Carnival "Mahogany Bay" Cruise port in Roatan

[Saint Greg]

On 6/30/2023 at 11:46 AM, Eli_6 said:

Mods - Please don't move this to the Roatan board. This *IS* a Carnival related question because Carnival owns the port and only Carnival cruise ships dock there.  

 

What I am wondering is if there is enough to do in the port area and via the magic chair lift to the Mahogany Bay Beach that we can just stay in the area and not bother getting a cab to another area (like West Bay beach or Half Moon Bay). I am mainly wanting to just snorkel from the beach and have a few drinks.  Is the shore snorkeling from Mahogany Bay beach any good?  If we stay in the area, I may also try to zip line in the area. 

 

On the Roatan board, it seems like most of the people on there recommending going to West Bay beach and doing a resort day pass are coming in on NCL, RCL, etc. and that port is not as nice.  Thus, I am wondering if there is any reason to even pay the money to do this if coming in on Carnival at the better port where everything is sort of an extension of the ship. 

 

Keeping in mind a lot of those people on the Roatan board probably aren't docking at Mahogany Bay. Some of them are going to Coxen Hole. I guess it depends on the person. I like a beach right off of the ship so the more people that want to take cabs to other parts of the island, the better for me. I kind of covered everything at Mahogany Bay here:

 

https://www.saintgregtravel.com/mahogany-bay-cruise-port/

 

 

 

 

Edited March 1 by Saint Greg

[bstel]

On 7/1/2023 at 7:05 PM, WhaleTailFlCruiser said:

I usually stay on the ship in Mahogany bay in all honesty. It is kind of sketch leaving the port area by yourself. 

then by that definition, you shouldn't be leaving any port area in most of the Caribbean islands, because the are all "sketch."  I never understood why people are so scared to go out and explore the real parts of the islands.  So many great beaches not in the West End and not crowded by tourists.

[weezal]

13 hours ago, DeckerCain said:

I have snorkeled at Mahogany bay three times and it is very good but the last time was 2019 (going again in August).  In comparing it with our excursion to WBay I would argue you can have at least an equal experience right off the pier if you know where to go.   A couple of pointers would be when you swim out to the reef from the pier, go parallel to the reef and there is a nice opening that allows you to get to the backside of the first reef so you have the reef on both sides.  The important part is remembering where the opening is as that is the only way to get back over the reef to shore.  The second tip is most people snorkeling stay right at the pier or very close.  If you swim about 25yds to the left (away from port) the reef gets better.  I have great pictures of lobster (they don’t have claws in Roatan), sting rays, etc…  

i can confirm the snorkeling is good here. went twice recently. go to the farthest pier, with lifeguard monitoring.

[Shaded Lady]

I would never just 'stay on the ship' in Mahogany Bay- the immediate port area is enclosed (no loiterers or pushy people selling stuff, except in the shops but even then it's much better than Costa Maya or Cozumel). So I always count on MB as one of my go-to souvenir shopping places. It's clean and organized.

 

I usually do that last, however- the free beach is great- the yellow chairs are free. We have bought the Carnival package that gives you a reserved clamshell and unlimited chair lift rides, but it's easy to just take a leisurely walk to the beach, use the free loungers and walk back at the end, do a little shopping if you like- perfect day in a nice port, IMHO.

 

Oh and by the way, if you get off the ship after breakfast, it's so convenient that you can pop back to the ship for lunch and come back into the port! Easy peasy!

[TheLargeFamily]

We booked a 2 hour excursion directly through Daniel johnson to hold sloths, etc and it should only be 2 hours (didn't book any extra bells and whistles) do I truly hope we get plenty of time at carnivals beach! Looks like some cool photo opportunities on the little nature path. 

[DeckerCain]

Here are a few pics to go with my post above.

 

[BlerkOne]

Cruise ships back into Mahogany Bay..

 

 

[BlerkOne]

The snorkel pier is at the far end of the beach

 

 

 

 

There are 3 small white buoys that mark locations of interest. One is between the life guard and the rust bucket in the distance. The other two are to the left - you can ask the life guard to point them out.