Was told this port not worth seeng. . .True ?

[frenchylover]

We booked our tour through roatancruiseexcursions.com. It was about 100.00 for 2 people for the entire day. The zip was phenomenal and I felt VERY safe with the double hooked zipline. The beach was beautiful and the bartender made some killer drinks (from what I remember after 3...). Also, way cheaper then the cruise line and we only had about 8 other people with us.

[cheeseheads1]

We are looking to see the islands natural beauty and are wondering of this is it?

 

If you want natural, beatiful and not like Cozumel this is it. We did Cozumel one day and then Roatan the next. It was by far our favorite. Beautiful place and my hubby and kids would love to return. It is a poor area but if you go away from the port it is quite different. Get a guide if you want but do not stay on the ship! It was a great experience for not only the adults but the kids. Sitting on a cruise ship is great but real life expereinces are better. Have fun.

[theschwanz]

thanks frencylover, helpful tip. looking forward to being there, soon.

[haveluggagewilltravel]

My husband and I were there in 2005 and will be there again later this month. Have been to Grand Caymen, Jamacia ( cruising + 2 additional trips) Cozumel, & Belize. Roatan was by far one of the most memorable trips. My husband is 51 and I am 41. We are not high adventure kind of people (read that; zip lines are out as we would probably hurt ourselves!). We booked the Tabyana beach and Dolphin Encounter (Anthony's Key) excursion through Norwegian at $149.00 pp (I think). It was a great investment! This was one in those lifetime moments you will never forget! So much so that I am booking that excursion through Royal Caribbean for my children and their significant others ($600.00) when we go later this month. We are not wealthy people but it is truly an awesome experience I do not want them to miss! The beaches in Roatan are beautiful and the water is calm. Go, book an excursion, enjoy yourselves! Life is too short to just stay on the ship! Get out there and expereince what Roatan has to offer! Me, I think I'd like to move there!

[cheeseheads1]

Me, I think I'd like to move there!

 

Amen sister!! Loved it.:D

[tiyana4]

We visited Roatan last year and like the OP had not made plans because we simply weren't excited about this port. However, on the advice of CC friends at a meet and greet onboard, we accompanied them on a Victor Bodden tour. Boy were we glad we did.

 

We went on a tour of the island. We visited a fantastic cliffside viewpoint of the Caribbean Sea, the Cameo Factory, Victor bodden's home [a display of monkeys (large, small, nocturnal and spider), an anteater, a fawn and various other animals], The Iguana Farm and one or two other places before eating at the local restaurant. This restaurant is a MUST DO! It had the freshest lobster I have ever eaten and very reasonably priced. Below are some pics...

 

This is what we saw from the ship and port. Had we decided to stay on the ship, we would not have had a favorable opinion of Roatan....

 

 

If you get off the ship and away from the docks, this is some of what you might see...

 

 

 

We were sold and are definitely looking forward to going back. BTW, Bodden Tours are one of the least expensive things you can do on the island and are specifically catered to the places you want to visit.

[mncari]

Agree!!Roatan is beautiful and the people were polite, and proud of their home. We took an island tour and then spent the day at the Mayan Princess. A beautiful resort with a great beach(on the west end). We stopped and saw the monkeys before going to the beach. That was fun. We hired a driver for the day and had a great time. www dot ronysindependenttours dot com.

[Koala_D]

I loved it!

I went to Gumbalimba Park. Even if you don't like monkeys and macaws, the grounds are beautiful and the beach is uncrowded!

The people of Roatan were very friendly, the cruise ship terminal is brand new, and the island is pretty... and safe!

[JenaMH]

I just posted this on a roll call board but thought I would share with you as well.

