Hotel
Floris Suites – Unlike most of our trips, for this getaway we booked a package deal with airfare and hotel through AA vacations. We considered 6 different hotels, and though the Floris Suites is not on the water, their combination of price and reviews won us over.
Upon arrival the lobby is a little confusing, as the large desk you see is unoccupied. Instead, check-in was in an office to the right. Initially we were given a room next to the kitchen (room 1) which would have been noisy in the morning and evening; thankfully we were able to move to room 31 which was on the other side of the building. Our room was the smallest type they have, a Junior Suite with a kitchenette, sitting area and queen bed.
Plenty big for us! The room was quite comfortable, and the kitchen space was very handy to have. Some rooms have a garden view, others a pool view – we didn’t see much difference between those, but we liked the second floor better.
Lobby seating area
Hotel affiliated food
We checked in around 9pm, so on that first night we headed to the lobby bar for drinks and a snack. Eric tried the chicken satay skewers and the Bon Bini (white rum, green curacao, lemon juice and pineapple juice). Leandra tried the spicy meatballs and a Sjalotte (peach liquor, malibu rum, blue curacao and coconut cream). All together it made for a nice start to our weekend.
The hotel provides towels and access to Pirate Bay Beach Club and Restaurant on Piscadera Beach. We thought the beach was a reasonably nice site with good morning shade, but without movable umbrellas so we had to move our chairs around to stay in shade as the day progressed. The club was medium busy on weekend, a bit noisy with small kids. Chairs were always available but varied in their degree of comfort. Snorkeling wasn’t great along this beach, really only decent along the docks. We had lunch at the club once, splitting a ham and cheese toastie and making our own shandy by mixing limeade and beer. Charging to our room didn’t work here or at hotel bar and we never figured out why…
Food
Kome – Housed in an open two story building we were seated on the 2nd floor with a fun view of the downstairs. We wanted to start with a sparkling wine, but they were out of the bottle we wanted, so we switched to a rose. Leandra had scoped out the menu online and came in wanting the bouillabaisse, while Eric ordered the satay noodles as a starter and the beef tenderloin. Our waitress came back with apologies for the second time as they had given Eric an old menu and the satay was no longer ordered… he just stuck with his entree at that point. Besides the small missteps in ordering our experience was great and the food was very nice. The chocolate brownie dessert was great finish too.
Rozendaels – Our experience here started out nicely with a table outside on their large patio. However, they had a rush of tables around 7:30p, and we were ignored from that point on. Our dirty plates sat for almost 30 minutes after we were clearly done with our meal and we couldn’t get anyone’s attention. Finally, Eric got up and went inside to get the manager who cleared our plates without so much as a word. They never asked about dessert and we were so fed up we just paid the bill and left. It’s a shame, as the food itself was pretty good, but the experience was such that we just wouldn’t bother returning.
Centrum supermarket – On Saturday morning we made a trip here for groceries. Fresh pineapple, ham and cheese croissants, juice, etc. made up our breakfast each morning, while chips, cheese and adult beverages were enjoyed in the evening (or midday!).
local rum and a South African rose