Villas DeRosa/Aquatech Dive Center

[oldsinker]

Does anyone have news about Villas DeRosa/Aquatech Dive Center in Akumal? I'm going down at the end of January and and will be staying at Villas DeRosa. I've found a few old threads but was wondering if anyone has recent news and/or advice.
This is my first post but I have been reading ScubaBoard for a few months.

[chrisc]

Good luck... We've had several run-ins with them, all bad. A word of advice, pay with a CC and keep your receipts.

Where they are located there is nothing around for food or drink. They are between the Grand Oasis Akumal and the Bahia. Figure on a $5 cab ride each way to Akumal.

[oldsinker]

I was hoping for better news. What kind of problems did you have?

[jchull]

Did cavern tours with them in October, but stayed on Cozumel. They use freelance divemasters, so it might just be luck of the draw. We had no problems, a group of 20.

[chrisc]

I was hoping for better news. What kind of problems did you have?

The first time they cancelled majority of the dives do to not having a boat captain or a DM for cenotes, also charged us in $$ instead of peso for the same amount ie $2000 instead of 2000p. Second time claimed never received the reservations and payment for all the dives even thou had confirmation from them in an email and showed them the statement from the CC online. Akumal shops were cheaper and better equipped etc.

[Diver Lori]

I've stayed and dived with Aquatech/Villa DeRosa 6 years running and will be there again this December. We've never had a problem. Condos on the beach, very clean and nicely appointed. Food is good if you're doing a package. They serve you in your room. If you wish to go to Akumal or Tulum you can take a taxi, or preferably, a collectivo for around a buck US. Elena is the DM and instructor....she's very nice and knowledgeable, fluent in several languages.

As always, keep your receipts and pay with an option that you can dispute, good advice wherever you stay. I've had problems other places and nothing works better than whipping out a receipt.

Nancy owns the place, but her brother Wayne is the backbone. If you have diving or fishing needs/issues, work with Wayne.

[oldsinker]

Thanks for the responses. We haven't booked any diving with them yet, just rooms.

[Irene]

The folks at Villas deRosa were awesome! Nancy is super-friendly and keeps her staff up to some very high standards for this part of the world. The rooms were clean and spacious. We were given breakfast food for us to prepare, and lunches were made for us to take out with us on our trips. When we returned in the evening, they brought dinner to our rooms. There's a grocery store somewhat close too, so the boys were able to load up on adult beverages. Most important, our driver could have won a 'strong man' contest and worked his tail off hauling all our gear all week!

[chrisc]

Nancy was a total airhead and had an attitude poor about the customers and service. Again this was 2 years ago, maybe she woke up and found that her business was failing because of this... Tito was at that time the only one who realy seemed to care about the business.