Fantasy Island, Roatan Update
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Thanks for posting this thread. I am booked for March 2014. I have been 2 times in the last 4 years I'm curious to compare. Honestly most of the issues with the resort didn't bother me much. The rooms were sufficient for sleeping and bathing...the bathrooms had small issues - showerheads, curtains, and the infamous hot water. However, most of that I take in stride.
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Kharon
Contributor
I was told that FI was much, much less expensive than Coco View. When I checked (must be because of the renovation expense) the prices are the same as or more than what Coco View would be. Oh well. One more place I won't be going.
So a bit about pricing - first, there are booking options. Though depending on who you ask, you will hear that there are not.
There is a US based travel agent who will book dive packages - and the posted prices are pretty close to cocoview. lets call it about 1000-1200 per person depending on time of year. Of course at times you can get a special on FIBR and get it for as low as say 800-900 but that is becoming exceedingly rare. During those sales it can be a bit cheaper than cocoview. I haven't seen the prices of a few years go for FIBR since they last changed ownership (I've seen a week at fibr as cheap as 600-700pp including diving) Those prices are +16% tax.
There are other options other than the US booking agent.
1) WANT THE FULL DIVE PACKAGE
try calling the resort directly. The resort has it's own web page (not fantasyislandvacations website fantasyislandresort.com) - don't bother emaling them, call them.
Be prepared to possibly struggle with communication, be put on hold, etc. Use skype or some other VOIP service this call is going to take a few minutes and will cost you $25 on your cell phone. Don't bother emailing the resort, it takes too long. Call. If you get disconnected, call again - persistence is key.
I often find dealing directly with the resort can pay off in savings. This was more true before they changed hands a few years ago, but in the case of FIBR I still always try (this is almost never true in case of most AI Mexican resorts - I always get a better deal with orbitz on those).
2) OK, so got the same price as the packages online, don't fret you aren't done yet.
How much diving are you really going to do. Call the resort again, talk to the dive shop. Ask for a la carte prices. Find out how much paying for the diving outside of the package would cost you...once you have that number - check this out:
FIBR all inclusvie without diving can be booked on a number of travel sites - travelocity, expedia, etc (not orbitz)
I can usually book it for 176.00 per night, now that's 176.00 per night including tax and for the entire room - up to 3 adults - lodging/food/drink.
On top of that do some googling for the site you are using for 'promocodes' I found a %10 off promo code...this brought a 6 night stay for my wife and I down to:
950.00 - that's total, not each, and it includes tax.
so 950.00 / 2 adults = 475pp
475pp - no how much was that diving going to run you...I'm going to 6 nights, my wife won't dive 5 tanks a day, likely she'll only do 10 tanks...if I work it out with the dive shop I can save a couple hundred over the 'all diving you could possibly want' packages.
At any rate - FIBR can be had for far cheaper than what the travel agencies will book for you...
Ray
There is a US based travel agent who will book dive packages - and the posted prices are pretty close to cocoview. lets call it about 1000-1200 per person depending on time of year. Of course at times you can get a special on FIBR and get it for as low as say 800-900 but that is becoming exceedingly rare. During those sales it can be a bit cheaper than cocoview. I haven't seen the prices of a few years go for FIBR since they last changed ownership (I've seen a week at fibr as cheap as 600-700pp including diving) Those prices are +16% tax.
There are other options other than the US booking agent.
1) WANT THE FULL DIVE PACKAGE
try calling the resort directly. The resort has it's own web page (not fantasyislandvacations website fantasyislandresort.com) - don't bother emaling them, call them.
Be prepared to possibly struggle with communication, be put on hold, etc. Use skype or some other VOIP service this call is going to take a few minutes and will cost you $25 on your cell phone. Don't bother emailing the resort, it takes too long. Call. If you get disconnected, call again - persistence is key.
I often find dealing directly with the resort can pay off in savings. This was more true before they changed hands a few years ago, but in the case of FIBR I still always try (this is almost never true in case of most AI Mexican resorts - I always get a better deal with orbitz on those).
2) OK, so got the same price as the packages online, don't fret you aren't done yet.
How much diving are you really going to do. Call the resort again, talk to the dive shop. Ask for a la carte prices. Find out how much paying for the diving outside of the package would cost you...once you have that number - check this out:
FIBR all inclusvie without diving can be booked on a number of travel sites - travelocity, expedia, etc (not orbitz)
I can usually book it for 176.00 per night, now that's 176.00 per night including tax and for the entire room - up to 3 adults - lodging/food/drink.
On top of that do some googling for the site you are using for 'promocodes' I found a %10 off promo code...this brought a 6 night stay for my wife and I down to:
950.00 - that's total, not each, and it includes tax.
so 950.00 / 2 adults = 475pp
475pp - no how much was that diving going to run you...I'm going to 6 nights, my wife won't dive 5 tanks a day, likely she'll only do 10 tanks...if I work it out with the dive shop I can save a couple hundred over the 'all diving you could possibly want' packages.
At any rate - FIBR can be had for far cheaper than what the travel agencies will book for you...
Ray
This thread is a little old, but got an email from FIBR today that fit with my last couple of posts....today they emailed me the price for the 'all inclusive diving' if you book through expedia and want to buy that at the resort...
But if you are planning to dive every day we recommend you to add the Diving package for the day when you get here
At the resort the cost its $60.00+ taxes plus the $30.00 additional for the scuba equipment if you don’t have you owns gears.
The $60.00 Include the 3 boat dives per day and the unlimited of shore diving, weights and belt.
2 dives in the morning and 1 dive at 2:30pm every day. Shore dives available from 8am-7pm.
If you have any more questions please feel free to email me.
$60 plus tax per day, that's $360 per week, plus tax which I'm pretty sure is going to be 15%...so 414 with tax...
176 * 7 nights = 1232 - 10% coupon code for expedia (if you can find one) = ~1110 / 2 people = 555 pp = for all inclusive hotel/food, but no diving +414 = 969 all in.
That's only a couple hundred cheaper than the us booking packages, but to be clear it is A COUPLE HUNDRED cheaper than the US booking site. If you caught it on sale with the US booking site I think it could be even money....also I suspect if you bring cash (no credit card) you could skip the taxes on the 360.
It's not that I'm frugal, I'm a cheap bastard.
Actually I look at it like this...if I can save $200 on a trip by choosing a cheaper option, I can go more often. Also, I have a nearly 15yo daughter who dives...anything I can do to make it easier to swallow.
<sigh> leaving for RTB in 60 days...
But if you are planning to dive every day we recommend you to add the Diving package for the day when you get here
At the resort the cost its $60.00+ taxes plus the $30.00 additional for the scuba equipment if you don’t have you owns gears.
The $60.00 Include the 3 boat dives per day and the unlimited of shore diving, weights and belt.
2 dives in the morning and 1 dive at 2:30pm every day. Shore dives available from 8am-7pm.
If you have any more questions please feel free to email me.
$60 plus tax per day, that's $360 per week, plus tax which I'm pretty sure is going to be 15%...so 414 with tax...
176 * 7 nights = 1232 - 10% coupon code for expedia (if you can find one) = ~1110 / 2 people = 555 pp = for all inclusive hotel/food, but no diving +414 = 969 all in.
That's only a couple hundred cheaper than the us booking packages, but to be clear it is A COUPLE HUNDRED cheaper than the US booking site. If you caught it on sale with the US booking site I think it could be even money....also I suspect if you bring cash (no credit card) you could skip the taxes on the 360.
It's not that I'm frugal, I'm a cheap bastard.
Actually I look at it like this...if I can save $200 on a trip by choosing a cheaper option, I can go more often. Also, I have a nearly 15yo daughter who dives...anything I can do to make it easier to swallow.
<sigh> leaving for RTB in 60 days...
Mike
Contributor
All I want to know is have they actually renovated Fantasy Island or not?
@Mike after digging around several different places, here, trip advisor, facebook, googling:
they definitely put some paint and repair on some common areas (front desk, bar, eating areas)
some rooms seem to have bathroom updates - I sort of doubt they did them all, but thats just my opinion
people still complain about wifi...which is funny, the issue with wifi is that there is a limited number of simultaneous connections, and people walk around with tablets and smart phones they are getting IP addresses and comsuming connections needlessly. This isn't changing due to any other remodeling...
It seems there may still be issues with hot water availability.
I can't find very many folks that were there before (1-2 years ago) and since November. I'm going in March, I look forward to finding out what they did myself.
Personally I never really had much of a problem with the old issues - bathrooms were terrible, but I don't care. The only issues I ever really had with the place had to do with room location and certain roosters who rise early.
At any rate, as someone who was fairly neutral about what it was like before, I'm quite curious to compare.
they definitely put some paint and repair on some common areas (front desk, bar, eating areas)
some rooms seem to have bathroom updates - I sort of doubt they did them all, but thats just my opinion
people still complain about wifi...which is funny, the issue with wifi is that there is a limited number of simultaneous connections, and people walk around with tablets and smart phones they are getting IP addresses and comsuming connections needlessly. This isn't changing due to any other remodeling...
It seems there may still be issues with hot water availability.
I can't find very many folks that were there before (1-2 years ago) and since November. I'm going in March, I look forward to finding out what they did myself.
Personally I never really had much of a problem with the old issues - bathrooms were terrible, but I don't care. The only issues I ever really had with the place had to do with room location and certain roosters who rise early.
At any rate, as someone who was fairly neutral about what it was like before, I'm quite curious to compare.
Mike
Contributor
Thanks.
That's kind of disappointing, I was under the impression from something I read on hear a while back that made it sound like new owners had came in and were doing major renovations to the place, I recall some specifics were new dive boats were lauded about quite a bit and I was under the impression that the renovations were going to be quite extensive as I thought it was said they closed the place down for 4-5 months. Oh well...
it's such a shame as the property is quite amazing, with a great location, it just needs a permanent staff working every single day on maintenance and maintaining the grounds, last time I was there it was just really a sh*t hole, just dirty, worn out, run down and lacking any pride of ownership.
They need to send that hotel disaster guy down there from the travel channel to do a show and turn the place around.
That's kind of disappointing, I was under the impression from something I read on hear a while back that made it sound like new owners had came in and were doing major renovations to the place, I recall some specifics were new dive boats were lauded about quite a bit and I was under the impression that the renovations were going to be quite extensive as I thought it was said they closed the place down for 4-5 months. Oh well...
it's such a shame as the property is quite amazing, with a great location, it just needs a permanent staff working every single day on maintenance and maintaining the grounds, last time I was there it was just really a sh*t hole, just dirty, worn out, run down and lacking any pride of ownership.
They need to send that hotel disaster guy down there from the travel channel to do a show and turn the place around.
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