Carnival actually owns the port in Roatan and calls it Mahagony Bay. There are many shops and even a man made beach for cruise guests not wanting to venture out into the island. The facility is very nice but the downside to it being privetly owned by Carnival is that the private tour guides have to park outside the facility gates. Meaning those guests who didn't book there excursions thru Carnival have to walk up a hill and out the gates to meet there tour groups.
The Island of Roatan is very pretty. It reminded me a lot of St. Thomas and I absolutely loved the scenery. It was hands down not just the prettiest location we went to on this Cruise but one of the most prettiest places we’ve ever been. The drive took us thru the Capital City of Coxen Hole which didn’t seem much like a major city. Just as with most of the Caribbean Islands there is much poverty in Roatan and that was very evident while driving thru Coxen Hole. Although the poverty is bad I never felt unsafe here and it wasn’t near as bad as some of the other Islands we’ve visited in the past. As we drove past the other Cruise Port we saw that one of the Norwegian ships was docked this day as well.
We soon arrived at the Beach. Island Marketing actually dropped us off at Bananarama and that’s who’s facilitys we could use. For booking the Beach break thru Island Marketing (or thru Bananarama) in additon to our transportation we got a lounge chair for the day and a free drink from the bar. This package cost $32 a person thru Island Marketing (its only $30 thru Bananarama). Our driver helped get us checked in and set up at the beach and then we would pretty much be on our own the rest of the day.
West Bay Beach might just be the prettiest Beach I have every visited. It was beautiful. We got there very early too so it seemed like for a time that we were the only people on the beach. We had prime picking on where we wanted to put our loungers so we found a nice spot under some palm trees. We then kicked back and relaxed as we had a day of lazyness in the sun ahead of us.
I’m not one who only like to layout in the sun so it wasn’t long before I decided to go take a swim in the ocean. The water here is very pretty but it seemed a little colder then what the Caribbean waters usually are. When you encounter this the best thing to do is to just jump all in. Don’t try to inch your way in as you will stay cold if you do. I jumped all in while Kiera took her time and was cold because of it. Eventually though she was all in and we relaxed in the waters. We decided to try and swim out to the rope that marked off the swimming area. It turned out to be further away then we thought it would be so when your out of shape or pregnant the swim was very tiring lol. So we decided to climb up onto the floating raft thing Bananarama has out there and rest for a minute.
As we returned to our chairs we noticed the beach was starting to get much more crowded. We assumed this was because not only were passingers from the Norwegian ship starting to show up but the passingers from the Valor probably were as well. Along with the tourists came the people trying to sell things. People sold anything and everything from sunglasses to cigars, tee shirts to jewelry, hamaches to purses. You name it they were probably trying to sell it. But none of them were every pushy and they didn’t seem to single anyone out to pesterize.
After another long time of relaxing in the sun we decided to walk down the beach. It was fun walking along the water line enjoying the beautiful scenery and looking at the many resorts the lined the beach front. Some of the resorts were very nice where some were just so-so. Still its quite the difference on this side of the island compared to the other side. You wouldn’t have known there was Poverty on Roatan had it not been for the people trying to sell things.
After our walk Kiera did our traditional writing in the sand and we decided to back and lounge away the day some more. The beach was now very packed so I enjoyed people watching as well as all the activitys taking place out in the ocean. There are many water activitys that you can do while at west bay. Theres a reef that you can swim out to snorkle at, You can rent a Kayak, float around on a paddleboard, go scuba diving, or fly in the air as you parasail. It almost seemed like the activitys were endless if you wanted to do any of that.
Off in the distance we could see a storm rolling by and it looked like it could be as bad as the one we experienced a day earlier in Belize. We were really hoping that it wouldn’t move in over the beach and to our luck it never did. It did get a little overcast though but at least it never rained. Unlike other islands we’ve been to though when the area got overcast the water still stayed that very pretty blue color.
We still had our free drink vouchers as well so we decided to grab lunch at Bananaramas Thirsty Turtle restaurant and bar. This turned out to be quite the experience. It was very confusing first on how you are seated. Then when the waitress came I presented our drink coupons and asked what they had that was non-alcoholic since we don’t drink. The lady said pinacolada. I asked if there was anything other then that (I’m not a big fan) and she said yes but wouldn’t tell me what else was non-alcoholic. Finally she said “I just bring you a Pinacolada and left. Fine whatever. Luckly when she brought the two drinks back they were pretty taisty. Once again coming from someone who doesn’t typically like Pinacoladas. It didn’t get any better with our food ether. Kiera ordered a chicken wrap and I ordered a pulled pork sandwich in which the waitress told us that we would have to wait a long time for our food if that’s what we want. That’s fine whatever again. Its ok if its gonna take longer. But she was rude about it and basically what her tone said was “order something else that won’t take as long so that you can get out of here sooner”. I ordered a Pepsi with my food that turned out to be very good. And once the food came it too was very yummy and good. It was well worth the wait. Overall the food at the Thirsty Turtle was very good and only cost us about $22 bucks. But the service there was horrible. At least from what we experienced.
Our whole overall experience at Bananarama seemed to be about the same as the Thirsty Turtle. Most the employees seemed annoyed or bothered when you asked them something. And the facilities were pretty worn down as well. It looks much better in pictures. Kiera also said the restrooms were in very bad shape. These things wouldn’t steer me away from spending a day there again in the future. But I don’t think I would ever want to spend my entire vacation there.
So the problems we had with Island Marketing. Well first we felt we didn't recieve what was promised. The Distance between the port, city, and beach discribed on there website were not accurate at all. Second the beach day was more expensive thru Island Marketing then it was thru Bananarama. Something I thought was justifiable because they claimed to give you an island tour and stop to take photos on the way to the beach. Something that did not happen. To go along with that the driver didn't even talk to us unless somebody asked a question.
But the worst was our return problems. Our driver never showed back up to return us to the ship. Instead she left it up to another driver to take us back. Who had left already to take some other people back to the ship. Infact the message of what was going on was relayed to us by another tour group guide. The 2nd driver finally returned 20 minutes later then she said she would. When she did she wasn't willing to take us back until her group was ready. Had we done that we would get to the ship with only 15 minutes to spare. Something I wasn't comfortable with. She tried calling somebody else but couldn't get ahold of anyone. So we told her to forget and we would take a taxi back as we needed to get back asap as we like to have plenty of time to spare. She then agreed to take us after the threat of a taxi. So off we went back to the ship. We ended up switching drivers once we got to the city to take us the rest of the way to the ship.
This was a mess that shouldn't have every happened. I don't know what all was going on but I can't ever recommend Island Marketing to anyone. Things were handled so poorly and it caused me more stress then any i've ever had on vacation. I'm glad they tried to help us out and make things right but it shouldn't have happened in the first place.
Since we still had time we decided to walk around the Mahogany Bay shopping area. With how far West Bay is from Mahogany Bay though we now found ourselves in that storm we saw off in the distance. It was raining pretty good in Mahogany Bay so we tried to stick only to the covered areas. We then quickly decided that maybe it would be best to head back and board the ship. Which we promptly did.
The bay the ship docks in is unique as there are 3 sunkin ships in the bay. I guess some sprang a leak and sunk while others caught fire and sunk. Its really cool to see these shipwrecks in person. While Kiera was getting ready for the evening I went back to the Lenai to watch the sale away. The island is very pretty and it was neat to see the Valor and then the Dream slowly navigate out of the bay we were docked in. I did embaress myself when I slipped and fell into a puddle of water in front of a group of people also watching the sail away. They were all kind enough to help me up. I was concerned with if I damaged my then new camera or not. Luckly I protected the camera enough when I fell that it didn't get wet.
Dispite the stress we had it turned out to be an amazing day in a beautiful location. I don’t know if I would recommend Island Marketing to anyone though. Although I have to admire the young lady who did all she could to still take care of us after our driver no showed, None of this should have even happened in the first place. Not only that but the drive portion didn’t turn out to be as discribbed on there website ether. The location and the beach were wonderful. The business not so much. I know others have had a great time in the past using Island Marketing and it was because of those reviews which made me decide to use them. So I don’t know. We may have had bad luck with them but you might not. Overall these issues were not enough to ruin our day or our vacation.
