Mahogany Bay, Honduras Help Please!!

[MsJersey84]

Hi Everyone,

Mahogany Bay, Honduras is one of our ports on my husbands and I cruise in June. Can anyone recommend a authentic places to eat? Any Culture places we need to see?? Maybe something thats not an excursion...

 

Thanks in advance

[mrsfuzzmo]

We've been to Roatan a couple of times on cruises but always to Coxen Hole. This June (same as you) we will be in Mahagony Bay for the day.

 

We've hired Rony's Tours for a "freestyle" tour. Basically a van and a guide to take us wherever we want to go. We want to see West End and have lunch there. There are a lot of little local restaurants in that are, and will count on our guide to take us to a couple of his favorite places. We love to eat local and find the diamond's in the rough, so to speak. Looking forward to having some immersion into the local culture when we go. Price is right, and reviews of this company and the guides are awesome.

[mikel24m]

Google Victor bodden roatan. We have used him for years and they are awesome. We do the best of roatan tour. He'll cater your private tour to what you like. They will take you shopping to the beach, sight seeing. Roatan is our favorite place in the Caribbean you will the love it

 

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[cruzinsmitty]

We have used Victor Bodden tours several times and plan on it again this summer. They are supper nice and easy to work with. They are very helpful in making sure that you get to do what you want on the tour and price is very reasonable.

[Razor_Poke]

Don't know about eateries but take time to snorkel the reef at West Bay Beach. It's a must do if you care for snorkeling. Best in the Caribbean.

[trouble1964]

I recommend Victor Bodden as well. I researched him before we went on our first cruise and I was a little concerned about using a non-ship sponsored excursion. I was really glad that I used him. It was just the 2 of us and the driver took us to all the highlights, as well as some places he knew of himself. I wanted a fresh banana (they taste so much better than our own), and he found a roadside vendor. That was about 5 years ago, and I think, with tip, it was $60 for the 2 of us for the day.

 

If there is something special you want to see, like the cameo factory (not much of a factory, but some beautiful pieces, or take some school supplies or things to the schools or orphanage, they can arrange that too. Our guide also kept the trinket hawkers away from us when we would stop for photos. We went to Victor's house to pay, and there was a little shop that had some beautiful mahogany bowls and platters at a great price, and a little zoo.

[originalgeek]

More love for Victor Bodden here and we didn't even get to use him on our trip to Roatan. We had booked a private tour for the two of us to include basically a driver for the day to go anywhere and everywhere we wanted within the allotted time in port - it would have been 80 bucks total for the two of us (plus whatever we bought while out - my wife REALLY REALLY wanted to go to the cameo factory as cameos are one of her favorite things)

 

BUT on the first sea day of the cruise we went to that newbie show with the Cruise Director and won a free excursion to Maya Key (which was terrific by the way) so I was able to get a cell signal at Cozumel the day before we got to Roatan and called Victor and canceled and he could not possibly have been kinder and more understanding. We are absolutely booking with him next time we go to Roatan (and there will surely be a next time as my wife still wants to go to the Cameo Factory).

[jayscore]

More love for Victor Bodden here and we didn't even get to use him on our trip to Roatan. We had booked a private tour for the two of us to include basically a driver for the day to go anywhere and everywhere we wanted within the allotted time in port - it would have been 80 bucks total for the two of us (plus whatever we bought while out - my wife REALLY REALLY wanted to go to the cameo factory as cameos are one of her favorite things)

 

BUT on the first sea day of the cruise we went to that newbie show with the Cruise Director and won a free excursion to Maya Key (which was terrific by the way) so I was able to get a cell signal at Cozumel the day before we got to Roatan and called Victor and canceled and he could not possibly have been kinder and more understanding. We are absolutely booking with him next time we go to Roatan (and there will surely be a next time as my wife still wants to go to the Cameo Factory).

 

The cameo factory is okay, but don't expect to see production type things. It's a store that specializes in......cameos! Yes, they are nice, by the by;)

Edited April 17, 2017 by jayscore
spelling

[crusinpsychRN]

Hi Everyone,

Mahogany Bay, Honduras is one of our ports on my husbands and I cruise in June. Can anyone recommend a authentic places to eat? Any Culture places we need to see?? Maybe something thats not an excursion...

 

Thanks in advance

 

No place to walk to so it'd have to be an excursion with or w/o the ship.

[crewsweeper]

Tons of information over on the Roatan boards. Reviews of both Victor Bodden and Rony's Torus and others. And remember you'll dock in mahogany bay which contains it's own beach, shopping and eateries if you wish to make it a relatively low cost day.

 

IMO Rony can probably put together a little better cultural oriented tour than Victor, who usually focuses on major cruiser oriented things like West Bay beaches, zip lining, and his farm with its animals. Both can set up a tour to anything you want. As far as local eateries, if your tour heads up toward French Harbor or Oakville, Temporary Cal's is a great spot to eat. If west to West Bay or West End or Sandy Bay, there are any number of spots.

[nchikk]

Like others above, we have used Victor Bodden Tours at Roatan. We would do so again without question. Our private tour was only what we wanted to see and nothing we didn't. Also, if we just felt like stopping somewhere along the way, we stopped. It was just our driver and us in his car. One request I had was that I wanted to eat a Honduran food called a baleada. I asked our guide to stop somewhere along the way at some point that it was convenient so I could have one. He said he'd stop at his favourite place for them, which turned out to be a gas station/convenience store. I had one and got him one as well.

[originalgeek]

The cameo factory is okay, but don't expect to see production type things. It's a store that specializes in......cameos! Yes, they are nice, by the by;)

Nice is good enough for her - she just wants to see someone carving something lol. She had every intention of finding something she liked (The website is remarkably scarce in the picture department but she could see a few things that didn't seem to be five thousand dollars) and buying it and bringing it home to get it set. Even if it's something pretty small as long as it's something she likes it'll be worth it.

 

All I care about is that it means we get another cruise! :D

[MsJersey84]

Thank you everyone for the great feed back and information!! I guess we need to research more about what stops we might want to do if we do a private tour.

[nchikk]

Thank you everyone for the great feed back and information!! I guess we need to research more about what stops we might want to do if we do a private tour.

 

If you choose to go with Bodden, you can see and choose on their website. Also, payment is made during the tour...you don't have to worry about doing it ahead of time.

[mikel24m]

Thank you everyone for the great feed back and information!! I guess we need to research more about what stops we might want to do if we do a private tour.

What we did the last time we were there is we went to west end, it's a little diving village with some shops and stuff it's nice to see. Then we toured the island he took us to a little mall to see some mahogany carvings available to buy, we buy one almost every trip. They even have front doors carved that they'll ship home. Then he took us to a grocery store so we could buy some Marie sharps hot sauce. Then we Went to a friends house to look at the dolphins being trained.we ended up at west bay beach at a resort sitting at a beach bar eating $2 lobster tacos and snorkeling in waist high water with beautiful fish all over. That'll give you an idea of what's to do. I'll post a video of west bay beach snorkeling in a few minutes

 

Hope this helps

 

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[mikel24m]

 

This is not me but this is the gorgeous beach and snorkeling from the shore that you will see

 

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[1025cruise]

Mahogany Bay is a "manufactured" port. One thing to keep in mind if you are booking private tours, unless something has changed, you will need to walk up the hill to the security guard to get the tour as only the ship's excursion busses are allowed in.

[vamartha]

Victor Bodden, all the way. Especially if you are after an authentic experience and not just the Magical Fairy Land that Carnival has created there. Book a private tour and you will be able to see as little or as much as you would like.

 

This many posters all telling you the same thing on CC, cannot be steering you in the wrong direction! :D:D

[tandemcruzr]

Mahogany Bay is a "manufactured" port. One thing to keep in mind if you are booking private tours, unless something has changed, you will need to walk up the hill to the security guard to get the tour as only the ship's excursion busses are allowed in.

 

Or you can catch a cab inside the port for $2 p/p to take you over the hill to the local tour guides. BTW, upon return, the local tours are able to enter the port and let you out where all the returning ship excursions tours let you out. :)

[eeudj]

Google Victor bodden roatan. We have used him for years and they are awesome. We do the best of roatan tour. He'll cater your private tour to what you like. They will take you shopping to the beach, sight seeing. Roatan is our favorite place in the Caribbean you will the love it

 

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Ditto!! We used and loved Victor Boden.. *I have recommended it to numerous friends, never a negative review.