Fabulous Resort in Curacao!

I just got off a 12-day repo on the NCL Dawn...we called at Aruba, Curacao, St.Martin & St.Thomas...with 7 sea days mixed in ;). Ironically, in 41 cruises, I had never been to Curacao :eek:....but I'm a beach girl :p;)...did my research & found a wonderful place to spend the day....and I wanted to share what I found with fellow CC members who may be looking for a similar experience!

It's called Santa Barbara Resort & it's absolutely breathtaking! They picked up 5 of us at the port at 9:15 (they will pick you up at other times as may be necessary)...drove us about 25 minutes to the resort, & gave us full access to their 2 beautiful pools, beach, restaurants/bars, and grounds. They give you towels so you don't have to bring from the ship, unlimited food...they have 2 restaurants called Splash which is more casual & has burgers, tacos, salads etc....& a more upscale one called Medi. They will serve you unlimited drinks including alcohol, wine & beer :eek:. The staff there was terrific, they couldn't do enough to make us happy. At 3PM the van was ready to take us back to the ship.

It cost $99/pp total...$10 when you book it online and $89 when you show up at the guest services desk. You do your deposit at www dot resortforaday dot com.

Good luck everyone! If you have any questions let me know ;).

I just got off a 12-day repo on the NCL Dawn...we called at Aruba, Curacao, St.Martin & St.Thomas...with 7 sea days mixed in ;). Ironically, in 41 cruises, I had never been to Curacao :eek:....but I'm a beach girl :p;)...did my research & found a wonderful place to spend the day....and I wanted to share what I found with fellow CC members who may be looking for a similar experience!

 

It's called Santa Barbara Resort & it's absolutely breathtaking! They picked up 5 of us at the port at 9:15 (they will pick you up at other times as may be necessary)...drove us about 25 minutes to the resort, & gave us full access to their 2 beautiful pools, beach, restaurants/bars, and grounds. They give you towels so you don't have to bring from the ship, unlimited food...they have 2 restaurants called Splash which is more casual & has burgers, tacos, salads etc....& a more upscale one called Medi. They will serve you unlimited drinks including alcohol, wine & beer :eek:. The staff there was terrific, they couldn't do enough to make us happy. At 3PM the van was ready to take us back to the ship.

 

It cost $99/pp total...$10 when you book it online and $89 when you show up at the guest services desk. You do your deposit at www dot resortforaday dot com.

 

Good luck everyone! If you have any questions let me know ;).

Sounds too good to be true. Are all the food, drinks, and transportation included in the $99?

Sounds too good to be true. Are all the food, drinks, and transportation included in the $99?

Yes, they are.

Thanks for sharing the details. We booked the same just a few weeks ago for our upcoming trip ... Did you see any water activities that we available on the property & were they extra?

I just got off a 12-day repo on the NCL Dawn...we called at Aruba, Curacao, St.Martin & St.Thomas...with 7 sea days mixed in ;). Ironically, in 41 cruises, I had never been to Curacao :eek:....but I'm a beach girl :p;)...did my research & found a wonderful place to spend the day....and I wanted to share what I found with fellow CC members who may be looking for a similar experience!

 

It's called Santa Barbara Resort & it's absolutely breathtaking! They picked up 5 of us at the port at 9:15 (they will pick you up at other times as may be necessary)...drove us about 25 minutes to the resort, & gave us full access to their 2 beautiful pools, beach, restaurants/bars, and grounds. They give you towels so you don't have to bring from the ship, unlimited food...they have 2 restaurants called Splash which is more casual & has burgers, tacos, salads etc....& a more upscale one called Medi. They will serve you unlimited drinks including alcohol, wine & beer :eek:. The staff there was terrific, they couldn't do enough to make us happy. At 3PM the van was ready to take us back to the ship.

 

It cost $99/pp total...$10 when you book it online and $89 when you show up at the guest services desk. You do your deposit at www dot resortforaday dot com.

 

Good luck everyone! If you have any questions let me know ;).

Many thanks for sharing. I'm just looking into this resort for our cruise in October. I've been sent the info from the resort and just had one query. Under the section that states whats included it say "house brand beers". Do you know if that includes Budweiser? Thanks again

Many thanks for sharing. I'm just looking into this resort for our cruise in October. I've been sent the info from the resort and just had one query. Under the section that states whats included it say "house brand beers". Do you know if that includes Budweiser? Thanks again

Found this on two of their menus ...

http://www.santabarbararesortcuracao.com/i/downloads/Medi_Beverage.pdf

Brion •$4.00

Polar •$4.00

Presidente •$6.

Presidente Light •$6.00

Amstel •$5.50

Amstel Bright •$5.50

Heineken •$5.50

Corona •$6.00

Not sure if these are the House Brands or if it's Brion, which is a pale ale brewed in Curacao, or the Polar, which is a Venezuelan American lager.

Found this on two of their menus ...

 

http://www.santabarbararesortcuracao.com/i/downloads/Medi_Beverage.pdf

 

Brion •$4.00

Polar •$4.00

Presidente •$6.

Presidente Light •$6.00

Amstel •$5.50

Amstel Bright •$5.50

Heineken •$5.50

Corona •$6.00

 

 

Not sure if these are the House Brands or if it's Brion, which is a pale ale brewed in Curacao, or the Polar, which is a Venezuelan American lager.

