Grand Roatan Caribbean Resort Review

Perched on the soft sands overlooking the waters of the West Bay, The Grand Roatan Caribbean Resort has to be one of the most prized hotels in all of Roatan. It’s a snorkeler’s dream hotel and boasts a beautiful infinity pool with a swim-up bar — and best of all — superb access to the nearby coral reef. Here’s my review of the Grand Roatan Caribbean Resort.

Location

The hotel is located directly on the beach right in front of arguably one of the best snorkeling locations in the world. From the hotel, you are just a a few seconds walk from dipping into the clear Caribbean waters of the West Bay and that to me is the main draw of this hotel. Read about my snorkeling adventure in the West Bay here, and hopefully that will inspire you to get out and check out this reef!

A colorful queen angelfish found in the West Bay.

Even if you’re not planning on swimming or exploring the reef (which you have to do), it’s the perfect place to take a walk on the beach and as you get further from the hotel, you’ll come across a number of restaurants and bars.

The water taxis are just a few minutes up the beach and you won’t be able to miss them. They’ll take you to the West End for $3 per person but will require there to be at least 3 people in the boat. (If you’re okay with paying extra, they’ll take you with just two people.)

It’s about a 5 minute walk to the nearby “mini mall” where you can find a mini-supermarket, ATM, and a number of restaurants. The walk does involve an incline coming from the hotel, so be prepared for a little bit of a workout but nothing too strenuous.

The West Bay doesn’t quite have the assortment of restaurants that the West End has but there are still several to choose from. We really enjoyed Celeste’s Island Cuisine, where you can dine with wild parrots! Even though the parrots weren’t out (off-hours), we ate some fantastic baleada — a Honduran dish consisting of a fresh flour tortilla full of meat, cheese, and a number of other flavorings.

Baleada from Celeste’s Island Cuisine

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Getting to West Bay from the Airport

The hotel offers complimentary shuttle runs from the airport and the drivers will be standing in the airport once you clear immigration and customs holding a sign for the Grand Roatan Caribbean Resort.

The ride will take about 30 minutes but it’s a nice and scenic ride. You’ll spend some time riding along the coast and up and down some winding roads over hillsides. On our way to the hotel, I spotted the largest lizard I’ve ever seen (but sadly wasn’t able to get a photograph of it).

If you choose to take a taxi, it will cost you $30 USD. The taxis will be lined up outside and will have numbers painted on the sides of the vehicle so that you can identify them.

Grand Roatan Caribbean Resort

Facilities

Aside from the views/location, the main feature of this hotel is definitely the pool area. It’s a large infinity pool with a pool-side bar area, volleyball net, and plenty of seating and lounge chairs surrounding its perimeter.

Grand Roatan Caribbean Resort Pool.

As much as I admired the pool, I simply couldn’t justify spending time in chlorinated waters when there’s such an amazing reef to explore just yards away. But still, it was nice having such a pretty pool and perhaps if we were staying for longer we might have taken a dip.

There’s also a restaurant on-site and it’s located where the bar is, next to the pool area. We were offered complimentary breakfasts with our reservations which consisted of a continental breakfast plus a real breakfast. The breakfast we chose had bacon, eggs, beans, and a block of cheese and we found it satisfying. With the addition of rolls and fruits, we were able to start our days off nice and full with a well-rounded breakfast which was really nice considering how long we spend in the sun each day.

Grand Roatan Caribbean Resort — Breakfast

I don’t know if we got the perks because we were Expedia Gold members, but once we checked in they offered us two coupons for free drinks at the bar. They also supplied us with two complimentary water bottles that we were allowed to refill at any time with their purified water machine, which was really nice!

Complimentary drinks upon checking in!

There’s a small stand near the restaurant where you will obtain rental gear like flippers and goggles for snorkeling (which cost $15 per day). You can also pick up beach towels at the stand with the cards they give you at check in. Just don’t lose the cards or the towels because there’s a $25 replacement fee for them!

Service

The service from the staff, waiters, and everyone else was outstanding. They were at all times helpful, polite, and friendly and everyone we dealt with spoke perfect English with some nice Caribbean accents. They also allowed us to check in early with no issues.

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Rooms

The actual room (or more accurately condominium) left me a little conflicted because there were major pros and cons. I’ll start with the pros.

The first pro is that the suite was extremely spacious. We had the “premium condo with beach view” and loved all of the space from the sitting area to the kitchen area. If you’re planning on staying for a hand full of days, the kitchen area could really be useful as it has just about everything you’d need.

The kitchen and living area.

There was a pretty large flat screen TV in the sitting area and some fresh flowers that added a nice touch to the room.

Fresh flowers.

As for the bedroom, the bed sheets were nice and super soft along with the pillows. An additional TV in the bedroom had all of the American channels that you’d expect and came with a guide. Interestingly, the thermostat for the bedroom is different from the one used for the rest of the suite, so you’ll have to play around with those to get the temperature just right throughout the suite. The AC is powerful though so even if it’s scorching outside, your suite will still get quite cool.

Nice and soft king bed.

The bathroom was again, nice and roomy. The shower had a half-enclosed glass wall that I recall finding in a lot of European hotels. The hotel “decorates” the toilet with a bow made out of what I believe was toilet paper or some type of tissue paper… a nice gesture by the hotel, but it didn’t exactly scream luxury when we saw it and just made us chuckle.

Odd toilet bowl decorations.

After you spend time trying to figure out how to open the sliding doors, you’re onto the balcony. It’s a semi-private balcony, meaning that you have sort of an enclave with chairs and a table. The outer portion of the balcony extends out further and is connected to the neighboring rooms’ balcony.

Even though the balcony is shared, the view from it is simply stunning. Palm trees poke through the sand with turquoise reef water in the background forming about as picturesque a view that you could ever ask for.

The view from the balcony.

So those are the two major pros: spacious room and outstanding view.

Now for the two negatives. The first is that there are doors that separate the suites and allow way too much noise through to the point that it sounds like your neighbors have entered into your suite…. We had a noisy family next door to us so it wasn’t a great combination.

The second issue was an odd odor that we found throughout the suite. It wasn’t stinky like the odor of trash, but it was very strong — the kind of strong scent that feels like it might give you a headache if you smell it too long. To the defense of the hotel, they may have done something about the odor had we complained. However, we didn’t complain about either of these things because we spent so little time in the room and we did somewhat get used to the odor. Still, it’s something to be aware of.

