In Roatan from 3 pm to 8 pm

[CRUZFOOLS]

What can we do in this amount of time? Would it be beter to take a ship tour, if one is offered? Would like to do something but don't know what.

[happyone082]

What can we do in this amount of time? Would it be beter to take a ship tour, if one is offered? Would like to do something but don't know what.

 

We were just about to post the same question. We had previously booked spa treatments at Sante but obviously won't have time to follow through with this plan.

 

Are there any good restaurants or shopping areas close to where the ship docks?

[CRUZFOOLS]

I read somewhere :confused: about a restaurant called Seaman's Club which is on Main Street in Coxen Hole where we dock. It is within walking distance from the pier. 3 grilled lobster tails $20, Shrimp $5. I wouldn't know where to go back to it if I tried. Perhaps someone else could help.

[USFcrew]

As you get out of the gate at the pier make a right and keep walking it will be on your right on the seaside.

[happyone082]

Thank you for your help. Sounds good!

 

We are thinking of just staying and shopping and eating on the island. I don't think we'll actually go anywhere else as time won't allow.

 

Is there shopping within walking distance from the boat pier?

[saraisarai]

Both sides of the street.

[grumpycajun]

Bummer! Our arrival on the NCL Spirit on 02/10 has changed from 1:00 to 3:00, too. I had a tour booked with Victor Bodden and we were really looking forward to it. I really don't think it's worth it now. Guess I'll just have to plan on another trip to Roatan to check it out!:D

[maxsmamma]

I would only get off the ship to take a tour. This is not a place you want to be left behind in. ( there was a thread 2 years ago about people left behind. Having been there, I was interested in it, sadly it was a nightmare for them) The area around the dock is not the most pleasanlty rustic place I have been to. It's a little rough.

[willamanthea]

I've booked a 1:15 excursion through NCL and they havent even mentioned to me about the change in arrival time. All of their listed excursions start BEFORE 3 pm, the new arrival time. Wouldnt want to be walking around a dark unfamiliar island by ourselves. Can't see much of any beautiful scenery in the dark either. Maybe a wonderful sunset, but we can see that from the ship. Gripe, Gripe, Complain, Complain

 

But what else is there to do?:cool:

[rubythroatbird]

We are sailing tomorrow and had to cancel our Victor Bodden tour. He offered $5 per person off, which I don't think is much of a deal for losing most of the daylight hours. Especially since we're a couple so we would still be paying $35 apiece. Just didn't add up.

 

I'm thinking we'll investigate those lobster tails that somebody mentioned upthread.

[CRUZFOOLS]

We'll probably meet you for the lobster tails.

[danamom_o_fun]

So, what's the deal with the times posted as arrival and departure by NCL? We will be on the Norwegian Spirit leaving 2/10. We weren't sure if the 3-8 meant factor in the 2 hours before you disembark and then the returning 1 hour before you depart (meaning you'd only be off the boat from 5-7), or if it meant you actually had the 5 hours (from 3-8) in Roatan off the boat. One of the friends we are going with called the cruise line to ask, but the lady she talked to wasn't helpful at all and just tried to sell her a bunch of excursions. We thought it would kind of suck if we only had 2 hours off the ship in Roatan, especially since my husband was in Honduras for 2 years and so we were kind of excited to check the island out.

[simple girl]

We recently zipped in Roatan, and I wanted to share some safety concerns I had regarding our experience.

 

We arrived late in port (on the Spirit - arrived around 4 p.m. and had to be back by 8 p.m.). Our tour operator assured us we had enough time to zip before sundown (5:30 p.m.)

 

Unfortunately, we didn't realize this meant being rushed through the zip experience, to the point where safety issues became a real concern.

 

First, the instruction given on how to zip (this included how to brake using your gloved hand on the cable) was brief. There was a boy about 10 years old in our group, and I'm not so sure he understood how to slow himself down...when coming into the first platform he was going way too fast and obviously didn't understand how to brake. The guide started yelling "brake, brake!" to no avail. The poor little boy slammed into the guide and somewhere in the process hit his face (not sure on what) and ended up with a bloody nose:( It was awful. He was crying and very upset. Thankfully his father was able to calm him, and from that point on, the guides took the boy on the zip with them (he just rode with them and didn't have to brake).

 

< See next post in thread. Couldn't get whole post to come through at once >

[simple girl]

< cont'd >

Here are some additional safety issues:

1. When you get off the zip, they are supposed to hook you into a safety line while on the platform. This was not done consistently for all zippers. They were really rushing us through. And once, when they did hook me into the platform safety line, my line got tangled with another zipper. They then tried to hook her up to the cable and send her off to zip. If we had not all yelled very loud for them to stop, I would have been pulled off the platform and potentially injured very badly.
   
2. My friend's helmet wouldn't stay on. She had the guides try to adjust it, but they discovered it was broken. She had to zip the remainder of the trip without a helmet.
   
3. My friend had difficulty braking. At one point she grabbed the line instead of pulling down (without gripping)...her arm got yanked back, and she was sore for several days afterwards with a strained shoulder.

[simple girl]

<cont'd>

1. Once when I came to the landing, I didn't get my feet all the way on, and I was leaning backwards. The guide was in such a rush that he didn't notice this and started unhooking my safety line. Yikes! I let him know about that real quick!
   
