Favorite ISLA ROATAN Excursion

[newbieMom]

APDMOM ~ Thanks for the heads up on that thread! I would have totally missed it!

And......do you think that zipline would be OK for an 8 year old? I can't imagine letting her do a zipline, but I'm not quite myself when we cruise. I let her ride a spanish speaking horse on the beach by herself when she was 6.....once we were home I couldn't believe we did that, but it seemed totally natural when we were in Mazatlan. I think the ocean air dulls my uptight mommy syndrome!

[APDMOM]

APDMOM ~ Thanks for the heads up on that thread! I would have totally missed it!

And......do you think that zipline would be OK for an 8 year old? I can't imagine letting her do a zipline, but I'm not quite myself when we cruise. I let her ride a spanish speaking horse on the beach by herself when she was 6.....once we were home I couldn't believe we did that, but it seemed totally natural when we were in Mazatlan. I think the ocean air dulls my uptight mommy syndrome!

 

You are welcome. I think if she was adventurous enough to ride a horse, she will be okay on the zipline. There was a 9 year old girl in our group who did fine. Just make sure she listens to the instructions. They are very thorough and the guides were great! One of the ladies got stuck on one of the lines because she did not follow the directions and used her brakes on a 'do not brake' line, but the guide just zipped down and helped her to the end of the line in no tome. They have a harness system that ties you to two cables, not just one.

 

That was my first and only zipline experience and I would gladly do it again! I was reminded the next day that I do still have stomach muscles somewhere in there :D

[kelly11]

APDMOM ~ Thanks for the heads up on that thread! I would have totally missed it!

And......do you think that zipline would be OK for an 8 year old? I can't imagine letting her do a zipline, but I'm not quite myself when we cruise. I let her ride a spanish speaking horse on the beach by herself when she was 6.....once we were home I couldn't believe we did that, but it seemed totally natural when we were in Mazatlan. I think the ocean air dulls my uptight mommy syndrome!

 

Our son had just turned 9 and he LOVED the zip, wanted to go again and we werent quite sure if he was going to like it at all, I posted a pic of him zipping on page one of this thread at Vics place :) The guides at Vics are wonderful with children and if she didnt like it they wouldnt make her do all the lines, she could exit at any time.

[APDMOM]

Forgot to mention... If you go ziplining, take your bug spray! It was not too bad when we were there, but one of the guides told us they were getting eaten up the week before.

[bellagray3]

Tabyana beach, we did it last time we went and we plan on doing it again this cruise. It was a beautiful beach.

[erinmarie424]

Snorkeling with Upachaya. Awesome guides, great food, and amazing snorkeling!

[Westbank is bestbank]

I sound like a broken record but I must recommned Victor Bodden Tours as well. Very friendly & trustworthy.

 

We went to the monkey place and it was wonderful. If you go there bring cereal off the ship and you can feed the monkey's.....their little itty bitty fingers are precious when grabbing the cereal from you. The zipline I saw at the monkey place appeared to be old and not up to my standards. I worried the ropes were dry rotted. I think I saw a much nicer place while riding around.

 

Also went to Mayan Princess Resort. We paid $10 each to use the beach & pool. Wish we would have done the all inclusive for $40 each because after buying food and drinks all day we actually spent more than the all inclusive rate.

[SnowWhiteNYC]

Bananarama

One of the best days we have ever had cruising...

[debshomespun]

We rode dune buggies through the hills, through the mud, at the beach, and through the trails. It was a blast. We booked through Island Marketing here: http://roatancruiseexcursions.com/RoatanDuneBuggies.html

 

They picked us up right outside the cruise terminal, and we had a fantastic time. Here is a couple pictures. If you have any questions, let me know.

[pe4all]

And......do you think that zipline would be OK for an 8 year old? I can't imagine letting her do a zipline, but I'm not quite myself when we cruise. I let her ride a spanish speaking horse on the beach by herself when she was 6.....once we were home I couldn't believe we did that, but it seemed totally natural when we were in Mazatlan. I think the ocean air dulls my uptight mommy syndrome!

We did clip n zip with our 10 year old niece. She is tiny - literally the size of a 2nd grader. She had no problems. (except the guides had to lift her up to clip her into some of the lines) On one line one of the guides zipped with her, as it was long and fast. Otherwise, she did them all by herself, and did a fantastic job. She loved the excursion!

[blondietink]

We did a private tour with Rony's Tours. He was amazing and we saw the island and went snorkeling and shopping. Even though we aren't in to zip lining, we knew there were several to choose from on the island. He highly recommended Pirates of the Caribbean as being the best one.

[nodogkisses]

Taxi to BANANARAMA---just the most wonderful beach and the ride to and from is beautiful. Our taxi driver stopped at parts for us to get out and take pictures and play with monkeys. Gorgeous views. Wonderful day. Loved the beach at Bananarama.

[wrigley80]

Another vote from me for Victor Bodden tours. You can do as much or as little as you want. We went on an island tour with our guide, Ronald. We then went to the Monkey farm........which was so awesome. They were all over my head. They would just sit on my shoulders.........one of them even unzipped my backpack :p. After our stop to see the monkeys we went to West Bay Beach for about an hour or so. It was enough time to get in some swimming an sun. The tour for the whole day was only $20.00 a person..............very good deal :)

[august1963]

Thanks for all of your replies! They have been really helpful! I have a couple questions:

 

Is the Tabyana Beach Day excursion the same place as the Maya Key Private Island excursion? They both say Mahogany Bay, Isla Roatan. Can you rent snorkel gear at Tabyana Beach? Would it be cheaper to just get a taxi and do this on our own? It's $39.95 for the Carnival excursion... ....