Overall, I would absolutely recommend this hotel to everyone. If you have any interest in snorkeling or getting into the water, the location really can’t be beat and the views are fantastic. While we did have to put up with a bit of an odor and some unwanted noise, the pros far outweighed the cons for us and we enjoyed our stay.

Grand Roatan Caribbean Resort FAQ

What restaurants are at Grand Roatan Caribbean Resort?

You can find the following restaurant:

Iron Shore Grill

How far away is Grand Roatan Caribbean Resort from Juan Manuel Gálvez International Airport?

The hotel is approximately 26 minutes from Juan Manuel Gálvez International Airport by car.

What is the phone number for Grand Roatan Caribbean Resort?

The phone number for Grand Roatan Caribbean Resort is +01150424339034.

Booking.com

Daniel Gillaspia

Daniel Gillaspia is the Founder of UponArriving.com and creator of the credit card app, WalletFlo. He is a former attorney turned full-time travel expert covering destinations along with TSA, airline, and hotel policies. Since 2014, his content has been featured in major publications such as National Geographic, Smithsonian Magazine, Forbes, CNBC, US News, and Business Insider. Find his full bio here.

Review of the Sandos All-Inclusive Luxury Resort in Cancun, Mexico

We recently booked a weekend at the Sandos Luxury Resort Cancun — an all inclusive resort boasting three infinity pools and five restaurants! The resort received many positive reviews online so my expectations for this hotel located right on the beach were pretty high. Here’s a review of my experience staying that the Sandos Luxury Resort in Cancun, Mexico.

Location

The Sandos Luxury Resort Cancun is located right in the middle of the “hotel zone” in Cancun. It’s about a 20 minute taxi ride from Cancun International Airport (CUN) and that ride will cost you about $30 to $40 USD.

I normally survey the surrounding area for restaurants and other interesting places but this trip was a little different. Since the resort is all-inclusive, we took advantage of that fact and ate all of the meals we could at the hotel over our 3-day stay. Thus, we we didn’t venture out into the surrounding area and I can’t comment on nearby restaurants.

Sandos cancun luxury resort all inclusive mexico

Like most resorts in this area of Cancun, the resort is located right on the beach so you just have to walk down a couple of tiers from the pool area and you’re in the ocean. It’s a pretty steep slope where the waves wash in so be ready for that.

Everyday we were there, the beaches were marked with red flags, (supposedly) signaling that you shouldn’t be swimming. However plenty of guests were swimming in the water at all times and while the waves did wash up on the steep sand embankment pretty strong, I still felt just fine in the water. If I had smaller children, however, I don’t know that I’d feel safe with them in the water on a red flag day, since the undertow can be quite strong.

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Facilities

Everything in the hotel is very accessible and easily found.

As soon as you walk into the lobby, your bags will be taken by a “bellboy,” and they’ll bring your bags up to your room for you as soon as you finish checking in.

The check-in desk is on your left when you enter. I often only saw one staff member working the desk, so things could potentially get a little slow there, especially if a large group comes in before you (we saw a group of about 20 arrive after us).

The concierge is on the opposite side of the lobby and unlike the reception desk, they were often staffed with several people.

The restaurants, bar, gift shop, pool area, etc. are all located just a couple of seconds from the main entrance in the lobby and there are signs on the walls pointing you to the right directions, so it’s extremely easy to navigate the hotel corridors.

There are two areas where the hotel really shines: the pool areas and the many different dining facilities. I’ll begin with the pool areas.

Pool areas

The pool areas at the resort make up a cascade of large infinity pools, with each over-flowing tier of water bringing you closer to the beach. The winding walkways and platforms surrounding the pools are lined with beautiful covered sun beds, but if you want one you should get an early start as guests snatch them up pretty quickly.

During the afternoon and evening many of the guests hung out in the pool area but since there are three pools and each one is quite large, it never looked like the guests were overcrowding the pools, so you should be able to find a spot to relax at just about any time.

One of the coolest features of the pool is definitely the over-sized chess board. A small walkway takes you on to the circular platform coated with some kind of waterproof astro-turf. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a chessboard like that on a pool, so it was cool to stumble upon something a bit different.

Dining

There are actually five restaurants located on the premises. Note: some of the restaurants have dress codes so make sure you bring “smart casual” apparel.

The first is the restaurant that’s outside by the pools, “St. Trop.” It closes at 6pm and we were not able to try it but it looks like it serves standard snack bar type food and of course serves up drinks. If you want to eat there, you’ll be eating outdoors, so keep that in mind (shirt and shoes apparently still required).

Another restaurant was called “Seasons” but it required “elegant casual” dress code meaning no shorts. With this being such a short trip where we planned to be in the ocean more than not, we actually didn’t have any pants packed and so we weren’t even allowed in the Seasons restaurant! The third restaurant was called St. Trop like the snack bar but we didn’t make it to that restaurant either.

So where did we eat? Given our short time there (3 days) we were only able to try two of the restaurants on site. The first restaurant we made it to is called Zango.

Zango

Zango serves modern cuisine with flavors from around the world and different culinary styles every night. All three meals are served according to the hours below:

Breakfast: 6:00 – 11:00 am
Lunch: 12:00 – 16:00 pm
Dinner: 18:00 – 23:00 pm

This restaurant also has a dress code as stated on their website:

Bermuda shorts, nice sandals and sleeved shirts are allowed.
Bathing suits, flip flops/plastic sandals and sleeveless shirts are not allowed

We ate at Zango the majority of the time and I believe it’s the only place to eat for breakfast. Every meal is a buffet-style meal and you will find no shortage of variety of tastes.

For dinner, they served a variety of sea food (salmon, shrimp, calamari, osyters, etc.), along with different types of meats like chicken and beaf fajita. There were tons of options for salads, sandwiches, and other random foods like mashed potatoes. In short, there was something for just about everyone and both of us enjoyed the food and thought that it was high quality.

There are like four tables full of ornately decorated desserts as well. They consisted of different types of tarts, pastries, cookies, little cake dishes topped with fruits, ice cream, etc. If you’re a dessert person, you’ll be overwhelmed and pleased with the options that’s for sure.

