Rare LisaLisa87 Posted September 15, 2023 #1 Share Posted September 15, 2023 This post was recognized by LauraS! "Thank you for sharing your review with everyone at Cruise Critic." LisaLisa87 was awarded the badge 'Great Review' We returned recently from a Western Caribbean sailing on Harmony of the Seas, during which one of our stops was Roatan. We had never been to Roatan and wanted to see as much as possible during our relatively short port day (7:30am all ashore to 2:30pm all aboard). I like to use local tour companies when possible, and quickly narrowed our options down to three. After studying the companies' websites and reviews, we decided to go with Victor Bodden Tours. We were traveling with our 20 year old daughter and all three of us are pretty adventurous, and we decided we'd get the most bang for our buck with a private tour. The base price for a private tour varies depending on the number of people in your party, but for the three of us it was $30/person. There is sort of a menu of activities to choose from, each of which includes a description and estimated time commitment. We ended up choosing their monkey and sloth sanctuary, ATVs, and snorkeling at West Bay Beach. They waive the $10 entry fee to the monkey and sloth sanctuary if you book either the ATVs or the ziplining. The charge for the "Mayan Jungle ATV Adventure" was $65. Our original plan was to go to a public part of West Bay Beach and rent snorkel gear, but that isn't how things played out (more on that later). So the starting cost for our day was $95/person, although we knew we'd end up spending more for snorkel gear, a tip for our guide, and possibly lunch. One of the nice things about booking a private tour was that we could start anytime we wanted. We ended up disembarking at 8am because we were anxious to get going. It was very easy to find the Victor Bodden kiosk, which was right outside the port and within the "Town Center" at Coxen Hole. Unbeknownst to me at the time, we were greeted and matched with our guide by Victor himself! As we walked to one of their large, air conditioned vans, our guide told us that he was happy to be assigned to a small, private tour. I've debated about this decision, but I'm not going to mention his name in this review. He wasn't a bad guide, but he did seem to be phoning it in at times. Some examples: He did not introduce himself or ask for our names. I had to initiate that conversation. He also didn't provide much in terms of information/history/etc. unless we asked questions. This is despite the fact that we included the "Photo Opportunities/General Sightseeing" option when we structured our tour. There were no stops for photos between stops at all, and at the time I guess I was too intent on making sure we fit everything in to ask. I'll refer to him as our "driver" from now on. 😄 Our first stop was Victor's Monkey & Sloth Sanctuary. This is where we paid for our tour in cash (there was no deposit required ahead of time). We were impressed with this facility. Our driver introduced us to another gentleman who would be our guide at the sanctuary. He was great -- knowledgeable, informative, and patient. We were not rushed through at all and got lots of great photos. Another gentleman handled the sloth portion of the tour. I'm not sure if this is typical, but only the three of us were inside the enclosure for this part. Once we finished our tour, we joined back up with our driver who took us to the ATV area (on the same property as the sanctuary). I'm not sure whether this is always the case, but it continued to be just the three of us for this part of tour, along with a guide who rode in front and an assistant who rode in the back. It was fantastic having just the three of us in the group because we were able to move pretty fast and didn't have to wait for any stragglers! The description had said we'd been riding for an hour, and that turned out to be accurate. We had a blast and got some fun pics. Our third and final stop was the least defined of the three. I had done some research and knew that we wanted to snorkel from West Bay Beach. I found this link helpful for DIY advice: https://www.uponarriving.com/2016/06/16/snorkeling-west-bay-roatan-honduras/ Our driver spent the drive over trying to upsell us on various "better" options, and by the end we were confused about what we actually needed to pay for. He did convince us that we might as well pay for day passes to a beach club so we'd have lounge chairs and an umbrella and access to bathrooms and showers. We ended up paying $15/person for day passes to Paradise Beach. From there, things got a little muddled. Our driver told us he'd get us a great deal on a boat tour that would allow us to see more sea life and include snorkel gear. I wasn't convinced we needed to go out in a boat since the reef is accessible from the beach, but my husband liked the idea. I will say that our driver talked the guy who was selling the boat tours down from $55/person to $15/person -- less than just renting snorkel gear would have cost. So in the end it did work out pretty well. Logistics aside, I have