Anyone ever been to Bay Island Beach Resort?

[katenmegsmom]

We are sailing rather soon [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img] on the Paradise. I have booked (sort of) an excursion to the Bay Island Beach Resort. I researched this resort and chose it primarily because of the location and snorkeling in the Spooky Channel. The person I am dealing with at BIBR is friendly enough and sent a great CD about BIBR, however, I have been trying to book this for about 2 months now and don't get frequent communication. I called twice on the phone with no response and have been emailing. They took a small deposit about 2 weeks ago, but I can't get a confirmation from them and I leave soon. I am starting to get nervous about this place and am considering cancelling altogether. Has anyone ever been to BIBR? Any advice?

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Until "Paradise"


Monarch of the Seas 10/99
Imagination 3/98
Holiday 8/95
Dreamward 6/94
Majesty 8/89

[willydoit]

If you read the review I just posted on the NCL board for the SEA, you will see how happy I was with Bay Islands. We were there last week,,,in a word,,,[B]WONDERFUL[/B],,,they really take care of you there, the snorkeling is excellent, it was the best excusion of our trip.

Communication may be spotty right now since Cam is running back and forth from Roatan to Pennsylvania. They are also busy delivering a new 30' dive boat to the resort.

I'll make it easy and post my review of bibr right here:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>ROATAN

We had a great time in Roatan. Rained for about an hour on the way in,,no big deal. The hortonfamily, Kruz and us spent our day at Bay Islands Beach Resort,,,WONDERFUL place. They picked us up right at the pier for the 10 minute ride to the resort. They served us lunch, took 8 of us out on a boat snorkel on a fantastic reef for over 2 hours, we snorkeled from shore for over an hour as well. It’s an all inclusive diving resort,,,a real gem of a place, we all left with huge smiles. One word of caution, there were sand fleas on the beach. As long as you didn’t lie directly on the sand you were fine. The staff could not have been more accomadating,,,even the “weekly” residents had great interaction with our crew and not let us feel as if we were intruding. It was the best snorkeling I’ve ever done although Chanakkab was very good also. All of us would highly recommend this resort, their website is BIBR.com, tell Cam that willydoit from Illinois sent you. She’s a great person to deal with, up front and a great sense of humor.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>



Life is short,,cruises even shorter!!

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CCL Fantasy 05/92
RCCL Majesty of the Seas 06/01
NCL Sea 03/27/04


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[katenmegsmom]

Thanks for the review. You have reassured me. It looks awesome there, I just wanted to make sure it was "for real". Glad you had a good time.

[img]http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=FFA000&cdt=2004;5;2;16;00;00&timezone=GMT-0500[/img]
Until "Paradise"


Monarch of the Seas 10/99
Imagination 3/98
Holiday 8/95
Dreamward 6/94
Majesty 8/89

[mathgal]

katenmegsmom...I see you are almost ready to cruise...how exciting!!! If you end up going to BIBR, would you please post a review or email me at [email]MaryMN55@hotmail.com[/email]?? My hubby is ready to book his scuba dives at BIBR so I am just looking for recent visitors who can fill us in on the resort.

Thanks!!

[img]http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=ff0000&cdt=2004;6;13;16;0;00&timezone=GMT-0500[/img] till we are in Paradise again!


Paradise 6/2004
Paradise 6/2002

[ljrfrm]

Communication with Roatan is difficult sometimes. I have tried to call my friend several times there and can't get through or the connection is awful. Their internet service goes down often as well. Keep trying to contact them, they may not know about your attempts.

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Paradise 6/27

[katenmegsmom]

mathgal, I will definitely post a review as soon as I get back. I am really looking forward to it!

[Fighterone]

I called the US 800 telephone number to book the one day Beach Snorkeler's tour, this week.

Cam is the lady I spoke with and she was very accomodating. (a note is in the 5/8 NCL Sea Roll call)

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Norwegian Sea May, 2004
Celebration January, 2004 see review amd pictures at [url="http://www.nimodo.net"]www.nimodo.net[/url]
Yankee Clipper Windjammer 1978
Proud charter member of the PPS-Passport Pusher Society

[clandt]

Remember Roatan is a 3 world country. They have come a long way (I was there when they opened the first fast food joint with a drive-thru -- talk about entertainment), but the phone service is AWFUL!!! My girlfriend lived there 5 years, the phone service goes down and there is no hurry to repair it. On top of that to get a phone in Roatan took her 2 years on a waitlist!!
The people on Roatan are good honest people! You will LOVE this unspoiled island!

