Loco Mike wrote:
To each his own, but with all due respect the NJ is an absolute dump. A total phucking toilet! You were right in your previous post when you stated that you get what you pay for. You dont get much when you pay $10-$15 a night for a room. ... a complete phucking trash bin. Personally speaking I would rather stay in the back seat of an abandoned car then stay at the NJ.
Not a hater
:shock::roll: With all DUE respect
, there was nothing really AT ALL respectful in your post and certainly not the respect due to some of your fellow CRT'ers (like RBC and myself).
First of all, to call the NJ a "phucking toilet" or a "a complete phucking trash bin" is not particularly respectful to the NJ (which I really couldn't care one way or the other about), but more importantly it is not at all respectful to me or any other of our CRT brothers who HAVE stayed there because, by extension, you're suggesting that WE would live in a toilet or trashbin.
Secondly, your post is simply factually inaccurate. A toilet to me is someplace that is dirty and stinks (and a "phucking toilet" is one that is especially dirty and stinky) and the NJ is really neither. Similarly, a trashbin suggests a place where trash and rotting garbage is lining the halls and in the rooms. Again, not at all the case with the NJ. I don't know whether your claim that you'd REALLY "rather stay in the back of an abandoned car" in SJ is factually accurate or not or simply hyperbole, (only you can say on that) but if so then be sure to roll up all the windows, lock all the doors and PRAY that you still have all your stuff in the morning and nothing else more than a sore neck from sleeping cramped on that comfy 4' wide bench seat all night. However, I'll at least grant that you were somewhat more fair in that post to call the NJ an "absolute dump", only because that is a more VAGUE and SUBJECTIVE term and because you at least prefaced that with a "to each his own" (essentially allowing that it was just your personal OPINION, albeit it in a deprecating way towards anyone else who might disagree with you).
Actually, if you want to talk about budget accomodations that really ARE a stinking phucking toilet (and alarmingly unsafe to boot), IMHO one doesn't need to look any farther than a certain CRT sponsor (who I'll leave nameless) which had backed up toilets that left me holding my noise the whole time I was there, ridiculously flimsy door locks, safes that don't work and at least one incident of an armed robbery invasion. AND they charged TWICE as much as the NJ even with the CRT discount! In that case, I didn't EVEN get what I THOUGHT I was paying for?
I did say "you get what you pay for at the NJ" and you were certainly right when you said "you don't get much when you pay $10-15 a night for a room". But for some guy's at some times, $10-$15 buys them all that they really NEED. Is the NJ a dump, or even an "absolute dump"? Maybe in some guy's minds it is. The NJ is certainly very threadbare and rundown, but it is clean enough and, despite CRLuvr's (IMHO paranoid) assessment, reasonably secure. I never said it was the Ritz, and for those guys whose tastes run more towards the Ritz it will definitely be woefully inadequate, but for those guys with more simple requirements in some cases it may be adequate enough.
I've always found the rooms to be fairly well cleaned (certainly not filthy or stinky) and even if there were any minor problems it was always quickly attended to by the friendly and attentive maid staff. For example, I can't recall ever seeing any bugs there, at least not any more so than the occasional tropical insect that you might encounter at just about any place in Central America (e.g. I've also run across the occasional palmetto bug at the Castillo, which is no big deal to most Floridians). OTHER similarly low-budget places in the region (INCLUDING the Pangea Hostel and other hotels costing twice as much as the NJ) have actually had incidents of BEDBUGS, but I've never heard of anything like that at the NJ.
As for the noise, guys have complained about that at various times at MANY of the otherwise favored CRT hotels including the HDR, Morazon, Presidente, SL and Amistad (just to name a few). There probably won't be too many guys outside selling fruit late at night when you're trying to sleep at the NJ and if you're getting up early anyway to catch a bus, go on a tour or go apartment hunting, the nearby early morning market activity shouldn't bother you too much either (it doesn't really get going until ~8AM anyway). HOWEVER, I did recommend that if you were a light sleeper and/or noise was a problem to ask for an inside room (which apparently CRLuvr failed to do).
And, finally, as for supposedly "shady looking guys", you can run into those at a lot of places, ESPECIALLY at hotels in the Gulch. You see them at the HDR ALL THE TIME and there has even been the occasional strange character at places like the SL. In some cases, they might even be CRT'ers
Look, "with all due respect", I'm not casting any judgment on guys who prefer more posh surroundings. I can appreciate the "when on a vacation, live it up or live a bit luxuriously if you can" philosophy. I've operated that way myself at times and have stayed at hotels costing over $100/nt on more than one occasion (in SJ and elsewhere in CR, including a couple of times at Tabacon). OTOH, there are times where my priorities have been different, when I've not planned on hanging out much in my room during my stay anyway and, when I HAVE been in my room, my focus was much more on SLEEPING in my bed (or the chica who was in the bed with me
) than on anything else in the room. Also, if I were making a 6 figure income and/or only VACATIONING 1-2 weeks a year, then I'd appreciate the "living it up philosophy" much more.
OTOH, if one is of more limited means, wants to travel more than just a few weeks per year BUT ALSO wants to be able to put away a reasonable amount of money so that, hopefully, he can retire EARLY and possibly move to paradise FULL-TIME, then he might have to make certain financial compromises to be able to do all that and set priorities and maybe his priority would be to take a few extra trips or stay a few extra weeks or sleep with a few extra chicas EVEN IF that meant occasionally economizing by staying in a cheap hotel on nights when the surroundings really didn't matter all that much. BTW, guys, (with all due respect
) how are your 401K's doing and what about those 2nd ARM mortgages that at least some of you probably have taken out on your homes when they were "worth" 30-40% more than they are today (not me)? Maybe learning how to live more simply AND
be happy with that is really what MORE Gringos should be learning how to do today.
I'm NOT saying that the NJ is for EVERY guy or even MOST guys. Maybe it is much too stark for most of you, ESPECIALLY if you're coming at it from the angle of a guy whose philosophy to "live it up" in ALL areas when they're on "vacation". I've never judged others because they like to stay in expensive executive luxury suites, even though FOR ME they seem extravagant and a waste of my hard-earned money. As you said, to each their own. Personally, for me, a deluxe or even a regular room at the Castillo is normally more than sufficient. All I'm saying is please don't be so judgmental about a place that OTHERS might find to be a reasonable alternative at certain times. Consider that maybe just maybe you're not really being that OBJECTIVE (or understanding of the circumstances where someone ELSE might find places like the NJ appropriate) because of your own personal BIASES.
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