Curacao

[Feanor7]

Thanx for the info Jan Chris. I have emailed them as well asking this question. It's been awhile and they haven't emailed back, but if they do I'll let everyone know. Still, I've heard that almost everywhere IS girl friendly, and as you said it's not really a hotel anyway. Anyone have any other info on Ceri Neger's?

[Jan Chris]

Feanor 7,

I have good reason to think Ceri Neger's is girl friendly, because it is not an "hotel" but an apartement, with a motel look, but without reception.

However I never spent a night there with a girl because the fine for the night in Campo is incredibly high. It is better to bargain with a girl in Campo and stay in her room for TLN, since there are private. I have done it once. We had our diner there, went to dance etc. no other client bothered us and she was entirely for myself. If you want to spare a little more, you can arrange to let her do her business untill midnight and bargain a better price for the rest of the night. That's what I did actually. The inconvenient is that she will be tired, and the rooms are noisy as they can be annoyed by the management, a phone call, a desperate client knocking at the door (although the light indicating busy is "on"). In this case, I recommend you bring ear plugs and a towell because they usually only have one for themselves.

Ceri Neger's can be a good place though to accomodate even more than one girl and have a good time in a quite area.

Hope it helps.

[OldIronsides]

Yes, Charlie Horse, good advice..that is what I'll do. Plus the Avila is supposed to be a pretty nice place so I'd like to see what the basic scene is like first with the local talent. I plan on doing quite a bit of mongering so I'll be sure to take copious notes in any event. I know there's a mega no camera rule at campo, but I've been trying to come up with some scheme to allow me to snap a few off somehow lol..I>'m sure i'm not the first one to think that one up. I suppose for campo, the room reports are more important overall. I suck at names so I'll hopefully I'll be better with numbers. :-)

I plan on quite a bit of snorkeling and sunbathing whereever amateurs might be lurking.

Still hoping to hear from anyone who might be at Campo before or during my Jan 10th to 17th trip. Especially after having read the post about the pending visa's for a group of 60 on Jan 5th. Can we get any fresh word on that?

[Charlie Horse]

I may have to go right to Campo from the airport since it's so close just to check it out on the way to the hotel Jan 10th. Definatetly worth 6 bucks even if it'll be a bit early. I'll get in about 5pm...be at campo by maybe 7pm. A quick look around to get my bearings and find the place initially seems the prudent thing to do, not to mention start my CUR vacation off to the right foot! lol.

I'd check-in first and get settled before heading over to Campo. Otherwise you will have to deal with all your stuff and if you end up having a very good time it might be late evening before you end up checking in.

[Barek]

Thanks world Traveller 69.
Cheers
Barek

[World Travel 69]

Depending on your time at the Dock you could take a taxi and be there in about a half hour. They are open on Sundays.

Dear fellow Mongers,
Next month I will be doing a cruise tour, and the boat stops for a few hours in Curaçao.
Can anybody tell me if Campo is close to the docks area, and if it is open on Sundays?
Thanks
Cheers
Barek

[OldIronsides]

Ok, so after a lot of hand wringing, I've decided to spend 3 days at Avila Beach Resort, 2 at HoJo near the pontoon bridge, and 2 at Habitat. This seems to be a decent compromise. As my Spanish is at zero, I dout I'd be able to communicate effectively to get a gal back to my hotel...but JUST IN CASE, does anyone know of Avila is girl friendly too? Reading the boards it seems only all inclusives like Breezes seem to be a problem, but I'd appreciate some feedback about Avila if anyone has some.

Bought my snorkeling gear today, so that was fun, I'm getting really psyched to see Campo for the first time as well. Like some posters have said, I may have to go right to Campo from the airport since it's so close just to check it out on the way to the hotel Jan 10th. Definatetly worth 6 bucks even if it'll be a bit early. I'll get in about 5pm...be at campo by maybe 7pm. A quick look around to get my bearings and find the place initially seems the prudent thing to do, not to mention start my CUR vacation off to the right foot! lol.

[Barek]

Dear fellow Mongers,
Next month I will be doing a cruise tour, and the boat stops for a few hours in Curaçao.
Can anybody tell me if Campo is close to the docks area, and if it is open on Sundays?
Thanks
Cheers
Barek

[Feanor7]

For those you are interested in practicalities, here are some info about accomodation and cars in particular :

- I had indentified Michel Car rental as the cheapest one. Car are basically maintained and so is the service, but I would recommend this company. Using cabs will kill you.

- Similarly, I had identified Ceri Neger's apartement (see curacao.com) as the cheapest solution. For 36USD/day, you get a large apartment with A/C room. Closer to the action than Flamingo (15 minutes from Campo Alegre).

- Diving seems to be quite cheap as well (I paid 53 USD for a 2 hours refresher course).

- Internet? Guess what? I am sending this from a free UTS hotspot. It was hard to find a decent computer shop to buy a wireless card, but the effort was worth trying. Do not beleive the UTS One tel website regarding the location of the Hotspots : the only ones that are valid are in Punda, Willemstad.

All in all, Curacao is really a cheap mongering place.

Reports on chicas to follow.

Is the Ceri Neger's apartments girl friendly?

[Cabrio]

OldIronSides,

I just read your post. Ive have been to Curacao many times and know my way around the island pretty well. As far as hotels close to Campo, there is howard johnson down the street from Campo. (check on the net) There is also another ho-jo downtown in Otrabanda acrross from the floating bridge. Habitat Curacao is a little far from campo on the west side of the island (I think) but a great dive spot. Why not try the Hilton, Mariott, Clarion Suites, or Floris Suites. These hotels are about 10 - 15 minutes from the aiport and Campo in an area called Piscadera Bay. Marriott and Hilton are beachfront and have dive instructors/tours. Holiday beach hotel is just down the street from Marriott (next to Denny's) and across from Havana Club. Another good place is Lions Dive Hotel which has daily trips for snorkeling/diving. This is a little farther from campo, but right next to Mambo beach and Seaquarium. The nightlife is very good at seaquarium. Lots of bars and clubs on the beach. Lots of local girls, dutch and spanish.

Campo is hit or miss, but always a good time. I was there in Oct and Nov and the place was full. Some of the girls have gone home (90 day visa),but there is always a new crop coming in every few weeks. Hope this helps.

[OldIronsides]

Uhh, really seriously sorry I worded all that so ingraciously. The fast paced internet world sometimes numbs me to the fact there's a face behind the plexiglass. I guess a site of this size had an auto posting delay for everyone and some super whiz bang spell and content checker or something. Dumb huh? :-( I suppose in some FAQ or somewhere it lists about this posting seniority thing. I'm just not used to a moderator caring as much as you obviously do. I did say in my head, .....well it sure seems to be carefully screened, but all I got out in typing was ...arrgghhh..what's with the lag time? lol

I apologize and in light of what you said, thanks for keeping the forum especially useful.

That aside, I'll shall patiently await my increased status ability to get insta-gratification feedback lol :-)

[OldIronsides]

Ok, I went ahead and changed my hotel and got out of that far north place and broke my four days up into two at HoJo and two at Habitat, which isn't crazy crazy far from town at least :-)

Be great to hear from anyone either recently at Campo for a room number report or from anyone going when I'll be there (Jan 10th-17th)

I sure wish it didn't take so long for these posts to show up....seems a moderator must have to go through them as it takes 12 hours or more for my posts to go through. :-(

:-)

==============================================

Hi OldIronsides,

I appreciate your position.

First, please recognize the the purpose of monitoring reports it not to aggravate you but to keep the forum free of spam. It is specifically because I put in the work to monitor posts that forum is relatively spam free. I don't like all the work, but I know from experience that there's no other option.

Second, if I lowered the Senior Member requirements to 6 months OR 25 reports, I would have spammers specifically posting 25 posts within a few days to get the senior member status, and then start spamming the forum. That's what did happen ALL THE TIME a couple of years ago when I once had the either/or criteria.

Third, the ISG Forum is a compendium of travel reports, not a chat room. I care about the reports, not the chit-chat. Therefor, I don't think it's really that big of a deal if, for example, a travel report to Rio de Janerio is visible at 6pm or not until a few hours later?

Fourth, I disagree with your expression that you "need to wait 'ages'". I moderate and approve all new reports at least twice per day, and sometimes several times a day. The average delay is less than 6 hours. I know because I watch the statistics every day. The only time the delay is more than 12 hours is on those few days when I have some issue that prevents me from getting to a computer, such as a day when I may be flying between continents. Even then, I usually find an internet cafe at the airports so I can approve the pending reports before I get on my flight and again when I land.

Personally, I think you should be commending me for doing such a great job of managing the forum instead of telling me that I don't do it fast enough.

Thanks,

Jackson

[OldIronsides]

Ok, I'm really starting to think I'm crazy to be staying up North that far from the action. Gas prices alone doing all that driving might kill me. I looked up the Holiday Beach resort and I can still get a booking there for my four nights I need for about 300 dollars less than the obviously nicer place up north..but again...so so crazy far of a drive to campo et al.

