Hello,
Hope you travelers with experience can help me out here. We are planning a trip to Curacao in September and are definitely not avid travelers. I've been doing some research by reading reviews of the hotels we're interested in (the Marriott Curacao Resort & the Hilton Curacao). While both got very good reviews, there were complaints about overpricing of meals and beverages. Are there more reasonable restaurants in the immediate area that are not right in the hotels? Some people mentioned going to the grocery store and buying beverages and a large tub to keep in in their room with ice, have any of you done this? Are there less costly beach hotels nearby that you would recommend? We do want to be on the beach, and this is our 20 year anniversary trip so we do want a nice place. Also, do the hotels in Curacao tend to add all sorts of charges to your room when you check out? (extra things that are customarily included in the price of US hotel rooms like maid service, etc.)? Any info and suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

I would like to suggest you to visit the new Curacao Tourism website at: www.curacao.com This site has most of the basic Tourism information in it, like places to eat out, etc. Also all the local hotels are listed with all the information you are seeking. I hope this site will give you the needed information. regards and have a nice trip down to Curacao.
Henry Veeris

We are also going to Curacao in Sept. We booked the Hilton for $65 a night thru Hotwire! I understand that the Mariott has a deli by their casino that is reasonable.

We are going to Curacao in May and also are looking for cheaper restaurants. One of the reasons we LOVE Cosumel is for great food at low prices and the ultra casual atmosphere. If we can't wear shorts and sandals, we don't want to go. Local cuisine is more important than any kind of fancy food which we can get in our home town of Chicago. Do you have any recomendations?

We actually found that most places to eat had average prices, and not as high as we feared. One thing I would recommend was the Saturday night beach BBQ at the Marriott. Everything is cooked fresh right outside, it's a buffet and the tables are right on the beach, very romantic if you like that sort of thing. I don't recall the price, but again, reasonable for being on an island and serving great food, casual attire is fine.
We usually ate breakfast at our hotel (Marriott) , they had a really nice breakfast buffet every morning, and so convenient that we didn't bother to go anywhere else. We requested a fridge in our room, and picked up cheese, fruit and such for lunch, that way we could take it with us if we went on the beach. We did go to the Rodeo House of Ribs which was highly recommended, but found the parking lot under construction, we still went, food was OK, but a bit pricey for such a casual atmosphere. We also ate at the Gouverneur 'de Rouville', food was very good, priced slightly higher than avg., but you get what you pay for and it's perfectly fine to wear shorts - dining is out on the terrace, and it can be quite warm out there.

The Marriott have a great Breakfast Buffet. I stayed there in december 2006 and it was Wonderfull ! There a lot of restaurants nearby if you have a car or you can take a taxi.The island do also have a nice Restaurant Guide (book) with al kinds of restaurants with the price range,dress code etc.Have a nice vacation in Curaçao !!

We stayed at the Plaza hotel -I know it doesnt have a beach but that was no problem -they had a excellent meal plan.

What was so cool about it --the rooms withviews of the harbor!!! Plus it was totally Dutch-the staff speaks excellent English as do most Dutch guests. They had shuttle to the beach. We never tired of watching all the ships from our room and the out door bar come and go.
We rented a jeep-be sure to get one with a top and went around to all the beaches-it was a blast.

The meal plan was breakfast and supper..the breakfast was an excellent buffet -and because it was European too-there were rolls and cold cuts with cheese and nice fruit-so we made sandwiches to take to the beach to save a couple of dollars. And supper -we were stuffed every night-it wa soooo good.

We stayed 3 nights at the Marriott-very nice beach

There were very nice small museums downtown and the Mikve Isreal Synogogue was very interesting as well. The Sea aquarium is good too-we dont dive but my husband did the dive expericence there and fed fish and sting ray. I snorkeled above him and watched -it was cool-we fed sharks and swam with turtles too. Well worth every penny. It was the splurge.

We also spent the day in Christophel Park--if you like nature -orchids, bromeliads etc..you will love it!

Lions Dive is a very simple but clean with nice beach -right next to the SeaAquarium beach.

I really cannot say enough good things about Curacao...jthe only thing is just be careful at night in Otrabanda. We did not have a bad experience but I am told it is easy to get into a "bad neighborhood" there.

I can help you with your arrangements...
www.traveldesigned.com

Hope you love it as much as we did!!