MoreMilesPlease
Feb 2, 04, 10:58 am
Hamaca Coral by Hilton
We are Diamond in Hilton Honors and had lots of points. The Hamaca advertised as a 24-hour a day all-inclusive. We were staying for 7 nights using our Hilton points. I thought that 45,000 points per night wasn’t a bad deal as it was all-inclusive for two people. The total points we used were 315,000. I picked the Hamaca because of the pictures on the website, it’s proximity to the airport and it’s protected beach for swimming. http://www.coralbyhilton.com/hamaca/index.htm
We arrived after a 15 minute cab ride. The taxi cost US $18 one-way. Gas is very expensive and so are the taxis. We pulled into the Hamaca and the bell captain took our luggage. They don’t want you dragging luggage through the lobby. Fair enough. Inside there was nobody waiting to check in so straight to the desk. After pulling up our reservation we were directed to the Honors desk just to the left of the main desk.
All our paper work was in order. We got silver armbands to show we were registered guest. There were several different color armbands and I believe that they signify what type of level you hold. We saw only a couple of other people with the same color bands as ours. We asked if the room was no smoking. He said no but it was very nice and offered to show us the room before we accepted it. Sure, so off we go.
The room (320) was in the main building where all the rooms have balconies and face the beach. We saw ashtrays but there was no smoke smell. The floors in the corridors and rooms are all tile. There was a large fruit tray, large cheese tray and a half bottle of French Mouton Cadet wine. One robe and one peach beach towel was on the bed. The view was nice and the room large. It was under-furnished with a king bed, one wooden beach type chair, a wicker two seat sofa, largish desk that held a 19 or 20 inch TV and two night stands and a small fridge. There was a large walk in closet, bathroom with tub/shower and a separate sink/vanity area. We said the room was OK and he said that another robe and beach towel would be brought up since there were suppose to be two. These never materialized during our entire stay.
All rooms are connecting rooms. This is a real problem here. The walls are cinder block and pretty soundproof. The problem lies in the tile floors and poor doors. The sound echoes unmercifully and the doors offer no insulation. I was kept awake the first night by the TV in the adjoining room and the very loud family in the room. They finally settled down around 12:30pm. The second night was worse with additional corridor noise. We went down to the desk and asked about changing rooms. Those people will be checking out today so it will be quieter. We stayed in room 320 hoping for the best. It was not to be. Whoever moved in was just as loud. For the third night I was being kept awake for hours because of the noise from the adjoining room and the corridor. Back down to the Honors desk morning of the forth day. Asked about being moved. I would even move to the garden rooms off the beach if they were quieter. Oh no, no. Well, I want a room that I can get some sleep in. Finally moved to room 311 taking the fridge with us. It had two double beds. It was a bit smaller with more furniture. It was somewhat quieter probably because there weren’t as many people in the next room. The TV picture was unwatchable. It took 3 days and four requests to get it fixed. Finally someone came and played around with the color and tint controls. Unfortunately the TV was done and needed changed. He left promising to bring another TV. He never came back and the next day it took another request and a strong complaint of incompetence before the TV was changed. The staff is very friendly they just seem unable to actually deal with anything. In room safe costs US $3 a day.
Noise can be a very real problem in this hotel. If the people in the connecting room are loud you are at their mercy.
Beach:
The beach is large with soft sand. There is a reef protecting the beach area so the water is shallow and calm. There are many thatched palapas on the beach. The main problem with this is that people come out either the night before or before 6am and put towels on the chairs. This is really annoying, as they don’t show up to the beach until 10 or 11 am. I was on the beach every morning between 8-9 am and only on the Last two days were there any palapas available at 8am. The staff said that the towels were there when they come on duty at 6 am. The hotel should really stop this practice.
The activity staff are called Chocolate Friends. We participated in the water aerobics most days. Otherwise we just read and lay around.
