Hotel Isla Del Pirata

I won’t come back, I’m terribly disappointed and a little offended with their actions. I visited this island last year in September and it was extremely well maintained, they offered stellar customer service, good food and great ambiance. But not anymore. We decided to come back now (Apr, 20, 2024) and were tremendously surprised with how they basically destroyed the island. I imagine this is all on their administration: first off, they cut off all the mangrove (I think this is actually illegal), creating imbalance and affecting the archipelago ecosystem. For god sake, this is a natural national park! They also cropped all the green vegetation around the commercial area, where visitors hang out. The front dock is rotting and there’s no sign of labor being done in that part. All the wood work was abandoned and it doesn’t look like it’s properly cleaned up to make it usable. The beds that were by the water were moved away from that part. It’s so regrettable what we saw. There are many paths where visitors used to walk to go around the island and they are all torn and people can’t step on them anymore. Where’s the hostess that used to welcome visitors with a nice smile and ask how we are doing? She’s gone. The music was off most of the time, and only until lunch they started blasting mariachi music. That was awful. We paid around $250 between the two of us to live such a bad experience coming from the high of last year. $250 for deep-fried fish, plantains and rice is a high price tag. We paid for a VIP day pass. C’mon! We also had a very horrible experience on the speed boat. It’s a 60-min boat ride between Cartagena and the archipelago. We were transported both ways on an boat with no cover/tent, directly exposed to the sunlight which was extremely ínstense (Cartagena is like 90°F on a good day), and as a result we got sunburned, despite us applying multiple layers of sunblock multiple times. If you’re a responsible company and you’re getting paid to offer VIP experience, please let your VIP paying customer get on first, not last. Please do not go to this island, their Instagram pictures are from a different time when it was maintained in good conditions. Today it’s completely destroyed. Do not bite the bait! I’m not even going to spend more lines here writing about the nastiness of the bathrooms (just pee in the ocean).

The island, docks and surrounding water are very nice - however, please note that you will not have access to the entire island as some of it is private and blocked off. The resort itself is not pretty - it is very shabby and dirty. It is especially frustrating in its dirtiness since the property could be at least somewhat cleaned up fairly easily. It is littered with items (garbage, used towels, etc) that could easily be picked up. The lounge chairs and couches are filthy. The dining area is dirty and sticky and flies will descend upon your food. The food itself is good, some of it excellent, but it takes forever to arrive which is frustrating if you are hungry and it cuts into beach time. You will wait even longer for your food at lunch because they seem to prioritize feeding the day trippers over their guests. The staff are decent, some excellent, and were helpful in arranging transportation to and from the island. The snorkeling tour to the coral reef was great. There is absolutely nothing to do at night other than eat and have a drink so prepare to go to bed early. The resident dogs and rooster are adorable (a highlight). However, please note that the rooster will wake you up at 5 am, haha. I would not go back to Isla Del Pirata and would not recommend this resort unless your cleanliness standards are low and your patience is high.

Island itself is beautiful . My daughter was assaulted by the Chef that works at the Hotel. His name is Ramiro , and went into her room while she was asleep with her husband . Will never go back

Booked my boat back from island with the hotel, there was a delay on my boat and missed my flight. Had to pay extra to get into new flight. I asked several times about the arrival time of the boat prior confirming… yet still arrived 2hrs later than initially proposed which is double the time that normally takes

Amazing island, beautiful water, friendly staff, reasonable priced food and drink. Wake up and jump straight in the water. Accommodation is very rustic and authentic. No AC and bugs can make their way i to your room. If it was just a review of accom it would be 2 stars. The island and location make it 4

