I just returned from an amazing week at Caribbean Club Bonaire. I did not want to leave!!

We were reserved in the Penthouse Room #111 - it is in the large Yellow building in the center of the property upstairs.
This unit is 2 bedroom & 2 bath with a large living room & Kitchen, plus a spacious balcony.
The room was very clean and comfortable with an stellar view of the ocean from the balcony.

We were a little concerned with the distance from town, but happy to find it was only about 7 minutes drive to the area where most of the hotels are and about 15 minutes drive to town. We drove to town quite a few nites and sampled some of the local restaurants and had some great meals! (Capriccios, At Sea, Cactus Blue, It Rains Fishes...+) It is a scenic ride from the hotel, be sure to watch for donkeys on goats on the road.

There are many grocery stores including the new Van den Tweel's and it was great having such a large kitchen and fridge to stock snacks & drinks.

There is ocean access at a site called Oil Slick Leap just a short 2 minute walk from the hotel. There is a beautiful dock and stairs to enter the water maintained by the Resort, or you can "take a leap" off the rocks which is great fun!

We attended the Manager's cocktail party & BBQ - the food was great & plentiful. Happy hour daily with 1/2 price drinks was nice!

The hotel offers free Wi-Fi and we could pickup a strong signal even in our room.

We rented a truck and did mostly shore diving with the onsite dive shop Hilltop Divers. Bart checked us in and handled our dive orientation and gave us a key to the tank room to pickup our own Nitrox or Air tanks for shore diving. The hotel is in a great location and very close to some of the best dive sites - or you can drive to Buddy Dive (about 7 minutes) and enter off their large dive dock or depart on scheduled boat trips from there if you have a boat dive package. Our Room had a large dive closet by the parking lot which was very convienent for loading in the truck - it had hangers for our wetsuits and tons of room. The Water was about 79F the week we were there.

The grounds were well maintained and the plants attracted tons of butterflys and birds and we saw quite a few Iguanas in all sizes at the hotel too! There are 2 swimming pools, one oceanview and one by the restaurant & bar.

This wasn't my first trip to Bonaire and I was looking for somewhere quiet to relax and Caribbean Club did not disappoint. Management and staff were very friendly. We are so happy we stayed here and ready to go back already!

Last December I stayed for two weeks at the Caribbean Club Bonaire. It was my 3rd time already! I stayed in the newly renovated apartments and they are wonderful! I nice sitting area and kitchen and an amazing new bathroom! Furthermore I felt very welcome and the staff is friendly and helpful. I am certainly going back again! Mardet

The rooms are very nice (we had a studio apartment in the new section) which was quite nice. Good bed, adequate kitchen and a great shower. The office is only open from 8am untill 5pm so checking in late was getting a key from the bartender and attempting to find our room in the dark. The office staff told us to be at the airport 3 hours before our flight. We checked with the airline and they told us 2 hours. The counter did not even open until 90 minutes before the flight. So much for managements knowedge. The management wanted us to turn in our rental truck before 5pm on Friday even though we were not leaving until Saturday morning. After some time and calliing our travel agent in the US for help, they relented and we just gave the key to the security guard when we left. The biggest negative is that the resort is quite far from town so going to dinner is an excursion. The prices at the resorts restaurant are extremely high and we only saw a couple of people eating there the entire week. Probabally would not stay there again. Too bad as it is a nice resort.

Firstly I have been to the Island of Bonaire 8 times, and stayed at various different locations. My last 4 visits have been to the Caribbean Club. Many people have many different expectations when booking a hotel on the island but if you have a better understanding of what you want you really cant go wrong. That being said I come to Bonaire for the diving and not the parties or dance clubs.

The Caribbean Club is located 5 minutes or so away from town so is away from the cruise ships and noise you might expect, it is situated more like a tropical oasis. Quiet and sleepy in a jungle of tranquility. The resort has two groups of accommodation, I have stayed in both, the older studios and the newer cottages. The studies are great for the Diver gang and very well appointed with all you need, the studios are great for a seasoned dive traveler or maybe a week with that special friend (wink wink). if you are with a group or want to spend more than a week or your wife / girl friend want a ocean view and 4 stars well that would be the cottages...think of it as a 2-3 stars in the older section or 3-4 stars in the newer cottages.

Now the review...

The Caribbean Club, run of the house dive and drive package.

ROOM 9.5/10
This trip I stayed in a cottage with my dive buddy Bob, we were upgraded at no extra cost to a huge cottage, the view was a million dollar view of the ocean. room was extremely clean and well appointed, Two separate bedrooms with en-suite bathrooms, bedrooms both large well appointed with great AC. Bathrooms were big and showers great, we did have a day of rain so the solar water heater dropped from HOT to warm for a day... Our cottage came with its own dive locker, rise tank as well as a deck that was maybe 500sq feet. the kitchen was separate from the bedrooms with a huge fridge and fantastic ice maker...our drinks and beer were very happy. Beds were great and linens crisp and clean, house keeping was great and the room had cable TV. and WiFi. I think we had a total of 5 big ceiling fans as well each room had on and two on the deck. The pools were great and kid safe...

Dive shop 8/10
The dive shop is small but has everything you need at great prices, the staff is great.. my hat is off to Nick who helped us with all kinds of crazy Canadian requests...the truck was good and in great shape, no problems with tires or anything...just a reminder if you like to drive with music...there are no radios... but the AC is good...Nick or the staff can set you up with any of the activities at Buddy Dive resort such as a trip to Klien Island as well...

The Restaurant 8/10
Fantastic breakfast buffet, great coffee and don't be afraid to ask the cook for something special she makes a killer omelet. lunches were also good and if you want the cook will make you a lunch to go, Cheese and Bacon burger are the best on the island...hands down.
Dinner, they had a new menu this trip, food was very well priced and very very good...only negative point here is the menu is small but if you ask the cook, she will make you just about anything, I suggest the fettuccine carbonara...not on the menu but ummmmm...and be ready to be full...Manages rum Punch and BBQ should not be missed.

Staff 10/10
Cleaning staff...fantastic friendly and fun
Restaurant staff great ...Millie is a hoot.
Management, will bend over backwards to make you happy...The General Manager Barbara is a doll and will interact with everyone so don't be shy....Nick was also great help...there are others that need a pat on the back but really this is getting bigger than I planned already...

Oh and the diving.......GREAT as always....

My next trip will be in 3-4 months and I will stay here again....and again....and again...I am watching the snow as I write this...might have to be back in 2 months...lol

Norm