Club Med Columbus Isle

Hi Folks,

I'm back after a lovely week at Columbus Isle! Further travels and the press of work made it hard to get this written up, but I'm sure the info is still good, at least for the summer!

This was my 5th visit to Columbus and I think my 25th to a CM village. For that, the CM gave me 2 bottles of water in my room, ha ha! So nothing new there. But then as there were people in my group (the Reef Police) for whom it was something like their 98th time to CM, I suppose I am pretty much a newbie.

<b>Scuba:</b> As many of you know, this is why I go, so it takes first place. The scuba team this season is excellent, run by Jean-Paul and Stphane, who were there last year. Another familiar face from last year was Lauden, whose energy and enthusiasm make for a great day on the boat! And some of you will remember the fabulous, kind Aniella, who was there last August. Other excellent scuba GOs included Audrey, Eve, Saffet and Mathieu. Some of you may know Gary, a scuba GO who's been with CM for many years. And of course, the great boat captain, Tony, is still there! The team is animated, well-organised and hard-working, the way I like to see a scuba team operate.

The diving itself was quite good, with a lot of sharks this year (due to some other operations feeding them lionfish, perhaps?). I mainly saw reef sharks, but others spotted hammerheads, too. And on several of the dives, we spotted turtles, although I almost committed underwater murder on a stupid photographer who damaged coral while trying to get his turtle picture. Agh!

My only complaint about the scuba is about the weights on the dive boats - funny, because I've never complained about that before! For some reason, all of the weights were 3 pounds and there were only a few 1 or 2 pound weights available. As I was having weighting issues with my new wetsuit and fins, this meant I had to add another 6 pounds to be balanced. Not so much a problem underwater, as I just added more air, but coming back up that dive ladder was NOT fun. Fortunately, Tony was usually there to help me back up into the boat!

<b>Food: </b> The general conclusion of everybody was that the food was much better this year than in previous years. I didn't get a chance to go to the annex restaurant, Watlins, but those who did said it was excellent & some people booked to eat there almost every night.

The new thing was the change in the lunch service in the second restaurant, over the Sea Centre. In the past, it had been like the main restaurant with a buffet service. But this has now been changed into table service, with GEs coming over to wait on you. Personally, I liked it and was quite fine with the situation. But others (particularly divers who wanted to eat quickly so they could go on the afternoon boat) found the service taking too long and were going to the main restaurant to eat. It will be interesting to see if that stays. Having said that, I must add that Patrick, who runs it, is doing a nice job & the dish with the chunk of grilled tuna is to die for!

Also - when I arrived, the grill at the Azul Beach Bar was not opened in the afternoons, creating problems for those of us who crave a Caesar Chicken Wrap at 5pm. However, it then opened later in the week & I think it will stay open the rest of the season.

<b>Bar:</b> The service was good, even at crowded moments. Some folks had issues when they wanted a complicated cocktail and didn't get what they wanted. So I would warn anyone doing that to pay attention and watch the bartender making your drink! As I had my usual Mimosas, this presented no problems for me.

<b>Dress themes:</b> there was the usual elegant night and one night called "Colours", but that's about all I can tell you because the themes were posted near the main restaurant every day. As I'm a diver, I basically lived at the Sea Centre end of the village all day and then came to the main restaurant at night. It would be great if somebody could post the day's dress theme at the second restaurant as well.

<b>Reception:</b> The team is well run by Alex and Andranne was also a fantastic help. For some reason, I kept having problems with my wake-up call at 7 am: sometimes it came at 6:50 and sometimes at 7:15, etc. So if you're a diver like me, who needs to make that 8 am boat, you need to use your cell phone as a backup.

A weird thing occurred when I tried to stay for another 5 days. I was told that the village was very crowded the following week (due to the 4th of July perhaps) and that to stay, I would have to move to a higher category room, for which they would give me a discount, but the price would still be around $1250. With that and the cost of changing the planes, I just couldn't do it. Another member of our group was told something similar when she wanted to stay an extra week. And I do believe this was correct & that Reception wasn't playing games with us. But then, as this friend and I were hanging out by the pool Saturday morning before our flight back to Fort Lauderdale, she saw that she had received one of those publicity emails from Club Med, advertising last minute specials to Columbus for the 4th of July week with flights to CI from Fort Lauderdale - for under $1000!! So it sounds like the people who run the website at corporate need to communicate better with the Reception...

<b>Rooms:</b> I had what they call a "Club Room", which is one of those one story bungalows on a garden. Donny at Mill Travel managed to get it for me at a great price. Frankly, I've never been into the fancier rooms with the ocean views, as I see the ocean every day from the dive boat! But to each his own. And of course, this meant that I had my same housekeeper as last year, the lovely Maureen. It's great when you come back to a village and the people remember you!

Overall, it was a lovely visit, just far too short. Hopefully longer next year. If you have any questions, please let me know!

Bisous,
Trish


Dive now; work later!

Oops - forgot one little funny story! There were these 2 guys at CI who were in a bit of a shock. They had been sailing a friend's boat from Ft. Lauderdale to Trinidad & Tobago and the boat completely broke down. So they called the friend's wife on the satellite phone (at least that worked!) and she told them they were 70 miles from San Salvador and that it had a harbour and a Club Med.

So, having sailed the last 2 days through the "wilderness" of the Bahamian islands, they arrived at the CM to check in. They had never been to a CM before and were quite surprised to find such a modern, sophisticated resort in such a deserted area. It was a bit like the TV show "Lost" where the people think they are surviving on a deserted island, only to find a modern town nearby. As I left, they were still there, waiting on parts and fuel and having quite a good time!

Trish

Dive now; work later!

