We spent a week at the Chogogo Resort in December 2004 and my experience is a mixture of the reports left here previously:
Yes, the beach is further away than promised - about 5-7 minute walk, depending on where your accommodation is...
BUT the beach is gorgeous, with wonderful snorkelling and diving, and is quite child friendly with water canons and slides. The food at the restaurant is quite nice as well (I especially recommend their dessert of brownie with caramel ice cream!) and the four poster beds dotted thoughout the beach, where you can have a nap with your child is a very very nice touch! And the sunsets from here are spectacular!!!
No, there are NO window screens in any of the accommodations and there are ALOT of quite ferocious bugs on the island!
BUT making sure to always carry bug spray with you everywhere takes care of that (and don't wait until your second day when you are completely disfigured with large red welts everywhere before getting some, like I did!!) And there is a bug net over the bed, so there are no worries whilst sleeping.
Yes, the lightbulbs are quite dim and come sunset, it does get quite glum inside.
We stayed at one of the apartments on the ground floor. It was adequate, but lacking... Our apartment had a distinct mouldy smell to it, which was quite unpleasant. We tried to keep the shutters open during the day, to make the most of the trade winds, but during our weekly stay it was very humid and the wind seemed a breeze at best.
After seeing what you get from a bungalow, I think it might be worth the extra money getting that instead. Having a dishwasher would have been nice for example... And there are ceiling fans, which we sorely missed in our apartment.
The breakfast at the restaurant is quite alright for the price - $10, but the quick lunch we grabbed in a moment of urgent hunger was okay, but nothing more.
Some other points to make:
There are buses into town (about one every hour in any direction really!), which the resort will give you free tickets for.
When we notified the resort that the air conditioning unit had started to leak quite a bit of water during the night, it was fixed almost immediately.
When we expressed an interest in seeing more of Curacao with a jeep tour, the reception staff got us in contact with Henri, who gave us a wonderful private tour of the island.
The laundry room is very convenient, with a cost of about 10 Guilders (about $5-6)
- Chogogo Hotel Curaçao
- Chogogo Resort Curaçao
