Anthony's Key Resort-Roatan?

[CaribQween]

Has anyone recently done the diving excursion through Carnival in Roatan which is through Anthony's Key Resort? Our local dive shop has said some really good things about Anthony's Key Resort and that is who they use when they plan group trips to Roatan. However, then when I do a search on CC, I get a lot of mixed reviews. Some say they had a great experience and even went back later and stayed for a week on their own. But, some say it's the "cattle boat" experience and it feels really, really rushed and they didn't enjoy it because of that. I could see where you could get a different experience using them through a cruiseline excursion as opposed to using them when staying there for a week when you have plenty of time. And of course, I realize that you're always going to get mixed reviews no matter what the situation. So, any help would be appreciated. We've already booked the excursion but we still have time to make changes if need be.

[gliner]

Has anyone recently done the diving excursion through Carnival in Roatan which is through Anthony's Key Resort? Our local dive shop has said some really good things about Anthony's Key Resort and that is who they use when they plan group trips to Roatan. However, then when I do a search on CC, I get a lot of mixed reviews. Some say they had a great experience and even went back later and stayed for a week on their own. But, some say it's the "cattle boat" experience and it feels really, really rushed and they didn't enjoy it because of that. I could see where you could get a different experience using them through a cruiseline excursion as opposed to using them when staying there for a week when you have plenty of time. And of course, I realize that you're always going to get mixed reviews no matter what the situation. So, any help would be appreciated. We've already booked the excursion but we still have time to make changes if need be.

 

Whenever you take a ship sponsored diving excursion, you run into all levels of divers. From those who got their certification just so they could dive while on the cruise to those who have been diving regularly for a number of years.

 

Regardless of which vendor the ship uses, your experience is based more on the number of, and experience level of the people taking the excursion. I have been diving with Anthony's Key Resort before and while I had an awesome diving experience, it was indeed a "cattle" boat complete with the young guy who HAD to have a beer between dives and kept bragging about how deep he had been.

 

Hence the reason I now book my own diving excursions and avoid the potential for disaster as well as the communal spirit of the "cattle" boats.

[catsforkids]

We have visited Anthony's Key for 3 1-week diving vacations. They are a fantastic resort company to dive with. Their boats are well kept and safety is always a top priority. They have great divemasters and boat drivers.

I expect that when there is a large group of cruise passengers, the experience will be enhanced or worsened by the size and dynamics of the group.

[CaribQween]

We're really sort of torn because we really want to see Anthony's Key Resort, but that leaves doing the dives through the cruiseship as our only option. We're already considering going back and spending a week at Anthony's Key Resort staying in the cabanas out over the water. So, we just really want to be able to dive with them and have the chance to see a little of the resort while we're there also. We're thinking that we'll just have to accept that doing it through the cruiseship will not necessarily be the best conditions. But, maybe we'll be surprised. Thanks for the input.

[gliner]

We're really sort of torn because we really want to see Anthony's Key Resort, but that leaves doing the dives through the cruiseship as our only option. We're already considering going back and spending a week at Anthony's Key Resort staying in the cabanas out over the water. So, we just really want to be able to dive with them and have the chance to see a little of the resort while we're there also. We're thinking that we'll just have to accept that doing it through the cruiseship will not necessarily be the best conditions. But, maybe we'll be surprised. Thanks for the input.

 

When I dove with them, they picked us up at the pier. We never saw the resort.

[themons]

We did Anthony Key through the Royal Caribbean excursion. They picked us up, took us to the resort, and dropped us back at the ship afterwards. We had an opportunity to walk around the resort a bit as well as visit the souvenir shop.

 

We were pleased that the boats were PRO 48 foot boats and were not loaded anywhere near cattle boat levels. They have such a large number of boats there that I don't think that would be an issue.

 

The only weirdness was an initial statement to the effect that they wanted everyone to do a buoyancy check at the dock. Since it was raining, the water at the dock was like chocolate syrup. No one ended up doing the buoyancy check.

 

We used the excursion to determine whether we would be interested in staying there for a week at a later date. We decided that we would not, but that had more to do with the accommodations rather than the diving.

[georoc01]

My first visit to Anthony's Key was via cruise ship. It is a much different experience than staying there.

 

When did it, they took us by bus from the port in Coxen Hole to the resort where they split us into 4 groups (2 groups doing the 2 tank dive, 1 group doing the dolphin dive & 1 group of discovery divers).

