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 Fantasy Island Beach Resort - Roatan Island —  Location: Beachfront - 15 minutes drive from the airport All-inclusive - 109 rooms Description from resort website:The Resort has 109 rooms completely equipped, two Restaurants, two Bars, a private dock, a dive operation, underwater photography, a dive shop and souvenir. Also has a swimming pool, tennis & basketball courts, etc. Diving: Some of the world's best diving is found only minutes from the resort. Over 50 dive sites, characterized by spectacular crevices and tunnels opening to breathtaking walls, offer excellent visibity, abundant fish and brilliant corals. Most sites are wihtin 10-20 minutes, and good diving is accessible approximately 40 yards from the beach.  ~ Reviews posted on this page — 8  ~ Reader's Vacation Photos ~ 1 ~ Honduras Resort Reviews Index ~ The Honduras Travel Forum 
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| Fantasy Island Beach Resort | Diane & Fred ~ Queensville, Ontario, Canada |
My wife and I recently travelled to Roatan –Feb 1- 15, 2008. We stayed at the Fantasy Island Resort. My wife is not a diver, but I am. We both however, enjoy snorkeling. We flew with Skyservice (through Conquest/Red Tag Vacations) out of Toronto. Skyservice was very good – very competent and good quality service. Conquest rep was not very helpful at the resort, and was difficult to find with a very limited time at the resort. We found a brochure which was slipped into our room from Conquest outlining some things. However we are still waiting to find out when the welcome orientation is supposed to take place and – who does the flags on the beach – we saw NONE. We talked to many other guests who had been to the resort over the last 2 – 4 years and ALL agreed that the service and amenities are ALL going down hill. Each year is somewhat worse than the previous according to these people. It is now required to put down a deposit for the beach towels $10 each. However why we needed to do this we could not understand since quite frankly they are not worth taking. They are thin, threadbare, frayed and some had holes. Also watch out – don’t leave them in the room when the maids do the cleaning, they take them and do not replace them; Leaving you with the daunting task of trying to get two more without having to leave another deposit. Basically in the words of several, they are “nickel and dimeing you do death”.
We have travelled quite substantially in the Caribbean but it is the first time we have had to contend rats climbing around the bar. This is not made up, it happened – we saw it. Staff seem to be either indifferent to the situation or trying to “put on a good face” about it given the apparent decline of the resort.
The activities coordinator/ Information person was trying to help. Apparently ALL tours require a minimum number of people. So unless you are traveling with a group, it is almost impossible to go on any of the tours. We signed up for a couple and found – after the fact – that there were a minimum number of people required. While we understand that concept it should be more up-front. In both instances we came back after “signing up” and found the sign up sheet amended to state the “minimum”. It appears that there is little organization of tours between resorts to provide for multiple pick ups (as occurs at other destinations we have been to in the Caribbean) so unless they get all of the people needed for a tour from Fantasy Island, then it does not go. Not a good thing.
Note that the resort “fogs” for mosquitoes (which is a good thing) – and it is done around 5 – 6 am. This was done 3 or 4 times while we were there. It is noisy, but unfortunately a “necessary evil”. When it first happened it was a surprise, but given the nature of the island, (swampy and rain forest covered) – I’ll take the noise – it only lasts for a minute or two anyway. But it is something people should be aware of to limit the surprise.
While at the resort a group of people from a cruise ship were brought to spend the day. To prepare for their arrival it was obvious that we the paying guests were really “second class”. In preparation for the arrival, the bar was set up with “drinks of the day”, a table was laid out with snacks, the washroom off the beach was finally stocked with paper towels and toilette paper and to top it off, servers were walking the beach to provide drinks for the people while they were on site. It was an obvious attempt at presenting a “façade” about the resort since we the – paying guests – were NOT provided any of these services either before or after the cruise ship people were there and had to put up with less than adequate amenities until they arrived. The washroom was allowed to deteriorate after they left.
The front desk people were nice, but seemed to be having difficulty with some requests. We had made a request for a 6 am wake up call for the morning we were leaving and to this day we are still waiting for it. Several other people on the bus also did not get their calls and some people actually received calls for other rooms. We did make the bus, but just, and not very happy.
