Roatan experience and suggestions - positive

[pwlorraine]

We just got off the Crown Princess and really enjoyed Roatan. Prior to arriving, we tried to figure out what excursions we would do - my son wanted to visit the Gumbalimba (sp?) park with the monkeys - that with a beach excursion would have been roughly $100 pp. My wife thought that was outrageous. Cruise director and excursion desk people cautioned us against using non-Princess tours or resources. When we docked we went ashore and found a car rental desk in the Mahogany Bay complex - we would up with a Daihatsu Terios (think Rav4) for a day with insurance for $60. Driving was very easy - we drove to Gumbalimba ($25/pp) and on to the Infinity Resort (same stretch as Tabyana Beach) with free access. $135 + lunch at the beach for $20 vs $300 from the ship. Best was that we were able to stop at the many scenic overlooks and drive through the old town where Celebrity was docked. This turned out to be less adventurous than I had feared. Recommend printing out a google or other map before leaving home as there doesn't seem to be a map on the island. A group from the Carnival ship of 8 people rented a mini-van for $70 total.

 

We also ran into many people who had hired a driver for the day ($50-60 for the day) who seemed to be having a good experience.

 

Roatan cab fares are not set by the government - bad side of this means you could be gouged but the up side is that you can negotiate. I felt that the cruise staff were frightening people more than is warranted.

 

Peter

[kywildcatfanone]

I think it's always the party line of the Cruise lines to tell people not to use local excursion guides and such, and stick with the ship sponsored stuff. I guess the benefit of the ship excursions are that the ship won't leave without you if you are running late. However, it might make sense in some ports to stick with the ship excursions for safety concerns, but I personally have never experienced any problems. We did a ship excursion our first time to Grand Cayman and had a good time, but could have probably done the same thing for less money on my own.

We did a tour with Victor Bodden in Roatan a couple of times, and always enjoyed it. Cost around $100 for the two of us including a driver, admission to iguana farm and turtle farm, and to see the monkeys at Victor's house. Not too bad.

I think if you go to the ports of call section of cruise critic before your next trip and look up your ports you will find a wealth of information.

 

Mike

[Go-Bucks!]

We had a wonderful time on Roatan back in 2003 - before it was really developed for tourism. We were warned by Carnival not to walk to the town of Coxen Hole, but we did it and had a wonderful time talking to locals. We found a little Internet cafe and sent some cheap emails home. Then we walked back to the dock and negotiated a taxi to take us to the West Bay Beach. It cost $10 for both of us round trip and the driver gave us a tour along the way and even stayed during the 4 hrs we were there so he could take us back! The beach was pristine and fabulous. I would never spend a bunch of money for Roatan.

[Stevesan]

We just got off the Crown Princess and really enjoyed Roatan. Prior to arriving, we tried to figure out what excursions we would do - my son wanted to visit the Gumbalimba (sp?) park with the monkeys - that with a beach excursion would have been roughly $100 pp. My wife thought that was outrageous. Cruise director and excursion desk people cautioned us against using non-Princess tours or resources. When we docked we went ashore and found a car rental desk in the Mahogany Bay complex - we would up with a Daihatsu Terios (think Rav4) for a day with insurance for $60. Driving was very easy - we drove to Gumbalimba ($25/pp) and on to the Infinity Resort (same stretch as Tabyana Beach) with free access. $135 + lunch at the beach for $20 vs $300 from the ship. Best was that we were able to stop at the many scenic overlooks and drive through the old town where Celebrity was docked. This turned out to be less adventurous than I had feared. Recommend printing out a google or other map before leaving home as there doesn't seem to be a map on the island. A group from the Carnival ship of 8 people rented a mini-van for $70 total.

 

We also ran into many people who had hired a driver for the day ($50-60 for the day) who seemed to be having a good experience.

 

Roatan cab fares are not set by the government - bad side of this means you could be gouged but the up side is that you can negotiate. I felt that the cruise staff were frightening people more than is warranted.

 

Peter

 

It's part of their job. The cruise line collects 40-50% of shore excursion fees.

[lovevacadays]

Glad to hear you had a lovely time in Roatan. We did a private tour guide in November and it was fantastic. Roatan has now become one of my very favorite ports.

[NewPennCruiser]

It is true that the cruise staff will do whatever they can to get you to use ship sponsored excursions. However in Roatan, they also really push the amenities of Mahogany Bay and as Peter said, the lectures and warnings on ship seemed to paint a picture of corruption and danger once you leave port. We did the same cruise in March and by the time we got to Roatan, we had been told many times to be "careful" if we leave the confines of Mahogany Bay on our own. You certainly should be careful no matter where you go, but this was repeated more times then I have ever heard from another port, so by the time we docked, I'm sure many people were reconsidering their plans.

 

I'm guessing there have been complaints about cab drivers in the past and maybe there have been problems, but I really saw nothing different here then you experience on most other islands. Mahogany Bay is nice in a Disneyesque sort of way and you could certainly find enough to do there without leaving the port area. We did some shopping and wandered around for a while exploring things as well.

 

But I agree with Peter, don't be frightened by the over zealous sales pitch for Mahogany Bay and explore a little. I keep hearing more and more from many people about how Roatan is one of their favorite ports. We are looking forward to going back as well.

 

Dave

[rjrice1]

When I was on the Emerald back in October they has a survery and selected me to participate in it ($75.00 OBC too) about doing shore excurisions and why this group of people chose to do private. excurisions vs ships. Of course it had to do with money. Not wanting a bunch of little children, being able to do it on "your" time; smaller groups vs bus loads and so on.

During this time they told us they were doing a way with all paper and cruisers will have to download everything.

Took all about two hours and get way to make extra money on a sea day morning.

Cathy

[tip]

It's part of their job. The cruise line collects 40-50% of shore excursion fees.

 

 

Exactly. Most cruise ship excursions are nothing more than overpriced cattle herds. Unless we are in a port that might have a questionable safety situation, we always rely upon the Cruise Critic Boards to get advice on local tours and book them on our own or take taxis. We booked a tour with Rony's when we in Roatan on the Crown in late February and would recommend it to anyone!