Roatan Trip - Suggestions?

[MGW1979]

My wife and I are thinking about heading to Roatan for a week at the end of March. I was in Utila about 5 years ago and passed through Roatan, I know its not really an All-Inclusive type of place. That said, it appears that the best way to go from Toronto might be on a AI pacakge. We can get a week at Mayan Princess for under $1500pp including tax. I thought about just getting a flight separately and staying at a place like Infinity Bay. Flight would be about $750pp and Infiniti bay about another $1500 or so, plus all meals and drinks. I've heard its possible to rent through the unit owners for cheaper so that may be an option too. Even if we stayed at an AI, we'd probably go out for a few dinners and drinks at other places.

Does anyone have some advice regarding which was to go or recommend any other nice places to stay? My wife's priorities are nice beach, nice, clean room. I'll probably do 10 dives or so while there, her a few less.

We also looked at the Media Luna, which looks really nice but from what I can tell its quite isolated so we'd be pretty much stuck there. Has anyone been?

Thanks, Marek

 

[Rainer]

We just got back from a week at Bananarama (West Bay Beach). The resort isn't high end by any means, but it was certainly clean and comfortable. I found the beach there excellent. The diving through the on-site dive center was also quite good. Costs were certainly reasonable.

Here's a trip report: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/bay-islands/370556-roatan-trip-report-photos-videos.html

 

[Doc]

Does anyone have some advice regarding which was to go.....My wife's priorities are nice beach, nice, clean room. I'll probably do 10 dives or so while there, her a few less.

AI resorts make perfect sense if you want more than 2 dives a day.

At your desired total of 10/day, go ala carte. Use a "day-dive" operation, many to select from are on the West End.

There are four "beaches" on Roatan... the West End/West Bay zone, PB (Paya Bay) and the two man-made beaches of FI (Fantasy) and TB (Turquoise)...these three are AI's.

 

[MGW1979]

Thanks for the replies. I wasn't referring to all-inclusive diving, just food and drinks... I would definately just pay on a perdive basis.
thanks,

 

[jenth]

I'd also second Bananarama. I was on the trip with Rainer...and was quite happy with the place. I'd describe it as "island rustic". It doesn't feel very resort-ish. It's clean and has a nice, island feel. The workers there are great...food is pretty good and there are other resorts around it to visit for lunch or dinner (Mayan Princess is just a few resorts down, on the same beach).

The thing I loved is that almost all the dive sites are a quick ride out. And most of the time, the boat comes back for the surface interval. Rainer's mom wasn't a diver and pretty much stayed on the beach the whole trip...and between dives, we'd stop by her chair and visit with her. So even though we did 15 dives, it wasn't like we were ever gone for hours at a time. We were still around to keep her company. Since you mention that your wife isn't planning to do as much diving, this might be a plus for Bananarama.

 

[SFuterfas]

Hi Marek. My husband and I are going to Roatan in June. We were in your same position about where to stay. Of course since we haven't actually gone yet I can't say whether our decision is the right one or not but after weeks and weeks of research on the various AI, dive and other "resorts" available and the cost (Roatan is expensive for how rustic it is and I don't consider "hot showers" to be an amenity!) we've opted for a vacation rental instead. We're paying $800/week for ours and it's a 2 bed 2 bath.

There are a lot of really nice places available (including the ones you mentioned at Infinity Bay). We figure we can save money cooking most meals for ourselves and then go out a few nights to different places.

If this might be an option for you, I'd recommend checking out vrbo.com, homeaway.com or roatan property management.

If you haven't already, check out Trip Advisor too. They have great forums and reviews of places. Good luck.

 

[yellownancy]

Hi Marek,
We stayed at West Bay Lodge for 14 days. We ate at "Thirsty Turtle" (Bananarama), Bite of the Beach, Mayan Princess and almost every other place along the beach It was fun to try the different places, but for good food at a great price we returned to Thirsty Turtle most nights! I know West Bay Lodge now also offers day long food and the menu looks great! So I would recommend trying it out for sure! They have menus on both websites and the prices are included - they are very well priced! So if you go AI to get a good deal on the flight & lodging, but eating out won't cost you an arm and a leg if you get sick of the food at your AI :cool2: