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| Henry Morgan Resort |
Henry Morgan Resort: Hotel Reviews |
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By Trip Type... |
By Traveller Type... |
| Based on 8 reviews |
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| We will come back |
| Hotel Henry Morgan Resort |
User Rating:
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Edith, Calgary >
1 contribution(s) Canada |
| May, 2009
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Arrival: April 10-17
We arrived late afternoon after a schedule change that had us stopping in Varadero for an hour. Conquest had changed the flight twice in the weeks before departure - that should have been a tip off to us! Some of those on our flight had a chance to buy rum and cigars but as we had been there just the month before we chilled out and enjoyed a Cappuccino. Our arrival at the Roatan airport was efficient and we were met by the Conquest rep who quickly assigned our room numbers, processed our baggage and directed us to one of a couple of mini-buses waiting to take us to the resort. As we arrived Good Friday we caught the end of Semana Santa - the huge Easter vacation/celebration. The beach in front of the resort was as busy as a New York street with constant groups of people moving up and down the beach and live music blaring from Bananarama beach stage further down. It was very entertaining to grab a drink at the Henry Morgan Beach bar and plunk down on one of beach chairs and people watch. Saturday was also very busy but by Sunday it was back to normal. The rest of the week was very quiet - so we got the best of both worlds. I'd really think twice about being there the entire pre- Easter week though - just too busy.
Rooms
Our room was on the main floor - corner unit - very spacious and clean. Although others have commented on the noise of the wooden walkways and footsteps from above we didn't find this to be a problem. Partway through the week a single bed was delivered to the room and set up - housekeeping must have got the message mixed up and when we tried to tell the maid in our broken Spanish she nodded her head and then delivered more towels ;-) It wasn't a problem - there was lots of room and it remained with us all week. The bathroom was clean but a little tired looking with mold on the wall around the shower head and a temperamental sliding door. Always had lots of hot water and pressure. |
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| Restaurants and Bars |
The buffet restaurant is the only restaurant and serves all three meals. The food is good to very good, lots of variety and of a good quality and quantity. My only complaint was that things were not always hot - but I often chose from the made to order stations to get around this (especially at breakfast). The dress at the restaurant is casual - with things a little dressier at dinner but certainly not required. The service is excellent and all the restaurant staff go above and beyond to make sure you have everything you need. We began the week tipping but quickly realized that we received great service from many people each meal and so decided to tip an amount at the end of the week to go into the tip pool. I gave this tip to Jorge (in charge of the buffet) and he said he would distribute it for us. In addition there is a snack bar/beach bar that serves lunch and snacks. We always had lunch at the beach bar - grilled meats and fish, salads, bread/buns, a couple of hot vegetables and a pasta were usually offered. Also huge amounts of fresh fruit. There was fruit offered all day and off and on trays of sanwiches and pizza squares. The beach bar makes a great pina colada!
On Thursday night we treated ourselves to dinner off the resort at the Island Pearl ( a little ways down the beach) and really enjoyed the meal, the atmosphere and the service. We had made a reservation but it wasn't really necessary as only about half the tables were occupied. They have a great wine selection and people did stop in for drinks only. There was live entertainment that night - a singer and guitar - he was great. We felt quite safe walking along the beach at night to get to the restaurant but a flash light is probably a good idea as it is DARK.
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| Beach/Pools/Grounds |
| The Beach is amazing - beautiful clear water, white sugary sand and sun, sun, sun. We go away once or twice every winter and this is one of the few spots I would return to. There are lots of beach chairs - no need to get up early and play the towel game - shade is at a premium in the afternoon but with a bit of moving of chairs it's always available. The security guards are very vigilant and there is no problem leaving things at your chair as you swim and grab lunch at the beach bar. There are a couple of fellows who keep busy moving chairs and fetching chair pads as well as picking up empty glasses etc. The beach is very clean! We are definately beach people and didn't even put a toe in the pool - but it looked lovely - lots of shade available there! |
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| Activities on and off the Resort/Hotel |
| We chose Roatan and the Henry Morgan on the strength of it's dive reputation and opportunities for snorkelling and it certainly didn't disappoint. My husband is the diver and was very impressed with the operation that TGI Diving runs - all the Dive Masters are very good at what they do and the dive briefings were always thorough and professionally presented. He always felt prepared and safe. There are 3 different dives each day. TGI also has a class room on site for the PADI courses and my husband opted to take his advanced open water course while there and so did the required night,wreck,deep and advanced navigation dives. My husband would not hesitate to return to Roatan to dive with this operation. There prices are excellent. The snorkelling from the beach is great and is best at the far end of the beach against the coral wall - no need to go out by boat to see a variety of sea life! |
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| Other Comments |
We were caught up in the Conquest Vacations collapse! On Wednesday the Conquest Rep at the Hotel came and found us on the Beach and said there was a meeting for all Conquest guests at 5pm. We arrived at the meeting to find security guards at the door which seemed a bit odd. We were soon to find out that Conquest had gone out of buisness, that there would be no problem with our flight home as that was going ahead as scheduled (although those that were there for two weeks would have to return with us a week early)and that we all would be receiving an invoice from the Hotel for our week's stay as the Hotel hadn't been paid by Conquest for our trip (or for any of the Conquest guests that they had had in the last month).
Understandably the guests were fairly hot under the collar - the Manager was professionaly stern but not threatening. One of the guests was very familiar with the protection for travellers under the TICO insurance and volunteered to help the Manager contact TICO to see what our options were. The next day we found out that TICO had assured the Hotel, in writing, that they would cover the bills of the TICO insured guests and that they would not have to collect from us directly. Five couples at our resort had not booked through a TICO registered agency and they had to pay the invoice before leaving the hotel. The invoice initially was at the "rack" rate of $1,700.00 US per couple per week (as much as some people had paid for the flight and the vacation combined!), but it did get adjusted down to $1,050.00 US per week. One of the uninsured couples were there for two weeks but opted to go home rather than pay that rate for a second week with no assurances of getting the money they had already paid back. A few couples had booked for two weeks and TICO covered their second week so they opted to stay and make their own arrangements to fly home (via Houston). It was a bit unsettling but for us it all worked out in the end and certainly was not the horror story we are hearing from those that were in Cancun and some hotels in Cuba where they had to come up with the funds right away.