Additional stuff we did:
We decided to see some of the island one day. We did the Soano Island tour one day as it was highly recommended by the hotel staff at the tour desk. This was a terrible trip. Even though we booked it through the hotel desk we had to pay the tour driver directly. We were assured they took credit cards. Unfortunately he didn’t bring the card imprint machine. After much fiddling around we paid cash and got a US$10 discount. The tour was not very good and I would not recommend it. I would not recommend using the hotel to book any tours. There are several tour desks just to the left of reception. I would take my chances with them. There is no incentive to use the hotel to book a tour.
We did a snorkel trip with the divers on site. It was US$15 a person. They took you out just to the left of the hotel on the other side of the reef. The reef is dead. There are a few fish and some sea urchins. The crew actually made fun of a few people for wearing life vest during snorkeling. You were supposed to follow one of the crew while he swam around with a long stick. He used the stick to prod things out of the dead reef. You really had to look hard to find something interesting. If you have ever snorkeled where there are nice fish then don’t waste your money here. You can walk out to the reef and snorkel without paying them US $15 to make fun of you. This was a real waste of money.
I decided to get a massage one day. They have a covered area with massage beds on the beach. It was US $45 for a 60-minute massage. The massage was ok. It could have been super fantastic except the Ruth (the Masseuses) started talking to another employee and kept talking for 35 min. The massage lasted 45 minutes as Ruth was paying more attention to the person she was talking to than me. Live and learn. What could have been a brilliant experience was just ok and Ruth lost a generous tip.
MrMoreMilesPlease went golfing one day at Guavaberry http://guavaberrygolf.com/ .
The taxi was US $20 one way. He said the course is great. Anybody wanting specific golf info can e-mail me and I will see he answers.
Food and Drinks:
Some form of food and drinks are available 24 hours a day. There is also room service that is not included in the all-inclusive. The prices were probably very high for Dominica but not to bad by American standards.
There are several bars around the hotel complex. Some open early and some later. There is a Disco that doesn't open until 11pm. I found the frozen drinks all tasted pretty much the same just different colors. The local beer was met with great enthusiasm by the beer drinkers.
The buffets were large with a variety of food. There was always something that was tasty and well prepared.
Breakfast can be taken in the main resturaunt area or on the beach. The main area has more choices including cooked to order eggs and omelets.
Lunch can be at the beach area or the main restaurant area. The main area has much better food and choices.
Dinner can be either buffet, at the Mexican restaurant or at the Italian restaurant
The Mexican and Italian require that men wear long pants. All restaurants require shirts and shoes except the beach one.
The Italian was very good. The Mexican was good just not what most Americans would consider as being Mexican. Still, everything was tasty and we went back to it again.
The service at the buffet was good overall. We did have a really bad experience on the Thursday night. We asked for the no smoking area four times (there is a small non-smoking section just behind the entrance). We were seated in another part of the restaurant. Oh well. The waiters were pretty much ignoring us and showing a large amount of attention to one table of two male tourists with female companions. The service was so bad that the waiters were trying to take plates away that we were still eating from! When we finally gave up and started to leave the waiters were so busy with their “favorite” table they actually ran us over trying to get something for them. I mean literally ran into me pushing me out of the way. A cursory “sorry” was said.
Misc.
Everything is quoted in US $. There is an ATM directly across the street from the hotel entrance. Local shops are a five min walk away where prices are half or less of what the hotel charges. Taxis are very expensive. I would not recommend the Soana Island tour.
Overall:
The hotel is fine but the rooms can be very noisy. The beach is great and the water calm. The hotel staff overall were very friendly if rather unable to actually get anything done. I was talking to one of the employees and she said that the Coral group had the best wages of any of the hotels. That was nice to hear since it is expensive by Dominican stabdards. There was a two day general strike because of the state of the local economy. The hotel employees semed happy to be at work during the general strike.
The make up of guest was probably 50% Canadian(with more than half being French speaking), a large number of Italians, a few Brits, Central/South Americans, and some Americans. There was also a few Dominicans staying there.
The Coral Group was an established group with a good reputation befor Hilton. I think that there will be some work to do if they want to draw the US person as a repeat customer.
Fell free to e-mail me directly with any additional questions or comments.