Rooms: We stayed close to the dive shop – in Room D2. It is somewhat confusing when you arrive, since they give you a key with a number but tell you a room with a letter/number designation. There is no information provided on how they relate so we ended up walking around for some time trying to find the room. Staff where nice, but seemed to not understand our dilemma. We asked for our bags to be bought to the room, but ended up doing this ourselves. The room was very nice with a large closet, queen size mattress on a king box spring (??) and ceramic floors. The room seems to have been recently renovated. The paint and tile seemed new. We wanted a room with a view and got this one with a nice view of the bay and sail boats in the area as well as the breakers on the reef. The maids did an excellent job everyday of cleaning the room, and most days the room was cleaned by lunchtime. However we would point out that the sheets could be less threadbare and should fit the bed. We had a couple of days with sheets that “just covered” the mattress and obviously by morning we found ourselves sleeping on the mattress itself rather than a sheet. Towels were well worn, frayed substantially around the edges – we received one towel that was actually ½ a towel – split lengthwise. Drying yourself after a shower was somewhat of a challenge shall we say?
Diving: They have 5 very good dive boats; each can hold up to 25 divers and their gear. While with 25 it is somewhat “crowded” it is still manageable. Dive staff are trying to help. It is obvious that the dive operation is also “victim” to the apparent “cut backs” at the resort. The dive office handles the rental of equipment for both diving and snorkeling. However there is no “dive shop” where equipment could be obtained if you have a breakdown. There is a place for it, but it is locked up with nothing to offer. If you are into getting your dives recorded, Luis is VERY GOOD – his videos (DVD’s) are excellent. He is an excellent diver himself and knows how to ensure everyone gets the “15 minutes of fame” and the various sea life that is found on the dive site is included with excellent clarity. The Dive operation does provide both Air and Nitrox tanks, and all fills are very good. There was only once with a tank with a short fill, but that was due to a leaky valve. They have excellent compressors. The other very good point is that they have a medical doctor on site and their own chamber. They ask that divers support this with a $2/day fee – which is both reasonable and should be supported by all divers who go to the resort. There is shore diving, but I did both a night and day dive from the gazebo, and it is not very interesting. There is an old ship sunk to dive on, but not much sea life around it. Interesting to look at for one dive, but after that, not much else. Actually the snorkeling off the gazebo is much better – lots to see. You can either go to the left off the gazebo or across the way to the coco reef – which has lots to see. Just watch out for boat traffic. Diving on the reef ranges from good to very good depending upon the site. All sites are quite close and max boat ride was 15 minutes. Staff on the boat is very good, aiding divers very competently and providing good aid to divers upon return even in very high seas.
Food: We found the food so-so, it was actually quite bland. Breakfast had a choice of different fruits, cereal, a type of cold cut meat, processed cheese slices, toast or breakfast breads. They also had a grill where you could get an omelette, as long as they had gas to run the grill – they ran out while we were there. We could not get a hot cup of tea. The buffet usually had scrambled eggs, beans, hardboiled eggs, pancakes etc. Lunch consisted of a fruit selection as well as lettuce, tomatoes, onions, green peppers and carrots to make a salad. The salad dressing was oil and vinegar. They also had soup – very high in salt, and so – so, For example the “Seafood Soup” was made with various items, but included the shells for the lobster/shrimp etc, which made it difficult to eat and unappealing. The lunch buffet usually consisted of a couple of meat dishes as well as hamburgers, fries and a pasta choice. The sauces were unimaginative – one “tomato sauce” appeared to be (and tasted as if) made from tomato soup! Supper buffet consisted of a soup again, various meat dishes, vegetable, pasta, as well as a fruit selection and salad similar to above with an added mix blend – which was usually quite good. Deserts were good – however the ice cream was always quite soft / runny, many water crystals and the taste was lacking.
Restaurants: We have to mention here that in all advertising that we read on the facility there is mention of either 2 or 3 restaurants. Mostly we find reference to two. However in reality, there is only ONE restaurant. This restaurant is located on the second floor above the lobby. Obviously it is also somewhat “long in the tooth” as they say. The floor is wood plank that has definitely seen better days and not because it is wood in the Caribbean. The ceramic floor area where the food is served is obviously old. The so-called “second” restaurant is used to serve lunch on the beach from time to time. It is not used every day. Only one eating area is open at a time. While we were eating at the beach site one day last week, there was an infestation of bats flying around while we were eating. We left - since we really “lost” our appetite due to this and we wondered about the quality of the food in the open areas with these flying around. If a resort advertises 2 restaurants, it means that there are two places to eat at any one time, not one place to eat depending upon the day. As well, when lunch was served at the beach area, the variety of food was somewhat limited with the soup being cold or only luke warm; cold foods open to the air and not kept cold; etc.
Beach/Pool: There are many chairs and loungers around the resort. It is not hard to find a quiet place to relax. There are three beaches at Fantasy Island, but one main beach to swim from right in front. They keep all the beaches quite clean but – the sand flies/ sand fleas are VERY bad. It is imperative to have a good insect repellant – and even at that it still won’t stop them totally. The pool is large and well laid out however the waterfall they show in their brochure is no longer working. We noted that they have mattresses for the loungers on the beach, but these seem to be infested with the sand flies/fleas. Best to NOT use these, an extra towel etc would be best. There is a “pool bar” – but it is not serviced. You can get drinks at a window on to a patio/deck outside the bar. We found that there seems to be a broken waste pipe under the deck because the smell was awful – at times almost unbearable – making a trip to get a drink difficult.
