My husband and I are thinking of returning to Bonaire and staying at Den Laman again. I loved the convenience of having Dive Friends on site and the Bari Reef steps away. We stayed there last year and booked a package through Den Laman for room, dive package with Dive Friends and truck rental (which I think was with Avis). We are interested in a ocean front 1 bedroom which is booked through Sunwise Bonaire or Carib Mall. Has anyone booked through these companies? If so I would love to hear if your experience was a good one or not, and why. Last year when we were picking up our truck some other traveler was told they didn't have a truck for him, even though he said he had a reservation. I don't want this to happen to us. Part of the issue for the other traveler might have been that he wanted an automatic, and we don't need an automatic. We are not against staying somewhere else if there is something comparable. We like to avoid large hotel complexes. Thank you!
Den Laman condos with new management?
- Thread starter akmermaid
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Renate Scubagirl
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We booked at Den Laman through SunRentals. Also a package with diving and truck. I believe they will manage a few condos there per January 1st. Good experiences so far. Very responsive in emails.
drrich2
Contributor
Not specific to this, but if you want an automatic on Bonaire, I recommend you arrange that specifically way in advance.
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Hi @akmermaid
My wife and I have been to Bonaire 7 times. The first 3 times were quite a while ago and we stayed at Sand Dollar and dived with Bonaire Dive & Adventure. Skip ahead to modern times, and we have stayed at Den Laman and dived with Dive Friends 4 times in the last 2 1/2 years. Three of theses visits were under the old central management of Den Laman. The last stay, at the end of Sept, beginning of Oct was under the new management plan.
So, as you have seen, the 16 apartments are now managed between 4 different realtors. Sunwise has 9, Carib Mall has 5, Sunrentals and Sunbelt each have one. My wife and I are also fans of the one bedroom ocean fronts and have stayed in Parrotfish twice and Yellowtail Snapper once, all on the 2nd floor. We have never stayed in either of the 3rd floor apartments, Flyingfish or Barracuda. Both second floor apartments are managed by Sunwise and both 3rd floor by Carib Mall. On our last stay, we rented Wahoo, a 2 bedroom ocean view, as both our adult children had a chance to visit and dive with us. This rental was through Sunwise.
The Sunwise rental was initiated last summer during the transition from central to individual realtor management. There was some confusion during the transition period, but it worked out just fine. The young managers of Sunwise, Simon and Cecile, were very easy to reach and were very responsive to our needs. So, now that we know how the new system works, we had no hesitation in making reservations for our next 2 week visit next April and will be back in Parrotfish. This last reservation worked quickly and accurately. One advantage to the Sunwise links is that you can look at availability and make your reservation online. It appears that you must sent an inquiry form to Carib Mall. It is my impression that Carib Mall used to run the central management system. I have no reason to think that they wouldn't do a good job. Sunwise does not include payment of diving or car rental directly, but set us up with AB Car Rental and Dive Friends and made the process almost as easy, and it works perfectly.
During our second week in October, they completely gutted and were renovating the storage room, this should be very nice. If you end up using Sunwise, give our regards to Simon and Cecile from Craig and Marie.
Best of luck, I'd be glad to try to answer any questions, either on the thread, or by personal message,
Craig
My wife and I have been to Bonaire 7 times. The first 3 times were quite a while ago and we stayed at Sand Dollar and dived with Bonaire Dive & Adventure. Skip ahead to modern times, and we have stayed at Den Laman and dived with Dive Friends 4 times in the last 2 1/2 years. Three of theses visits were under the old central management of Den Laman. The last stay, at the end of Sept, beginning of Oct was under the new management plan.
So, as you have seen, the 16 apartments are now managed between 4 different realtors. Sunwise has 9, Carib Mall has 5, Sunrentals and Sunbelt each have one. My wife and I are also fans of the one bedroom ocean fronts and have stayed in Parrotfish twice and Yellowtail Snapper once, all on the 2nd floor. We have never stayed in either of the 3rd floor apartments, Flyingfish or Barracuda. Both second floor apartments are managed by Sunwise and both 3rd floor by Carib Mall. On our last stay, we rented Wahoo, a 2 bedroom ocean view, as both our adult children had a chance to visit and dive with us. This rental was through Sunwise.
The Sunwise rental was initiated last summer during the transition from central to individual realtor management. There was some confusion during the transition period, but it worked out just fine. The young managers of Sunwise, Simon and Cecile, were very easy to reach and were very responsive to our needs. So, now that we know how the new system works, we had no hesitation in making reservations for our next 2 week visit next April and will be back in Parrotfish. This last reservation worked quickly and accurately. One advantage to the Sunwise links is that you can look at availability and make your reservation online. It appears that you must sent an inquiry form to Carib Mall. It is my impression that Carib Mall used to run the central management system. I have no reason to think that they wouldn't do a good job. Sunwise does not include payment of diving or car rental directly, but set us up with AB Car Rental and Dive Friends and made the process almost as easy, and it works perfectly.
During our second week in October, they completely gutted and were renovating the storage room, this should be very nice. If you end up using Sunwise, give our regards to Simon and Cecile from Craig and Marie.
Best of luck, I'd be glad to try to answer any questions, either on the thread, or by personal message,
Craig
DeputyDan
Contributor
We have only stayed under the old management and they were "on island time - all the time".
Glad the dive operator has changed as well.
Glad the dive operator has changed as well.
@scubadada has had recent experience and can shed some light.
Great! Thanks for the info. Last time we were there we had a truck from Avis that my husband thought was nicer than some of the AB trucks. The Avis booking was through the previous Den Laman management. It was pretty seamless last time. Any experience with booking with Avis directly? Do you pay a deposit for the truck in advance for guarantee? We don't need an automatic, so I think we will be fine either way.
I have used Avis almost exclusively on Bonaire, as I have a corporate account with them for business travel. The first time was when I stayed at Den Laman and they handled the reservation, just like you have stated and are accustomed to. Since then, we have stayed at various places across the island, fo various reasons, but have mostly arranged our own truck rental through Avis. I have just gone online to the Avis website and make my reservation. This reserves the truck for your dates and upon arrival at the airport, you just walk across the parking lot to the Avis counter and facilitate the pick up of your pick up. They put a temporary hold of a certain amount on your credit card (around $400), but actual payment is concluded upon return of the vehicle at the end of the stay. Pretty straight forward- really no big difference between how you would execute an Avis rental here in the US-- with the exception that an Avis employee in Bonaire will walk around the truck with you thoroughly noting any dings, scratches, etc. prior to you taking the vehicle and will do the same upon return. As for diving, we always use Dive Friends and I just e-mail them from their website ahead of time and make my reservation for the # of days or the package that I want and execute payment at the end of the stay. The first day you check in with them, you can pay for your marine park pass and they will also keep your credit card on file for payment at the end.
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