The manager at Henry Morgan was very cool under pressure and was completely accomodating which I'm sure was very difficult given the spot he was in as well. We are planning on returning to the Henry Morgan next winter and hope that one of the other Canadian tour operators will offer it and if it were offered out of Calgary (rather than Toronto) we would be in heaven! |
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| Atmosphere was PERFECT |
| Hotel Henry Morgan Resort |
| User Rating:
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Liza, Toronto >
1 contribution(s) Canada |
| Jan, 2009
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Arrival: Jan.2 - Jan.9, 2009
Upon arrival in Roatan, several mini buses were at the airport to bring us to the Resort. Our room numbers were pre-assigned, and the bus ride to the property was only about 20 minutes.
Once at the hotel, we simply filled in some paperwork for check-in, while snacks and welcome drinks were served, and proceded to our room. The luggage arrived about 10 minutes later. The whole arrival experience was quick and painless - in fact, the plane arrived in Roatan around 10:15am and we were on the resort's beach by 11:45am!!
Rooms:
The rooms at the Henry Morgan are very functional and comfortable. Although some of the fixtures are a bit tired as some people have previously mentioned, the rooms are clean, airy and in everything was in good working condition. The housekeeping staff do a great job!
Restaurants and Bars:
There is one main restaurant that serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner. There is also a snack bar at the beach where they serve a small spread for lunch. The dining room is very casual. You don't have to get dressed up for dinner each night. Some of the ladies wear dresses, but for the most part, this is a very low-key place. Men do not need to wear long pants in the dining room. If you are the type of traveller who is looking for "a la carte" options, and gourmet meals - this is probably not the right resort for you! For us, this atmosphere was perfect. The food was always plentiful, tasty and traditional. The service staff are extremely pleasant and they greeted us by name at every meal. They even went so far as to buy some local "hot sauce" for us at the grocercy store in Coxen Hole when they found out that my husband loved spicy food! Thank you Jorge and Lenny!
There are two bars - one on the beach, and the lobby bar. The all-inclusive drinks were limited to house wines, local beer, and the local bar rail.
We rather enjoy venturing out from the resort. We found a fabulous little bar, just down the beach, at the Los Rocas Resort. During happy hour, from 3pm to 5pm, they served "two for one" drinks - including daquaries, mojitos, pina coladas, and many other fancy drinks. Drink prices are extremely inexpensive here and for a change in atmosphere, and the fun we had with the bartenders (Mike and Winston were the best!!), we thought it was well worth it! By the way, you can catch a great sunset from there as well as from the resort's beach. |
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Beach/Pools/Grounds:
The Henry Morgan's beach at West Bay is truly the nicest on island - the sand is soft and white; the ocean is warm and turquoise! We walked along the beach as far south as "the wall" and as far north as we could. It is possible to walk all the way to West End, but you'd need shoes for this. West End is the closest town - by water taxi it's about a five minute ride and only $3 USD. We found a great litle rotisserie chicken, and fish restaurant in town. They had the best "fixin's" I've ever tasted - and the best coconut rice and beans!
Activities on and off the Resort/Hotel:
Roatan is well known for scuba diving and snorkeling. Although we didn't do any diving on this trip, we did enjoy the snorkelling that was best just down the beach towards "the wall". Here, we saw many varieties of colorful fish and reef life.
We also rented a car to tour the island for a day. It was a great way to see all of the towns and get a feel for the local way of life. We visited Coxen Hole, where the cruise ships come in, and French Harbour, where we ate a great lunch at Gio's. We did venture off the main roads, but after experiencing a flat tire on the dirt roads, we'll make sure to rent a truck or jeep next time!!!
Another good restaurant just down the beach from the Henry Morgan was Foster's. We had heard from a local that they'd be serving a "lobster special" the night before we left. We walked over, with a few other people from the resort, and found that happy hour was in full swing! We ordered appetizers first, and discovered the best "ceviche" we've ever tasted! For the experience of enjoying a lobster dinner on the beach, we thought this was a great deal.
Other Comments:
We thoroughly enjoyed our week at the Henry Morgan resort. We loved the relaxed atmoshere, and found the staff to be wonderfully friendly. Raphael, our Conquest Rep was proffessional, and was always available to anwer all of our questions. We would, and have recommended this resort to our friends, and would love to return ourselves! |
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| Old Reviews - Henry Morgan Resort |
| Henry Morgan Resort |
Freedom Ryder & Wossa
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| March 2008 |
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| We booked our tickets via Yourtraveltickets.com, travelled out of Pearson International Airport, Toronto, via Skyservice. |
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| Arrival At The Airport |
Once you have collected your luggage from the carousel and put your bags through Customs, you will be met by Henry Morgan staff that will allocate you a room number and take your bags. The staff will write your room number on the tickets on your cases, they are then loaded onto the back of the truck and are delivered directly to your room 20 or so minutes after you arrive.
I would strongly suggest you watch the staff write the correct room number on the tickets and then watch them load your bags onto the truck before getting on the bus. Henry Morgan temporarily lost two of our bags, and we wasn’t even sure if they had been loaded onto the correct vehicle, as we presumed that they would be loaded. The bags where located after a few hours in another guests room.
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| Checking In |
You are issued a form to fill out whilst on route from the airport. This is handed to the reception staff, and they hand you your room and safe key, with the remote control for the TV and a towel card. They also requested a swipe of your credit card which they store until checking out.
