Maggi

After months of deliberation we've decided on Curacao as our next vacation in April. Now that that decision is made, the next huge decision is where to stay. We traditionally stay in a rental villa, since we love the privacy, the space and the ability to cook, thereby saving money and utilizing local foods.

However, for this trip, some of the hotels look appealing - the Marriott in particular. The Royal Sea Aquarium is interesting as well, since I plan to visit there more than one time during the week. But there is one villa that looks like everything I am looking for: pool, A/C in bedrooms, TV, internet. The location of the villa is a five minute drive from PortoMarie beach.

I'm hoping someone with Curacao experience will be able to help me. I'm even willing to split the week into two or three accomodations to experience the island more fully. (Of course, the villa would not be an option in this case.) I have read a lot on this board already. Stan Kase's name seems to come up quite a bit. Thanks in advance and looking forward to your replies.

StanKase

Maggi;There are not many villas for rent in Curacao. The Marriott is very nice with a little bit of glitz but not over the top. It is only several stories high so you are not in a high-rise which is nice. The Ocean-front rooms are very nice but costly from 12/15-around 4/15. The hotel attracts children if it is around holidays or school breaks, The beach is just o'k (a bit rocky) but thee are several lovely beaches 25-30 minutes away if you have a rental car i.e. Klein Knip, Santa Cruz # 1, etc. which still are also quite but as the island gets more popular in 2-3 years they may not be as restful. The snorkeling at these WEST END beaches is very good along the boulders in 3-8 ft. of water.
The hitlton next to the Marriott is not to my liking. On the other end of the island is the Sea Aquarium Resort. It is a small hotel/timeshare with about 30 units. It is very laid back, nice pool, nice but small beach, very well maintained but no decent food. But, the suites which we have taken have a full kitch an we eat breakfast and 1/2 our lunches in and maybe 1 dinner in a 7 day stay. But since it is a timeshare at the best times like April it is very hard to het a hotel suite or the studio units which are more than adequate. The prices are about 60% of the Marriott. The Kula is an elegant old hotel mid-way begween the 2 that is very well appointed, has a very good expensive restaurant Asto Observatory but we have not said there.
To be honest the Sea Aquarium is interesting but one 3 hour visit probably will be sufficient unless you know a child in one of their programs.

eileen

Highly recommend the Marriott and you might consider splitting your time between that and Kura Hulanda Lodge for two different experiences. That's what we are doing next trip.

KVR

We are also going in April. The 19th through the 27th. After much research, we chose the Lions Dive. It's a small, 72 room beach front hotel with 2 restaurants. We have already booked 8 nights in an ocean front cabana for $217 per night double occpancy. The room is nothing fancy, but the patio opens right onto the beach. I fell in love with the pictures of that view. The hotel is within walking distance to the Sea Aquarium and several beach restaurants and bars. The hotel provides free unlimited entrance to the Sea Aquarium and Mambo Beach. They also provide a meal plan if your interested. We chose just the breakfast at $13 per person per day. You can add lunch and dinner for an extra charge, but we didn't. We want to try all the restaurants in the area.

Maggi

Thanks Stan, Eileen and Kelly. I know there isn't as great a villa selection as on some other islands we have been to, but this one looks pretty good: http://www.enchantmentvilla.com/ Price is comparable to a room at one of the resorts. Any reason anyone can think of that would make this idea unfeasible? We do plan to rent an automobile.

Eileen, aren't there two Kura Hulandras on the island? Which one are you referring to? And Kelly, thanks for mentioning Lion's Dive. I hadn't seen that one before. It might be an option for us.

eileen

I am referring to the Lodge which is more remote than the Marriott. If you wanted a more city-like experience you could try the Kura Hulanda Hotel, it's a really interesting place.

