True story. I had decided on the resort, and done some reviewing of others’ experiences, and had settled upon Villas Sol. Yes, that’s my role in the family. La Fille ™ tells me what she wants, and I go find it. In this case, because of Elliotte (stupid baby!) we’re going all inclusive.
And so I browsed and reviewed and settled. Although I found it on Sell Off Vacations (dot com), I voted for an extra boost of karma by going directly to the Sunquest site. No price advantage, but here’s hoping the karma works out.
And so (so), there I am, entering credit card info, traveller names and addresses (getting a particularly giddy feeling in seeing the name of Elliotte Buracas – she’s going a tripping!), and I’m just about to press “Return” when I have a thought.
Dangerous things, thoughts. So I move on over to another browser tab and begin looking for more reviews for Villas Sol. The first few had looked good, but were a bit dated (three years out of date, to be more precise). Good thing I did, too.
We just returned from a two week stay in Costa Rica and are in shock by such a wonderful country having a resort as terrible as Villa Sol.
Costa Rica is not a third world country but you’ll think it is at Villas Sol Hotel and Beach Club!
The only thing this hotel has going for it is the view. The majority of the hotel is under construction, making your vacation noisy, noisy.
Yeh… no. Time to perhaps find someplace else.
Shorter version: I rechose Barcela Langosta Beach, near Tamarindo.
It’s kind of weird to be going all inclusive, but the baby situation, and the need to be nominally taken care of (if need be) is just so overwhelming. The economics work out pretty well too. For $1 100 per person, we get airfare seven nights accomodation, and as many meals as we want. I’m used to spending more than that on airfare alone, so already I count ourselves ahead. Delta, with a transfer in Salt Lake City, would like me to pay $965 each for the pleasure. And Barcelo would charge us $2 318 for a week of room, were we to book directly.
Travel tip: yes, the seats are cramped(er), but when price is of absolute importance, try to grab a tour charter, even if you don’t plan to take advantage of the accommodations.
I was in fact a bit skeptical about the pricing, and so I hopped onto Lonely Planet’s Thorn Tree (a big bulletin board for travellers), and posted the question:
A question for y’all… How is it that Costa Rica is so damned cheap? Am I missing anything? What I mean is this: one week, all inclusive at a 4+ resort, taxes, gratuities, and airfare from Calgary. All under a grand.
The responses are typically “traveller”. You should go read them.
And so there we go, all planned up and ready to go. We leave March 10, returning on the 17th.