Help me make a decision!

[dassus]

My family will be in Roatan in January (Carnival Valor). I have looked through all the excursions and options and I am lost on what we should do. My daughters (8 and 6) are both experienced travelers and very good swimmers. I want to do something adventureous. But I don't want to miss out on Roatan. Who knows when we will get back there!!

 

Any suggestions as to which way we should go? I am considering going to Coral Cay. But I am afraid that if we go there we will be missing out on a better adventure. Ziplining is out of the question. While the girls are brave, they are not that brave.

 

PLEASE help us. We are running out of time!!!

[MDSue]

Have you considered booking a tour with Victor Bodden? They will take you all over the island and you can spend as much or little time as you like in each location. They know the island well and will have suggestions for you also. Your kids may enjoy the iguana place [can't remember the name, but it is alot of fun. The iguanas are plentiful and enjoy being fed. You will only need to spend a short time there. There are plenty of other places to see and do, but to me the best way to see experience this island is with a tour.

[kebboli]

We also used Bodden and loved it. Pictures, toured, snorkeled, ate lunch, ziplined all with our own private driver. Can't wait to go back.

[familycruising4us]

I think we are on the same cruise. I don't know if you saw what we are doing...

We are horseback riding. It takes us thru the village, along the beach and thru the hills. We end up at Foster's resort on the beach for a drink and relax a bit then they take us back to the ship.

You can also do all this thru Victor as well, and add more to the tour, but we decided to keep it to just the ride and beach. :D

[traveljunky99]

Ziplining is fun.!! The Mayan zipline(at Victors) is pretty good for first timers. It is not as strenuous as some of the other ziplines. We took our 2 and 5 yr old on the ziplines!!!! you could do this in about an 1 1/2 and still have time for other things. Enjoy.

[P2B12]

We just got back and LOVED Roatan. Hubby and I booked a private tour for the Extreme Zipline at Pirates of The Caribbean. Our guide, Etter, picked us up at the ship, was our guide ziplining, took us to the beach, gave us a short island tour and took us back to the boat. They're awesome!! We had a wonderful time - the ziplining was great and the people friendly!

[Mama Cruise]

We just got back home from the last Valor trip to Roatan (Christmas Eve). My kids are older than yours and we had planned busy "excursion/shopping" days on each side of our day there, so we booked independently at the Fins and Flippers resort (owned by the same fellow who runs Anthony's Key Resort). You can see what they offer at finsandflippers.com and Cindy (the Manager) is quick to respond to questions. It's cheap ($20 for the day) and we were very happy. You will walk a short distance from the Valor's dock to the dock for F&F and be taken to the private island by private launch. The walk is short but abit intimidating as there are locals hoping to sell you stuff and lead you to "better places" but it is a SHORT walk - 50 yards and if you say where you are going and appear to know the F&F dock is right there then they back off. After our day the launch driver brought us right back to the Valor's dock so we did not have walk back through the crowd. And it's right there in sight of the ship, just a couple minutes by launch from one to the other, and they will run the launch when you are ready, so there is no risk of missing the boat. I think there were 30 people on the island with us on Christmas Eve. There is a wonderful pool, private beach, some animals being rehabilitated, a gift shop, restaurant... They are building a museum but it's not open yet. They also have under construction some huge pens for animals they are committed to rescuing from private collectors and small zoos. The snorkeling is very kid friendly, you can either wade in or jump off a beach side dock. The whole place was a wonderland. It was the highlight of our whole trip.

[Bobug]

We just got back home from the last Valor trip to Roatan (Christmas Eve). My kids are older than yours and we had planned busy "excursion/shopping" days on each side of our day there, so we booked independently at the Fins and Flippers resort (owned by the same fellow who runs Anthony's Key Resort). You can see what they offer at finsandflippers.com and Cindy (the Manager) is quick to respond to questions. It's cheap ($20 for the day) and we were very happy. You will walk a short distance from the Valor's dock to the dock for F&F and be taken to the private island by private launch. The walk is short but abit intimidating as there are locals hoping to sell you stuff and lead you to "better places" but it is a SHORT walk - 50 yards and if you say where you are going and appear to know the F&F dock is right there then they back off. After our day the launch driver brought us right back to the Valor's dock so we did not have walk back through the crowd. And it's right there in sight of the ship, just a couple minutes by launch from one to the other, and they will run the launch when you are ready, so there is no risk of missing the boat. I think there were 30 people on the island with us on Christmas Eve. There is a wonderful pool, private beach, some animals being rehabilitated, a gift shop, restaurant... They are building a museum but it's not open yet. They also have under construction some huge pens for animals they are committed to rescuing from private collectors and small zoos. The snorkeling is very kid friendly, you can either wade in or jump off a beach side dock. The whole place was a wonderland. It was the highlight of our whole trip.

 

The last Valor trip to Roatan? Do you know something I don't know? We are scheduled to be in Roatan on our second half of b2b in Feb. on the Valor. It still shows we are going there...please let me know if there is something I don't know about.

Thanks a bunch

[3rinDenver]

The last Valor trip to Roatan? Do you know something I don't know? We are scheduled to be in Roatan on our second half of b2b in Feb. on the Valor. It still shows we are going there...please let me know if there is something I don't know about.

Thanks a bunch

 

She was just saying that she just got off the Valor....so was in Roatan the last time the Valor was there. ;)

 

We did kayak & snorkel through Carnival and thought it was phenomenal. Kid-safe snorkeling with lots of supervision, excellent food, and a fun time kayaking. I definitely recommend it. You may be able to book it independently through the Cannibal Cafe, but not totally sure....

[dassus]

I think that I am leaning towards the Fins and Flippers. I really appreciate all the help.

 

Let me know if you have any other helpful info for that area!!!

 

Thanks again.

[hagges]

Our family is having a hard time deciding also. Have looked at the tours and F&F. Unfortunately I mentioned the "sand flea" issue to my wife and now she is not sure if she even wants to go to a beach in Roatan. I have also read very good things about Rony's independent tours.

[gargoyle999]

Our family is having a hard time deciding also. Have looked at the tours and F&F. Unfortunately I mentioned the "sand flea" issue to my wife and now she is not sure if she even wants to go to a beach in Roatan. I have also read very good things about Rony's independent tours.

 

I'm going to Fins next month. Doing a lot of snorkeling on this cruise but I'm looking forward to this stop because it won't be so structured. Other excursions are 30 minutes or an hour. Here I can spend as much time as I want in the water, well until time to go back to the ship!

 

We have plenty of bug repellent at our house for all the mosquitoes we get around here in summer so I'm bringing some of that along. I'm not going to let some sand fleas get in my way of snorkeling! :D

[MartyC]

We were in Roatan last week on the Veendam and we didn't get off the ship as we were not comfortable with the Veendam tender system and we were there for a very short time. It was a beautiful morning so we spent a nice quiet time on the ship. People we had dinner with that night, got off and took a cab at the peir and said the island was beautiful. The cab also included an hour at the beach and they just took a cab when they got there. You could actually see the Fun and Flipper island from the pool deck of our ship and watched the little boat going back and forth all day. In hindsite if we would have realised how really close the island was we would have gotten up early and gotten off the ship and went.