Breakfast was also a hit at Zango. They served up many of the staples of an American breakfast with eggs, hash browns, pancakes, french toast, etc.

There were tons of sliced fruit options for the breakfast buffet as well. One of my favorite things about the breakfast were the array of juices offered. They had your standard juices like orange juice and tons of others juices you don’t typically find like melon juice, papaya juice, and many others. If you’re a little adventurous, you can put your own combination together and experiment with flavors.

Gaijin

Gaijin is the Teppanyaki-style Japanese show cooking (hibachi grill) restaurant at the resort. Since it’s rather small, you have to make reservations for it, although you have to wait until the day-of to make reservations. The concierge at the front should be able to take care of the reservations for you.

The atmosphere created by the chef was up to par to other hibachi grills we’ve been to (we’ve been to several). Just in case you’ve never been to one before, it’s a type of restaurant where the chef creatively chops up and cooks everything right in front of you in entertaining fashion. Our chef was highly entertaining and full of energy the entire time.

The food was great at Gaijin, too. We went with the sushi appetizer and I really liked it (I’m not even much of a sushi eater). For the main course, we had the mixed meat with rice and vegetables and it was all very tasty. If you’re only going to be able to eat at a couple of the restaurants, I highly recommend that you choose this place!

This restaurant only serves dinner from 6 to 11pm and as stated, you must make reservations.

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Service

One way to tell a true luxury resort from a pretender is the level of service. In my opinion, a true luxury hotel has more than just big sparkly pools, stiff drinks, and a great location on the beach, it has a staff that’s willing to do whatever they need to do to make your visit as comfortable as possible.

The Sandos offered an extremely high level of quality service at every turn from the front desk, restaurants, room service, etc. The high level of professional service exceeded my expectations and reassured me that the Sandos Resort is a legitimate luxury resort.

Rooms

We were upgraded from a Deluxe Room to the Sandos Suite, which came with plenty of room. The room was also on the “Penthouse” level so we had the added experience of hitting the “PH” elevator button each time we made our way back to the room.

A welcome letter lay on our bed when we arrived in addition to a bottle of red wine on a table along with a couple of wine glasses.

The beds were very comfortable and soft along with the sheets and blankets. The only slight complaint I had with the room is that it was a little bit warm for my liking despite lowering the AC as low as possible (there are separate AC units for the bedroom and the suite area).

The bathroom impressed us and was very spacious with a shower and a bathtub with a built-in enclave. I liked the the see-through shower door but I could do without the see-through door to the toilet, although I appreciated it for the sake of symmetry.

I liked having the view of both the lagoon (where the sun sets) and the ocean from the balcony. If you want to be out on the balcony, there are two chairs and a small stand you can use to relax and take in the view. There is a noisy night club next door that you will likely hear while outside. I didn’t exactly expect weekend nights at Cancun to be quiet but it’s something to be aware of. The good news is that the glass doors muffle out most of the noise from outside, so when you’re inside it shouldn’t be much of a problem.

We were able to catch some spectacular weather from our balcony as we got ready to check-out. A large rain sheet poured over the lagoon side of the island to the north of us. Then, as the system moved eastward, we noticed a thin funnel cloud develop into a long waterspout and eventually touch down on the ocean! All the guests down on the beach completely froze while we watched the brilliant display of nature from afar. As far as I know, the waterspout never made land fall.

The living area is spacious and is the perfect place to eat your room service.

The Sandos Suite also came with a kitchenette and mini-bar. The kitchenette had a sink area, microwave, coffee makers, and some snacks like peanuts and crackers.

The mini-fridge came stocked with Dos Equis, Heineken, Tecate, a variety of sodas, and some cold chocolate snacks. The staff comes by everyday to make sure that your fridge is stocked with what you like and so you can pick and choose what you want them to fill it with.

Sandos All-Inclusive Luxury Resort in Cancun, Mexico FAQ

Final word

Overall, I had another overwhelmingly positive experience at a hotel. I don't have a lot of experience with all-inclusive hotels so I don't have much to compare my stay to, but I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this hotel to anyone going to Cancun and looking for a great all-inclusive to stay at.

Daniel Gillaspia

Aruba Marriott Resort & Stellaris Casino Review

The Aruba Marriott Resort & Stellaris Casino is one of the premier resorts on the island of Aruba. I got the chance to stay there in August 2017 and the hotel lived up to my expectations in many ways. It’s got a great staff, exceptional views of beautiful turquoise waters, and a lot of things to do for all different types of guests. Here’s a look at my recent stay at the Aruba Marriott Resort & Stellaris Casino.

Aruba Marriott hotel area

The Aruba Marriott Resort is located on Palm Beach which is one of the top beach hotspots in Aruba and where you’ll find the majority of the high-rise hotels. On either side of the hotel are other Marriott hotels: Marriott’s Aruba Ocean Club, Marriott’s Aruba Surf Club, and the Ritz-Carlton.

The hotels are just north of Eagle Beach, which is a beach that many reported was an even better beach to visit but we didn’t get a chance to check it out. You can see picturesque waters of Eagle Beach pictured below with Palm Beach a little further in the background.

The hotel is located directly on Palm Beach so it only takes a quick walk for you to place your feet in the sand from your hotel room and offers you a true beach experience, unlike some Caribbean resorts where you don’t really have a beach area to walk around on.

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Check-in

We paid $25 USD for the taxi ride from the airport (where we breezed through customs) to the Aruba Marriott but the taxi price will be slightly higher on some days, such as Sundays and holidays. We entered the hotel through a wide hallway with realistically molded decorative fish hung along the sides of the wall.

We arrived during peak time around check-in (3pm) and all of the reception desks were open with staff members working to check people in so that the lines never grew long. There was a dedicated Marriott elite member line but like at many hotels, I don’t think only elite members were allowed to use it.

The staff members at the reception desks were very professional and we were served a complimentary glass of (non-spiked) punch during our check-in, which was a nice surprise.

The lobby/atrium that connects the two towers is long and open. In different sections of the lobby you can find some of the restaurants, the gelato shop, gift shop, jewelry store, and entrance to the casino, and the lobby bar and lounge area. There are plenty of signs posted on the walls to point you in the right direction of where you need to go.

All of the rooms look out to the ocean or to the pools/gardens with partial ocean views so you won’t get stuck with a view of the interior of the island (which isn’t that bad as you can see below).