Bar: We had the “All Inclusive” package with Conquest/Red Tag and expected to be able to have “all domestic drinks”, but only 1 beer and 6 rum drinks were included. Anything else was extra. Wine was available only at dinner – if you wanted it at the bar you had to pay. There are four different Honduran beers (Port Royal, Salva Vida, Imperial and Barena) however we only were served the Imperial. If we wanted any of the other “domestic” beer it cost extra. The Imperial is a very heavy beer – so unless you like Labatts 50, or similar, it is difficult to drink. The beer is served only in paper cups. You cannot get it in the bottle or a glass whether you are inside or out. While we understood the issue about outside and glass, inside did not make any sense.
Water Sports: The resort advertises Kayaks; motor boats; etc, but these are not available. According to the staff the Kayaks have not been around for “some time”. The only motorized water sport item was the Seadoo; Too expensive in our opinion and really not worth it. However we were advised that the non-motorized watersport items are now no longer part of the resort. While these were supposed to be included in our package, we were told we had to pay for any of the two items, paddle boats or water triks (there was nothing else – no sailboards or anything). We asked about the kayaks and were told that they are likely never going to be available ever again.
Misc: The resort has white-faced monkeys around it as well as agoutis, ducks and iguanas. We found that the monkeys while “cute” were a nuisance. They would take anything they could lay their hands upon, and it was a task to get it back. They will sit on your shoulder but the resort is trying to get people to stop feeding them – which is a good thing to work on. They come around the main area at breakfast, lunch and dinner – and try to get food from the tables and in doing so make a mess of the table. There is a mini-zoo up on the hill. They have various different animals there to see. The tennis courts are in so-so shape – they appear to have had little attention is some time but we only saw these from a distance as we passed them on the bus.
Summary: If you are traveling on a very limited budget, then the resort is serviceable. It is however in our opinion “over sold” in the advertising and needs to be more up front with its info. Below is taken from the web site about the “amenities” available, and we have appended our comments to this list. If you are a non-diver and must be busy the majority of the time, you may want to go elsewhere. The resort is rated a 3 star, but in all honesty in our opinion, it is just barely at a 2 star level. We would probably liken the facility to a “dive operation with rooms attached” rather than a resort at this point.
The list below was taken from the web site of the Amenities at the resort.
http://travel.yahoo.com/p-hotel-329557-action-describe-fantasy_island_beach_resort-i;_ylt=AjhePtp0sFQsJsrt2N.NA7ziphQB#amenities
Room Amenities
§ Air Conditioning (In Room) – Very noisy when the compressor kicked in – and did not dehumidify very well. But it works.
§ Refrigerator – small bar fridge; worked ok, but don’t put anything on the bottom you don’t want to get wet – it constantly defrosts itself to the inside. Large puddle formed daily.
§ Telephone – MUST put down credit card to be allowed to use.
§ Television (Cable/Satellite) – small TV, (your not there to watch TV are you?), but when watching it does cut out. To get the remote you must put down a $20 deposit.
§ Non-Smoking Rooms – I guess – ours was ok, we don’t smoke but it was obviously renovated so was still quite pleasant and did not stink.
§ Daily Maid Service – ladies were efficient, very good. Usually finished by noon.
§ Balcony/Terrace – most rooms – various views, all nice.
§ Mini-Bar – Have no idea what room has this – no one had one that we talked to. This must be something from the distant past and no longer provided or a dream of someone.
Hotel Details
§ 88 Rooms / 2 Floors or 109 rooms depending upon what you read - where.
§ Built in 1989 – probably, there is a lot of deterioration of the building, lot of wood rot. They appear to be renovating, but there is a long way to go.
§ Babysitting or Child Care – difficult to arrange according to a couple of people who had children.
§ Laundry/ Dry Cleaning Service – never offered, no indication it still is available.
§ Car Rental – Difficult to arrange – watch your credit card imprint – make sure it says “security deposit only” on it. We tried to rent a car, it was arranged but they just never did show up.
§ Safety Deposit Boxes – these have been upgraded according to the people from the previous years and much better. A definite need for storing your stuff. Pay the deposit, keep the key and relax.
§ Currency Exchange – hesitant to change large denomination US dollars. Take bills less than $50 with you, and note that there is a substantial fee for cashing traveler cheques.
§ Smoke Alarm in Rooms – in our room for sure.
