Curacao, Habitat Curacao resort

[dragonhd]

Any opinions on this place or its dive facility? I have a trip booked there for june 28th to july 5th and am going alone as a single diver. Also suggestions for shore dives off site would be very helpful. I have 5 days of 2 tank boat dives scheduled and unlimited tanks for shore diving. I am advanced ow certified for 6 years and dive regularly here in the pacific northwest (Seatle,WA area) Any ifo would be great...
Dragon

 

[divergirl1227]

Stayed at the Habitat is Jan 2008. The trip was a trip with a local dive shop. I was disappointed with the service at check in. We arrived late 9:30pm. There was not a room ready, why who knows. We finally got a room and it had not been cleaned since the last guest checked out. There were still personal items left in the dresser and bathroom. I asked for clean sheets and was told he (the only person at the front desk) didn't have any. I told him to find some and he did but they did not fit the bed to small. Finally he brings sheets to the room and gives them to me and asks if he can do anything else. I told him yes, make my bed. I did not come on vacation to do housekeeping. We stayed in a 2 bedroom lani, and the kitchen area was dirty too, the fridge had left over food. Housekeeping did clean it the next day after I asked her to. Breakfast there was not good and the same thing every day. Lunch and dinner ok I guess. The grounds needed some up keep and behind the resort lots of garbage all over, not just in and round the dumpsters but in plastic bags all over.

The dive shop was the only good part of the stay. You can dive 24/7 which is nice. Most of The DM were great only one not so much but I don't think he is there anymore.

Don't stay here unless you dive. I would not stay there again, but would like to dive with Easy Divers again.

 

[fisheyeview]

We were there in August for 10 days. We did not have any problems. Our room was clean, and comfortable. I can't attest to breakfast, as we went to the market on our way from the airport and did breakfast in the room every morning as we got our camera gear ready for the days dives.

The dive shop and crews were great, and easy to work with. We were not part of a group. We did the same kind of package with the boat dives, and unlimited shore diving. We did a lot of shore diving there.

I would not hesitate to go back there.

I have a Curacao gallery on my website.

 

[dragonhd]

I loved the photos fisheye! Yes, I didn't pay for the breakfast as I prefer a healthy start to my day I had planned on picking up food also. I can hardly wait to get there!
Dragon

 

[Damselfish]

I used to love Habitat Curacao, but physically and service-wise the place has been going downhill over the years. The last time we were there was Aug 06 and it was kinda depressing. Our room was at least clean enough, but getting very tired, and stuff is broken and poorly maintained all over the resort. I thought the dive op was still great but unfortunately won't be returning there until I hear there's been changes (if that ever happens.) You opinion of the place will probably depend on how fussy - and possibly how lucky - you are.

One of the local shops here ran a trip to Curacao a couple months ago. They were originally booked at Habitat but changed to Sunset Waters because of what they'd been hearing about Habitat. They were very happy with everything at SW. I think it's in the same general price range, not a luxury place but a good divers hotel. From most if not all reports it just sounds like they are doing a much better job of running a resort. Many years back (1996ish?) when Habitat first opened, it was definitely a better place to be than Sunset Waters, back then SW seemed to have the issues. Things change...

 

[UnderwaterBumbleBee]

Well we're booked for Habitat next week and I figure it's a little more budget friendly and less updated. Hopefully it will be clean and enjoyable enough. I'll give you updates/photos when we get back around the 19th of June.

 

[dragonhd]

Cool! will see your review just before I head out there myself, look forward to it!
Dragon

 

[VickyL]

We stayed at Habitat last year, over Thanksgiving. We also arrived very late but had a nice room upstairs over-looking the ocean. It was clean and most of the stuff worked, certainly the fridge did and the TV - but couldn't get the Cowboys game on Thanksgiving Day! Oh well, had to dive instead! Our room was clean and cool, and ready when we got there at 10pm.
The real problem with this place is it's miles from anywhere, so you need a car to get anywhere else - which we had. It sometimes took a while to get the tanks (we always had to tell them 30mins before we needed them!) Food was pretty basic and boring, but unless you want to drive other places at night you eat there. The bar was OK but the staff could smile some more and be generally more friendly. In fact I think I wrote that on the comments sheet! They don't seem to realise you'll spend more time (and money) in the bar if you're all having a good friendly time!