Generally House Brand Beer is whatever they have on tap/draught. Which means you can't get the canned or bottled beer, just the draught. I would ask the resort what the house brand is. I highly doubt it would be Bud. I'm guessing Amstel, Polar or Brion. Last time we were there Amstel was the easiest and most common beer to come by, but that was quite a few years ago.

Thank you so much! Sounds wonderful! :D

LuLu

thanks for posting this. I am looking to do a day pass there in November

I just got off a 12-day repo on the NCL Dawn...we called at Aruba, Curacao, St.Martin & St.Thomas...with 7 sea days mixed in ;). Ironically, in 41 cruises, I had never been to Curacao :eek:....but I'm a beach girl :p;)...did my research & found a wonderful place to spend the day....and I wanted to share what I found with fellow CC members who may be looking for a similar experience!

 

It's called Santa Barbara Resort & it's absolutely breathtaking! They picked up 5 of us at the port at 9:15 (they will pick you up at other times as may be necessary)...drove us about 25 minutes to the resort, & gave us full access to their 2 beautiful pools, beach, restaurants/bars, and grounds. They give you towels so you don't have to bring from the ship, unlimited food...they have 2 restaurants called Splash which is more casual & has burgers, tacos, salads etc....& a more upscale one called Medi. They will serve you unlimited drinks including alcohol, wine & beer :eek:. The staff there was terrific, they couldn't do enough to make us happy. At 3PM the van was ready to take us back to the ship.

 

It cost $99/pp total...$10 when you book it online and $89 when you show up at the guest services desk. You do your deposit at www dot resortforaday dot com.

 

Good luck everyone! If you have any questions let me know ;).

Many thanks for sharing. I'm just looking into this resort for our cruise in October. I've been sent the info from the resort and just had one query. Under the section that states whats included it say "house brand beers". Do you know if that includes Budweiser? Thanks again

Budweiser is not considered a house brand anywhere on the island (not very popular). I'm a fan of Bud Light myself and it's not being served at lots of establishments.

Visited the resort just last week & agree that is amazing. The food and drinks were as advertised and the staff is eager to please. They do not treat cruisers as second class guest and were eager to find out more about our trip.

I ordered the Brion beer just to try the local brand. We also ordered mimosas and several of the featured cocktails on the marquee at the pool bar. The grounds are incredible as well and they have loungers with umbrellas for the beach and pool. The servers will bring drinks to you and never expect an extra tip. At the end of the day, we did tip one particular server that gave us extra attention throughout the day.

There is also WiFi in the great hall (lobby) that you can catch from the first pool area. We will definitely be visiting here again and even are considering an extended visit on their AI package.

We will definitely be visiting here again and even are considering an extended visit on their AI package.

THIS is what we want to hear!! Glad you had a great time and hope you come back again.

I just booked this yesterday for our port stop in July. We are very excited! I will come back and update after the cruise.

Did you book via email. I sent them an email a week ago and no response.

Hope you enjoy your July visit

I booked the same way the OP did, through resortforaday.com. Paid $10/person to hold the reservation and will pay the balance when we arrive at Santa Barbara Resort.

Thanks

I would rather spend my day on the beach than around a pool. What is the beach there like? Palm trees? White sand? Beautiful blue water? Lots of chairs? Thanks in advance!

Check their website, many pictures

I would rather spend my day on the beach than around a pool. What is the beach there like? Palm trees? White sand? Beautiful blue water? Lots of chairs? Thanks in advance!

They have a very large beach with lots of shade as well as loungers & umbrellas - all of which is included. We did not see palms but rather small trees that are common to eagle beach in Aruba. But not sure what they're called.

Just booked thru resortforaday.com for 2/25/16

Thanks for the review and info.

Omgosh.... Santa Barbara Resort was FANTASTIC!!!! I love CC for giving me this recommendation for an excursion in Curaçao because we had the BEST time there last week. Totally, totally worth the $99!!!!!

It is a long ride out there, about 40-45 minutes. But they checked us in quickly and we were able to get breakfast at the buffet within a half hour. The food was really, really good. We also ate lunch in the buffet right before we left at 2:45 pm. And the service was impeccable. Bring cash to tip because you can't charge it to your bill since the code they give you isn't attached to a room on the property.

Make sure you ask questions about how the day pass works before you leave the front desk. Most of the staff was unable to answer those kind of questions. But they did make an effort to find out if they didn't know. Only issue was with getting a towel but the guy just gave it to us after we told him we were on the day pass.

The drinks were nice and strong. The bartenders were happy to make whatever we wanted.

It wasn't that crowded at the pool. They had big lounge beds you can rent but, once again, you have to pay with cash. There were great views of the ocean there. The bay beach area had loungers available if you walked down toward the pier with the yachts. We spent most of the day in the water. There were inflatable floats available. My kids were told they could use the paddle boards with no additional fee. After more than a hour, a nice boy came to get them and apologized that we were given the wrong info. I don't know how much they were supposed to cost but my son was given a price of $15 for the kayaks. I didn't think it was worth it because the inlet area is not that big.

It was such a fabulous and enjoyable day! I wish we could've stayed overnight and had more time to walk the resort. My DD said we have to go back to stay at the property for a week.

Some pictures...

Sorry if they're coming up pixelated. I tried to change the size but didn't seem to work.

We are booked at SBR in Feb '16. Does anyone know if they offer Stand-Up Paddle Boarding? Also, is the water fairly calm? Thanks in advance