Love San Pedro but will never stay here again. This was my 3rd trip to San Pedro. I liked the location, the price and the exterior looked ok. Our room was large, dirty, smelly, coffee pot not usable. We faced the street, I would have preferred the cemetary.
Previously I stayed at The Palms but it was getting too pricey. Next time I'll spend the money. No matter how little time I spend in the room, it will never be at the Aqua Marina

Staying at the Aqua Marina Suites was a treat. Why?? The location is convenient. Unless you have a golf cart rental OR you take a water taxi for ten dollars, your only way to access the center of town is to stay there. San Pedro is a treat of cultures, great food and wonderful people. Staying at a "resort" far from the center of town may be a detriment to truly enjoying Ambergris Caye and the flavor of Belize. We highly recommend staying at Aqua Marina. It is clean, lots of room in a suite and very convenient. Our suite had a fully equipped kitchen, micro, coffee maker, and in the bathroom, a hairdryer! (These things are such luxuries) The staff was friendly, informative and helpful. (Thanks, Dominique!) In order to access all the activities on the water and mainland...all you need to do is wait on the end of their pier for your tour boat to pick you up for any of the wonderful opportunities that Ambergis operators offer(our favortie:Sea-rious). Also, Aqua Marina has a nice restaurant, pool area and bar. Next door is a cemetery--however, it is another cultural treat.

Although we had read a negative review about this hotel on Trip Advisor, we still decided to take a chance. We had the same experience as the previous complainant, that of being stuck in a nasty hotel room in an adjoining older building overlooking a cemetery. However, to the manager's credit, after we complained he switched us the next day to one of the suites in the new part of the hotel, without levying any additional charges. We consider this to be good PR and we thank him for his willingness to listen to our complaints. The suite was lovely, and the restaurant served good food. Our stay was ok, although we were disappointed that the beach in San Pedro is not safe for swimming due to the overabundance of motor boats roaring around. The Aquamarina appears to cater mainly to SCUBA divers and is doing a good job accommodating their needs.

As I sit and reflect on our trip to Belize, I have mixed feelings. The Diving was GREAT!! Donovan, Michael and Bondi from Aqua Dives were incredible. So fun and so professional. We got to see a lot of "big stuff". Thanks Guys, for a fantastic journey. Aqua Dives is owned by the same people as Aqua Marina Suites.
As for Aqua Marina Suites, well that was a little different. we arrived to find that the "ocean view suite" we had booked, was actually a street view, clothes line included, bare essential room. Honestly, bare essentials is fine if I have an ocean view. good thing I brought my own soap, shampoo and coffee. We tried to take care of the immediatelybut it took 2 days to finally get an ocean view suite. Yes, the cemetary was right below us, but I thought that was kinda neat. Almost ALL of the people who worked there were very nice. I love meeting new people, so by the end of the trip I knew a lot of names. Beverly, one of the activities coordinators, was GREAT!! I will miss her. Eddie and Tanya, the bartenders, were so nice to talk to. Linda, Mark and Frances were our servers at the restaurant and their warm smiles always brightened our day. Larry, one of the maintenance men, was ALWAYS doing something. he was truly a "jack of all trades", and his smile was as bright as the sun. daisy was our housekeeper and we tipped her well at the beginning of our stay and we always had a clean room, and a cheery "good morning". These people quickly became my friends and it really irritated me to see how rude some Americans can be to other human beings.
Be advised, there are people trying to sell time shares all over the place. As you walk down the streets, the beach and yes, unfortunately in the hotel. If an American asks you, "Hi-where are you from...How long are you here for...When did you get here...?", unless you want to byt a timeshare, just continue walking. The hotel did make us a nice offer, but it wasn't for us. If you are interested, hold out, they will significantly lower the price. We also recieved a $300 certificate to use toward a dive trip for listening to a 90 minute time share presentation. Not bad since it was rainy all that day. We did notice the whole town seems geared toward time shares. Didn't appreciate being mobbed all the time. Then there were the vendors walking up and down the beach constantly begging for you to buy paintings, jewelry, blankets or carvings. I t was endless. Some hotels have signs posted "no vendors allowed" on their decks, Aqua Marina Suites, was not one of them. These vendors would walk right up onto the deck while we were eating and bother you right at your table. We were polite, but this was very annoying. They didn't like to take "no" for an answer.
A word of advice, if you eat at the hotel, which is very good, pay for your meals each time, rather than signing to your room. We were charged for two meals that weren't ours. They were from the people in the room before us. Also check your bill carefully. We used our $300 certificate for a dive trip and it covered all but $20, so we paid the balance at the activity center the day of our dive trip. That charge was on our bill when we checked out. They fixed it all, but had we not caught it, we would have lost over $100.
all in all, the trip was fine. The diving really did make up for the other problems. Unfortunatley we probably won't go back. Maybe to Turneffe Atool which is beautiful and has some awesome diving. If possible we would ALWAYS us Aqua Dives. Donovan, Bondi and Michael-thank you again, for a GREAT TIME!
S-LOCO (Sylvia)