Roatan: docking vs tendering

[CruzinScotty]

I have done some searching on the site and am not sure, so I'm starting a new thread.

 

It seems the dock in Roatan can handle one ship? Is the Dream able to dock?

 

If we were on the Dream next June and the Conquest was in port the same day (basically the same times) - is there a way to tell which ship will dock and which will tender?

 

Is tendering an issue at Roatan? It seems I had heard it was a very slow process.

 

Thanks!

[k2excursion]

When we docked there in April 2010, there were 2 ships docked at the port in Mahogany Bay. It didn't seem there was room for a 3rd, but I didn't look that close. There is definitely room for 2 though. There is another dock at Roatan also, but Carnival always tries to go to Mahogany Bay. If there are strong winds or a strong current, they may not be able to dock at Mahogany Bay. That has happened often. And if the other dock is full, they won't be able to call on Roatan. I don't think they ever tender there, or they would do it in the cases when they cannot dock at Mahogany Bay. So they certainly would never plan to tender.

 

Another one of your stops, Belize, is a tendered port for everyone. That one is a slow process. Carnival excursions get to go first, and that takes at least a couple hours. And the tender ride is very long.

[golfadj]

I believe both ships would dock in roatan.

[CruzinScotty]

Thanks for the info!

 

I knew Belize was a long tender; just prefer not to have two tender ports if possible.

 

Looks like Belize might be the place to plan a Carnival excursion since you'd go to the front of the tender line. I think I also heard that the snorkeling excursions from Belize leave directly from the ship instead of tendering so far to get on another boat?

[crewsweeper]

Yep! Ship excursions for snorkeling in Belize do leave directly from the ship. These tend to be crowded though. If you're leaving from a Florida port, you'll be at least an hour earlier in ship time than Belize time, sometimes 2 hours difference as Belize doesn't observe DST. All reputable Belize independent snorkel vendors are fully aware of the time differences. Plus on Carnival, while the ship land excursion tenders do fill somewhat earlier than the tenders for non ship excursions, if you follow the Fun Times for your sip and get to the non-excursion tender meetup lounge/theater at least 5-10 minutes earlier than opening time, and then sign up the tenders hold quite a number of people, close to 200 on some, and you'll have no problem getting ashore reasonably early and in time to meet your guide. Non-ship snorkleing out of Belize will typically have smaller groups 10-15 people versus ship snorkeling with 30-50.

 

And do watch the itinerary for your ship. Grand Cayman is also a tender port, albeit a short 5 minute tender versus 15 in Belize.

[Izzziee]

duplicate sorry

[Izzziee]

We docked there on the Dream in 2010 and the Legend docked behind us.

I believe I have heard that sometimes the Dream hasn't been able to dock there due to weather conditions though.

 

Here you go, we docked first and the Legend reversed in an hour or so later :)