Netherlands Antilles Travel Guide
Hotels with iMacs / Amsterdam Hotels / Mint Hotels / Hotel Openings / → All Tags
Mint Hotels Freshen Up with Their First Hotel Outside of the UK
Mint Hotels have been pretty busy in the last year. Not only have they rebranded and opened a second London location, but they've also made the decision to open a very special ninth hotel in their chain. The newest Mint will be located in Amsterdam, the very first one outside of Britain.
The website states that the hotel is opening April, however bookings are currently being taken from May 1st, which hints that May could be a safer bet.
As well as 553 rooms and suites, the hotel will feature City Caphe—a British restaurant—and the Eastside Dock Bar, plus Mint’s signature Skylounge with floor to ceiling windows, outside terrace and roof top gardens of course. From the look of the renderings, the latter will boast some pretty ace views over the canals and historic city center. You see, the hotel is situated on Eastern Dock Island, opposite Centraal Station, and what with all of those trains nearby we really hope they've done something towards sound-proofing.
Hotel Opening Rates / Hotel Openings / Curaçao Hotels / Hyatt Hotels / → All Tags
The Hyatt Regency Curacao Opens on April 20 From $199 a Night
How good does this look right about now? Sure, the temperatures have started to warm up here and there but we are impatient for spring. And now we know the introductory rates for the new Hyatt Regency Curacao Golf Resort, Spa and Marina we may just delay our spring break until April 20. That's when the Caribbean's latest Hyatt opens its 350 guest-room doors.
The introductory rates start at $199 a night, and after reporting on the newest and newly-renovated NYC hotels, this sounds like a steal. There were rooms available for April 20 with this Grand Opening rate when we checked last night—the $199 gets you a resort-view king room, and if you want a water view, the rate jumps to $219 a night. Regular room rates start at $259 so it's not a bad savings. (Do you know how many Amstel Lights we could buy with an extra 60 bucks in our pockets each night?)
Hotel Deals / Curacao Hotels / Renaissance Hotels / Hotel Infinity Pools / → All Tags
Renaissance Curacao's Infinity Beach is Now 40 Percent Off
The Renaissance Curacao impressed us just by telling us about their 32,000 square foot infinity beach, which beats an infinity pool any day (and a local even assured us that in real life it is truly as cool as it sounds). Now they're trying to impress us with a 40 percent off sale. And they get it half right.
The good part of this sale is that if you book by the end of November, for travel any time between January and April 2010, then you will get 40 percent off room rates – that's a pretty hefty discount. The Renaissance Curacao has had some good reports, and with the world heritage Rif Fort literally on the doorstep, we like it for being a bit different.
The bad part about this deal is they're advertising it as the "Life Begins At 40%" sale. And while we, well, get it, we can't help but feel like they're aiming for an over-40s market and that ain't quite our thing. But then we remember the infinity beach and we forgive them all over again.
Hotel Weddings / Sonesta Resorts / Destination Wedding Hotels / St. Maarten Hotels / Hotel Packages / → All Tags
Get Hitched for Free at Sonesta St. Maarten Resorts
Don’t get us wrong, we’re happily married, but something about the breeziness of a beach wedding sorta makes us want to tie the knot all over again. And at Sonesta St. Maarten Resorts, destination weddings just got even breezier.
Both Sonesta Maho Beach Resort & Casino and Sonesta Great Bay Beach Resort & Casino are doing their best to lure brides and grooms with free perks for any couple who books 10 or more rooms for a seven-night minimum stay.
Their “Free Wedding Package” includes a wedding coordinator, wedding cake, corsage and boutonniere, official marriage license, 10 percent off select spa services at Sonesta Maho’s Good Life Spa, a bride corsage and groom boutonniere, room upgrade, and free reception and dinner (with open bar!) at Sonesta Maho. Not bad! Especially if you’re too dewy-eyed — or, um, hasty — to really care about making each wedding detail just-so. And let's be honest, if you're planning a destination wedding you probably just care about the beach and your betrothed.
Room rates start at $275. The offer is valid through 2010.
