Beaches/Resorts with Pool Use?

[Brenda33]

I am looking for a beach/resort with either no fee or a small fee that has a pool you can use and possibly a restaurant/snack bar and a regular bar. Does anyone have any exact info? Please include transportation info if you have it also. I understand this may be possible at West Bay???? I will be traveling in November 2008 with my husband and our then 6 year old son. Thank you all in advance!! :)

[RdRunner]

I read your posting and I've heard of a place in Roatan that is beachfront, has a pool, snorkeling, food/bar, etc... The name of the resort is Mayan Princess. Here is a link to their home page:

 

http://www.mayanprincess.com/?gclid=CMTg1sKD_Y4CFTaoGgodgyqT2w

 

I did not go there myself but I cruised with another couple who did and said it was awesome! From what I understand you have to make your own transportation arrangements (taxi from the pier) as they were not an excursion offered by the cruise line (Carnival). Their daily prices are very reasonable too. If you go to Mayan Princess website and click on "contact us" you will see a few different email addresses. If you send email to "reservations@...." they will respond in a timely manner. I am kinda sad that I missed going to Mayan Princess because as stated, heard it was fantastic! Instead we went to Coral Cay which was awesome, beautiful, etc... too! Fantastic beach resort (well like a state park actually) with great snorkeling!

 

Oh, we just recently cruised - the week of 9/23 so this info is recent. Good luck on your search for an activity in Roatan but one thing I will say, the beach in Roatan (Coral Cay) was the best beach we went to the entire cruise! I would go back to Roatan in a heartbeat! It was beautiful!

 

Sheri

[Host Star]

I read your posting and I've heard of a place in Roatan that is beachfront, has a pool, snorkeling, food/bar, etc... The name of the resort is Mayan Princess. Here is a link to their home page:

 

http://www.mayanprincess.com/?gclid=CMTg1sKD_Y4CFTaoGgodgyqT2w

 

I did not go there myself but I cruised with another couple who did and said it was awesome! From what I understand you have to make your own transportation arrangements (taxi from the pier) as they were not an excursion offered by the cruise line (Carnival). Their daily prices are very reasonable too. If you go to Mayan Princess website and click on "contact us" you will see a few different email addresses. If you send email to "reservations@...." they will respond in a timely manner. I am kinda sad that I missed going to Mayan Princess because as stated, heard it was fantastic! Instead we went to Coral Cay which was awesome, beautiful, etc... too! Fantastic beach resort (well like a state park actually) with great snorkeling!

 

Oh, we just recently cruised - the week of 9/23 so this info is recent. Good luck on your search for an activity in Roatan but one thing I will say, the beach in Roatan (Coral Cay) was the best beach we went to the entire cruise! I would go back to Roatan in a heartbeat! It was beautiful!

 

Sheri

 

can you take a taxi to coral Cay???.. thanks for any info. we will be there next month

[RdRunner]

can you take a taxi to coral Cay???.. thanks for any info. we will be there next month

 

 

I don't know for sure but I don't see why not. Coral Cay was accessible via vehicle. We went as a group in a small bus (an excursion through the ship). It was about a 10 minute ride from where the ship was moored. There was not a pool there that I'm aware of but with a beach like that who needs a pool? The water was warm and very clear and it was soft sandy bottom - didn't need beach shoes (you know, when it's "shelly") to go in the water. The sand was quite white and soft. Also, you can see two ship wrecks off in the distance from the beach at Coral Cay and there was a pen (of sorts) that had sea turtles, nurse sharks, and various fish in it. We were laughing about the two ship wrecks, wondering if they were the Nina and the Pinta. :)

 

You know the Corona beer commercial showing the back of two Adirondack chairs and a table in between the chairs with a Corona beer on the table and a beautiful beach right in front of the people? I think this commercial could have been filmed at Coral Cay. :)

 

Sheri

[H-D]

how far was it from boat and how much is taxi will be leaving on the 20th do you have to have a room to use pools

[cruiseequalsfun]

We went to the Mayan Princess in early September. It was fantastic!! You have to pay a $10 resort fee per person to use the facilities for the day, well worth it - pool (absolutely gorgeous!!), comfortable lounge chairs at pool and at the beach, umbrellas at the beach, bathrooms (clean). They have a bar and food, but we did not eat/drink there. We walked down the beach where it was cheaper. From the beach, if interested you can walk down about 100 yds and have the best snorkeling around - it was incredible. They have a dive shop on site, next to the lobby, if you needed to rent snorkel equipment (needed only life jacket and fins for $6 - not bad). The beach/water were perfect. There were 4 of us, and we walked off the ship and hired a taxi driver for the day - I don't recall the price per person, perhaps $20?? We told them what time to pick us up and they were there on time, we only paid when we got back. It was a 15-20 min drive. I'll try and upload a few pictures next.

