New Mahogany Bay Cruise Center dock in Roatan for Carnival (MERGED THREADS)

[Delta Dear]

Would someone please take a picture ( or post one if you have it) of the hill that you have to climb to get to the independent tour guides.

 

I have booked a tour with Rony, in February but am concerned about whether or not the hill will be too difficult for my husband to walk. He has some mobility problems due to his back and legs.

 

Perhaps we can make a determination by seeing a picture of the hill to assess the steepness and the distance.

 

My hope is that by then perhaps there will be some accommodation for those with physical challenges.

 

Thanks

[CruisinMaterial]

Yes - I am pretty certain that it does

 

Hey small world, I grew up in North Andover :)

 

I work in North Andover! Even smaller world! :) There's quite a few CCers from Lowell (my home city) on here! :D

[mjlfg]

Thanks all for the reassurance. I didn't think there were reasons to worry, but I feel better. I can't even drive my golf ball 300 yds, I'm sure I can handle the walk! I bet No tenders saves TONS of time! yea. Peggy

[crewsweeper]

Would someone please take a picture ( or post one if you have it) of the hill that you have to climb to get to the independent tour guides.

 

I have booked a tour with Rony, in February but am concerned about whether or not the hill will be too difficult for my husband to walk. He has some mobility problems due to his back and legs.

 

Perhaps we can make a determination by seeing a picture of the hill to assess the steepness and the distance.

 

My hope is that by then perhaps there will be some accommodation for those with physical challenges.

 

Thanks

Delta Dear,

 

mystone99's psot back a couple pages (post #138) has a panoramic picture of the complex from the dock to the shops. You can get some sense of the steepness, but not a closer one. And nothing outside the gate yet. Walkway appears to be fairly wide and paved. Right now it's the best one I'v eseen. Maybe others have better pictures in their reviews. So keep reading here or on the Princess and CArnival boards for reviews of ships that visit here. Crown Princess, Valor, Legend and Dream are 3 that come here often.

[devinc]

Having been to both Tabyana beach and Mahogany Bay beach, Tabyana is the most beautiful beach but the convenience of Mahogany and virtually no cost of using it will sway most beach goers. Also, it was much calmer water for children since it is somewhat protected. Tabyana was fairly rough the day I went there,

 

So what would you do if you went again? With 2 kids, I'm leaning toward Mahogany due to the close proximity and $ but am not sure if there is much shade.

[giddy2travel]

delta dear we organized a beach snorkel day with bananarama and i just recieved a message that they will pick us up inside I think it's because my mum has a wheelchair/mobility issue so maybe they make exceptions..it's worth a try

have a good trip

[Jolly Mon Sings]

We are just back from Carnival Valor which was the Carnival ship to dock at Mahogany Bay. The Mahogany Bay Cruise Center is very spacious but hilly. It is similar to other cruise terminals with shops and bars. Saw the ski lift to Carnival's beach but skipped it as we wanted to snorkle at Tabayana Beach.

 

It is very easy and cheap $20/pp --4persons to get a taxi for the day. Our driver Sergio had a SUV which gave us little more room. There is a steep hill outside the cruise center where tour attractions are located. It was too hot, too humid, to trek up the hill so we went with a taxi at the tour center. YOU CAN NEGOTIATE THE PRICE!!!

 

Sergio drove us to Tabayana Beach and waited for us. There is a beach right next to the Carnival tour beach and you can rent beach chairs and snorkeling equipment. In fact the better snorkling and reefs are located to the left of Carnival's Tabayana beach. Saw lots of fish and beautiful coral.

 

After the beach we headed to West End--Eagle Ray Divers. This is great beachside bar with Salva Vida beer. Lots of good places with T-shirts and trinkets. Will spend more time here next visit.

[cruisetobeaches]

I would love to hear if someone uses a cabana or finds out the costs, we rented a cabana on HMC and it was the highlight of our trip

 

Cabanas are $195 for the day for four people and are very similar in design to those at HMC. We did not rent one, but I did take some pictures, which I will post once I get things downloaded from the cameras. One oddity is that while there is a nice sand beach in front of the cabanas, as you near the water, there is a large concrete slab that you would have to walk over to get into the water. Just seems odd. It was a good place to sit and put on flippers, though.

 

We were there last friday and only saw one rented. Carnival was pretty good about keeping others out of the area.

[cruisetobeaches]

So what would you do if you went again? With 2 kids, I'm leaning toward Mahogany due to the close proximity and $ but am not sure if there is much shade.

 

Mahogany Bay has a lot of places to sit in the shade. BUT, bring bug repellant! Those that sat in the shade without bug spray got lots of sand flea bites. Not so in the sun.

 

There are also lots of seating in pavillion type areas if you don't need to be right next to the beach. there is no charge for chairs or loungers.