2. There were 2 cables next to each other on each zip. Our main harness was hooked via pulley to one cable. They hooked the safety line to the same cable, instead of the second cable (which I believe was there for redundancy/safety). When questioned about why they didn't use the second cable, they told us it would slow us down too much.
   
3. Zippers were sent close together, so at times the guide had only like 15 seconds or so to get the first zipper off and the second one was coming in for a landing.

[simple girl]

< cont'd >

 

1. It was fairly dark by the last 3 zips. Nothing like coming in for a landing when you can only see where the platform is when you are about 20 feet away. It helped when the guide had a white t-shirt on, LOL.

OK, I guess that's enough. I want to share that my husband absolutely LOVED this excursion, but he never worries or thinks anything bad will ever happen. I, on the other hand, worry enough for the both of us...so keep that in perspective! ;)

 

 

Sorry about so many posts!

[Oz9591]

WOW! Which zipline was this...and was this a NCL excursion?

[simple girl]

No, it wasn't with NCL. They cancelled all of their excursions. Guess that should have been our first clue...:rolleyes:

 

We booked through Shore Trips and the tour operator was South Shore.

[cwatts15]

We just got back from Roatan and we did not have much time to do anything. All ships tours were cancelled. We had already booked privately with www.roatancabtours.com and cynthia was waiting for us. We had a short tour around the islan. We saw shipwrecks, Iguana farm, and went west end beach and that was where we saw the sunset. She took us to a local market to get Honduras coffee and vanilla real cheap. The problem with the port was The island has rolling blackouts and the night we were there it was pitch black. The locals were selling by candles and coleman lantern. Kind of cool but scary in some parts. The is a small tent that has shopping at the pier. Wish we had more time. Our tour was great, clean cars, or vans. I highly recommend the company. Email them and tell them Candy & jerry from Oklahoma recommended them. Have fun!!!

[jkloni]

We are booking with Victor for our group for ziplining, a short tour and drinks, sunset, shopping. The ones who will zipline will go do that while the rest do a tour and we'll all meet for the sunset. Victor said it will still be daylight and we'll have time for the ziplining - but that we have to get off the ship immediately when able.

 

I have told him that if we get in later than 3pm we will not go. So hopefully the timing will work out. I'm happy about having a drink while watching the sunset. And I do feel safe because Victor is providing our transportation. I want to be back by 7pm...

 

Kathy

[CRUZFOOLS]

If you are on NCL Spirit, there are tours that you can book thru the ship even with the shortened hours. We did the Coral Cay Private Island and Shrimp Fest $45. This turned out to be excellent. The beach and drinks were great. I had reservations about eating food but it was the best food on our trip. This was excellent. We had broiled, fried, boiled shrimp and shrimp pasta. If was seasoned just right. There was also s man singing as we ate which was very good.

 

Don't stay on the ship. Take at least 1 tour. It is a very poor town but you may never get the chance to go again.

[NCL1stTimer]

I am booked on the Spirit on March 2 and only see one tour offered when I log in to their site - The Dolphin Encounter. Do they offer more tours once you are on board? We are thinking of trying to go to Fins & Flippers, but don't know if there is enough time. Anyone back from the Spirit recently who can give advice?

[rubythroatbird]

The Spirit docked at Roatan promptly at 3. I'm not sure if there were any shore excursions offered through the Spirit or merely very few, but we didn't have to wait for shore excursion guests to leave first. I was unable to learn of any Roatan tours offered once onboard because, quite frankly, the lines were too long all the time at the shore excursions desk.

 

 

Also it was raining a little bit and quite gray, which might have kept down the numbers of those guests wishing to go ashore. Upshot: Those of us who did want to could go ashore pretty much immediately, and we were off the boat by 3:10. Your mileage may vary. There are lots of stands and individuals offering tours and/or taxi. We got a tour/taxi for just the two of us, $20 apiece or $40 total. There was a Spanish-speaking driver and a very young man, I'm guessing about age 11, who spoke excellent English and who interpreted and described the sights. Not sure of the tipping custom but tips are accepted and in the event, we tipped them $5 apiece. Maybe we could have bargained more, but it was as cheap or cheaper than what we were offered online and seemed good value for what we wanted to do.

 

Considering we received $50 credit apiece from the Spirit for the nuisance of arriving late at Roatan, we came out ahead of the deal financially, that's for sure. :-) However, I don't think the credits are being offered for other sailings.

 

 

We hit a number of photo spots and scenic overlooks and arrived back at the agreed-upon time of about 4:30, maybe a teeny tiny bit later. However, we were offered the chance to visit the iguana farm and some other exhibits, so your tour would actually take a little longer if you did that. No chance of missing the boat though, because it didn't sail until 8 PM. At this point, we had the option of shopping, hitting one of the little bars on the water, or viewing the sunset from the fishing pier. We browsed a little, my companion bought a little souvenir, and then we picked up beer and cola from a small convenience store so that we could sip as we enjoyed the sunset from the pier. (The threat of rain had vanished, yay!) Not a fancy excursion by any means but considering the limited daylight available to us, we were happy.

[Gloria_mz]

rubythroatbird...........So you guys docked right? You did you have to take a tender onto the island??

[rubythroatbird]

The Spirit was the only cruise boat there that day that I noticed and, yes, we docked. I do not know what would happen if more than one boat was scheduled.