Boa Vista Experience

[jlc1978]

Hiya

First time posting on here.

Getting anxious. SO READY to book our hols to Boa Vista and the Riu for June 09 but need to know if it opened on time and what its like.

The moment anyone gets back, could they post their review,piccies etc?

Would be very grateful

Jo

[admin]

Hi Jo,

welcome to the forum.

The Riu opened on time please follow the link below to find the relevant posting on the forum:

http://boavistaexperience.phpbbweb.com/viewtopic.php?t=225&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=105

As far as postings on what the Riu is like, I am a bit disappointed that no one has posted anything yet. I cannot believe that there is no internet access at the Riu. We will just have to wait.

Regards,

John Dowling

[notalamb]

Hi

I am also surprised that nobody has a posted to the Forum from this new hotel. It should be up and running now, and therefore people should be able to share experiences of how well it is all working out.

Our family is due to be flying out there on 19th December for two weeks, so you can imagine over that very high season we have invested a significant amount of our net income in this particular holiday. I suppose that's why I am being at bit paranoid in hoping to hear some good news about this new glorious location.

So if anyone is sitting at the Riu, and has some nice piccies and has 10 minutes to spare, please post your pictures.

Many thanks

Alan

[Lorian]

Maybe the RIU doesn't have it's internet connection/room yet.

Even if they do iy might be dfficult to post pictures. Often these type of hotels setups have canned windows/IE sessions and no access to USB ports etc.

[admin]

Interestingly though, Johns videos of Boa Vista on youtube (jakdowling) have shown an exponential increase in viewings over the last 4 days from Cape Verde. Previously African viewings were insignificant, Portugal + Germany being the leading viewers. These could be all the European visitors on Boa Vista, staying at the Riu, but non-posters on the forum because of language barriers!
Andre

[Lorian]

In your phpbbweb admin panel you probably have access to access logs with IP addresses. If you find the most popular, and do a reverse DNS lookup maybe that would be enlightening.

I'm not suggesting you post up IP address of course, I'm a great believer in privacy.

[admin]

Lorian,

thank you for the advice. my website hosting company provide me with statistics. The majority of hits to the website come from Northern Europe, and there has been a sharp increase in interest form Sweden, Portugal and Germany which coincides with the recent flights to Boa Vista. You Tube also offer a service called INSIGHT that allows you to view which countries the videos I have uploaded are being viewed from. Again the viewings are almost exclusively from Northern Europe however on Friday 7/11 the biggest country viewing the videos became Cape Verde with almost as many viewings as the whole of Northern Europe put together. Coincidentally this was the day that the first Thomson flight landed on Boa Vista.

Regards,

John Dowling

[CLS.1277]

This has probably already been discussed so you'll have to excuse me, but does anybody know how far the wreck of the Santa Maria is from the Riu Karamboa?

[MadMacStew]

Hi CLS,

Looks to be about 8 clicks, but looking at the terrain, I'd definitely take a couple of litres of water!

[jlc1978]

Only prob is I cant speak French or German so if anyone would like to translate them for us, that would be great. But I kinda gathered hotel is very good and they have included a handful of photos

[boris]

With regards to guests posting from the hotel, i would have thought they have better things to do on holiday.
I'm sure in the next couple of weeks there will be plenty of reviews and as for the people going before then, they will have been well aware that reviews would be few if any.
I bet this time next year the prices will have jumped quite a bit. i think we have all got good deals.

[mgs4dj]

Hi from the Karamboa - yes we have been too busy enjoying ourselves to post!! Now the sun is a little too warm i have come inside to file this.

We arrived on Monday 3rd November Gatwick - sal - Boa vista, TACV connection was great perfectly timed with our flight from Gatwick, 15 mins flying time, 45 mins waiting for baggage claim at Rabil Airport.
We caught a Taxi from the Airport to the Karamboa which is about 5 mins ride away 600esc. All the Taxi´s are 4x4 pickups like the Mitsubishi L200 with a crew cab & additional bench seats in the rear.

Upon arriving at the Hotel we found it is 95% complete with just little finishing touches being attended to & obvious staff training on going.
The reception was alittle chaotic with language being the main concern regarding sorting payment etc. However there are many staff from the Funana in SAL here sorting out the systems and things have improved greatly in the last few days with check-in at reception being faster now.

It is fair to say the Hotel has been experiencing a few technical teething problems, no water, no electricity and the odd plumbing problem, but these have been attended to swiftly and normal service resumed very quickly, there appears to be atrouble shooting team on hand 24hrs to ensure any disruption is kept to a minimum.

There are Mosquito´s in the Hotel which have been a an annoyance, I would recommend spraying your bedroom with insecticide spray as you leave the room for evening meals paying particular attention to the curtains where they love to hide. We have suffered bites most nights due to lack of spraying.

I could go on for hours however I think the following should help future visitors :

Do bring
1. insect repellant
2. minor medications, paracetemol etc, optrex!! bite stick (from Boots)
3. plenty of sun tan lotion
4. bring a Hat
5. comfortable shoes
6. phone charger

Don´t bring
1. Coats
2. Mother-in-law!!

I will put on another post shortly when I have some more credit 900esc for 1hr.

Kind regards
Martyn

[notalamb]

Thank you so much for posting from within Fortress Karamboa. It is great to hear from someone who is actually there, and well done on having the guts to be one of the first guests.

The mosiquito info is both worrying and useful as I suffer at their hands and your info will allow me to better prepare. I will be going through Customs looking like a pharmaceuticals rep.

How well is the hotel completed at the present? Is the building work done? Are the gardens looking finished? Also are there many people there? I have a seventeen year old daughter who is worried sick that there will be no other teenagers there. What is your experience?

Many thanks

Alan Hughes

[admin]

Martyn,

You hold the distinction of being the first person to post on the forum directly from the Riu Karamboa. Many thanks, I am sure that many people will be reading your feedback.

CLS, your posting re: the wreck of the Santa Maria will get buried in the feedback from the Riu Karamboa. Can I suggest that you post the question as a seperate topic where it will be easier for people to answer. Or alternatively look at the topic under "places of interest" on the forum and you will find more details about getting to the wreck there.

Regards,

John Dowling

[ozzy]

were flying out on 19th dec 4 2 weeks i have 2 sons age 20 and 17 also im taking my niece who is 18 so hope this makes your daughter feel alittle bit better regards tania gardner