Anthony's Key Resort

The good: I loved that I was able to book directly at the last minute (24 hours) and was able to secure a room & pick up. It's always a good sign when the driver is waiting for you upon arrival. We were driven to the resort expeditiously. I chose the all inclusive (except drinks) package that included 3 meals a day. The room, I excitedly got onto the little boat that takes you across to the island and then realized that my room was on the mainland and looked more like a college dorm so I asked for an upgrade and was accommodated. The bungalows are very cute over the water and it really feels like paradise. Room includes coffee but no TV or phone. I would've liked a TV because I get back early evening and there is nothing to do in the room. Also, would've been nice to have a phone to contact the front desk since the travel time to walk to the front desk is about 10 min as you have to take a boat across. Diving: Subpar conditions, I've traveled to amazing places and heard that Roatan had some of the best diving in the world; this was confusing since I would rank this on the low end, the corals were bleached and very few creatures that I was hoping to see. I asked the dive master and he said that there was a parasite that wiped out the reef about 2 years ago. In 6 days the highlight was 1 turtle, 2 eels, 2 seahorses, ship wreck. No sharks, no rays. Activities: I loved that there was a theme almost every night, there was a fish ID class, happy hour 3x per week, Island fiesta with live music and entertainment. Trivia night and Karaoke. I also appreciated the paddle boards and kayaks that were available at no extra cost. There was an awesome excursion to Maya Key, lunch was provided, no host bar, beautiful beach and incredible views, there are animals to enjoy such as monkeys, Scarlets Maca's, mountain lion and badger. Staff: Amazing, great housekeeping, Loved the dive masters they kept everyone safe and helped you in and out of the water (removing fins for you or gathering your camera). The restaurant staff was very nice and attentive, accommodated me when I wanted to eat out side (the dining is indoors) and also warmed up my left overs when asked. My only issue was one of the staff members (male) kept referring to me as "mama" I didn't like that and after several occurrences I asked him to call me "Sylvia". He said ok and I know it was more of a habit not trying to be rude. The food was excellent and large portions, I only ate lunch it was enough to save 1/2 for breakfast the next day. I was still full and skipped all my dinners. Great bar service and delicious cocktails. There are pool tables, cornhole and many other bar games to play. Cool set up with papasan chairs with a view for chillin. Location- It's great, scenic, although you don't have to leave the resort, down town is about 15 minutes away and a RT cab is about $10, note you will be picked up but others may join a shared ride. The view from the bar has the most beautiful sunset. The not so good: The Honduras Hustle, I was getting tired of hearing extra$$$$. The advertisement was for $1431 but was charged $200 for being single, I asked if that could be waived and was told no. The dive equiptment rentals was extraordinary at $241.50 for 6 days I didn't see anything on the site that mentioned rental equiptment or a price list. My first day I saw the coffee bar (extra) and thought that $3. was a good price so I ordered a mocha, I asked for nonfat milk and was told they didn't have but could use almond, when I got the receipt it was $5.30 I asked what happened to the $3 price, she said that almond milk was $2.30 more, are you kidding?!!!almost double. I looked at the final bill and it looks like it was adjusted to $4.73 a little better. After the 5th day of diving I asked where are the sharks, I was told that was extra, what, wait, isn't this the ocean? well for $115 they will take you to Marcos Bay and take you down to swim with the sharks and they open a bucket of fish and the sharks go crazy, it is quite the scene, when they're done they're gone as if to say "bye bye suckers", so even though that was a huge highlight it was not the same as diving with sharks under natural circumstances like I have been in other counties. The other caveat; you have to forfeit a dive that you already paid for in order to do the shark dive so you are double charged, the package was for 20 dives and only 15 of those were completed, the dive shop cancelled 5 dives due to weather. I requested a credit back for the dives that were not completed and was told "no refunds and try the front desk, the front desk said no refunds unless all the dives are cancelled, what? are you kidding me? Now I am annoyed and have to level up to the manager who was unavailable at the time, when I did speak to her she said we don't give refunds for weather, I explained that I felt it was bad business that you keep the money for a service that was not provided, after 3 rounds of the same conversation she worked out a trade for the difference that I would've paid for the upgrade but made it very clear that it was a one time accommodation. Although I was satisfied with the outcome, I was disappointed that it took a lot of wasted effort to get to that compromise. So lessons learned, ask about the extras like dive equiptment, prepaid dive packages etc... If I knew what I know now I probably would've chosen a different a different location altogether as the diving was my main draw and reef is now severely bleached and many of the hard corals are suffering from disease. This saddens me greatly. Also, I prefer resorts that have more leeway when there is a customer service problem, when you spend nearly 3k I expect that problems are handled quickly and makes the customer feel valued. When choosing a resort, it's essential to look for ones that prioritize customer service and have a solid reputation for resolving issues effectively. At the end of all this it was bittersweet, I loved the feeling of paradise and this resort does provide that, I loved being on the bow of the boat with the warm sun beaming down on me and the water is very warm, clear and tropical. There were certainly moments that I am grateful for.

We've been here three times. Great snorkeling and diving. The dive masters are fabulous. The bungalows are secluded and serene over the water. The food is outstanding. Now to the negatives. The waitstaff starts pandering for tips several days before your trip ends. I actually had a waiter confront me because he saw me giving envelopes to his counterparts. They have a dolphin education preserve on grounds, but they bus a huge number of people in for the experience. I get they need to make money but visitors should not be there at the same time as guests. We would have vacationed here several more times if not for these issues. Unfortunately we sought other vacation spots.

