Just Booked with Victor! - A few questions...

[klct39lg]

Thank you, I will do that.:)

[Irishlinny]

Thanks for the advice. Do you suggest Victor or any cab service will do??

 

I liked using Victor's tour because it was reputable...many good comments on here. But be patient if he doesn't get right back to you when you email him...they have spotty internet. I'm not sure what a cab to drive you around for a few hours would cost. You can get one of Victor's guides for the day for $40 per person for 2 people or $25 each if you have 4 people. And they also speak very good English, which helps! And I also heard positive things about Shoretrips but don't know their prices. And there are a whole bunch of people who sit on bleachers at the port who are available for tours...looks like one person coordinates them all. But have no clue on their prices or how well they speak English.

[SmileHMB]

Thanks so much for the advice. Shoretrips is $64, 4 hours island tour. Thinking of getting one of Victor's guides for just the 2 of us, we aren't into crowds, and compiling a list of things I want to see and letting him show us.

[Irishlinny]

Thanks so much for the advice. Shoretrips is $64, 4 hours island tour. Thinking of getting one of Victor's guides for just the 2 of us, we aren't into crowds, and compiling a list of things I want to see and letting him show us.

 

Sounds like a good choice! And since you're into photography, he can take you to many different places and you can take photos at you leisure. Although it is a very poor island, it is very beautiful and interesting...I think you will enjoy an open-ended tour. And he will be able to suggest a more secluded beach for you, too, I'm sure!

I hope you have a wonderful trip......I am still half on the cruise and wishing I was back there...we prefer quiet times...spent most of our evenings on the Legend in the aft deck area where there was a quiet bar and lots of ocean breezes! mmmmmmmm!:D

[SmileHMB]

Thanks so much for all your help. Were you on the Carnival Legend??? We are taking NCL Spirit. I am not really an NCL fan, but my friend gets free cruises through the casino dept. WE are going out of New Orleans so that will be different. WE are going out 2 days early to site see. Anyway, wrote Victor an e-mail, but hotmail is saying the server is busy, so I will try to resend it in the AM. Now to figure out Belize.

[Irishlinny]

Thanks so much for all your help. Were you on the Carnival Legend??? We are taking NCL Spirit. I am not really an NCL fan, but my friend gets free cruises through the casino dept. WE are going out of New Orleans so that will be different. WE are going out 2 days early to site see. Anyway, wrote Victor an e-mail, but hotmail is saying the server is busy, so I will try to resend it in the AM. Now to figure out Belize.

 

You're welcome!! Yes, we were on the Carnival Legend...was an awesome ship and excellent staff. I have never sailed NCL...for awhile I wasn't hearing great things about them, but recently have been hearing much more favorable comments. And if it's free (at least for your friend), that's a huge plus!! I would consider giving them a try if the right deal came up. But I DO love Carnival, too.

For Belize, we had booked a snorkeling and beach excursion through Coral Breeze tours, but they had to cancel it about a week before we cruised coz we were the only ones who signed up! I didn't book anything else since the weather looked iffy anyway...figured I could book something thru the ship if I wanted to. But at our 1st 2 islands, they were having alot of problems with the winds causing rough surf, so I decided not to book snorkeling...just wander around the port shops (I don't really care for shopping either). As it turned out, the seas calmed and I should have booked...GRRRR! The port shops are nice, but you start seeing all the same things. Beware about leaving the gated area at the port...the vendors are pretty brutal out there...they actually follow you and try to get you to buy things. And it's not a very pleasant area out there. I would highly recommend booking something away from port...I am sorry I didn't get to see some of the island.

Good luck!:)

[SmileHMB]

Thanks for your message from http://www.BoddenTours.com!

 

 

We don't have the "best" internet connectivity... Please allow a few days for us to respond to your e-mail!

 

 

If you don't hear from us in several days, please try again!

 

 

Thanks for your understanding!

 

 

Victor Bodden

Bodden Tours

http://www.BoddenTours.com

[Ltvscout]

Thanks for your message from www.BoddenTours.com!

It's an auto-reply to the message you sent to Victor. It's letting you know that the message was received by their mail server but it may take a few days for him to get back to you.

[Irishlinny]

It's an auto-reply to the message you sent to Victor. It's letting you know that the message was received by their mail server but it may take a few days for him to get back to you.

