reservation with Anthony Keys in Roatan

All the dive masters and instructors in our dive club recommended Anthony Keys. Tried to make a reservation for the day our Princess ship stops BUT they said we need to book thru the cruise ship.

Have others run into this? I sent an email off this morning and no reply yet (other island excursions sent a note within a hour). Our friends have always stayed at the hotel and no one did a cruise.

I really don't want to do one with the ship other than Belize.

Any help would be appreciated.

thanks

As far as I know Anthony Key is now called Maya Key and yes you have to book thru the cruise line. Check how many ships are in that day. I believe it's for HAL, Carnival and Princess ships (Carnival corp) but I could be wrong. When we went, we were the only ship in port and it was very empty. Snorkeling was not that great, but if you're diving that's different.

However, checked their site and looks like you can reserve directly with them? http://www.anthonyskey.com/activities/maya-key-private-island-retreat.htm

ETA: Nevermind, looks like reservations are for full 7 day stays.

Thanks for trying to help whataboutport.

The only reservation form I found was if you were staying at the hotel. Have a dive tonight so I will ask when they all have last stayed there and if they stayed at the hotel. I have a feeling they did.

I don't like cattle car excursions and my son is a dive master and I think he would like to relax and be with a small group.

I was there this past February and we did have to book the Princess excursion.

We had about a dozen divers in our group. We were given our own boat and three dive masters went in the water with the group. As most cruise ship divers are not very experienced or regular divers I was concerned how they would handle this very mixed group. I have a master divers rating and they allowed me 50 minutes at each stop. They handled the needs of each diver very well. It`s a 5/10 minute boat ride to their house wall dive my group was down to just over 100' on the first dive. Then head back for a wreck dive on a 65' bottom with a resident population of large groupers that are hoping for a hand out hanging out at about 30 '. They are clearly used to divers bringing the groceries.

Thanks for the fast reply G.C.

I also am a master diver and am happy to hear you were happy with them. Anything has to be better than the lake dives around us. Other than cold Lake Michigan, every dive is like a night dive with poor vis.

thanks again

I've only heard good stuff about Anthony;s Key, so I'm not trying to dissuade you from them, but there are many other shops if you want to book independent of the ship. I've used Bananarama and Barefoot divers. They were both great dives and I would recommend those dive ops without question. They were smaller boats, and the most we had in a group was 6.

Just something else to ponder.

I was also looking into this for Roatan and AKR we had to book through Carnival.

I later found Mayan Divers at Mayan Prince Resort. Their price is $100+tax, including the transportation to/from pier. My wife can come to enjoy the beach for $35. The good thing about this arrangement is we can go back later on in the day, and get to enjoy the beach. With the Carnival excursion, as soon as you finish the dives, they'll drive you back to the ship.

We are also considering going ziplining after the dives, with South Shore, which would be on the way back. Time could be tight for us, so we'll see how it goes, and may not do the zipline but just enjoy the beach.

I was also looking into this for Roatan and AKR we had to book through Carnival.

 

I later found Mayan Divers at Mayan Prince Resort. Their price is $100+tax, including the transportation to/from pier. My wife can come to enjoy the beach for $35. The good thing about this arrangement is we can go back later on in the day, and get to enjoy the beach. With the Carnival excursion, as soon as you finish the dives, they'll drive you back to the ship.

 

We are also considering going ziplining after the dives, with South Shore, which would be on the way back. Time could be tight for us, so we'll see how it goes, and may not do the zipline but just enjoy the beach.

Report back on how that goes. I used Bananarama last year for the same reason. My wife and kids stayed at the beach, while I went diving. when I was finished, we all hung out together. The diving was great, but my wife didn't enjoy the Bananarama beach resort that well. Bananarama's dive shop is independant of the beach resort and is run much better.

All the dive masters and instructors in our dive club recommended Anthony Keys. Tried to make a reservation for the day our Princess ship stops BUT they said we need to book thru the cruise ship.

 

Have others run into this? I sent an email off this morning and no reply yet (other island excursions sent a note within a hour). Our friends have always stayed at the hotel and no one did a cruise.

 

I really don't want to do one with the ship other than Belize.

 

Any help would be appreciated.

