Western Valor Excursion Questions

[Bert64]

I have a couple questions I hope someone can help me with. We're going on the Valor next week and we're gonna use Belize and Roatan as our beach days, so I think we're gonna book Tabyana and Bannister Island thru Carnival. My questions are:

 

1. For Tabyana, do they have buses running all day to take you back to the ship when you're ready? Or if you book a certain time (12:15, 1, 1:30 are listed) do you have a certain time/bus you have to come back on?

 

2. Also about Tabyana, is it private, or can we take a taxi there? Do we have to stay in that part, or can we wander around West Bay too? I've read that it's a touristy area, so I'm just wondering if we're gonna be confined to just the Tabyana Beach area, or if it's possible to come and go and if there's other stuff close to there to also see.

 

3. For Bannister, I understand they tender you right from the ship to the island. Is there time to go see the port as well? Right now they only have one time listed (10:15-2:15). I'm not sure if that's the only time, or the other one's are already full or what. But if we do that excursion with that time, will we also have time to visit the port?

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

[momofzeke]

It's been 2 1/2 years ago, but we did the Bannister Island excursion off the Miracle. There were 2 different times available and we did the same one that you are being offered.......10:15 to 2:15. When returning to the ship, the tour operators gave us the choice of going back to the ship or they would take us directly to the port area. We chose to go to the ship because we didn't care about the port.

 

On that cruise, the ship was in port from 8 AM to 5 PM, with the last tender from the port to the ship leaving at 4 PM. Doesn't give you very much time in port after the Bannister Island tour, but you could probably go over there and look around a little.

 

We enjoyed Bannister Island.

[abitaturbodog]

You may want to ask these questions on the port of call threads.

[du4mch]

Busses head back to the pier all day, not to sure of the time intervals. I believe you can only go to Taybiana from the ship excursion. Yes you can walk West Bay your not confined to Taybiana. FYI Taybiana has the best snorkiling right out in front of the beach. Bannister: I was just there in Sept. Took a snorkiling tour with Bannister Island beach break. Ours met at the pier and dropped us off at the ship. Bannister is a beautiful little island only wish we had more time there.

[hdavidson]

Personally I would book with Victor Bodden tours in Roatan. They are great. They can take you to Tabayana, a "private beach" that you will have to pay to go to. West Bay is not some place that you will walk around, except maybe on the beach for a little. West End is where the tourists walk around. With Victor, they will take you to where you want to go, stay there, help you bargin with the locals etc. We paid $25/person for the DAY. We also went to Victor's house and zip lined and pet his monkeys. It was a great day. We have been there many times!

[Bert64]

Thanks so much for your help!

 

PS - I tried the port of call boards and they aren't frequented as much as this one and questions don't seem to be answered as much as they are here.