My review of the Breezes Resort in Curacao
My husband Steve (aka breathdeep) and I decided to plan a trip to Curacao for our anniversary. I chose this destination because it offered a mixture of shopping, culture / history, snorkeling, kayaking and diving. I was not a diver and had not even considered becoming one when I booked this trip in February. A few days prior to the trip I had signed up for Scuba classes; however I planned to snorkel and kayak while my husband went diving.
Upon arrival our room was not ready and we were asked to wait in the lobby. Keep in mind that we are on a tropical island. It was very hot and humid. The lobby is a tunnel set up, openings at each end. There is neither air conditioning nor any ceiling fans. While we waited for our room, the CSR waiting on us left the counter and obviously did not pass on to any one that we are waiting for our room. When we decided to recheck the status of our room, the keys had been sitting on the counter, our room was ready, just no one had told us. During our wait, Steve had gone to Guest Services to schedule a delivery to our room for an Anniversary cheese platter. Guest services set the time of 4 pm the same day for the delivery. The tray never arrived.
We now have our room keys and head on to our room. We were on the 3rd floor facing the ocean. (there are no elevators, leave your bags with the bellboy). The room was nice, clean and a king size bed, large… huge shower with good water pressure and a balcony. The view was great. The maids were friendly and did a good job.
We venture out to the dive shop and the beaches to confirm the dive trips that were pre-booked and to take a look around. There is yellow crime scene tape draped between the trees at the top of the beach. They had closed the beaches on Sunday evening due to an oil spill off the coast of Venezuela. They did not mention this to us upon check in on Tuesday… any snorkeling, kayaking, wind sailing etc. that was planned is now cancelled for an undetermined amount of time. Scuba diving is still on.
Now on to lunch at Jimmy’s buffet. Don’t eat there … horrible food. The buffet is under a huge round canopy made of palm branches with a wood floor. About 2/3 of the eating area is open on the sides. There are no ceiling fans here. It is very hot and humid. There are no cross breezes into any of the buildings. It is cooler to sit out in the open sun then it is to be in any of the buildings.
We had a number of issues with the staff. We could never get an accurate answer. We were told that the pools closed at 7pm… no 9 pm… no, it was thought maybe 11 pm… finally told they never close, but they are cleaned at 4 am. The grills/bars on the beaches and located at the pools opened and closed, what seemed like when they felt like it. The few activities that the resort had (rock wall and trampoline) were only open for 2 hours a day. They had a small outdoor skating rink, however I heard several children ask about skates… they don’t have them. Guess you needed to bring your own, who would have thought?
Eating is not available around the clock. There are times in the morning, afternoon and evening when you could not get something to eat. If you are a late night person… nothing after 1 am till 7 am accept for a snack pack at the front counter.
The resort did offer two restaurants for your dining pleasure for dinner only. Reservations must be made in advance and you are limited to one dinning at each restaurant. Italian and Japanese. The food was much better at the restaurants then at Jimmy’s Buffet. During our meals we were asked to move from our table to make room for larger parties that were due to come in. And asked to move a second time for what appeared to be no reason at all. They never sat anyone at the table we were moved from. Remember… we had already started eating both times we were moved. No organization here at all. The service was slow, such as getting your drinks after you were done your meal. The Italian restaurant was the place to be. Not only did it have air conditioning, it also had ceiling fans.
The organization, communication and customer service were not the top attractions for this resort. They do offer a “Satisfaction Guarantee” so we met with the GM to lodge our complaints on Thursday afternoon. We were offered several concessions for our dis-satisfaction… 1. A private tour of the Island. The resort, Breezes was to schedule for Saturday and pay for this tour. This tour was great. Our guide Thomas was wonderful. However the resort did not mention to the guide that his services of $30 an hour for the past 6 hours was being paid by them, so at the end of our tour he thought we were to pay… awkward!
2. We were offered a 3rd reservation at one of the restaurants… We choose Japanese at 8:30 PM on Saturday… they did not follow through with this and no reservation was made for us and the restaurant was full when we arrived. 3. We were given a 30 minute couples massage… I would not recommend the spa at this resort and was grateful that the torture only lasted 30 minutes. 4. Our final concession was a 2 night voucher to be used at another breezes… this too they managed to mess up.
We were far from the only couple that was not happy with our stay at Breezes. We heard many complaints and even ran into a honeymoon couple that was devastated and left the resort after one day to go elsewhere since there first room on the 2nd floor was flooded with several inches of water… the 2nd room was infested by ants, however a staff member did bring them a can of bug spray and offered to leave the can with them.
After the resort reopened the beaches, all water activities were resumed. I ventured out for a snorkel swim. Making my way back to shore I was attacked, my legs and flippers were tangled up in a large pad that was used to soak up the oil. Not only am I now coated in oil, I was unsuccessful in removing the pad from my legs causing me to fall and cut up my knees on the rocks close to shore. I was not a happy camper!!! I do not recommend Breezes in Curacao to anyone.
Visit the blog by Breathdeep for info on the diving… he had a great time on the dives.