You are also issued with a resort wrist band which you will need to wear everywhere whilst on resort. Without this band, the staff is very reluctant to serve you, and we were asked to provide it on many occasions before we were served drink or food.
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| Rooms |
The rooms are very simple, very clean, and have very much a rustic feel to them. We had one king size four poster bed, and an additional small single bed. Lots of closet space to hang your clothes, bedside cabinets, a small fridge and TV. The bathroom was again very clean, and a reasonable size. The water is ‘salt water’ in both the sink taps and shower!! Three out of the seven nights we didn’t have any hot water. The hot water tended to run out if you tended to shower later in the evening, around 7.30pm.
We had a nice size wooden balcony with a couple of hammocks, and space to dry clothes after a days diving or at the beach.
The safe in the room is tiny, just enough space to fit our wallets and passports inside, not much else. Also, the safe key is the one and only, no spares or replacements, so ‘allegedly’ if you loose it, then there is a cost of $250 to replace the complete safe.
The rooms are interconnected via wooden walkways, which at night can sometimes be noisy as they tend to vibrate and make a lot of noise as guests walk past at night. In addition, we had a ground floor room, and again the wooden floors above are very noisy when people walk about late at night or early morning.
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| Resort |
Henry Morgan is very laid back in atmosphere and is set in lush mature and well kept grounds. The lobby is very vibrant, airy and filled with big couches with huge cushions that many people just fall asleep in. They have a bar that serves both alcohol and coffee etc, and a pool and ping pong table. There is also usually a singer playing music most times during the day and evening. Nice little touches, such as tame parrots that sit in the Lobby which you can freely pick up for pictures, hot coffee early in the morning in flasks to help your self.
Upstairs in the Lobby is the main Restaurant. Evening meals where served from 7.00pm till 9.30pm and Breakfast was from 7.30am. There were always lots to choose from every time we went to dinner and breakfast, and everything seemed fresh and well cooked. They do have a little problem of keeping the food from keeping hot, but we didn’t find this too much of an issue and never went hungry.
The Lobby also has a little shop that sells all kinds of local clothing, branded T-Shirts, bandana’s etc, jewellery and other souvenirs in case you don’t make it into town.
The lobby leads outside to the pool which again was nice. Lots of sun chairs and shade if wanted, however, the pool was mainly empty as the beach is just a few steps away, where the majority of people spent their time.
There is a beach side restaurant that serves food from 12.30pm until 2.00pm, and hot trays of Pizza and fresh fruit throughout the day for snacks.
There is a ‘stage hall’ for evening entertainment, a gymnasium and a small doctors surgery, that provides free medical treatment if required by a visiting MD in the evening.
Please note that any medical equipment, medication or anything useful that can be left as a donation to the Doctor, would be greatly appreciated. The Doctor will take them to the local clinic where resources and supplies are very hard to come by, and everything would be very much appreciated by the clinic staff.
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| The Beach |
| The beach is beautiful, with wonderful white sand, and turquoise waters. There are lots of sun chairs available and also a small bar for Henry Morgan guests to use. The beach can become very busy at times, from both the amount of tourists and locals. There are some stalls to the left of the beach selling souvenirs, and the further you walked it did become quite loud from music pumping out of some of the resorts.
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| Diving |
The on-site dive operators TGI Diving run a smooth and slick show. The Dive Masters are very good at what they do and the dive briefing is always detailed and professional prior to every dive.
You will need to register with TGI (Tropical Gangsters Inc) on arrival, fill out the required paperwork and medical questionnaire, provide them with a log book and your diving qualifications. They then tended to split everyone up into regular diving groups depending on experience and nationality.
TGI visit 3 different dive sites each day. The boat leaves at approx 8.30am for a two cylinder dive, and then again at approx 2.30pm for a single afternoon dive. You need to get kitted up as much as possible prior to walking the short distance to the boat as they do not use a dry dock, and have to wade into the sea, sometimes chest height carrying your fins, regs and everything else…..so be warned. You can store your kit with TGI for the week, and they will provide you with a secure personal little area, and hangers for your suits, that is also locked up at night.
TGI also offer a night dive, wreck and deep dive which there is an additional cost, and also a minimum entry of Advanced Diver qualification. They also offer a morning diving at Cara-a-Cara with the huge reef sharks that frequent this area. This is really is a once in a life time chance to shark dive without a cage, and see these animals up close. We took the PADI Shark Speciality course for $250 each, which includes 2 x class room sessions and also 2 x shark dives at Cara-a-Cara. We really enjoyed this course and would recommend it if you had the time.
There is a great dive shop on site that is a Mares dealership, and the prices are probably the best you will ever see, way cheaper then in England and Canada. TGI also has a class room on site for anyone wanting to take the majority of PADI courses which are normally available back home.
We would really recommend TGI, and would dive with them again without a second thought.
The only negatives are that the dive boat can get incredibly packed. I have never seen so many divers on a single boat, sometimes 35 plus and space is very tight. I also thought that some groups where a little big for a single Dive Master, sometimes as many as a dozen divers to one DM, so you need to be pretty confident in your abilities and your dive buddy.
There is a lot of Italian guests at the hotel and they tended to keep the English speaking and Italian speaking groups separated, which sometimes made for a ‘them and us’ type situation. It would have been nice to be able to mix more.
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| Excursions |
We basically found our way around ourselves, which is half the fun. We visited the West End, best way is to hail a water taxi that patrols the beach ($3 per person) which is a 10 minute boat ride. The West End is basically a beach front strip filled with shop ands bars, which was fun to look around. There are many new developments being built (mainly bars) which may take away its character in a year or so.
