Hi all,
Living in Wisconsin for past number of years we have done the Air Jamaica connection out of O'Hare to Montego Bay and on to Bon. Never had significant problems at all.
They don't have that route any longer.
We booked on Delta, from Milwaukee to Atlanta, then to Bon and reverse to come home.
The VACATION was great. The TRAVEL was not.
Left Milw a bit late, got to Atlanta a bit late, no big deal, did make our connection though with not lots of time to spare.
Got to Bon Sat afternoon, picked up rental car, got to Plaza (first time staying there - did it cos 4 of us could get a 2 bedrm villa cheaper than 2 rooms at Divi).
NO LUGGAGE. No luggage that evening, no one knew where it might be. "On Curacao" but Curacao denied all knowledge. No luggage on Sun morn but "it will come today on the shuttle". Uhhuh.
NO LUGGAGE on Monday morning, NO one seemed to know anything. By then we had missed two days of snorkeling and being in water! :<( So Mon am we went clothes and snorkel shopping. Saved all our receipts, now we can hope to file with Delta and with the travel insurance company.
FINALLY luggage showed up late Mon evening.
We have to give kudos to the desk staff at the Plaza front desk, she was WONDERFUL about working on it, the airline/airport personnel seemed to care less.
On way home, an hour out of Atlanta pilot came on and stated we were making an unexpected stop in 10 minutes in Louisville, coming up fast, for a mechanical problem UHOH. Sat on the plane on the ground there for about an hour? Then took off again and did make it to Milwaukee in one piece. I know these things happen, it was just a fitting ending for a frustrating travel trip.
OTOH the weather in Bon could not have been more perfect ( I go about same time each year and have for ?well over 5 years for sure now...). Went out on Woodwind, Dee is as wonderful and delightful as ever. Got to see a LOT of turtles.
The reef in front of the Plaza seems to be ok, but my friends said the one in front of Divi where we normally stay was pretty badly damaged from the storm Omar. Sad, wonder how long recovery will take. Ironic this is the year we decided to try the Plaza. We are more "Divi type folks" but have the 2 bedroom Villa at Plaza worked out well being 4 of us.
So, looking ahead to next year.....I would try to do carry on luggage if at all possible.

V..Thanks for posting your experiences. Unfortunately, the worst part of the Bonaire experience is the actual travel component. Sometimes it goes smoothly, & others...well.
We all have stories to tell. But from my perspective, the experiences on Bonaire usually make up for the inconvenience.

Of course, next time I'll wager that a mask & bathing suit will be in your carry on. Many times in the past, if we had connections I'd pack a pair of shorts & change at the airline terminal if we were traveling in cold weather.

Glad the trip went well. Sending you good thoughts with regards to Delta reimbursing you. Keep us posted on that.

Delta made good on the suitcase of mine they trashed beyond repair - I hope they're as generous to you!

Glad the BON part of the trip went well!

v
thanks for posting. we learned along time ago to always carry a change of clothing in our carrying on bags. personal items and especially bathing suit. am using delta in march. coming in from sfo on red eye. to atl than bon. u can always rent equipment to snorkle or dive. been going to bonaire since 1986.
es

We always try to carry-on anything that is a "fit" issue that would be hard to replace by renting. I carry my mask and 0.5 mil wetsuit, my computer, a couple days change of clothing, and my bathroom stuff. You can rent everything else if necessary.

So what did you think of the Plaza? We have always enjoyed our stays there, but have not been since 2006. I have read some not so great comments recently (dirty grounds, bedbugs etc). We did hear that they are renovating some units and we are booked for March.

Glad you enjoyed your stay at Plaza.
We are planning our fourth trip there in June.
Good news about house reef. We love diving it.

Carol
Bedbugs have become a world wide issue. My 85 year old mom [affectionately know as attila the clean] had company who dropped off bedbugs[ the hitchhiking bug].
With the demise of DDT th'ree making a comeback-- a big comeback!

V .. Glad the trip went well other than the travel. But when one travels a lot these things happen. I still prefer routing through Houston or Newark since I have yet in many years to have a problem with schedules or luggage. That time will probably come however. Years ago on a trip to Roatan using the local puddle jumpers out of San Pedro Sula I arrived on a Saturday but my dive gear - all brand new - did not show up until Wednesday. Bummer - but it did show up intact at least.

V. Sorry to hear about your Delta troubles. My friend is flying MKE-BON via ATL on Saturday, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that her very short connection goes smoothly.

We had our ski gear lost in SLC one year for Xmas vacation (this was back in the day when we actually took snow vacations and before we "discovered" scuba.....can u imagine?), and it sucked to have no skis/jackets/gloves/etc. for the first two days of our trip. There isn't a whole lot to do in Salt Lake City if you're not skiing, really.

We flew Continental out of MKE last year to BON and had no troubles, but you just never know. Keeping my fingers crossed that this Friday the travel gods are smiling on me

Glad you enjoyed your stay in BON.

This trip we will fly Continental and arrive at 6 am, booking the room one day early and waiting out a 4 hour lay over in Houston.

Last trip I flew Jet Blue to Aruba first because the trip was only $400 instead of $920 but...

Dutch Antilles Airlines $100 flight bumped me for 16 hours and I lost a day on Bonaire.

Back to Bonaire next week!