Victor Boddens tour!

[travgurl]

If I book to do the Victor Bodden tour, what do you recommend that we pick to do on his tour?

[TheJunks]

We booked our day through Victor too. We ended up having a young woman, who I remember her name drive us around. Apparently she has her own tour company and Victor uses her when he has so many tours planned. She was great! We decided to wait till that day to decide what to do. We basically let it up to her to show us the island. We saw the Iguana farm. Check out the monkey there. He will pick your pockets if you get too close. It was really funny to watch him do that. We snorkled and ate lunch. She also drove us to different areas on the island to show us different things. One thing to beware is the monkeys at Victor's place. We had friends that went there. They were holding the baby monkeys and playing with them. One of the babies climbed up on our friends head and hung out there. Not realizing the danger, she bent over to talk to Lola, one of the adult monkeys. Lola snatched the baby monkey off her head and was trying to hurt it. The owners were near by and eventually got the baby monkey back unharmed but it was very scary. We laugh about it now. So beware of Lola! You'll love the island. It was not at all what I expected but we all loved it.

[travel1]

We had booked a Bodden tour thru his web site. It was the first time for us in Roatan. We had a great day !!!! Our driver was ALI HINDS and he took us all over the island. We snorkeled at half moon bay, and had lunch there.

The zip line was too much for us old folks, but we did everthing else to do.

It was our best day on our RCI cruise, mainly because of our driver. We had an air conditioned taxi just for the two of us.

Jerry

[Queen_Of_Natick]

I also booked Victor Boden's tour. The prices are very reasonable, and thanks to many people who've taken his tour, I feel very confident we'll be having a blast.

 

 

-Q

[Jeanne B]

We booked our day through Victor too. We ended up having a young woman, who I remember her name drive us around. Apparently she has her own tour company and Victor uses her when he has so many tours planned. She was great!

 

That sounds like Theris Dixon, we booked a tour through her two years ago and she was fantastic. In fact, I have to book a large tour for next March so I'll be booking through Victor (since last I knew Theris only has one car) but I'm going to request her if Victor isn't available to drive.

[stbernard]

My wife and I will be cruising for the first time on the Carnival Valor. I'm nervous about slow lines and confusion getting on and off the ship at each port. Is it easy to do a tour through Victor Bodden? Is it ture those with private tours have to get off the ship last?

[janrj7]

We were in Roatan last week on Rhapsody, and booked a tour through Victor Bodden. It was great, exactly what we needed!

 

Albert, our driver/guide, was very knowledgeable about Roatan and took great care of my 90-year-old father (who uses a wheelchair and walker). We wanted an overview of the island at a slow pace, so that's just what Albert provided. He drove us to some spots with terrific views, and to two different beaches on the west side of the island.

 

We will definitely book with Bodden Tours when we go back in January, and will ask for Albert.

 

And no, there wasn't a problem getting off the ship at the dock. People with ship's tours walked to the left, and everyone else went to the right. (However, since the right side had a gravel path that the wheelchair couldn't navigate, the pier personnel directed us to use the left side and opened gates for us; they were so accomodating and friendly!)

 

Victor Bodden has a little building with a big sign, right at the exit from the pier. You can't miss it.

[North Carolina Cruiser]

Jeanne B.

Do you have any contact info for her, I'd rather help a small independent than one that has already "made it"

[clukas]

Can anyone provide and estimate of how much it would cost for a private tour of Roatan? We are a family of 5 (including a 3 year old and 1 year old). Just trying to budget for all the fun.

[cmom]

I just booked a tour through Roatan Cab Tours. The ladies email right back and are happy to answer all questions. We have her for the whole day. 20pp adults, 10pp kids. they bring you back to the ship then you pay. Fit us perfect. GREAT price.

[janrj7]

Can anyone provide and estimate of how much it would cost for a private tour of Roatan? We are a family of 5 (including a 3 year old and 1 year old). Just trying to budget for all the fun.

 

There are prices listed at Victor's site, VictorBodden dot com, but they don't mention children's rates ... I'm sure if you emailed him, he'd give you a quote.

 

NorthCarolinaCruiser, there is a picture of Theris Dixon on the Victor Bodden site; she is described as their manager. I'm pretty sure she's the one who greeted us when we arrived and introduced us to Albert. So I imagine if you wanted to request her as a driver, you would go through this site?

 

We were very happy with the tour we booked through Victor Bodden, and will definitely book with him again. I haven't read a single negative comment about any of his drivers/guides on these boards.

 

Regards,

Jan

[travgurl]

If some of our party want to do the zip line on the Victor Bodden tour, what could the rest of us do during that time?

[NEGIRL]

I've seen so much info on Victor's tours. I've seen the price at $45. Does that include the zipline or do you pay extra to do that? We are heading to Roatan in February and would like to book a zipline tour. Thanks for your help!:D

[ballman]

No, the zipline tour is extra $$. Go to Victors website @ http://www.boddentours.com/tours.htm

 

This will give you the rates and tours.

 

:)

[NEGIRL]

Hey there! We are on the same cruise in February! Can't wait! So glad we are stopping in Cozumel now too! We are also booking a Victor Bodden tour to zip line. Sounds like it will be a blast!

[lookin4fun@sea]

If some of our party want to do the zip line on the Victor Bodden tour, what could the rest of us do during that time?

 

If you go to the same place we were at to zip line, there is not much to do but sit and wait. It took about 1.5 hours.

[journeyofgrace]

Would anyone be so kind to share the cost of a Victor Bodden tour? It would just be for 2. We would love to hear all the costs? Thanks.

[Jeanne B]

Jeanne B.

Do you have any contact info for her, I'd rather help a small independent than one that has already "made it"

 

Here's her website although I contacted her through the website last week and haven't received any response. I know when we used her in 05 she mentioned that she occasionally drove for Victor if he needed a driver but she's listed on his website as being the mgr now so I'm not sure if she does any independent tours now or not, or if she even drives for Victor anymore.

 

http://www.roatancruiseshiptours.com/

[ballman]

Would anyone be so kind to share the cost of a Victor Bodden tour? It would just be for 2. We would love to hear all the costs? Thanks.

 

Go to http://www.boddentours.com/.

 

All prices are listed there.:)

[Queen_Of_Natick]

For Roatan we booked a private tour with Victor Boden.

 

First I want to say thank you for everyone on this board who participates in the ports of call areas so that newbies like me know who we can go with and trust.

 

Anyway, I contacted Victor by email about a month out from our trip. Email may be a little slow but he does in fact answer it, just be a little patient.

 

I let him know what who I was, how many was with us, and when we'd arrive. I specifically asked for his best driver. He assured me we'd have a very good driver when we got to Roatan. (he wasn't kidding)

 

Once we got off the ship and through the gate you can get a lot of people offering tours. Just tell them you're booked with Victor, they show you where the booth is located.

 

Everyone Victor has at his booth is really sweet and so efficient. You can tell they really like wha they do and they make you feel really welcome. It can be muggy in Roatan, and our van was air conditioned. Believe me, it was a relief.

 

We hit saw a few sights before going to the zipline.

 

I didn't zipline as my shoulder was still a mess but the other two in my party did. The zipline guide was a really funny kid who knew his stuff.

 

Got to meet Victor while those two were getting in their harnesses, I made sure he knew how grateful I was for hooking us up with such a nice guy.

 

My partner lost his cell phone in the forest (though he didn't know it until we were at lunch!) our friend lost her hat, the guide was always happy to go get it though.

 

My partner had so much fun he tipped the guy 20 bucks.

 

Went to lunch at Half Moon Cay. I had the coconut shrimp, the other two in my party has some kinda freaky stuff. Oh and the drink I had gave me a bit of a brain freeze (considering how muggy it was, it was welcome!)

 

It was pretty overcast, so we decided not to really do a heck of a lot, then of course, my partner found out he lost his cell phone. (he wanted a new one anyway but has about 400 numbers on the sim card..so he was sort of happy but also sort of sad)

 

We skipped going to Victors house and the iguana farm, we did stop by a store for some vanilla and coffee. Soon as we said something about Will's phone missing, our driver (and I'm so embarassed I can't remember his name, though he was absolutely fantastic!) immediately called the zipline place to see if those guys could find it.

 

Amazing, they found that itty bitty black phone in the jungle in some water no less, checked it to see if it worked, and then ran it down to the pier. Will gave the zipline guy another 20 bucks. He was really sweet to do it and could have easily kept that phone but didn't. Big big kudos to those guys.