[This message has been edited by MoreMilesPlease (edited Feb 02, 2004).]
We are Diamond in Hilton Honors and had lots of points. The Hamaca advertised as a 24-hour a day all-inclusive. We were staying for 7 nights using our Hilton points. I thought that 45,000 points per night wasn’t a bad deal as it was all-inclusive for two people. The total points we used were 315,000. I picked the Hamaca because of the pictures on the website, it’s proximity to the airport and it’s protected beach for swimming. http://www.coralbyhilton.com/hamaca/index.htm
We arrived after a 15 minute cab ride. The taxi cost US $18 one-way. Gas is very expensive and so are the taxis. We pulled into the Hamaca and the bell captain took our luggage. They don’t want you dragging luggage through the lobby. Fair enough. Inside there was nobody waiting to check in so straight to the desk. After pulling up our reservation we were directed to the Honors desk just to the left of the main desk.
All our paper work was in order. We got silver armbands to show we were registered guest. There were several different color armbands and I believe that they signify what type of level you hold. We saw only a couple of other people with the same color bands as ours. We asked if the room was no smoking. He said no but it was very nice and offered to show us the room before we accepted it. Sure, so off we go.
The room (320) was in the main building where all the rooms have balconies and face the beach. We saw ashtrays but there was no smoke smell. The floors in the corridors and rooms are all tile. There was a large fruit tray, large cheese tray and a half bottle of French Mouton Cadet wine. One robe and one peach beach towel was on the bed. The view was nice and the room large. It was under-furnished with a king bed, one wooden beach type chair, a wicker two seat sofa, largish desk that held a 19 or 20 inch TV and two night stands and a small fridge. There was a large walk in closet, bathroom with tub/shower and a separate sink/vanity area. We said the room was OK and he said that another robe and beach towel would be brought up since there were suppose to be two. These never materialized during our entire stay.
All rooms are connecting rooms. This is a real problem here. The walls are cinder block and pretty soundproof. The problem lies in the tile floors and poor doors. The sound echoes unmercifully and the doors offer no insulation. I was kept awake the first night by the TV in the adjoining room and the very loud family in the room. They finally settled down around 12:30pm. The second night was worse with additional corridor noise. We went down to the desk and asked about changing rooms. Those people will be checking out today so it will be quieter. We stayed in room 320 hoping for the best. It was not to be. Whoever moved in was just as loud. For the third night I was being kept awake for hours because of the noise from the adjoining room and the corridor. Back down to the Honors desk morning of the forth day. Asked about being moved. I would even move to the garden rooms off the beach if they were quieter. Oh no, no. Well, I want a room that I can get some sleep in. Finally moved to room 311 taking the fridge with us. It had two double beds. It was a bit smaller with more furniture. It was somewhat quieter probably because there weren’t as many people in the next room. The TV picture was unwatchable. It took 3 days and four requests to get it fixed. Finally someone came and played around with the color and tint controls. Unfortunately the TV was done and needed changed. He left promising to bring another TV. He never came back and the next day it took another request and a strong complaint of incompetence before the TV was changed. The staff is very friendly they just seem unable to actually deal with anything. In room safe costs US $3 a day.
Noise can be a very real problem in this hotel. If the people in the connecting room are loud you are at their mercy.
Beach:
The beach is large with soft sand. There is a reef protecting the beach area so the water is shallow and calm. There are many thatched palapas on the beach. The main problem with this is that people come out either the night before or before 6am and put towels on the chairs. This is really annoying, as they don’t show up to the beach until 10 or 11 am. I was on the beach every morning between 8-9 am and only on the Last two days were there any palapas available at 8am. The staff said that the towels were there when they come on duty at 6 am. The hotel should really stop this practice.
The activity staff are called Chocolate Friends. We participated in the water aerobics most days. Otherwise we just read and lay around.