 

In 2005 we booked a private tour through ISLANDER TOURS with Juan Carlos.

http://islandertours.com/index.html

 

His nephew Enrique met us at the dock holding a sign reading Islander Tours. He was a delightful 23 year old young man that spoke 4 languages. He was working to attend the university on the mainland for tourism. He gave us a great tour of the island including the Iguana Farm (This was really cool! There were giant leaves to feed the iguanas and they were everywhere) , ship wrecks and beautiful overlooks and a stop at a local convenient store for Salva Vida (local beer) and snacks. Enrique was right there to help with the language and currency exchange. (Lempiras)

At one of the overlooks there were a few locals selling items like shells and craved wooden items. Sadly there were young children who we thought were begging – maybe they were. One of the children, a stunning little girl who could have not been more than 1 ½ and clad only in a diaper holding American coins in her out stretched hand. So we added to her collection…..Later Enrique told us that American dollars are accepted in the Roatan banks but our coins are useless. The children actually wanted us to exchange dollars for the coins that were worthless to them. :o So if you encounter these beautiful but very poor children please help them.

 

We had booked a 2 hour horseback ride with Barrio Dorcas Ranch– Roosmarie was my contact and so responsive to emails. http://www.barriodorcasranch.com/ Enrique was not familiar with the ranch so took us to another riding stable. I had told Juan Carlos we had a reservation and I am unsure what happened here. I felt really bad that we had a reservation and did not make it as scheduled. When I got home there was an email from Roosemarie and she was worried about us since we did not show up as planned. She asked how it could be avoided in the future. Very customer service oriented people. Although we did not make it I would highly recommend them if you are interested in riding. I would use their driving service to make sure you get there.

 

We had a great ride through the jungle with macaws and parakeets flying over head, down to the beach, through a million dollar neighborhood and many scenic overlooks. It was great but I do wish we had been taken to Barrio Dorcas. Our guide for the ride spoke 0 English so we were really glad that Enrique rode with us. After the ride he took us to the Mayan Princess for drinks/food and beach time. It was a beautiful place with excellent food and drinks (complete with umbrellas). The four of us got a seafood platter for $15 and could not finish it. It was lobster, shrimp, fish, fried plantains and other goodies. We bought Enrique a soda and burger and he share stories about growing up in Roatan. When we arrived back at the dock we went with him to meet his mother and sister, who worked a booth in the flea market area directly across from the ship. We made a few purchases then had to say farewell to Enrique. We spent about 8 hours with him and the cost $100……we tipped him big! He deserved it. :)

 

I will be checking to see if he is available for our next trip as well.

 

I hope you will experience Roatan and enjoy!! ;)

 

This was a very helpful post.

 

From all the responses, I am now leaning on doing a private tour while on this Island. What are the price ranges I should expect to see?

[Roerunner]

We sailed on the Legend from 3/22-3/29 and just wanted to let future cruisers know that Roatan was our favorite spot. I won't recap the rest of our cruise, because others have already done an excellent job there and suffice it to say we had an excellent time all the way around. Let me get back to Roatan. There are a lot of reasons to fall in love with this port. First of all we got to dock - no tender. The dock is fairly new and there are the usual shops there that you see other ports, though it's not nearly as big and they are still adding on. The island is also quite mountainous and very green, which sets it apart from the Caymans, Cozumel, and Belize. We were tired of the "flatlands" and this offered a welcomed break. We do not dive (do some snorkeling), but this looked like a great place to go if you're into that. The whole island coast(which is substantial) seemed to be perfect for diving and snorkeling without having to even take a boat. The water is crystal clear everywhere. We did get to visit Anthonys Key resort, which has been featured here many times, and it looked like a top notch place to dive/snorkel from, though I know there are others. We wanted to see the island, not just the tourist places, so had lined up our own tour ahead of time. One ot the people we had read about on CruiseCritic was Theris Dixon (therisdixon@yahoo.com) who was recommended. I lined up a private excursion with her for my wife and I and set up a meeting place right outside the tourist "compound". When we arrived, Theris met us as planned, but must have had another tour planned (probably with more than 2 people) and introduced us to the person who would be our tour guide. His name was Barnie and we could not have done better if we had hand picked him. His email is barniehydes@yahoo.com. He drives a nice air conditioned van that could comfortably seat 6, but it was just my wife and I. Before I forget, we had agreed to pay Theris $80 total for our private tour, which was to last 4 or so hours, which Barney understood. He's 42, has a great smile, speaks fluent English and loves his island. He asked a couple of questions and we assured him we were not big shoppers and another shopping area was not what we wanted to see. Anyway, I need to cut this a little short but after we left downtown, which is pretty poor but people seemed much friendlier than around the port in Belize, we drove the east side, up some

