Victor Bodden

[Eliot Ness]

Eliot Ness,

 

Where on the island is Monkey Business located? I can't seem to find any info on it. Is it in Sandy Bay? I'm trying to find out how far from Mahogany Bay it is located so I can plan what's feasible to do in the time we have.

Sorry, but since we did some sightseeing first I'm not sure exactly where it is located, but Victors house is there. I'm sure if you e-mail him he can tell you exactly where it is located.

 

 

John

[girlscruise2011]

Eliot Ness,

 

Where on the island is Monkey Business located? I can't seem to find any info on it. Is it in Sandy Bay? I'm trying to find out how far from Mahogany Bay it is located so I can plan what's feasible to do in the time we have.

 

Are you doing a private tour with Victor? If so, go to the Monkeys first. We had Tex last year on our Thanksgiving cruise. He took us to a little overlook first then straight to the monkeys and ziplining. When we were leaving, that parking lot was so full it took us about 10 minutes just to get out of there. I couldn't believe the amount of people.

 

I was so glad we were done and not waiting in those lines.

[benkecruisers]

Are you doing a private tour with Victor? If so, go to the Monkeys first. We had Tex last year on our Thanksgiving cruise. He took us to a little overlook first then straight to the monkeys and ziplining. When we were leaving, that parking lot was so full it took us about 10 minutes just to get out of there. I couldn't believe the amount of people.

 

I was so glad we were done and not waiting in those lines.

 

We booked Tex for our tour and we have 7 in our group, Victor said he is trying to find a van for us to use. My question for you is did you tip Tex at the end of the trip and if you did, what is usual for a tip?

[blue_water]

No, in my opinion. Just do the tour that Victor offers that is open to whatever you want to do. I cruised with someone back in 2009 and we each paid $40 for a private tour and really got to say what we wanted to see and then our guide Tex made some other suggestions. It was truly a fabulous day. On this Island I would not get boxed in with a tour that has other people on it. Victor's personal tours are so much better and you have all day to pick and choose what you want to do.

 

Enjoy your day in Roatan. I loved it there.

 

Even better go with a private tour guide for even more flexibility and a low-key experience. They also stay with you and meet you when you take a water taxi, for example, Can't beat it and the same price as the big operators!

[girlscruise2011]

We booked Tex for our tour and we have 7 in our group, Victor said he is trying to find a van for us to use. My question for you is did you tip Tex at the end of the trip and if you did, what is usual for a tip?

 

We were a group of 7 and they found a van for us to use. Yes we did tip Tex and we gave him $100 since we were a large group and he was great. Not sure if that is norm or generous but felt it was what he deserved.

[AllAmericanAmy]

Hi Amy, Quick question. Did you take your supplies into town or hand them out at the pier? I have purchased almost 200 school supply items and have some people donating on the ship too. I am doing a private with Rony's tours but want to make sure and have as much beach time, so the plan is to find a place close to WB Beach or stop on our way back to port. Love the idea of giving back when visiting their beautiful island.

 

Katie

 

Hi Katie - Not sure when you cruise, but thought I'd post you my experience taking supplies off the ship into Roatan... hopefully it will help you or someone else reading this thread that is like minded:

 

Dec 2013 we visited Roatan and took down: medicines in a duffle bag (tylenol, infant vitamins & cough syrup), school supplies in a cardboard box and spanish bibles in a cardboard box. Stood in line waiting to get off ship at Roatan and was next to a fellow Cruise Critic role call "buddy" that had 2 or 3 large suitcases full of donations. Well, they breezed thru disembarkation with no questions asked. My group was 3 people. Son carrying duffle bag with meds went thru first with no problem or questions. Other son and I got stopped with the cardboard boxes. Had to go up to floor 7 service desk to fill out paperwork for customs. Went to floor 6 to LaCucina where customs people were eating breakfast (like 8 or 10 of them:eek:). They checked my paperwork, passed it around and grunted, stamped and signed it and refused my offer to open it to show them. Sent me on my way. Presented paperwork to NCL when leaving ship who also did not care to inspect boxes. No fines, fees, duties, tarriffs or anything was assessed. Just sent me off with no problems.

 

So, the point of the story?? If you are taking donations off onto any island, I'd advise packing it in suitcase or duffle or somesuch and strolling off with it. Don't take a cardboard box:D

 

Hope this helps someone!!

Amy

[loopy]

Another question... I'm still thinking this through. If we arrive in port at 9am, the bus leaves an hour later according to the email. It also says they have you back to the ship 2 hrs before it leaves. For me, this would be 3:00 because it leaves @ 5. How much time is typically spent zipping & with the monkeys?

 

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We just did this tour a few weeks ago. My only suggestion is to remind the driver when last call is for the ship.