We rented a car at the airport in Coxen Hole and drove to Anthony's Key. Simple, easy drive. Parking at the resort is easy and free. We stayed three nights here and my husband wished that we had stayed longer. We arrived on a Wednesday night for their "fiesta" night and the food was awesome and the entertainment fun. It was outside, and at one point it started pouring rain, but we moved the entertainment under the little cooking hut and still had a great time. We enjoyed our room, with its huge balcony out over the water. Really nice. The office, bar, restaurant, gift shop, and where you check in for the dolphin swim are all on the mainland, and the little bungalows we stayed in are actually on the little island just across. They have a little free water taxi that runs constantly and takes 60 seconds. The pool is also on the little island. The pool was lovely and has its own bar. The night we went swimming, we had the pool to ourselves. There were free beach chairs (the beach itself it not too big) and kayaks and stand up paddleboards to use for free. We ate dinner in the restaurant every night, and the food was delicious. The bar, up on the hill, has a lot of fun games to play. We had a great breakfast served off their menu every morning, included in our room price. The rooms don't have televisions, which we didn't miss, but we did watch some of the Olympics in the restaurant. Only some of our party likes to dive, so we make arrangements for alternative day excursions, except for our last day, where we participated in the "action swim" where you get in the water with the dolphins. Overall, we had a really great time. Would highly recommend. In total we spent 10 days in Honduras, most of it on Roatan. The water is warm and beautiful. I think Anthony's Key has the best location of all the resorts we saw on Roatan - close enough to the action in West End and Wet Bay to reach it quickly, but only when we wanted to.

This was my first trip to Roatan and Anthony's Key Resort. Right off I can tell you I recommend the resort. Here are some things to be aware of ahead of time: Airport Immigration: Extremely slow and hot... You'll walk in from your flight off the ramp and into a room with the "Disney Line". There is very little airflow and poor, over-worked air conditioning. I recommend wearing loose, comfortable clothing (no pj's) for the flight down. Arrivals Hall: Same thing...very hot, no airflow. This is also the Departures Hall...keep that in mind. As soon as you clear Immigration you'll pass through a door with a zillion people there...including some from resorts waving signs. The Anthony's Key Resort guys will likely take your larger luggage and put them on a truck. I was a little worried about this at first as I never saw the truck...but they explained it at the reception desk and the bag showed up. Expect to wait a while until they have all the guests they are waiting for or the bus is ready to go. Reception: Goes quickly. Rooms: I was traveling solo and got, for cost savings, a "Hill Superior" room. I think I could have done better but this had a nice view from outside, a nice balcony, good a/c, etc. Unfortunately room 8 (mine) had no chairs to sit on in the room. Diving: Great. Very efficient, nice place to analyze your Nitrox tanks (if using) gear storage, etc. You stay with the same boat and DM; in my case it was JoJo and Johnny. Great guys. Dives were mostly in good viz, some sites have a lot of swim through, etc. Our DM removed our fins before we climbed the ladder back to the boat; the Captain removed our tanks when we got half way up the ladder. They were very quick to set us up for the next dive. Very enjoyable. Food: The food is excellent, that’s all there is to say. If for some reason you are paying a la cart, however, you will find the menu prices appear to be over-inflated. A local breakfast item is cheap at $7 while some of the lunch and dinner items are priced into the $30’s. All of the portions are over-sized (American sized). All of the waitstaff made an effort to learn and use my first name from the very first meal. Tip Solicitation: This was troublesome but mostly limited to the restaurant staff. (The DM and Captain never said anything about it...I presume they knew that seasoned divers know it's customary to tip them.). I asked the front desk of the restaurant staff worked “food service wages” like they do in the US, relying upon tips to make up the difference between their wages and minimum wage. She told me they do not. This did not prevent one of the waitstaff, who was otherwise a very nice man, to ask me late in the visit if everything had been okay. He wanted me to be sure to “take care” of my servers. I did…but I think it’s a little tacky to be so “out front” with the tip solicitation when their wages do not depend on it. I see this a lot in Europe, also, where it is NOT customary to tip 18 - 25 per cent like we do at home. Many touristy places there will sieze on Americans' ignorance of proper (limited, low) tipping in foreign countries and are happy to relieve them of their money. This is how it felt here.). See next item. Fish ID Class: This was a free, one-hour presentation that was included in my dive package. I thought it was well done and very helpful….until the presenter scolded a handful of people who were trying to leave a couple of minutes before the end of the class. Clearly they wanted to beat the rush to the restaurant and I don’t blame them. He then said he’d be out at the exit if anyone had a little something extra for him. He also managed to be out there waiting for tips before even a few of us had gotten to the exit. Again, tacky. Airport Transfer Service: The hotel has obviously done this before. On the day before I left the reception area had a TV display showing flights, bag pickup time, van departure time. We arrived at the airport just before the big rush. Larger bags are trucked over to the airport and more-or-less guarded/watched by an AKR resort staff member. He had them off the truck and waiting for us when we arrived. IMPORTANT: Be sure to scan the QR code and do the CUSTOMS (not immigration) precheck before you leave the resort. WiFi at the airport is poor and you need to complete the form before going through passport control. Once you enter the data you get a QR code and that’s the first thing that gets checked at the passport control section. (Small desk before you see an agent). All in all this was a pleasant experience. I would return, maybe get a room on “the key” (numbers 11 and up) versus on the hill where I was. At the same time there are plenty of other places to dive so it may be a while before I return. I do recommend it.

The dolphins are awesome. Trainers very nice. Very nice place. Worth the visit. Easy to find. Plenty of souvenirs and stuff to buy. Very clean place. Very helpful people. They offer great dive packages to. The picture package is a must to buy.