Trish,
Really-TWO bottles of water in your room? Is this part of a new 2012 Happy Traveller reward program? You are right, being a scuba diver, having an ocean view room is like carrying coals to Newcastle. What was the nationality mix? Since you didn't mention it, I gather that the weather was great.

Nice review. Sounds very relaxing.

John

Hi John,

Well, as I am a "Turquoise member" now, maybe that was why I had 2 bottles. Or my housekeeper remembered me from last year!

The nationality mix that week was mostly American or Canadian. But that's because the European schools didn't get out until the following week. However, there was also a big crowd from Italy and some folks from Venezuela.

The weather was excellent - I think we had rain for an hour one day, that was it. And YES! It was very relaxing. After 3 days at work, I was crying to go back...

Trish

Dive now; work later!

Trish, as always, it was wonderful having you there with us again - just please book a longer trip next time! We missed you after you had to leave us! Yes, the beach bar/snack bar stays open now for the rest of the summer. The weather continued to be gorgeous; and the divers keep seeing lots of hammerheads (& fewer lion fish than last summer). Just to clarify the room type you had (in case folks are confused by the room categories in this Village when planning their trips), you actually had what they call a Classic room, not what they call a Club room. All the single story bungalows are Classic rooms. The 2-story buildings are all Club rooms, and all the Club rooms have views of the ocean. The other main difference is that Club rooms have terraces & Classic rooms do not...
The Club is, in fact, fully booked for the rest of the summer. I also received that special-deal promotional e-mail, but when you open it the rates are "from" $1,000 & depend on availability. Right now at Columbus Isle there is no availability - but that special rate may be available for bookings for when the Village reopens later in the Fall. I haven't checked yet; but Alex at Reception is the best resource for information about actual room availability.

Adria

Thank you for your review. Everybody gets bottled water in the room in Columbus Isle ( I believe because it is 4 trident) although the tap water is drinkable. You can program the telephone in the room for wake-up call ( I did it all the time). It is hard to trust the reception for punctuality in CM (personal experience). Dress codes are on the daily program slip, which can be found in the reception: sometimes room service leaves it in the room. I stayed at the first floor club room , and the classic room. The club room has more space, a balcony and a view, but I would not pay extra ( I do not go to CM for space, luxury etc). The special prices are set by the corporate (=Miami), the reception learns them as they are published ( as I am told). The bar service is quite dependent on the particular bartender in CM; I carefully if I order and 'out of the box' cocktail.

Adria - thanks for clarifying on the rooms (I keep calling them a "Garden Room" - which doesn't exist). Hopefully, I'll be there for more time next year. And so true that Reception is really the group who knows what's actually available.

Indiana: thanks for the tip, but when I programmed the wake-up call using the phone, it failed! Oh well...

And yes, the tap water is supposed to be drinkable, but I just avoid it because it's desalinated water and tastes funny to me. And I confess (as someone who's travelled to 30+ countries and lived in six) that I am always a bit cautious about the water wherever I go. This is probably due to hearing stories about the water in Mexico when I was a kid, ha ha!

I was told that as part of the new Green efforts, they aren't printing out the dress codes and putting them in the rooms anymore. That's why it would have been nice to have them (even written on a whiteboard) at the Sea Centre. That way, maybe more lazy divers like me would have participated.

Bisous,
Trish

Dive now; work later!

Dear Trish: The room-category issue is always confusing at Columbus Isle because they keep changing what they call the same rooms. "Garden view" is actually what they call the ground floor "Club" rooms, the ones in the 2-story buildings.(As opposed to the "Classic" rooms in the one-story bungalows.) The Garden View rooms have the same view of the ocean as the Ocean View rooms directly above them, except that the second floor is higher so the view is slightly better & less likely to be a little blocked by shrubbery, etc. The "Deluxe" Club rooms are actually the same size and lay-out as the regular Club rooms, whether Garden View (ground floor) or Ocean View (one floor higher); but they are in a few of the 2-story buildings that are perhaps 20 steps closer to the ocean than the other 2-story buildings. All the Club rooms are close to the beach.) BUT there is now a different level of service in those "deluxe"rooms: maid service twice a day rather than once a day, a couple of rugs on the tile floors, robes & slippers in the room, flat screen TV's instead of the older TV's, and an ipod dock on the clock radio. Otherwise the layout & size of the room, etc. is identical. So it's up to the GM whether the additional level of "luxury service" is worth the extra cost of this particular room category. I frankly don't think so, but then again I'm a dinosaur. I date back to the old days of no a/c in any Club Med rooms, no room safes, no phones, no keys, and certainly no TV, "spa robe", or "turn-down service".
I know that a lot of the Deluxe Ocean View rooms are sold these days as part of an upgraded honeymoon package, so maybe there's a place for that even at Club Med. We certainly have seen a lot of European honeymoon coples at Columbus Isle this summer. (The Club Med reps at the FLL airport for our charter flight at the end of June told us there had been 24 honeymoon couples from Italy alone the previous week! Yes, a lot of the GM's now on the weekly Club charter flight from Florida to Columbus Isle are honeymooners, no doubt about it. Very sweet to see them. I can tell you it's one reason I had the beach to myself early every morning; the honeymooners are all sleeping late, as they should be.)
By the way, I just heard from Lydia (who's still there now) that the annex restaurant at the Sea Center has just reverted to a buffet lunch again, much to the delight of all the divers who were finding it took too long to order from a menu and wait at lunchtime if they hoped to make the 2pm dive boat.
As far as dress code goes, you can always pick up the phone and ask Reception. Yes, you also date back to the dinosaur days when we had no phones in the room, I know. Amazing what you can do with a phone, n'est-ce pas? Even we dinosaurs can adapt. ;-)

Adria