ALL INCLUSIVE / ALL MEALS / CONDO / FAMILY

The trip was great. The Resort was just right. Service at both was great

- Alan

We are back from Cozumel and what a GREAT dive trip that was! The crew at Casa del Mar was outstanding and our accommodations were to die for! We had the end, Pent House unit and it was just beautiful. I would run that whole vacation again in a heartbeat!

- C.

Our tip to Cozumel was fabulous! I meant to write sooner, but, to tell the truth, I have been a bit depressed ever since arriving home. This happens to me pretty much every time I return from a good dive vacation, but this time it was even more sad. So, the Casa del Mar was wonderful. A very professional front desk staff and a spacious, clean and nicely appointed room. The towel creatures (what I think of as Mexican Origami) which the maids left every day were truly delightful, but so frustratingly impossible to recreate! The restaurant staff were especially kind, gentle and professional. I am no food critic, but I found the meals at Casa del Mar to be quite good. The menu stayed the same throughout my visit, but I never tired of what they had to offer. Steamed vegetables was not something I had expected during lunch & dinner, but they were excellent. As were the quesadias, hamburguessas and club sandwiches. The grounds were meticulously taken care of - lovely flowers, grasses and palms - under constant scrutiny by the grounds keepers. And Dive Paradise! Every morning after breakfast, I walked across the street from Casa del Mar and out to the pier to await the dive boat at 8:30. Some mornings they were right on time, other times a little late, but that was to be expected, and, anyway, I was on vacation time, with several good books to keep me occupied. The boat crews and dive masters were great. I must have been aboard 7 or 8 different boats in the DP fleet, and liked each one for it's own unique brand of quirks. One of the dive masters was especially adept in finding good stuff: tiny popcorn shrimp nestled in the anemone's tentacles, Sea Horses, and several Splendid Toadfish, to name a few. The boat crews were efficient to distraction - practically grabbing my gear from me before I boarded, and then hauling me swingingly aboard with big, brawny arms - determined that I should not encounter any degree of unease as I was gently placed on the deck of the boat, then ushered to a seat and offered a cup of water. The dive briefings ranged from the (mostly) meticulous to the infrequent "Ho-kay, less go" But the Boat Captains never failed to find and pick us up out of the 83 degree water with speed and efficiency. I soon settled into a happy daily schedule of: breakfast overlooking the Caribbean, a short walk across the street to meet the dive boat of the day, then two dives on the various Palancar reefs -then getting back to the dock around 1:00 pm in time for a shower and a late lunch - again overlooking the sea (with or without a Big old cruise ship in town). Then time to down-load my UW pics of the dives and attempt to ID the fish and invertebrates I'd captured. And maybe a bit of reading by the pool. Later, a walk into town, just because I needed the exercise and the view of the Caribbean sea was so glorious. Most evenings I'd go snorkeling and see some rather amazing stuff just off shore of the hotel in 5 to 30 feet of water!) I really felt safer in Cozumel than I would have felt in my neighborhood

- Heidi

We had a great time in Curacao. Our stay at Sunscapes was good - the service and food was excellent. They have 4 restaurants along with one big café. Only the Japanese restaurant takes reservations, so you had to get in line for the steak, seafood & Italian ones usually by 6ish in order to be seated by 6:30. Otherwise the next seating may be around 8 - 8:30! The staff were very friendly & did excellent job. Our room was okay. We paid for the deluxe garden view room - we were in the towers on the main floor and had a view of a service road! The light around our bathroom mirror never worked & I reported in person at the front desk 4 times! The entertainment was good, they had musicians play around 7 - 9 that were excellent. Otherwise the entertainment staff & music was soooo loud. Many other close resorts & entertainment - some that played until 2 am on Sunday & Wednesday nights!! Our room was close to the dive shop so that made it convenient. Diving was excellent!! The coral and sea life were outstanding. The dive masters were friendly, helpful and entertaining. The main dive shop is located at the Lions dive resort, so we were picked up first & dropped off first. Very organized team. Jorge & Karen Maike at our resort were the best! We went on our first Lion fishing dive & the team of 8 divers scored 47 fish. Our dive master, Ruth did an excellent job in the classroom & on the dive. Saw a giant turtle that saw his reflection in the fish eye lens of the professional photographer & may have thought there was another turtle - attacked her even biting her arm (bruise only). Attacked another diver and bite her BCD! Then left with great speed.