The lobby is home to the “Great Room” which offers tons of comfortable and cozy seating options for you to relax in.

There were plenty of great places to enjoy a nice cup of coffee in the morning like these seats that look out to the pool area.

Although we didn’t try it out, there’s a nice bar area in the lobby offering meals from lunch to dinner and of course plenty of cocktails.

Behind the bar there’s a large multi-panel LCD screen which displays beautiful scenes while you relax at the bar which I thought was pretty cool and unique.

There’s also a Starbucks that occupies a lot of room in the lobby. It’s actually a beautiful area and one of the prettier hotel Starbucks coffee shops that I’ve seen (for what it’s worth). The lines can get long so you want to try to get down there early in the morning or else you’ll be waiting as if you were going to Starbucks during rush hour in a major city.

I thought it was really cool what they did with the Starbucks logo mermaid art on the wall.

Room

We stayed in a Junior Suite during our stay. The junior suites are corner rooms and are absolutely beautiful with the curtains pulled back. The floor to ceiling windows open up to an amazing view of the beach and pool areas, and it’s a great way to relax in style.

You can click here for a more detailed review of the junior suites at this hotel.

The wrap-a-round balconies are also very nice and perfect for getting great views of the sunsets, which dropped below the horizon right in front of us. Even if you don’t get a corner room though, all of the balconies are pretty spacious on this property so you should have plenty of room to relax on your balcony and catch the sunset.

I would try to go for a room on a higher floor to take advantage of the amazing views this hotel has to offer. The color of the ocean changes throughout the day (and even throughout the year) but for us it was a stunning turquoise color down the entire stretch of Palm Beach.

You’ll be able to watch people partake in jet-skiing, parasailing, kite surfing, paddle boating, tubing, and all sorts of other water activities from your balcony with a high enough ocean view. The only drawback to the rooms on the top floor is that you don’t have any shade on your balcony and so it can be a little tougher to beat the heat. The good thing about Aruba is that they are known for getting strong winds and those winds coming off the ocean can do wonders to cool you down when outside.

Fitness Center (“Health Club”)

I was very impressed with the gym at this hotel. It’s a two-story facility with loads of different equipment. Everything from free weights, benches, and tons of cardio equipment can be found there. At around 7am it was a little busy with most guest upstairs on treadmills and other cardio equipment, but there’s so many different exercise options to choose from that I doubt crowding becomes an issue there.

From the upstairs there’s also a great view of the H2Oasis pool.

Resort Pools

There are two pools at this resort: the main resort pool and the adult’s only pool. The main pool area is open to all guests and was pretty lively throughout our stay. It’s found right in the heart of the resort and surrounded by tall palm trees. It wasn’t quite the loud party atmosphere that I’ve experienced at some resorts but plenty of people were enjoying the pool throughout the day and there were still some music playing and activities taking place.

There’s a nice relaxing waterfall at the end of the pool with plenty of chairs to relax on.

These pods hanging below these two beautiful trees were popular relaxation spots for many guests.

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Adult’s only pool

The hotel has a second, newer pool called the H20asis Adult pool with lush Royal palms towering over the pool. There are plenty of chairs around the pool to relax on along with a few wooden cabanas that you can rent. This pool also has a bar. If you’re wanting to catch a few drinks at the pool bars, be sure to check to see which time happy hour is during your stay for discounted drinks.

The rooms on the first floor have direct access to the pool from their patios.

There’s a lot of open beach landscape at this hotel, which helps to disperse the crowds and open up the beach areas. Pictured below is the are dubbed “West Beach.”

The sand is very white, clean and gorgeous, as you can tell by the photo below of the area called “South Beach.”

They have this cool little machine called SnappyScreen which applies sunscreen to your body in only 10 seconds. You can use purchase your use at the towel hut or with your credit card at the machine.

You also can rent palapas at the various beach locations for $30 a day

If you have Tradewinds Club access, you can get a palapa for free based on a first-come, first-serve basis. You’ll need to inquire with the Tradewinds Club station on the beach to see what’s open and I recommend you doing so as soon as you can in the morning to lock down a spot.

The interior of the property surrounding the pool area is nicely kept with clean walkways to get you around. It’s also not overwhelmingly sprawled out, which is really nice when you want to get from point A to point B without breaking a huge sweat.

Dining

There are tons of dining options at the hotel to choose from.

La Vista (breakfast, lunch, and dinner)
Atardi (beachfront dinner)
Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse (dinner)
The Lobby — Shake and Roll (lunch and dinner)
Waves Beach and Grill (beachfront lunch)
Starbucks
Gelato & Co. (ice cream)
Resort Pool Bar and H2Oasis Pool Bar (lunch)

We didn’t get to try out all of the different places because of our short stay and the fact that we hit up the Tradewinds Lounge (discussed below) for most of our meals since I wanted to review each meal offered by the lounge.

We did try out Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse. Brad tried out the New York steak and I tried the barbecue shrimp. The barbecue shrimp is nothing like you’d expect but it was still delicious.

Brad’s steak unfortunately had a lot of tendon in it to the point it became uneatable. But the staff was tremendous and worked with us to fix the problem. They offered Brad an even more expensive filet at no extra cost but since we’d already filled up quite a bit, they took the steak off the bill after apologizing profusely. I was thoroughly impressed.

They also served a fantastic mojito.

We also tried Gelato & Co., which is located within the main lobby area. They’ve got some delicious options for gelato and we opted for some with melted Nutella inside and it was perfect.

The Tradewinds Lounge

I really wanted to see what the Tradewinds Lounge was all about, so that’s where we ate for most of our meals. The lounge is only accessible to guests who book Tradewinds level rooms or who pay extra for access. Depending on the going rate and your elite status, access could cost $150+ per night if you don’t book a Tradewinds room.

You can read more about the Tradewinds lounge here.

Here are the hours for the Tradewinds lounge:

Full American breakfast buffet: 7:00am-10:00am; Weekends 7:00am-11:00am
Light lunch: 12:00pm-2:00pm
Teatime: 3:00pm-5:00pm
Discovery hour hors d’oevres: 6:00pm-9:00pm
Premium open bar: 6:00pm-9:00pm
Cheese and pastries: 8:00pm-9:00pm
Non-alcoholic beverages and coffees available all day

Aruba Marriott Resort Tradewinds Lounge.