§ Gift Shop – nice, well appointed – reasonable prices.
§ A-V Equipment Rental – ?? cannot comment.
§ Room Service – no longer as far as we know, nothing was offered and no info was provided as to availability.
§ Multi-lingual Staff – YES – and they ALL try to help. Actually the staff is probably THE high point of the resort.
§ Scuba Diving – Good boats, poor shore diving off the gazebo but very good reef diving.
§ Golf Course – maybe in someone’s dreams! But there is no course at the resort and no info was posted anywhere we could find about any golf facilities.
§ Beach – yes, and nice.
§ Water Skiing – again, maybe in someone’s dreams.
§ Game Room – pool, table tennis, board games for those inclimate days.
§ Pool (Outdoor) – freshwater, so-so for care. Had a “slimy” feel to it when we were in the water and it was difficult to walk about sometimes since the chlorine pucks were strewn about the bottom and we did not want to step on them for obvious reasons.
§ Boating/Sailing – no longer have any watersport equipment associated with the hotel. While paddle boats/ Water triks/ seadoos can be rented down the beach, they are not included in any “all Inclusive” package.
§ Tennis (Outdoor)
§ Fishing – can be arranged with an outside operator – not through the dive shop. If you like to fish from the dock that is possible.
Email: fforth@xplornet.com
| Fantasy Island Beach Resort | Steve & Karen ~ Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada |
My husband and I recently travelled to Roatan, Honduras. We stayed at the Fantasy Island Resort and had a great time. We stayed there for two very relaxing weeks. We are not divers, I do, however, enjoy snorkelling. We flew with Westjet (through Nolitours) out of Toronto.
Rooms: We originally had room 431 (D31) which was close to the dive shop.
The room was very nice with a large closet, king size bed and hardwood floors. Since we were going to be at the resort for two weeks, we wanted a room with a view, but unfortunately this room didn't have one. We were fortunate that there was a couple from Italy who wanted a more quiet room, and we wanted one a little closer to the "action". They had a room facing the pool which suited us perfectly, therefore we switched rooms and both couples were equally satisfied. Our new room was on the main floor and had two double beds, hardwood floors, a large bathroom vanity and a nice view of the pool and ocean. The maids did an excellent job everyday of cleaning the room, and most days the room was cleaned by lunchtime.
Food: We found the food great-no complaints. Breakfast had a choice of four different fruits, cereal, cold cut meats, cheese, toast or breakfast breads. They also had a grill where you could get an omelette made for you, or if you wished, fried eggs. The buffet usually had scrambled eggs, beans, hardboiled eggs, pancakes etc. At lunch, there was always a fruit selection as well as lettuce, tomatoes, onions, green peppers and carrots to make a salad. The salad dressing was oil and vinegar. They also had soup which was always great. The lunch buffet usually consisted of a couple of meat dishes as well as hamburgers, fires and pasta. Supper buffet consisted of soup, various meat dishes vegetable, pasta, as well as a fruit selection and salad. There is also homemade ice cream served at lunch and supper which is quite good.
Beach/Pool: There are tonnes of chairs and loungers around the resort, you will never have a hard time finding a quiet place to relax. There are several beaches at Fantasy Island, but one main beach to swim from. They keep the main beach clean. The pool is fairly large and well laid out.
Bar: We had the AI package with Nolitours, so beer and rum drinks were included. There are four different Honduran beers to choose from (Port Royal, Salva Vida, Imperial and Barena). We really enjoyed the Port Royal the most. Imperial is comparable to Labatt's Blue and Barena is comparable to Corona. The beer is served from the bottle. If you are drinking inside, you can drink from the bottle and if you want to take it outside, they will pour it into a cup. The bartenders (Henry, Dondrina, Lilly and Reuben) are all very nice and great people to talk to. Henry and Dondrina speak English excellently. Lilly and Reuben speak English also, just not as fluently. We didn't mind as it gave us an opportunity to practise our Spanish.
Misc: The resort has a lot of white-faced monkeys around. We absolutely loved interacting with them. They will come up to you and sit on your shoulder. The come around the main area at breakfast, lunch and again around 5 pm. Every afternoon, we would go for a walk and feed the monkeys bananas. The are also a lot of agoutis, ducks and iguanas around. There is a mini-zoo up on the hill. They have goats, geese, deer, scarlet macaws, toucans, ocelot among a couple of other animals there to see. Watch the geese-they can become aggressive. The tennis courts are in good shape (on par with our city courts at home), and use of kayaks is included.
Summary: If you are a non-diver and must be busy the majority of the time, you may want to go elsewhere. If you want a nice quiet, relaxing vacation-Fantasy Island may well be the place for you. It is certainly on our "plan to return to" list.
| Fantasy Island Beach Resort | James |
Just wanted to add to the reviews for Fantasy Island Resort, Roatan.
