ohioben

I think west bay would be the best choice for you bvreeland. There was a water trampoline/ inflatable slide at west bay. It was $12 per hour or $20 per day. It has everything you are looking for and it was actually pretty quiet while we were there. You will have a great day there.

I was just at Amatique resort on 11/23. I checked around a little and it really seemed like booking through the cruise ship was the way to go. I paid $59 for me and $29 for each child and that included the boat ride. The resort has a tent right off the ship with all of their information and you could sign up right there. I did not book in advance as I wanted to see what else was out there first. After we decided on Amatique I looked into taxis/tours to see if this was at all worth doing on your own and it wasn't. They were far more expensive once you factor in the resort's $35 per adult admission price. My kids actually thought the boat ride was fun. They went fast and it was bumpy so that was a win. They had multiple boats going and returning. We felt like we could pretty much leave when we wanted. We did leave early because my kids started to get bored with it. On the return our boat only had 7 passengers and they did not make us wait for others.

As far as the resort goes I would say that if you are looking for a beach/swim day at this port this seems to be the only real option. The beach was OK I guess but this was not water we wanted to swim in. Santo Tomas de Castilla is more of a shipping port than a beach vacation spot. Certainly not clear water at all. They do a good job cleaning up debris at the resort but you could tell they get a lot of it and have to clean constantly. Not one person went in the water while we were there. They do have hammocks on the beach and a little pier with benches that were nice. The sand was not great either but we did find some shells so the kids enjoyed that.

The pool was large and had interesting features and was a nice break from the cruise pool. However, we were very disappointed that the water slides were not working. That was the whole reason I took my kids. It seemed temporary but I would definitely check first. The smaller slides are built like a pirate ship and castle battle. Kids were still able to play on these especially after I splashed the slides with water and they did have fun exploring. The big slides were totally closed. It was not crowded at all so perhaps that was the reason. I felt like the pool and the property was well maintained as they were constantly cleaning and they did have security all around. The wait staff was friendly and available.

We made our own fun this day but the combination of a mediocre beach and no water slides totally defeated our purpose of going here. We walked around and explored the big tower and other features (pier, horses, etc). It was fun to explore and we ended up having a good time but I would not go back. I think this is best if you are looking for a place to lay around and relax. That said if beach/swim is what you are looking to do in Guatemala I think this is your only real choice in this area. We did not do the kayaking add on but we road the boat back with others that did and they really enjoyed it.

I don't believe that $25pp taxi price is correct. We were just at Mahogany Bay and the taxi to West Bay was $20 per person and Mahogany Bay is much further away than Coxen Hole. I have seen Coxen Hole and can say with confidence that you will be much happier spending the money going to a place like West Bay.

My family just visited West Bay last week. I found the information on these boards so helpful that I thought I should contribute. The weather report for our day in Roatan looked iffy so I did not book anything in advance. At the cruise port we went straight to the taxi area and were greeted by all the tour guides. I can't remember the name of the company but they had a large setup just outside the terminal and they had arrangements with Holland America, Carnival, etc. so it was legit. For $20 per person they took us to West Bay. They provided a van with a driver and an English speaking tour guide. The ride to West Bay was long -every bit of 45 minutes, and the roads were pretty rough with pot holes everywhere so that definitely slowed us down. Our tour guide pointed out some interesting things but otherwise did not add a ton of value. You do get to see a lot of Roatan - the good and the not so good parts. You are expected to tip the tour guide as they indicated she worked only on tips. We were dropped off at the Paradise Beach resort and were charged $10 per person to use their beach, pool, chairs. I thought this was a pretty fair deal. We have 3 kids and they did not charge for my youngest who is 5. At first we were all a little disappointed as the water was not nearly as clear as the tour company described. They said it was the best beach in Central America and it was far from that to me. It was fine though and the sand was very good. After a while we walked down the beach a bit and discovered a really nice spot where the water was very clear and many colorful fish were swimming right with you in the waist deep water. This made my kids very happy. A warning about the beach is that there are so many people trying to sell hair braiding, water sports, bananas, shells, etc. We were probably asked nearly 100 times. They were all very polite but it was still a little annoying after a while. We did use the hotel pool and that was very nice and a nice way to break up the beach day.

Overall we were all glad we did this beach day. I had some regrets about not going to Little French Key instead but this was still a nice day. The downside was the long car ride and the many vendors but on the plus side this did have a very nice pool to use as well and I believe it was less expensive than Little French Key.

Hope that helps. Enjoy your trip to Roatan.