My wife and I (along with friends) just returned from our third visit to Bananarama Dive Resort. This time we and another couple shared one of the beachfront villas at Island Pearl, which is now part of Bananarama. We had an absolutely great time. Bananarama is a family owned resort. The first two times we were there, Jamie and Louis made us feel very welcome and at home. This time, Louis' parents, Guy and Tina, were our hosts and soon became our friends as well. They even joined us for a retirement/birthday party for two members of our group. Carolina (more on her later) put the party together, including an absolutely yummy carrot cake from the bakery and ice cream shop on the premises, decorations on the outdoor table and palm trees, etc. It was a special event that will be remembered by the honorees.

What stands out most in our mind about Bananarama is the location and the staff. West Bay is the best beach on Roatan, and Bananarama is right in the middle of it. The units (especially Island Pearl) are spaced widely apart, which is great on the Monday and Wednesday cruise ship days when the beach can become somewhat crowded. There are a number of good places to eat on the beach, including the Thirsty Turtle Bar at Bananarama, although, to be honest, we didn't think it quite measured up to what it was on our previous visits. It was still very good, though.

The staff at Bananarama is absolutely fantastic! Every single person who works there is genuinely glad to see you and wants to help in any way they can. A number of them remembered us, including Carolina, whose squeal of delight upon seeing us had to have been heard through the area. It had been about a year and a half since we had been there. While I hate to mention names because I know I will leave some out, the service by Carolina and Jessica (two of the waitresses) was awesome. However, we could say the same about every other employee, including the maids, bartenders, gardeners, etc., etc.

Bananarama is not a fancy glitzy resort. The accomodations are not the granite countertops, stainless steel appliances and marble floors type of place. They are very comfortable and homey. They somewhat remind me of a lake cottage in northern Wisconsin, except they happen to be on a beach in the Caribbean. Snorkling and diving are fantastic as the reef is just off the beach. Water taxis ($3 pp) will run you down to the town of West End.

We knew everyone at the hotel by the end of the trip! The chef, the manager, all the dive masters, the waiters, the guests, you name it. When we first got to Roatan, we were booked at a hotel in the West End. We took a look around the West Bay beach, and there was no comparison, West Bay is the nicest beach. So we wandered down the beach, and found the Island Pearl on the spot, in direct comparison with its neighboring hotels, and we were more than pleased with our stay there.

The location could not be better, the rooms (esp for the price) were pretty awesome (really cool shower.) And even if the room you get isn't technically a beachfront, you are only taking a few steps. Hammocks everywhere, nice little porch in front of every room. It was the perfect getaway for my boyfriend and I. The diving from the resort was fabulous, and ridiculously convenient, not to mention a wonderful, experienced, and friendly dive staff. We had delicious filet mignon and great wine, with live acoustic guitarist playing at there restaurant there, the Vintage Pearl. It's a little pricey for Honduras, but definitely worth it. The resort restaurant (not the Vintage Pearl) is pretty basic.

The manager, Guy, is great. Make sure you say hello to Marco at the dive shop! Don't think twice, just go!

We paid for the "best" villa (the most expensive) right on the beach since it was our honeymoon!

1. I told them upon booking that is was our honeymoon and they did absolutely nothing to make it special (the first place we stayed gave us champagne, roses, etc).

2. They made us pay for a cab to take us to the airport (the first place picked us up for free and pre- arranged it for us)

3. Upon booking this expensive villa, we were not informed of the construction that would be occurring everyday from 8AM until 3PM- sawing, loud music, hammering, you name it. You can imagine how relaxing that was!

4. There were cockroaches in the drawers in the kitchen, under the bed...gross!

5. The laundry service stained my dress and took an extra day to get it back to us.

6. They nickeled and dimed us. For example, in order to use the safe, it was $5.00.

7. The amenities in the kitchen were crappy (the first place we stayed at had state of the art blender, toaster, microwave, etc).

8. The girls that worked at the office were less than friendly. The bar staff and dive staff were amazing though.

9. As I mentioned, we were in the most expensive room/villa and we did not have a TV. Not that we need to watch TV all of the time, but the smaller, much much cheaper rooms at Banarama had a TV and cable.

