Harbour Village Beach Club - Reviews
Mystery Inspector's Reviews
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23 February 2012
Top 3 reasons to stay at the hotel:
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The Harbour Village Beach Club certainly lives up to its name with both a smart marina where luxury yachts are moored and its very own private beach. The crescent of golden sand is studded with shady palm trees and is furnished with loungers, hammocks and tables with umbrellas to make your stay as comfortable as possible. My favourite time of the day was pulling up a beach chair and watching the fabulous Bonaire sunset while sipping on a cocktail served by the cheerful bar staff.
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One of the highlights of our stay was eating at La Balandra Restaurant. "Balandra" means "yacht" or "sloop" in Spanish and the open-air restaurant is actually built to resemble a sailing ship. The restaurant is located on a jetty into the ocean so there's a great view no matter where you sit, one side overlooking the harbor entrance so you can watch the fancy boats as they sail in and out and the other side looking out over the beach and the sea. The restaurant serves breakfast, lunch and dinner and I particularly loved the fresh seafood specials in the evening. Best of all are your dining companions. You can watch the colourful fish swimming around the deck, even at night when the waters are illuminated, then make friends with the group of iguanas who bask on the rocks around the restaurant or have you photograph taken with the pelicans who perch on the restaurant's prow.
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Be sure to make the most of the hotel's aquatic activities. The Beach Club has its own dive shop, Great Adventures, run by a personable and professional team led by Muriel and Mark. They organize dive trips every day to sites around Bonaire, one of the leading dive destinations in the world. We hired our own boat and dive master a great way to ensure a truly unique dive experience. Even if you don't dive (and this is a great place to learn – I earned my SCUBA qualification at Great Adventures fifteen years ago) you can still borrow a mask, fins and snorkel and see lots of exotic fish just snorkeling off the beach. The more adventurous can take out a kayak and paddle over to Klein Bonaire, a small island off the coast. However, make sure to take everything you, including drinks and food (the hotel can organize a picnic), since there are no facilities on the island itself. You don't even have to get wet to appreciate the underwater wildlife if you don't want to as the dive shop also organizes slides shows.
Overview:
Staying at the Harbour Village Beach Club feels more like living in your own private apartment in an exclusive upscale village than a hotel.
The rooms themselves are set in lush and well-tended tropical gardens. And mine had its own balcony overlooking the beach complete with table and chairs and even a hammock. This was a great place to sit with a book or morning cup of coffee. There was a spacious lounge where I could relax in front of the flatscreen TV and a separate, fully equipped, kitchen area. The rooms are decorated in "Plantation" style with elegant dark wood and rattan furniture; my bedroom even boasted a four poster bed. The bathroom had both a separate shower and a free-standing claw foot tub. Fluffy towels and Gilchrist & Soames amenities completed the sense of luxury.
The hotel has every imaginable facility on site so you could spend the whole of your vacation at the resort if you wished. There's a shop selling souvenirs and sundries and a Member's Lounge equipped with a pool table, table football and a small library. This seemed like a great place to keep the kids entertained during the occasional brief afternoon showers. Next to the exercise studio is the spa where I had soothing deep tissue massage from a charming and accomplished therapist. The hotel's reception is flanked by the computer center and the pool area.
Without a doubt the Club's signature feature is the beautiful palm studded beach with the whimsical ship-shaped marine-themed La Balandra Restaurant at one end and the aquatic centre and dive shop at the other. The restaurant serves fresh food throughout the day with a fun barbeque buffet and live music on some nights. However if you prefer to enjoy the privacy and comfort of your room you can also order room service. We had a great Continental breakfast delivered just minutes after we telephoned our order. It’s also possible to arrange a candlelit dinner on the beach – one couple we glimpsed seemed to be having a very romantic evening eating under the stars.
Bonaire is known for the excellence of its diving and the dive shop lives up to the island's reputation. I've been to many dive shops all over the world and Great Adventures at the Harbour Beach Club stands out as one of the most welcoming and professional I have come across. We organized private boat charters on two afternoons and had a marvelous time. Muriel and Mark run an expert team and the facilities and equipment are all modern and in excellent condition.
