Anthonys Key Resort worth Double the cost?

[gbrandon]

I stayed in Roatan 4 years ago and Fantasy Island resort and had a great time (minus the sand flies eating me to death) so when I decided this week to book a quick 5 night/6 day vacation I thought I would give Anthony's Key a try since its closer to the west end and Ive heard good things about them. Well, after getting my ambigous quote from the resort, (I thought they quoted me $2900 for me and my girlfriend for 5 nights. I thought it broke down to $1,500 for airfare and $1,200 for the resort. plus taxes. What they left out was the fact the lodging alone for both of us was going to be $2400, not the $1200 I saw on the quote they emailed me. Although I will say a line below my name and the $1,200 did say something to the effect of additional person, It did not say anywhere on the quote where it said $2,400, only the $1,200 next to my name.) When I got ready to sign, I recieved the fax and saw the total was $4,200, airfare included. Now, When I checked at both Fantasy Island and Cocoview, I saw the same dive package, all inclusive meals and 5 night stay for roughly the same price at FI and COCO, yet Anthonys was twice as expensive as these two. When I called back to ask Jill at fantasy island about what exactly am I getting for something twice as expensive as the other 2 resorts, I was told that If I wanted to stay in a hotel room go ahead and visit fantasy island. She also made a few other disparging remarks as well, but in my opinion, If you have to bad mouth the competition to make yourself look better than Im really not interested anyway. Im sure a previous poster was right in saying that the majority of income from AKR is cruise ship related (due to the dolphin encounter im sure) but you would think they would at least put their price in line with the other resorts, instead of what they have. I understand a resort charging 25%, 30%, even 50% more, but twice as much? Thats ridiculous. We can only hope they see a substantial drop off in business and rethink their business plan. In the end, I really want to go back to Roatan, but since I already stayed at FI and am bringing my GF this time, I wanted to try another resort. Unfortunately, AKR pissed me off and Coco View is full. With time running out (i only have April 15-20th) I am now looking at Cozumel but really had my heart set on Roatan. Anyone else feel the same way about AKR or do you find you can justify spending 2x as much as you would somewhere else with similar accomadations?

 

[undefined]

$4,200 for two? Hmmm....

RoatanMan is likely to chime in about the merits and benefits of infinite shore diving and how great CCV is (which is full, from what you said)... that leaves me here to give you the other side of the coin. How about you stick with your original budget and head down to West End or West Bay Beach and dive with a day op. If 3 - 4 dives per day will do the trick, you should have plenty to spare for a variety of good dinners.

If not, Cozomel beckons....

 

[gbrandon]

$4,200 for two? Hmmm....

RoatanMan is likely to chime in about the merits and benefits of infinite shore diving and how great CCV is (which is full, from what you said)... that leaves me here to give you the other side of the coin. How about you stick with your original budget and head down to West End or West Bay Beach and dive with a day op. If 3 - 4 dives per day will do the trick, you should have plenty to spare for a variety of good dinners.

If not, Cozomel beckons....

My main problem right now is that I dive a rebreather and need 100% O2 fills, which AKR said they could do (if I brought my own fill whip, but nobody could ever answer my question as to what type of valve was on the O2 tank so I could bring the correct adapter) If i could find a op with O2, i wouldnt mind, but still, I really dont want to have to travel all over the island to fill my 2 litre bottle everyday. I think im just gonna say screw it and go to Coz. Not my favorite place by any means (think timeshare idiots and cruise ships) but I found a place with O2 for me and the Hotel im looking at is close to the dock for pickup. Ill probably spend $4200 between hotel (gf wants a nice hotel since shes not a hard core diver), flight, food and diving, but at least I dont feel like im getting screwed like at AKR. oh well, maybe some other time Roatan will be in the cards again....

 

[undefined]

Rebreather in Roatan... you'll be a site to see!

100% O2 fills will be hard to find in Roatan. As you already know, ask around and get it in writing before you travel. The last thing you want is some reservations numbnuts claiming to be able to fill pure O2 when the dive shop can't accommodate.

Why not Bonaire?

 

[Dion]

I am leaving this Friday for my 10th trip to AKR and, while I haven't been to the other resorts, but I will say that I absolutely love AKR. It is a very nice place, the food is good, all the staff are great and its nice that most of the dives are a very short boat ride away. However, I too was very upset about the rise in prices, I was shocked that they doubled their price, I think it is a bit much. They just did that last year, before that they were only about 15% more than FI and CCV, and it is possible that this will be my last trip there. (We are building a house there, so we were going to stop staying there eventually anyway.)

However, if you are interested in going later in the year, there is a special in the current issue of Scuba Diving Magazine for $928 from 9/1-10/6, 10/20-11/17 and 11/24-12/22. That is a good deal and worth the price. We are considering possibly doing that as our last trip, because we truly do think it is a great place to stay.

 

[Doc]

Im sure a previous poster was right in saying that the majority of income from AKR is cruise ship related (due to the dolphin encounter im sure) but you would think they would at least put their price in line with the other resorts, instead of what they have. I understand a resort charging 25%, 30%, even 50% more, but twice as much? Thats ridiculous. We can only hope they see a substantial drop off in business and rethink their business plan.

You are looking at it from your perspective. Silly diver.

Look at it from their perspective. What would you, as a resort owner do? Deal with cruise ship divers who arrive "in bulk" and depart with predictable regularity, who rent gear, who arrive on time and leave on schedule, who are all paid up... bing bang boom. Or... would you rather fuss with booking agents in the US, airline issues, airport transfers, moving guests and luggage by small boat, moving guests constantly by small boat to their accomodations, maintaining rooms, serving breakfast and dinner... All the stuff it takes to run a resort?

Why would you do this if you were getting more money than you need from the easy breezy cruise ship trade?

AKR is positioned to be a boutique destination resort. Roatan can easily support this kind of operation. The price is correct, unfortunately they haven't begun to upgrade the rooms or services. To some extent, they may not have to (yet). Their is very little competition with the existing level of reliable service and the current name recognition. The high price alone will fill the place- or not... what do they really care?

My SO consults the hotel and resort industry. More than one major hotel chain has inquired as to the availablity of existing resort properties in the Bay Islands to re-establish as just such a boutique SCUBA destination resort. Think: catered diving.

We, as travellers, are so ignorant as to what is already out there. Aside from chartering liveaboard boats that don't advertise in Scuba Diving Magazine for $15k a week, there are resorts in the Maldives that cater to Middle East oil money that would make your eyes pop. I believe that you can even buy a package where they will do your diving for you! Well- maybe not that, but they will install whatever "furniture" you want in your room, by check list order form. Blonde, brunette or redhead. Fact.

At AKR, look for upgraded things like custom dive boats, replacing the cookie cutter (but glossy) ProDives. Look for upgraded rooms with hot tubs and refrigerators, etc. The restaurant will be revamped, and likely there will be golf cart service to lift people up the hill to dine (versus the stair climb). Probably even dining services out on the Key itself. Swimming pools. Smaller dive groups, tended to by very motivated DM's.

The real trick will be getting the level of service up to what is expected for that kind of cost. The locals are motivated by other things than money, other things than we Norte Americanos understand.

Big things in the future for AKR. It's bought and paid for many times over- they're in no rush.

 

[godeep08]

I had an awesome experience at Bayview. The diving was some of the best I've ever done, the people were awesome, service was great overall. We went and looked around at Anthony's and snorkeled with the dolphins over there, but I didn't actually stay there. I can't imagine spending that much more. If you like more personal service, Bayview is a great place. Less than a hundred people at the resort total, so it's pretty small. The staff is more than willing to accomodate any of your needs. Anyway, so, I would say don't waste your money. :blinking:

 

[Doc]

I had an awesome experience at Bayview.

Nice first post, but the only Bayview that I know of is on Utila- maybe for 10 guests.

A resort with the capacity of 100 people would put it in the mega-resort category, at least on any of the Bay Islands.

 

[AggieDiver]

I considered Roatan in general and AKR specifically, a "good" value when airfare was around $250-350pp and a week with diving and meals was around $800-900pp. Now that airfare is $600+ and a week w/ diving and meals is $1000+, I would rather go to Cozumel or the Cayman Sister Islands. I can get a much better price for the same quality of diving and better operator in Coz and can get way better diving for a similar price at the Sister Islands.

 

[magnetic]

Often times raising the price of a resort beyond the grasp of working class folks is a marketing ploy to bring in big money customers; who prefer not to associate with "commoners". I recall a resort called Jumbi Bay off antiqua was selling lots for 150k, and sold none, raised the price to 1.5 million, and sold all of them in a year. ( a good friend of mine was the executive chef at this resort, and he told me the story.