I do not want to take away from the people who had a great time on their trip at Fantasy Island during that fateful week. I'm not one to post smack about places or people, but Rich, I am VERY disinterested in having you misrepresent our experience for marketing purposes in this thread by saying how much fun we had and that our group has emailed you to tell you so.
My experience there was marginal, and certainly not worth the cost for a dive vacation (perhaps it would have been worth it at $499, but who can say).
For everyone else, I'm glad that your trip was wonderful and all you could have hoped it could be! May all your holidays be that joyful and more!
Safe diving!
Hola Jenbowes -
I think you might have Rich confused with me. I was the one who made the comment about how it looked to me like you guys were having such a good time. What Rich said was:
"I do know that some members of your group have contacted me and were very happy with the outcome. With that being said you must have booked your trip either with the old US booking agent or before the special was offered. I am not sure who your booked your trip through since no one has contacted our office about this. Perhaps you could have them call us at 888-503-6030."
I don't interpret that as saying "how much fun you had", but maybe I'm missing something. Reading your comment about how you didn't get your trip for the $ 499 rate now has it making more sense to me. I guess you booked your trip with someone else and missed out on the special that was announced here on ScubaBoard when Rich officially took over as their marketing agent for the U.S. We had lengthy discussions in that thread about the change in management and what to expect at Fantasy Island. I'm sorry you guys missed out on that opportunity.
As I posted in this thread earlier, the resort was absolutely AWFUL the weekend before the new management took over. But you know what else I DIDN'T post? Rich was right in the middle of things busting his tail to make sure the guests were taken care of to the best of his ability. When two of the rooms in our party didn't have toilet seats, he went and found new ones and INSTALLED THEM HIMSELF while we were out diving! When outgoing management confiscated the alcohol to have a party for themselves, Rich was the one taking bottles from them so certain customers could enjoy cocktails. The resort was handed back over to them in deplorable condition, but that didn't keep the new managers from doing the best they could to take care of us.
I don't think Rich has any need to "misrepresent" your experience. From what I've seen, Rich is the type of person who is willing to do whatever he can to do things the right way, and I observed him attempting to do just that the entire week.
Fantasy Island Resort is blessed with an incredible location, gorgeous beaches, a staff that feels just like family and diving that is to-die-for. While the resort has not been operated to its full potential in the past couple of years, now that I have met Rich and Francisco and Marianela, I have no doubt that Fantasy Island is on its way back to being the fine resort it once was. If you base your opinions of the resort on that one awful week, you will be missing out...but we all have our own priorities, don't we?