- Janet

Everyone had a good time, Scuba Diving was Good

- Scott

The house reef at Sunscape Curacao All-Inclusive was amazing. We dove that reef at least once a day. Ocean Encounters is a first class dive operator. The staff on site at Sunscape were very helpful and gave good information about the shore diving. Their boats and procedures are very well set up for the high seas typical in Curacao and the staff are very friendly, knowledgeable and accommodating. The reefs were very healthy with huge elkhorn and staghorn coral formations. We saw lots of juvenile french angels and even found a tiny post larval spotted trunk. The resort was well maintained and our room was very comfortable. The food at all the restaurants was good. The down time when not diving was very relaxing. We would definitely go back and recommend to anyone.

- Terry

Nice place but totally disorganized. Rooms are ok. Food good. Staff friendly but mgmt. horrible. Ask 3x for something, hopefully get it. Good diving, friendly dive staff. Make resv. before staying. All the resort staff need to get on the same page. Nice island. Hope to go back someday but probably stay elsewhere.

- W.

It was OK, Food needed help, Diving was OK, BUT Ruff waters where my group got beat up! Dive Masters did a Great job, helping people, But was a lot of work for all of them. the rest of the service was good.

- Scott J.

Everything went great. The rooms were updated and nice. Although they all had views of the parking lot. No big deal since I didn’t want to pay for ocean view. The restaurants were good. Note though, all the restaurants had the same menu every night, but with 3 different restaurants, 4 if you include teppanyaki, we ate at each 2 times with different meals each time. Never had a problem getting seated at night, sometimes had to wait a little, but with open bar, it didn’t matter. The dive shop was amazing! They gave us our own boat with our own dive master every day but 1 but that day worked out also. They even let me take all our snorkelers on the boat with us one day, no charge. The rental gear was in excellent condition and they even gave a couple of us a free day on our last day shore dive. The wait staff, hostesses, and bar-tenders were all very nice but I think that was because we all were very nice to them the entire trip. There were some very rude others, not in our group, so I can see how the bartenders / wait staff can become short. The entertainment was ok, good for a dive resort, since we were all going to bed at 10:00pm every night anyway. But I did hear from other people, again, not in our group, that they wish there was more elaborate nightly entertainment.

- Steve V.

A very nice resort with friendly and very accommodating staff. They serve a great breakfast, the restaurant is on the water which serves a diversified menu using local food. The dive center has friendly and professional staff which is conveniently located on the resort. Very relaxing vacation, bonus, they have a SPA and give amazing massages!

- Francosie

The trip went very smooth and was a great success. Hotel was superb and diving was great. Very friendly people and lovely island.

- Shelley

True Blue Bay Resort was very good for Divers. Aquanaut Divers was an exceptional dive operation. The Resorts restaurants, especially Dodgy Dock was a huge disappointment. Poor Service, over priced, extremely long wait times for food. Staff and Management that just didn't care. Activities at Restaurant and Resort were very confusing and often not as Advertised. Very Sad. Dive Operator = 5 Stars! Resort = 1.5 Stars!

- Michael

We had a great time. The diving was good but the visibility was not that great. Could only see about 40 to 50 feet. Enjoyed the wreck dives. We did see a little bit of everything. Sea horses, octopus, sharks, eels, sting rays. The Resort was great, along with the people and the food. Would recommend to any one.

- Walter

• Room was nice and comfortable with air-condition and great shower. Service at the hotel excellent. • Dive operator beyond excellent. They were so nice and helpful in everything. We had a package for 5 days with 10 dives. Decided to do dives on last day also and the dives were adapted to a safe level of depth since we were flying the next day. Also went on a night dive with one of the dive masters from the shore one evening. • Lots of interesting critters underwater, but was also impressed with the wrecks and underwater sculptures. The only disappointment was that the True Blue Resort is away from town and way too far to walk. We solved that problem by renting a car and toured the entire island in our week there. Took off every afternoon after diving and saw just about everything on the island. My favorite land parts were a hike through the rainforest (with a guide we met by accident) to the Seven Sister Falls where we swam and our visit to one of the Forts on the hill. The view and sunset from there were fabulous. The people in Grenada were all unbelievably kind and friendly. We felt safe everywhere we went. We gave a ride to two hitch hiking women from the north of the island all the way to the south where our hotel was since they lived close to our destination. We were in the car with them for about 3 hours and learned so much about the cultural of the people.