to say that this was some of the best snorkeling we've ever done. The reef off of West Bay Beach is amazing! So vibrant and alive. We didn't see any turtles, rays, sharks, etc., but we did see an unbelievable number and variety of fish and coral. It was simply stunning. My one regret -- and it was my biggest regret from the whole cruise -- is that we had forgotten our underwater camera at home so we weren't able to take pictures. I thought for sure the guide on the boat with us would have one, but he did not. That was such a big miss in my opinion. We would have paid good money to have some photos of our experience!! When we finished snorkeling, we showered off and changed and then hung out on our lounge chairs for 20-25 minutes before heading back to port. We didn't have time for a meal, but there was a little grocery store just a little ways down the beach and were were able to get two beers, two bottles of water, and two small cans of Pringles for $6 USD! Just enough to tide us over until we got back to the ship. We had a fantastic day and were back onboard in plenty of time. I would rate the things we did during the tour as a 5 out of 5, and our driver/guide as a 3 out of 5. I would book with Victor Bodden Tours again, but next time I would request a guide who is known for doing a great job with the "Photo Opportunities/General Sightseeing" portion of the tour. I'm not going to reach out to the company regarding our driver because he didn't do a bad job, he just didn't do as good a job as we would have liked. The deal he got us at West Bay Beach more or less offset his deficiencies as a guide, in our opinions. I have one last note, and it's about tipping. I had planned to tip our driver/guide, but there were several other people I hadn't anticipated. In the end, we tipped our driver, the guide at the monkey & sloth sanctuary, the sloth handler, the ATV guide and assistant, and the boat driver/snorkeling guide (who was in the water with us). Luckily we had brought plenty of extra cash, but be warned! https://www.boddentours.com/ 6 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare crewsweeper Posted September 16, 2023 #2 Share Posted September 16, 2023 Thanks for the review. Sorry your driver wasn't up to your expectations, but glad he made up for it with the West Bay deals. Good advice on TIPS. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare evanskl4 Posted September 16, 2023 #3 Share Posted September 16, 2023 Thanks for the detailed review! Still working on finalizing my plans in this port, so it's really helpful. Glad you ended up enjoying the day! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joepeka Posted October 11, 2023 #4 Share Posted October 11, 2023 As others mention, thank you for the detailed review of your excursion with Bodden. We are seriously considering him for our RCI cruise next year. You do mention that you were a bit surprised that there were only the three of you on the tour - in reading Victor's web site and exchanging emails with him, when you book a private tour it's exactly that, private. That aspect certainly appeals to us and it seems it worked well for you as well. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chloes_mom Posted December 5, 2023 #5 Share Posted December 5, 2023 Did the sloth/monkey place feel like a sanctuary or more like a zoo? My daughter doesn’t know if she wants to do it because she’s concerned about the welfare of the animals. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RYMOMA Posted December 9, 2023 #6 Share Posted December 9, 2023 Thank you for the report. We have booked Bodden for our day in January. My family is less adventurous so it is sloths and monkeys and then the beach. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare LisaLisa87 Posted December 12, 2023 Author #7 Share Posted December 12, 2023 On 12/5/2023 at 1:43 PM, chloes_mom said: Did the sloth/monkey place feel like a sanctuary or more like a zoo? My daughter doesn’t know if she wants to do it because she’s concerned about the welfare of the animals. It felt somewhere in between to me, but closer to a sanctuary than a zoo. From what we could tell, the animals were well cared for. The guide who toured with us was knowledgeable and the animals were very comfortable with him. There are a handful of similar places on the island. I've read good things about Daniel Johnson's Monkey and Sloth Hang Out as well, and we may go there during our land trip in February since we've already been to Victor Bodden's sanctuary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TJ O'Pootertoot Posted December 20, 2023 #8 Share Posted December 20, 2023 I'm looking forward to doing a tour with Victor Bodden in a couple of weeks and was also planning on tipping the guide but - if it's not intrusive - can you say roughly how much you ended up tipping everyone? (Still trying to do the math on how much cash we need to bring 😀) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare LisaLisa87 Posted December 26, 2023 Author #9 Share Posted December 26, 2023 On 12/20/2023 at 11:03 AM, TJ O'Pootertoot said: I'm looking