I'm a dive instructor who fell upon this wonderful little dive mecca by accident through Noli Tours. I am booked for my 3rd trip down there within a year as the diving is so fantastic.
If you love the easy life for diving, it doesn't get much better than this. Unless of course you're talking Bonaire which is harder and more expensive to get to. Don't get me wrong Bonaire is fantastic diving too! I took my wife and kids along with a neighbour and his family for their Open Water Course on this trip. It was for Christmas 2006 and although they were worried about what they were going to do on land for activities, it quickly turned out they did not have much time to do anything anyway. The diving is made so easy that they actually surprised themselves how easy it was to get an average 16 dives each in 6 days.
The dive staff make it so easy to dive with the 3 dives a day off the boats. The boats are very nice heavy boats with lots of room and uncrowded. It makes it easy to get in and out of the boat after your dives if the sea is a little rough. I strongly recommend the 2 dive package for divers. The boat departs at 0900 and then for the 1100 dive, have the Divemaster put an extra tank on for the trip back. When you get into the lagoon they will drop you off on top of the wreck and you can have a nice easy 3rd dive before lunch. Then if you want you can go back out on the afternoon dive at 1430. We were located right beside the dive shack where it was nice and quiet. Took a few beers down and sat on the dock to do our Apres Dive routine debriefing on the days dives and do up the log books.
The wife enjoyed the diving so much she is going back with me and our neighbours fo another week in February 2007.
The food was nothing like onboard a cruise ship but it was edible home cooking type buffet. Salads and fruits are great and so are the homemade icecreams. If you like more than Ketchup and Hotsauce on your meats, I would advise you to take what you want. Lunch is often outside on the beach when the weather is nice. If you tip the staff up front your service is amasingly better. Tip the DM and the Boat Captain before you start your week and see what a difference that makes also. The Divemaster Derry on Little Andreau really likes Gummy Babies of you want to take him some and Take some DVD -R's for Louis the videographer and he will make you a sweet deal on a video of your dive.
All the staff are wonderful if you treat them like proper people and not like they are your slaves. I was witness to that and the people were wondering why they were not getting much service.
This little resort is definately going to be my once or twice a year stop for diving and I strongly recommend it. If you have any questions, mail me nawtical@yahoo.com
| Fantasy Island Beach Resort | Canada |
My wife and I (50+) were at Fantay Island Feb. 11 to Feb. 18. Wished we could have stayed there for 2 weeks. Roatan is a small island about 37 miles long and 4 miles wide. For me it was like a miniature Costa Rica.
We flew down with Westjet. What else can I say. They are the best!! The Nolitours rep. does a great job there. Any questions and he has the answer. When you have landed and you have sent your luggage through the x-ray machine have your boarding pass ready. They have to see it. No problems at the airport or checking in.
Our room was 340. Near the dive shop and marina. The room was basic. We had a mini fridge. Stocked with a pitcher of water. Some of the tiles on the floor need replacing but no big deal.The air conditioner did a great job. We were close to the beach,the buffet restaurnat and the marina. Didn't smell any fumes. Hammocks were just! steps away and I spent a lot of time in them. Humming bird feeder was near our room. Humming birds drank in the daytime and bats at dusk. Bats were no problem.
The resort has a mini-zoo. They have resident monkeys,iguanas,peacocks,cats, goats,ducks,wattusas(sp) roaming the resorts. They were great entertainment.
The food was repetitive but was very good. Not much variety but we ate good.Gained weight. Oh well. Lobster fest on Fri. nights.
We are not divers but we like to snorkel. One word to describe the snorkeling is "awesome". Just go to the gazeebo and jump in and you will think you are in a huge aquarium. Coral and lots and lots of different fish. Tiny ones to big cudas. The dive master let some of us ($5.00) go out with the divers and snorkel at their dive site. The coral is bigger out there and healthier. There are so many tours one can do. Shopping,dolphin,nature,fishing,canapy,catamaran,shark dives and the list goes on. 1 main road in roatan so you won't get lost. Do bring insect repellant with you or buy the cactus juice $12.00 at the gift shop for the ''no-see-ums. We only went on the shopping tour. Coxen Hole is very interesting. All in all we had a great time and we would certainly go back again.
For pictures go to community.webshots.com/user/hoskidean any questions e-mail me at hoskidean@hotmail.com
| Fantasy Island Beach Resort | Lee & Mike ~ Sarnia, Ontario, Canada |
We spent two weeks at Fantasy Island from December 31st to January 14th and would definitely return. If you keep in mind that this is a 3 star resort and you are in the Caribbean, everything else falls into perspective.