From here we also took a taxi cab to Coxen Hole. Coxen Hole is the capitol of Roatan and is the main place on the Island, and is well worth a visit to the shops here, also to get a feel of the town. Lots of places to explore here, and you will need to ensure you arrive when the cruise ships are in town as many of the stores do not bother to open up.
We paid $2 each for the cab ride from the West End to Coxen Hole which is a 15 to 20 minute ride. The cab drivers will tell you anywhere from $10 to $20 per person as they know you are a tourist, so make them aware that you know what price it should be.
We also completed the Zip line / Canopy Tour which was a real blast. If you book it at the Henry Morgan resort they will drive you to the place free of charge, and it will also cost you $35 a person, rather then the normal $45 you would pay if you was to go there yourself.
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| The Orphanage |
Children from a local Orphanage visit the resort a couple of times a week and have use of the pool and some of the facilities. We bought some cases of donations, clothes, toys and candy etc, and travelled on the bus with the children from the resort of their home so we could deliver it direct. We ended up spending almost 3 hours at the Orphanage, where the children showed us around and everyone was very excited to have their pictures taken etc.
From our experiences, we would recommend that any donations that are taken are items that can be handed directly to the children whilst they are at the resort. Toys and candy would be ideal, as they can be used immediately by the children and are usually kept by the children in their rooms.
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| In Summary |
We absolutely loved our stay at the Henry Morgan and Roatan. The resort is perfect for what we wanted, laid back and relaxing, or full of adventure with lots of places to explore. We chose the latter and had an awesome time. Don’t expect 5 star facilities, but what you can expect is a well managed, clean resort, with friendly helpful staff, set in a wonderful location.
The diving is some of the best you will get anywhere in the world, and is well worth the trip alone. The Island is wonderful, and relatively unspoilt, rolling hills of jungle and some awesome views and scenery. We certainly plan to go back in the near future, and would highly recommend both the Henry Morgan and the Island of Roatan.
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| Henry Morgan Resort |
Russell & Sheryl
Port Coquitlam, British Columbia
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| March 2008 |
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| Flight |
| Flew Skyservice out of Toronto - which is a bad connection if you are starting your journey in Vancouver. The flight to Roatan leaves Toronto at 06:50 Hrs and the last flight of the day from Vancouver arrives in Toronto at 01:00 hours. This makes for a long layover in the middle of the night!
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| Arrival in Roatan: |
Once you have collected your bag and passed it through the x-ray machine (what could you possibly be bringing into Roatan that would entail having your bags x-rayed as you arrive?) The Conquest Rep Suzie and a bunch of Henry Morgan staff met us at the airport. They had an excellent system of transporting your baggage to the resort. They will ask you your name and then mark your room number on the Airline Destination tag. Once this is done you leave your bags with the Henry Morgan staff and they place your luggage in a waiting truck. You then go to a bus. On the bus you complete a form (one for each person) that has your signature on the bottom (this is important as you will have to sign for some ‘extras’ (such as internet access) and this guarantees that you did, in fact, authorize the charge – I saw it save one guest a large phone bill. Your bags will be delivered right to your room. When you arrive at the resort, you exchange the forms for your room key, air conditioning and TV converters. The room safe lock was not electronic, so you were forced to carry the key with you wherever you went – no big deal, but don’t loose it or you will be charged for breaking into the safe to retrieve your valuables. The room safe is also provided free, which was nice.
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| The Resort: |
| The Henry Morgan Resort is well loved. It is a three (3) star resort. Yes there are places where the paint is peeling, the wood is worn, and bricks are cracked, but it is clean. Matter-of-fact, it is spotless. Staff are constantly cleaning, mopping, polishing and just tidying things up. You have to walk through the lobby to get to and fro from the beach/pool to your rooms. This would tend to drag a lot of sand around, but there was no evidence of this at all. Furnishings are comfortable, bright and clean, but not luxurious. It is a very comfortable place.
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| The Room |
| The room is pretty basic accommodations. Again it is nice, clean and cheerfully painted. There were two (2) four-poster beds with sheer white curtains. The units are raised off the ground and connected by a raised walkway, which is also mostly covered, so generally even in the rain you will be protected. Our room had a covered deck with two comfortable hammocks – a great place to wile away a few minutes while you wait for your spouse to finish showering. The room had a bathtub with a shower, I wouldn’t count on having a bath, it would take forever to fill the tub. The water was hot and plentiful, except on two occasions. On the first occasion the water line to all the rooms broke (on the day we arrived) it took about 6 hours to fix but then there always seemed to be sufficient hot water to wash away the salt and sun screen. The second event with no water was due to a power outage (see below) – this meant that no one on Roatan had water. Patience worked and we had hot water to cleanup with later in the day. As per usual, don’t drink the tap water in the rooms. There is a mini-fridge in each room and they provide you with two glasses, and two bottles of water at the beginning of your stay. You constantly re-fill these bottles from the numerous water coolers throughout the resort. We would recommend that you also pack a large water bottle for each person. That way if you go off on an adventure you will always have lots of water with you – remember you are only sixteen degrees off the equator here.
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| Henry Morgan Staff |
| These people are very friendly no matter what language you speak. This resort caters to a lot of cosmopolitan languages including Spanish, English, French, Italian and German. The Island of Roatan is a basically English speaking ex-British Colony so being understood was never an issue. The staff was great!
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| Main Building (Lobby/Restaurant/Bar/Boutique etc.) |
Again, this is an older resort, which is to say that it is well made, functional, lots of exposed polished wood, and open to the outdoors. There always seemed to be a nice breeze blowing through the area. There is a bar in this building. As part of the ‘All-Inclusive’ package you can have: local beer, local red or white wine, and three rum drinks: Pina Colada, Rum Punch and Cuba Libre. Additionally, the bar doubles as a coffee bar – Cappuccinos, Lattes, Americanos, etc. If you like strong coffee this is the place to be! Any other liquor will cost you (it is added to your room tab). There is alcohol available for purchase in the various shops in West End (a 35 minute walk along a wonderful beach) – they even have Guinness.
