Bodden or Ship Tour?

[misand]

What would you do, we are deciding between Spirit Tabyanna Beach break or Bodden island tour and then to Mayan Princess Beach area? Price difference of $50. Food included in ship tour, husband not sure if $50 diff is worth it since we will probably spend that much in food somewhere? I'm leading toward independent tour versus ship. Much more individualized. HELP!

Misand:)

[tonedeb]

Just back last Sunday from cruise to West Caribbean.

 

Roatan Island Tour with Victor Bodden was fantastic! Did zipline, toured Iguana farm, lunch and snorkling at Half Moon Bay.

 

We've always booked our own tours and have never been disappointed.

 

Victor's tour company is one of the most professional and yet has that small island friendliness.

 

You won't be disappointed.

[USFcrew]

I would chose Independant always because you have all the control on what you are doing and want to do. The ship tour to gumbalimba and tabyanna is long lines and school buses plus a crowded beach. Victor can provide all of the same beach activities with less hassle plus you have your own guide and driver all in one.

[cruiserssandr]

I am also trying to decide on a tour for our time there in January. My concern is the odd time we are there. It will be from 1 PM to 7 PM. I am wondering if a ship tour would be a safer choice.

[misand]

Great info so far, anyone with pictures from either of the tours? Not a lot of daylight hours for arriving at 1pm. Don't know how much we will have time for?

 

Misand:o

[chinaplus]

Independent or ship? Independent, of course. It's not about the price. It's about having a single person to share stories and guide you through your time. Safer to book with ship? Why would it be safer? We have had private guides in Turkey, Greece, St. Petersburg Russia, Berlin, Belize and Roatan. We always learn about them from this forum. They have been among our best travel experiences.

[cruiserssandr]

We have used independent tour operators many times. My concern this time in Roatan is the short time we are there. Not having much daylight makes the choice for a tour a little bit more difficult. I have read lots of good reviews of Victor's tours. Wonder if he can work around the odd time frame we have there.

[chinaplus]

Suggest you email him and express your concern and interests. These folks are very godd doing what they do!

[nixnutz]

Great info so far, anyone with pictures from either of the tours?

 

Misand:o

 

Here's some pics from our Valor trip in Nov. '07.

 

http://s47.photobucket.com/albums/f184/nixnutz/

 

They all have captions, so you should be able to sort out Roatan from Cayman and Belize.

 

Hope they help. I can't say enough good things about Victor and his tours. He's fantastic!!

[bamaboi1999]

We arrived on the island around 2:30 pm and Victors tours definitely made it worthwhile. We got to see so much during the daylight hours. If I go back to Roatan again, I will certainly use Victor again. The driver was very curtious and knew alot about the island. The van was a newer one, clean, and the A/C worked very well. Went to the shipwrecks, Iguana farm, various lookout points and to Victors house and shopping all before dark.

[samtig]

We've taken the ship tour to Tabyanna Beach & a Bodden tour and would go with the Bodden tour anytime. The ship excursion was fine but we enjoyed our day with Ali much, much more. Got to tour the island. They will take you anywhere you want to go or recommend what to do. Victor met us near the dock & introduced us to our driver. Can't go wrong with Victor.

[misand]

Here's some pics from our Valor trip in Nov. '07.

 

http://s47.photobucket.com/albums/f184/nixnutz/

 

They all have captions, so you should be able to sort out Roatan from Cayman and Belize.

 

Hope they help. I can't say enough good things about Victor and his tours. He's fantastic!!

 

Monkeys are so cute! What beach is that in Roatan? We are supposed to arrive at 1PM. I'm afraid we won't get to do everything we want! My children want to go to the beach for a little while but don't know if I want to have to pay resort fees just to lay our towels and bags while we go in the water. We probably won't be able to spend more than an hour or so at the beach? Any probs with sand flea? What did you do?

 

Thanks,

Misand

[nixnutz]

Monkeys are so cute! What beach is that in Roatan? We are supposed to arrive at 1PM. I'm afraid we won't get to do everything we want! My children want to go to the beach for a little while but don't know if I want to have to pay resort fees just to lay our towels and bags while we go in the water. We probably won't be able to spend more than an hour or so at the beach? Any probs with sand flea? What did you do?

 

Thanks,

Misand

 

What beach is that in Roatan? We were directly in front of the Island Pearl Resort--West Bay, I believe. We didn't have to pay any fees to use the beach. You can rent beach lounge chairs for $5, if you want.

 

We probably won't be able to spend more than an hour or so at the beach? It all depends on how many things you want to do on Roatan. Victor can customize your tour however you want it. If you just want to see the monkeys and go to the beach, then you'll have lots of time at the beach.

 

Any probs with sand flea? Nope.

 

What did you do? We booked the "Best of Raotan" tour with Victor. When you go to his website, click on the "Contact" button on the upper left. This will take you to the booking page. On the booking page, it lists all of the activities that are available for the Best of Roatan tour.

 

We selected:

 

Iguana Farm

Monkeys

Shopping

Beach Time

Snorkelling

 

Our tour went like this:

 

Met Victor at the dock. He got us set up with our guide, Roland. Got into a mini van and off we went.

 

Our first stop was the iguana farm. It took about 10 minutes to drive there. We passed several of the sightseeing ops as we drove to the farm, but we hadn't booked those (BONUS!). We were the first group at the farm for that day, so we had the iguanas to ourselves. $5 per person extra for the iguanas was well worth it. They also have monkeys, an ant-eater and a small lagoon with turtles/fish. Spent about 30 minutes at the iguanas.

 

Back in the van and off to Victor's house for the monkeys. About another 10 minute drive to Victor's where we got to interact with the monkeys. Hold them, feed them and take lots of pictures. Victor also has an ant-eater, a deer and two older monkeys who are not "holdable". $2 per person for the monkeys...again, well worth it! We spent about 30 minutes with the monkeys.

 

Back in the van for a scenic, 30 minute ride around the island. Many photo ops and lots to see. Your driver will stop for you to take photos, if you want.

 

Next stop, the beach. Roland dropped us off about 30 yards from the beach access. We walked to the beach and set up shop while Roland parked the van. By the time we were set up, Roland was back. We spent about 3 hours at the beach, with Roland discretely watching over us. At one point, one of the "beach vendors" was "hard selling" his wares to us, so Roland walked over, gave him a little talking to, and off he went. Roland never pressured us or made us feel like we needed to go. He waited patiently behind us while we enjoyed the beach.

 

Kids and I went snorkelling off the beach, while the wife soaked up the sun. While we were snorkelling, a guy (Gustavo) came up to us in a boat and offered to take us to a reef for better snorkelling. I asked "How much?" and he said $10 each. We climbed in the boat and got a guided snorkelling tour of the reef. Gustavo was a complete professional and, also, well worth the $10 pp.

 

After 3 hours at the beach, we packed up and headed back toward the ship. We made a stop at the orphanage, which was on the way back. We spent about 20 minutes there before we finished our day with Roland. The shopping part of the tour was right there off the "dock", so no need to tie up Roland any longer.

 

There were some other shopping opportunities as we toured the island and Roland offered to stop at each one, but we wanted to see the Monkeys and get to the beach, so we chose to bypass them. No worries, there's plenty of shopping just off the ship.

 

You pay for the iguanas at the iguana farm and you pay for the monkeys while you're there. The $25 per person for the overall tour is paid to your guide at the end. We gave Roland the $125 for our tour and I tipped him $25. WELL WORTH IT!!!

 

We spent an hour shopping near the ship and we were back on the ship, with plenty of time to spare. We were in port from 11am to 6pm and we had plenty of time for all that.

 

Hope that helps....

[runner15km]

Just beyond the large building in this pic http://travel.webshots.com/photo/1355156285061622896nUSCcm is where the taxi's are. Ask the taxi spotter for a English speaking driver to take you on a tour of the island

Our driver Jose was great told us about his family and life on the island. He took us to Fosters Beach, a zip-line and shopping for local crafts. He was with us for 4 hours for $25.00 per person.

[jacnapier]

Victor Bodden Tours is definitely the best, Hanno is a great tour guide. We did the bodden tours in oct 07. They aim to please, you can zip line, go to Iguana Farm, Jet Ski, or go to the beach. If time allows Hano will take you to all of these. We did it I loved it.

[jacnapier]

When you book Victory Bodden Tours they take you where you want, You choose what to do, sightsee, zipline, beach, they will bring you back to ship when you ask. They are their to please you! You dont only the things you want in the timeframe you have.

[Preds]

We have used independent tour operators many times. My concern this time in Roatan is the short time we are there. Not having much daylight makes the choice for a tour a little bit more difficult. I have read lots of good reviews of Victor's tours. Wonder if he can work around the odd time frame we have there.

We've booked with Victor for our 2/17 Spirit Cruise. And everything I've read about his operation has impressed.

 

With the Spirit's new shorter itinerary (3pm arrival), Victor took the initiative to contact us with the following this evening:

Hello Spirit Cruiser.

Due to the problems on the Norweigan Spirit and the reduced time in port, I wanted to write to you and let you know that we are offering your tour at a reduced rates.

The zipline, iguana and monkey fees are the same but the Best of Roatan tour prices for you and your group will be reduced by $5 for each perosn. Teh new Spirit only rates are:

$20 per person for groups of 4 or more,

$25 per peron for groups of 3, and

$35 per person for groups of only 2 people.

We will try to show you guys as mush as possible of our beautiufl Roatan, so that you will want to come back and spend a week nex time! Plus, we will still have time for ziplines, monkeys, iguanas, shoppping and some baech time that you might have requested, but we may not spend as much time at some places as we normally would or we may not can do everything.

Our guides are experts at adapting the tour to meet your needs and will do anything to get you to see all that you like to see. A special bonus is the sunset at West Bay Beach and from Halff Moon Bay is beautiful and a great photo oppportuinty.

Please reconfirm your tour at thses new lower rates, or let us know if you would like to cancel (please don't cancel we really woud like to show you all the beautiful things on our island). And remember now more than ever getting off the ship as early as possible will help you to enjoy more time and do and see more things in Roatan.

Thank you so much.

Victor Bodden

BoddenTours.com

I have since traded a few emails with him and continue to be very impressed.

 

It looks like we'll still be able to squeeze in ziplining, a visit to the orphanage, and the monkeys, which was our original goal. We might lose some shopping, but it's the people and the island we want to experience more than anything.

 

Book with Victor, I don't think you'll regret it.