Infinity Bay Resort

[kuma1720]

Dive Noob I stayed at IB for a week in July 2009 and am returning in June this year. As you can can tell we love the place and each time we rent from an owner, which is the best value. Go onto VRBO and search out for the Infinity Bay 1 and 2 bedrooms. They have very good rates and are half of what the resort would charge. As far as the AI I hear mixed messages on quality and variety. We don't have that package offered in the states. There are plenty of reasonable place to eat at while ataying at IB that is a short walk away. The palapa at the resort (IB) actually had decent food for the price as well. Bump me if you need additional help/feed.

I dove with the crew at Bananarama and was not dissapointed.

 

[Dive n00b]

Dive Noob I stayed at IB for a week in July 2009 and am returning in June this year. As you can can tell we love the place and each time we rent from an owner, which is the best value. Go onto VRBO and search out for the Infinity Bay 1 and 2 bedrooms. They have very good rates and are half of what the resort would charge. As far as the AI I hear mixed messages on quality and variety. We don't have that package offered in the states. There are plenty of reasonable place to eat at while ataying at IB that is a short walk away. The palapa at the resort (IB) actually had decent food for the price as well. Bump me if you need additional help/feed.

I dove with the crew at Bananarama and was not dissapointed.

Awesome... thanks for the feedback. This is the second time the VRBO has been recommended and we are investigating going that route now. Have a few e-mails in to a few owners. To be conmpletely honest the difference in price between booking air only and getting a unit at IB vs. the AI offer through our local operator is only a few hundred bucks in total... but it IS a few hundred bucks so its worth considering. Especially taking into account that if the AI food options on Roatan are as bad as people are making them seem, we would be eating a fair amount of our meals in West Bay restaurants anyways.

Lets hope I can find an available unit at a reasonable cost.

I will likely hit you up via PM for some more details in the coming days. Appreciate the help.

Cheers!

 

[jerlane]

I agree that AI is probably not worth it unless it includes your booze, which is pretty inexpensive there anyways. There are lots of good dining options nearby. A few hundred bucks, especially if that is per person, would go pretty far.

 

[patdavies]

I'd take swimbody's comments on IB with a grain of salt. He didn't actually stay at the resort, after all, so he's not in much of a position to comment. The fact is, at Infinity Bay you're only as isolated as you want to be. I happen to think it's a great choice for the type of vacation that the original poster describes, even if that's not the kind of vacation that happens to be swimbody's personal cup of tea.

Also, for what it's worth, the "couple swap" reality tv show that swimbody refers to was NOT filmed at Infinity Bay. Infinity Bay hadn't even been built when that show (Temptation Island 2 or 3) was filmed; in fact, the resort still isn't completely finished. The "couple swap" show was was filmed at Laguna Beach Resort, near West End, several years before IB was even built.

 

[Dive n00b]

Wow... I never would have thought researching our next holiday would have led me on such an adventure. I've read a ton, from a bunch of different sources, and had some very informative and honest discussion on the phone with genuine people such as Pat Davies.

In the end, this is what I've learned:
- Roatan is indeed the place we want to visit at the end of March.
- The dive centric AI's like CCV and AKR aren't what we are after this time around.
- The knock off mega-resort inspired AI's offered through Sunwing on Roatan are not what
they are sold as being, nor are they necessary or worthwhile in terms of value.
- Half the charm of a place like Roatan is wandering down the beach, or into the west end
to find restaurants and bars to hang out at while topside.
- Everyone's got their own opinion, they need to be taken with a grain of salt.

So here's my dilemna now. I had decided based on a lot that I read in this thread that booking Infinity Bay privately or through VRBO would be the way to go for us. I thought it would offer the best of both worlds, without the unnecessary expense of the Sunwing All-Inclusive.

BUT

We just learned that over the past week or so, Sunwing has stopped offering the AI to Infinity Bay... not a problem right?

Well the other issue is that Roatan is so tough to get to, and Sunwing charter flights are the only real option out of Toronto. We priced other options out of US cities, and they all worked out to as much if not more than the $885CAD direct flight out of Toronto.

Now here's the challenge... we know that the "AI" options on Roatan aren't worth it as AI's as the food is generally crap etc... HOWEVER, its actually about $200CAD cheaper for us to book an AI trip to a resort like the Mayan Princess (since IB is no longer offered) knowing full well that we will end up dining on our own dime in the west end most nights etc... than it is to get air only to Roatan and make private arrangements for a place to stay.