- Jennifer

I just got back from my trip to Grenada. Once again you found a terrific place for me! The resort was really nice; the décor was so colorful and whimsical, and the service was quite good. The dive shop (Aquanauts) was also very helpful and the dive masters and boats/equipment were good. My only disappointment with Grenada was that the good hiking and biking trails were a 45 minute to hour-long taxi ride away, and the famous hikes (e.g. to 7 Sisters Falls) weren't as long and rigorous as I like.

- Tony

Accommodations:  large clean rooms, large bathrooms, a bonus with stove top, microwave and refrigerator. Pool was within 10 steps from the porch.  Air conditioning and fan work great. The entire resort was clean, well kept, no litter. Food is plentiful and tasty. The only downside is the service in restaurant is very slow. Bar service is good. Amenities: good quality soaps and lotions. Plush towels. Soft sheets.  Ground transfers were easy! We were on storm watch. A tropical depression/hurricane was headed towards Grenada. Aquanauts altered the dive schedule to accommodate dives. Due to storm, the visibility was only 20 to 30 feet. However, we saw some great creatures. We had FOUR frogfish on one dive, 2 seahorses on one dive, one seahorse on another. Mating octopus. Baby octopus, Baby nurse shark, baby sting ray. Great wrecks!

- Gale C.

We really enjoyed True Blue Bay and Aquanauts and look forward to returning in the near future. True Blue Bay Boutique Resort is nice, clean and staff is friendly. The Aquanauts crew are fantastic and the diving in Grenada is at the top of all my trips.

- Dwight T.

Had a great time in St. Lucia. The island is so tropical and beautiful. May idea of a tropical island for sure. We did dive but not all 12. We did a volcano tour which was great and also hiked up the mountain behind Anse Mamin. It wasn’t too bad not having A/C. The only hard part was getting ready for dinner and sweating while getting ready but we decided to go up later and get ready and that worked out well. The stair were a lot but not bad. It was 201 steps to our room from the beach. We did fine with them liking getting the exercise. We were upgraded to a Deluxe Hillside and it was awesome. We had the view of the pitons right from our room. It was great waking up to this view every morning. And for every sweat that dripped every stair climbed, we’d definitely go back in a heartbeat!!

- Judy

It was even better than expected. Underwater was great and the above water was more lush than Hawaii. Also, they put my wife and I in the beach rooms.

- Robert

We had a wonderful trip to St. Lucia! The resort was wonderful. "No" was not in the staff's vocabulary. Love that! Fantastic food that was beautifully presented. The whole experience exceeded my expectations. Our room was fantastic. View of the ocean and the Piton's. Diving was great. We saw seahorses on 12 of our 14 dives. We were able to do a tour of Jade Mountain, the sister property. OMG the rooms were incredible. When we go back we want to stay at least 2 nights there and not leave our room.

- Linda

We had a great time! The resort was everything stated. Dive crew and diving was amazing. The food, entertainment and overall service was top notch.

- Bob

The trip was a great success! The resort, diving and staff all get high marks. The dive staff on our boat, in particular, were fantastic. We saw more frog fish in one spot by the pinnacles that I've seen in a week on other trips. We had afternoon dives included in our package, but by the time we got back from the morning dives and folks went back to their rooms and got cleaned up and had lunch it was too rushed. Next time I would ask for the afternoon dives be closer to 3:00 on the days there isn't night diving. Other resorts, where the food is buffet and the rooms are closer to the dive shop, it's not an issue for a 2:00 afternoon dive. The food was fabulous and everyone (including those with allergies) were happy. A few folks complained about it being a bit hot in the rooms but the staff provided stand-up fans as requested. The vans ran efficiently taking everyone to and from their rooms and the wait for one was never more than 10 minutes (well worth the wait than the walk).

- Joyce

We just got back from a week in St Lucia. Anse Chastanet resort was excellent. Meals were 5 Star! Great/Exceptional service, excellent resort facilities, good excursions and of course excellent dive operation. The staff was exceptional and made sure we were well taken care of. Recommend it to anyone wanting a worry free first class vacation of diving and land activities. No sand flies during our stay and bugs in general were minimal. Be prepared for a good bar tab at the end of the week! We will keep this resort in mind for our future travels and would love to spend more time there again.