Christy

[jfhscott]

Yes,

I went to Raotan a couple of years ago on a pleasurable NCL Sun cruise. My wife and I had made arrangements at another resort, arriving at it only to find just about no one there and nothing to do. We walked down the beach to Bay Islands and for a quite reasonable fee, snorkeled, had lunch and beers, and got a ride back to the dock. Thanks to BIBR for rescuing what would otherwise have been a disaster.

- jimbo

[babs275]

Just got back from a wonderful day trip with Bay Islands Beach Resort. We had a large group - 9 certified divers, 1 resort diver, and 4 snorkelers and we all wanted to stay together for the day.

They were wonderful! Dealing with that many people all at once could have been a mad house - but they were very easy going and took care of all of our needs, all they while keeping us relaxed and enjoying the resort atmosphere. We got in 2 fantastic dives and returned to a delicious fried chicken lunch before heading back to the Paradise.

I especially want to point out how wonderful Sean was with my 19 yo daughter - the resort diver. She had missed getting certified with her brother because of another extended trip, but we didn't want her to miss out on the experience of diving with us. He was SO patient with her and when she joined the group on the second dive he stayed right beside her with his hand on her back at all times. She felt totally at ease underwater in his care - which if you dive you know is at least half the battle! When I assended to her level and joined her for the last half of the dive, he stayed right with us pointing out cool things for her to see.

Our whole group left with dreams of going back and staying for the week!

[scubajeff]

Babs,

For the ten divers, how many dive masters were there. I am assuming 1 or maybe 2 but I wanted to check. Also, did the DM allow everyone to stay down or does everyone come up together once someone is running low on air? Thanks in advance. I am trying to decide between BIRB, Coco View, and Subway Watersports.

Jeff

[babs275]

There was one under with us on the first dive and then Sean joined us on the second, but he was concentrating on my daughter. They are pretty laid back.

No, everyone was not made to surface at the same time - although on the 1st dive I had tons of air left but most had run out and it was a good long dive. The second we were taken out to the inside edge of Spooky Channel and then we swam through and explored the wall on the other side. That one was a drift dive so we could all surface at our leisure and just wait to be picked up :D

[scubajeff]

Babs,

I have to have a report on spooky channel. How was it? Is it a dive that cannot be missed? Let me know, I am very interested in doing this dive. Thanks!

[mathgal]

This is mathgals husband. I dove Spooky Chan. about 2 wks. ago. I thought it was great. But you should know a few things. It's dark down there. If you hope to see lots of beautiful coral and fish forget it. You need a flashlight to pick out individual things like arrow crabs, lobsters, etc. On the day we dove the visibility wasn't great. It was OK but the wind was up some and had things stirred up. But if you like structure its fun. You go down between walls of coral and when you get to the bottom and look back up it's quite impressive. A thin ribbon of light way up there. And there are side channels to go in and out of as well. I would have loved to spend more time in there but knew I couldn't. We finished the dive by exiting out a side tunnel to do the drift protion closer to the surface. If you like walls around you, you'd probobly like this dive. If you don't get to do it, there is lots of other terrific diving in Roatan. I found BIBR staff very good to dive and work with. Have a great time.

[willydoit]

babs275,,,we had Sean with us as well back in March,,,what a great guy. The staff and guests at BIBR were just wonderful with our crew. I just can't say enough about this place,,,I'm still telling friends about this excursion 4 months later!! We also left wanting to come back for a week,,,and if you talk to Cam from BIBR,,,she has a "deal" for those of you that would want to spend the entire week there!!

[babs275]

Hi Willy!

The ONLY thing that would scare me away for the week there, is the cost of airfare to Roatan! :eek:

Other than that, that is all the group talks about! We actually have even talked about doing the same itinerary cruise wise and just arranging dives at every port (Belize,Roatan,Grand Cayman, and Cozumel).

My DD loved it so much she has made us promise not to take any more advanced dive classes till she catches up!