[cruiseequalsfun]

A couple of pictures ... the bar area, pool (it is quite large and wraps around - the picture only shows about 1/2 of it), and beach area (to the far right side of the picture are the mayan princess umbrella, lounge chairs).

[Host Star]

A couple of pictures ... the bar area, pool (it is quite large and wraps around - the picture only shows about 1/2 of it), and beach area (to the far right side of the picture are the mayan princess umbrella, lounge chairs).

thanks for the information.. was the snorkeling close to shore??.. thanks for any more info you can provide

[cruiseequalsfun]

From the Mayan Princess you walk about 100 yds down the beach (facing the water, walk to the left, to the other side of a small dock). It is actually the place where at least RCCL does there ship excursion to Tabayana Beach - of course anyone can use the ocean there :)

 

The snorkeling it right off the beach, you do have to swim maybe 30 yrds or so out to get to the "good" stuff. I'll try to upload some pictures.

[cruiseequalsfun]

A couple of pictures from the snorkeling 100 yrds from the Mayan Princess.

[Host Star]

A couple of pictures from the snorkeling 100 yrds from the Mayan Princess.

 

thanks.. great pics.. you've made up my mind.. what camera did you use?.. and one more question.. how far is mayan princess aprox. from the jungle canopy?... we're trying to cram a lot into a short period of time...

[cruiseequalsfun]

Camera was a Canon A610 (I think) and in a underwater housing unit. It works pretty well underwater.

 

Have no idea the distance from the canopy.

 

If you want to go multiple places, you may want to try to pre-arrange a taxi / guide ahead of time, and they may be able to tell you if all of this is doable in one day. There are several guides reccommended on this board that you could check out.

[Host Star]

Camera was a Canon A610 (I think) and in a underwater housing unit. It works pretty well underwater.

 

Have no idea the distance from the canopy.

 

If you want to go multiple places, you may want to try to pre-arrange a taxi / guide ahead of time, and they may be able to tell you if all of this is doable in one day. There are several guides reccommended on this board that you could check out.

 

we've booked with victor bodden tours so we should be ok.. I bought the pentex w20 optio for underwater pics.. first time out it leaked.. i returned it and they sent me another one which i haven't tried yet..

[Brenda33]

Thank you so much!!! :) The Mayan Princess sounds perfect for us. If anyone knows the exact taxi fee that would be great. Are the taxis available right where you get off the ship?

[cruiseequalsfun]

Ok, I thought again about the taxi fare and went back to think of everything I spent in Roatan and I am confident that we paid $15 per person (x 4 people) (+ tip) for a taxi for the day. From what I've read it is typically $20 per person but if you have more than 2 in the taxi (3-4 people) going you can talk them down to $15 per person. The car we were in was small so 3 adults in the back seat was tight, but doable. So if you have a concern, you may want to find out the type of car first.

 

There were plenty of taxi drivers waiting after getting off the ship. Make sure you settle on a price and talk them down if you can (I remember now we talked them down from 20 to 15 per person), also make sure you specify US dollar currency.

[USFcrew]

We went to Mayan Princess resort and pool and beach just after we did South SHore CAnopy about 2 minutes away. This kind of tour allowed us to zip, snorkel, eat and drink and shop for souvenirs with enough time to make it back to our ship.

[Host Star]

We went to Mayan Princess resort and pool and beach just after we did South SHore CAnopy about 2 minutes away. This kind of tour allowed us to zip, snorkel, eat and drink and shop for souvenirs with enough time to make it back to our ship.

 

how was south shore canopy?.. I heard jungle canopy is a little more challenging.. we then are planning to go to mayan princess to use their facilities.. how far a walk down the beach to the snorkel area and how was the snorkeling... sounds like we have the same plan.... thanks for any info..