Victor Bodden guide/driver recommendations? (MERGED THREADS)

[PictureMom]

Don't know if we had the same George as ours spelt his name Jorge. If so, great guy. Had Jorge before and have him booked again in Oct. :)

 

I assume it's the same guy. :)

[cruiselovin'girl]

I booked a tour with Victor Bodden in February 2016. I requested a private tour with Big Al. We had a group of 6 that wanted to zip-line and also see a bit of the island. Big Al made sure that we got to do everything that we wanted and then some!:) He took us to zip-line first while showing us around the beautiful island of Roatan and telling us some of the history. We had a blast on the zip-line (even my 70 plus year old mother!), the guides were wonderful (there were 3 of them). One would show us how it was done, the other 2 would buckle us in and the last one would follow us. They were awesome! (My only regret was that I didn't have much cash to tip them because they were THAT good!!) After zip-lining we visited the monkeys and parrots, that was SO much fun! By the time we left, we were pretty hungry and asked Big Al if there was somewhere we could go and get inexpensive local food. He took us to a little beach where a couple was cooking in a little beach shack. For $5, we got chicken or pork with rice and beans and it was DELICIOUS! Next, we wanted to spend a little time at the beach. Big Al took us to a nice place where my mom and I could sit in the sand while some others went parasailing. He assured me he would stay with "Mama" in the shade if she didn't want to be out in the sun. Of course, my mom wouldn't want to sit in the shade so we enjoyed the sun and clean, beautiful water while waiting. When the parasail family members got back, we headed back to the ship. We thought we would have about an hour to spare. Unfortunately, someone had a car accident and traffic was backed up. I was starting to sweat bullets when Big Al pulled into an alley, took a short cut and maneuvered around the accident!:D Whew--did not want to miss the ship! We made it back and had a marvelous time. I highly recommend Big Al, he stayed with us and made sure we got good prices for everything!

[Pitcher16]

Victor Boden tour was very good. We saw the whole island of Roatan. Absolutely every inch of it. The monkey part of the tour was fabulous. Our guide was very knowledgeable about everything on the island. The island was very beautiful and clean. Very different from your prior stop in Belize. Belize was very dirty.

[cmsgtwhite]

We requested and got TEX as our guide. TEX is a great guy and did a wonderful job for us! In hindsight,...just my opinion, If I would have realized how beautiful West Bay Beach was, we would have forgone the Zip Line so that we could have had more beach time! The Zipline was fun (never done it before) but since there were so many boats in that day it took a long time to get through it which took up a lot of our already limited time. If you do every get TEX ask him how he got his name and tell him his new friends from Arkansas said Hi!

[cluffstuffddr]

We booked the Fun and Sun tour with Victor Bodden. He personally insures that the guests are happy. We toured the area, went ziplining, visited the monkey park, went to the beach and then had an amazing meal from a local restaurant (not a touristy place). We could not have had a better time on this trip. Elyn (our tour guide) was awesome!

[mtwsew]

We had booked West Bay Beach with a driver r/t. When we arrived at the Bodden checkpoint we were told that it was rough for snorkeling and they made 2 other suggestions. One was Fantasy Island about 20 minutes closer to the cruise port and less expensive. We rented 2 chaises and an umbrella for I think $30 and Eduardo (I think that was his name) told us where to head for the snorkeling. Not too far from the dock was a nice calm area with fish, coral and sea fans. Just perfect (even though it was overcast) we had a lovely day thanks to Bodden's suggestion. Highly recommend.

[suzicruiser]

Hi, all! We toured with VB years ago and really enjoyed it, but I can't quite remember details now.... we're going to be cruising as a family next week (and I may be way too late to even book a tour with VB!), but I'm wondering if my vegan, animal-rights-oriented daughter would find the way the animals are housed at VB's okay... do you feel like their situation is humane? We all would love to interact with the monkeys. :)

 

Thanks, all!

[spidybabe]

Monkeys/animals cared for extremely well. The animals there live longer than average. Every place /cage was clean without odor. Animals looked cared for, clean, friendly, and not at all fearful of handlers.

Safe sailing

Edited March 29, 2016 by spidybabe

[suzicruiser]

Monkeys/animals cared for extremely well. The animals there live longer than average. Every place /cage was clean without odor. Animals looked cared for, clean, friendly, and not at all fearful of handlers.

Safe sailing

 

Thank you so much! :) We can't wait!!!

[Jeepenfun]

How much do you usually tip their drivers? Were doing monkey business and then over to west bay beach area for the day with maybe a stop or 2 for pictures of interesting thing along the way.

[beenthere!]