We agree with the previous review from the couple from Kingston, Ontario, so we won't be repetitive. All in all, it was a good experience - good variety of food, nice staff, adequate clean accomodations, great beach & snorkelling, good dive shop, reasonably priced trips and beautiful setting.
We didn't use insect repellant the first two days and didn't notice the bites until the middle of the night. They sure do itch. So, we just made sure we applied repellant before leaving our room from then on and we had no further problems. We saw very few mosquitoes, but the sand fleas and no-see-ums are plentiful!!
There is lots of nature on this island including the very cute but mischievious monkeys (be careful, they stole my bathing suit bottom off our balcony) and the cats that all the animal-lovers kept fed. Also, a zoo up on the hill behind the dive shop.
If you have any questions, e-mail us at paws@rivernet.net
| Fantasy Island Beach Resort | Marlene & Phil ~ Kingston, ON |
Flight
A comfortable flight on West Jet with Nolitours after a 45 minute delay in Toronto while the plane was waiting to be de-iced. A storm had come in overnight delaying all departures including our 6:30 a.m. flight. Each passenger has their own seat-back TV with satellite service and $5.00 pay per view movies. Head sets were sold for $1.00 for the ear buds or $3.00 for the full headset. The plug-in is single-prong for all the headsets.
Arrival
We arrived on the island at mid day. It was sunny and warm with a cool breeze. The airport is small but organized. There is no currency exchange area available; that would have to wait until we reached the hotel but American dollars are happily accepted. Passengers headed for Fantasy Island were directed to waiting buses and left when full. Within 30 minutes of arrival, we were at the resort. Check-in was quick and luggage was taken to the pre-appointed rooms.
Snorkeling and Diving
The big draw to Roatan are the beautiful coral reefs and excellent scuba diving and snorkeling right off the shore. Fantasy Island has a very busy Dive Shop with six large diving boats that hold 20 people doing three dives per day plus night diving. This is what drew us to the island and we were not disappointed.
Resort
The resort is a solid 3 to 3.5 star. The buildings are all painted turquoise with white trim and surrounded by natural rainforest complete with wildlife to include a family of five friendly monkeys, rabbit-like animals that resemble giant guinea pigs (watussa???), iguanas, and a few species of birds. It has approximately 130 rooms located in several two-story rows of buildings dotted across throughout the property. This smaller island is connected to the island of Roatan by a road and a bridge. It was originally built by Albert Jackson, the “Donald Trump” of Roatan, whose mansion sits high on a hill at the entrance to Fantasy Island. Mr. Jackson sold his resort recently to a Spanish chain.
Our room in building D-6 is a single-story row of rooms, fronted by a grassy area and a dock. It was very basic but had a 5 star view out across the water and a resident tortoise shell kitty who lived on the verandah and looked for her daily fish or chicken tidbits from guests (like me) with soft hearts for animals. She is expecting a litter soon. The two double-sized beds in our room had mattresses that were quite soft with little resistance from the spring coils and the pillows were flat (both observations I commented on in the customer survey left in the room). We had a mini-fridge with a pitcher of purified water which was topped up each day, an old television that was replaced after three days because the internal buzzing was louder than the sound capability, a rattan 3-drawer dresser with mirror, and one easy chair with arms. Outside our door, on the verandah, was a white, wooden, Aiderondeck chair. The floor was ceramic tile and there was an air conditioner in the window which worked well. We kept in on, not because it was too hot, but the cooler air in the room diminished the “musty” smell. The bathroom floor is badly in need of updating but it had a clean and useable bathtub, sink and toilet. This row of buildings was right beside the Dive shop. As we were to learn, divers don’t care about 4 or 5 star accommodations; they are there to dive, dive, dive, LOL and Fantasy Island does not fall short of meeting that desire.
Food
The food was quite good from the fresh fruit and baked bread with made to order omlettes at breakfast, to offerings of beef, chicken and fish dishes with fresh salads and a variety of vegetables and cake or European-style dessert at supper. There is one buffet located on the second floor of the main building (not wheelchair accessible) and a tasty lunch of burgers, nachos & cheese, chicken, fish and French fries all served outside on the beach with partial cover inside a smaller building. Bottled “Imperial” beer, red or white wine was always available for lunch and dinner. Friday night is the Gala supper with a lavish Seafood buffet to include grilled lobster, crab legs, jumbo shrimp, calamari, conch, fresh fish with various fresh salads and fruit. It was a culinary highlight for seafood lovers.
Entertainment
The antics of the monkeys at lunch made up for not having nightly entertainment. The resort did bring in a Fire Dancer on Friday night and a cultural (dancing/drumming) show on Tuesday night from the nearby Garafund village from the east end of the island. Both shows were performed on the beach.