We stayed one night here just to have experienced this kind of tourism. Islas del Rosario are heavily recommended while staying in Cartagena, and they promise a bounty island feeling. That must have been the case probably 20 odd years ago. Today, unfortunately it is almost becoming a tourist trap. It starts with the boat trip. In the morning all the tourists gather at the docks and are loaded like cattle. After an hour you arrive at the destination, being one of the islands, and the the tourist trap starts, everything is expensive, which is logic as all goods need to be shipped, expensive in the sense that it is reaching western European prices. So, take that into account when going here. Concerning the price for the boat trip don't fall in the trap of ordering it together with the hotel booking. Instead go to the docks and haggle a price there. This island for example is asking 180k per person. I bought it at the dock for 80k + the mandatory harbour tax of 23k. All the above is my take on generally going to Islas del Rosario. Now my view on staying at Isla del Pirata. Approaching this island gives indeed that bounty island feeling, getting on the jetty seeing the crisp white sand, huts with thatched roofs, azur water. Yes, it ticks all those boxes! Then you arrive around 10:30 at the reception where they speak a little English, just enough to understand that we have to wait for the room until 3pm. Not really a problem as you come here to enjoy the sun, swim and relax. At this time of year there are plenty of sunbeds available, even with shade. At 14:30 we were shown the hut. We booked a standard, but got a Jr suite instead, an upgrade. Gracias! We took a shower to rinse of the salt, only cold water, you don't need or want hot water here ;) At first sight the hut looked marvelous, another box ticked! However, a closer look showed that it is worn, not very clean and moist, normal with this humidity. The fans do a good job though to cool you down. As it is only this hotel in this small island you need to have lunch, diner and breakfast here. Breakfast is included, but limited: fruit, white toast bread, not toasted, and eggs your style. We had club sandwich for lunch which is ok. For diner we had fish of the day, but doubt if they were fresh. We spend 400k on food and drinks, the stay: 300k, boat return 364k for 2 persons. Only 3 stars because the accommodation needs an overhaul.

Do NOT go to Isla Pirata !!! We stayed for 4 days …. The food was bad…. Half of the menu is not available….. no WiFi…… breakfast is same every day …… they told me : my visa payment did not work and charged me twice at the end …. Now after 1 months further I still did not receive my 350 US dollar back (what they charged me twice, in total 700 US ) . My holiday was a big disappointment here

(Photos only)

Unsere Erwartungen waren aufgrund mancher Bewertungen nicht besonders hoch, zumal wir nicht gelesen hatten, dass es nur einen Rücktransport nachmittags von der Insel gibt und wir unseren Flug verpasst hätten, wenn wir die gebuchten 2 Nächte auf der Insel geblieben wären. Der Hotelmanager war aber super nett und hat uns die 2. Nacht storniert. Es gibt verschiedene Transportmöglichkeiten auf die Insel, die ungefähr alle gleich kosten, billig ist es nicht, zumal man einen Aufschlag für großes Gepäck bezahlen muss. Wir entschieden uns für den privaten Transport mit dem Boot vom Pier 4 des Muelle de la Bodeguita, das Hotel nannte einige Namen, die alleinig für den Transport autorisiert wären, das ist aber quatsch, wir sind mit irgend einem gefahren. Man geht einfach zum Pier und wird dann gleich angequatscht, wo man hin will und alles organisiert. Kosten für Hin- und Rücktransport ca. 170.000 COP+23.000COP Hafengebühr + 20.000 COP für großes Gepäck. Fahrzeit ca. 1 h. Rückzu wirds nass und stürmisch, unsere Rucksäcke waren alle feucht, ich war komplett nass. Am besten vorn und in der mitte hinsetzen. Die Insel selbst ist süß und karibisch, das Meer klar und man kann schnorcheln, es werden auch Schnorchel- und Tauchausflüge angeboten. Die Zimmer und die gesamte Anlage sind etwas älter, waren aber sauber. Frühstück ist karg, restl. Essen ist gut. Man kann sich massieren lassen oder Boule spielen, oder einfach ausspannen. Ein bis zwei Nächte reichen, um alles gesehen und gemacht zu haben. Wir fanden es schön.