Pirates, Birds and Monkeys of the Caribbean Excursion- questions!

[AnnShh]

I am really interested in doing the Pirates, Birds, and Monkeys excursion in Isla Roatan. We like to book through companies other than the ship to get smaller groups but I haven't found it anywhere other than on Carnival's site.

 

Has anyone done this excursion through Carnival?

How many people were in your group?

Did everyone in the group get to hold the monkeys/birds?

Was it worth it/would you recommend it to others?

 

Does anyone know where I can book this that is not through Carnival?

 

Thanks!!

[airlinegal]

According to the Gumbalimba Park website, on days that there is a ship in port, you can only get in through a ship's tour.

[EydieG]

We did this tour in 2007 and I'm sorry to say we were very disappointed. It took about 30 minutes to actually get to the park. There were about 20 in our group. The birds are in a cage and they bring out one and you pass him around. There is also only one monkey on a leash that they kind of pass around. There was one other monkey tied up in a tree but they said he bites so no one gets to touch him. As for pirates, you go on a little walk and see a statue of a pirate in a cave. That is it. We only had 30 minutes after this before we had to be back on the ship so we didn't go to the beach just got back on the bus for the long ride again. Since it has been a year and a half since we have been there, maybe there have been some improvements and hopefully someone else will respond.

[amannette]

My husband and our 4 year old went on this tour last spring through Carnival and really enjoyed it. Our group was about 15 people. We walked through the park; it started out with some of the plants of the area and history. We crossed a rope bridge, walked through some caves with murals painted on the walls with a nice history of region given by our tour guide.

 

There was only one monkey that we were able to hold. He wasn't on a leash and was very small. They gave us all plenty of time so that all members of our group were able to hold it and one of the employees of the park took several pictures with our camera of us with the monkey. There were two parrots that you were able to have sit on your shoulder.

 

Once the tour was over we returned to beach area of the park where you could purchase refreshements, look through a few stalls of local goods. There was a really nice man on the beach selling handmade jewelry as well. The beach area was small and we didn't spend any time there but ended up going back to the ship.

 

There were vans taking passengers back to the ship about every half hour depending on the number of guests waiting to head back to the ship. Once the tour was finished you were able to walk through the park again on your own or spend time on the beach. It was an enjoyable excursion.

[JustStartin]

We were at Gumbalimba last August. DH, 3 DD's (19, 17, & 15) and I. We absolutely loved it!!!

 

I'll agree with amannette on the description of most of the tour. We had a group of 12-15, and most of the description was quite "on". The main part that was different for us was at the monkeys.

 

When we were there, there were 11 monkeys! One was tied, off to the side of the main area, seems to love "well-endowed" women and won't let them go if it gets near them. :) Another, Peter, was a 1-year-old on a leash with a guide that you could hold. The 9 others ran free. They would jump from one person's shoulders to the next. They ran around taking things from people's bags or off people's heads. One took my husbands hat, went up into a tree and entertained the group by putting it on. Eventually it dropped the hat and we retrieved it. They were hilarious. After the tour, we returned to this area just to watch them and play with them more. It truly was a memorbable part to our cruise.

 

Otherwise, I believe there were 2 macaws out, with a few more in large cages. Also as we walked through the flowers and plants we saw wild macaws flying overhead. Truly beautiful.

 

We did not use the beach but looked through the "local vendor" area.

We just waited a short time for the next van back to port when we were done. We stopped along the road at a scenic spot if anyone wanted a picture op.

 

I'd recommend going early so you have plenty of time. We shopped near the port when we were done. The people of Roatan were polite and wonderful. 2 boys adopted us to help find whatever we wanted, obviously hoping for a tip (which they got), but polite and respectful.

 

I was my favorite port!

[ellie_p74]

My family of five did this excursion back in feb with Carnival Valor. We booked through Carnival. There were probably about 15-20 people in our group but it didn't feel crowded. Our tour guy,can't remember his name now but he was great. He showed us around the gardens and explained some of the things growing, explained the history of the caves and island. My kids 4, 6 and 13 and my husband and I all got chances to have parrots sit on our shoulders. I believe everyone in our group got a chance to have the parrot sit. We went across on a rope bridge. We had enough time for every one to hold a monkey. There were a few of them and if you were close enough to one it would jump on your shoulder. My kids thought it was great. We had time to look at the local vendors that were there and stayed for alittle on the beach before having to go back. There were some awesome views while driving there.

[Supermomma4]

Is the rope bridge scary to walk across?

 

We booked this excursion last night...sounds like alot of fun

except m/b for the rope bridge.