I was lucky enough to stay at the Harbour Beach Club when I first qualified as a SCUBA diver at Great Adventures over fifteen years ago. I'm glad to say that the atmosphere of the resort remains as upscale and the staff as engaging as when I first visited. I certainly won't leave it as long before I return again.
19 April 2010
Top 3 reasons to stay at the hotel:
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Every sport has its ‘Mecca’; for mountain biking its Moab, for skiing maybe its Vail, but for diving it is the island of Bonaire. The island is literally built around the sport of diving; consider that almost every other shop in town is renting equipment or offering tours. So, if you’re going to plan your dream diving vacation why risk staying at a mediocre hotel (and there are many from what I have seen)? Almost everyone I spoke with on Bonaire told me that Harbour Village Beach Club is the best hotel on the island, I read it online, and I finally saw it for myself during my inspection.
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Staying at Harbour Village Beach Club means that you have immediate access to one of the best dive shops on the island; just steps from your beach front terrace. I am not an expert when it comes to SCUBA (I have only been once before in Egypt), but all the guests that I spoke with told me that the rental equipment is top notch, much better than what they are used to seeing at dive shops, and the dive masters are fantastic. The dive shop offers a wide selection of courses and trips; from certifications to chartering your own boat with a private dive master. To top it all off, there is a great dive location just steps from the hotel’s beach offering a wide range of coral and other sea life. One guest that I spoke with had been diving in Fiji, the Caymans and the Bahamas and she said the diversity of life right in front of the hotel beat anything she had seen before.
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The rooms at Harbour Village Beach Club are huge! And beautifully equipped. When you’re not diving or relaxing on the private beach you can enjoy the many amenities your room has to offer, like: poster beds, large flat screen TVs with cable (to enjoy during the odd afternoon rain shower), sitting rooms, kitchens and terraces overlooking the ocean and Klein Bonaire. There is not that much to do on the island other than diving, so don’t feel guilty about spending some time in your beautiful room. I stayed in room 314, and loved it – consider asking for this room when making your reservation.
Overview:
Our experience at Harbour Village Beach Club began when we were met at the airport by the hotel’s driver waiting for us with a smile at 4:15 in the morning (thankfully the hotel offers free airport transfers). While my wife and I were rubbing the sleep from our eyes Francisco greeted us by name at the entrance of the property and escorted us to our beautiful room while the porters took our bags from the shuttle. Francisco graciously offered that we get some rest and worry about check-in whenever we decided to wake up.
Later that morning we were having breakfast by the sea at La Balandra, one of the hotel’s restaurants (right off the private beach). We were to take in some local wildlife (big lizards, crabs and various birds scampering across the pier) while enjoying freshly squeezed orange juice and buttermilk pancakes.
After breakfast I surprised my wife with an appointment for a relaxing full body massage at the spa (not a bad idea as we had just endured a 14 hours flight in economy that was fully booked). While my wife enjoyed her massage I met with the concierge to make some plans during our stay (e.g. having a rental car delivered to the hotel, booking a dive, water taxis to the deserted island called Kein Bonaire, looking into reasonably priced private boat rentals and night snorkeling trips).
The rest of the day was spent reading and relaxing on the private beach. By the afternoon we were showered and dressed for an aperitif at the hotel’s bar on the water, La Balandra. My wife and I relaxed in Adirondack chairs on the tip of the pier while watching the sun set behind the island of Klein Bonaire as the sky turned the water pink. Once he sun went down it was time for our dinner reservation. It was just a few steps to our seaside table where we had views of fish almost as big as myself circling the pier (I didn’t notice them earlier that day when I was snorkeling!) The menu at La Balandra is blessedly simple: the catch of the day, a vegetarian dish and 2 meat dishes and one other seafood specialty.
This is where my hotel inspection ends and vacation begins. If you are considering a diving trip to Bonaire I strongly encourage you to consider Harbour Village Beach Club (and ask for room 314).