Hi Friends,
This is our review about Tropicana service. My friends and I, wanted to come back to Bonaire, since that my first time there I couldn´t dive. We thought that the first place we had been was a bit unsafe, so we searched on Tripadvisor and found Tropicana, with good reviews and price.
We sent an email and setup up everything with Irene, we made the reservation and didn´t needed to pay anything in advance. One week before going to Bonaire we sent an email to inform the time our plane would arrive at Bonaire.
Our first impression upon arriving in the neighborhood was a quiet and friendly place. Irene was there waiting for us, she showed us the apartment and told that we could count on for anything we needed.
After unpacking, we found a little friend inside our apartment. A little mouse was the previous guest. This was our first adventure, trying to get the mouse and kill or get rid of it. Well, everything ok. The apartment is in front of a vacant lot, so we didn´t care much about that. In case, we are divers with a lot of courage, lol.
We had a great week, there were guests in the other apartments. On Wednesday we met Irene around and she invited to a barbecue on Thursday at 6pm. On Thursday we waked up early and went diving, we missed others guests, but no problem until then.
At 6:30 pm we passed by the apartment to get money to pay for the Barbecue, we met some strange guys on the street, and we didn´t pay attention and cared about that. We arrive at the Barbecue that was on the street behind the apartment buiding. We were having fun through when Irene arrived scared, and asking if we left the lights on, we didn´t paid attention to that. But she came back again after checking the apartment and told us that we had been robbed.
The burglars took all of our electronic stuff. The following is the list of our stuff they took:
- Acer Netbook
- Google Nexus S
- Iphone 3gs
- Sony Erickson cellphone
- 2 Nokia cellphone
- 2 harddrives
- Oakley Juliet sunglass
- Targus notebook Bag
- Citzen Divers Watch
- 16gb corsair pendrive
Thank God that they didn´t found our money, reserved to pay the apartment rental. All our personal stuff, passports, credit cards and brazilian money was left behind.
We arrived at the apartment and Irene´s husband had called the police. I talked to them, and explained that we had seen two guys in front of the apartment. They asked us to try to identify the guys, but we were unable to do it, because it was dark and we didn´t pay any close attention at all. I went to Irene´s house, they offer me the computer, to cancel my credit cards that I thought that had been taken away. I´ve talked to her husband, and he said that is a problem that happens all around the world, and that was the third time that happened to them.
The cops asked us to make a list of missing things that they would pass by after to get it. When I gave the list to Musheline (the responsible for the report), I asked her how safe is the neighborhood and she told me that Tropicana gets robbed 5 or 6 times a year.
We attached images to show the locks of our apartments. When we came back after that shock, we noticed that the other apartments had a metal to protect the locks from being broken, but our didn´t.
I got so scared , that I told the guys that we should pay the rental promptly. We chose to stay in the same apartment, since we lost all of our electronic stuff, there were nothing left to be stolen. I gave Irene the money, and she didn´t offer any discount or anything to try to repair our damage. Thanks God that our scuba gear was with us.
Another thing I notice about the security. When I was at Irene´s house, I notice that they have extra locks and alarm sensors on all windows. When her husband and I left the house to try to search for all things on the vacant lot, he promptly turned the alarm on. Thus tells me that the neighborhood is insecure.
We lost all the our pictures, we had taken in curacao before, it was 10 day diving pictures, that would never been replaced. We advise you, don´t spend your time staying on Tropicana, look for more secure places. Check the neighborhoods with the local police before choosing a place to stay.