forward to doing a tour with Victor Bodden in a couple of weeks and was also planning on tipping the guide but - if it's not intrusive - can you say roughly how much you ended up tipping everyone? (Still trying to do the math on how much cash we need to bring 😀) Hi @TJ O'Pootertoot. Just seeing this. If I remember correctly, we tipped as follows: Driver: $30 (We would have tipped more if he had been a true guide.) Tour guide at the monkey & sloth sanctuary: $10 Sloth handler: $10 ATV guide and assistant: $10 each Boat driver/snorkeling guide: $10 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zebe912 Posted January 15 #10 Share Posted January 15 I know your focus was more on access to the water for snorkeling, but were you happy with the resort you ended up using for your day/beach pass? Do you think you could've just rented snorkel gear and swum out to snorkel from the shore? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare LisaLisa87 Posted January 24 Author #11 Share Posted January 24 (edited) On 1/15/2024 at 4:53 PM, zebe912 said: I know your focus was more on access to the water for snorkeling, but were you happy with the resort you ended up using for your day/beach pass? Do you think you could've just rented snorkel gear and swum out to snorkel from the shore? Yes, we definitely could have done that. In fact, that was our original plan. In our case, I don’t think doing that would have saved us much money. We spent so little time at the beach club that I didn’t really form an opinion. I will say that we’ll be visiting Roatan in a few weeks, staying on a different part of the island, and if we get day passes one day, we’ll probably go to Infinity Bay. Edited January 24 by LisaLisa87 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AllySunshine Posted March 1 #12 Share Posted March 1 We are looking at the ATV tour and it says the driver age is 12 and up. How was the trail? Bumpy? I have a 12 year old and I'm not sure about allowing him to drive one himself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare LisaLisa87 Posted March 2 Author #13 Share Posted March 2 21 hours ago, AllySunshine said: We are looking at the ATV tour and it says the driver age is 12 and up. How was the trail? Bumpy? I have a 12 year old and I'm not sure about allowing him to drive one himself. The trail was windy, bumpy, and hilly! I would think your 12 year old might have difficulty unless he has experience riding ATVs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CruiseMomTX Posted March 9 #14 Share Posted March 9 Thank you for the review! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare LisaLisa87 Posted May 7 Author #15 Share Posted May 7 In the interest of accuracy, I feel the need to correct some information in my original post. We visited Roatan in February and stayed on the island for 6 nights. During that time, we spent a couple of afternoons at the far end of West Bay beach where we snorkeled as part of our tour with Victor Bodden Tours. I mistakenly reported here that we got days passes at Paradise Beach when, in fact, the day passes were for Foster's West Bay Resort. Having stayed on the island now, I feel that the tour we did during our cruise was a great decision. We got to do several of the things that many consider "must do's" when visiting Roatan. And while Victor Bodden is a very reputable tour company, there are a number of other companies that do a fantastic job as well. If you search either here or on social media, you'll find recommendations for other companies that are highly rated and offer both group and private tours. Happy touring! 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roothy123 Posted May 15 #16 Share Posted May 15 Hi. I've been debating between visiting the two sloth/monkey places on the island (Bodden's and Johnson's). I'm hoping you get see this post and can let me know if you visited the latter one. If so, what did you think? I would like to see a bit around the island, but no ATV rides or watersports/beach, so mainly I'm interested in seeing animals, any nice scenery or views, and try to have fun but not be surrounded by tons of people. There seems to be so many places to see on the island, but I'd love more info on how worthwhile they are - Arch's Iguana place, French Caye area, Oak Ridge if not too terribly far, Gumbalina, Mayan Eden Echo Park, and more. But for starters, I think I need to decide where I (and spouse) should go to see sloths and monkeys! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare LisaLisa87 Posted July 8 Author #17 Share Posted July 8 On 5/15/2024 at 7:51 PM, roothy123 said: Hi. I've been debating between visiting the two sloth/monkey places on the island (Bodden's and Johnson's). I'm hoping you get see this post and can let me know if you visited the latter one. If so, what did you think? I would like to see a bit around the island, but no ATV rides or watersports/beach, so mainly I'm interested in seeing animals, any nice scenery or views, and try to have fun but not be surrounded by tons of people. There seems to be so many places to see on the island, but I'd love more info on how worthwhile they are - Arch's Iguana place, French Caye area, Oak Ridge if not too terribly far, Gumbalina, Mayan Eden Echo Park, and more. But for starters, I think I need to decide where I (and spouse) should go to see sloths and monkeys! Hi there, @roothy123. Sorry I missed your question! We booked two tours for our 6-day trip to Roatan: one with Daniel Johnson's and one with Cleve's Tours and Adventures. Both were great, although they were very different. The tour with Daniel Johnson's included a visit to their monkey and sloth hangout, hydrobikes, and time at Brady's Cay. We enjoyed all of it, but personally I liked Victor Bodden's monkey and sloth sanctuary better. The hydrobikes were a blast, and we had a nice time at Brady's Cay, which was beautiful and quiet (i.e., not much do to there). We stopped at Arch's Iguana Place during our tour with Cleve, but we weren't impressed. That tour was more of a cultural tour, and our guide Courtney took us all over the island to a lot of places tourists don't go on the typical tour. It was a great tour, but I probably wouldn't recommend it for a first-time visitor. We went to Oak Ridge as part of that tour and cruised through the mangrove tunnels on a small boat. That was cool, but it's pretty far from where the cruise ships dock. We didn't go to Gumbalimba, which I regret -- especially since we were staying a short walk away. I've heard good things about it. I hope you have fun, whatever you decide to do! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare OCSC Mike Posted July 8 #18 Share Posted July 8 2 hours ago, LisaLisa87 said: That tour was more of a cultural tour, and our guide Courtney took us all over the island to a lot of places tourists don't go on the typical tour. It was a great tour, but I probably wouldn't recommend it for a first-time visitor. We actually prefer that type of tour for our first time in a new port. We had a great private tour (our first) last month with Rony's Tours where we did stop to see sloths/monkeys at Manawakie but the rest was more cultural, driving all over the island seeing different areas, stopping at a school to drop off donations and actually visit a couple classrooms (my wife is a teacher), etc. It's after that first trip that we prefer to do more touristy stuff like snorkel, beach time, boat ride, etc. No right or wrong, of course, just personal preference. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IWantToLiveOverTheSea Posted July 9 #19 Share Posted July 9 (edited) So I have to ask (mostly Lisa): What about Arch's didn't impress you, if you don't mind saying? I imagine it's basically just a tourist attraction with a large number of iguanas around to look at (or offer a banana leaf). But my spouse specifically wants to see iguanas, and while there are some places where they apparently can be seen, Arch's looks like the easiest in terms of only a little bit of walking/looking, time involved, etc. and that could make a difference for him. But if the care of the iguanas or something like that is bad, I'm not sure I want to go there. I've contacted Rony and his tour does sound interesting, but I need to ask if I can customize it a little. Also, when did you go - morning, afternoon, noon? I've read that going at feeding time (noon?) is good, but I'm not sure if that's accurate/current information. Edited July 9 by IWantToLiveOverTheSea Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare LisaLisa87 Posted July 9 Author #20 Share Posted July 9 1 hour ago, IWantToLiveOverTheSea said: So I have to ask (mostly Lisa): What about Arch's didn't impress you, if you don't mind saying? I didn't not like it, but I guess it just wasn't what I expected. If you're looking for an opportunity to see a bunch of iguanas, you'll probably be pleased. We went at around 2pm. You basically walk down some wide stairs with iguanas walking around loose. They did feed them while we were there, which caused them to swarm in a slightly alarming way. We weren't in any danger, of course, but we did take a few big steps back! The guide or handler or whatever he was didn't speak much English, and he didn't have much to say. He just sort of walked near us. I think Arch's is perfectly fine as one stop on a tour, but I wouldn't make this the primary (or only) destination. Just my two cents! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare OCSC Mike Posted July 9 #21 Share Posted July 9 8 hours ago, IWantToLiveOverTheSea said: I've contacted Rony and his tour does sound interesting, but I need to ask if I can customize it a little. You can customize it A LOT. Pick and choose anything you want. Change plans once you get there. The driver will do whatever you like. Ask him for suggestions if you like. The driver we had through Rony last month actually does his own tours and picks up shifts for Rony if Rony needs an extra driver. We'd contact him directly the next time we wanted a private driver. I posted about him here if you're interested... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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