I read on hotels.com that I can cancel my reservation for just a 25 dollar fee bugt who do I cancel it with? Hotels.com or the resort itself? I've never booked a resort and changed my mind as I usually do an insane amount of research but in this case I totally ignored campo's appeal once I got a full view of the wares on display lol :-)

So hopefully I'll get some rapid feedback from you all so I can still get a room at Holiday Beach Resort if that is the going concensus.

[OldIronsides]

thanks for the advice. i've been rtb's from front to back to get up to speed. so consequently i found the website with the 16 "representative girls" pictured lol.

ok, here's a few things i'd like to ask now. i'm looking forward to doing some snorkeling. never done it before. so i decided to split my week up with my first three nights at avila. which i'm not quite exactly sure where it is, but someone in the main town. which would make it convenient for campo. but my last four nights are way on the north end of the island at lodge kura hulanda and beach club at playa kalki. i reasoned that with the rental car, i would just spend my days up north swimming and snorkeling and dirve down for early dinner in town and spend more time at campo or the various bars in town. a 40 minute drive doesn't sound ideal, but as i've read more i'm starting to feel that i might start living at campo lol. or hit the old havana club or whatever. none of my nighttime plans seem to have anything to do with being up north. i don't drink much so driving back late wouldn't bother me particularly but maybe the roads\lighting would make that drive a bear? i figure it's only for 3 or four nights. but do you all think i should try to get out of this northerly location and just stay more central my entire time. obviously the other option is to just take my rental car to the various beaches during the day up north. i booked my hotels already using hotels.com so i have no idea how and if i can cancel them though. anyone have any advice as to my plan?

now for some more nitty gritty. can you bring your own preferred brands of condoms or do you have to use the chicas?

should i just try to rent a car at the airport when i get there, or book in advance. i'll be traveling jan 10th so a bit concerned about them having availability if i just leave it til when i get there?

my spanish is non-existant. i'm fluent in german. too bad dutch is quite a bit different or i'm make out ok with them. i've just always sorta avoided learning any spanish but after reading enough on here, i can see i'd better get serious about some of this. i did find some basic useful phrases on this site, but i think i'll get a real computer language program and put myself through a small crash course before i fly there.

thanks for any more advice you all can give on these questions. esp what should i do about being up north.

thanks!

[Liathain]

When leaving Hato Airport turn Left. You are now on Franklin D. Roosevelt Weg, the main road to Williamstad. Very quickly on your Left will be the Howard Johnson Airport Hotel & Casino, keep going and the road curves to the Right. You might be able to see the top of Campo’s sign, a big green palm leaf if you look off to your left as you go through the curve. The next road on your Left is Seru Fortuna Weg. This is the road to what the locals call: Happy Camp. From the airport to here is about 2.5-miles or less. Turn Left, go up a slight hill and Campo Alegre is now directly on your left. Pull into the parking lot, park & walk up to the entry gate. You’ll be patted down for weapons at the gate. Pay the man $5 and he lets you in. The Night Club on the grounds of the Campo Alegre Brothel is called Mirage. You can get a drink, change your $ or Euro to Guilders, or on certain nights watch a show at the Mirage. Enjoy your visit, when you leave Campo head back to Franklin D. Roosevelt Weg & turn Left to go to Willemstad.

Campo does have a Free web site, with general information about this unique place. Type: ************ into your google page and it will pop up.

You can actually see Campo Alergre on Google Earth. Type in Curacao in the 'Fly To' space. When Curacao loads, you’ll see the airport along the top shore of the island. On the bottom left of the page under 'Layers', check the box next to Google Earth Community. There is a little symbol is a small blue letter i. After you check it you will see 5 of those i’s near the airport. The one furthest from the airport is Campo. Put your cursor on it and it tells you it is Campo Alegre Resort. How cool is Google, they label the brothel for us. If you zoom in on Campo, you’ll see the set up of the Camp quite well.

Drive defensively in Curacao. It doesn’t appear that DUI laws are enforced. Lots of crazy drivers at night. Assume they are drunk. If someone comes up & tailgates you, just pull over and let them pass you when it is safe. Don’t leave anything of value in your car while at Campo or anywhere else on the island. It likely will not be there when you return. Otherwise you’ll find it safe at Campo and island wide. Just use common sense & you’ll do well. Campo is well worth the trip.