We enjoyed our tour with Jared from Bodden Tours, despite having the gardens closed for Good Friday. We loved the monkey business with Bodden tours! It was a reasonable price, with our own guide through the cages. We enjoyed having our own driver, Jared, and felt very safe with him. It was nice to have a local person explain the culture, know the back roads, and help us navigate a foreign place. We went snorkeling which was arranged by our driver, but it was on a water taxi with a 13 year old and another man with limited equipment. My poor husband swallowed a lot of water as we were not fitted properly or instructed on how to use the equipment. We also went by the Cameo factory, which was interesting. Thank you Jared for your help and care!

[lindaglenn]

Had a great tour on Roatan with our driver Tex on April 5, 2016! My husband has limited walking and Tex was great at showing us everything within our limits. We really enjoyed the Monkeys at Victor Boddens and the food that Tex helped us order from a local place - food was awesome and VERY reasonable! I would highly recommend Victor Bodden tours and especially Tex!

[ancientcivteacher]

We had a Great Fun in the Sun tour with Victor Bodden! Before we left there was lots of information emailed to us. Everything was very professional, easy to find on the pier, and a great value for the money. Our guide was very knowledgeable about the island and very friendly. We had a fun visit to Victors Monkey Business viewing the monkeys and having them perch on our shoulders as well as the scarlet macaws, interacting and feeding them also. The beach was lovely and even though the Wi-Fi was not working that day, chairs were set out for us in the beautiful beach setting. We booked three other tours through Shore Excursioneer and would certainly not recommend the zip lining with Louigi in Belize! We took a zip lining tour and were in a minivan with six people plus the driver with very little space as one man even sat behind the third row seat in the cargo area. We had to wait over 2 1/2 hours while other people did the cave tubing which was a complete waste of time for us! We were to get bottled water and rum punch with our lunch- got neither! We have gotten no satisfaction at all from Shore Excursioneer concerning our complaints.

[Tjohn50]

We just returned from a 7 day cruise on Carnival Valor. I chose to pre-book our excursions with outside tours and found the reviews for Victor Bodden were excellent. My family of 3 did the Fun N Sun tour, which included a sight seeing trip around the island, stops on top of a high area that you could see the ocean and ships, shopping with local vendors (vanilla, mahogany dishes, jewelry, hammocks to name a few), a trip to Monkey Business where we got to see and play with Monkeys, deer, lemurs, parrots and Mocaws. We finished up with 2 hours at West Bay resort. Our driver was excellent and answered any questions. He stayed with us the entire time. Our trip was $30 pp and there were 11 in our van. Next trip we would probably spend $45 pp for a private tour just to see more things. I highly recommend you book with Bodden Tours. It's an experience you won't soon forget!

[Nash9597]

My husband and I just returned from your cruise on the Vision of the Sea, HAD an amazing time. I did alot of research about tours that were listed on line. I have to say the time spent researching paid off.. FUN IN THE SUN GROUPS was a great day in Roatan, we went to see the monkeys and beach resort. The driver and the tour guide were very nice and eager to answer any questions. They shared they stories and current events to the group!!! We would highly recommend the tour when you visit Roatan!!!! Tami and Mark

[powelweb]

We were also on the 4/9 Vision of the Seas sailing and took the Fun in the Sun excursion with Victor's folks. Had a Great time- Annie was our tour guide and she was very knowledgable as we went around the island, answering many questions from our group. Benjamin drove us carefully throughout the day, and we had a great group of guests together on this tour.

 

We thought this was the perfect blend of seeing the local island, having a little fun with the monkeys and other birds at the farm and then kicking back for a few hours at the most gorgeous beach resort.

 

I didn't venture into the water, but my aunt did, and she stayed in it for almost the entire 2 hours. I grabbed a quick snack at the little restaurant in the shade and kept an eye on her in the water. She said the water was the perfect temperature and very clear.

 

All in all- this was our favorite port stop on the whole cruise- thank you Annie and Ben for a wonderful day!

 

Wendy and Alice

Edited April 19, 2016 by powelweb

[Searching for sunshine]

We used Bodden tours last week for the second time and spent the day with Francisco. As with the first trip, we had a fantastic time and would use them again in a heart beat! Our tour was what ever we wished to do and see with many interesting facts shared with us as we drove around the island. You can't ask for more that what you get with these guys. I can't recommend them enough if you wish to have a stress free day and get to see as mush or as little as you wish. We hope to get back to visit with them again one day!

[bphawk64]

We spent our day on Roatan doing a private island tour with Victor Bodden Tours and it was one of the highlights of our cruise. "Big Al" was our driver and it seemed more like we were driving around with a friend of ours than a hired guide. Al was very knowledgeable about most everything on the island, was super friendly and went out of his way to make sure we did and saw everything we wanted to. My family is originally from Honduras and he even brought us to a local store where they could purchase some of the Honduran items they miss while living in the USA. Overall just a great guy and great tour.