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| Main Dining Room |
This is a 3 star resort – so the food is not up to the standards of a 5 star culinary restaurant. That being said the buffet was more than adequate. Breakfast: There was always a ton of fresh fruit available. Breakfast included eggs (fried, boiled, scrambled and omelettes, juices, pancakes or French toast, fried sausages or bacon, beans, etc.
Lunch: Lots of fresh fruits and salads, pasta, meat, fish, soups etc
Dinner: Lots of fresh fruits and salads, pasta, meat (including a feature meat that changed constantly), potatoes, rice, soups etc.
You would never starve here and you should always be able to find something you like.
One person you are guaranteed to meet is the Major Domo/Maitre` di/ Manager Jorge (pronounced Horhay). You can always tell when he is around (which was at EVERY meal by hearing him continuously say OHKAAY (okay) – and everything was- he would make sure your needs were always met. He will be the one dishing out the VERY strong coffee every morning.
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| Beach Restaurant: |
| The beach restaurant is open for lunch with a smaller version of the main restaurant buffet. Food is good and wholesome and it’s right next-door to the beach bar so you can have that ice cold beer with your lunch. The Beach restaurant closes down in the afternoon while they convert it to a pay-for-food restaurant at night. The menu is limited to lobster/crab etc and is fairly expensive (~$35 extra per person) but we never went there so we can’t comment on the food.
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| Pool |
| The pool is nice and cool, clean and fairly deep. This was my favourite place as there always seemed to be a breeze across the water. It is surrounded with palapas and wooden deck chairs with cushions. There were never many people around the pool, which was fine by me too.
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| The Beach |
Fine white talcum powder sand, lots of chairs with cushions, palapas and palm trees, and there always seemed to be chairs available. It was a great location to watch the magnificent sunsets. You don’t have to be a SCUBA Diver to enjoy this resort. There are lots of things to do ‘topside’ on Roatan. Just relax and have fun. The Conquest reps (Suzie and Eddy) both had lots of information at their fingertips.
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| Sand Fleas |
Yes, there are sand fleas here. I had three bites and my sweeter tasting spouse only had about a 1,000 bites. Bring, AND USE, repellent. You will need to apply it all over if you are one who tastes good to the sand fleas as they will get you when you lie or sit down. No part of your body is sacred if you appeal to their tastes.
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| Dive Shop |
TGI Diving, and Italian Company operates the Dive Shop. It is a Mares dealership too – incredible prices on the best and newest dive gear – there are no taxes or duty on their equipment. This is a very good dive operation – they have a huge white-board outside the shop – you just pick up a dry erase marker and sign up for whatever dives you want. The dives are fairly inexpensive too – the more you dive, the cheaper the dive package. We did 16 dives each over our two week stay and our final bill was only ~$24/dive. The diving was great!
Right off the beach, running for miles in either direction is part of the second larges Barrier Reef in the world. People snorkelling on this reef (an easy swim from the beach) were seeing Eagle Rays, turtles, and hundreds of different fish. The crossing to the reef is frequented by water taxi’s so just keep a good eye out – they seem to be good at avoiding all the tourists floating along on the surface.
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| Gym |
Looked well equipped, we probably should have visited every hour or so (to wear off the food and drink) but we never made it. We had all the good intentions in the world (sigh).
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| What to Bring |
| Bring your own Insulated Mug. This will cut down on all the wasted plastic drink cups and keep your drinks hot or cold.
Bug spray – if you are a victim of bug bites make sure you pick up Deep Woods Off. You can try Skin-So-Soft, but by looking at my wife I just think the fleas look at it as a marinade.
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| Departure |
We had to leave our luggage outside our door by 06:30 hours. They will took it to the airport (the reverse of arrival). The night before they want you to settle up your bill. When you are finished breakfast and have finished with your room just head back down to the lobby, drop your keys, towel cards, and remote control off and sit back and have one last strong coffee. You will climb back on the same buses and head back to the airport. There will be a line-up to get to the ticket wicket for your boarding pass, but hey – do you really want to rush home to the snow? There is a departure tax that must be paid in cash before you leave. Have at least $34US each and check the web to make sure it hasn’t gone up. If you don’t have the cash, you might miss your connection. Hmmmm…
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| Summary |
| We will go back (can I leave now?)! If you go, not expecting a 5 star resort, and want to dive, relax, snorkel, and be well treated then this is a great place to go.
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| Henry Morgan Resort |
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| We loved this hotel and are planning on returning next year.This is something we rarely do but we thought we got great value and really liked the island.We are in our late 50s and were comfortable with the staff and clientle. |
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| Check in |
| This is very efficient and the bags arrived promptly to our room.You need a credit card and then are given your towel cards, room and safe key. |
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| Beach |
| One of this nicest we've been to.
Excellent to walk on as the sand is quite firm.You can walk to WEST End about 45mis away.Nice sand entry into the sea.There are lots of chairs and shade. No reserving needed.
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| Pool |
| Large clean and quiet Good shaded areas.
I saw wild macaws 5 times. They fly in and out by TGI divers.You'll know that they are there as they make a racket when they are about to fly. Saw groups of 3 and 5. Nice all inclusive!
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| Lobby |
| is large and has a bar. The drink selection is not great.You have to pay for other selections Ask for Sal Vida beer as it is included and is a nice lager Port Royal is an ale.There is singer and keyboard player in the evening who is quite entertaining. |
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| Dining |
The main dining room is open for all meals and has a good selection.The wait staff is outstanding! They are guided by Jorge and will do anything for you.The best service with a smile we've ever had. They get to know your preferences very fast.Our red wine was usually on the way before we rdered it.