 

The two groups doing the open water dive were then split into two groups and put on two of their larger boats, we each had 24 divers with 3 dive masters. All dives at Anthony's key were single tank dives..so we did one dive, came back to the resort for our SI and refilled the tanks then we went out for the 2nd dive, then took the bus back to the port.

 

With the new port that just opened in Roatan, this may have changed. I know they operate a beach resort that was called Fins & Flippers which was a beach option and ran boats back and forth.

 

When we stayed there, we were assigned a single boat for the week which had 8 divers a dive master and a captain. We did 3 single tank boat dives a day which was much more relaxed. Most days only the 2nd dive of the day did we have a full boat. The other dives we had 2-3 divers at most. Quite a different experience.

 

The dolphin dive is a little different. This is a single tank dive in front of the resort (the dive site is called front porch). Essentially what they do is you take a boat out to the pens, where you get to meet the dolphins. After everyone gets to pet the dolphin, we loaded up onto our boat and headed out to the dive site. We had a dive master on our boat + you had a dolphin trainer that led the dolphins out of the pen and out to the site. We dropped down to the sand at about 50' and then waited. Eventually the dolphins showed up and we got to visit with them at depth.

 

AKR is split into 4 areas. On top of the hill is the resturant & resort offices. At the bottom of the hill is the dock area, gift shop & dolphin research institute. The dolphins are over at scott's key and then there are the cabanas over at anthony's key. they run a water taxi from the dock to the keys.

[092306]

I did Anthony's Key on my last cruise (Valor sept 2009). I like it alot. We were picked up at the port and driven to the Resort. We were a group of I think 16-20. We were split into two groups, 2 boats. On my boat had 8 people. We were NOT rushed and had plenty of time. during our surface interval we went back to the resort, had a snack that they provided and went and got an Anthony's key t shirt, then went to the dive shop and got my book stamped. After the dives we were dropped off and I went and got another t shirt from the port area. I really liked Anthony's key. I WOULD ABSOLUTELY do it again. My only complaint is the water was not as clear as Cozumel. I understand they can't control that but if that is my only complaint,......... you get the picture

[georoc01]

I did Anthony's Key on my last cruise (Valor sept 2009). I like it alot. We were picked up at the port and driven to the Resort. We were a group of I think 16-20. We were split into two groups, 2 boats. On my boat had 8 people. We were NOT rushed and had plenty of time. during our surface interval we went back to the resort, had a snack that they provided and went and got an Anthony's key t shirt, then went to the dive shop and got my book stamped. After the dives we were dropped off and I went and got another t shirt from the port area. I really liked Anthony's key. I WOULD ABSOLUTELY do it again. My only complaint is the water was not as clear as Cozumel. I understand they can't control that but if that is my only complaint,......... you get the picture

 

To be honest, very, very few places will have water as clear as Cozumel. The current keeps the vis in that area about as good as I have found anywhere in my 150+ dives!

[rednose83]

We are using them through the ship in about 10 days.

[Friscorays]

rednose83,

 

How was your dive day?

[Friscorays]

CaribQween,

 

Did you end up going with Anthony's Key Resort in Roatan?

[groovychick]

I've been with AKR twice now, both via Princess, and I've been trying to convince DH to spend a week at their resort.

The first experience was memorable; it was my first dive--we took their boat to a dock where we dove out over a reef in fairly shallow conditions. The visibility was amazing.

The last trip we saw turtles, big groupers and had a great time exploring the reefs--there was about 12 of us on the boat and luckily everyone was a good diver/swimmer. Again, we found the visibility very good.

[jdbmga]

CaribQween,

 

Did you end up going with Anthony's Key Resort in Roatan?

 

I would love to know the answer to this as well. We are going to Roatan in July and trying to decide who to dive with. Any input would be greatly appreciated. :)

[CaribQween]

CaribQween,

 

Did you end up going with Anthony's Key Resort in Roatan?

 

I am so sorry guys, I have been really busy lately and haven't been on here much.