- Ted

- Nancy

Our trip to Anse Chastanet in St Lucia was wonderful. We were not expecting much of the diving, but it was very good. The whole team at the dive shop were fantastic and I think Adam and Carmen (managers) are fabulous. They really took care of us. We were the only 2 divers on most days, occasionally there was a 3rd who joined us! The resort is beautiful, although most rooms are up the hill; however there was never a problem getting a shuttle ride up. All hillside rooms appear to be fantastic—ours was. Open air, but very few bugs, and a gorgeous view. The staff could not have been more attentive, from housekeeping to concierge to food service. The food was quite good, and a good choice of restaurants

- Liz R.

The resort is very service oriented. From greeting at airport to return, they are well organized. Check in simple. Luggage taken to room and picked up. Service at restaurants and bars was all good. Loved the different activities available - chocolate tasting, plantation tour, …. At airport transfer it was appreciated that they had water awaiting us outside of arrivals. Multiple vans/taxis used to expedite transfers for our group. Amazing food options. Ranks up there in the top 5 of places I have been. Different options made it nice. The group dinners on first night, Beach BBQ, and last night were all great. Bread and pastry chefs were the highlight and of course anything with their chocolate. Beautiful views from all the rooms and resort. Grounds were all well kept. At the beach loved Mr. Happiness and the daily cool towels, spritzing and popsicles. It was nice that there was live music options provided every day. Scuba St. Lucia is an awesome dive operation. Well managed team. First operations group that communicated well in advance. Really appreciate all the coordination with Callistus. Any requests or needs during the trip he responded to right away. The Miss Babsy boat is a good size boat and easily accommodated our large group. The 3 dive guides provided, Errol, Omo, and Curt were great. Omo is an awesome critter finder. Concierge gear service throughout the week was excellent. Loved the coves and places they took us to during surface intervals. Nice house reef with guide provided for afternoon shore and night dives. Opportunities for Improvement: There is a limited number of rooms that have AC. I would not book during hotter summer months without a Beach Room with AC. Anse Chastenet advertise that they have cool breezes in the rooms on the hills, but in reality they are still warm and stuffy even with open windows and ceiling fans. You have to shut the curtains at night to block the lights and that stifles the breezes. The resort needs to add AC to the rooms. It would be a a major investment but would be worth it. There should be more rooms with double beds. The resort is set up with a single king bed for couples. We requested a few rooms with 2 beds for singles sharing a room. It appeared that this was a room with a king bed and the second bed was an after thought. It was a day bed or smaller bed tucked into an alcove for a child. Better than a roll away, but not much. We asked if they had other options and they said they did not. The placement of the bed was such that there was no airflow and the breezes didn’t reach it. We had to request additional floor fans and an extension cord for the second bed. They need to have better bedding options for groups who have singles sharing a room who need 2 beds. For lunch they suggested and we requested the buffet to have enough time to make it to afternoon dives or activities. The food was plentiful but a bit bland and in some cases overcooked (e.g. fish/pork). Perhaps the buffet was intended to feed more than our group, but they had 5 times the amount of food needed. I would suggest less food options but better quality or have group order from menu in the future. The resort also gave us the option to order off menu (or at beach) for no additional charge. Multiple restaurants for dinner options. However, the food options were more formal. The group all said they would like to have some more simple options for lunch and dinner, like sandwiches or pizza. Or allow people to order appetizers or small bites at bar instead of at restaurant for dinner. Bar service was slow at the beach. Limited staff seemed to be available. While on Jazzy Sunset cruise the music played prior to the Jazz musician started was inappropriate for the group. The music contained language that was offensive to the guests (e.g. use of racial slurs.) This may have locally been acceptable but shocked the guests. They may want to consider music selection for guests.

- Janice S.

