Arriving at 6:30 a.m. from the West Coast USA (so 3:30 am our time) but can't check in until 3:00 p.m. Any suggestions from the seasoned travelers/visitors on what to do in the sleep-deprived interim?

Nothing like a hop into Bonaire's beautiful waters for a snorkel to wake you right up!!

Welcome to BT.

Mostly go to your place, and leave your bags at the desk. Check out the property, find a lounge and catch a nap. Make sure your in the shade!

Some places will allow an early check-in if the room is empty and serviced.

If your going private rental, I dunno!

Have a wonderful trip.

Mooch off someone already on island (Pat and Mary) to borrow their bed for the nap. Ha! Ha! No really. It's nice to have friends that offer to meet you at the airport and let you relax/nap while you wait for 3 o'clock check in.

Start schmoozing.

Where are you staying? We have had great luck with private accommodations and hotels. Never really had to wait until 3, even without booking the night before, like some people suggest.

A MAJOR issue with the red-eye out of Houston.

We finally figured this out, but it does add expense. Unless we are assured guaranteed early arrival check-in, we book the room for the night before arrival. We're coming to Bonaire again (trip #15) in February via Continental through Houston. This time we caught a break -- the resort (Harbour Village) guaranteed us early check-in on Saturday. Had they not able to do that, we would have booked the room for Friday night before arrival as well.

BTW, this is our 11th stay at Harbour Village. Each time they have been straight with us -- most of the time insuring early access, and other times alerting us to book the night before arrival to insure access upon arrival.

We figured this out on a trip to Paris. After a 6:30 AM arrival, we had to wander around the city until we had the blind staggers! Finally, at 3:00 PM, we had access to our room, and could freshen up, go potty with some privacy, and crash for an hour or so. As a result, we were able to enjoy a delightful dinner that evening at a sidewalk cafe right around the corner from our hotel.

I suspect if you're young enough this isn't so much of an issue. But this trip we are 62 and 69, and it is important...

Bummer!

Find a place to stay that will let you check in when you arrive or will help you out in some way! Not every place makes you wait till 3 PM.... Not very good customer service, IMO - they KNOW that the red eye gets in at 6 AM!

Even if the place isn't cleaned you should be able to get your gear and do your check out dive and make use of the time before you actually get in your room.

I couldn't stand to "waste" that much time on island....

Thanks for the suggestions, all. Staying at Coral Paradise, and hoping they'll allow an early(ier) check-in. I am still waiting to hear from them about it. A red-eye is really hard on my system (Jeff understands, sounds like (thanks!)), but hopefully all will be well. Really excited to find out what would make someone return to a place 15 times!

Hi, Hilary,

My wife and I are pikers compared to many Bonaire talkers. Lots of them come several times a year, and have been doing so for years. Jackie and I fell in love with the place on our first trip. Neither of us dives, but Jackie snorkels 3-4 hours a day, and I can sit on the beach and stand in neck-deep water for hours. The whole feel of the island is unlike anyplace we've ever been -- the people, the sense of welcome we feel, the international feel, the restaurants...well, see and sense for yourself.

Hope you love it....

Strange they wouldn't allow check in until 3pm the people that used many of the room the week before are getting on that same flight that just landed. The Carib inn let us check in early and I think the Wanna dive hut did too. We usually hit the City Cafe for breakfast then too the resort.

Re checking in before 3pm...I think it has more to do with when the hotel's housekeeping staff shows up, vs when someone checked out as to whether or not a room is ready. Just a guess, but I doubt many places get housekeeping to show up at 4am...that's probably more of a 7am - 3pm shift.

Remember the Delta flight on Saturday doesn't leave till 2-3 pm and most of the resorts have a 12:00 noon checkout for these folks! Just our 2 cents.

Coral Paradise responded that it depends on whether the room is ready/occupied or not (if not, we can check in right away or maybe shortly after noon), but we will be able to store our luggage safely if we can't check in until 3. And they said that this is the way for all hotels on the island. Thanks everyone for the tips! (Now I'm going over the the dive conversation to ask about water temps in November! What a great resource!)

Hilary that was exactly how Buddy Dive handled us.

Hilary what day do u get to Bonaire? We will be there some of Nov.

We get there the morning of Nov 20. We are visiting my daughter, who is studying with the CIEE Bonaire program. She says the CIEE "compound" is off limits :-) Kids. . .

Hilary, you have to see the compound, meet the staff, it is very common for parents to visit. Obviously at a pre-arranged time, so nobody is getting woken up!!! We still visit the lectures and talk to the staff, even without having a student there anymore! It is such a nice place. The research being done every day is very interesting.Maybe you are there for the Research Paper presentation, I am sure you have looked into their schedule. We listened to the Spring Semester presentations, didn't know any of the students, was very interesting.

Oh, we definitely will spend time there, tour the compound (that noun cracks me up), and meet her fellow students and the CIEE professors/dive instructors, but she's just telling me I can't show up at oh-dark-thirty on Saturday morning to crash after a red-eye flight :-) She knows I'm a ninny when it comes to lack of sleep, but her sympathy only goes so far . . .

It's nice to know that the work they do at CIEE is interesting and that people can sit in on the presentations if they're so inclined. Unfortunately, we won't be there for her presentation on sea urchins, which occurs later, I think. We're just coming to celebrate her 21st birthday and bring her a little Thanksgiving from home!

Also just got BSDME (6th Ed) in the mail! Now we're set!

Hilary, once you have seen it you understand the name! Barbed wire all around the very high walls, glass on top of every wall, alarm system it is definitely a compound. Yes, we told her not to worry with our early arrival. But as I said earlier in this thread we were always pleasantly surprised to have a room ready (in 3 different places) early in the morning. By the time our daughter rolled out of bed, we had unpacked and were ready to hit Cultimara or Warehouse. The presentations are actually publicised in the Bonaire Reporter and a large sign on the Road alerts the public.

marge, when i saw this thread i'm thinking "uh oh...i'll bet marge posts something." didn't i tell you that great minds think alike?

with american airlines discontinuing service to bonaire it has put everybody in somewhat of a bind. in some of the smaller hotels that have a small housekeeping staff that staff could have to get 5 or 10 rooms ready as soon as possible if a lot of guests are arriving on the continental. most housekeeping staff don't start working till 8AM (occasionally 7AM).

many hotels and private residences allow you to get into your room early if it's clean. all you can do is hope. realize they are doing the best they can.

What and where is CIEE? Thanks

www.cieebonaire.org KAYA GOBERNADOR N. DEBROT 26 , close to Pasa Bon Pizza, a Study Abroad Program, Research Station, location for public talks = a unique place on Bonaire. A lot of studies being done on Bonaire (one example the LIONFISH necropsies) are facilitated by CIEE personnel.

CIEE stands for Council on International Educational Exchange. The organization runs programs all over the world: www.ciee.org. My daughter is at CIEE Bonaire for one semester to study marine biology and reef ecology. There are 16 students in the program this semester from all over the US.

What and where is CIEE? Thanks



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