Every evening at 5 pm, in the lobby, a happy hour was held and the day’s diving videos shown on a large TV screen. There are three computers with internet in the lobby for $5.00 per 30 minutes. The resort’s entertainment coordinator did a good job announcing various local tours that were available, organizing a karaoke one night, hosting a manager’s cocktail hour on another day.
Tours
Car rental is available on-site for $55 including insurance for a day. Scooters are $30/day. It is safe to drive around Roatan. There is only one main road to the east and one to the west. The little villages are interesting and all the people are friendly and speak English. The local bus runs by the resort every hour or thereabouts and for a dollar, you can get from Fantasy Island to Punta Gorda (the Garafund village), 30 minutes away or Oakridge (mangrove tours) in the east and for five dollars, you can head west to the capital of Coxen Hole where the cruise ships dock Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday each week. West End is a popular destination on the island with its sand-packed main street and fascinating shops that sell Honduran-made cottage craft and very reasonable prices. The resort offers many organized tours as well ranging in price from $5.00 to visit the iguana farm next door (5 minute paddle by kayak from the beach) to $15 per person for a shopping or bar hopping tour to $100 for a plane ride over Roatan, or excursion to mainland Honduras and several others in between – many related to “diving with the sharks” or “whale sharks” excursions or a boat tour through the mangrove canals. Horseback riding is also popular with many guests.
Pool and Ocean
Beach towels were provided daily from the Reception Desk. The swimming pool was very small, placed to the right of the main building in the middle of the beach, surrounded by trees. You would easily miss it if you weren't looking for it. I never saw anyone in it during our week whenever we passed by walking from our room to the main building. There was so much to see in the clear, warm ocean, but if you weren't wearing fins, it was necessary to wear beach shoes to enter the water or just jump off the gazebo for a good swim and snorkeling experience. The bottom was sandy in spots but it is best to wear something on your feet. The beach sand was golden brown but the sand fleas were un-relentless. The first time my husband and I laid on the plastic beach loungers, I received many bites that went un-noticed until the evening when the itching began. We never stayed on the beach again except for the two evenings of the special entertainment, at which I got more. Needless to say, the beach was not crowded or overused as everyone had the same complaint. I understand that it is the same no matter what time of year you go to Roatan. On arrival home, after our week there, I counted over 85 bites on my arms and legs. They are healing well after a week of intense itching. I don’t think the bug spray did much good but antihistimine and Tylenol which I brought with me from home helped me sleep at night. A very kind food server named Carolina saw me scratching my legs one morning and offered me a bottle of vinegar with helped temporarily.
Overall
Except for the sand fleas, we enjoyed seeing Roatan and Fantasy Island. The warmth and friendliness of the people made the trip to Honduras worthwhile. The sand fleas will probably deter us from returning but the island is truly a snorkler’s or diver’s paradise. We felt we got good value for our vacation dollars spent at this destination.
| Fantasy Island Beach Resort | Norm & Helene ~ Toronto Canada |
I agree with the comments Kevin and Emile made. we went in April 2005. I am not aware of any gear that went missing in the locker room when we were there. but as anywhere don't leave expensive stuff out. The resort was very clean. It only has about 80 rooms so it never felt crowded even though it was full. The food is all buffet style and was plentifull and of good quality, just not fantastic. I would not go there for the food but I would not stay away because of it. We found the resort staff and dive staff to be polite and very helpfull. Any local people we dealt with we really nice people so we felt very welcome In April the water temperature was 82. There is an excellent dive with Dolphins tour and a very good shark dive that you can go on for extra money. They are elsewhere on the island and are not part of FIR dive package
I have seen better boats than they have but all the dive sites are 5-15 minutes away so being crowded on some dives wasn't a big deal. In the water our group was all experienced divers so no problems and everyone was back on the boat within about 7 minutes of each other. The boats ran on time for every dive all week which was a big plus The beach has noseeums (sand fleas) . Deet up and you won't be bothered. About 10 % of the people there got bit (like a mosquito bite) I don't know if they laid on the sand and got bit or just reacted to bits. We did not get bit. I did not see any mosquitos all week even on the jungle tour. Many people including us were taking anti-malaria medicine due to the wet winter and malaria outbreak in Dominican Republic and the CDC website recommends it for Honduras include the Bay Islands. We went with a "World of Vacations" all inclusive Dive package package that we puchased through SQUBA Holidays in London ON. We found Squba Holidays great to deal with and the package has a direct flight from Toronto to Roatan about 4 1./2 hours. Hopefully they will run this deal again next winter
I would and probably will go back because we enjoyed ourselves so much
| Fantasy Island Beach Resort | Kevin and Emilie ~ Ontario, Canada |
This was our first trip to Roatan, Honduras. Being divers we had heard a lot of good things about the area but had never been able to go there until World of Vacation picked up this location.