[Naomi John]

There is a steep hill outside the cruise center where tour attractions are located. It was too hot, too humid, to trek up the hill so we went with a taxi at the tour center

 

How Steep and how far of a Trek?

[dst]

I work in North Andover! Even smaller world! :) There's quite a few CCers from Lowell (my home city) on here! :D

 

 

Nice to meet neighbors who love to cruise - Thanks for your help on this thread :)

[cruisetobeaches]

Here are pictures I took last week at mahogany Bay:

 

http://s369.photobucket.com/albums/oo140/cruisetobeaches/Roatan/

 

I'll be doing a full review with pics on the Carnival Board later this week

 

 

[bkruiser]

Actually we were able to get two chaises under a nice shady tree. There is more shade there than at Princess Cays. But we were on the early side, maybe around 9 or so? If you like to stroll the beach, I would go to Tabyana. But if your kids just want play in the sand and snorkel some, I would go for Mahogany. The convenience was very nice and there was no cost associated with going (we walked down the path instead of riding) which helped considering we spent a fair amount for other excursions at Cozumel and Grand Cayman.

[dst]

Here are pictures I took last week at mahogany Bay:

 

http://s369.photobucket.com/albums/oo140/cruisetobeaches/Roatan/

 

I'll be doing a full review with pics on the Carnival Board later this week

 

 

 

 

Thanks for the pictures, only 39 days till we get to relax!

[Coolmama_1]

Here are pictures I took last week at mahogany Bay:

 

http://s369.photobucket.com/albums/oo140/cruisetobeaches/Roatan/

 

I'll be doing a full review with pics on the Carnival Board later this week

 

 

 

 

 

Great Pictures!Thanks for sharing.

[crewsweeper]

Thanks for the pictures cruisetobeaches...looking forward to your review. Based on these pictures, I'd say MBCC will be a popular spot for many cruisers. One of the biggest complaints you hear about Roatan is how there was nothing to do in Coxen Hole, nowhere to eat or drink near the ship (meaning no Senor Frogs, Carlos n Charlies or Jimmy Buffet's retirement fund places). So this fits the bill nicely. And the good news for cruisers who like to explore the island and go to the better beaches...less crowded!!! From the descriptions, sounds like the independents are taking care of their own via use of a shuttle to their kiosks and being able to drop you off at the pier. Also I noticed that the walk to the beach isn't without it's hill/ramp where the footbridge hits the sand.

[zellers]

Here are pictures I took last week at mahogany Bay:

 

http://s369.photobucket.com/albums/oo140/cruisetobeaches/Roatan/

 

I'll be doing a full review with pics on the Carnival Board later this week

 

 

 

 

Thanks, so much! It was great looking at your album! Looking forward to our "turn!" ;)

[carads]

Just a few more pics from our balcony on the Glory. One is a section showing the hill in the background. I would hope that at some point Carnival will allow the private tours on the property. We had to walk outside to meet ours, but they were allowed to drop us back off inside when we showed the guard our S&S card.

[devinc]

Great pics folks! Thanks for taking the time to post.

[cruisetobeaches]

I posted a rather LONG review on the Carnival board here:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1102969

[Delta Dear]

Thanks for the picture of the hill. It is not as bad as I thought, but I will check with Rony's Tours closer to our date in Feb. to see if he can pick get clearance to pick my husband up at the base of the hill or something.

[smarks]

This has been a topic of discussion on other Roatan posts. I have found Carnival's attempted domination of every single cruise dollar to be heartless and greedy. It sounds like from the early reviews, that most cruisers are able to make the hike without much trouble, but elderly and disabled have a big disadvantage. I believe the only way for Carnival to rethink their policy, is if disatisfied customers make their concerns known.

One address previously provided is gdavis@carnival.com [Graham Davis]

I hope you will write him.

I just did. Thanks for the e-mail address. I hope everyone writes to try to get this corrected. Thanks again.

[slynn66]

Thank you for the post. Me and 18 othere people will be there mid January. We are booked with Ronys tours. There is a few in our group 70+. I was worried about them in the hill to get outside the gate. I think they will be fine looking at your pictures.

Stacy

[vickie_bernie]

I just want to say thank you for everyone who has taken the time to post information about the new pier. We will be there in Jan, and with two ships in port at the new pier I am interested in taking a taxi to West End beach and quieter spot.

 

Not sure how much a taxi should cost. Any ideas?

[crewsweeper]

I just want to say thank you for everyone who has taken the time to post information about the new pier. We will be there in Jan, and with two ships in port at the new pier I am interested in taking a taxi to West End beach and quieter spot.

 

Not sure how much a taxi should cost. Any ideas?

 

Vicki_Bernie...according to JollyMonSings' post back one page(#185), it was $20 pp for the day to take a taxi to Tabayana Beach on the West End. And that was out of the MBCC taxi stand inside the pier area. Supposedly the price is negotiable.