Hotel Review: Villa Caemilla

It was bugs galore at Villa Caemilla. I don’t blame the hotel since it was a beach we were staying on, but for the 4 nights we stayed there, there was a different bug in the room each day!

First, there was a pink worm which crawled up the sewers while we were showering. The next day, there was a cricket in our room. And the third day, a black worm appeared on the ceiling right above where I was brushing my teeth. The last night, I almost wore my room slipper with a black lizard on top.

I screamed so loudly WJ visibly shrunk away from me. It could be that we were on the ground floor. Our friends didn’t get as many visitors as us, just a millipede and a lizard.

Other than that, Villa Caemilla is actually ok. Really. If you’re looking for some peace and quiet, but still be close to the food and neccessities, the boutique hotel will suit you well. It’s located on the beachfront at Station 3 of White Beach. Surrounding it is enough food to satisfy you, and there’s a convenience store just a few minutes’ walk away. The whole stretch of White Beach is pretty walkable anyway!

What I like about the hotel is their loungers on the beach and the staff’s attitudes. When we saw that all the beach chairs were taken up, we asked one of the staff if there were any available ones for us. He brought 2 out immediately along with an umbrella and adjusted the shade for us.

The staff were always smiling and friendly, saying good morning/afternoon/evening and asking how we were. We were also given a complimentary welcome drink of our choice. I had a fruitshake while WJ chose beer. We could decide when to get the drink, as long as it was by 12 midnight on that day itself.

On the second day of our stay, our friends came to join us. They were each given a shell necklace. But we weren’t! Insert sad face. Why like this. We wrote in our booking that we were on our honeymoon, so we were hoping for an upgrade being the cheapskates we are.

Unfortunately for us, there was no upgrade and we were given the ground floor rooms right at the back of the hotel. With no view. Unless you counted opening the windows to see a flight of stairs a view. That was sad.

But they almost made it up with the ‘Happy Honeymoon’ decoration and free Stropwafels every day! Almost.

There was nowhere to hang our wet swimsuits in or outside the room. And the room-cleaning service wasn’t the best either. Once, we left our robes on the bed to create space to hang our swimsuits and they weren’t in the room when we came back.

I have to admit that I was a little disappointed. Maybe it was the exceptional stay we had at Golden Temple Hotel in Cambodia less than 2 months ago, but I was expecting more from Villa Caemilla.

We stayed at Villa Caemilla from 22nd to 26th June in the Standard Deluxe Queen room. We paid SGD$516.40 for the 4 nights through Agoda, which works out to be $129.10 a night.