In December 2018, this company rented us Casa Victoria Upper in Culebra for a week's stay in January 2019, after we spent a week in San Juan. They also got us a 10% discount at Jerry's Jeep Rentals.
The Casa itself was very nice. It has very nicely landscaped grounds, and great views from inside and outside casa. The infinity rooftop pool was fantastic. Unfortunately, we weren't given the key to the rooftop shower and bathroom so we couldn't use those. There was no explanation for this deficiency in not allowing us to use amenities we paid for.
The casa has tasteful decor and a good-sized living area. It's got a
large and extremely well-equipped kitchen with pantry staples and every imagineable small tool, plus a quiet dishwasher. The fridge has a big freezer and an icemaker, but is inordinately loud and might be broken.
The bedroom is fine. Its closet door, however, needs to be shaved down an inch or so; it opens and closes with great difficulty. The bathroom was nice and well-equipped. The glass block shower was big, had good water pressure and hot water, and thick towels.
The TV/satellite were fine, but if you want to stream a movie, the WIFI could be unreliable as it was for us one night.
We had one power failure for a couple of hours. The casa had tea light candles and lanterns, but could have used big candles for extended outages.
The casa had ample AC, but we never had to use it. The ceiling fans were nice.
The clothes dryer worked fine. The clothes washer, however, was the biggest source of problems, and something not handled well by Michelle Plaia, the property manager. After we had booked the house, but a few days before we arrived, Michelle advised that the washer didn't work. We were told that we'd get the key to Casa Victoria Lower as soon as those renters left a few days into our week. On the day promised, we didn't get the key. Michelle then advised we'd get the key the next morning. That didn't happen either. We finally got the key that evening. But when we lugged our dirty clothes downstairs to the lower unit and tried to use the lower unit's washer, it too was broken; it would start and fill with water, then stop. Reporting this to Michelle turned out to be a further waster of our vacation time. First she questioned our ability to use a washing machine, and whether we were in fact using the lower unit's machine, which she claimed had been used by the property owner recently. Then she said "someone will be by to check on it." After that, Michelle finally admitted that the lower unit's washing machine was indeed broken. She informed us we could use a local laundromat or a Culebra clothes cleaning service. Michelle did not offer to arrange or pay for either of these options. We ended up wringing out our soaking wet but still unwashed clothes, drying them and lugging them back to our upper unit.
After we got back home, I asked Michelle for a partial refund for this. She ignored the request for several days, and when she did finally respond, she claimed the delay was due to "island time." Ultimately she offered $50 on a $1300 rental, not counting cleaning fee and $300 security deposit.
Another caveat besides the less-than-competent property management: if you rent Casa Victoria and rent a Jeep or golf cart, be advised that Casa Victoria sits on a steep hill. Only a 4-wheel-drive vehicle can handle this hill. A 2-wheel-drive vehicle needs a low gear to surmount the hill, and even then, it's a struggle and a danger. We rented both a golf cart and a Kia Sportage each for a few days, and the golf cart did better on the hill than the Sportage, but both were pretty scary. One rainy night, we had to park the Sportage at the neighbor's house at the bottom of the hill, because the Sportage couldn't be trusted to go up the hill in any gear. read more