 

thanks

That was our first dive op that we used at Roatan and they were great and yes we use the ship to book this. They did a weight check at the dock which I though was odd until we realize the dive sites are less that 1 mile from the dock. The SI was also at the dock. How convent since they have a fully stocked shop on site, lol. Got to have a t-shirt, right? We have used other dive ops since then mainly on the West end, La Rocas, Subway and all were great. Just price out the cost and transportation. Roatan is one of our fav dive sites. It's always a must when we dock at this port.

We stayed there in April and had a good diving trip. I would guess the wont let you book directly because the are who they use for their excursions.

compozer, when is your cruise. I just got back from a cruise and we dove with Anthony Keys.

I was also looking into this for Roatan and AKR we had to book through Carnival.

 

I later found Mayan Divers at Mayan Prince Resort. Their price is $100+tax, including the transportation to/from pier. My wife can come to enjoy the beach for $35. The good thing about this arrangement is we can go back later on in the day, and get to enjoy the beach. With the Carnival excursion, as soon as you finish the dives, they'll drive you back to the ship.

 

We are also considering going ziplining after the dives, with South Shore, which would be on the way back. Time could be tight for us, so we'll see how it goes, and may not do the zipline but just enjoy the beach.

We got back a few days ago. The diving/snorkeling trip with Mayan Divers was great. The ship actually changed time, from 8-5, to 11-7 (or 9-5 local time). It was a bit of a walk outside, to get to the parking lot where all the outside excursion ops people were waiting. From there, it was a nice scenic ride to the resort.

It was getting slow in Roatan at that time. For our family, we actually were put on a boat for ourselves. We went to Turtles Crossing, and Blue Channel for the two sites. They were both great.

At both sites, the coral reef was healthy, with lots and lots of fish. The most fish at any of the ports we went (Key Largo, Cozumel, and Costa Maya). The DM let us dive till almost end of tank. The water temp was warm and the water was calm, no current. So we had two greats dives, while the other two had great snorkeling.

One thing interesting was we saw lots of green turtles, and all except a small one, had 2-3 remora (sp?) with them.

After the dives, we returned to the shop and was able to rinse everything with the showers they had, and even put our stuff out to dry. Decided not to go to the ziplining even though we had time, but since we did zipline the day before at Belize, and it was hot, we decided to just lazy around the beach. At the end, the owner Ed drove us back to the ship, while we had good conversations.

For Roatan, we'd not hesitate to recommend Maya Divers.

Thanks for all the comments.

toycruiser,

the cruise is over New Years

We got back a few days ago. The diving/snorkeling trip with Mayan Divers was great. The ship actually changed time, from 8-5, to 11-7 (or 9-5 local time). It was a bit of a walk outside, to get to the parking lot where all the outside excursion ops people were waiting. From there, it was a nice scenic ride to the resort.

 

It was getting slow in Roatan at that time. For our family, we actually were put on a boat for ourselves. We went to Turtles Crossing, and Blue Channel for the two sites. They were both great.

 

At both sites, the coral reef was healthy, with lots and lots of fish. The most fish at any of the ports we went (Key Largo, Cozumel, and Costa Maya). The DM let us dive till almost end of tank. The water temp was warm and the water was calm, no current. So we had two greats dives, while the other two had great snorkeling.

 

One thing interesting was we saw lots of green turtles, and all except a small one, had 2-3 remora (sp?) with them.

 

After the dives, we returned to the shop and was able to rinse everything with the showers they had, and even put our stuff out to dry. Decided not to go to the ziplining even though we had time, but since we did zipline the day before at Belize, and it was hot, we decided to just lazy around the beach. At the end, the owner Ed drove us back to the ship, while we had good conversations.

 

For Roatan, we'd not hesitate to recommend Maya Divers.

Are you saying that the ship's time was not the same as the local time? When I was on Celebrity, our ship time and local time always matched. How do I make a reservation with a place like Mayan Divers when I don't know what time we'll actually be arriving?

Highly recommend AKR, dove with them in May

nice equipment and excellent guides. 4 turtles

on one of our dives and 2 were resting. Reefs so close

to shore which gave you awesome bottom time. Would

only do excursions in Honduras through ship

but that's just my thoughts.

Are you saying that the ship's time was not the same as the local time? When I was on Celebrity, our ship time and local time always matched. How do I make a reservation with a place like Mayan Divers when I don't know what time we'll actually be arriving?

Google something such as world clock http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/meeting.html

and enter the day and time you will be in a given country. It will do the conversion to let you know the appropriate island or country time for your visit.

It is very helpful so your not standing on the dock waiting for someone that already came 2 hours ago. :eek: :)