Author: Ingo Fast (---.cable.mindspring.com)
Date: 12-06-04 00:45
On January 01, 2003, two friends of mine and I arrived in Dewey, Culebra and proceeded to Mamacitas where we had a credit card confirmed reservation for about 4 or 5 nights. When we entered the reservations office, we received a cold attitude from the lady who, I believe, runs respectively owns the place, and were told that there's no room for us available, only perhaps in a few days. When we asked why, we were first told that there is a plumbing problem in the room we had reserved, but when we insisted to at least see the room (because we indeed wanted to move in as soon as the problem was fixed), the lady admitted in an unfriendly manner that we can't see the room because other people have occupied it and have their stuff in it. The deal was that she would transfer us now to another place called "Ocean View", up the hill, for the same price, and she acted as if she would even do us a favor. This guest house, where we were forced to stay for 2 nights (before we found something nicer) was quite unsatisfactory in our view: rooms without windows, shabby bathrooms, and little to no ocean view at all, while it was far away from the center of town. (The only nice aspect there was a tiny, authentic Puerto Rican home cooking place, run by the parents of the guest house's owner, who serve delicous typical meals!) Well, anyway, when it turned out that the owner of Ocean View is actually a former employee of Mamacitas who still has business relations with Mamacitas' owner (he offers boat rides originating at the pier next to Mamacitas, and that we were not the only ones who had reservations with Mamacitas but were also bumped to Ocean View, we felt severely cheated. We believe that this is an ongoing scam to squeeze higher rates out of tourists who book a room at Mamacitas (which has a strong internet presence on Culebra searches and must certainly generate many inquiries) but then get bumped to a place which is not worth the price, while the persons involved probably happily share the extra profit. So beware! I've been to Puerto Rico many times, and on Culebra alone probably 5 or 6 times, always had pleasant experiences, but something like this never happened to me before. I used to like Mamacitas which is a pretty place but after this experience I will avoid it. Good luck!
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