What Is Your Opinion of the Plaza Resort Bonaire?

[KathyV]

I know that a number of SB members recently stayed at the all-inclusive Plaza Resort on Bonaire so I am interested in learning their opinions about the place. I have read so many differing reviews of the resort, the food, and the diving (including great, good, okay, bad, and horrible!) that it is hard to get a feel for the place. The pricing makes it seem like quite a bargain. We have visited the resort but never stayed or dived there.

I recognize that taking part in the Surge would be a fun experience, but would you want to stay there again without a group? Please share your feedback, thanks!

 

[Dish]

Kathy, Mrs Dish and I would stay there again, even if it was just us two romantic kids. The Staff was great, the rooms were clean and comfortable, no complaints about the food given the buffet style approach, the House Reef is worth diving several times and it sure made night diving easily accessible.

While the conditions we dove were apparently a bit “off” from normal; due to some cold upwelling and rain events, I can’t say enough good things about Toucan Diving. Boat Captains and DMs were great. Boats are all in good shape and kept clean. They had a materiel issue with their fill system that required a replacement part, which resulted in best NITROX fill of 27%, but didn’t bother me and it is probably working now. Not many flights into Bonaire, so waiting for a replacement part shipment is part of life on Bonaire.

New management at the Resort has apparently made significant improvements over the experience folks had during the 2013 Bonaire Surge. Again, we would be happy to stay there again, but going with a bunch of SBer’s sure was tons of fun!

 

[tursiops]

The house reef is one of the best dive sites on Bonaire, deep and shallow.

 

[mbs]

Interested to hear more about the food... Been going there for 10+ years now and this past trip (may 2017) the food just did not cut it for us. Rumor had it that there was going to be a new chef. I sure hope so. Everything was overcooked and over sauced. The 2 prior years with AI it was very good to outstanding! Where are all the surge folks? Lets hear more!

 

[Doctorfish]

Stayed there once several years ago and did not like the place. Too spread out. The shore dive is a long hike from dive shop and boats. The place was somewhat worn at the seams. Room, common areas and pool all needed repairs. The food was lousy, particularly in comparison to the many good inexpensive restaurants on island. One day it rained like crazy and our room flooded with over an inch of water. The response of the management was to claim the wind was blowing the wrong way and to supply us with a few extra towels. We have not been back. since. There are many other good options on Bonaire at every price point. IMO, AI is a waste on an island with as interesting a food scene as Bonaire.

On a positive note, the boat dive op was good and the house reef is excellent.

 

[Kharon]

My one night there was miserable: Just horrible - Review of Plaza Resort Bonaire, Kralendijk, Bonaire - TripAdvisor

 

[cardzard]

We just took 76 SB members for the SB SURGE and had a blast.
I had VERY FEW Complaints, traveling with ScubaBoard has its rewards.
May be you should read some of the reviews by people who were just there.

Favorite Memories of the SB SURGE 2018

Or the last few pages of this thread
ScubaBoard SURGE Central 2018 Bonaire

I am sure more Crew Members will chime in on those threads after they recover from the event.
When ScubaBoard returns to Bonaire for an event it will be to the Plaza Resort.

 

[_Ralph]

Spent a few weeks there at the tail end of last year.

Room: awesome. Tones of space (including shelves), comfy foam beds, plenty of plugs.
The bad: said plugs are very loose fitting plugs. Not horrible, just have to find the angle for it to settle into to make contact (if using 2 prong plugs. 3 prong plugs had 0 issues). Having said that, I managed keeping 20 batteries a day charged with no issues.

Food: buffet is heavy, can be carb filled, and chicken/pork was generally overcooked. And the 'snack' labelled items were a mystery every day (although the cheese/jalapeño poppers were very tasty). They do know how to cook their beef down there however. Deserts were tasty (banana cakes and cheese cakes are not to be missed).

Very European centric on spice (ie very mild), so load up on hot sauce if you think something should be spicy (like the aforementioned jalapeño snacks ... very mild, but still very tasty)

If you're on a specific diet, it probably won't work for you. But there are fridges in the room for any food you need/want to store.

Staff: awesome, nice and friendly.

Toucan: Awesome staff, excellent DM's. Can spot small critters from a long distance away.

Their boat diving is very structured to new divers. Shallow and 'short' dive profiles (1st dive 60ft for 60min, 2nd dive 40ft for 60min). Unless there is a compelling reason to go deeper, you'll find 95% of the life in the 60-20ft anyways. I just used 1 AL80 or 63 for the pair of boat dives getting in over 2hrs of bottom time. Usually spent at 60-70ft for both dives (1st half, then back shallower)

Lots of tanks available (Air/Nitrox(Membrane)/yoke/din) in AL63/80/100's

Will deliver Nitrox tanks to 3 spots on the resort (18 palms dive site) if requested (Air tanks are already distributed by default). Just leave empty tanks on the 'boardwalk' with the cap off when done. No lugging tanks required, and use of wheelbarrows are available if you have a lot of equipment. I just wore my SM harness from my room/locker with 0 complaints .... my room was the furthest away from the restaurant entrance. I generally enterd there and exited at the activity centre end, right close to my room/locker.

There are also rinse stations at the 3 locations too.

Would I come back? Yes.
But I'd like to check out other places next time (Not AI.... I rarely do AI, actually this is my 2nd AI) for variety And get a better feel of the island.

Anything else, ask away.

_R

 

[Silty Sam]

I have made two trips to Bonaire in the past two years, stayed at the Plaza and dove with Toucan on both.

Enjoyed it very much, and would do it again.

The first trip there was a lot of construction, much more put together now. Big rooms, kept my gear there for easier access to house reef. Rinsed in bathroom, wore it to the boat. Toucan people were great.

I enjoyed the food, enough variety that I was able to maintain my calorie-counting diet regimen. Drinks at the Tiki Hut included!

The house reef is awesome, easy to access and very long. We dove it many times, especially at night.

 

[wgw04024]

When I stayed there my first time (3 years ago I think) the food was not very good. I don't think it's improved much from what I've seen. Unless you drink A TON OF ALCOHOL, I find it more relaxing and cost effective to just rent my own condo unit somewhere and eat out at the various restaurants around the island. There is plenty of fairly reasonable food to be found. The crepe place by the dock where the cruise ships hook up is incredible!