My wife and I went to Grand Bahama Island in April, we did not stay at all AI so can't help there, but we dove with some wonderful people. Sunn Odyssey Divers, Nick and Karen Rolle are the owner/operators and have had this business for 20 years with a perfect safety record. they have good sized boats and take out small groups of no larger than 8. the DM Davido was very safety minded and attentive. Their prices were about the same as what we pay in Cozumel for diving and I think they are a little more reasonable than some of the other DO'S on the island.
the diving was pretty good although the weather was not cooperating, a cold front was blowing thru the east coast and dipping down to the islands so the water was kind of choppy and visability was not what the Bahamas are famous for, although it was still 70'+. we saw sharks, rays, my first dolphin in 20 years of diving, garden eels, (lots of garden eels!!!) and the coolest thing of all was for 2 dives I had 2 18" remoras swimming under me like i was a shark for the entire dives, super cool! A dive site called "Fish farm" is a VERY shallow dive but well worth it, it was just teeming with fish.
most of the terrane is a sandy bottom with large coral heads scattered about, not the color you see in Cozumel, mostly hard corals.
we got a really good rate at the Crowne Plaza Resort in Freeport thru TRAVELZOO.COM, 1/2 price normal rates at $62 a night, so we saved enough money that AI was not a consideration. The resort is very nice, it is actually 2 hotels in one. A tower on one side and a low rise grouping of buildings on the other. we stayed in the lowrise area which is call the country club side, they have a really nice pool with a bar and restaurant poolside. There is a beach pool between the 2 buildings, and another pool by the tower. They have several restaurants, a pizza place (over priced), and a casino.
our room was a standard kingsized room, nothing very fancy but clean and well maintained, they are in the process of renovating the country club side as one of the buildings was closed for construction, but there really wasn't any noise problem from it.
Nick and Karen came to the hotel every morning and picked us up and returned us to the hotel after our dives so we didn't have to pay for cabs which are very expensive in the Bahamas.
The food a the hotel was ok, but over priced, we ate a lot at the International Bazzar a shoping area created by a special effects movie guy a few years ago, there were some small restaurants with good prices and good food. There are some good restaurants in Lacaya, with a place called Pisces being the best, very good we ate there twice.
All in all we had a great time in GB, we loved the people everyone was very friendly on and off the resort, the island is beautiful, although it did get it pretty bad this summer from the hurricanes. We are looking forward to our next trip and can't wait to dive with the Rolle's again.
