Curacao

Curaçao

Curacao is part of the Dutch Caribbean known as the ABC Islands (Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao). While it is a beautiful island, it is not easy to get around if you do not have a car.  Public transportation is not reliable or consistent, and taxi services (in my experience) take advantage of tourists.  The island is incredibly humid and I much rather go to Aruba where it is a desert and has a much dryer and pleasant climate.  Without going into a whole list of experiences I can rant about, I simply would not return.  They view tourists as a source of income, and that is fine, but to take advantage and/or become less than friendly if a tourist is not giving you their money. Now, if the tourists does want to pay for your goods or services, that does not mean they should be taken advantage of.  Again, while I can point out at least 2-3 things that happened each day we were there, let me just give you one as an example.  With breakfast, I got the Banana Bread & Pancake Platter.  There was one pancake but no banana bread.  It was a busy dining area, and when we finally did get the bill I asked why there was no banana bread and he said they ran out.  That would have been great to know before I ordered it (I know what pancakes are but never had Caribbean Banana Bread). I asked if he could then adjust the bill and he said “well it would only be about $1 and it is going to be a wait”.  That is the attitude. That is the treatment, and again, this was not one isolated example, it was one of at least a dozen.  I left him a small tip – this was not about the money, and $1 off a $15 platter is not reasonable. This happened at the airport as well.  They wanted to charge double in Duty Free for a bottle of rum that was advertised as Cuban. It was not. The sales lady then argued that the mislabelled 3-year rum is more expensive than the 5-year rum because “it’s newer”.  Wow.

The meals and cocktails were hit or miss. At one of the better dining experiences we asked for tap, but were brought a bottle of “sparkling water” which was fine, but it was not sparkling (though the bottle said it was) and it tasted like tap, and we were charged for sparkling water even though we pointed it out.  Just like the others the explanation was just laughed off as an error and “it’s the same for sparkling or flat” even though I know what tap water tastes like.  It was not just me/us – in one of the souvenir shops the prices would change based on the person working there, the day of the week and one young European woman walked out outraged that she was charged more for something she just bought yesterday.  The woman in the store just rudely dismissed her.  At another restaurant I asked what kind of wine they had and the reply was “Red or White” and I asked what kind of red, she said Cabernet – I then asked again what kind of Cabernet? California, France, Italy?  It was at that precise moment I saw someone from the kitchen bringing in 2 large glass jugs of Gallo Red Blend.  I ordered a club soda instead.

The weather was incredibly humid, and I know its the Caribbean but this far exceeded what someone like myself that loves hot weather could tolerate.

Please do not think that it was a painful experience, but it was less than pleasant, and for all these reasons and more, I would not return here unless it was all expenses paid.