beautiful mountains and were able to get a lot of scenic shots. Barnie gave us a nice history of the island, which is part of Honduras, and their government today. He showed us the Sandy Cove (?) beach area and the West End, which is a lot of authentic shops, bars/restaurants, etc. on a sandy road where the "real" nitelife takes place for those staying on the island. The shops were fairly small and most were made of bamboo and open-air. The same with many of the bars. They were not dirty, just more native than downtown. It looked like it would really be neat but could get really jam packed. There are a lot of beach houses for rent and the island was easy to trasverse. Barnie also showed us where his house was. He works construction when cruise ships are not in, so he's a busy person. We finally asked him to take us to a place we could pick up a few souvenirs and some Honduran coffee, which he found us the perfect place. We left Barnie after a great tour, and told him we think we'd like to come back and spend some time on his beatiful island. I hope this has been of some help and will try to answer any questions you might have.

[KingofSomewhereHot]

Nice review. I will be visiting there later this month and I CAN'T WAIT. Did you happen to eat anywhere local? One of my favorite things to do in port is find a nice restaurant (no chains) to have a good meal. And sometimes it can break up all of that cruise food too.

[MDSue]

I'll be on The Legend in 2 days- can't wait. I'm looking forward to my second visit to Roatan. Thanks for the great review:)

[siryn]

We just returned from Roatan on the Valor and also fell in love with the island. We went to Tabyana beach and it was just beautiful, the way you expect a beach to be with palm trees randomly scattered across it and beautiful water. Very laid back and relaxing.

 

After we got home I caught my husband looking at properities in Roatan so I know it made an impression on him too!

[firefly333]

Its my favorite port too. We will be there next week and arranged a private tour

[amazonlady]

it is defintitely worth going ashore here. unfortunately when we were there last year we only had a morning but went to the beach in a taxi, paid about $10 each. he waited for us for the 3 hours we were there. the beach was fantastic and the snorkeling was wonderful. definitely not a port to miss.:o

[kendon]

Any place I've never been to before is always worth seeing....

[sunny3]

Having just returned from RCI cruise last week, I am very surprised at what we saw vs what we expected. Yes, the vegetation is beautiful in Roatan, but this island is simply not equipped to handle the masses of tourists brought in on cruise ships. The snorkeling was bland, the beaches overcrowded. Everything very over-priced. We had a very low energy and uninteresting guide from Bodden Tours--not at all like the ones mentioned by others. Considering we wanted to go to the beaches mostly, it was a total waste of money for us. (Makes me question the authenticity of some of these postings). Traffic was a mess, no public toilets etc. The poverty is unfortunately striking and the government has little in the way of infrastructure or services for its people. We are not unfamiliar with 3rd world countries (so it is not that aspect that shocks us) but this small island is ill prepared for the thousands of tourists that disembark. I would not recommend this port and our family agrees that we would not choose a land-based vacation there.

[azkcruizers]

What was the name of your tour guide? I am surprised since I've heard so many positive things about victor bodden's guides and the island itself.

[MDSue]

I just returned from Roatan also and my experience was once again excellent. We also used one of Victor's guides. While I did not enjoy snorkelling off the beach because the water was a bit cloudy and the surf rough [it cleared up later], we arranged to go out on a glass bottom boat and went snorkelling at a place called the Blue Channel. The snorkelling was the best I've seen yet. Our guide was very informative and interested in providing a great day for us- we love the island, poverty and all. It is a developing country and before tourist discovered it, there was little opportunity for it's residents. Most men would have to leave the island to find employment. Tourism has been a big help for the residents and most go out of their way to provide an enjoyable visit.