 

But, the answer is YES, and we LOVED them. And would absolutely recommend them to anyone. We absolutely want to go back and spend a week at the resort. The resort is just gorgeous and the beauty of that island is extraordinary. The gentlemen we dove with from AKR were wonderful and very hard-working. And, we never felt like it was a cattle boat experience. We were on a very large 46' boat which was covered and had a main level and a top tier. There were 16 divers, but there were also 2 divemasters and a boat captain. We didn't feel at all like there were too many divers compared to the number of AKR crewmembers. When we arrived at Mahogany Bay which is the new pier constructed by Carnival, we were escorted to a shuttle which took us on an approximately 20 minute ride to the resort. Unfortunately the weather was not on our side that day. It was just pouring the rain and it was extremely windy. When we got to the resort, we got straight onto the dive boat. The rain had slowed down quite a bit, but the wind was still really strong. The AKR crew introduced themselves and gave us a short explanation of what we could expect throughout the day. My husband and I had brought our own scuba gear, but for anyone that didn't have their own gear, they immediately started fitting everyone with BCD's, wetsuits, etc., but there was no rush. The boat ride out to the dive site was very rough, but the scenery was absolutely magnificent. Our first dive was on the north side of the island and was at a depth of about 70 feet. After we got in the water we all did a buoyancy check and they got everyone fixed up with the appropriate amount of weight. During the course of the dive, we had the lead divemaster swimming at the front of the group and then the other divemaster stayed at the very back of the group. The boat captain remained on the boat. When we went down, it was amazing how calm and serene the sea was after how rough it was at the surface. The visibility was probably 150 ft or more. It was crystal clear. We saw a lot of different colors and the marine life was spectacular. We saw a huge sea turtle that was just so cool. At the end of the dive, we all surfaced after a 15 ft safety stop and the boat captain was right there to help us out of the water. I will have to admit that it was tough getting out of the water with the boat rocking so hard. Luckily the boat had huge ladders that were put down that had several rungs that stretched pretty far down below the surface of the water. However, you had to have great arm strength to pull yourself out of the water with the boat rocking so hard. We were able to take off our tanks and BCDs and hand them up to the boat captain and then take off our fins and hand them up also. However, with the boat rocking like that, several of us got knocked way out into the water when the ladders rammed into us. The divemasters had to go out and pull several of us back in. It was a little scary but I have to say, the AKR guys handled it really, really well. I felt really safe with them. And I have to say, all three of them worked their butts off. The boat captain was a really big/muscular guy and he was holding on with one hand and pulling up all of our gear with the other. Then he basically had to lean down and grab onto us and pull us right up the ladder so we didn't get knocked way out again. After they got us all safely back on the boat, we had about 30 minutes to rest up before the second dive. With such a huge boat, they told us that they had enough full tanks onboard so that we could all just switch out our tanks on the boat without us needing to go back to the resort. Therefore, they handed out bottled water and fresh fruit to everyone while we took another boat ride around to the south side of the island for our second dive. The second dive was approximately 60' and was just as spectacular as the first. Since we were already on the south side of the island after the second dive, instead of taking us back to the resort, they just drove us up to a dock right over on the beach side of Mahogany Bay. It was really nice being dropped off right near the ship where we could go back to our staterooms and shower and clean up before going back out for some sightseeing and/or shopping. I have to say the only disappointment of the whole day was that we weren't able to take the time to walk around the resort which just looked so incredibly nice. But, we definitely had a really great time diving with Anthony's Keys Resort.

[092306]

Glad to hear that you had a good time, despite the weather and the boat rocking. I loved AKR. Diving was great when I went, and I would DEFINITELY do it again in a heartbeat.

I hope you will get to stay there for a week.

[sd200044]

Has anyone recently done the diving excursion through Carnival in Roatan which is through Anthony's Key Resort? Our local dive shop has said some really good things about Anthony's Key Resort and that is who they use when they plan group trips to Roatan. However, then when I do a search on CC, I get a lot of mixed reviews. Some say they had a great experience and even went back later and stayed for a week on their own. But, some say it's the "cattle boat" experience and it feels really, really rushed and they didn't enjoy it because of that. I could see where you could get a different experience using them through a cruiseline excursion as opposed to using them when staying there for a week when you have plenty of time. And of course, I realize that you're always going to get mixed reviews no matter what the situation. So, any help would be appreciated. We've already booked the excursion but we still have time to make changes if need be.

 

I have done it all and the Diving in Roatan is fantastic and Anthony's Key does it right. They cater to the diver. I had dove with them 3 times now and all have been great !!