 

 

To me, that really says a heck of a lot about the integrity of the people who took care of us that day.

 

If the day had stayed sunny (it was briefly) we maybe would have done more. But even though we didn't stay out as long as some people would, we still made sure our driver was well taken care off asside from the fare which for all of us was 90 US.

 

If you decide you don't want to go on a ship tour, I would absolutely recommend using Boden Tours. Its much cheaper than the ship tours on a per person basis, you get to see more places, No lines to zipline if thats what you want to do, and, you get a driver who you can really converse with and give you a lot of history about Roatan.

 

They're more than happy to take you where you want to go, or if you don't know where you want to go, they'll make suggestions. Will of course wanted to see a strip club...that was off limits! LOL

 

Victor is a great guy running a really nice little company. Next time I go to Roatan I'll be using him again.

 

oh and while I may not remember our drivers name, I know he's got 4 siblings and a girlfriend!:D

 

 

So If you do get in touch Boden Tours, just google search for Victor Boden and send him and email which is listed on his web page. Let him know you heard of him from cruise critics boards and the particulars when you'll be arriving in Roatan. Again, it may take him a day to get back to you but he does answer his emails.

 

-Q

[Beachside395]

I just wanted to put my 2 cents in for Victor Bodden!

 

First of all, it was very easy to get off the ship in Roatan. Yeah! After the tendering in Belize, it was a a relief.

 

As soon as you get out of the security fence, Victor's place will be straight across the road. We checked in and were assigned a driver and the driver was told what activities we had requested through the email.

 

Our driver was Roland and he had a nice mini van, so my family of four was very comfortable. We headed over to the South Shore zip line and we were the second people there! Had a blast! It was a bit more difficult than the ziplining we did in Costa Rica because we had to "brake" ourselves. But we learned, and our 2 guides gave us lots of lessons. One of them took tons of pictures for us on our camera. Wow! It was really early in the morning, but starting to get warm. I was so glad we did that first thing.

 

Next we drove around the island and stopped at a beach (just to look, we didn't want to snorkle). Next we went to Victor's to see his animals. Watch out for the "anteater" though. I told my kids to stay away from him because of something I read on these boards and sure enough he grabbed a little kid's leg and scratched the heck out of it! The little monkeys were sweet. It had just rained and it was quite an adventure getting back to Victor's house through the mud!

 

We traveled on to the Iguana Farm and we had the place to ourselves! My kids were sitting on the ground feeding the iguanas leaves and they were crawling all over the place (the iguanas, not the kids!). It was very cool.

 

We did more sightseeing and and then a little shopping and then it was time to return to the ship. We had to be back on board at 2:30.

 

I really liked Roatan. Very unspoiled. The mountains, jungle and water were beautiful. Our driver was very pleasant and patient. He told us all about the island and answered all of our questions. He used to live in the states and worked on a small cruise ship that catered to divers out of Tampa years ago. So he was pretty interesting too!

 

Working with Victor simplified our limited time in Roatan and I can recommend his company!

 

Terri

[pattil712]

We just got back from a NCL cruise and we used V.Bodden when we were in Roatan. It was great! Our driver was Carlos, and he was so nice and accomodating. There were 5 of us and we paid $25 each to go anywhere we wanted for the day. We had the minivan to ourselves. Two of us went ziplining (it was fantastic!) and he took the other three to the iguana farm. Then three of us went horseback riding and he took the other two to the beach. Then we went to the cameo factory before we went into town to shop. I cannot say enough good things about our day. He stopped a few times for pictures and would have stopped anywhere we asked him too. We also paid less for the ziplining and horseback riding then we would have through the cruise ship.

[jgsi]

Can you tell me how far in advance you booked Victor's tours? We are not sure what we want to do in Roatan, but if we can customize a tour, that would be great.

[swampfox28]

I'd like to know as well.

 

Is it possible to get a tour with his company the day you disembark (if, like me, you're about to cruise and haven't yet made all your plans because you've been too busy!!)

 

It would be great if they can accomodate you even if you don't plan ahead (but I won't count on it!)

 

THANKS!

 

-Sarah

[BiminiGirl]

I booked only 2 days before we left but I did ask them if you needed a reservation once we got there and they said no, they have plenty of people for "walk ins"