10. Because of this place, by the end of our honeymoon, I couldn't wait to get back home to Seattle.

Barefoot Cay was the first place we stayed at and it was AMAZING, ACCOMMODATING, CLEAN, and CHEAPER!!!

my husband and i had the pleasure of visiting roatan for the first time for 12 days at the end of may. it was an amazing vacation, and we can't wait to go back! we even survived the 7.1 earthquake the morning of our departure (by far one of the scariest moments of our lives) but would definitely go back in a heart beat given the opportunity! i have traveled pretty extensively and have never had the overwhelming feeling to return vacation in the same place more than once, being that there are so many other places in the world to see, but i could definitely see my husband and i returning to roatan again and again. this is for several reasons:

1. flights are cheap: we flew out of washington DCA and paid less than $350 for our flights, each. granted it was a LONG day of travel but well worth it. we plan to move back to tx where they have direct flight out of houston for reasonable prices. 2 hrs on a plane and you are in paradise? you can't beat that!
2. the beach is just amazing: especially on non-cruise days, you practically have the entire beach to yourself. the water is crystal clear. you can see all the way down at least 40ft. the reef is amazing. you can just swim or kayak right off the beach and see beautiful coral, fish, turtles, ect. the water is really calm and beautiful. the staff works really hard raking up seaweed and making sure that the beach has less sandfleas. free chairs are included in your stay. there is always shade available to put your chairs under when you've had enough of the sun.
3. the lodging is affordable: we originally stayed in one of the beachside rooms in bananarama but it was extremely noisy and luckily we got upgraded to an ocean front villa. they were running a special at the time that was $500/week (for the beachside room)? definitely worth the price for the best location in west end. right in front of the beast beach ever. the beach front cabana was clean. the kitchenette was useful because we stopped at the grocery store and bought some food and snacks to save money. the bathroom we large and spacious. my only complaint is that it is that there is no a/c in the bathroom. the shower is ventilated to the outside by windows all around it. (dont worry, no one can see you). so if you leave the bathroom door open to get a/c in the bathroom, its a good chance that mosquitoes will get in and that is a big problem. the bedroom upstairs, meant to be the master bedroom, never got cold enough even with its own a/c unit upstairs so we slept in the smaller room downstairs. you cant beat the location of bananarama/island pearl. we can't wait to go back! the staff is friendly. the included breakfast every morning we always served with a smile. which brings me to the rest of my long review.

Food: breakfast ranged from good to pretty good - a rotation of croissant sandwich, pancakes, french toast, baleadas, eggs, beans & fruit. coffee was available every morning as well as fresh squeezed fruit juice + lots of sugar. lots of dining choices are within walking distance or you can always take a water taxi into west end for more options. island pearl right on the property is probably the nicest and best restaurant in west bay. great food, fantastic atmosphere but price. $35/each for a 3 course meal. when we went it was pretty empty. i heard the price last year was $25/each and that would probably bring a lot more folks in. the ice cream shop on the property is also good and the thirty turtle offers drink specials daily.

Activities: kayaking is free. snorkling is not. i would recommend bringing your own snorkling gear as you can snorkle 3x a day if you wanted. we also did a discover scuba class and had a really good time. we meant to get our full certification but couldn't stay away from the beach for 3.5 days to get it done. maybe next time.

Bugs: yes, there are bugs. i got SEVERAL bites, mostly at dusk or dawn. sometimes at night in hour house. i constantly sprayed off but this just seemed to deter not prevent bites. after a few days i hardly noticed them. i expected to get bit going into this vacation - its a tropical, warm, humid place - of course there will be mosquitoes! i found that spraying our sheets at night and being really careful about keeping doors and windows shut helped a lot. i never got bit by sandfleas though. just mosquitoes.

weather: the weather was perfect except for the 1.5 days it rained while we were there. i checked to forecast before arriving and it called for rain every single day there so i thought that wasn't too bad. we entertained ourselves with books and monopoly.

entertainment: there is not much going on in west bay after 9pm. on sun nights i think the resort has fire dancers and a crab race. one day there was a pig roast (a friday or saturday). people hang out at the bar but it closes at 9:30pm. so if you are looking for a night life - this isn't it.

cruiseship days: we had several days of cruiseship people. i think they come wed - fri? i cant remember. for the most part its fine. the beach just gets crowded with more people. we staked out our spots early in the morning and just sat back and watched the entertainment. definitely more peddlers around on these days - they are eventually realize you aren't interested in what they are selling after the 4-5th time they ask. just tell them no, gracias and they keep it moving. they are not overly obnoxious like other peddlers i've experienced in parts of mexico and india. if you are in the resort only area of the beach, they don't bother you at all.

overall this was one of the best vacations we have ever taken. you can not beat the location. the beach is amazing. we can't wait to go back!