July, 2009
Rating: 4 out of 10
The Tariff:
4 day stay for a family of 4
Location and Atmosphere
Granted, visiting for a short time during the start of the monsoon
season, we did not get the best view of this resort or of Goa itself for
that matter. We were told the resort was the Nova Goa, but actually it
is a “sister” property (perhaps an evil stepsister). Although it is an
older property, it is medium sized, nicely landscaped, and has all the
amenities a guest might expect. It has a pool, next to that is a
building with an exercise room and a game room. There is a small bar
area and dining room; our breakfast buffet was served there. We stayed
in a 2 bedroom suite, which was quite roomy and had two bathrooms, a
large living room, two balconies, and a kitchen. Our first problem was a
lack of graciousness on the part of the staff, especially in the small
lobby where visitors form their first impressions of the place. Outside
was a broken up side street, no driveway or waiting area for cabs to
pick up passengers.
Another problem is that everything is just a bit dingier than a
westerner might expect. The photo on the website is clearly from when
the resort first opened before years of rain and humid weather took its
toll on the concrete buildings staining them black and gray.
The
entrances to the rooms are up external staircases, which are very dark
and dreary. We were on the 3rd floor. The rooms in our apt. were bare as
far as decoration and even the kitchen, which had a long marble counter,
had nothing usable in it save for a small refrigerator. No soap, no
towels, no dishes or cooking utensils, no microwave, no hot water
kettle; bottled water was not even available!
We
were surprised to notice that some people seemed to live there. They had
mailboxes installed in the hall and huge padlocks on their doors for
when they were away. Maybe it’s part condo or timeshare? That could
explain the less than stellar reception and service.
Uninterrupted power and internet service is a problem all over India,
but it was definitely the worst at this location, with short outages at
least 10 times a day.
No
screen doors on the main balcony meant that in order to get fresh air we
also got huge numbers of mosquitoes and were bitten severely at
night. This is even more of a concern due to malaria.
Amenities
Along with our package
came two sightseeing outings. One annoyance was having to hang onto all
of these tiny cheap coupons we were given for everything including
the sight seeing and the breakfasts. The bus that took us to a
"River Cruise" with traditional dancing demonstration merely took us to
a ferry that rode around the river (in the pouring rain) while an
obnoxious mc introduced four dances and in between he acted as a hard-sell dance dj for the passengers ("Common now, this one is for the
ladies. Can we see all the ladies up here? Ladies, come up
and dance to..."). Frankly it's lucky no one slipped and broke a leg on
the soaking wet deck stage! I spent the evening anxiously thinking about
missing our bus back because we were told quite clearly to memorize the
long id number of our bus and to look for it in a lot full of busses
several blocks down the street. Our 'guide' said if we missed it we were on our
own! Our other trip was about 4 hours riding around Goa--in the rain
again--and stopping to see a few sights--the ruins of a fort, a beach
town, and a more remote beach. Our guide had a fast spiel as we
approached each location and it was always topped off by warning us of
dangers and of being left behind. Otherwise he didn't pay any attention
to us at all, just sat up front and talked to the driver. There was no
map to help us orient ourselves to this area, there were no brochures,
no refreshments or amenities of any kind. We were asked not to
come back into the bus wet, thus making the bus seats wet and causing
the bus to smell bad--did I mention that the monsoon rains had begun?
Otherwise, we ate breakfast in the restaurant each morning as it was
included in our package. The selections were juice (x), a bit of fresh
fruit (x), sliced bread (you could have it toasted upon request) and a
large bowl of spread and one of jelly (unhygenic), then a variety of
warm items depending on the day: aloo paratha, idli, sambur, masala
omelete (these were good), no cereal or milk, or pastries…. Here the
staff didn't go out of their way to serve or to be friendly.
In
fairness, being soaked every day, unable to go to the beach, and not
being near any particular sights that we could discern clearly put a
damper (pun intended) on our visit. However, even in good weather I’m
not sure this resort would have been a great experience.
Kamat
Holiday Homes
Calangute, Goa, India |
