lovevacadays

Booked our tour yesterday. We will be doing the monkeys at Victor's hour, Iguana farm and Butterfly garden. I also asked about Sand Castle. How long should we expect this tour to last? Should we plan to have lunch while we are away from the ship?

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We did the "Sand Catle" tour and enjoyed it. Very small and we were in there about 15 minutes. We had a Bodden tour and had plenty of time to zip-line, have a beach walk (water was too rough to snorkel), visit Bodden's monkeys (so cute), Take a ride around the whole island and take pictures, and did the Sand Castle tour. Was the best time!! Also was on the Legend, and going again in September. There were 6 of us and we had Leo as our guide

:D

You should plan to have lunch while you are there. Ask your driver for suggestions. We ate at he West Bay Resort which was fantastic

I was in Roatan in November (before Mahogany was open). Just seeing this little glimpse of Roatan again makes me want to go back. I loved it there and thought it was one of the most beautiful islands I've been on.

Trish, so glad to hear of your most recent experience with Victor. Every company will have things that go wrong and you are indeed right, not all will try and fix it. Fabulous

Legalwife, nice to hear you are going to get Tex. He is really a nice guy. Very flexible in what you want to do. He will suggest things if you like. Ask him if he will take you for a drive on the beach. Here in California we can't do that so it was great! He told us quite a few stories and gave us insight to island life there.

Mine was Carnival Tropicale back in 198?. We went to the Mexican Riviera. Had a nice time but the one that really got me hooked was my second cruise on the RCCL Sovereign of the Seas to the Eastern Caribbean back in 89 or 90 I think. What a difference between these two ships.

I'm sorry to hear of those that might not have enjoyed their VB tour. In all my cruises it ranked either #1 or #2 can't decide. I would suggest that people request either Tex or Ali. We had Tex and he was so flexible. He said that he and Ali were the most requested. It really was amazing. We met his brother at the dive resort his brother worked at, we went to Tex's home as he needed to pick up something (he asked if we minded and of course we didn't) we drove right on the beach, etc.

I guess for those that might not get the more experienced tour guides, I would ask your tour guide at the start to suggest some places besides the resorts, etc that they might take you to to get a feel of the island

Teachercruiser - we just got back from Roatan and had Tex. He's great. He will make recommendations if you don't have anything particular in mind. What do you like to do?

I agree with the previous posters. Victor Bodden tours is the way to go. You can't beat the price and the experience. Just got back and others on our ship had done ship's tours or just not gotten off the ship. Boy did they miss out on a beautiful island. When you book with Victor he gives you several things you can choose to do but once you get your tour guide he will add or subtract anything you want. If you let them know what kind of things are of interest to you they will make sure you get to do them. We had Tex as our guide. He was great. He has lived on the island all his life and had many interesting details to impart. He definitely would be a good guide for people in your age group as I'm sure he can recommend some places and things you might particulary like. He even took us by his home and we met his two dogs. He lives in a small home on the beach. There is a little pier in front of his home and you can see the place where folks go to swim with the dolphins from this pier. He actually took us on a drive in the van right on the beach - it was awesome. Roatan is a beautiful island and with Victor's tours you get to see so much more of this island than evidently the ship's tours get to see. We also had lunch at Half Moon Bay Resort which was a spectacular experience.

Have a great cruise on the Ruby. I'm excited to read about your experiences. You mentioned that Skywalkers has a cocktail hour for Elite, Platinum and Suite Passengers. I had read it was only for Elite and not Platinum - can you or someone else verify? I'm Platinum and would definitely like to participate.

going to Roatan on November 17th and touring with Victor Bodden. We have the Cameo Factory on our list of things to see. I'll post here when we get back with any pertinent info.

watchdiva we are booked with Victor and have Tex as our guide for November 14th. So, it sounds like you walk through a port area and out to a street and look for your guide with a sign? Is that correct? We are really looking forward to this port and sightseeing with Tex. Was there anything you did that you particularly liked on your tour?

Thanks for the pictures - that's great.

I booked a minisuite on the CB for Dec 2010 because of all the great comments about this cabin. One question, is the balcony on the Emerald deck the same size as the Dolphin deck? I like the fact that on the Dolphin deck it is just about as long as wide.

Blessedwith12 I will keep my eyes out for your post after your tour. I realy love seeing churches in the locations I visit so any feedback you have will be greatly appreciated. Have a great cruise

We are booked with Victor Bodden for November. He said the Cameo Factory is still open but they do not have their website operating. He wasn't sure why

We are booked for November and have Tex as our guide. So excited. We have put in for doing the Cameo Factory, Victor's house for the monkeys, and West End for some shopping and lunch. Anyone have suggestions for places to eat in West End? Anyone done anything else than what we have listed and enjoyed it? Also, wouldn't mind visiting a local church. Has anyone done that and what were your thoughts or where was the church? So excited to visit this port!

thanks for the info on the cages, etc. I know we wouldn't be forced to hold the animals and after I posted that I realized how it sounded but I guess I was wondering how easy it would be to see them and not necessarily hold them or have them on you. Question answered. Thanks so. I am an animal lover so probably would enjoy holding them but am a little worried about what the previous poster said in regards to being bitten or scratched. Can't wait to see Roatan. It is the port we are most looking forward to.

I'm assuming you can go to Victor's house and look at the animals but not hold them? We are going there on our tour and I would like to see them but won't be holding any.

I am going to be checking in to this tour. I'm sure all enjoyed because the animals were well taken care of. Just want to verify that. What is the experience like where the monkeys are?

What other things have you done on the tour. It sounds like all the tour guides are very good and this is a reputable company.

Hi,

How do you get in touch with Gerry? How many people are typically in his tour? Is his tour primarily driving or do you get to see some things like churches, etc?

Any info on his basic tour would be greatly appreciated