Beach restaurant is open for lunch and in the evening for $$ lobster. |
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| Snacks |
| At the lobby bar there are pastries and juice if you missed breakfast.Fruit is delivered at the pool and beach around 11. There is pizza and fruit available at the beach until 6pm.Afternoon tea is served on the beach at 3.30-4.Evening at 5 there are snacks at the lobby bar. |
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| Staff |
They are a very friendly group that aim to
please. Eddie was very helpful in arranging trips.
Raphael who is in charge of entertainment is also a liason with the orphanage. He is there when the children visit on Sat[most of the time]. They are so much fun to watch. They come speaking Spanish and as they are approached start speaking English.We gave some water toys to them and were promptly thanked.
Other items were left with the den mother who doesn't speak much English. You can also visit them when the hotel bus takes the food in the afternoon.They enjoy being played with ie in the pool. I'm waiting to hear back from Raphael about a small problem with the orphanage and things being taken away by an American lady. When I have clarification I will post.
There is a medical clinic supported by the owner of the hotel as well. There is a Dr on site for 2 hrs late afternoon. This is a free service and donations are welcome. The clinic was quite good from what I heard. Some were treated for scooter accidents and falls.The Dr then was from Arizona and was a volunteer.
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| Rooms |
| Our room was lovely with 2 4 poster beds.
Large and clean, with lots of storage space.Hot water is hit and miss.The balcony had 2 hammocks.The only problem we encountered was the NOISE. Everything is made of wood,the rooms and walkways!People are not considerate as they walk about with their army boots!!
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| Diving |
| TGI divers are exceptionally good and safe.
The resort course that they do is thorough and safe They want people to be comfortable for their 1st dive so that they will get their c-cards.
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| Activities |
| There are lots of things to do. Beach
volley ball archery bocce ball Spanish lessons aqua fit and dancing. In the lobby ther are 2 pool tables ping-pong fooze ball and shuffle board. There are 3 resident parrots who are fun to play with. Beware of the 1 which has some red on her she is single a will bite especially at your jewellry or glasses.
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| Tours |
A tour of the island is a must. This a very beautiful island. We went to Punta Gorda for lunch. 2 lobster tails fish of the day and garlic shrimp with fries and salad 20us. You can whatch the fisherman right off the beach.This restaurant is called Socroficio. There are 2 canopy tours ,the iquana farm,parrot and monkey farm and abotanical and butterfly garden.The Marine institute offers a dolphin shows and encounter with snorlelling or diving. At half moon beach just past West End there is a submersible which goes down approx 2000ftIt was booked up this time so we are booking ahead for next year It costs $200 and we were told by others that it is exceptional.West End is a funky little town withshops dive shops and bars and restaurants .$2 by water taxi,which you hail on the beach.
Your Conquest rep is not much help. We tried to get her to book some things for us which she never did. We used Eddie but he will be in T.O. in March. Also be aware of over booking at thishotel I t seemed to be a problem for people who split their time at other resorts.They send you down the beach to la Sirenis which they own.Not as nice and the rooms are small.
You have to deall with this on your own as the rep also sells realestate for the hotel and her loyalties are split.
The owner of the hotel is opening a new resort on the other side of the island.We got a peak at it and it's very nice and will be more upscale. We met the owners of Conquest vacations and they will offer this property as well as Henry Morgan. It' called Halfmoon and should open in the fall due to rain delays.We preferred our site for it's location and beach.
While we were there we felt earth tremors twice.Once sitting on the bed and again in the dining room.The chairs and air conditioner swayed. A very weird feeling and apparently frequent occurrance.
Money Use US travellers cheques. Your money will be changed into Lempiras only. You can't get visa money advances at the hotel only at the bank in CoxenHole.ATMs are unreliable at best There is 1 at the MayanPrincess next door.2 in West End and in Coxen Hole.
This a beautiful iland which is being developed at a fast and furious pace.Americans are buying land fast.Cruise ships are invading and I wonder how long this will remain a paradise.
I hope this helps you decide to experience this island and hotel. |
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| Henry Morgan Resort |
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Two delightful weeks at this resort. Conquest jerked us around but good by switching from our original Jan 15 departure date to Jan 16 and then back again to Jan 15 three days before departure.. As an added insult what was promosed and sold as a direct non-stop flight turned into a circuitous trip via La Ceiba. Beware when going to new destinations as the bait and switch routine is common and you have NO recourse.
John, whose comments are following, adequately described the facilities. We thought the room was excellent, lots of storage, hangers, drawers, and a good bathroom. The beds are of modern elevation, that is, about 3 feet off the floor. Short people must jump to get into bed and the design of the bed with wide wooden sides made it too difficult for the housekeeper to tuck the bottom sheets under the mattress, consequently the bad was a mess by morning,
Our room had a safe, not too large but adequate, not electronic but old fashioned key control. Use of the safe is free which is a bit unusual. USE IT!!! Enough said there.
Clearly not a 4 star as there is much too limited dining facilities. The staff are super and make up as best as they can for the facilities shortcomings. We found the food just fine, the variety was good, a problem could be in that the hot food was not kept hot and the cold food was not kept cold enough. Always be wary when paying 3 star prices and expecting 5 star dining. This would be a very good 3 star. The soups were EXCELLENT and a good variety.
Snorkelling was great, agood variety of fish and excellent coral. We took the Island Tour and thought it to be very good, also the glass bottom boat trip to be very good, especially if you don't dive ot snorkel. We snorlellrd and those we spoke to who dive had good words about TDI Dive Centers who are on premises. Also, the dive center has excellent prices on masks, snorkels, etc.
This was our second trip to Roatan and we would return but there a lot of places in the world to see so??? This said despite the fact tht sand fleas eat me alive but don't bother my wife.
