I am an experienced scuba diver and my friends and i just returned from Roatan our stay at henry morgan was great, the food is excellent, the rooms are really nice and clean, the staff at TGI which is the name of the diveshop , are very helpful , the reef is beautiful and in ok conditions, on our last day we couldnt dive so the diveshop sells a tour with xtreme charters to cayos cochinos , the quality of the reef there is in great conditons alot better than in roatan, xtreme charters showed us a fun day , looking forward to doing it again next year.

7 adults - stayed at Henry Morgan Feb 13-27 through Conquest. Second time to this resort, 4th time to this island, and we would return again. (Have stayed at Fantasy Island twice which we also liked for different reasons. It is more isolated as it is on it's own little man made island.)

When reading the various reviews, keep the perspective that by comparison, and lets be honest, this place is inexpensive compared to many other locations. You are travelling to a Honduran island. Honduras is a 3rd world country, one of the poorest countries in Central America. Henry Morgan Resort, and this island offers very good value for your money. If you want a glitzy, glamorous resort then this place is not for you.

So you better understand my review, I prefer to stay at low key places, that do not have too many rooms, and no more than 2 stories. That way less people, less climbing or god forbid needing to take an elevator, very little line ups. Plus, I like space on the beach, beach chairs available whenever I get there and not having to get up at the crack of dawn to save a spot. I also like the fact that you can dress up or go to dinner in your shorts and a tee shirt and either way fit right in. I live in Toronto and get all the crowding, line ups, fancy places to go to that I need. I go to the Caribbean to get away from all that.

The tourism on this island has only just started to take off in the last 10-15 years. As a comparison, we have been to Barbados, St. Lucia, Mayan Riviera, San Andres, and North Caicos (Island within Turks and Caicos) and Bonaire. By far, Roatan is our favourite for value and snorkelling, and Bonaire our favourite for it's food and snorkelling - although Bonaire was more expensive as it was not an all inclusive. And for the most part the food and alcohol has been no better at any of the other all inclusive resort I have been to.

Snorkelling - excellent right off the beach, or pay to go on the dive boats when they go to their shallow dive spots. Prices to rent equipment/suits are very reasonable. Turtles, stingrays, eagle rays, spot light and princess and blue and rainbow and midnight parrots, reef squid, puffer fish, file fish, trumpet fish, queen and grey and french angels, nurse shark, groupers, blue tangs,creole wrasse, durgeons, damsals, need I say more.

Diving - Our friends used the dive operation on site, and were very satsified with their experience. Dive shop store prices are very reasonable.

Accommodations - rooms are large and airy with windows on two walls, 2 great hammocks on a large balcony, 2 very large closets. Either 2 double beds, or a king bed. Either room could accommodate a 3/4 bed for a child. Clean and comfortable.
Satellite TV stations are limited, but who goes south to escape the cold to sit in a room to watch TV. Stay home to do that and save your money. In two years, never saw a bug in the room. Rooms are not facing nor near the ocean. They face the gardens which are lush and beautiful. Wooden floors in the rooms and lobby area.

Staff - very friendly, polite, fast and every single one of them work very hard to provide great service to all the guests. Same as last year.

Entertainment - is ok. Not theatre or concert hall caliber, but I would never, ever expect that. Again the staff work very hard at providing entertainment. Plus they bring in some of the local people to demonstrate their cultural dances.

Resort Layout - very spacious colourful lobby and indoor lounge all completely separate from the rooms. Gift shop on site. Lounge had full bar service and also serves cappucinos. Also, there is table tennis, 2 pool tables, card tables, shuffle board, book exchange, internet access, and plenty of seats and couches for relaxing or mingling in the lounge. Outdoors there is a bocce pit, volleyball net, soccer pitch, archery lessons, dance lessons, spanish lessons, games. How does one get bored with all this available.

Resort Front Desk - checkin and checkout very efficient. Our requests both years for rooms close by our travel companions and on the second floor were accommodated. The staff meet you at the airport and shuttle you to the resort, sending your bags separately with your room numbers assigned on the. Bags are delivered to your door.

Pool - huge, hardly anyone in it. Very clean. Perfect temperature. Very easy entry. Open to 9pm.

West Bay Beach - very clean, good for long walks, (even all the way to West End) and for swimming. It's the best on this island. You can walk up and down the beach, do a bit of souvenir shopping at the beach vendors, or go to various beach bars for food or 2 for 1 happy hour 4-6pm. Beach is not overly crowded, and even when the cruise ship people arrive, they are mostly located at one end of the beach far from this resort. There is a small mall just off the beach where you can by liquor, souvenirs, decent jewelry, basic groceries (aka Lays Potato Chips), coffee bar, wine bar. Also a small convenience store on the beach just down from Henry Morgan. And if you smell coffee througout the day, there is a coffee roasting operation located on the premises of the private villas beside Henry Morgan. $5.00 US for a 1 lb bag beans or ground...mmmm good.

