Booking Directly Through Daniel Johnson's?

[PSU_Redhead]

Hi everyone -

 

I'm seeing a ton of different tour companies that take you to Daniel Johnson's monkey and sloth hangout - many of which seem to come very highly recommended. But I don't really see much (if anything) about people who book directly with Daniel Johnson's. I initially booked directly with them (booking the Island Tour and adding on the zipline). However, I'm starting to second guess that choice since I see so many other highly-recommended companies. 

 

Does anyone have experience booking directly that you can share with me?

 

Thanks!

[printingchick]

I have booked directly through Daniel Johnson's, but my cruise isn't until February 2024. Too late to help the original poster. They offer some great tours. We're doing the one that includes an island tour (we added the iguana farm), snorkeling, the sanctuary and a beach stop. Super excited about it. Will try to remember to come back and post a review.

[crewsweeper]

If seeing sloths and zip lining are what you want to do, booking direct is always good. Unless you're finding a cheaper tour exactly what you want with good reputation.

Yes there are independent tour providers with great reputations out there but not all are private.  So many other passengers and stops where you might not want to go,

 

[c-leg5]

9 hours ago, crewsweeper said:

If seeing sloths and zip lining are what you want to do, booking direct is always good. Unless you're finding a cheaper tour exactly what you want with good reputation.

Yes there are independent tour providers with great reputations out there but not all are private.  So many other passengers and stops where you might not want to go,

 

Most operators on Roatan offer private or group rates. 
 

Agree private is the way to go if you want to customize. 

Edited April 27, 2023 by c-leg5

[JustUs275]

On 4/26/2023 at 7:44 AM, printingchick said:

I have booked directly through Daniel Johnson's, but my cruise isn't until February 2024. Too late to help the original poster. They offer some great tours. We're doing the one that includes an island tour (we added the iguana farm), snorkeling, the sanctuary and a beach stop. Super excited about it. Will try to remember to come back and post a review.

Please do post a review! I just booked a hangout and beach break tour with DJ's today for our October cruise. We've been to the Hangout once a few years ago, but the weather was stormy and windy that day so we didn't get to do the rest of the tour. This trip we will have family with us - they want to see the sloths and snorkel so we booked a tour with DJ's. Hoping the snorkeling is as good for them at Brady's Cay as they had at Tabyana Beach a couple of years ago!

[printingchick]

Will post a review when I return. It's been a while, but last time I visited Roatan my son and I spent the day at "Fantasy Island." It's a resort that caters primarily to divers. It had a small nature reserve on the property and the monkeys would drop out of the tress onto the shoulders of tourists walking through. It was enormously fun. They were not in captivity. No guide or handler managed the interactions. What a fantastic memory with some great pictures. I've read that the resort expanded and I suspect the nature area is either gone or reduced in size. That said, there were no sloths! Super exited about the sloths!

 

[c-leg5]

On 1/27/2024 at 9:59 PM, JustUs275 said:

Please do post a review! I just booked a hangout and beach break tour with DJ's today for our October cruise. We've been to the Hangout once a few years ago, but the weather was stormy and windy that day so we didn't get to do the rest of the tour. This trip we will have family with us - they want to see the sloths and snorkel so we booked a tour with DJ's. Hoping the snorkeling is as good for them at Brady's Cay as they had at Tabyana Beach a couple of years ago!

You could book tiki boat and sloths and snorkel at West Bay.

[LMADAMS91]

I booked directly with Daniel Johnson's  a few years ago for an island tour and the hangout. The island tour was fine; we'd been to Roatan before and had seen the island so most of what we saw was repeat stuff. The highlights were the sloth and monkeys. 

[Clarasgrandma]

We just got back from a cruise a week ago and booked a tour with DJ. We were very comfortable with our taxi-island tour guide. She was a very cautious driver. The Hangout was a fun experience. We really liked our guide, Mike. The monkeys were fun. The sloths were so cute! It was a highlight of our trip!  We had originally booked the iguana farm also but the other couple that was paired up with us had not booked it. Our guide offered to still take us there but she told us the iguanas usually stay up in the trees on overcast days so because it was overcast, we elected not to go there and our money for that portion was refunded to us. We would definitely use this company again.

[TheLargeFamily]

On 2/20/2024 at 8:14 PM, Clarasgrandma said:

We just got back from a cruise a week ago and booked a tour with DJ. We were very comfortable with our taxi-island tour guide. She was a very cautious driver. The Hangout was a fun experience. We really liked our guide, Mike. The monkeys were fun. The sloths were so cute! It was a highlight of our trip!  We had originally booked the iguana farm also but the other couple that was paired up with us had not booked it. Our guide offered to still take us there but she told us the iguanas usually stay up in the trees on overcast days so because it was overcast, we elected not to go there and our money for that portion was refunded to us. We would definitely use this company again.

Hello! Thanks for your information. How long was the walk to meet your ride? Was it easy to find? We will be coming from carnival. Thank you 

[Clarasgrandma]

7 hours ago, TheLargeFamily said:

Hello! Thanks for your information. How long was the walk to meet your ride? Was it easy to find? We will be coming from carnival. Thank you 

We were on Carnival Conquest. DJ will email you directions. The meeting place was easy to find. There will be a security person near the main road that will direct you towards the staircase you need to go up to get to the sidewalk as they don’t allow walking on that part of the road. Then you walk on a sidewalk to a guard gate. Once you pass the guard gate, there is no sidewalk and we had to walk on the side of the road. Once we got to the top of the hill and started walking downhill, we could see all the private tour guides waiting on the opposite side of the road. I would say it was about a 15 min walk from the ship.  Some people took taxis.  On the return to the ship, DJ will drop you off right at the port so no extra walking involved.

[Clarasgrandma]

1 minute ago, Clarasgrandma said:

We were on Carnival Conquest. DJ will email you directions. The meeting place was easy to find. There will be a security person near the main road that will direct you towards the staircase you need to go up to get to the sidewalk as they don’t allow walking on that part of the road. Then you walk on a sidewalk to a guard gate. Once you pass the guard gate, there is no sidewalk and we had to walk on the side of the road. Once we got to the top of the hill and started walking downhill, we could see all the private tour guides waiting on the opposite side of the road. I would say it was about a 15 min walk from the ship.  Some people took taxis.  On the return to the ship, DJ will drop you off right at the port so no extra walking involved.

Probably 15 min once you leave the port area. Sorry. I think it probably takes 5-10 min just to get through the port area and to the main road depending on how fast you walk.