Excellent Choice on Bonaire
Written: Feb 21 '05
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Complete destination resort, clean, friendly, located on a great island.
Cons: Restaurant service really needs work...for Americans anyway.
The Bottom Line: We can definitely recommend Plaza Resort Bonaire, but with the caution that you keep your expectations in line with reality. Some reviewers apparently were expecting Maui upscale.
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| johnanddani's Full Review: Plaza Resort Bonaire |
We stayed at Plaza Resort Bonaire in February of 2005 and found it quite enjoyable. The resort offers a selection of accommodations from standard rooms with no housekeeping facilities to large 2-bedroom “villas” with full kitchens. The facilities are arranged generally into three groupings divided by waterways that you cross on footbridges. The beachfront group includes most of the “hotel room” style accommodations, the pool, two beachfront bars (one with snack bar), one of the restaurants, tennis courts, and SCUBA operation. The central grouping includes the lobby, convenience shop, Internet facility, another restaurant, fitness & massage centers, and the bulk of the “suites” which have limited housekeeping facilities. Finally there is the “villas” group. The villas apparently are privately owned and leased back to the resort.
I recommend not worrying about an “ocean view” room, as the buildings are set back from the beach and any view you might have will probably be obscured by palm trees or beachfront installations.
The resort is sometimes advertised as “five star”, a description that has been abused to the point that it is essentially meaningless. I would rate it an honest 3 or 4 stars, which was fine with us. While the grounds are not “manicured” by any means, we found the resort overall to be in good repair, with recent paint everywhere and walkways, etc., all in good condition. Our rooms (one of the 2-br villas) were extremely spacious and housekeeping kept things up nicely through the week, including providing the extra towels my wife always wants.
While they apparently have been advertising for years that there is a ‘Casino’ on site, this is only someone’s wishful thinking. No casino, sorry. Probably a story there but I don’t know what it is.
The staff overall was courteous and helpful, although we have to go along with many of the other reviewers by agreeing that service in the restaurants is definitely not carried on at an “American” pace. There is no such thing as a quick meal at this resort. The food itself, fortunately, was fine. We ate off-site a couple of times and the service was a bit faster, although still pretty leisurely. It is worthwhile to point out that eating out, wherever you do it, is expensive on Bonaire, so I recommend considering a suite or villa with at least limited housekeeping facilities. It will save you significant $$ even if you only use it for breakfast and lunch.
The on-site SCUBA operator, Toucan Diving, is very professional and well equipped. In fact, my daughter became certified in only 4 days of one-on-one with one of their multi-lingual instructors. One of Bonaire’s charms is the perimeter road that allows easy beach access to the bulk of the dive sites. Consider renting a vehicle and at least augmenting your boat diving with some drive-and-dive (4-door pickups with tank racks in back are popular). Plus you’ll have mobility for sightseeing and running into town.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
johnanddani
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Reviews written: 6
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