Danny
Stayed at the plaza on my last trip to Bonaire. Have been 10 times to Bonaire and this was my first stay at Plaza or larger resort.
Plaza is fine and would stay there again. I was part of a large group. We stayed in a villa and did some boat dives but mostly shore dives. did about 24 dives in six days of diving. Had breakfast included as part of the package and it was great. I would personally stay at a smaller resort but its bonaire...its all GOOD. It really depends .... but the plaza was fine and as I said I would gladly go back.
That's the attitude: it's all good. As long as you're not expecting the Four Seasons, even the somewhat rundown rooms at some places are fine since the rest of the experience, underwater or in town, is excellent. I love Bonaire and am not ashamed to admit it.
That said, certain things can detract from the experience and that's often very subjective. Some things are objective. For instance, there have been reports of theft from hotels and condos in Bonaire and no one likes theft. Decent security is a consideration that everyone should agree on, though some might be happier with more, some fine with less, with a large part of the variance likely depending on whether one travels with laptop and expensive camera gear or not. Air conditioning can be another factor. Most places seem to air-condition only the bedrooms of multi-room "condo" style units, so some people might prefer a fully air-conditioned unit or a hotel-room type accommodation instead, others might not care a whit and be fine with island breezes. North or south of town? I've always stayed north and would like to try south some time, just for a change of pace. On-site drinking and dining facilities? If staying close to town, it's easy enough to drive (or walk) in to a wide variety of restaurants and bars, but I still like the option of dining in at times (drinking in is made easy by the fact that most accommodations include a fridge and many an entire kitchen too).
So it's all good, but there are several variations on the theme. I'd like to try them all, having considered Divi and Plaza and Harbor Village and Belmont and what's his name's rental condo (sorry whatever your name is, Alzheimer's most likely) even though I've always been a "north" person (Capt. Don's, Buddy, and Den Laman+++), only problem being I need to make another 10 or so trips there and at this point can't even figure out when the next 1 trip might be, darn it. I love Cozumel, and I love diving exotic spots in the Pacific whenever I can afford it, but something always pulls me back to Bonaire, whether it's dodging donkeys or driving to see flamingos, or just the complete mellowness of being able to really have dive freedom of amazing uncrowded (or even deserted at times) warm-water dive sites available literally at one's feet. If I ever were to uproot myself and move to a Caribbean isle, that would certainly be my place. Hopefully I can make it back next year.