The breakfasts up there were solid with typical offerings of bacon/sausage, potatoes, and eggs that came in different forms, such as scrambled and burritos. They also offered plenty of different options with fruit, cereal, pastries, etc. The only staple missing was some form of pancakes, waffles, or french toast.

The lounge also offered lunch where we were treated with a tasty beef dish and rice and “tea time” where we enjoyed the sandwiches and wraps and thought they were a great way to appease our appetite for a while.

During discovery hour, we sampled different platters from the chefs. These were delicious dishes like grilled sea bass, mango chicken, sushi, and other dishes. I filled up pretty quickly on these and ended up being very impressed with the food offerings of the lounge. I imagined snacks and very light dishes to be offered, not tasty platters that could replace entire meals.

And of course the lounge also offers a range of beverages that you can choose from. There are different beers, sodas, waters, and fruit drinks you can choose from.

And then there’s the evening happy hour where all the rums, whiskeys, and vodkas and other liquors are set out for the open bar.

The Tradewinds lounge also has some great views from its two balconies.

Activities

There are a ton of things going on at the resort to keep yourself occupied. We spent a lot of our time diving while in Aruba but if you just want to hang out around the hotel you can find plenty to do. In addition to the all of the water sports described above there are daily activities offered that range from things like:

Yoga
Beach walks
Iguana interactions
Bingo
Tennis clinic
Hula Hoop Contest
Cotton candy and popcorn social
Face painting

And the list goes on. You’ll be given a booklet at check-in that will give you all the information about the activities taking place. They also offer comedy shows during certain times and they have one of the best casinos on the island. I’m not very big on gambling, so we didn’t spend time in the casino during our stay.

Aruba Marriott Resort & Stellaris Casino FAQ

How many points are needed for a free stay at Aruba Marriott Resort & Stellaris Casino?

Prices may vary based on the type of room and season but you can find standard room redemptions for as low as 50,000 points.

What restaurants are at Aruba Marriott Resort & Stellaris Casino?

You can find the following restaurants:

Ruth’s Chris Steak House
Atardi
La Vista
Waves Beach Bar & Grill
The Lobby
Starbucks
H2Oasis Adult Pool Bar
Gelato & Co.

How far away is Aruba Marriott Resort & Stellaris Casino from Queen Beatrix International Airport?

The hotel is approximately 19 minutes from Queen Beatrix International Airport by car.

What time is the pool open?

The pool is open from 7 AM to 7 PM

What time is the gym open?

The gym is open 24 hours.

What is the phone number for Aruba Marriott Resort & Stellaris Casino?

The phone number for Aruba Marriott Resort & Stellaris Casino is +2975869000.

Final word

The service at this hotel was some of the best service that I’ve received at a hotel, especially in the Caribbean. They were willing to do whatever they could to make the stay better and fix any issues that we faced during our stay. I also witnessed them bending over backwards for other guests on numerous occasions. This hotel has stunning views of the ocean and plenty to do so I would definitely recommend the hotel to people for looking for one of the best hotels in Aruba.

Daniel Gillaspia

The Best Scuba Diving Company in Roatan, Honduras

I recently completed an intro scuba dive with the Island Diving Center in Roatan, Honduras. This company is ranked #1 on Trip Advisor for diving so I had to check them out and see if they would live up to my high expectations. After going through their intro course and completing a dive with them, I can say that this company is as legitimate as they come and that I highly recommend booking with them if you want your dive to be an enjoyable and smooth experience. Here’s a review of my time with the best scuba diving company in Roatan.

Communication

One thing that I always pay special attention to is how a company communicates to its customers that are located in another country. When companies in another country aren’t responsive or take a week to reply to messages, it makes me a bit suspect of the quality of their services and apprehensive about going with them. However, Island Diving Center in Roatan offered superb communication from the beginning via email and their prompt responses made me feel much better about choosing them for our dive.

Pricing

Pricing is very reasonable. For two people to complete an intro dive, it will cost you about $320. This is cheaper than other intro dives that I’ve done in other places in the Caribbean like Belize. An $80 deposit may be required at the time of booking and you’ll be able to make that payment via PayPal.

The facility

Hang out area at the Island Diving Center in Roatan, Honduras.

The diving shop is located in the West End, Roatan. That means that you’ll likely need to take a water taxi if you are coming from the West Bay. Those taxis are available early in the morning and so if you need to arrive at the dive shop around 8:30 am, you should be able to hop on a water taxi in the morning with plenty of time to get over, as it only takes about 10 to 15 minutes. Tell the water taxi that you’re headed to Half Moon Bay and you will find the diving shop next to the white church. It’s tucked away into the alley a little bit so just be on the lookout for their signs.

Note: the Island Diving Center said they are opening up a location at the West Bay soon so you may not have to take a water taxi to get there in the future!

Water taxi at the West End.

Once you arrive at the shop, you’ll be fitted with your BCD, weight belt, goggles, flippers, and if you’d like, you can get fitted for a wet suit. After you’re all fitted and have your equipment together, it’s time to start to the intro course.

The intro course

The scuba intro course is a mandatory session that you must complete if you are not already PADI certified. The session lasts about 45 minutes and consists of two portions. The first portion is working through a short booklet that will get you familiar with your equipment, the hand signs used while underwater, and everything else you need to know. It’s also where you will sign your waiver and disclaim any medical conditions you have or don’t have. (If you check “yes” for any conditions, you’ll have to be cleared by a physician before you are eligible to dive.)

After you go through the booklet, you’ll make your way to the beach at Half Moon Bay, Roatan (located just across the street). In clear shallow waters you’ll practice the handful of skills needed to embark on your intro dive. These consist of locating you respirator, purging, removing water from our goggles, etc. All pretty basic skills but skills that you need to be comfortable with before diving.

Our dive instructor Esteban was absolutely top-notch. Since we’ve completed so many intro dives, we didn’t have any issues with learning how to use our equipment during the intro course or during the dive, but I could just tell that Esteban was a very patient and knowledgable diver that would offer as much help as a newbie would need. Also, Esteban was aware that we’d completed several dives before but still made sure we mastered each step of the intro dive skills and it was reassuring to know that we was so thorough.

All ready to head to the reef.