Anse Chastenet – very service oriented. From greeting at airport to return, they are well organized. Check in simple. Luggage taken to room and picked up. Service at restaurants and bars was all good. Loved the different activities available - chocolate tasting, plantation tour, etc. Airport transfer – appreciated that they had water awaiting us outside of arrivals. Multiple vans/taxis used to expedite transfers. Scuba St. Lucia is an awesome dive operation. Well managed team. First operations group that communicated well in advance. Really appreciate all the coordination with Callistus. Any requests or needs during the trip he responded to right away. The Miss Babsy boat is a good size boat and easily accommodated our large group. The 3 dive guides provided, Errol, Omo, and Curt were great.  Omo is an awesome critter finder. Concierge gear service throughout the week was excellent. Loved the coves and places they took us to during surface intervals. Nice house reef with guide provided for afternoon shore and night dives. Food – amazing food options. Ranks up there in the top 5 of places I have been. Different options made it nice. The group dinners on first night, Beach BBQ, and last night were all great. Bread and pastry chefs were the highlight and of course anything with their chocolate. Views – beautiful views from all the rooms and resort. Grounds were all well kept. Beach – loved Mr. Happiness and the daily cool towels, spritzing and popsicles. Music – nice that live music options provided every day

- Janice S.

Had a great time in St. Lucia. The island is so tropical and beautiful. May idea of a tropical island for sure. We did dive but not all 12. We did a volcano tour which was great and also hiked up the mountain behind Anse Mamin. It wasn’t too bad not having A/C. The only hard part was getting ready for dinner and sweating while getting ready but we decided to go up later and get ready and that worked out well. The stair were a lot but not bad. It was 201 steps to our room from the beach. We did fine with them liking getting the exercise. We were upgraded to a Deluxe Hillside and it was awesome. We had the view of the pitons right from our room. It was great waking up to this view every morning. And for every sweat that dripped every stair climbed, we’d definitely go back in a heartbeat!!

- Judy

It was even better than expected. Underwater was great and the above water was more lush than Hawaii. Also, they put my wife and I in the beach rooms.

- Robert

We had a wonderful trip to St. Lucia! The resort was wonderful. "No" was not in the staff's vocabulary. Love that! Fantastic food that was beautifully presented. The whole experience exceeded my expectations. Our room was fantastic. View of the ocean and the Piton's. Diving was great. We saw seahorses on 12 of our 14 dives. We were able to do a tour of Jade Mountain, the sister property. OMG the rooms were incredible. When we go back we want to stay at least 2 nights there and not leave our room.

- Linda

We had a great time! The resort was everything stated. Dive crew and diving was amazing. The food, entertainment and overall service was top notch.

- Bob

The trip was a great success! The resort, diving and staff all get high marks. The dive staff on our boat, in particular, were fantastic. We saw more frog fish in one spot by the pinnacles that I've seen in a week on other trips. We had afternoon dives included in our package, but by the time we got back from the morning dives and folks went back to their rooms and got cleaned up and had lunch it was too rushed. Next time I would ask for the afternoon dives be closer to 3:00 on the days there isn't night diving. Other resorts, where the food is buffet and the rooms are closer to the dive shop, it's not an issue for a 2:00 afternoon dive. The food was fabulous and everyone (including those with allergies) were happy. A few folks complained about it being a bit hot in the rooms but the staff provided stand-up fans as requested. The vans ran efficiently taking everyone to and from their rooms and the wait for one was never more than 10 minutes (well worth the wait than the walk).

- Joyce

We just got back from a week in St Lucia. Anse Chastanet resort was excellent. Meals were 5 Star! Great/Exceptional service, excellent resort facilities, good excursions and of course excellent dive operation. The staff was exceptional and made sure we were well taken care of. Recommend it to anyone wanting a worry free first class vacation of diving and land activities. No sand flies during our stay and bugs in general were minimal. Be prepared for a good bar tab at the end of the week! We will keep this resort in mind for our future travels and would love to spend more time there again.

- Ted

- Nancy

Our trip to Anse Chastanet in St Lucia was wonderful. We were not expecting much of the diving, but it was very good. The whole team at the dive shop were fantastic and I think Adam and Carmen (managers) are fabulous. They really took care of us. We were the only 2 divers on most days, occasionally there was a 3rd who joined us! The resort is beautiful, although most rooms are up the hill; however there was never a problem getting a shuttle ride up. All hillside rooms appear to be fantastic—ours was. Open air, but very few bugs, and a gorgeous view. The staff could not have been more attentive, from housekeeping to concierge to food service. The food was quite good, and a good choice of restaurants

- Liz R.