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| Henry Morgan Resort |
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Holiday booked through Conquest Holidays
We learned after arrival that we were just the second group to go to the Henry Morgan with Conquest. This destination was just added to their line-up.
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| Flight |
| Flew Skyservice out of Toronto, excellent as always |
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| Arrival |
| Conquest Rep and a couple Henry Morgan staff met us at the airport. They had the slickest arrival set-up I have seen yet. As soon as your bags come off the carousel, one of the staff members marks your room number on the Airline Destination tag. You are then instructed to have you bag x-rayed and then go out of the terminal to another Conquest/Henry Morgan rep who places you luggage in a waiting truck. You then go to a bus. On the bus you complete a form (one for each person). Your bags will be delivered right to your room. When you arrive at the resort, you exchange the forms for your room key, air conditioning and TV converters. The room safe lock is electronic, again this was a significantly better set-up than any we have seen before. The room safe is also provided free, which was a very pleasant surprise.
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| Room |
The room is pretty basic accommodations. Having said that it is nice, clean and cheerfully painted. There is a four-poster bed with a sheer curtain. The units are raised off the ground and connected by a raised walkway, which is also mostly covered so generally even in the rain you will be protected. Each room has a little deck with chairs and a hammock or two hammocks; again these are covered to give protection from rain or sun. The grounds are quite nice. As per usual, don’t drink the tap water in the rooms. There is a mini-fridge in each room and they provide you with two bottles of water at the beginning of your stay, which you then re-fill from the numerous water coolers.
The resort has 116 rooms so it is a smaller resort than we have stayed in before.
One thing you may want to know is that the walls between the units are not insulated. Therefore sound travels through the walls very well; a normal conversation can be heard at some level in the next room. Sometimes we could hear what was said, sometimes just a muffled voice, it really depended on where you were in your room and where they were in theirs. Bathroom was functional with lots of hot water and we had enough pressure to just about take skin off.
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| Henry Morgan Staff |
| These folks are the friendliest group of people we have met anywhere. I only hope that as they get more tourism, we tourists don’t spoil them. I have seen some tourists treat the staff in other resorts quite poorly and understand why they might become less than pleasant.
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| Main Building |
| The main building is nicely done with lots of woodwork. There are many comfy couches and chairs to lounge in. The Main Bar is here, which becomes a pay-as-you-go bar after 11:30 PM. Near the bar there is a fellow who sings and plays Keyboards most of the day. He is very entertaining. The main building houses the stage, where the evening entertainment is held.
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| Main Dining Room |
Food is a very personal thing, so please understand that this is just our opinion. However, we found the food at this resort to be the low point. The meats were certainly properly prepared and I can’t actually say I couldn’t eat anything I tried. Most everything was ok, but not exciting. You won’t necessary go hungry, however you won’t likely gain weight either. They only have 8 steam trays and generally 12 selections of hot food per meal, plus 2 or 3 cutting stations for meat. We found that they would be very repetitive with the types of food offered. For example the breakfast did not change the entire week.
Service in the Dining Room was excellent; again their people are the biggest asset.
Note: The coffee is very strong
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| Pool |
| This is a nice free-form pool, not really large, although not many people use it so it is big enough. There is not much of an apron around the pool, however it is a great place for getting into the shade. Because the pool is little used, it is a place to spend some quiet time.
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| Dive Shop |
| We just snorkeled, however I did peek into the dive shop and spoke to others who went out on dives or bought equipment there. General impression of all was that it is excellent.
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| Beach Bar/Restaurant |
During the day you can have a casual lunch here, without the need to wear more than a bathing suit. In the evening it becomes an A la Carte restaurant, with a $35 (US) charge. Now this is the first All-Inclusive that I have seen with a A la Carte with a charge or for that matter a bar that goes pay-as-you-go at night. We did not try the restaurant so can’t speak about it.
The Beach Bar is to the left of the restaurant. |
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| Beach |
Small, beautiful fine sand, great for swimming and hardly any waves. This is probably one of the nicest resort beaches we have been to, except we found it generally too quiet.
Straight out off the swimming area about 100 meters is a great reef for snorkeling. Please be careful about watching for motorboats as you swim across to the reef
The Henry Morgan “beach” is approximately in the middle of a bigger beach so there is lots of beach for walking or running on.
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| Reef |
As mentioned above, there is a reef directly across from the swimming area, which I spent time on almost everyday. There is also a really nice reef area at the far end of the beach area. This is to the left as you look out at the water and about a 10-minute walk.
The area is terrific with lots of fish and types of coral. Please don’t stand on the coral. The depth is from scrape your belly to approx 50 or so feet. The bonus of this section of reef is there is little boat traffic down at the end of the beach.
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| Sand Fleas |
| Yes, they do live here and we did get some bites, mostly because we were too lazy to put on Skin-so-soft or repellant. I know some people are more bothered by fleas, so if you are use a repellant. I don’t think they spray at the Henry Morgan and assume that it is because of the potential damage of run-off on the coral reef and fish.
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| Gym |
| Real nice, reasonably well equipped. There were scheduled sessions. Managed to avoid taking part. |
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| Currency |
| Take US dollars; try to avoid converting large amounts into Lempira. The exchange rate was approx. 19 Lempira to 1 US dollar. The hotel will convert Travelers Cheques and US Currency to Lempira. Often when you purchase something with US dollars the change will be made in Lempira. Downside is trying to convert un-used Lempira back into US dollars. So I would recommend as much as possible dealing in US dollars and getting a large number of small bills from your bank
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| Super Unexpected Bonus |
| The Henry Morgan is the only resort that I know of with a Doctor who is on-site during specific hours and does not charge for a consultation (while on site). We caught cold just prior to coming to Roatan and Sandy was feeling real rough by day 3. We went to the doctor’s office (in the Gym) and he checked her out and provided some medicine without charge. Only downside is the doctors office has very little equipment, so if there are any Doctors going down with some gently used equipment to donate, please consider it.
