Just back from Fantasy Island Beach Resort. An excellent week to be gone and miss tornados, snow flurries and rain back home.
FIBR, pretty much lived up to its reviews here on the board. My personal evaluation:
This trip was with the Bluegrass Dive Club http://bluegrassdiveclub.com/ and we had 40 people in our group. That limited choices on where we could stay, and perhaps got us a better than normal price on our trip. Usually the clubs trips are with a lot less people, but the annual spring break trip is pretty popular.
Id like to visit Roatan again, and enjoy some dives with fewer divers, and better food. Id rate my overall experience a high B except for the compressor thing. That knocked the overall rating to a C. No matter how busy the resort may be, that was not OK. I give the trips value for money spent an A-.
KYDan
FIBR, pretty much lived up to its reviews here on the board. My personal evaluation:
- Divingpretty good. Reefs were in nice shape, except for the swim through part of Marys Place. That had been beaten to death. The rest of that dive, and most of the rest of the sites looked to be in good shape. The house wreck is an easy dive, an enjoyable diversion. Not spectacular. The boat dives were one nice wall dive after another. The boats can handle 20 divers and we had up to 15 on some of our trips. Too many folks, particularly for one DM; but that was what I signed on for, and realized it was going to be that way going in.
- Dive Staffa bit uneven. Our boat had to be towed in twice (the two dives I sat out!). Stuff happens. Otherwise helpful and service oriented. Seems like they were a bit slow changing the filters on the compressors one day. Some folk complained about oily tasting fills one day. NOT ACCEPTABLE! I thought I caught a bit of a taste on one nitrox fill, but barely noticeable. None the less, that is a serious knock on the dive service crew. DM (Mark) good, knew his stuff, and was safety conscious.
- Roomsthe ones I saw were in good repair, and well appointed. For the price. Not the Radison, or 4 star, by any means. Clean, well air conditioned, and plenty good enough for the likes of me.
- Foodall inclusive. Plenty to eat at each meal. Some meals were kind of weak. The Friday night seafood and lobster tail slaughter was a high point. The food is not the strongest selling point of FIBR. At more expensive all inclusive resorts some, or all alcohol is included. Not at FIBR on the package we had. Some other folks I talked to (from Canada) were wearing armbands and some drinks were included for them. Apparently you can buy different levels of all inclusive. Bottled water was extra cost, but purified water was always available and no charge, by the glass, and in a pitcher in our room refrigerator. No charge for refills. I stayed plenty hydrated with no problem or extra expense.
- Happy Hourexactly that, 60 minutes. All drinks half price. That made the $2.25 local beers $1.125 each. The wait staff had a hard time working the cash registers and service was slow. Easier just to buy 4 for $5 and share with your friends. A couple of surprisingly good Port Royal brewskies at the end of the day were plenty for me, anyway.
- CrittersMonkeys, ducks, nutrias, iguanas, peacocks, sheep, goats, and one very friendly lemur generally gave us something fun to watch. The monkeys will carry off unattended stuff. The critters did provide a lot of entertainment.
- On Site Deco Chamberonly visited the on site Dr. because my buddy cut her hand. You can opt to pay $2 per diving day to help support the onsite Dr. and deco chamber. Since we did, the daily visits for peroxide and band-aids were covered. Actually the initial evaluation of the wound (enough to be concerned about, but not enough to prohibit diving) was worth the money spent. If you opt for the $2 daily contribution, deco treatments are covered, as well. A worthwhile investment in my opinion, even should one have no reason to cash in on it.
This trip was with the Bluegrass Dive Club http://bluegrassdiveclub.com/ and we had 40 people in our group. That limited choices on where we could stay, and perhaps got us a better than normal price on our trip. Usually the clubs trips are with a lot less people, but the annual spring break trip is pretty popular.
Id like to visit Roatan again, and enjoy some dives with fewer divers, and better food. Id rate my overall experience a high B except for the compressor thing. That knocked the overall rating to a C. No matter how busy the resort may be, that was not OK. I give the trips value for money spent an A-.
KYDan