My wife and I stayed at Fantasy Island Resort in September 2025. We live in Canada and we came for a week of scuba diving. For the price, yes, we would come back. But there are some things we wished we knew. Here is our comprehensive guide to this resort.
This place really has a lot of potential, but there are a few things that do need to be addressed. I’m a very laid-back and no-frills kind of person, not picky about food at all, and can tolerate a lot. Even for someone like me, who had almost 0 expectations, unfortunately some things did fall short. The main things being:
- Overall hotel operations felt very chaotic and disorganized. Maintenance team was very unresponsive even with multiple requests to resolve the same issue. On more than one occasion got conflicting information from the staff, but I’m not sure if this was due to language barrier. More on that later.
- Meal times were weird. Breakfast from 7:30am to 9am, lunch from 12:30pm to 2pm, and dinner from 6:30pm to 9pm. Snack bar opened at 10am and closed at 4pm so no there’s food available between 4pm and 6:30pm. Also, bar service ends at 10pm, even for non-alcoholic beverages such as juice or water. There are no ice machines at this hotel, so the bar was also the only place to get ice.
- Food selection was extremely limited. As unpicky as I am, even I was starting to get tired of eating the exact same thing every single day.
Beach (4.5/5)
Hands down this was the most beautiful beach we have ever visited. The water was so crystal clear that when I looked at my hand under the water, I couldn’t tell if it was in the water or above the water. There was absolutely no seaweed, rocks, or debris in the water, and the temperature was so perfect it might as well have been a bath. When they say private beach, they really mean private beach - absolutely no random vendors or people trying to talk to you. It was so serene and amazing. The beach had something for everyone since it stretched so long across the island, from music and beach volleyball near the snack bar to quiet and calm relaxation near the dive shop. There was never any shortage of lounge chairs, and there were quite a few Bali beds and palapas spread all across the beach. There is also no charge for the kayaks! We also liked the convenience of being able to exchange our beach towels for clean ones right at the front desk and not at some faraway desk located way past the opposite end of the pool like some other resorts. The only reason I took half a point off is that although there were staff sweeping the beach for leaves and sticks and fallen coconuts all hours of the day, they didn’t for some reason pick up the small amount of trash that occasionally made it onto the beach.
Room (3/5)
The rooms are definitely very old, and in great need of a lick of paint, a bit of caulking, and some CLR in the bathroom, especially near the shower area. As another user has mentioned, there are no hairdryers in the rooms. So if you need a hairdryer, make sure you bring one from home. The beds were comfortable enough, and the sheets were relatively clean, except for one small smudge of what looked like makeup but that’s fine. The air conditioner worked amazing, the mini fridge was super cold, and any time we needed more shampoo, bottled water, etc. we could just ask the housekeepers and they’d give it to us no problem. We did have to make our own “Do Not Disturb” sign though, because they oddly didn’t have one. The hot water always worked, except for one day when a lot of new visitors arrived at the same time, but remember, this is an island.
TV was great, they had a lot of channels, both in English and Spanish, including National Geographic, Discovery, ABC, Cartoon Network, ESPN, HBO, FX, and more. I do wish there were more places to hang towels and bathing suits, but if you brought some string and clips, there are 2 hooks on either side of the balcony that you could make your own clothesline.
Wifi (2/5)
The front desk said wifi is only available in the lobby. But we got wifi in the buffet, on the beach near the beach bar, and around rooms 220-230. We were in room 215, and we got some spotty wifi at certain times. However, when we walked past 220-230 we were able to get full wifi.
Location and Grounds (3.5/5)
The grounds are definitely under development. There are a lot of construction crew on site, and I see tiny baby palm trees being planted. The island is so beautiful though, and the paths were well-lit and everyone was extremely polite. I’d love to come back in 5 years to see the progress that they’ve made. For now I’ll give it a 3.5 but I can see that changing in the future. As an aside which is unrelated to my 3.5, this location does seem to be a popular spot among Honduran locals as well as other guests from various South American countries, so if you’re an English-speaker, make sure to brush up on your Spanish!