Hotel Renovations / Bonaire Hotels / Scuba Diving Hotels / → All Tags
Captain Don's Habitat in Bonaire Has Plans to Be Beautified
Back in August, we told you about our brush with sucky service at the Captain Don's Habitat in Bonaire, Netherland Antilles. The whole debacle left us feeling kinda icky, mostly because we really fell hard for the island of Bonaire, and well...for the most part, the situation could have been avoided.
But hang onto your swim fins, because there may be a happy ending to our scuba sob story. We just caught wind of some good (and completely unexpected) news regarding the long-time diving institution.
The folks at Captain Don's Habitat must've snapped out of 1973, because the rundown property is (gasp!) being updated and renovated. They're planning on purchasing new (desperately needed) bathroom fixtures and furniture later this month, which should arrive to the island sometime in March. Then, the first phase of renovations will get underway and construction of new suites will be completed.
HotelChatter Reviews / Hotel Hell / Bonaire Hotels / → All Tags
Great Scuba, Sucky Service at Captain Don's Habitat
Think all press trips are free caviar and roses? Think again. What happens when a hotel invites a writer to cover their hotel for multiple publications and she ends up itching and scratching?
Though HotelChatter does not usually accept comp'd stay reviews, this was a situation we thought you needed to know about. After all, as GlobeTrotting Gourmet says: "if this is how the concerns of hosted media guests of the hotel are met, what can other guests expect?"
As an R&R/dive-centric island destination, we think Bonaire is the bee’s knees. However, events that unraveled during our recent stay at Captain Don’s Habitat during a hosted press trip really set the bar for how not to handle customer relations.
We get that Bonaire is not a destination for luxury-seekers. It’s all about the ocean, aquatic creatures and coral reefs. We like it that way. We’re more than happy to make certain concessions in creature comforts and amenities in the interest of enjoying this island paradise free of big box, high-rise hotels. We expect the occasional stray spider, gecko or bug in our room – it’s the Caribbean, duh. But what we cannot handle is a hotel that cuts corners on cleanliness and comes up short on customer service.
This is where the subpar part of our stay at Captain Don’s Habitat comes into play.
Carribean Resorts / Eco-Resorts / → All Tags
Dive, Windsurf, and Meet a Pirate-Esque Environmentalist in Bonaire
Bonaire has quickly become a top contender for "Favorite Caribbean Destination." We had a feeling we’d like it—the hospitality of the Bonairians coupled with the efficiency of the Dutch throughout the Netherlands Antilles creates a unique dynamic we haven’t found anywhere else in the Caribbean.
Today, we totally rocked windsurfing, mastering turns within the first hour of our first lesson with Bonaire Windsurfing Place. We also got to meet some pretty high-profile pro windsurfers, including Taty Frans, ranked the #7 windsurfer in the world. (Check him out on YouTube.)
Carribean Resorts / Hotel Activities / → All Tags
Get Your Scuba On In Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles
Where: Netherlands Antilles
This week, we’re venturing to the diving mecca of Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles. Located in the Southern Caribbean, it’s part of the ABC islands, the others being Aruba and Curaçao. We’re here for "Celebrate Our Planet" week, and so far, it’s been rife with underwater-related action. We were here to witness Karol Meyer break her free diving record attempt (she did at over 90 meters), took a spin through the Caribbean’s only super-high tech decompression chamber (very Star Trek-y), went on a fantastic snorkeling trip to Klein Bonaire via the Woodwind (saw Hawksbill turtles, green sea turtles, spotted eagle rays, squid and lots of parrot fish), and tomorrow, Dr. Sylvia Earle, world famous oceanographer, joins the mix.
Girlfriend Getaways / Hotel Packages / Hotel Deals / St. Maarten Hotels / Beach Hotels / → All Tags
A Girlfriend Getaway We Actually Like in St. Maarten
As tired marketing gimmicks go, the Girlfriend Getaway always seems to try a little too hard and fall a little short of something worth our cash (we’ll find our own “martini man,” thank you). But if more places start taking the cue of Little Bay Beach Resort in St. Maarten, we may have to reconsider. Rather than cheesy add-ons, Little Bay’s girlfriend getaway package sounds like a good deal, plain and simple.
