I signed up for a scuba session with my friends thinking it would be a guided experience and we'd be set up with all the equipment (we even selected that we wanted to rent the scuba gear at checkout). When we arrived, we were told you can only scuba dive if you're licensed. Nowhere on the website had we seen that clarification when we signed up. As soon as he told us this I checked the site on my phone again to make sure I didn't miss this info. I still didn't see it there - it wasn't listed. They told us we could snorkel instead and be refunded the difference, so we went with that. This felt like it was done purposefully to trap tourists into signing up to scuba dive and then downgrading them to snorkeling - a bait and switch.
The next problem was that we were then given wetsuits that were too big for each of us. We were told we could change into them at the water, but I was smart enough to suggest we all try them on before we go. Thankfully we did and were able to exchange them for smaller sizes, but they were still loose on all of us. I ended up being cold during the session because of this. The staff didn't seem to care too much to size us properly.
Next, we were told that the snorkel/diving spot (rainbow river) is a 30 minute drive from the Diving Center. We had already driven 2 hours from Orlando to get here, and we thought the Center would be right where the dive was taking place. They don't even take you in a shuttle bus there, you have to drive there yourself.
THEN you have to pay an entrance fee at Rainbow River to snorkel or dive there, which wasn't told to us until they were giving us instructions at the Center. It was $7 per snorkeler for us, plus a .40 cent credit card use fee. The entrance fee really wasn't a big deal to us, especially because it goes toward preserving the area, but layered on top of everything else that happened, it was pretty annoying that they hadn't been transparent about all these little things that add up.
There were so many things that happened that were not as advertised at this Diving Center, which really bummed us out and took away from our experience. The guide himself was nice and knowledgable, so we tipped nicely, but the Diving Center left a bitter taste in our mouths. I wouldn't recommend this place. I was deciding between 1 and 2 stars because the river was great and the guide was good at his job, but decided on 1 because this review is about the company, not the river or the specific guide.