff.
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| icemaiden02's Full Review: Casuarinas Hotel |
We stayed only one night at Nettie's Casuarina Hotel on January 3, 2009. My husband, brother-in-law, and I were stranded in Nassau due to flight complications from Abaco Islands, one of Bahamas' Outer Islands, returning to USA. We were not given any compensation by Continental Airlines and were stranded overnight, and the airline rep called five or six hotels to try and find us an overnight place. Nettie's Casuarina Hotel was about the seventh place she reached that finally had an availability this busy Christmas/New Year's week.
The hotel is located 5 minutes by taxi from Nassau International Airport. This is not a beachfront property but is located across a busy road from the beach, so you are more than welcome to walk to the beach (a little rocky and not condusive to swimming, though).
The staff that greeted us at the hotel were pleasant, helpful, and knowledgable about the area. Check in process was easy, and we were assigned rooms within 15 minutes, even though we had no reservations.
The exterior decor of Nettie's Casuarina Hotel is colorful in traditional Bahamian style, with local artistic works (paintings, coconut sculptors, and tilings), as well as well-groomed interior landscaping (hibiscus, ficus and various other tropical plants). The pool, however, while filled with water, had lots of brown algae on the bottom and I would not suggest venturing near it.
The hallways were narrow and dimly lit, with single fluorescent lamps that flickered on and off. Similar to another poster's observation, we noticed only ONE other family in the entire hotel. Along with the flickering fluorescent lighting, it does give you a very creepy setting.
The rooms were of adequate size, containing a twin (single) and a full (double), a TV, dresser, bed-side table, and closet. The window A/C was functionally cold, and after contacting the front desk, we were able to get a remote control for the TV, as we discovered our TV does not have an operable on/off button. Beds were hard and uncomfortable, but we've slept on worse-- this at least did not sag, poke you in the back, and were bug-free.
The bathroom had a window that opens into the hallway (so passerbys can see you!), and the ballast in the fluorescent lamp for the bathroom was broken, resulting in having to turn the light switch on and off five or six times before the light actually came on. (During daylight hours, we resorted to using the bathroom without any light, relying only on light from the hallways outside to illuminate the room). Bathroom was stocked with toilet paper, tissue paper, three bars of soap and several towels. Only one of the two faucets at the sink works. Pop-up switch that switches between bath and shower faucet head was broken, stuck in the bath position, but no stopper was provided. (Not that we would've soaked ourselves in that grimy tub...). The toilet also does not flush very well.
Check out procedure was easy, taking less than 1 minute-- all we did was hand the staff the key and we were on our way. They called the taxi for us, and waited by the side of the road till we loaded our luggage and were on our way. (They waved and wished us well).
Overall, we would not recommend this as a vacation spot, but if you're stranded on the island and need a place to stay, it is acceptable. There are grocery stores and restaurants within walking distance (along the side of the road, nothing scenic). If the lighting and plumbing fixtures are fixed, and the cleanliness improved, Nettie's Casuarina's would be a 3-star accomodation in my book, as it's located conveniently near the airport and downtown Nassau, and has a very friendly and helpful staff that are willing to do anything for you.
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
icemaiden02
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Member: Clare
Location: New Jersey
Reviews written: 12
Trusted by: 0 members
About Me:
High school marine biology teacher who has lived in five countries. Enjoy traveling and photography.
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