 

As far as the tour itself...We did a pretty decent tour of the island itself and went to a few places where we could purchase souveniers and take pictures. After that we went to Victor Bodden's office where we did the zip-lines which were fantastic and very well run. The guides made sure we all were having fun and that everything was safe plus they appeared to be having fun as well. the zip-lines were a $45pp add-on but money well spent. We also saw the monkeys, birds, etc that they have there which were was pretty cool and also were included in the price. After we finished up at the office I went to buy some sodas and water in the gift shop and Victor Bodden's staff came out with a cake and were singing happy birthday to me in spanish which made me feel as if I were back visiting Denia's family in Honduras. The cake was delicious and huge so we invited the zip-line and monkey guides to join us as well as anyone in the vicinity. This was a nice extra from the staff here and was really appreciated. After that we went to the West End/West bay area and spent about 1 1/2 hours or so on the beach. The water was nice and the beach wasn't to busy as most of the cruisers had already moved on from the beach. Although we didn't use them it appeared there were opportunities to do all the typical beach things from jets skis, kayaks, boats, etc. It did cost $10pp to access the beach and beach club so maybe getting there with a bit more available time would have been better.

 

I can't say enough good things about this tour and the staff at Victor Bodden's Tours. Everything was fantastic right from the ease of finding them at the pier to the tour itself, the guides and of course the island itself. Roatan is a very interesting place where you can find expensive vacation homes not far from locals who still live as they have for decades. We appreciated our guide Al's willingness to show us both as we were very interested in this due to some of my familiy members being Honduran. Simply A++ tour and the next time in roatan we will be booking with them again.

 

One thing that also should be noted is that there was never a time when we even worried for a minute about getting back to the ship late. I am an avid cruiser and can't remember the last time I booked an excursion directly through the ship as I'm not willing to pay 2-3x the price for the same or inferior tour just because the cruiseline tells me that an outside tour group may not get us back on time. All reputable tour groups make their living by giving better value AND returning you on time and Victor bodden is no different. Sometimes you can book a tour with an independent tour group and find yourself on a tour with people who purchased via the cruiseship and paid double or more for their excursion. Save your money and book with these guys!

[banditsfolks]

We had a group of 11 that did the Fun and Sun tour on 5/25/16. Kenny did an excellent job! We could not have been any happier with our experience. We definitely would give 5 stars all around. The Monkey Business experience was fun for the entire group and we had all ages represented. The team was very responsive to our emails and all of our needs. We would not hesitate going again on recommending this tour group to other people!

[Scottr76]

We just got back from a cruise on NCL Getaway and pre booked a fun n sun tour with Victor Bodden. We booked the cruise only 10 days in advance so I had to scramble to plan excursions. I contacted Victor via email and he was able to book a tour for us. His communication was very fast and informative. Everything went well on the excursion. We were in an air conditioned vehicle, got to see most of the island, hang out with the animals at his place and visit Bananarama. We had a great time and would recommend this tour to anyone. Jose the Monkey fell in love with my girlfriend, wish we could have taken him home with us.

[Tjohn50]

We had a great experience with them as well. Definitely worth the money for all we got to do!!

[mare0207]

The cost of the tour was $30.00 pp. It cost us each $10.00 pp to get into the Paradise Beach Club which included use of the facilities-wifi/lounge chair/umbrella. In addition, we gave Howard a tip for his service for the day.

 

Can you tell me about how much to tip? We are doing a private tour for nine. Thanks!!

[Tjohn50]

We tipped $10 per person. Our tour was only $30 per person with the Fun and Sun package. Our tour guide was informative about the island and stayed with us the entire day. Our money is worth more than theirs. So tip well. Tourism is the #1 source of income for the island. Definitely worth it for what you get!

[mare0207]

We tipped $10 per person. Our tour was only $30 per person with the Fun and Sun package. Our tour guide was informative about the island and stayed with us the entire day. Our money is worth more than theirs. So tip well. Tourism is the #1 source of income for the island. Definitely worth it for what you get!

 

Thanks so much that's very helpful!! We were thinking 100-125 or so for the 9 of us. I appreciate your sharing, tipping is so personal, so it helps tip get an idea.

[lovevacadays]

Had a great tour on Roatan with our driver Tex on April 5, 2016! My husband has limited walking and Tex was great at showing us everything within our limits. We really enjoyed the Monkeys at Victor Boddens and the food that Tex helped us order from a local place - food was awesome and VERY reasonable! I would highly recommend Victor Bodden tours and especially Tex!

 

Tex is fantastic!! I can't imagine going to Roatan and not having Tex as our guide. My friend and I are planning a trip there next year for a week. It's such a beautiful island. We are working with VB to do a few tours with Tex. Love him. He even took us to his house to meet his dogs. Love Tex. Best tour guide I have ever experienced.