The five-night stay costs just $585 per person and includes breakfast daily, a $100 spa treatment, a $50 jewelry store gift certificate, and a $100 boat trip over to St. Barths. Groups who want to upgrade from the standard hotel room can pony up more for swanker digs — $775 per person for a one-bedroom beachfront suite or $1,045 per person for a two-bedroom beachfront suite. The trip is available until Dec. 23, so you’ve got plenty of time to make plans.
And really, who isn’t up for a trip to St. Maarten right about now?
Curacao Hotels / Infinity Pools / Caribbean Resorts / Hotel Openings / → All Tags
Renaissance Curacao Sees Your Infinity Pool And Ups You
Curacao is something we drink more often than a place we dream of traveling to, but with the February 1 opening of the Renaissance Curacao Resort we are seriously thinking of hopping on a plane and flying down there.
This new place looks so colorfully funky from the photos that we are already thinking we'd enjoy it. And then there are the swimming options. There's an infinity pool, of course, because no self-respecting new resort could open up without one these days. But they've added a new dimension by creating an eternity beach. We're not quite sure we understand it--they say it's "Real sand, real ocean water, real palm trees...above sea level"--and it could just be a bit of a marketing ploy, but we have to admit, we're falling for it. (All 32,000 square feet of it).
Added bonus--the resort is built around a UNESCO Heritage-listed fort, so there's some cultural learning to go with your cocktails. Like every good just-opened resort, the Renaissance Curacao has an opening special--they're doing $199 per night for rooms with normal rack rates up towards $300 a night.
Sweet Suites / Treehouse Hotels / Curacao Hotels / → All Tags
Sweet Suite :: The Tree House Mansion at Kura Hulanda
Treehouse Hotels are a popular sort of breed these days, perfect for tree-huggers, those wishing for an eco-vacation and anyone who ever fancied the Swiss Family Robinson digs.
Now, here's a chance to stay in a Tree House Mansion.
The Lodge Kura Hulanda & Beach Club on the Dutch Caribbean island of Curaçao has opened its two-bedroom, two bathroom treetop suite built atop wooden stilts for hotel guests to rent:
A wooden spiral staircase leads up to the Tree House Mansion and into the open-air living room, which features an authentic, ornate Bali Bridal bed and a wide terrace providing picturesque sunset views over the water.
Warm Weather Hotels / Warm-Weather-Hotels-Map / Hotel Infinity Pools / Caribbean Hotels / Westin Hotels / → All Tags
Warm Weather Hotels: St Maarten's Westin Has Rules at the Pool
For a warm weather escape with a Dutch flavor, then vacationing on the island of St Maarten is something we'd recommend (and if you want to show off to your friends, you might explain to them that at the end of 2008, St Maarten will become an independent state of the Netherlands rather than a part of the Netherlands Antilles). A resort that's improved over the years is the Westin St Maarten Dawn Beach Resort and Spa, which has pushed its way up to #14 out of 81 on the TripAdvisor rankings after becoming part of the Starwood chain.
With 308 rooms plus six luxury suites (all with the famous Heavenly Bed), it's no boutique resort but that means it has plenty of facilities, including two restaurants on the ocean front, as well as a cafe near the pool and a swim-up bar. There's even a casino on site that they proudly proclaim is Vegas-style, whatever that actually means--we think a casino's just a casino.
We're particularly taken by the pool, which Westin brags is the largest infinity pool on the island. It looks gorgeous, although we're not sure if it fits our definition of infinity. What we find most amusing is their policy on "saving" seats, according to one guest's experience:
The resort has a sign saying if you abandon your chairs for longer than 2 hours, your possessions will be confiscated (I commend the hotel for that!). One afternoon, 2 couples were seeking chairs and we saw a pool attendant direct the couples to 4 chairs that had been unoccupied all morning but had been "saved" by someone by leaving hotel beach towels on them. When I saw the pool attendant do this, I hoped he'd work his way up to General Mgr.of the hotel since the hotel needs this type of initiative.
Abide by the pool rules and you'll enjoy your stay. They have some special deals for winter getaways where you can get a credit to spend in the spa or in the restaurants, starting at $150 if you stay for three nights.
[Photo: maribel91]
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