 

Victor Bodden's "Best of Roatan" Private Tour - so you are basically paying $30 per person and then you just choose what you want to do and they add the prices on for that? And it would just be our family then? Or you can take one of his tours already designed tours with other folks from the ship.....

 

Zipline... would you middle-aged folks out there say this is alot of work? Alot of stair climbing, etc.? I have only zip-lined once at Kalahari Resort in Ohio and it wasn't very far off the ground.....I'm just not sure I could take alot of stairs and still be able to breathe once I got to the top (lol). Do you only climb one set of stairs and then go down from there or do you climb a set of stairs for each zip you go on?

 

Thanks so much!

[ILUVCRUIZN]

Another vote for Tabyana Beach. We were there a couple of weeks ago and loved it. Great snorkeling!!! Husband was snorkeling with some Caribbean Reef Squid, it was great... :D

[silvercrikhix]

Victor Bodden Tours. Period.

[pe4all]

Zipline... would you middle-aged folks out there say this is alot of work? Alot of stair climbing, etc.? I have only zip-lined once at Kalahari Resort in Ohio and it wasn't very far off the ground.....I'm just not sure I could take alot of stairs and still be able to breathe once I got to the top (lol). Do you only climb one set of stairs and then go down from there or do you climb a set of stairs for each zip you go on?

Thanks so much!

At clip n zip we climbed a set of stairs for each zip. Each began on a tree platform, usually about 10-12 steps up. DH and I are in our 50's, and had no problems. BIL is very overweight for his height, and also had no problems getting up the stairs. There is plenty of time to rest between each zip, as you wait for all to finish before starting the next one.

[APDMOM]

Thanks for all of your replies! They have been really helpful! I have a couple questions:

 

Zipline... would you middle-aged folks out there say this is alot of work? Alot of stair climbing, etc.? I have only zip-lined once at Kalahari Resort in Ohio and it wasn't very far off the ground.....I'm just not sure I could take alot of stairs and still be able to breathe once I got to the top (lol). Do you only climb one set of stairs and then go down from there or do you climb a set of stairs for each zip you go on?

 

Thanks so much!

 

I can only speak for Clip 'n' Zip... They take you on the back of a pickup into the hills. They drop you off and you walk a bit more up a hill into the woods. I was winded when we got to the top, but recovered quickly while they explained the rules and procedures.

 

We then just climbed up a few stairs to the first platform. From there you zip from platform to platform. I think there was only one more occasion of climbing, and it was just a few ladder-type steps. You end the last zipline at the building where you start (where you catch the pickup), which is just outside the port. They have 11 lines. The worst for me was the tummy muscle workout :D It was worth the $40 I paid!

 

PS...pe4all types faster than me and may have better memory too. Hope our combined response helps

[cespo]

Tabyana Beach Break, great beach and great snorkling.

 

I agree 100%. This is one of the best excusrions that we have ever done and we loved it so much we are doing it again in September.

[newdestination]

I haven't seen this tour mentioned in this thread and it is expensive, but my daughter and I did the dolphin encounter/swim at Anthony's Key Resort in Roatan several weeks ago. It was such a good experience. You actually get to swim with the dolphins, not just pose for a kiss. They took photos that you could purchase ($40 for a CD with about 20 pics) plus you are able to use your own camera for part of the "encounter" portion of the tour.

 

IMO it was the best part of the whole cruise, and it was a great cruise:)

 

There are some good reviews of this tour on Carnival's web site.

[nybumpkin]

Thanks for all of your replies! They have been really helpful! I have a couple questions:

 

Victor Bodden's "Best of Roatan" Private Tour - so you are basically paying $30 per person and then you just choose what you want to do and they add the prices on for that? And it would just be our family then? Or you can take one of his tours already designed tours with other folks from the ship.....

When we did "Best of Roatan," we paid extra for the iguana farm - I think it was $5 pp. Then extra for lunch. It was just our family and we chose what we wanted to do.

[mikel24m]

Forgot to mention in my other post we did V bodden as well and it was perfect,out tour guide spoke to the armed :) security guard and he stood at our belongings while in the water.Not to worry we felt safe at all times.

 

Our first time we were there we did the Birds and monkeys excursion through Carnival.I have to tell you my wife got bit really bad by no see ums (sand flies).I had bug spray on and got nothing.She had id say 200-300 bites for months after we returned home.This last time we had bug spray on and were fine

[Relayer]

Zip lines at Pirates of the Caribbean followed by the rest of the day at the Mayan Princess resort. Awesome zip lines with a couple in the 1800' range over a very deep canyon. Mayan Princess has the best resort pool we have ever been to and is on a great stretch of beach on West Bay. $10 admission to Mayan Princess and it can fill up fast.

[shelkate1]

We are another vote for Victor Bodden!! We did their Best of Roatan tour with the driver Tex. He had been highly recommended on these boards so we requested him specifically. He did an outstanding job and we had as much fun as anywhere we have been!!!

[beachbum6264]

 

Is the Tabyana Beach Day excursion the same place as the Maya Key Private Island excursion? They both say Mahogany Bay, Isla Roatan.

 

Thanks so much!

 

No - Tabyana and Maya Key are 2 different places. Maya Key is a small island off the coast of Roatan. They both say Mahogany Bay because that's the name of the port. Maya Key is amazing - great snorkeling, great lunch included. here's some pics: