What NOT to miss in Roatan - opinions please!

[TeeBuccs]

My family (6 of us) will be sailing to Roatan for the first time in May 2007. I am beginning to research excursions and activities so I can provide them with useful information (as we are spread out all over the country.) I am a little nervous that this will be my first Carnival cruise in a long time - as we had a horrorific experience back in '98 with them - but we are giving it a try and sailing the VALOR.

 

Any opinions on what NOT to miss on my limited stay on this island? I would welcome your suggestions.

 

Thanks!

[samtig]

The first time we were in Roatan we took a ship excursion to Tabanya (sp?) Beach. It was a great beach with great facilities, plenty of beach chairs, waiters to bring drinks, a bar. Included lunch. Great day. Some people say on cc that there are sand fleas on the beaches but we didn't have that problem. Did bring insect spray with deet just in case.

 

After researching on cruise critic for a long time, the 2nd time we booked a car & driver for the day through Victor Bodden. For a larger group you can also book a van. He has a web site & you can schedule on-line. Payment is not due until after your day in Roatan. Victor met us at the dock & introduced us to our driver, Ali. He is a nice guy & very professional in running his business. They will take you anywhere you want to go & make recommendations if you choose. We are older so didn't do the zip line or snorkling. We went to cameo factory, home where Fantasy Island was filmed, iguana farm which turned out to be really neat ($5 entry fee to help take care of animals), the beach, & a driving tour of the island making many stops along the way. We also went shopping near the dock. We didn't have time to go to the West End, which I want to do next time. Many on cruise critic say this is the best beach, restaurants, etc. Our driver, Ali, spoke fluent English & was a very nice guy. We felt perfectly safe for the day & Ali stayed with us some of the time and/or watched our packages left in the car.

 

Like other areas in the region, there is poverty, but it is a beautiful island and the people are very friendly. We can't wait to go back & plan to book through Victor again.

[Eliot Ness]

Back in June (also on the Valor) we had a great time horseback riding. It was a nice way to see part of the country that you might otherwise miss. The following thread has some reviews of the operator we used and also links to some pictures:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=174186

 

The Valor is a beautiful ship and we had a great cruise.

 

John

[flowerchild]

SNORKEL or SCUBA...Roatan is home to the 2nd largest coral reef in the world and snorkeling/scuba is world class! Also, Roatan was some of the world's highest rated beaches. Beach snorkeling is awesome, also.

[rd0127]

We spent the day at Tabyana Beach on our cruise in June. It was one of the most beautiful and peaceful places that I have ever visited. Beautiful!

[kchesneylover]

I second Tabayana Beach. The reef is right off shore and is absolutely BEAUTIFUL. One of my most memorable snorkeling experiences of my life so far - right behind Trunk Bay, St. John.

[robertscj]

If you aren't certified you can SNUBA...

 

You don't want to miss...

 

The reef

The beach

The Monkeys

The Canopy Tour

Views of the island

 

If you have lots of money you can book all these (although not the last but you will see on the way) through the cruise line at one location...

 

See www.gumbalimbapark.com

[Iceman-007]

My family (6 of us) will be sailing to Roatan for the first time in May 2007. I am beginning to research excursions and activities so I can provide them with useful information (as we are spread out all over the country.) I am a little nervous that this will be my first Carnival cruise in a long time - as we had a horrorific experience back in '98 with them - but we are giving it a try and sailing the VALOR.

 

Any opinions on what NOT to miss on my limited stay on this island? I would welcome your suggestions.

 

Thanks!

 

 

please explain your bad experience with Carnival

[TeeBuccs]

Sorry for the long delay in response to your question! As for my bad experience with Carnival it has to do with a cruise that ran aground in Cozumel. The ship sustained damage and they were not able to deploy the stabilizers, so as we sailed back to FL, suffice it to say the ship was extremely rocky and unpleasant. In addition and actually the real issue was the poor communication to the guests on board.

 

We were initially informed via pa system that there was on board medical emergency that required we return to FL and skip all of our remaining three ports of call. Bummer, but understood. Later when we overheard crew speaking about the violent shudder the ship experienced when docking in Cozumel we found out that in fact we were turning back so they could get divers to fix the ship so it wouldn't have to be pulled from rotation. This was a bit insulting. As word spread around the ship things got very ugly and hostile. Folks wrote on walls, destroyed parts of the ship and became very unruly. It was hard to feel safe on board and there was an increased presence of armed guards.

 

To add insult to injury the captain announced in the theater that evening they would provide further details to the passengers. He didn't even show up but sent the cruise director to tell us the truth - that in fact the ship had been damaged and we were returning to fix it. Being lied to matter of factly was not right!

 

Since we couldn't get back into port right away (due to other ships keeping schedules) we floated off the coast of FL for 1.5 days. There was nothing to do on board except "horse races by the pool", drink, or use the casion (all of which involved spending more $ than anyone planned on.) The staff was overworked - with having no free time or time off in ports and a full ship of upset passengers. Understandibly they started to crack and get rude and the passengers even more boisterous. The ship was ever so generous as to open 2 bars for one hour to provide guests with free drinks - YEAH right! 3,000 passengers who get one free drink for the inconvenience! The dining room even began to run out of certain foods, etc since we didn't have ports to pick up additional supplies.

 

Three days later they managed to manuever the Bahamas into letting them dock at a commercial dredging dock for 1 night. We were able to go to Port Lucaya, a tiny town, just to get us off the ship. This was our honeymoon and we asked the front desk to assist us with flights home as we just wanted to leave - we were told "no" we would have to stay on board and that a honeymoon was not a special occassion. The final morning we did receive a check under our stateroom door for $800 I believe to compensate us for the experience. (We had upgraded to a large suite for the occassion so even though they didn't have to give us any refund, this was barely a drop in the bucket, much less after being told a honeymoon was nothing special.) Apparantely we learned, that once a ship delivers you to one port of call the entire trip obligation is considered met. They no longer have to do anything for you as they have fulfilled their portion.

 

There are so many more memories that come to mind with this trip, but I won't bore you. These are the biggies and the customer service level was horrific. I certainly hope they have improved.:mad:

[THERAPYCRUISE]

hOW WAS THE SOUTH SHORE ZIP LINE? WE ARE GOING IN dEC. WITH dIANA AND cINTHIA. wOULD LOVE YOUR REVIEW. THANKS

[tigermaroon2]

I also highly recommend Tabyana Beach...we were just there and I can't wait to get back. They make sunscreen now with bug repellent in it...I think Avon sells it....it's very much worth it. We had no problems at all.

 

The people of Roatan are indeed very very friendly. Out of all the places I've visited it is by far my favorite

 

On a side note, last year we spent an entire week in Freeport and visited Port Lucaya many times (where the previous poster had her cruise stop). We loved it there too. Freeport is a very beautiful place and we stayed at Fortuna Beach for a week and absolutely loved it.

[luvmy2doxs]

Can you tell me if we take a beach excursion to Tabyana beach, is there snorkel equipment that can be rented there? We have a group of 8 people on our cruise and only about 1/2 of us want to snorkel. The rest of us want to relax on the beach, but we don't want to split up our group and we don't want to pay for snorkeling for the ones that don't want to participate. Thanks.