We just returned from a trip from Bonaire. We have been there many times but this was the first time we didn't stay at a hotel. We stayed at Casa Iguana. First, I must the say that the property itself is nice. Plenty of room and a wonderful view.
However, you can expect to be charged $10 per day, no matter what, for running any air conditioner in the house. There is no air conditioner in the living area of the house, which is the norm for Bonaire. However, the way the home is positioned you will not get breezes if you open all of the windows of the house. So most will find the living area unbearably hot. So you run the a/c in bedroom. Well, the owner will personally come by, be VERY RUDE, and tell you you owe him $10 an extra day for your entire stay. Who cares about $10 a day when it comes to having a room with a/c? It is the principle and the way he will treat you that makes this an issue.
Second, we were without TV and internet four days and nights of a seven night stay. Owner doesn't care. He wants his $10 a day for a/c!
Third, ants are everywhere in the house. Not the occasional ant traffic you see. You can't leave anything on the counter for over 3 minutes or an army of ants will be all over it. Not the biting kind but still rendering your meal useless. We had to buy zip-lock bags for anything and everything and keep it in the fridge. Also, we had to move the garbage can to outside because so many ants were in the house. We are talking throwing away a potato chip bag or an empty yogurt canister.

Bottom line, we have stayed in non air-conditioned huts in Africa, tiny apartments in Grand Turk, Belize, actually all over the Caribbean. We travel extensively and stay in a variety of accommodation types. This in short was the worst we have had to date. Stay at Buddy Dive, Sand Dollar, etc. and you'll be happier than if you stayed at Casa Iguana.
P.S. The staff members at the dive center next door are extremely nice, helpful, and were a pleasure to get to know.

Tim, welcome to Bonaire Talk. I'm sorry your first post to the board is one with such a bad experience. I hope other than the house complaints you had a good trip? How was the diving?

Tim..Unfortunately, sometimes the internet & cable TV service on the island can be kind of "spotty". We've had our own issues with Telbo in the past. Additionally we have also had outages which lasted several days (as has most other places on Bonaire). Life on a Caribbean desert island is not quite the same as back home. Hope you found other parts of your trip to be enjoyable.

The diving as always was absolutely fabulous and the people were warm and friendly. The dive staff at Den Leman were extremely helpful and were a pleasure to meet.

I understand that cable and internet go out of service in the Caribbean. It's just the way it goes and I am fine with that. We actually didn't even really complain about it being out. But given this was the case and we did pay for that, it wasn't really mentioned when the owner was making sure he was getting his "$10 a day for air conditioning."

One more thing I forgot to mention. The owner is nice enough to have a mobile phone with the house. If you use it you have to pay to have the minutes recharged. We did use it to call the owner once. That phone call cost us $10 USD and lasted about one minute. Again, he personally made sure we paid for that phone call.

Folks, we've been to Bonaire many times and have always had a pleasant experience. This wasn't the case with this trip. The owner of this property is cheap and treats his tenants very rudely. Discussion Boards help travelers share their experiences. Both good and bad. We had a bad experience and are sharing it.

I apologize if my comments offend anyone. That is not the intent. The intent is to simply warn travelers about staying at Casa Iguana when there are so many other lovely places with nice owners to stay while in Bonaire.

Sorry to hear about your frustrations. If there is a surcharge for ac then they should state it up front, especially since they advertise the bedrooms as having a/c without any mention of a surcharge.

I hate a/c and wish there were more screens on Bonaire so we would not have to use the a/c. I love the breeze at night and listening to the ocean etc., but I do not enjoy being eaten alive by mosquitos all night. Last year we rented a house with screens and we never had to turned on the a/c.

Anyway back to the original topic... I agree I think it is helpful to share both good and bad experiences.

I do agree with Beth, the surcharge for AC AND the phone should be stated somewhere either on the website or on the rental agreement. It's bogus to show up at the door and demand money for such things.

i know when we stayed a carib inn, bruce instituted a policy of an extra $10 if you wanted airco all the time. i don't know if his policy has changed but at that time using it at night wasn't a problem and there was no extra charge but if you wanted it left on all day so it was cool when you returned to your room there was a charge.

but i agree, if the rooms are situated the right way you would rarely need airco if there are screens for the windows. at our place we run it just often enough to make sure it's still working.

I am an owner of a studio in Bonaire. We rent our unit and provide free air conditioning. I wanted to offer a different perspective of this situation-something that most visitors don't know about . I certainly DO NOT condone charging anything that is not made adequately clear upfront, do not agree with hidden charges or upselling. I agree that the original poster was not dealt with properly.

I wanted everyone to see the background of this unfortunate situation. All of the electricity in Bonaire is generated by several large diesel generators on island. They are fueled by diesel fuel that is shipped in. thus, the rates for electricity are outrageously high.

We monitor our electrical costs closely. A one week rental can cost between $2.69 and $15.63 PER DAY!! The difference is almost totally due to use of the air conditioning.

As I said earlier, we provide air conditioning at no additional charge. But, we do ask our renters to please turn it OFF when they are not in the studio. It only takes about 10 minutes to cool the studio off once you return. Most of the time, the trade winds provide enough breezes that air conditioning is not really necessary.

Again, I am NOT agreeing that anyone should be charges "hidden fees" or anything else. I just wanted everyone to see"the other side".

Now, let's go diving and have some fun.

Vann Evans
Sand Dollar A4

There's no excuse for how you were treated Tim, $10 for a 1 minute call, $10 for using the air that wasn't mentioned up front, showing up & demanding money.......WTH??????? We stayed in one of the crown courts houses that was situated in a way where you got absolutely no breeze & it was terrible! We also stayed at a caribbean club house that had a major ant problem, so I know how you feel on both counts Tim. To have the owner rudely hound you your entire vacation is totally uncalled for.

Vann:

Thank you for the info on the electricity costs on the island. We recently bought A-11 at the Sand Dollar. I think the cost to this gentleman could have been made clear from the get-go but the door to door collection was not necessary for any amount. I certainly will be more aware of how we use our A/C on the island and ask our renters to do the same. Some people just can't take the rugged heat of the island. Me, I just jump in the water. As far as ants and critters, that's part of island life. I'm sure most owners try their best to keep a handle on this. It's difficult, but it's nature. I don't like them any more than anyone else does in their house or food.

Oliver
Sand Dollar A-11

I am wondering if e-prices will drop once the wind farm is functional. The windmills are up (18 of them). I understand that it will provide 50% of the power to the island and the diesel plant will be "converted" to run "bio-diesel." Sounds good. I imagine maintenance of the windmills may be quite expensive so prices dropping might not be likely.

Sandy, I understand that ants are all a part of tropical living, however, I think Tim is talking about a situation like we had at caribbean club, literally millions of ants would invade the kitchen every night. We left absolutely no food out & have no idea what they were after. There were so many of them it looked like the kitchen counters were alive. Hardly sounds like the owners did anything to keep a handle on it in my case or Tim's. I own a place on Bonaire too & I know that there are ants here & there & you have to spray & don't leave food out, the problem we had was much more than part of island life.

Will.

I don't know what the capacity of the turbines are on Bonaire but as a rule of thumb, the cost is $1m per MW of power. On Bonaire, the blades and generator magnets may last less than ten years so that has to be factored in.

In a similar circumstance in England, the payback time has been put at 20 years.

Thanks Trish:

What do you do for when the 'ANTS COME MARCHING IN'. Seems there could be several places with the problem and how are they solving it. Being a new owner, I'd like to have some type of resolution to offer. As an owner, yourself, have you run into the problem? If there is a way to keep on top of this, let me know. Critters are critters, and PESTS ARE PESTS.

Guys, I think the most important thing Tim is refrencin deals with attitude....it seems as this was the real problem....It's not like this was his first time, and obviously he was treated in a different manner than previous trips...I'm the same way,being from the south, it's all about the attitude not the money, and from what I get from Tim's post I think he feels this way also..I personally will never go to grand cayman again, due to attitudes of the dive operation, which by the way, had nothing to do with diving or safety, just lousy attitudes, and I have fortunately never experienced bad attitude in Bonaire, except at the airport......

there are several pest control companies on bonaire .. i prefer to use the government service .... you make an appointment at their office on Kaya Industria ... very reasonable, efficient and prompt.

Thanks Pietri. I will make note of this for future reference as I wouldn't want anyone renting from me to go through what Tim did. Yes, agreed. If the attitude toward Tim was portrayed as bad as the posting sounds, there was no need for that At All...........I'm sorry that this happened, and it can make for a lousy stay but hopefully the diving, dining and other encounters made up for this.

He had a bad experience. He posted it. In his eyes he felt it was "thievery." Those reading it may not feel the same but he is entitled to his opinion be it negative or positive.

I enjoy reading Bonairetalk but it never ceases to amaze me that just about every negative experience I read about has some individuals that put a spin on it.

Thank you Tim for your posting.

Will

I am very suprised at this negative post on Casa Iguana! I have stayed here and loved the villa and found the owner to be very pleasant and helpful. Not rude , ever. There is a notice posted on the bedroom doors which states that if you run the AC when your not a home, there will be an extra charge of $10 per day. Also, the breeze thru the living room is amazing when you open the windows and bedroom doors. I highly recommend this property to anyone looking for a wonderful vacation with lovely views and an ideal waterfront location. As for ants, as long as you clean up after yourself , there is not an big ant problem here that is any different than any other caribbean property. Also, the diving right off the villa deck is incredible!!