 

And if you don't hear back, just send it again...when you see the island, you will understand! It's beautiful, but nothing like what we are accustomed to!:)

[SmileHMB]

Thanks guys!!

[SmileHMB]

He responded. $40 each, Karen will be happy. We hate crowds. As far as the free cruise. We both get it, usually all free drinks in the casino too! This one was the cost of ports charges, $88 to upgrade to the balcony. $279 each I believe 7 nights, balcony. I hate anytime dining, how am I suppose to meet anyone like that?

[Irishlinny]

He responded. $40 each, Karen will be happy. We hate crowds. As far as the free cruise. We both get it, usually all free drinks in the casino too! This one was the cost of ports charges, $88 to upgrade to the balcony. $279 each I believe 7 nights, balcony. I hate anytime dining, how am I suppose to meet anyone like that?

 

Whoa!! That's such great deal!!! We paid $749 each and with the 8 free upgrades deal I found, we ended up on 8th level balcony...and THAT was a good price...yours is awesome!

I don't know about the anytime dining...what do you do, just go to the restaurant whenever you feel like eating and they seat you somewhere? Do they seat you with other people? In one way, that may actually be a better way to meet people than to get assigned to people for the whole cruise (like we did). Fortunately we loved the couple we got seated with, so that was good. On the last cruise, we couldn't stand the couple, and so we only ate in the dining room 2 out of 5 nites!:eek:

Have you found a thread for your particular sailing...or do you know how to start one? That can give you a head start in meeting some people. We had about 20 couples on our thread and we talked for a few months before the cruise. Then we all met before we set sail...was fun! And also nice to see some familiar faces as you wander around!:D

[SmileHMB]

Heading out with the girls!! Our roll call is a bit on the quiet side.

[Irishlinny]

Heading out with the girls!! Our roll call is a bit on the quiet side.

 

Hope ya had fun! Yeah, ours was quiet til a month or 2 before we sailed...

[SmileHMB]

Had a nice time, 3am of a nice time.

[Irishlinny]

Had a nice time, 3am of a nice time.

 

That sounds like a VERY nice time! LOL! Ahhhh to be young again!;) How are you making out with Belize plans? Check into Coral Breeze tours...even though ours got cancelled, the tour looked good and not crowded, and Mark was very helpful in trying to help us find something else when he cancelled ours. He was very good about emailing back and forth, too!

[SmileHMB]

You are as young as your heart. I will never grow up. My body is getting old. I am soooooooooooo tired from Friday night. Belize, I am looking into Coral Breeze. The driving the boat thing looks cool, just have to see what my roomie wants to do. She is on a cruise right now though. Don't you feel bad for her?? If we can't do the boat thing, I am sure one of the tours will do. From what I have read, it is best to do a tour.

Then there is Cozamel ( did I spell that right, still very tired). I think my friend has thoughts on that, she has been there before. Something about 5th ave. I thought that was in NY or some place, but she says it would be fun. Soooooooo I am getting there.

[Irishlinny]

You are as young as your heart. I will never grow up. My body is getting old. I am soooooooooooo tired from Friday night. Belize, I am looking into Coral Breeze. The driving the boat thing looks cool, just have to see what my roomie wants to do. She is on a cruise right now though. Don't you feel bad for her?? If we can't do the boat thing, I am sure one of the tours will do. From what I have read, it is best to do a tour.

Then there is Cozamel ( did I spell that right, still very tired). I think my friend has thoughts on that, she has been there before. Something about 5th ave. I thought that was in NY or some place, but she says it would be fun. Soooooooo I am getting there.

 

So true...I am very young at heart......but my body begs to differ!!!! LOL!

Your roomie is on a cruise now?!? Geeesh!!! I hate these people who can cruise all the time! I am in the wrong profession!

Yes, I would highly recommend doing a tour in Belize....I mean the shops are nice enough at the port, but I am really sorry we didn't go anywhere (and I'm not a shopper, to boot!)

Lots to choose from in Cozumel! We spent much of the day at Chankanaab Park (which is on the ocean) and did a dolphin swim while we were there. We loved it, and the park was great, too! But there are tons of things to do in Coz (I never heard of the 5th Ave...being from CT, I think of NY City, too!).

