Roatan help

[abcmom123]

Looking for some information/advice.

 

We are visiting Roatan on Wednesday March 23. We are on NCL Jade with port time of 8-4 and we will tender to Coxen Hole. We have purchased an excursion through NCL to do the dolphin encounter (=husband's bucket list). The excursion is at 11 and last 2.5 hours. Basically it cuts our day in half :( The excursion is on Anthony's Key and requires boat transfers. I haven't found anyway to do this excursion other than through the ship, and they only offer it at this time.

 

My oldest son would like to see monkeys and hold one. That day we are in port is his birthday. Is it possible to get off the ship ASAP and pay for a taxi or other transport to take us to the reserve and back before our excursion leaves? Or do it in the afternoon (super tight time :eek:) Any recommendations on where to go?

 

Also my youngest son wants to snorkel. Is there any beach super close to Coxen Hole that would allow us to do this? I think that with our time constraints West Bay beaches etc are too far away.

 

I think that realistically we may only have enough time to do the dolphin swim, but a momma always wants to make all her boys dreams come true!

 

Thank you in advance for sharing any experiences on places and/or transportation and timing!

[lifes-a-beach]

You didn't say how old he is. Maya key is pretty close and the ship may offer an excursion. If he's old enough to go by himself, say teen aged, it's a pretty cool place to snorkel and there's lots of supervision there. Otherwise I'm afraid your schedule may be too tight.

[ABQrobin]

Is Roatan your only port? Maybe you should do the dolphin encounter swim at Cozumel if you stop there.

Roatan has great snorkeling as the reefs are very close to shore (unlike cozumel). Grand Cayman as has great snorkeling and stingray encounter.

 

Maybe you should try to split up the events and not try to accomplish all of them in the same port.

I would bet that there is an excursion that will let you do snorkeling and monkey encounter in Roatan... save the dolphins for another port.

[abcmom123]

Our other ports are Cozumel and Belize city. We are cavetubing in Belize City and going to Tulum (Mayan ruins). We are from California and chose Caribbean cruise for the ruins. Hubby and I have talked about not doing Dolphins at all this trip as there are dolphin swims available closer to home, and just doing those things unique to this itinerary.......or we may just have to cruise the Caribbean again! :D First world problem!

 

Thanks for the help

[_beachgirl_]

If you can do the Dolphins at another port of call, I highly recommend Daniel Johnson Sloth and Monkey hangout. You get to hold both monkeys and sloths and he has snorkelling as an option as well. Our day with Daniel was the absolute highlight of our trip and I can't recommend him enough. We also did an island tour with him and he was very informative. I'm happy to answer any specific questions you may have. We were just there on January 20th.

Edited January 24, 2016 by _beachgirl_

[TxLnghrnz]

We had Bodden take us to, and pick us up from our NCL Dolphin excursion. It was no problem at all, then they were able to take us around the island before and after the dolphins!

[abcmom123]

That would be perfect! Txlnghrnz how/where were you able to join the NCL excursion. Did Bodden take you to Anthony's Key? I was under the impression that it would involve getting there via boat. Can I ask how long your port time was and how much you were able to do during that time? TIA, your suggestion has me very hopeful :)!!!

[ABQrobin]

Our other ports are Cozumel and Belize city. We are cavetubing in Belize City and going to Tulum (Mayan ruins). We are from California and chose Caribbean cruise for the ruins. Hubby and I have talked about not doing Dolphins at all this trip as there are dolphin swims available closer to home, and just doing those things unique to this itinerary.......or we may just have to cruise the Caribbean again! :D First world problem!

 

Thanks for the help

 

If you are really interested in doing Mayan ruins, the ones in Belize are much better than Tulum ruins from Cozumel. Tulum is a small site from the late period of the Mayan empire, when it was in the decline. Bldgs are small and very unimpressive compared to the huge ruins you can see in Belize. Just so you know. Plus at Tulum you walk around behind ropes, at all the Belize ruins you actually climp the pyramids. The Coba ruins (you do them from Cozumel, also, near Tulum on Mainland) are bigger and you can climb the largest pyramid there.

We LOVE the Mayan history, so we have done quite a few of the ruin sites. Tulum was the least impressive and interesting to us.

 

Tulum....

 

 

Xunantunich, in Belize...

 

 

hope this helps!

[ladytiger96]

Looking for some information/advice.

 

We are visiting Roatan on Wednesday March 23. We are on NCL Jade with port time of 8-4 and we will tender to Coxen Hole. We have purchased an excursion through NCL to do the dolphin encounter (=husband's bucket list). The excursion is at 11 and last 2.5 hours. Basically it cuts our day in half :( The excursion is on Anthony's Key and requires boat transfers. I haven't found anyway to do this excursion other than through the ship, and they only offer it at this time.