StanKase

Maggie; Enchantmentville looks nice but is no comparison to the Marriott which is a resort with all this has in a up-scale envirnonment. You may not want or need that for the price will clearly be very different. From the pictures on a scale of 1 to 10 (the nicest looking) if the Marriott is an 8+ and the Sea Aquarium is a 5+ the Enchanmentmentville is a 2++. But again the Aquarium is a good deal more than than the one you are considering with less amenities but not up-scale, just nice scale, in our opinion.
The restaurants within 3-4 miles of Sea Aquarium are not numerous except for fast food (Pizza Hut, McD, etc.) but at there is Blues and Avalon within that distance and a lousy Chinese restaurant. The real good restaurants are not far but are 5-8-10 miles from Sea aquarium and a little more from the Marriott.
The Portofino at the Marritt is TERRIBLE and expensive. If you search on Curacao on this site you will see manmy good recommendations of mine and others from 2005-2007.

KVR

StanKase, just wanted clarification regarding the restaurants around the Sea Aqaurium/Lions Dive. It is my understanding that there are several restaurants close to the Sea Aquarium including, Nemos, Hemingsway, Mambo Beach, Kon Tiki, the Sea Aquarium restarant, Surf & Turf and Zanziar just to name a few. I am concerned that you indicated that there is nothing close except fast food restaurants. That's not the impression I'm getting in my research. We picked the Lions Dive based on the location to the Sea Aquarium and the numerous resturants. Plus it's my understanding the bus stop is right out front and only 10 minutes to Downtown.

Maggi, the Sea Aquarium Resort is rated #1 on Trip Advisor. They also have 2 bedroom Villas. I looked at the link you provided for Enchantment Villa. Good price, but my concern would be it looks to be very isolated from restaurants and activities. We don't rent cars on vacation so I don't want to be that far out. But, that may not be an issue for you.

Odin

The location of the Enchantment Villa looks as if it is on the Coral Estate, which is a private gated community, the villa cannot be more than 2 years old. The local residents on the estate were a mix of retired Dutch who live there all year or Dutch who had bought vacation homes and rented them out.

There might be some amenities on the estate eg restaurants or grocery shops. You might investigate whether you can use the facilites at the Habitat Resort Hotel, which is where the PADI operation is. The sea there was stunning, beach was rocky but don't let that put you off as you can climb down into the sandy part from a pier.

There would be no reason not to rent the villa but it is away from Willemstad and it would be a different experience to the Marriott (which I stayed at and thought was great).

There must be lots of villas/apartments for rental eg in Piscadera Bay (Royal Palm resort)/Marazul Dive Resort in Westpunt, the area around Spanish Water.

StanKase

Maggie; Our last trip was in Feb. 2006 and there were no restaurants within walking distance, even the fast food but construction of a large foundation was beginning and that may be where 1 or more of the places you mentioned are located. t The restaurant at Sea Aquarium is not very good at all. The breakfast we had once was o.k. and the 1 lunch was not. In any case, their is a large grocery about a mile away and you can buy food for breakfast and lunch and munches at fair prices and breakfast can goes faster in the AM. The Breezes about 250 years away from Aquarium is an AI so I do not think outsiders can eat there. I never heard of the places you mentioned but they probably exist. While I never saw a bus I am sure one exists but I would imagine where it would stop is well outside the resort but walkable, maybe 250-300 yards.
Before you get too fixed on Sea Aquarium have you confirmed they have availability of a suite (second or third floor facing the water are the nicest views) considering my comment at the beginning that it is small and timeshare shareowners I spoke with tend to return often. By the way we did not get a high pressure pitch to buy a week or two. We were just asked the first visit there and said no and they respected our privacy and hopefully things have not changed. Good Luck in making a decision that will be "right" for you.

Maggi

First of all, my apologies for misspelling accommodation in the title. (And I pride myself on my Scrabble scores... ) In consolation, "accommodation" is one of the most frequently misspelled words in the English language (the second is "misspelled&quot!

Stan, it was KVR who was asking about proximity to restaurants, but I'm sure she appreciated your reply. Odin, thanks for your input. I'm still torn between and villa and a resort this time. But I will take everyone's advice into consideration.

Maggi

I finally made a decision today to stay at a resort and not a villa this time. Thanks to KVR's recommendation and all the great reviews on Trip Advisor I booked 6 nights at Lion's Dive. We will spend our last night in town at Kura Hulanda Spa and Casino, where we will have dinner also. This feels pretty good to me right now, although I can change my mind right up to the trip almost.

KVR

Maggi, glad I could help. I really like the look and the location of Lions Dive. April just can't get here fast enough.