Rony's Tour: Zip Line, Sloths, & Snorkeling

[bandjwayne]

I contacted Rony's Tours online and got very quick responses every time I emailed. He wanted me to put down either a $60 deposit or pay for the entire balance prior to the date so I decided to pay just the deposit up front & pay the rest on the date of the tour.  I got a confirmation of my deposit and easy to read directions on how to meet our guide after getting off our cruise ship.  We got off our cruise ship shortly after the gangway opened and met our guide, WIll, who had a sign saying Rony’s tour.  He confirmed our name and state we were from when we met him.  We reviewed our plan for the day which included zip line, sloths, and snorkeling.  I told him holding a sloth was my number one priority.  We then walked a short distance to meet our driver.  We first drove to the zip line place we had previously chosen, Extreme Pirate of the Caribbean Zip Line.  It was $65/person to do the Extremely Extreme 9 zip line tour.  No one else was there when we arrived so it was quick & easy.  It was very fun and we felt safe with a guide going before us, one after us, and even our guide Will joined us.  After zip lining we went to AJ’s monkeys & sloths.  Please note that this was a different place then what we had selected on-line, but it was close and Will thought that there would be less of a wait here.  It cost $15/person and we did have a little wait, but there was a cool breeze, plenty of seating areas, and we got to interact/hold guinea pigs, sloths, monkeys, and parrots.  After that we asked to go to Bananarama on West Bay for snorkeling.  When we arrived they were full so we walked down the road a little bit and were able to get lounge chairs on the beach at Paradise Beach Hotel for $20/person.  Will pointed out where the good snorkeling areas were and hung around the area while we snorkeled.  We were approached by a guy who accepted tips for taking us out to the reef.  It was definitely worth the $20 we gave him as he made it easier to swim, we felt safe, saw amazing fish, and never would have gone out as far as we did without him.  The water was pretty, I just wish there were less vendors selling things as we were approached every few minutes.  When we were done for the day Will and our driver took us back to the port (~2:30).  Will answered all our questions about Roatan and we felt safe with him.  The only bad part of the day was at the end when it came time to paying as Will didn’t know how much our balance was.  I put a $60 deposit down and the cost of the tour for Rony’s was $80 so I only owed him $20 (plus tip of course).  All the activities we did we directly paid for at those venues.  Will and the driver seemed a little confused when I mentioned owing only $20, but when I showed them my receipt I brought with me they were ok, and just said that’s not what we were told this morning.  SO, my tips for readers are to make sure you print out your receipt, discuss price up front at the beginning of the day, and bring extra money as 2 of the venues we ended going to were different & more expensive then what I had selected when I reserved the tour online.  Will also mentioned that the only money he made was what we tipped him, whether this is true or not, I’m not sure, but we compensated him well.   

[MNtwins]

Hi Bandjwayne

we are doing a private excursion with Rony's in March. He quoted a price and then I had to remind him what we wanted to do and he said did I include the botanical gardens in his quote. I said yes so I guess I will print off the email chains. We'd like to see sloths but not really into the cages. Were these in cages or more free roaming sloths?

Thank you an advance for any help.

[bandjwayne]

These sloths were in a cage.  From what I remember our guide from Rony's telling us, free roaming sloths are only found on mainland Honduras, not on the island of Roatan.  From reading past reviews it sounds like you might like Manawakie Park.  It sounds a little more educational than AJ's or Daniels (from what I read).  Check out all of these places on Trip Advisor for photos & reviews.  

 

I'd definitely suggest printing out all your email contacts and the specific names of places that you want to go otherwise the guide might try to take you to a different place based of it being a shorter drive, contacts, etc.  Some of their suggestions are great, others just might not be what you're looking for.  Don't forget to print out your downpayment receipt too!