Right before we went out, Esteban gave a briefing on our dive spot called “Turtle Crossing.” He showed us on the map which direction we’d be headed and what we could expect during the dive in terms of topography. Our lowest depth was about 35 feet during the entire dive, I believe.

Briefing before our dive.

Ready for the dive

One of the great things about diving in Roatan, Honduras, is that the reef pretty much surrounds the entire island and is very close to the shore. It felt like we were only on the boat for like 5 to 10 minutes before we arrived at our diving spot.

The coral reef in Roatan is very close to the shore!

We entered the water via a backroll entry and I was happy to find the waters very calm and the visibility superb. We slowly descended via a line to probably about 20 to 25 feet and then we were off the explore the reef.

Great visibility looking down about 25 feet.

Esteban along with his diving (and life) partner led the way for us and took us through some pretty cool narrow channels in the reef to begin the dive.

Our talented diving instructor, Esteban.

Esteban pointed out a ton of different wildlife to use along the way. One of the first animals that we came across was a sand diver, a lizard-like fish that rests still on the ocean floor until it’s time to ambush its prey.

Roatan Honduras scuba diving — Sand diver!

At one point, we found a trio of conchs hanging out by each other. It was my first time witnessing conchs and I got a kick out of watching them move about on the sea floor.

Conchs moving slowly along the ocean floor.

We saw a host of other creatures including a lobster, lion fish, many parrotfish, trumpetfish, grouper, drumfish, a sea cucumber, and got up close to a beautiful trio of angelfish. A sea turtle made an appearance at the end of our tour but we didn’t get a good look at it before it ventured out into the dark blue depths.

Roatan, Honduras — Lionfish (photo from another dive).

We came across some very interesting coral as well, such as the giant barrel sponge. These are often referred to as the “redwoods of the reef” because they can sometimes be thousands of years old. Other coral spotted were brain coral, fan coral, and a few others.

During out entire dive, Esteban did superb job of keeping us together and making sure that we moved along at a perfect pace. Sometimes instructors make you feel a bit rushed and that can cut into your enjoyment, especially if you’re trying to get photographs but that never happened.

One thing that I really liked about this intro dive is that we were taught how to read and signal the readings from our oxygen monitors to our instructor. In all of my previous intro dives, the scuba instructors took care of checking on the readings, but I enjoyed learning how to check on my oxygen levels myself and it made me feel a bit safer.

Overall, I was 100% pleased with the service and the actual dive with the Island Diving Center. It’s obvious to me now why they are #1 on Trip Advisor for diving in Roatan and I would absolutely recommend them to anyone.

Daniel Gillaspia

Snorkeling in The West Bay, Roatan, Honduras

The West Bay in Roatan, Honduras is arguably one of the best snorkeling locations in the world. The coral reef extends to the beach and offers easy and safe access for snorkelers and it chockfull of marine life. While the reef is beautiful and accessible, there are some things you should know about snorkeling in the West Bay to ensure that you’ll have a safe and memorable snorkeling trip.

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The West Bay is a protected area

The first thing to note is that this area is part of a protected marine reserve. This means that you are not to take, touch, or harass any of the inhabitants of the reef system. This is particularly important to remember in the West Bay because much of the reef is located in shallow water and if you are not careful, you can easily damage portions of the reef by coming into contact with it.

West Bay snorkeling map

Below is a map of the coral reef published by roatanwestbay.org. As you can see, there are three different zones to the reef. The area with the red flags receives a high amount of boat traffic so you won’t want to snorkel in that portion of the coast. The yellow flags indicate shallow waters that might be impassable due to the reef and the finally the green flag sections indicate waters deep enough to pose no problems.

In real life you will only see white cylindrical buoys bobbing in the ocean and not colored flags. I’m not sure if the buoys directly correspond to this map but they can be good markers to help you remember where you entered the reef from.

Because there are a lot of shallow reef areas you need to be extra cautious about your snorkeling route. Some of the reefs crest so close to the ocean’s surface that you will surely destroy some of the reef by trying to traverse it and will also likely scrape up your body in the process. Thus, I recommend you have some sort of routing strategy in place before you head out.

I’d start out in the middle of the reef where there is a channel that opens up. This channel extends out to another channel that runs parallel to the beach and opens up to the 25-feet deep portion of the reef. I’d follow that channel going parallel to the beach, poking in and out of the reef as it’s pretty easy terrain to navigate. An example of that route is below.

I like swimming over channels like that because you get a wide view of the ocean and can often spot large fish in those areas coming in and out of the reef. Moreover, you don’t have to worry about knocking into the reef since you’ll have plenty of room to swim around.

If you don’t feel comfortable swimming out to the “deep end” (or after you get through experiencing the deep end) then another good route is just to meander in and out of the inlets along the reef, eventually making your way towards the “wall.” Your route would look something like below.

If you’re not very confident in your swimming abilities, the trick is to never swim too far into the reef. As you wander, you’ll probably make your way through some tight/shallow passageways between coral that will allow you to get further out from the beach.

Doing that is a fun way to explore the reef but the problem is that once you’ve navigated a maze of numerous tight passageways, it can become very difficult to retrace your route and you might end up getting stuck in very shallow coral reef waters with no apparent exit. By meandering back and forth as seen in the image above you never go too deep into the labyrinth of coral reef and so it will be easier to retrace your steps when needed.

If you’re comfortable with your underwater route finding capabilities and swimming skills to get through shallow reef water, this probably won’t be necessary but for inexperienced snorkelers, I think it’s a great way to avoid trouble.

The currents and water temperature

I can’t speak conclusively on the currents at West Bay but based on what others told me and what I experienced, the currents are usually not very strong due to the topography of the island blocking strong winds coming from the east. Of course, we experienced the usual back and forth “tug effect” (surge) at the surface the water but overall, it was very manageable to navigate around the reef.

As for temperature, the water felt just a tad bit chilly when entering in early in the morning but we became acclimated very quickly. In the afternoon, we barely noticed the water temperature, although you’ll likely get jet streams of cool water blowing in from time to time.

The wildlife

Now for the exciting part. I’m certainly not a diving pro, but I’ve snorkeled in a handful of famous snorkeling locations like the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, Belize, etc., and I can honestly say that I was blown away by the marine life we found snorkeling at the West Bay. As soon as we dipped our heads under the water, fish greeted us and once we got into the actual reef, the fish started putting on a dazzling display.

