Hotel Caribbean View & Restaurant — Hotel in Bastimentos

From the onset, our experience was negative. This is a rickety little lodging that is built on the water so you arrive by small boat taxi up to the wooden steps to the main dining area of this so-called hotel. The proprietor, Luis, claimed that they were expecting 7 of us when there were 11 of us. SO, we had to wait a bit while they re-organized rooms. Meanwhile we were very hungry after hours of travelling and wanted to eat but they did not have enough room to accommodate us so we had to mill around the dining room while other guests were eating.||When we finally were able to get a table and order, it took forever for our meals to be served; a couple of orders got lost and in fact they would be served one at a time with a 2-5 minute waiting span before the next plate came out. This was just the beginning of our "adventure".||We were then told that they had a water shortage. They had the water turned off and advised us that they would turn it on around 6pm and leave it on until we turned in for the night. Well, the plumbing did not work. No tap water, no shower, NO TOILET WATER to flush the toilets. Then the owner told us we could use buckets of water and that we could just dip the buckets into the sea and use that for the toilet cisterns. ||The next day was no better and when I asked Luis for water he told me to just use the buckets and fill them from the sea - which meant stepping down the 2 wooden steps to the water's edge and scooping.....||We had housekeeping service but my towel (which I had used to sponge bathe myself the night before) was not replaced with a clean one so I had to ask for a clean one after returning from a day of touring and swimming in the sea.||Once again no water at all and because of this they would be limited in meal preparation - but at that point we had no desire to eat there. Any other place would have been better and as it turned out we made plans to take a boat taxi to Isla Colon for dinner.||And so we were given 2 full buckets of fresh water to use as bathing water.||||The next morning there of course was no water and once again we found ourselves scooping up buckets of sea water to fill our toilets so that we could flush them.||||This was our departure morning. We had paid our tab the night before.This included what we were planning on having for breakfast because they promised they could provide breakfast. This is where the "straw broke the camel's back" - Luis had the nerve to ask me if I had paid for 2 coffees after I asked for a refill. The conditions were SO SUBSTANDARD it was disgusting and certainly did not match the cost of accommodations there. Camping and using a latrine would have been better. ||Not once during our stay did the proprietor nor any of his staff acknowledge or apologize for our disappointment-displeasure-discomfort. ||This place is totally...

We stayed for 12 nights. Beware that Bastimentos can be very loud at all times of the day since many people listen to loud music. This is not reflected in this review since it’s not the hotel’s fault.

POSITIVES: After not sleeping well the first night, we got a new and bigger room with a balcony. They did take this seriously. The hotel is located right in the middle of everything and close to the two stores on the island. You also get decent outdoor areas with waterfront views.

NEGATIVES: Everyone was confused at check-in around 6 pm, and our room wasn’t ready. The front part of the hotel is not big construction area. Cleaning ladies always seemed to be in a bad mood, and they don’t knock the door before entering. The whole island has a sewage issue, meaning that most of the hotel’s water ends up in the ocean just below including water from washing machines. For a hotel this size, we’d expect a little more in terms of trying to recycle. Since we came at the end of dry season, we had to take bucket showers the first 3 nights and refill the toilet ourselves. Once the rain came, this was no...

I arrived with a tour group, there was some mix up with the numbers so we had to wait while the rooms were sorted out. Then we were told there was a water shortage and the water would come on at 6pm so a few of us jumped off the front steps into the sea for a swim. When 6pm came - no running water - not even in the toilets. We had to keep pestering the manager for an answer. The attitude seemed to be 'don't mention it and it might go away'. we stayed there for 2 nights and had to fill buckets of sea water to flush the toilets and use bottled waters for cold DIY showers. While we manged to laugh at it in the end, the biggest issue for me was not the water shortage but how they handled it and their attitude towards it - as if it was nothing to do with them. ...