We have some pics from our cruise, but are still trying to get them into Flickr or Webshots. Right now they are only in Kodak, so you can't send a link...I can only email invitations to view....

Rest up, and happy excursion hunting!!!:D

[SmileHMB]

Well, I am all confirmed with Victor. We can have the driver as long as we like. That should be nice.

[bpilsner]

We used Bodden Tours on Nov. 19 2007 This was the second time that visited Roatan. The first time we rented a car and did the island ourselves. We love Roatan. Our tour driver was Henry. Bodden Tours has 6 regular tour drivers and hires an addition 12-14 tour drivers based on demand. Henry was a regular tour driver. We got off early. This may help on getting a regular driver. We did Zip Lining, the Igunana farm, Bodden house, and shopping on West Side. All of this was great. We also had plans to do snorkeling, but it was cloudy and raining when we planned to do it, and decided not to. However, we did it on our previous time and had a good time snorkeling and we have snorkeled in Hawaii, Grand Cayman, Cozumel, Belize, and Costa Maya. The highlight of the trip was the spider moneys at Bodden's house. The money's are currently about 6 months old. One climbed on my son's (13 year old) head and used his tail to make a mustach on his face. My twin girls (14 years old), enjoyed cuddling them and having them crawl all over them. I do believe timing is important. We were one of first to get there and the monkeys were ready for attention. Another driver arrived and they were good with them, although that driver was more cautious. then Bodden arrived himself with a tour. I can see where the animals could get tired. My one daughter, the animal lover, hit it off with the Ant Eater. The Eat eater enjoyed her belly rubs. However, these are wild animals and you have to pay attention. She did get scratched when someone threated it a little with some motions to it. Kids enjoyed petting the Igunanas. Only a 200-300 where out to pet! Ziplining was fun and safe, first time we had done this. Eat lunch on west side it was good. Enjoyed Bodden tours better than renting a car since you had no hassles of getting car and returing car, and didn't have to worry about missing something. We had rented from avis near airport on previous trip. Even though it is a poor island, the people are very friendly and crime is very low. Only wish we had went snorkeling in rain. My guess that variation comes in with the non-regular drivers. On our previous trip when we rented a car, we went to one of resorts, paid a fee and used their chairs, ocean front, outdoor pool,and snorkeled right out front. The best part of snorkeling in Roatan is that the reef is close to shore. Roatan remains my favorite port and I am ready to go back. My bad new is that the Cruise lines want to commericalize it. I belize it is Royal Carib. Cruise line that is going to build in next two years a fancy shopping area at dock exit. Hopefully, it won't lose its unspoiled charm.

[Host Star]

royal carib. and carnival are both investing millions (30 mil for rci and 50 mil for carnival) to commercialize the port of roatan... I'm glad i was there before Diamonds International!!

[Irishlinny]

royal carib. and carnival are both investing millions (30 mil for rci and 50 mil for carnival) to commercialize the port of roatan... I'm glad i was there before Diamonds International!!

 

I'm with you on that! We just got back from Roatan in the beginning of the month. We were sad that our stop in that port was so short and that we didn't get to do more. It's nice to be able to go to an island and see it for what it really is, and not for all the touristy things. I don't think it would necessarily be a bad thing for them to make the port nicer...hopefully it would encourage the people who are only interested in shopping to get off the ship. Being that the area near the port is so impoverished, I can see where that would put certain people off of leaving the ship. (However, we found the people of Isla Roatan to be very warm and friendly, and not pushy like so many other ports!). I would hate to see the whole island be taken over by resorts, though...it ruins the natural beauty of the place. We so enjoyed driving around with our guide...was just gorgeous! And I was not impressed by the West End tourist area...the sandy area of the beaches is way too small. My only hope is that things take a long time to get built up, and this may end up happening, as they don't seem to have much of the big machinery to get things done quickly!!!!

[hockeypapa]

:) JUST GOT BACK FROM ROATAN AND BOOKED WITH VICTOR. A GREAT MAN PROUD OF HIS FAMILY AND ISLAND WE CANNT SAY ENOUGH ABOUT HIM IF WE EVER GO BACK TO ROTAN WELL HAVE HIM MAKE THE ARRAINGMENTS. FEEL SAFE FEEL LIKE HAVING FUN BOOK WITH VICTOR BODEN:cool: