Does anyone have any experience with the Paradise Villas? I booked them for a trip from Nov. 10-17. Also, has anyone done any of the Manatee snorkeling trips?

I've done both, and you can't go wrong with either one. Paradise Villas is fabulous. We took our two boys two summers ago, and fell in love with it. GREAT value for the money. Ideally located. Lovely grounds. Fabulous pool. Grocery just outside the gate. Nice dock and swimming area. I say thumbs up.
Debbie

I second what Debbie says. You can't go wrong with Paradise Villas. Nellie-the lady who works there-will do anything to make your trip enjoyable and don't be afraid to ask her for anything. The condos are super. The manatee watching trip is alright but nothing spectacular in my opinion.

Keep in mind that there are at least four different groups that book Paradise Villas -- Tradewinds, Nellie, Beachfront Suites and I think Caye Management also books some. The units vary a little -- some for example only have A/C in the bedrooms, not the entire unit, but they are all similar.

I agree that the location is good, the pool nice and the units a good value. The two-bedroom units in particular are quite small compared to some of the other condotels on the island. If you need a lot of space, somewhere like Villas at Banyan Bay or Sunset Beach offers larger units.

--Lan Sluder

I did the manatee snorkeling trip and loved it. Whether you see many manatees or not probably depends on how shy they are feeling that day. I saw a few, but that wasn't the highlight for me. I loved the snorkeling, and just being out on the boat, seeing the cayes, it was a wonderful day and well worth doing, IMHO.

Lan, thanks for making the distinction that there are several booking agents for this property.

We recently booked our accomodations thru Tradewinds Paradise Villas and can not say enough good things about our stay. Right, the pool is one of the nicest on the island and the property is convenient to the docks (diving with Hustler was great also) and the supermarket has most all that you might need and is less than a hundred yards from the gate. But we were most impressed by the service that we received from the property manager, Marki Avilla. We arrived on the island shortly before TS Chantal did (the timing of my visits to AC has not been very good) and Marki was very helpful in assisting us to rebook to Guatemala for 3 days. She called Tropic Air to book departure and she even called our hotel in Peten to change our arrival date. Upon our return, and thankfully there was very little damage from this storm, Lelo (taxi driver) was there to pick us up and Marki returned us to our villa. So if service means anything to you, and it certainly does to me, you can't go wrong with Tradewinds Paradise Villa. Another satisfied customer!