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| Insulated Mug |
| We always travel with our own insulated mug (32 ounce) with lid. It keeps drinks cold longer, reduces the odds of sand and bugs getting into your beverage and greatly reduces the number of plastic glasses used. I estimate that the average couple could reduce plastic glass use by 150 glasses per week (@ 10 per day) So I would recommend that you take one with you, however do not let the bar staff rinse your mug out in the sink at the bar. They are only trying to help and be good hosts, however I had one person do so before I could stop them. When I enquired about whether the water in the sink was purified or not I got two completely different answers, even the Conquest Rep was not sure. I ended up with a slight bellyache within about 24 hours, so suspect it is not. As we travel a fair bit and have experienced “the bug” a few times it did not hit me very hard, however the same thing might make someone else quite sick. It is ok if they rinse the mug out with water from the cooler or better yet, you should do it before a fill-up. |
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| Departure |
Again luggage handling is excellent we had to have our luggage outside our door about an hour before we were to get on the bus for the airport. They picked it up and took it to the airport by truck. The evening before all guests who charged something to their room had to settle their account. On departure morning we simply turned in keys and remotes, had Breakfast and got on the bus. At the airport they had a temporary ticket desk for Westjet and Skyservice. Here things got slow fast. Word of warning, they hand search every suitcase. They had 4 people and two tables, where each bag was opened and hand searched so, the line moves very slowly. We did see them taking aerosol cans of bug repellent, yet they did not take my shaving cream. I am guessing anything flammable is their concern.
Another word of warning, it was suggested at our departure briefing that due to there only being one flight in that day that if you did not want to leave the resort so early and be in the airport for 3 hours you could catch a cab later. Better than half of our flight home is in US airspace, home to US Homeland Security. All flights have to advise them of who is on the flight. These folks don’t have much of a sense of humour so I would not recommend cutting corners or taking chances. What you loose could be way more than what you gain.
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| Summary |
| This resort really shows the limitations of the Star Rating system and the need for detailed research. If you are a diver, snorkeler or someone who is looking for a really quiet little resort and food is only what you use to keep going, this place is a 5 Star resort.
If privacy in your room is real important then you’re probably going to find the week a challenge. As for food, I am completely conflicted, my initial thoughts are that it would rate around 3 Stars, however someone else may find it much to their liking. Families with kids will really love the beach, but please do not let the quiet water make you forget about safety, a toddler could get into trouble here due to the 8 or so inch drop just beyond the water line.
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| Henry Morgan Resort |
Lynn
New Brunswick, Canada
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| April 2005 |
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We just got back from one week in Honduras, we spent 2 nights at the Lodge at Pico Bonito, and 5 nights at the Henry Morgan Resort in Roatan. We flew from Toronto direct to La Cieba, with Skyservice, the flight was great, we arrived 20 minutes early. The Conquest rep. was waiting for us, and in 5 minutes we were on our way to Pico Bonito, after about 20 minutes drive, we arrived at the lodge.
On day 3 we flew to Roatan, the flight only takes about 15 minutes, and we were there. We were staying at the Henry Morgan Resort, one of the only All Inclusives on the island. I didn't know anyone who had been to Roatan before, so we did not realy know what to expect, if it would be expensive or not. If I was going again, I would not do the All Inclusive again, not this one anyway..
The transfer from the airport to the resort was included in our package, we only were traveling with backpacks, so it would go faster, when we arrived outside the airport in Roatan we were met, by staff from the resort, they asked if we minded waiting 5 minutes, well I know we are on vacation, no rush, no worries, but after 20 minutes, we realized they were waiting for another flight to come in, so we jumped in a cab, and went to the resort.
The front desk: We waited about 5 minutes for the girl to even talk to us, when she realized we were not Italien, she went and got someone from the back office, to help us.
We were shown to our room, on the way there we could see how nice the rooms, were, big king size beds, large wicker chairs in front of the T.V. big patios, with hammocks, nicely decorated, so was thinking well it's not so bad, I don't care if they don't like us, the room and the resort looks great. Well the room we got, was I'm sure finished that morning, I think the paint was still drying on the walls. There was a king size bed, and that's about it. There were no pictures or anything on the walls, the bathroom had no toilet paper holder, towel rack, the room was bare, no chairs, no haggers in the closet, there was a small patio, but it was half the size of the regular rooms. We did after a day ask to be changed, they gave us a key to go see the other room available, it was nicer, but the patio doors did not lock and they were not sure when they would be fixed, so we asked them to fix a few things in the room, they did right away, I will give them that, they brought us chairs, and taped up the patio doors because there was a one inch gap were the mosquitos were coming in. The realy funny thing is I'm a travel agent, I had e-mailed them to say I was coming, I don't know but if I owned a hotel, I would make a point of giving a travel agent a nice room?
The food: Hopefuly you don't have any alergies, or you understand Italien, everything, is writen in Italien, not even Spanish, which I speak, I made a point of asking at every dish if there was fish, just to prove the point that we were not all Italien at this resort. The food was OK, not great, but we did not starve for the 5 days we were there.
Entertainment: They had shows everynight, but again it's not our thing so we did not go, the entertainment staff, was realy there again for the Italiens, no anoucments were ever made in any other language, there was one guy, Marcelus, that made time for us, everyday, he came over and spoke to us, in english, and the second last day we were there, they did come over and ask us if we wanted a drink for the afternoon toast they did. I had seen that the resort was mostly Italien customers, but I realy didn't mind, we are not big on participating in pool games and all that, but this was a bit over the top.
In conclusion I would go back to Honduras, but not at the Henry Morgan resort, I loved the small town of West End, we had a great time there, the people were realy friendly..
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