We departed Toronto, on the 29th of January 2005 on WestJet for a 4 hour and twenty minute flight direct to Roatan. WestJet was enjoyable and the employees had a great attitude and really seemed to enjoy their work.
Upon arriving in Roatan, we entered the airport and passed through a small area with four immigration officers and then took a few steps into another area where the luggage was picked up. It was at this location the World of Vacations representative (Frank) met us and directed us where to put our baggage and to the small bus for a short ride to Fantasy Island Beach Resort. Luckily being one of the first to arrive there it was a short time period till we were given our room key and towel cards. The hotel requested a copy of my credit card for any charges I may have made to my room.
Rooms
We were assigned room #209. This room was on the second floor and this was situated a short distance from the main restaurant of the hotel which is also on the second floor. Even though we were close to the kitchen/restaurant there was not any noise that we could hear. I would describe the room as being rustic. There were two twin beds, an ancient dresser which was difficult to open. The bathroom was clean but the appliances were old. The toilet seat had been broken at one time and it was glued back together and the shower had very minimal pressure at all times. There was a bar fridge in the room which was old but it worked fine. The T.V. was satellite and had quite a few channels but the hotel does not trust the guests with the remotes unless you put down a deposit. There are no safety deposit boxes in the rooms but there are some located next to the front desk. There is no cost for their use but you must leave a deposit of $100 or an imprint of your credit card. Also there are not enough boxes to go around so get one early. We had a problem with ants in the room which for some reason came out more at night time. The first night, one woke my wife up by crawling across her face. After talking to Frank (WOV) the room was sprayed and they left a can of raid in the room which I used to spray around the patio door and windows. The patio door would not lock and did not have a good seal so we were glad to be located on the second floor.
Food
As I previously stated there is the one main restaurant on the second floor. You must be able to go up stairs as there are no elevators available. On three occasions we had lunch at the beach pavilion area. When this restaurant is open for lunch the main restaurant is closed. We found the food good and three times we had shrimp and on two occasions we had lobster. On Thursday evening the seafood buffet featured grilled lobster tails, king crab legs, shrimp and of course fish. All meals are buffet style.
Bar
There is only one bar open at a time at this resort and it is usually the one located near the lobby. There is usually only one bartender during the day and evenings and so it can be slow in getting a drink. Only beer and rum based drinks are all inclusive. For example if you are having dinner, wine is included but if you walk downstairs after and order a glass of wine, they want to charge you $4.00 usd. It is probably good that this resort caters to divers and not to drinkers. This resort needs a beach bar during the day and perhaps a few more staff.
Beach
Very beautiful sandy beach. There are lots of chairs available on the beach and with the beach being quite large there is not any overcrowding. The only problem is there are no-see-ums that are quite thirsty and even with the use of bug repellant Emilie received about 30 bites on her back, legs and arms. Please remember to bring repellant with lots of DEET.
Diving
The coral and sponges were amongst the best I have ever seen. The barrel sponges were large and colorful. We did 11 dives during the week and all of the dives with the exception of the shore diving location were all wall dives. We pre-purchased 5 day, 2 tank boat dives which ran from Sunday through Thursday and the boat dive times were 9am, 11am and 2:30pm.The boats are all cattle boats and held our entire group of 19 divers. I did find it a little crowded in the water and there was only one dive master and one boat captain for the group. The dive master would lead everyone along the dive and it was good that we were diving with experienced divers who were careful not to kick your regulator out of your mouth or knock your mask off. The shore diving was unlimited and the dives took place off a gazebo where you followed a cable out to a plane wreck and a shipwreck. We saw turtles, green moray eels and sea horses. The water temperature was 79degrees in most locations. At the dive shop there are lockers (open/no doors) that you can hang your gear in but I would recommend that any expensive gear should go back to your room. I made the mistake of leaving my signaling device (quacker) on my B.C. and overnight it disappeared. I know of some clips, hats and a mask that also went missing. The locker room is locked at night time and it is impossible to tell who was doing the stealing.
Overall
We had great weather the entire time we were there. The resort is rated three stars and I would have to agree. It is very quiet at night time and if you are looking for a party place then go somewhere else. This resort is a diver’s place and was pretty well deserted by 10:00 pm and the bar closed at 11:00pm. Was I glad that I went to Fantasy Island Beach Resort? ……Yes. Did I have a good time?......Yes. Would I go back?......Probably not.
Last updated: February 17, 2008