While some areas are still quite poor, there are plenty of nice places on the island.

It may not be for everyone, but it's one of my favorite places to visit.

[k2rider]

This was actually my favorite port and the only stop that I would be interested in returning to for an extended stay. There was obvious poverty on the island but if you can look past it, the island was beautiful and the limited people we had contact with were very gracious. They seem genuinely grateful to have people there spending money.

 

Quite frankly, as far as the people go, I felt this way about all the ports we stopped at. Belize was the only stop that I wouldn't really want to return to. It wasn't particularly scenic but I may feel differently if I experienced it again.

 

Bottom line....Honduras was awesome and I hope to return if I ever decide to get scuba certified.

[loveJake]

we arranged to go out on a glass bottom boat and went snorkelling at a place called the Blue Channel

 

We were there in Sept 08 and are going back Dec 09. We used a private guide, who I am going to contact again. I am interested in doing the glass bottom boat this time since we are taking our grandchildren along. Do you know if there is a site for this? If no site do you remember what you paid? We loved our day in Roatan, we toured the island, went shopping, and visited a beautiful beach along with a few other stops. Just to show you how poor the island is, when we were leaving the port area my DH was drinking bottled water. The was over half a bottle left from a large bottle. A man asked if he could have the water, DH gave it to him and he started drinking the water without even a thought that some stranger had already drank from the bottle. Thanks

[MDSue]

We were there in Sept 08 and are going back Dec 09. We used a private guide, who I am going to contact again. I am interested in doing the glass bottom boat this time since we are taking our grandchildren along. Do you know if there is a site for this? If no site do you remember what you paid?

I can't remember the name of the boat, but it was operated near the West End beaches. We were with one of Victor's guides and we had arranged to go out on the boat. We paid $15 each. We brought our own gear, but they also had gear. The pier it operated off of was right next to the Half Moon Bay Resort. The guide took us out to an area called the Blue Channel which is a short distance from the beach. He swam with us along the reef to show us the way. It is a popular dive site also and there were plenty of divers beneath us. The reef and scenery was fabulous. i saw a couple of similar boats in the same area. Your guide will probaly know who to recommend. I wish I could remember the name of ours, he was very good. We were with a group of people from the mainland of Honduras and the only ones who spoke English so the guide repeated everything in both languages.

 

 

 

[TxLnghrnz]

I can't remember the name of the boat, but it was operated near the West End beaches. We were with one of Victor's guides and we had arranged to go out on the boat. We paid $15 each. We brought our own gear, but they also had gear. The pier it operated off of was right next to the Half Moon Bay Resort. The guide took us out to an area called the Blue Channel which is a short distance from the beach. He swam with us along the reef to show us the way. It is a popular dive site also and there were plenty of divers beneath us. The reef and scenery was fabulous. i saw a couple of similar boats in the same area. Your guide will probaly know who to recommend. I wish I could remember the name of ours, he was very good. We were with a group of people from the mainland of Honduras and the only ones who spoke English so the guide repeated everything in both languages.

 

 

That looks like Richard and his boat, the Ocean Explorer. We went with him over Thanksgiving...booked through Bodden. There are a couple more pictures here: http://www.boddentours.com/tours.htm (Right column, bottom of page) It was great since mom, who doesn't snorkel, could still enjoy the reef through the glass bottom panel.

 

Awesome snorkeling!

[MDSue]

That looks like Richard and his boat, the Ocean Explorer. We went with him over Thanksgiving...booked through Bodden. There are a couple more pictures here: http://www.boddentours.com/tours.htm (Right column, bottom of page) It was great since mom, who doesn't snorkel, could still enjoy the reef through the glass bottom panel.

 

Awesome snorkeling!

You are right, it was Richard. Thanks for helping me remember his name- a great guide. We actually missed the boat when it went out [spent too much time at Victor's playing with the monkees]. He turned around and came back for us and gave us a wonderful tour.

[mistergq]

We consider Roatan and Grand Cayman our favorite spots in Western Caribbean. Unfortunately, it is hard to find an itinerary with both.