In October of last year (2009) I made reservations for my son and I to go to Roatan for a dive trip during his spring break from college. This was his first time to the Caribbean, though I have been diving for 25 years, it was my first trip to Roatan. I had read many reviews of FIBR her on ScubaBoard and a few from the internet, but decided for the money it sounded like a good trip. From the reviews I was told the "food was crappy, the place was run down and the service was not good", but the "diving was excellent", and that was what we were really looking for.
We left home at 330 am on Saturday to catch our flight to Atlanta for a direct connection to Roatan. The plane left our airport at 530 and by noon we were in Roatan. The Roatan airport is better than the one on the mainland, but it is small. My bag was one of the last ones to come thru the conveyor and the FIBR envoy who was meeting us at the airport politely waited for me and took all of our bags out to t awaiting bus. I felt sorry for the guy, he was working very hard, but to my dismay I alaready heard people in the group going to FIBR complaining about how long it was taking him, and were not to happy with his service. Before I go on, let me say I heard this from some of the same people all week long. The people of Roatan work hard for what they earn, I felt like the complaining was taking it a little to overboard for me.
We arrived at the resort around 1245 (only a few miles form the airport), and they did not want us to check in, but sent us all directly upstairs to eat at the buffet. (We'll talk food in a minute).
My first problem came about when I went to check in and they could not find our reservation. It was only two of us, and we had made it on line. Luckily I had the confiramtion to show the assistant manager. But, several large groups were there, and they had no room for us. They decided to put us up at the assocated condos right down the road (Pineapple Villa), and provide us transport when and if we needed it. At first we were let down, but upon arriving at the condo, it was not too bad, actually quite nice (two bedroom/two bathrooms, kitchen, three TVs, pool, etc). We were a little dismayed since we wanted to be at the beach, but the manager assured us he would move us back in a two days, so we made the best of it, and enjoyed ourselves.
That night at 730, we met Robert, the dive master supervisor. He breifed us and told us what to expect and gave us a few forms to fill out. The diving operation at FIBR was great. We ended up on Lil Tavito with Henry (our DM) and Rocky, the cheif of the boat. We loved those guys, and they took good care of us. The majority of the people on our boat were of the same group, but they fit in well with us and we all had a great time. Our first dive on Sunday was right out from FIBR and I was mazed at the water clarity and depth, just a 5 minute ride from the dock. Henry spent time watching all of us to make sure wegood divers, and properly weighted. When we came up, Rocky always had fresh fruit (melon, pineapple, apples) for us to get the salt out of our mouths.
My only complaint with the dive operations is that for smaller groups, like two or three, they can manage to get lost and ignored due to the demands of the larger groups on the dive operations crew. There were many times that I saw leaders of groups of ten or more make demands on the staff, sometimes which were blatantly inconsiderate of the others that were there. Matter of fact the thing that made FIBR at all intolerable were some of the inconsiderate patrons who happened to be there during the week.
This is mainly seen in the dining room. It was hard to find a good place to sit and eat your dinner since the larger groups would reserve all the table on the deck, a place where many would like to sit and dine while watching the water or the sunset. I really wish the resort would only reserve table indoors, and let the outside tables be first come-first serve. I saw several people who would get huge amoutns of food, like it was going to be gone. This is pretty sad when right outside the resort there are people who do not even have safe drinking water. Gonna get off my soapbox now, but if you travel there, try to be considerate of the others who are there as well.
We moved back to the main campus on Sunday and was given a room up on the hill behind the dive shop. It was clean. The water pressure was good, and the tv and air worked. When we moved to the "superior" room the next day, it was the exact same style room, just a different location, down in the main complex next to the dive shop. Both of these rooms were good, I have stayed in worse here in the states. It was not a five star accomaodation but I did not go there expecting it.
As to the food, it was plentiful. On a scale of one to ten, I would give it a 5. I never got sick, but it does lack "refinement". My son, the college student, thought it was great. He said it was better than dorm food, and he readily ate the pasta and pork chops. The ice cream, is also very good. Neither of us got sick. The waiter service is a little slow (mainly because everytime they would start to go get something for someone, they would be interuppted by a someone and lose their train of thought). It did get a little annoying waiting for a fork or a drink on occasion, but if you know that going in, just realx and enjoy the ride.
Would I go back to FIBR....absolutely. My son and I had a great time. IF I had the knowledge I would post some of the pics here to show you. I would dive with Henry and Rocky any day. The weather was good for us almost every day, with rain on one day (but it did not slow up our diving). We got in many dives (about 14 ) plus a flying island tour, a zip line excursion, a shark dive and two nights out eating at a local recommended establishment (Gio's). We could have done much more, but too be honest, I was worn out.