 

We got to the place where you zip and play with monkeys. It was not well organized. We were all confused on what we needed to do. Plus..they only take cash.

 

The zip part goes fairly fast and you have plenty of time to play with the monkeys...they are so sweet.

 

We had rough water so the driver was taking us to another beach that was further away. It was a private resort called Parrot Head or something. It was really nice. The bad part was we had to be to the ship by 3:30pm and he was thinking it was 5:00pm. We are glad we double checked that with him b/c he had driven pretty far out. We made it back without a problem. Just confirm they know the correct time.

 

We really enjoyed this tour.

[saatros]

We just did this tour a few weeks ago. My only suggestion is to remind the driver when last call is for the ship.

 

We got to the place where you zip and play with monkeys. It was not well organized. We were all confused on what we needed to do. Plus..they only take cash.

 

The zip part goes fairly fast and you have plenty of time to play with the monkeys...they are so sweet.

 

We had rough water so the driver was taking us to another beach that was further away. It was a private resort called Parrot Head or something. It was really nice. The bad part was we had to be to the ship by 3:30pm and he was thinking it was 5:00pm. We are glad we double checked that with him b/c he had driven pretty far out. We made it back without a problem. Just confirm they know the correct time.

 

We really enjoyed this tour.

 

Thank you so much for the info. I've still been going back & forth between group or private, so I'm happy to read about your positive experience because it's a little less expensive. We want zip & see the monkeys and we enjoy the beach, so if I switched to a private, I'm just not sure if we would have much time to take in the sights. Does the group tour stop at any other places and/or do they talk about places while your driving by?

 

Thanks again,

 

Suzy

 

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[Hey Wang]

I agree too it could be expensive if you only have 2 people for private.

$40 a head plus the fee for what fun you want to do a person could get pricey.

[blue_water]

I agree too it could be expensive if you only have 2 people for private.

$40 a head plus the fee for what fun you want to do a person could get pricey.

 

Actually I think the $40pp for 2 ppl for a private tour is very reasonable today. Private is so much nicer for a custom itinerary at least.

[Cruise Envy]

When you mention walking up a steep hill to meet the private tour, just how steep is it? I'm no spring chicken, and my husband has mobility issues. I'm almost afraid to hear your answers as I have been thinking I found my perfect tour until I got to that part...

[girlscruise2011]

When you mention walking up a steep hill to meet the private tour, just how steep is it? I'm no spring chicken, and my husband has mobility issues. I'm almost afraid to hear your answers as I have been thinking I found my perfect tour until I got to that part...

 

They have taxi's at the port that can take you up the hill to meet your tour. I was there last year and it was $2 per person.

[Cruise Envy]

They have taxi's at the port that can take you up the hill to meet your tour. I was there last year and it was $2 per person.

 

Thank you!! Love my family but planning excursions for all their "requirements" can be a challenge!

[mom2kids00]

Cruise Envy, where are you from in NC? We are driving down from Apex, just outside of Raleigh. It's my kids 11&13 and my parents who live in Wilmington. I understand about making sure everyone is taken care of. What excursion are you doing with Bodden?

Edited January 3, 2014 by mom2kids00

[Cruise Envy]

Cruise Envy, where are you from in NC? We are driving down from Apex, just outside of Raleigh. It's my kids 11&13 and my parents who live in Wilmington. I understand about making sure everyone is taken care of. What excursion are you doing with Bodden?

 

We are in Winston-Salem. I was looking at the Fun n Sun, but I am going to see about a private tour -- it's very similar in price, and would give us flexibility. It will be DH, me, and my two sons 18 & 14. The youngest would try anything once with me. The other two, not so much LOL.

 

This is our first western caribbean cruise, so I have a lot of research to do over the next several months.

[dreamer320]

Unfortunately, our private "Best of Roatan" tour with Victor Bodden Tours bucked the trend of good experiences reported here.

 

The guide. We had Isaac, who was a very nice man, but not a good guide. When I reserved, I noted we wanted to do a little shopping, some photo opportunities, and Monkey Business. Upon arriving a greeting him, I clarified that we didn’t want to do much shopping, and were really interested in the history and culture of the island. He took us to the local vendors set up on the hilltop, and then insisted on taking us to three other shops, each more expensive, despite our saying we were done shopping. Rather than arguing, we went in for a minute to each, and he kept urging us to spend more time. Perhaps he was getting a reward for taking people to certain shops? He also told us nothing of the history and very little of the culture. We got little in the way of photo ops, too. Granted, I hadn’t done my usual research on the destination, and left my notes onboard, but still, a private guide should have done much more. As it was, there were plenty of places on the island that we didn’t see. A large part of that may have been because of the second problem:

 

The van. Our vehicle had no air conditioning. We didn’t discover this until we were quite a distance from the port, after our first stop. This was probably a blessing in disguise, since the van smelled like wet dog with the windows up, so having the windows down gave us fresh air. Worse than the air-conditioning, however, was that after a few hours, the engine light came on the dashboard and the performance suffered, to the extent that we barely made it up a hill, literally. Oh, nothing to worry about, Isaac said. On the next hill, there was a slower-moving car ahead of us. Afraid of losing the momentum we had built up and probably dying out on the hill, the guide decided to pass the car on the hill. Near the top, we came face to face with a large tour bus. Had the car we were passing not come to a quick stop to allow us back into the lane, we surely would have had a collision. I don’t scare easily and have driven throughout Italy on sketchy roads, but it took awhile for my blood pressure to return to normal.

 

Given the state of the car and our near miss, we didn’t press it when we headed back to the ship, despite still having a couple of hours before we needed to back. Time to cut our losses. Roatan had been our most-anticipated port, and it turned out being the worst day of the cruise.

 

 

On the plus side, the pre-cruise communication was prompt and responsive, and all the personnel we encountered were pleasant. On our return home, we received an email asking for feedback, and received an apology for the van situation. After detailing our experiences, I kind of doubted we’d get any reply at all, so I appreciated the response.

 

I think we just were unlucky enough to draw the short straw with our tour. Lessons learned: request a tour guide other than Isaac, and make sure the vehicle has a/c before leaving port.

[overthehillcruiser]

Sorry you had a bad experience. It is surprising as he has been great with us..

[Rangers23]

We are doing a Best of Tour with Tex in February. I'm just wondering if there's anything specific we should ask to tour, or just go with what Tex recommends. Thanks!:confused:

[saatros]

We wound up sticking with the zip & dip and it was perfect for us :-) Everything about the experience was wonderful... what a perfect day!

 

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[girlscruise2011]

We are doing a Best of Tour with Tex in February. I'm just wondering if there's anything specific we should ask to tour, or just go with what Tex recommends. Thanks!:confused:

 

I had Tex last year and he was great. Just a recommendation that if you plan on doing the Zip Line or Monkeys, make sure you do them first. Luckily Tex brought us there first thing and as we were leaving the crowds were coming in and it took us 10 mins to get out of the parking lot :eek:. I'm glad I didn't have to wait in those lines.

 

Tex is a great guide but get an idea on what you want to do, i.e. shopping, touring, beach, etc and leave the rest up to him.

 

I enjoyed Tex and would recommend him

[mom2kids00]

We lucked out. I had booked the Fun N Sun but ended up getting a private tour as it was just our family. Big Al was our guide and he was awesome! Took us to Monkey Business first as he knew it wouldn't be too crowded. When my youngest son asked what kind of money they used, he took two $1 bills and gave them to my kids to keep. He even pulled off the road and bought us some fruit to eat.

 

He heard that Bananarama Beach was rough that day so he took us to a private club where it was so calm and pretty much deserted. We ate and drank and then he got us back to port with enough time for us to do a little shopping.

[destaw7182]

We have booked the Fun N Sun tour with Bodden in April. For your time at the beach, was there a place to store your belongings?

[mom2kids00]

Our guide stayed with our things on the beach. I believe they will also lock things in their trunk if that makes you more comfortable.

 

Let's face it, the people who actually work for a living on these poor islands want to make sure they keep their jobs as they must not be easy to come by. I believe that they are trustworthy because they want to keep them. I'm sure if word got around that they were a thief, especially a small place like that, they would have a hard time getting another one.

 

Maybe I'm just overly trusting too. Anyway, have a great time there. We did!

[The Mister]

First time back on CC since our cruise back in October. Never did get around to writing a review. I should say that for my son and me, Roatan was definitely a highlight, and much of it due to Victor Bodden's team.

 

We did the Zip-n-Dip, and our driver was Julio. He did just fine - gave us a nice driving tour of the island, seemed to have memorized *exactly* where all of the potholes were, etc. Our main Zip guide was Brandon, and he and his team did great as well. Both got generous tips.

 

The main problem with our day in Roatan is that the Liberty's stay in Roatan is so short. We would have liked to have more time on the island to fit a couple more things in, and we're sure that Julio would have been happy to oblige. The Liberty shared the island with the Magic that day, and we were kind of jealous that they got a couple more hours on the island than we did.

 

Also, at Bananarama, my daughter and I both got our hair did. :) She got braids, and I got cornrows. I'm sure my coworkers laughed at me behind my back, but I'm totally OK with that.

Edited February 14, 2014 by The Mister

[MzMelissa26]

Hey I'm from WS too lol