Additional stuff we did:
We decided to see some of the island one day. We did the Soano Island tour one day as it was highly recommended by the hotel staff at the tour desk. This was a terrible trip. Even though we booked it through the hotel desk we had to pay the tour driver directly. We were assured they took credit cards. Unfortunately he didn’t bring the card imprint machine. After much fiddling around we paid cash and got a US$10 discount. The tour was not very good and I would not recommend it. I would not recommend using the hotel to book any tours. There are several tour desks just to the left of reception. I would take my chances with them. There is no incentive to use the hotel to book a tour.
We did a snorkel trip with the divers on site. It was US$15 a person. They took you out just to the left of the hotel on the other side of the reef. The reef is dead. There are a few fish and some sea urchins. The crew actually made fun of a few people for wearing life vest during snorkeling. You were supposed to follow one of the crew while he swam around with a long stick. He used the stick to prod things out of the dead reef. You really had to look hard to find something interesting. If you have ever snorkeled where there are nice fish then don’t waste your money here. You can walk out to the reef and snorkel without paying them US $15 to make fun of you. This was a real waste of money.
I decided to get a massage one day. They have a covered area with massage beds on the beach. It was US $45 for a 60-minute massage. The massage was ok. It could have been super fantastic except the Ruth (the Masseuses) started talking to another employee and kept talking for 35 min. The massage lasted 45 minutes as Ruth was paying more attention to the person she was talking to than me. Live and learn. What could have been a brilliant experience was just ok and Ruth lost a generous tip.
MrMoreMilesPlease went golfing one day at Guavaberry http://guavaberrygolf.com/ .
The taxi was US $20 one way. He said the course is great. Anybody wanting specific golf info can e-mail me and I will see he answers.
Food and Drinks:
Some form of food and drinks are available 24 hours a day. There is also room service that is not included in the all-inclusive. The prices were probably very high for Dominica but not to bad by American standards.
There are several bars around the hotel complex. Some open early and some later. There is a Disco that doesn't open until 11pm. I found the frozen drinks all tasted pretty much the same just different colors. The local beer was met with great enthusiasm by the beer drinkers.
The buffets were large with a variety of food. There was always something that was tasty and well prepared.
Breakfast can be taken in the main resturaunt area or on the beach. The main area has more choices including cooked to order eggs and omelets.
Lunch can be at the beach area or the main restaurant area. The main area has much better food and choices.
Dinner can be either buffet, at the Mexican restaurant or at the Italian restaurant
The Mexican and Italian require that men wear long pants. All restaurants require shirts and shoes except the beach one.
The Italian was very good. The Mexican was good just not what most Americans would consider as being Mexican. Still, everything was tasty and we went back to it again.
The service at the buffet was good overall. We did have a really bad experience on the Thursday night. We asked for the no smoking area four times (there is a small non-smoking section just behind the entrance). We were seated in another part of the restaurant. Oh well. The waiters were pretty much ignoring us and showing a large amount of attention to one table of two male tourists with female companions. The service was so bad that the waiters were trying to take plates away that we were still eating from! When we finally gave up and started to leave the waiters were so busy with their “favorite” table they actually ran us over trying to get something for them. I mean literally ran into me pushing me out of the way. A cursory “sorry” was said.
Misc.
Everything is quoted in US $. There is an ATM directly across the street from the hotel entrance. Local shops are a five min walk away where prices are half or less of what the hotel charges. Taxis are very expensive. I would not recommend the Soana Island tour.
Overall:
The hotel is fine but the rooms can be very noisy. The beach is great and the water calm. The hotel staff overall were very friendly if rather unable to actually get anything done. I was talking to one of the employees and she said that the Coral group had the best wages of any of the hotels. That was nice to hear since it is expensive by Dominican stabdards. There was a two day general strike because of the state of the local economy. The hotel employees semed happy to be at work during the general strike.
The make up of guest was probably 50% Canadian(with more than half being French speaking), a large number of Italians, a few Brits, Central/South Americans, and some Americans. There was also a few Dominicans staying there.
The Coral Group was an established group with a good reputation befor Hilton. I think that there will be some work to do if they want to draw the US person as a repeat customer.
Fell free to e-mail me directly with any additional questions or comments.
[This message has been edited by MoreMilesPlease (edited Feb 02, 2004).]