I went to Roatan and stayed at FI in January so I may be able to add a little info about the place.
Allen G, you are probably seeing all the conflicting reports because there are new owners who just took over last year. I don't know anything about the previous management, but FI was apparently going downhill fast before the new owners came in. When I went in Jan, I couldn't have been happier with my choice of hotel, especially after seeing several of the other hotels on the island. I've been to Cozumel, Puerto Vallarta and Belize and trust me, Fantasy Island is definitely an upscale hotel so don't listen to the reports that it's run down--people who are expecting Mini-America should stay home or go to Cancun.
The food was very good for an all-inclusive...tons of choices for breakfast, lunch and dinner, there was always a made-to-order grill special at breakfast and dinner, in addition to the fresh homemade ice cream, fresh fruit, breads, soup, etc and the desserts were to die for--REAL chocolate!
All meals were buffet style and believe me when I say even the pickiest of eaters wouldn't starve. And from the research I did, FI seems to have the most liberal food hours--most of the other resorts had only 1-1 1/2 hours for each meal. FI's meals start at 7am and dinner goes until 10pm. On Friday nights, they have a beach bonfire and the restaurant has lobster/shrimp night--it's a big party night since most visitors book Sat-Sat. Speaking of party, don't miss happy hour every evening from 5-6pm with 1/2 price drinks and they have a pool table and a ping pong table.
The rooms were very nice--comfy beds, AC, mini-fridge, TV, phone, shower with bathtub, closet with shelves, ceiling fan and the maids kept them spotless. Make sure to leave a tip every day since they work hard and deserve it. I also have it on good authority (thank you Valerie
that the new owners are currently re-doing all the rooms,, as well as putting in a mini-golf and adding onto the dive shop so it will now be a full service dive shop for instruction, equipment sales, etc. 2 beautiful beaches to lay on with tons of chairs and lounges--just bring your insect repellent.
Speaking of the dive op, Robert, the dive shop manager, runs a tight ship and things ran very smoothly while we were there. He did everything he could to ensure the safety and enjoyment of every guest and welcomed any feedback. The boats leave every morning at 9am, 11am and 2:30pm and there is one night dive during the week.They usually go out, do 1 dive, then come back to the dock for the surface interval since the dive sites are so close. Then you have a nice long break for lunch and some beach time and then go back out at 2:30pm. Since they have 4 boats, they have to coordinate all 4 boats' dives for the day and check with CocoView's schedule to ensure that there aren't tons of boats on one site at the same time. I think this is great and I don't know how Robert manages to coordinate all that but it works great. The only time we ever had more than one boat on the same site was at Mary's Place and that was a screw-up on CocoView's part--they weren't scheduled to be there at that time on that day. So you don't have to worry about having 500 divers running into you!
There is also shore diving--and yes it is available 24/7 despite what you may have heard. FI has a gazebo with lights, benches and a nice deck for a stride entry or a ladder to climb down to get in the water. They leave about 5-6 tanks there every night in case someone gets a wild hair and wants to do a night dive. But if you make arrangements ahead of time for more than that, they will leave however many tanks you want. There is a skiff that will take you and/or your equipment to the gazebo and come pick you up after your dive if it's before the dive shop closes. Otherwise you just lug your equipment yourself but it's not that big of a deal. The shore diving is the same as CocoView--it's done in the channel between the 2 hotels. It's mainly the Prince Albert, CocoView Wall and Newman's wall but there are other things to see too since there are tons of fish right around the gazebo--I guess they're attracted to the lights.
Sorry so long, but wanted to get a recent report out there--let me know if you have any questions!
Angie