How frustrating!?!?!?

Wife is on the virge of just deciding to walk away from Roatan all together and head out to Barbados or Turks and Caicos again.

I still want to stick to Roatan.

Do you guys see any major issues or alternative solutions to paying approx. $1500CAD for an AI at the Mayan Princess bearing in mind that our cheapest air only option will run $885 each?


Thanks for EVERYTHING SB.. you guys (and gals) rock!

 

[Dive n00b]

Oh one more question too... most of you seem to love Roatan for the cost effectiveness of the diving and the sheer volume of diving that's available for the cost.

We are probably only looking at sucking back 8-10 tanks each during the week, and are looking at total cost of approximately $4K for this trip.

With those factors in mind, do you all stick to your guns on Roatan being the place for us to visit?

Just curious to what you guys think, knowing that our trip is not a dive dive dive and dive again type holiday.

We are definitely after Quality over Quantity when it comes to the diving.

 

[Mike]

What you are saying doesn't sound out landish. Isn't it what I already told you in post #8 of this thread?

We stayed at the Mayan Princess instead of I.B. for me it came down to I wanted to be right on the beach which I could do at the Mayan Princess. They have a handful of units right on the beach. We took a 2nd floor unit as has been suggested by others because of the view and the privacy. (you walk through the ground floor units patio to get to your stairs to go to the 2nd floor unit)

Had a great time and liked the room. Nice, clean, roomy, great view, right on the water, right on the beach, giant balcony.

We like to go on vacation and dive, don't really do dive vacations, so the Mayan Princess worked out perfect. Great pool too, way better then I.B. pool.

Restaurant at Mayan Princess nothing to write home about, had breakfast and a few drinks there and that's about it. You can take the water taxi up to West End for nice dinners.

We dove with Mayan Divers, excellent op. Anja and Liber take good care of their divers. Very easy to dive with them, they do at least 3 dives a day and all we did was get up in the morning and walk to the dive shop by the pool and then out to the boat anchored on the beach.

Ate lunch at I.B. beach restaurant. Pretty good.

In regards to your diving, again to repeat and re-enforce it for you, if you're staying at the IB or Mayan Princess you aren't in a dive, dive, dive atmosphere to begin with. You're in exactly what you said you wanted a vacation with diving.

In my opinion based on your descriptions of what you want and if you want to stay in west bay there are only 2 places in the running and you've eliminated one already.

 

[jerlane]

I think you should stick to your guns and still consider Roatan. Mayan Princess looked like a nice place and I'm sure would be fine. Even if it is AI, you don't have to eat all your meals there. Bananarama is right there and diving with them is pretty inexpensive. They have packages for 5 or 10 dives that would probably work well for you. We were very pleased with them. When are you guys thinking of going?

 

[swimbody]

Well, the locals told us about the filming of the fantasy reality show at IB, I could care less if it was there or another place, its all not my style, just like tight jeans and and Affliction t-shirts with white sporty slipon athletic shoes aren't my thing. If you want a very gritty amazing experience, stay away from IB, there are dozens of places around the island that won't feel like a tourist condo like IB does.

No, I've never stayed there so my opinion is probably worthless. All I'm trying to get across is that we had an amazing time being islanders and not tourists. You can choose the way you want to go. I think you get alot more out of life not acting or behaving like a snotty American and diving into the culture head first. Letting go of the comforts of home is a way to have an amazing time in Roatan. Enjoy wherever you stay.

 

[RTBDiver]

we had an amazing time being islanders and not tourists. .

I am curious as to where and how long you stayed. How often did you cook your own meals, was the place Islander owned or owned by foreigners? I spend 3 or so months a year at my home which is in one of the oldest Island communities and have been going there for seven years or so and the Bay Islands much longer and while it is certainly a more local experience I really dont think of myself as an Islander. That reminds me of being on the Agressor one time and a fellow was explaining to the crew he lived on an Island too, and while I guess Jacksonville beach is technically an Island , when it is separated by a few hundred yards of intracoastal and a six lane highway connects it , it just doesnt seem the same.
While IB is definately not my style, they do sell themselves as a Resort condo community so really not sure about your point about feeling like a tourist condo, thats the feel they are after.