The West Bay is like a breeding ground for parrotfish and they seemed to be everywhere and come in all different sorts of varieties. We saw rainbow parrotfish, stoplight parrotfish, blue parrotfish, the list goes on…. If you’re not familiar with these fish, they’re gorgeous fish that have powerful jaws that can break up coral and rock. They continuously eat away at the coral and excrete the rock by essentially turning it to sand. It’s a sight to see and you can often hear them knocking away at the rock underwater.

Roatan, Honduras West Bay snorkeling — Stoplight parrotfish

The highlight of our snorkeling experience was probably seeing a huge rainbow parrotfish that had to be almost four feet long! It came in lurking in pretty shallow water and when it hammered away at the coral, it was pretty loud. All of the parrotfish I’d seen up to that point had been at the most, about 12 to 15 inches long, so when this heavyweight showed up, we were pretty shocked.

Many Cowfishes and trunkfishes made appearances, too. These fish have an odd, boxy shape and move about slowly making them easy to find and admire. If you watch them long enough, you might witness their spectacular color change that they rely on for camouflage.

The colorful scrawled cowfish below was about twice the size of the juveniles and we got to witness it color change as it hid in the coral. The small horns on the front of the fish are how it got its name as they resemble horns found on cattle.

Another memorable encounter came when we were all of a sudden face to face with a barracuda! Barracuda attacks on divers are extremely rare but they can happen. This particular barracuda appeared to be sizing me up after I got some shots of it, so just to be on the safe side, I backed off after a minute or two but it was still an amazing encounter and recalling its gaze still gives me goosebumps.

Keep your eyes out for lionfish, whose toxins can be potentially fatal to humans of young or old age or who have pre-existing health conditions. We saw two of them while snorkeling and both of them were suctioned to the coral, with one of the lionfish positioned upside down.

These fish are not known to attack offensively but you should always remain alert in case they are in the area. Their (invasive) presence is another reason why I don’t recommend trying to hover closely over the shallow reef areas — you never know what might be hiding out.

In addition to the fishes pictured above, we saw tons of other species at every corner. Here’s a rundown of some of the other marine life we spotted.

The fish weren’t the only attraction, either. We found several sections of the coral to be filled with vivid colors and beautiful shapes and formations.

The only things we didn’t see were sea turtles or sharks. I’ve been told that sharks, even nurse sharks, are really rare in this area of the reef but I’m not sure about sea turtles.

Overall, the West Bay in Roatan, Honduras is definitely one of my favorite snorkeling locations in the world. There’s so much wildlife to see and it’s so easy to access that I think this spot can compete with just about anywhere else. If you keep a good awareness of your surroundings, you should have the time of your life snorkeling here.

Booking.com

Daniel Gillaspia

The Best Ways to Use Miles And Points to Get to The Caribbean

Getting to the Caribbean with great deals is actually very easy because you have plenty of options with tons of different routing opportunities. If you plan in advance and are a bit flexible with routing, you can really stretch your miles with some of these programs. Here’s a breakdown of 6 of the best ways to use miles and points to to get to the Caribbean.

1. Southwest Airlines

Photo by Pieter van Marion via Flickr.

Southwest now has an emerging presence all over the Caribbean, including Mexico. Their award rates are based on the ticket fare so there’s no standard award chart for their redemptions. However, some of their routes are exceptionally cheap and if you’ve been fortunate enough to pick up the Companion Pass, you can hop all around the Caribbean for extremely cheap.

For example, below is a redemption from HOU to CUN for 4,248 points for a one way award. For a round trip, that’s about 9,000 points. If you’ve got the Southwest Companion Pass (which I highly recommend), then that means you’ve got two round trip tickets for merely 9,000 points!

Now that I have the Companion Pass, Southwest is my go-to for Caribbean destinations for the most part but even if I didn’t have the Companion Pass, I’d always be sure to give Southwest a look for trips to the Caribbean.

Here are some other examples of great redemptions from Southwest:

20,000 Rapid Rewards BWI to SJU
22,000 Rapid Rewards MDW to MBJ
25,000 Rapid Rewards DEN to CUN

Use the Southwest Route Map to search where you’d like to go and you’ll see there are plenty of options for getting to the Caribbean. If you schedule your trip in advance and are a bit flexible with the routing, you shouldn’t have a problem finding cheap routes like the ones above.

Southwest Rapid Rewards can be accumulated very quickly with three Chase cards:

The Southwest Plus Card
The Southwest Premier Card
The Southwest Premier Business Card

All three of these cards offer 50,000 sign-up bonuses at different times and can make obtaining the Southwest Companion Pass extremely doable.

Southwest is also a transfer partner of Chase Ultimate Rewards.

2. British Airways Avios

Using Avios to get to the Caribbean is one of the best uses of Avios, in my opinion. Avios is distance-based meaning that your mileage requirements will depend on how far you’re going to travel. For getting around the Caribbean with Avios, you’ll likely be making bookings with One World partner American Airlines.

Thus, I suggest that you follow these steps to find the flight for you:

Locate American Airline hubs you might fly out of .
Then use this extremely helpful American Airlines route finding map to see what kind of direct routes go out of those airports to Caribbean destinations. You can do this by selecting “Destinations” and the inserting the airport into the “Leaving From” field.
Uncheck the boxes in the image below for “AA Connections” and “AA Partners”

Doing that will allow you to see only the non-stop flights from that hub. You can then use the Great Circle Mapper to measure the distance for these non-stop flights and then use the British Airways Award Chart I made to determine how many Avios you will need to book that flight.

Once you start playing around with the map and looking at the British Airways Award Chart, you’ll be able to know exactly what the mileage requirements will be for different trips. Anything under 3,000 miles be 25,000 Avios for a round trip and will likely be a good redemption. Once you go over 3,000 miles the redemptions jump up to 40,000 round trip and you’d probably be able to find better deals with other programs.

I’ve included some examples of redemptions below.

From Miami

15,000 MIA to MBJ, SJU, AUA (Aruba)

If you depart from Miami, you can hit many of the Caribbean destinations for only 15,000 round trip. Going from Miami to Aruba (1,133 miles) is just under the 1,150 mile threshold for the next Avios zone, so it’s a great sweet-spot to hit.