Food - buffet food is average, plentiful, you will generally find something to eat that you'll like. As has been mentioned, it's not hot. Never got sick, always got a table in the restaurant, service is great. Snacks/fruit were available throughout the day. Resort offers a very nice dinner on the beach which is an additional charge. We had more than we could eat of lobster and crab. Excellent value. Very nicely done.

Have eaten several times at Eagle Ray's in West End, several times at Fosters in West Bay (near the resort), The View (towards east end of island) and a little restaurant with home made organic food just outside Coxen Hole...all great meals.

Beach Bar - great, close at hand, staff are very efficient. With all inclusive local beers were Salva Vida and Imperial. Wine was from Argentina, cocktails were rum punch, pina colada, rum and coke. Vodka was also available. Not like Canadian beer, or Australian Shiraz, but it was ok for a change. Open air beach buffet restaurant was also very convenient being right at the beach, undercover.

Island - beautiful, very lush, very tropical (part of a rainforest), mountainous but generally easy to get around, side trips are reasonably priced, safe. In our 4 visits to the island, was never disappointed with any of our excursions. Have rented scooters, ziplined at two different locations, riden horseback at two different places, Gumbalimba park to see the monkeys and birds, West End dozens of times for browsing/shopping, several taxi tours of the island, mangrove tour, swim with the dolphins, visit to the Cameo factory, all wonderful experiences.

West End is a great little "town" that is fun to walk around. $3.00 each one way for the water taxi that takes about 10 minutes from Henry Morgan. Limited shopping - 2 duty free stores. Don't go on a rainy day because the dirt roads turn into major mud puddles.

I don't see this as a resort for singles unless you are travelling with a group or not expecting/wanting to meet other singles. Mostly couples/groups. Less than a handful of children under 10 at this resort during the total of 4 weeks we have spent there this past 2 years. The age of our group and those folks we met was from late 20's to mid 50's and everyone found this place to their liking. We have met great people both years.

Ok, I confess -- I do get sand fly bites (perhaps 10-15 bites this time), and they get me with or without bug spray. As well, a couple of other group members did get some bites. 3 in our group did not get bitten at all. This fact does not deter me from returning.

Go to relax, and enjoy the snorkelling, the beach, the sun, and the service. You will get good value for what you paid. And best of all, you shortened your Canadian winter by the number of weeks you were away....Priceless.

I'm a little delayed in writing this review. We travelled to Henry Morgan on February 6th of 2009 and stayed for one week. We are from Calgary and booked an AI package out of Toronto with Conquest.

The flights were on time in both directions and the transfers to and from the resort were very well organized. We were fortunate to be sitting in bulk-head seats and so were the first people off the plane. The only reason this is important is because customs at the airport is PAINFULLY slow. There was only one agent on initially and after about 20 minutes, a second one started. Neither of these individuals would break any land speed records... gauranteed! The baggage handlers at the airport are also s-l-o-w. There is one small luggage carousol and suitcases kept falling off into the inner-loop. Thankfully some enterprising passengers from our plane started removing luggage and stacking it or else we may have been stuck inside even longer. I just wanted to get outside and enjoy the sun. So just a heads up for those that are arriving on a large plane - be prepared to wait a bit.

The Henry Morgan resort sits on a beautiful stretch of white sand beach. You will never have to fight for a chair as there are tons and the security staff on the beach will bring you a chair or chair pad if one isn't available. There is a large shaded area under a grove of palms if the sun becomes too intense... we spent a lot of time there!

I walked down the beach to West End twice during the week and jogged back once. Walking by myself (OK - I'm a fast walker) it took about 35 minutes; walking with my husband, it took about 45 minutes; jogging back, it took about 20 minutes (this included walking over some of the rocky sections which are not what I would consider "joggable").

The staff at the resort are amazing. I think, other than the location, the staff are the best thing about the Henry Morgan. We are not Italian and we never felt as though we were being over-looked or ignored, as some other posters have suggested. The wrist-bands that the guests wear are colour coded so that the staff know which language to address you in. English speaking guests have red wrist bands and Italian speaking guests have blue ones. My experience is that everyone is treated exactly the same although obviously some of the staff will be more fluent (and therefore more comfortable) in one of the three (or four, for some staff) languages that they speak.