 

My oldest son would like to see monkeys and hold one. That day we are in port is his birthday. Is it possible to get off the ship ASAP and pay for a taxi or other transport to take us to the reserve and back before our excursion leaves? Or do it in the afternoon (super tight time :eek:) Any recommendations on where to go?

 

Also my youngest son wants to snorkel. Is there any beach super close to Coxen Hole that would allow us to do this? I think that with our time constraints West Bay beaches etc are too far away.

 

I think that realistically we may only have enough time to do the dolphin swim, but a momma always wants to make all her boys dreams come true!

 

Thank you in advance for sharing any experiences on places and/or transportation and timing!

 

I would have something set up before you get to port. Our friends waited and hired a taxi at the port and wished they had hired someone in advance. I don't think they were happy with the service or price. Rony's tours and Bodden's tours are popular on here. Yes, I believe Maya Key and Little French Key have animals. Our tour guide took us to a monkey/parrot/butterfly farm/other animals place and we really liked it. We were there less than an hour and got to do other things on the island as well.

[spidybabe]

We loved Victor Bodden tours in Roatan . You can plan out your day, and pick your favorite things to do. We loved the monkeys and birds. The beach was fantastic as well as his prices. Highly professional company 5 stars, 10++.

Safe sailing

[abcmom123]

Thank you all for the advice and help. We have booked Victor Bodden and from the emails we have received I am very excited that we will be able to make everyone happy and have an exciting day planned for Roatan. Less than 50 days to go! I will come back and report how our trip was.

[abcmom123]

Thank you ABQrobin for posting your beautiful pictures! We will definitely have to come back as there is so much to see and do!

[spidybabe]

Thank you all for the advice and help. We have booked Victor Bodden and from the emails we have received I am very excited that we will be able to make everyone happy and have an exciting day planned for Roatan. Less than 50 days to go! I will come back and report how our trip was.

 

Can't wait to hear how wonderful your trip was

Enjoy

Safe sailing

[mommy2lexylu32]

 

We went here 2 years ago and would love to go back. Does anyone recognize this place and know the name or contact info?

[barb272]

It looks like it may be Mayan Edan?

[abcmom123]

Have no personal experience (yet!), but the background of your pictures look similar to other pictures of the butterfly reserve?

[2Calicos]

I have not had any response from Daniel Johnson FB page. Does anyone know how to contact him? Does anyone know if you could rent a taxi and go to his place as a private individual? Really want to go to his place but not sure how to reach him. I am running out of time we will be there March 25. Help.

[mommy2lexylu32]

I have not had any response from Daniel Johnson FB page. Does anyone know how to contact him? Does anyone know if you could rent a taxi and go to his place as a private individual? Really want to go to his place but not sure how to reach him. I am running out of time we will be there March 25. Help.

 

 

He usually responds in a few days at most. Try again if it has been longer. You can also hire a taxi to take you there also we noticed just outside the security gates across the road there were some tour guides holding Daniel Johnson signs. Either way definitely get there because it was an AMAZING experience!! [emoji3]

[Lialovestotravel]

I have not had any response from Daniel Johnson FB page. Does anyone know how to contact him? Does anyone know if you could rent a taxi and go to his place as a private individual? Really want to go to his place but not sure how to reach him. I am running out of time we will be there March 25. Help.

 

I know this is going to sound silly, but is it definitely the Daniel Johnson monkey and sloth hangout page? I ask because I've been messaging back and forth with them, I think I sent the first message on March 7th and they replied the next day. Good luck!

[c-leg5]

 

We went here 2 years ago and would love to go back. Does anyone recognize this place and know the name or contact info?

 

He usually responds in a few days at most. Try again if it has been longer. You can also hire a taxi to take you there also we noticed just outside the security gates across the road there were some tour guides holding Daniel Johnson signs. Either way definitely get there because it was an AMAZING experience!! [emoji3]

 

This thread seems very confusing. Did the photos turn out to be Daniel Johnson, or have two threads been merged?

Edited March 9, 2016 by c-leg5

[IslandGallery]

Theoretically if you got off the ship ASAP and could arrange to get to Maya Key to do monkeys...you could maybe go there first since it's close to the dock. Then go from there to your dolphin encounter. But I am not sure if Maya Key has certain times that you can go and not sure what the monkey situation is.

[Guest 2000]

This thread seems very confusing. Did the photos turn out to be Daniel Johnson, or have two threads been merged?

 

Wrong Thread

Edited March 11, 2016 by Guest 2000