CoCoView Resort vs. Anthony's Key Resort?

[smb1014]

I am planning a trip for late August 2007 and I would like some feedback on Cocoview and AKR. Tell me things you love and don't love about each place. Be honest with me about each place. Don't worry I won't tell anybody if you say something bad Cocoview or AKR. <grin>

I will be a single diver and have some basic requirements -
1. A decent pool area - I like to relax a bit after a few dives
2. AC'd rooms that aren't too far from the main dive shop and eating areas
3. TV in room - I have been to places that didn't have TV in guest rooms and I got a little stir crazy after a while. Don't get me wrong I LOVE to socialize but sometimes I need a little zone out time in an AC'd room.

Any other suggestions you guys/gals have about room types would also be appreciated. Tell all.

I had been going to Divi Tiara on Cayman Brac for a few years and really like that place until Divi closed it.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[DiveSite]

CocoView-
1. No Pool, but the ocean is at your doorstep.
2. All rooms are airconditioned
3. No TV in any of the rooms - just in the clubhouse
I'm sitting in the clubhouse right now so I guess I like it.


Never been to Anthony's Key

 

[Doc]

I am planning a trip for late August 2007 and I would like some feedback on Cocoview and AKR. Tell me things you love and don't love about each place. Be honest with me about each place. Don't worry I won't tell anybody if you say something bad Cocoview or AKR. <grin>

Each place, including those un-named properties, have their plusses and minus factors. Do a search here, this is an oft discussed topic.

I will be a single diver and have some basic requirements -
1. A decent pool area - I like to relax a bit after a few dives

AKR or FIBR, not CCV.

2. AC'd rooms

FIBR, CCV, AKR & others. When we stay at CCV, due to the prevailing breezes, the a/c has never really been a big draw.

that aren't too far from the main dive shop and eating areas

FIBR and CCV. AKR's big negative in my book is the spread-out nature of the place. Necessitating calling for a boat and traversing the bay to the dive shop and dining facility. If you forget this-or-that in your room, at CCV and FIBR this is a non-issue.

AKR's dining facility is a lovely structure situated (I guess) 60 some steps up the hillside. Not exactly handicapped friendly.

3. TV in room - I have been to places that didn't have TV in guest rooms and I got a little stir crazy after a while. Don't get me wrong I LOVE to socialize but sometimes I need a little zone out time in an AC'd room.

FIBR for sure has the tube in the room. See their pix at http://www.fantasyislandresort.com/us/index.html. I haven't been inside an AKR room in 18 months, but they do not mention TV's on their website, nor can I find any pix. CCV shows rooms at http://cocoviewresort.com/accomodations.html#bungalows and other sub-sites showing their four room types in great detail on their website. AKR is devoid of any room descriptions or the differences that alter the pricing, but there are two images at http://www.anthonyskey.com/english/general/photogallery.php?cat=19

Any other suggestions you guys/gals have about room types would also be appreciated. Tell all.

I had been going to Divi Tiara on Cayman Brac for a few years and really like that place until Divi closed it.

Anything on Roatan is going to be way different.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Go to AKR with your family and non-divers. The place is very much so "kid friendly". They have seen and built their focus as catering to cruise ship divers attracted by the Dolphin show. You will see common Caribbean diving. They have recently increased their weekly rates in a range of $1200 to $1700. Again, this is to further distance themselves from pesky individual divers and make it more profitable for tour aggregators and offering attractive discounts for larger dive clubs. As a resort operations manager, it is much simpler to deal with 30 divers from one self-managed club rather than 15 seperate couples... the latter is like herding cats. It is located a short cab ride away from the West end with its many bars and backpacker visitors, also home of two notable restaurants. The resort itself is a "wide spot" in the path taken by many locals to reach their homes to the shoreline to the Northeast.

Go to FIBR if you are a diver and need "resort amenities" to occupy your non-diving s.o. It is located on the South side, so it offers the shallow reef structure walls that are unique to Roatan's treasures. FIBR has (highly discountable and variable) rates published of rooms $950-$1075. They do a good business from South America, Italy and Canada (with very attractive air/land packages for the Maple Leaf gangs!) The place is all but on fire during Semana Santa... what we would know as Mardi Gras~Easter, technically beginning on Palm Sunday but with substantial spillover. Although it is on its own ilsand, the place is open to local visitor, so it has a lot of locals stopping by to enjoy the frantic disco and late night parties.

Go to CCV (across the channel from FIBR) if your over-riding interest is purely diving, also South side. It attracts the photographers that you see published in magazines and divers that you may have read about. It is a diver's dive resort. Expect about $1000. It is on it's own 10 acre island off of the mainland of Roatan, requiring a quick free boat ride to get to a taxi if you want to leave the resort. Most who go there are largely uninterested in leaving as it would detract from bottom time.

N.B.- these rates are from their websites and AKR and FIBR's vary widely from those published. They were all "high season" quotes as a basis for equal comparison.

 

[DeputyDan]

^^^^ What he said ^^^^^

COCO is for Diving.