The food, as most people have mentioned, is average... bordering on strange. We certainly could always find something to eat and never got sick, but they really need to do away with the policy of hot-dogs in everything. Hot dogs in the eggs, hot dogs on the pizza, hot dogs in some mixed salads... well... I guess there weren't any hot dogs in the ice-cream (maybe that's coming soon!). I don't eat pork (not for religious or dietary reasons, I just don't like it) so I would pick out the ham or hot dog that seemed to be in most dishes on the buffet. If you are a strict vegetarian or cannot consume pork due to religious beliefs... then the buffet may be a bit tricky to navigate!
Look for Jorge in the dining room... you can't miss him. He's the ultra-friendly, smiley waiter who deserves to be tipped! (and we did with regularity)... once again can't say enough good things about the staff... all of the waiters were friendly and quick. I'm sure they don't make a ton of money for the amount of work that they do, so if you take US dollars for tipping, don't forget to leave some in the dining room.

The entertainment was "interesting". The animation team are extremely hard-working and friendly (like all of the staff at this resort) but don't expect quality shows at night. All of the staff seem to work 7 days a week, 14 hours a day (or longer) and yet they still manage to smile and interact with the guests until the dancing stops in the lobby.

We did see an incredible fire show on the beach put on by two Canadians - they call it the hottest show on Roatan.... so my advice is on the beach party night (Thursday I think)don't forget to take some tip money down as they will "pass the hat" at the end of the show and most guests weren't prepared for this. If you think the show was worth it, throw $5 or more in, if you don't think it was... keep your money in your pocket.

The only bad part about Roatan (for me) was the sand flies/fleas/no-seeums/whatever you want to call them - which managed to find my "deet free" areas.

And the only bad part about this resort are the rooms... not that you will be spending a lot of time in the room. As others have mentioned, there are gaps between the patio doors and under the front door. The no-seeums chewed me while I slept and kept me awake. I originally thought that it might have been bed-bugs, but I checked the sheets thoroughly and there was no sign of bed-bugs... plus most of my bites were limited to my arms and neck - parts that stick out from under the covers!!
I'm not a picky person when it comes to hotel rooms, but the bathroom (mostly the shower) was actually kind of gross. The door felt like it was going to fall off when you opened or closed it, there was black mold all over the caulking at the base of the shower and it leaked like crazy, soaking the bathmat and bathroom floor completely each shower. The water from the bathroom taps also had a very strong sewage smell - not that you would use it for anything other than washing your hands - but it is a bit off-putting. They even have signs in the bathroom to remind you that it's non-potable - like you need to be reminded when it smells like sewage... hahaha.
We stayed in B-4 which was in the centre of the complex and is a single level building - not sure if this complex is worse, or the same, as the two story buildings that surround it - so take these comments about the shower and water smell with a grain of salt.

The room was kept very clean and the mold in the shower was a product of poor installation, drainage and humidity - I don't think it was because of poor house-keeping staff.

We also rented a scooter for 24 hours and drove almost the entire paved highway on the island - I would highly recommend this if you are comfortable riding a motorbike or scooter at home as the roads were actually really good compared to other Central American or Carribbean destinations we have been to. The only downside is the sore butt after the ride. We rented our scooter from the nice lady at the hut in front of Bananarama on the beach... about a 5 minute walk from Henry Morgan.

Overall - a great experience and I would return to Henry Morgan simply because the cost of the package out of Toronto was only slightly more than booking a flight by itself - so the accomodation, beverages and food are relatively cheap.

First of all I would like to say that the trip was very enjoyable. I am one of those people who read reviews and question why some people even leave the comfort of their own 4 walls. The staff here was very friendly. The resort itself is very basic with no nightlife to speak of. The main entertainment is the piano man who could play and sing virtually any song you requested. Problem is people always seemed a little shy to ask and I don't know why because you couldn't get a more friendly gentleman. The food was good but not always the hottest. The alcohol did seem to be watered down a touch so get a larger pour. Now if all you go on vacation for is food and booze then you can complain a bit. Sand fleas? didn't get bit once although we would spray our feet and ankles with musk oil before we hit the beach which was great for swimming and snorkelling. Lots of life in the water and if you feel adventuresome swim out past the first reef ( on a calm day) and you may see the odd turtle and the like. Lizards? Yeh there were a few anoles around which might have something to do with being on the edge of a rain forest and being surrounded by some of the most natural gardens I have seen on any resort. Iguanas could be found off the property but never on the grounds which is a pity. The excursions are relatively cheap and enjoyable and your guides are all very knowledgable of their island. None of the natives harass you and you feel pretty safe all around the island. The rooms are pretty basic although they are kept very clean with plenty of closet space and a couple of hamocks on the balcony if you feel like catching a nap outside. It is about a half hour from the airport which is great for any trip. There will be heavy cruiseliner traffic there in the near future so if you like the sun, the beach, nature, good people, good food and a relaxing time take a trip here. I think you'll like it.