The resort is very service oriented. From greeting at airport to return, they are well organized. Check in simple. Luggage taken to room and picked up. Service at restaurants and bars was all good. Loved the different activities available - chocolate tasting, plantation tour, …. At airport transfer it was appreciated that they had water awaiting us outside of arrivals. Multiple vans/taxis used to expedite transfers for our group. Amazing food options. Ranks up there in the top 5 of places I have been. Different options made it nice. The group dinners on first night, Beach BBQ, and last night were all great. Bread and pastry chefs were the highlight and of course anything with their chocolate. Beautiful views from all the rooms and resort. Grounds were all well kept. At the beach loved Mr. Happiness and the daily cool towels, spritzing and popsicles. It was nice that there was live music options provided every day. Scuba St. Lucia is an awesome dive operation. Well managed team. First operations group that communicated well in advance. Really appreciate all the coordination with Callistus. Any requests or needs during the trip he responded to right away. The Miss Babsy boat is a good size boat and easily accommodated our large group. The 3 dive guides provided, Errol, Omo, and Curt were great. Omo is an awesome critter finder. Concierge gear service throughout the week was excellent. Loved the coves and places they took us to during surface intervals. Nice house reef with guide provided for afternoon shore and night dives. Opportunities for Improvement: There is a limited number of rooms that have AC. I would not book during hotter summer months without a Beach Room with AC. Anse Chastenet advertise that they have cool breezes in the rooms on the hills, but in reality they are still warm and stuffy even with open windows and ceiling fans. You have to shut the curtains at night to block the lights and that stifles the breezes. The resort needs to add AC to the rooms. It would be a a major investment but would be worth it. There should be more rooms with double beds. The resort is set up with a single king bed for couples. We requested a few rooms with 2 beds for singles sharing a room. It appeared that this was a room with a king bed and the second bed was an after thought. It was a day bed or smaller bed tucked into an alcove for a child. Better than a roll away, but not much. We asked if they had other options and they said they did not. The placement of the bed was such that there was no airflow and the breezes didn’t reach it. We had to request additional floor fans and an extension cord for the second bed. They need to have better bedding options for groups who have singles sharing a room who need 2 beds. For lunch they suggested and we requested the buffet to have enough time to make it to afternoon dives or activities. The food was plentiful but a bit bland and in some cases overcooked (e.g. fish/pork). Perhaps the buffet was intended to feed more than our group, but they had 5 times the amount of food needed. I would suggest less food options but better quality or have group order from menu in the future. The resort also gave us the option to order off menu (or at beach) for no additional charge. Multiple restaurants for dinner options. However, the food options were more formal. The group all said they would like to have some more simple options for lunch and dinner, like sandwiches or pizza. Or allow people to order appetizers or small bites at bar instead of at restaurant for dinner. Bar service was slow at the beach. Limited staff seemed to be available. While on Jazzy Sunset cruise the music played prior to the Jazz musician started was inappropriate for the group. The music contained language that was offensive to the guests (e.g. use of racial slurs.) This may have locally been acceptable but shocked the guests. They may want to consider music selection for guests.

- Janice S.

Anse Chastenet – very service oriented. From greeting at airport to return, they are well organized. Check in simple. Luggage taken to room and picked up. Service at restaurants and bars was all good. Loved the different activities available - chocolate tasting, plantation tour, etc. Airport transfer – appreciated that they had water awaiting us outside of arrivals. Multiple vans/taxis used to expedite transfers. Scuba St. Lucia is an awesome dive operation. Well managed team. First operations group that communicated well in advance. Really appreciate all the coordination with Callistus. Any requests or needs during the trip he responded to right away. The Miss Babsy boat is a good size boat and easily accommodated our large group. The 3 dive guides provided, Errol, Omo, and Curt were great.  Omo is an awesome critter finder. Concierge gear service throughout the week was excellent. Loved the coves and places they took us to during surface intervals. Nice house reef with guide provided for afternoon shore and night dives. Food – amazing food options. Ranks up there in the top 5 of places I have been. Different options made it nice. The group dinners on first night, Beach BBQ, and last night were all great. Bread and pastry chefs were the highlight and of course anything with their chocolate. Views – beautiful views from all the rooms and resort. Grounds were all well kept. Beach – loved Mr. Happiness and the daily cool towels, spritzing and popsicles. Music – nice that live music options provided every day

- Janice S.