The dive operation didn't know we were diving with them on Day1, and the first boat left without us, but they put us on boat 2 and after that they sorted it out and the dive staff (especially Angela) were just great. The diving was very good from the boat trips and they varied where we went and where people asked to go if others had not been there before. Diving right there on Habitat reef is great. It's right off the shore and you can dive anytime, early morning, sunset or night! We spent many hours diving there and never seen as many scorpion fish on one dive as we did right outside that hotel. 2 at a time, 6,7,8 even 10 on one dive! They must like it there. Night dives were also great there, and sometimes we were the only people in the water!

Other shore diving - do not expect this island to be like Bonaire - it's not. Shore diving is available, but the places are badly marked and we even had a book, never did find one site we were looking for. Several sites were a long swim out to the reef (10mins) but once on the reef the structure was lovely, mushroom forests, rays turtles etc. The diving here is very worth it, as not as many divers as Bonaire and the reefs are unspoilt with lots of fish, big and small. We would return - but after a return trip to Bonaire.

 

[FlamingoVilla]

Dive at Habitat, stay at a private Villa above, overlooking resort.
If you are hesitant about staying at the Habitat Resort, I have a rental villa that overlooks the facility. FlamingoVilla.com has full dive locker facilities and you can rent 2-5 bedrooms. Flamingo Villa can hold large parties, sleeps 12 and is very comfortable with every amenity you can imagine. You are only 2 minutes away from Habitat or 10 minutes from Porto Mari. If you need suggestions on restaurants, shore dives, grocery markets, etc ... send me an email at info@flamingo-villa.com.

Flamingo~
FlamingoVilla.com

 

[UnderwaterBumbleBee]

Habitat has a lot of potential that isn't being fully realized. It really could be a fantastic divers resort. They were in the process of re-painting the buildings (most was already done) and that looked very nice. The landscaping could be a little better maintained. The room was decent. AC worked great, bedding was actually a little thin and should be replaced. Fairly basic but very clean and floors were mopped every day. Bathroom was clean and great water pressure in the shower. Mini Fridge worked well.

The biggest maintenance issues lie around the pool area and dive facilities. All of the wooden decking in both areas needs to be replaced. The pool has a little bridge to cross over and I wouldn't hold on to the railing real hard cause it could come right off in your hand. The atmosphere of the pool was decent but the decking was really faded/dated looking. The wood on the docks really needs to be replaced (trex decking or some similar type of product would be great), much of it is rotting with gaps and weakened pieces. Be careful around the rinse tanks, it is really easy to slip in that area. The locker area has wetsuit hangers directly over the wood which is rotting, becoming weekend with algae growing on it and the main entry has the tops of nails exposed that would hurt if you slipped. They could have a great little man made beach but instead both sides of the dock are covered with small pieces of coral. An older photo I saw showed a beach off to the left of the boat dock but it seems like they have not kept that up. The water around the docks is really beautiful though and very nice shore entry.

We had some confusion also with Easy Divers not having us down automatically for the boat. I highly recommend once you check in, write your room number on the white board (near the pool/dive shop) for the following day under AM. There are only a certain number of spots and they seem to fill up pretty quick. They do have two boats but It seemed like they only want to take out one unless they have to split the two. Take a LOCK with you for the dive lockers or you can pay $5 for a cheap one. None of the staff had bad attitudes, they are just a little laid back. They are pretty open to guests requests for sites and they try not to repeat places that other people have already been to during the week. We had maintenace issues twice on our boat, not sure if that was coincidence or if the boats need a little more attention. Physically they looked fine.

Staff friendliness seems to be something several people mentioned while we were there. Once you are friendly with them and have been there a little while, they seem to open up a little more. The girls in the restaurant at Habitat were nice. We had very friendly service at Kura Hulanda Lodge for dinner in Westpunt.

We had the breakfast package and included sausage, bacon, pancakes, french toast, toast, bread, fruit, yogurt and maybe some cereal. The larger grocery store is closer to the airport (Centrum I think). Otherwise there is a smaller grocery store in Tera Cora called California (also a gas station just past the grocery) for basic items that is closer to Habitat.