Here’s a look at what the American Airlines route finder will show you when looking for direct flights out MIA — it can look a bit messy, but it’s an easy way to check if non-stops go to your desired destination.

Direct flights from MIA on American Airlines

From ORD

20,000 Avios ORD to MBJ, CUN, (Cancun), PUJ (Dominican Republic)

The flight to to PUJ from ORD is just 19 miles under 2,000, although straight shots appear to be somewhat limited.

From JFK

20,000 Avios JFK to CUN, SJU, STT, ANU

From DFW

15,000 Avios DFW to CUN, CZM
20,000 Avios DFW to BZE, NAS, MBJ, GCM

Some of these redemptions can be pretty valuable. For example, for the DFW to CZM flight you’d spend $27.74 taxes, fees and carrier charges. Factoring in those fees to the lowest cash rate for this flight with American Airlines (seen below), and that 15,000 Avios redemption is worth 4.2 cents per point, which is very good.

You can earn British Airways Avios in the following ways:

American Express Membership Rewards (10:8)
Starwood Preferred Guests
Chase Ultimate Rewards
Chase British Airways Credit Card

3. American Airlines

American Airlines: 25,000 to 30,000

Off-peak SAAver Awards will only cost you 25,000 miles to get to the Caribbean. It’s not always easy to find these off-peak awards, however, so realistically you might be looking at booking the standard SAAver award of 30,000.

Many of the redemptions aren’t as lucrative as the Avios, however. For example, if you booked the same DFW to CZM flight with 25,000 American Airline miles and paid the fees, you’d be spending 10,000 more miles and redeeming at 2.5 cents per point, almost 2 cents less per point than with Avios. That’s still not horrible, it’s just not great when you know you could book the same route for cheaper with Avios. However, if you don’t have any spare Avios, American Airlines is still a solid choice to get to the Caribbean.

You can collect American Airlines miles with cards like the Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite™ MasterCard® and the Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® Card. Citibank also often offers targeted promotions for opening up bank accounts to earn AAdvantage miles, but we’ll see is those continue to roll out with recent changes.

4. Flying Blue

Photo by Can Pac Swire via Flickr.

Flying Blue: 30,000 North America to the Caribbean

Flying Blue is a solid option for getting to the Caribbean, especially if you leave near a Delta hub. Take a look at the booking all the way from Seattle to San Juan below that came out to only 30,000 miles and about $40 USD flying via Delta. That route would cost about $566 in cash flying Delta and so this redemption comes out to 1.7 cents per point, which again, it not bad at all.

The great thing about Flying Blue is that it’s now a partner of the four major rewards programs:

American Express Membership Rewards
Chase Ultimate Rewards (new)
Starwood Preferred Guests
Citi Thankyou Points

Thus, it shouldn’t be very difficult for you to put together enough points to cover a trip to the Caribbean considering how many options you have. And don’t forget, Flying Blue allows you to add one stopover. You’ll have to book it over the phone but it’s a great way to see more of the Caribbean!

Also, if you’re flying to the following destinations, the 25,000 redemption rate applies for Flying Blue making it an even better deal:

Mexico
Netherlands Antilles (Aruba, Bonaire, etc.)
U.S. Virgin Islands

5. Alitalia Millemiglia

Photo by Roberto via Flickr.

Alitalia: 30,000 North America to the Caribbean

The Italian airline Alitalia, a member of the SkyTeam alliance, requires only 30,000 miles for SkyTeam redemptions from North America to the Caribbean (as well as Mexico, Central America and Hawaii). Alitalia is a transfer partner of both American Express Membership Rewards and SPG, so it’s pretty easy to build up a balance of their miles.

The only issue is that Alitalia can be pretty difficult to deal with. Their website can be confusing, you’ve got to call in to book awards (which can be a process), and if something goes wrong while you’re trying to book your flights, it might be a pain to trying to get it to work out. Thus, while Alitalia offers some nice redemptions at 30,000, if I were trying to book a SkyTeam award to the Caribbean, I’d just go with Flying Blue.

Alitalia is a transfer member of SPG and American Express.

6. LAN (LATAM Pass kms)

LAN Airlines business class — LAN business class

Photo by alobos Life via Flickr.

12,000 LATAM Pass kms MIA to NAS

LAN is another distance-based award system similar to Avios. They are also a member of the One World Alliance so you can use them to book flights with American Airlines. Their partner award chart is not as generous as the Avios chart is for the majority of distances you’d use for destinations in the Caribbean, except for very short flights, such as those under 500 kms like the one above.

However, when you transfer from SPG the ratio to LATAM is 1 to 1.5, so you get an extra 50% on top of an extra 5,000 points if you transfer 20,000 SPG points.

So for example, let’s say you wanted to redeem an American Airlines flight going from ORD to MBJ.

This would require 28,000 LATAM kms versus the 20,000 Avios required. Avios would look like the better route here but if you are transferring from SPG, it’s actually cheaper to go with LAN. That’s because you’d only have to transfer 18,666 SPG points to reach 28,000 LATAM kms with the 1:1.5 ratio.* That would come out to about 2.1 cents per point which isn’t bad (but I know a lot of people may not be interested in using their SPG for such a redemption).

(*I’d actually only use SPG transfers for transfers of 20,000 or more to get the 5,000 point bonus but the point is just to show that using SPG points to LATAM can be a cheaper way to redeem with the 50% bonus transfer ratio than Avios.)

Thus, if you are looking to book American Airline routes to the Caribbean and are interested in transferring your SPG points to get there, you should consider LATAM.

LATAM is a transfer member of SPG.

Caribbean airport fees

I feel obliged to mention that many (if not all) of the airports in the Caribbean impose fees that often times seem disproportionate to the value of the redemption. There’s nothing you really can do about these except pay them. Some of them are included in the booking process so you pay them upfront with your ticket price, but others are requested in the airport.

It’s really important to research beforehand what kind of fees you might be up against and I recommend always having the local currency on hand to cover the fees, as sometimes the fees can process as a cash advance if you use a credit card. Here’s an article that goes into detail on the fees. It was published in December 2014 so some figures might have changed by now, but it should give you an idea as to what to expect with the fees.

Cover Photo by Britt via Flickr.

Daniel Gillaspia

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