dhappydiver
Registered
Ok it has been a week since we returned from AKR (Anthonys Key Resort) on Roatan and Im still thinking . . . wow . . . that was the best vacation ever! Heres the details for anyone pondering visiting AKR or Roatan. I shall apologize right up front this will be L....O.... N.....G!
Part 1 of 4:
We flew direct from Miami to Roatan on TACA (we live in the Tampa Bay area so we took a Continental mini flight from Tampa to Miami). We were worried about all of the reports of lost luggage so we reclaimed our luggage in Miami and proceeded to the TACA counter this was a very long walk word to the wise there are people movers moving sidewalks on the 3rd floor but it is still a long way from Airside G to Airside A! The TACA ticket counter was very busy and I really regretted not knowing the Spanish language because people were speaking Spanish everywhere! We waited in line to get our boarding passes (30 minutes) and then we were told to enter a different line with our luggage to go through the Xray this lasted 60 minutes because they were calling people with a flight that left 10 minutes before ours to the front of the line by the time we had been cut by approximately 50 bags I was kind of fuming but hubby reminded me that we were on vacation and fed me Twizzlers to calm me down! Finally a security woman, who had just come on shift, saw us and took our bags before she found out that the other flight was supposed to go first! We still had an hour before our flight so we made it to the gate just fine (we had a 3 hour layover). Even though this was a bit of a pain I was glad to feel the relief of being pretty sure that our bags would arrive with us.
The TACA flight to Roatan was nice very brand new plane and oh by the way free alcoholic drinks for anyone whos interested! We landed at the airport and the weather was beautiful. Oh I did follow the advice of others on this board I lathered on the Cactus Juice before I got off the plane. I didnt see any bugs though but maybe thats why theyre called No-see-ums? We were toward the back of the plane so we were in line outside for a while so sunblock and sunglasses is a good idea. I saw Eduardo from AKR with an AKR sign and a big smile so that made us feel welcome right away. He collected our bags while we went throught the entry procedure no big deal showed the passports, handed them the papers that TACA had given to us on the plane and then we met up with Eduardo on the other side. He told us to confirm that he had our bags and then we put them on the xray machine. He then led us to the AKR bus which already had around 16 people on it. Our luggage followed in some other vehicle. Once we arrived at the resort they told all of us to go upstairs to the front office area where they served us drinks either virgin or alcohol I forget the name but it was yummy. Yolanda then talked to us about what to expect for the week, gave us our keys, and we filled in some forms. We were given (ok paid for) Bungalow #17 (with A/C) at first I was disappointed that it was not on the oceanside of the key but by the end of the week I loved the location. We were right across from the museum and the dolphin show area facing East. The sunrise in the mornings was beautiful 5:30am though so good thing we stayed on Florida time 2 hours later. The walk from the taxi was rather short so that was nice too. We shared a covered patio with 2 hammocks with two other bungalows but we never saw anyone until the 2nd to last day so it felt like the hammocks belonged to us! Next time we would probably request #18 because it was by itself with its own patio/hammocks. A couple we got to know were in #30 which was at the very end of the key way out over the water all by itself so that one seemed cool too just a longer walk. The resort deliverd our bags right to our room (unfortunately I had put all of our cash in the safety deposit box at the front desk per their recommendation so I didnt have any cash to tip the guys so some advice keep out some cash to tip the guys they work VERY hard) When we left they picked up our bags at our room and delivered them to us at the aiport so we tipped them at the airport.
We arrived on a Sunday so at 6:00pm we went to the SCUBA school for a fish ID seminar. This is highly recommended the instructor Gary showed us tons of fish at all age levels and gave us good tips about what to look for we were starving but it was well worth the time lasted about an hour and 15 minutes. So we went straight to dinner around 7:15pm.
see part 2 if you are not tired of reading . . . :11ztongue
Part 1 of 4:
We flew direct from Miami to Roatan on TACA (we live in the Tampa Bay area so we took a Continental mini flight from Tampa to Miami). We were worried about all of the reports of lost luggage so we reclaimed our luggage in Miami and proceeded to the TACA counter this was a very long walk word to the wise there are people movers moving sidewalks on the 3rd floor but it is still a long way from Airside G to Airside A! The TACA ticket counter was very busy and I really regretted not knowing the Spanish language because people were speaking Spanish everywhere! We waited in line to get our boarding passes (30 minutes) and then we were told to enter a different line with our luggage to go through the Xray this lasted 60 minutes because they were calling people with a flight that left 10 minutes before ours to the front of the line by the time we had been cut by approximately 50 bags I was kind of fuming but hubby reminded me that we were on vacation and fed me Twizzlers to calm me down! Finally a security woman, who had just come on shift, saw us and took our bags before she found out that the other flight was supposed to go first! We still had an hour before our flight so we made it to the gate just fine (we had a 3 hour layover). Even though this was a bit of a pain I was glad to feel the relief of being pretty sure that our bags would arrive with us.
The TACA flight to Roatan was nice very brand new plane and oh by the way free alcoholic drinks for anyone whos interested! We landed at the airport and the weather was beautiful. Oh I did follow the advice of others on this board I lathered on the Cactus Juice before I got off the plane. I didnt see any bugs though but maybe thats why theyre called No-see-ums? We were toward the back of the plane so we were in line outside for a while so sunblock and sunglasses is a good idea. I saw Eduardo from AKR with an AKR sign and a big smile so that made us feel welcome right away. He collected our bags while we went throught the entry procedure no big deal showed the passports, handed them the papers that TACA had given to us on the plane and then we met up with Eduardo on the other side. He told us to confirm that he had our bags and then we put them on the xray machine. He then led us to the AKR bus which already had around 16 people on it. Our luggage followed in some other vehicle. Once we arrived at the resort they told all of us to go upstairs to the front office area where they served us drinks either virgin or alcohol I forget the name but it was yummy. Yolanda then talked to us about what to expect for the week, gave us our keys, and we filled in some forms. We were given (ok paid for) Bungalow #17 (with A/C) at first I was disappointed that it was not on the oceanside of the key but by the end of the week I loved the location. We were right across from the museum and the dolphin show area facing East. The sunrise in the mornings was beautiful 5:30am though so good thing we stayed on Florida time 2 hours later. The walk from the taxi was rather short so that was nice too. We shared a covered patio with 2 hammocks with two other bungalows but we never saw anyone until the 2nd to last day so it felt like the hammocks belonged to us! Next time we would probably request #18 because it was by itself with its own patio/hammocks. A couple we got to know were in #30 which was at the very end of the key way out over the water all by itself so that one seemed cool too just a longer walk. The resort deliverd our bags right to our room (unfortunately I had put all of our cash in the safety deposit box at the front desk per their recommendation so I didnt have any cash to tip the guys so some advice keep out some cash to tip the guys they work VERY hard) When we left they picked up our bags at our room and delivered them to us at the aiport so we tipped them at the airport.
We arrived on a Sunday so at 6:00pm we went to the SCUBA school for a fish ID seminar. This is highly recommended the instructor Gary showed us tons of fish at all age levels and gave us good tips about what to look for we were starving but it was well worth the time lasted about an hour and 15 minutes. So we went straight to dinner around 7:15pm.
see part 2 if you are not tired of reading . . . :11ztongue