It was only at the behest of my many friends who rely on Trip Advisor in their travels that compels me to share our experience at the Maracas Bay Hotel. My wife and I were looking forward to traveling to somewhere new in the Carribean and we stumbled upon Trinidad and so myself always looking for a deal, began searching the internet for bargain hotels in Trinidad on the Beach. After looking at several different hotels I stubled across the Maracas Bay hotel, it was the only hotel located on the beach and it was very cheap. (I would soon find out why) I had read several favorable reviews in Trip Adviisor and the hotel's own website and decided to book a 3 night stay. I actually confirmed with the hotel clerk several times when our flight would be arriving and she arranged for someone to pick us up at the airport and transport us to the hotel. Well this is where the whole nightmare began. We arrived at the airport in Port of Spain Trinidad after 10pm as scheduled and were looking all over for our ride to no avail. I twas thinking oh well, we'll just take a cab. What I didn't know was that the hotel and Beach were about a 45 minute cab ride up a mountain pass and down the other side. On top of that, we could not find a cab driver who was willing to take us there due to the massive mudslides that had occurred on the roads which had just been opened up. I finally convinced a guy to drive us there for $60.00. He was a very cheary guy with lots of information on Trinidad. As we were going to the hotel we found out why people were not willing to take us to the hotel at night. There were several trees downed across the road that we needed to move or drive around and also could see other parts of teh road that were completely washed away. Anyways after making the way to our hotel, we arrived to find the hotel completely closed, and gated. After traveling the entire day and paying to get there this was not a very re-assuring sight. The cab driver volunteered to call the hotel on his cell phone and we tried for about 30-45 minutes to get ahold of someone from the Maracas Bay to no avail. We then began trying to figure out what to do and then cab driver pulled on the locked gate and it pulled open and we drove the cab into the compound. We found the front desk building to be completely dark, no note, keys or anything for us. We then began running around to the hotel rooms to see if anyone was around. We knocked on several doors and we could find "NO ONE" guest or otherwise around. The place looked completely abandoned! We did find that several of the rooms were wide open, front doors open, and sliding glass doors wide oopen with beds completely peeled, not made up and empty beer bottles and cigarette butts laying around. it looked like people had been using the open rooms to drink beer and smoke in. We walked all around the building and found several more rooms like this. We could not find a living sould there. It was eery kind of like a scene out of a bad movie. The cab driver, bless his soul, recommended that he drive us back to Port of Spaina nd that we find another hotel for the night. But all I was thinking was that it would be another $60.00 back, and $60.00 tor return in the morning plus whatever the cost of teh hotel would be so I suggested that we find a room that was in teh best condition and stay there for the night. So we searched and found an open room on the 2nd floor that was ind ecent shape and one that the air conditioner was working. (Several of the rooms had air conditioner units but none of them worked.) The cab driver gave us his number and insisted that we call him in the morning to make sure we were o.k. I wasn't thinking why he thought that until we left. When it set in that we were in a comepletely vacant hotel with no one around, 45 minutes from civiilization, with no phone nothing. Anyways, we barricaded ourselves in this room and I spent the whole night looking out teh window searching for any signs of life. During this entire time, my wife was actuially a pretty good sport but I could tell that she was horrirfed. The rooms were not nice. I would say that they were a cross between a cheap motel and a garage stall. The bathrooms reminded me of the public stall at any park facility with concrete floors. It never gave us the sense of being clean and there is no way that I would choose to stay in a hotel like that unless I was camping. I think if I was back in college and traveling by backpack as a poor college student, it would have been adequate but it was definitely no frills. Finally in the morning, we saw signs of life and waited in front of the reservation building until it opened (around 9AM) Needless to say we were very upset and I basically told the lady what had happend, said that we were not staying there, not paying for last night and needed a phone to call other hotels. I called the Kapoc hotel in Port of Spain and paid whatever the cost and that turned out to be the best move we made. We ended up taking our bags to the beach and actually met some friendly americans who were living in Triny that gave us a ride to our new hotel. When I told them our story they were in disbelief and said that we were lucky we didn't get robbed. Needless to say my recommendation is that if you have a choice Do Not Stay Here. For all of the reasons I stated and at night tehere is nothing around the beach. Businesses, restaurants etc. I would definitely stay in Port of Spain and travel to the beach for a day trip but there are alot more fun and interesting things to do in Port of Spain! All in all I would highly recommend Trinidad but not this hotel. If you stay here you do so at your own risk.