Main Buffet (1/5)
I’ll eat anything. I’ll eat cold fries that have been in the fridge for two days. I’ll eat ramen noodles that are past their date. I’ll eat a can of tuna just by itself. Whenever people say that the food is bad at a resort, I think nothing of it because as long as it is physically edible, I will eat it. I know resorts will sometimes use leftovers from the previous meal to re-invent a meal in order to reduce food waste (e.g. chicken breast at lunch become chicken alfredo pasta for dinner) but this was beyond repetitive. The food was nearly the exact same every single day. Even I was getting very tired of eating beans and plantains not just every day, but 3 times a day every day. We usually came to mealtimes right at opening or shortly after, so I can’t comment on whether the food ran out or not. But what I can say is: we never got sick as a result of the food, and I just hope you really like beans and plantains.
Snack Bar (3/5)
Emelise from the snack bar is the sweetest loveliest soul on this island. She will always remember your name, your favourite drinks, and always stop by to ask how your day is going. The pizza was actually very tasty, and the blackberry juice was so refreshing we ended up taking multiple cups of it back to our room to keep in our fridge. I just wish it didn’t close at 4pm, because the period between 4pm to 6:30pm when the dinner buffet opened, it was challenging without being able to get just a little bite to eat, especially after doing 3 dives, or even just some refreshing juice (hence the cups in the fridge).
Dive Shop (5/5)
We cannot say great things enough about the dive shop. All of the staff were super nice, helpful, and as a rescue diver, I really appreciated their attention to detail when it came to safety. The briefings were thorough, the boat crew was very attentive, the emergency oxygen kit was visible and accessible, and they definitely went out of their way to make sure that we all had an enjoyable diving experience. One of the best dive shops I’ve ever visited!
Service (1/5)
There seemed to be a lot of miscommunication either among the staff or between them and us (unsure if this may have been due to a language barrier though). We received an email confirming that our airport transfer had been confirmed, but upon arriving at the airport, we could not find our ride. We contacted them again, and then we were told they actually didn’t have our transport confirmed in their system. So we took a taxi. Once we arrived and already checked into the hotel, we received a message on WhatsApp saying “hi I’m your driver for Fantasy Island, I am at the airport but I cannot find you” which was bizarre. At dinner, my wife asked for a Pepsi and we were told that they don’t serve Pepsi at the buffet and that Pepsi can only be bought at the hotel’s gift shop. Later, I noticed that they had a Pepsi-branded machine at the bar, so I asked the bar for some Pepsi and they told us that Pepsi was only available at the buffet. The next day we asked for Pepsi at the buffet again and we got it, and continued to get it for the rest of the days we were there. Lol. We noticed some ants coming through a crack in the bathroom wall and even after asking the front desk more than 3 times to have someone come and fix the crack, nobody came. The safe also says to use a 6-digit code, and after informing front desk that our safe was broken, we were told it was actually a 4-digit code. Also, there is no phone in the room to call front desk, so you did have to go to the front desk in person for any requests. All of these things feel like such small things issues that could easily be avoided, and as they continued occurring, we were growing increasingly frustrated. That being said, the manager Maria was wonderful and we could tell she really cared about trying to make us happy and she was really great, so thanks so much Maria!
Pools (not rated)
Can’t really comment on the pools as we didn’t use them, given that the amazing beach was literally 5 steps away. I know there were some other reviews saying that the pool was murky, but the water looked pretty clear to us. However, given how close it is to the beach, I can imagine some sand and salt can get in there pretty easily.
Entertainment (not rated)
As we came to this resort for diving, we really weren’t around during the day and we went to sleep quite early so I really have no idea about the entertainment. All I can say that there wasn’t much of a party scene and was rather quiet the entire time, which we liked.
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So yeah! There’s my comprehensive guide for Fantasy Island. For the price, would I come back? Yes. But I’d take a taxi 15 minutes away to stock up on ramen noodles and snacks at the beginning of the trip for sure.
HN
GT