Apr 13, 2015 12:23 PM
1550 Views
We were super impressed to see the houseboat. It looked exactly as we had seen in photographs while booking it. This was a 2 storeyed Houseboat with the Living Room, Kitchen & the Spa on the lower floor & 2 rooms on the 1st floor which were fully equipped with Air conditioning, TV, King Size Bed, Refrigerators & full fledged bathroom. It also housed a outdoor Jacuzzi with a sit-out balcony. All of this in a Houseboat seems unreal right. But its true. The houseboat was built for luxury & it felt like a 5 star room.
However, while the owners have built the houseboat with great taste & no expense spared, I don't think it is being maintained with the same passion. If one is paying 30k for a night on the houseboat, the expectation is that it would surpass 5 star standards on all counts.
The biggest flaw I think is hiring regular houseboat crew to manage this houseboat. This houseboat needs a professional crew(the likes you get on a Yacht). While the crew isn't bad but its doing what crews in a normal Alleppey houseboat would & with similar standards. They directly affect the cleanliness, upkeep, maintenance & service. They had an issue understanding English, Hindi. Moreover, they had an issue with us checking out a but later even thought no one was checking in the houseboat the same day(we were specifically told by the crew that the checkout time is 9:30am at breakfast time).
We had issues with Air-conditioning - the lower floors had only 1 AC running(the unit of the other one was lying inside the bar area). For the ACs in the rooms to work, you needed them to switch-on the generator every now & then. The TVs & Refrigerators in our room weren't working although we dint find the need to use them.
The next problem was with the Jacuzzis(in both rooms). They are in dire condition. While one took 3 hours to fill, the other had problems with the jets(only one of the 6 worked). The water too was dirty & the crew did not have a cleaning kit. We were surprised to see them clean it with their hands & a towel. Also both the hot-tubs would work only if they are simultaneously switched-on. So I one room wanted it to be switched off, the hot tub in the other room would be automatically switched-off too.
The food was fantastic. We got typical Kerala food which was the best that we have had on our entire trip. However, we had no say in the spread. The chef prepared what he had planned with no room for changing. Also the serving timings we fixed so we couldn't have a late dinner or late breakfast.
The boat should also be Fumigated regularly. We found a lot of creepy crawlies inside the boat. Also there was a mosquito problem & we had to keep the doors sealed all day.
The idea of hiring a House-Boat was that we could take a trip across the backwaters to admire the natural beauty & see local Attractions / Life. This boat just took at 2-3 hour ride(with a 30 mins Lunch break) on the main artery of the backwaters with no stops, attraction visits, no guide. The house boat was docked at 5:30pm. While this happens with most houseboats, they did take it out for another spin in the morning which the Grand Nirvana crew didn't.
This Houseboat is affiliated to the Citrus Retreat in Alleppey where we were staying for our next 2 nights.
I am not sure what the state of affairs are on the other houseboats, but if I am paying a huge premium for Luxury, I need the stay, facilities & service to be luxurious.
I wouldn't recommend it at 30K. Maybe if they reduced it to 18-20K its probably worth it.