Thanks for all the tips and recommendations made here on this site. It is a great place to plan a trip and know what to expect.
We left home at 330 am on Saturday to catch our flight to Atlanta for a direct connection to Roatan. The plane left our airport at 530 and by noon we were in Roatan. The Roatan airport is better than the one on the mainland, but it is small. My bag was one of the last ones to come thru the conveyor and the FIBR envoy who was meeting us at the airport politely waited for me and took all of our bags out to t awaiting bus. I felt sorry for the guy, he was working very hard, but to my dismay I alaready heard people in the group going to FIBR complaining about how long it was taking him, and were not to happy with his service. Before I go on, let me say I heard this from some of the same people all week long. The people of Roatan work hard for what they earn, I felt like the complaining was taking it a little to overboard for me.
We arrived at the resort around 1245 (only a few miles form the airport), and they did not want us to check in, but sent us all directly upstairs to eat at the buffet. (We'll talk food in a minute).
My first problem came about when I went to check in and they could not find our reservation. It was only two of us, and we had made it on line. Luckily I had the confiramtion to show the assistant manager. But, several large groups were there, and they had no room for us. They decided to put us up at the assocated condos right down the road (Pineapple Villa), and provide us transport when and if we needed it. At first we were let down, but upon arriving at the condo, it was not too bad, actually quite nice (two bedroom/two bathrooms, kitchen, three TVs, pool, etc). We were a little dismayed since we wanted to be at the beach, but the manager assured us he would move us back in a two days, so we made the best of it, and enjoyed ourselves.
That night at 730, we met Robert, the dive master supervisor. He breifed us and told us what to expect and gave us a few forms to fill out. The diving operation at FIBR was great. We ended up on Lil Tavito with Henry (our DM) and Rocky, the cheif of the boat. We loved those guys, and they took good care of us. The majority of the people on our boat were of the same group, but they fit in well with us and we all had a great time. Our first dive on Sunday was right out from FIBR and I was mazed at the water clarity and depth, just a 5 minute ride from the dock. Henry spent time watching all of us to make sure wegood divers, and properly weighted. When we came up, Rocky always had fresh fruit (melon, pineapple, apples) for us to get the salt out of our mouths.
My only complaint with the dive operations is that for smaller groups, like two or three, they can manage to get lost and ignored due to the demands of the larger groups on the dive operations crew. There were many times that I saw leaders of groups of ten or more make demands on the staff, sometimes which were blatantly inconsiderate of the others that were there. Matter of fact the thing that made FIBR at all intolerable were some of the inconsiderate patrons who happened to be there during the week.
This is mainly seen in the dining room. It was hard to find a good place to sit and eat your dinner since the larger groups would reserve all the table on the deck, a place where many would like to sit and dine while watching the water or the sunset. I really wish the resort would only reserve table indoors, and let the outside tables be first come-first serve. I saw several people who would get huge amoutns of food, like it was going to be gone. This is pretty sad when right outside the resort there are people who do not even have safe drinking water. Gonna get off my soapbox now, but if you travel there, try to be considerate of the others who are there as well.
We moved back to the main campus on Sunday and was given a room up on the hill behind the dive shop. It was clean. The water pressure was good, and the tv and air worked. When we moved to the "superior" room the next day, it was the exact same style room, just a different location, down in the main complex next to the dive shop. Both of these rooms were good, I have stayed in worse here in the states. It was not a five star accomaodation but I did not go there expecting it.
As to the food, it was plentiful. On a scale of one to ten, I would give it a 5. I never got sick, but it does lack "refinement". My son, the college student, thought it was great. He said it was better than dorm food, and he readily ate the pasta and pork chops. The ice cream, is also very good. Neither of us got sick. The waiter service is a little slow (mainly because everytime they would start to go get something for someone, they would be interuppted by a someone and lose their train of thought). It did get a little annoying waiting for a fork or a drink on occasion, but if you know that going in, just realx and enjoy the ride.
Would I go back to FIBR....absolutely. My son and I had a great time. IF I had the knowledge I would post some of the pics here to show you. I would dive with Henry and Rocky any day. The weather was good for us almost every day, with rain on one day (but it did not slow up our diving). We got in many dives (about 14 ) plus a flying island tour, a zip line excursion, a shark dive and two nights out eating at a local recommended establishment (Gio's). We could have done much more, but too be honest, I was worn out.
Thanks for all the tips and recommendations made here on this site. It is a great place to plan a trip and know what to expect.
