Mahogany Beach or Tabyana Beach?

My family is traveling on the Valor in April. We are trying to decide which beach excursion to go on. Can anyone compare these two beaches and give us some advice? Thanks for any help you all can give!

IMO, Tabayana Beach is a better beach. However, MBCC is only a short walk from the ship and only costs you for food, drinks or watertoys. You can go back and forth from the ship all day long. Many folks like that over having to take an excursion and be regulated the meeting and departure times of an excursion. At TB you have to pay for the transportation to get there. Not sure what all Carnival includes on the excursion. There are equally good beaches along the West End/West Bay discussed in depth on this board. You may find it just as cheap as doing TB via excursion, with biggest cost being the taxi fare from MBCC to the West End. But you're on your own at least.

We did Tabayana through the ship. The cost was around $30 pp and included transportation and iced tea/lemonade/water while you were at the beach. It was GORGEOUS and my favorite stop of the trip.

I did see Mahogany Bay, and it seemed OK. But Tabayana was GORGEOUS, and I actually enjoyed getting to see a little bit of Roatan on the way to and from the beach.

Did you have to pay for chairs and umbrellas? or were they included in the $30.00 excursion fee?

Did you have to pay for chairs and umbrellas? or were they included in the $30.00 excursion fee?

Nope, they were included. The service was excellent, as well. Drinks were tasty and not too outrageously priced. I highly recommend the "Monkey Lalas". ;)

Go West Bay beach (the large beach that Tabyana is at one end of), by all means! We just got back from there on a cruise last week. We went in through Fosters resort, at the other end of West Bay from Tabyana. We could see the crowds at Tabayana with the cruise ship tours. We took a Victor Bodden island tour, which was fantastic, and had our driver Hector take us to West bay for the afternoon. LOVED it. Gorgeous beach, best beach of the entire cruise. Lovely water, trees, sand, everything. We walked down the beach and ended up sitting in front of Henry Morgan resort.

We stopped at the Mahogany bay beach afterwards, just before getting back on the ship to see it, and it is nothing spectacular. Strictly manmade, and fairly average looking. Water wasn't nearly as nice, either. Take an island tour with Victor Bodden's tours, and have them take you to West Bay. It will be the best day of your cruise!

Go West Bay beach (the large beach that Tabyana is at one end of), by all means! We just got back from there on a cruise last week. We went in through Fosters resort, at the other end of West Bay from Tabyana. We could see the crowds at Tabayana with the cruise ship tours. We took a Victor Bodden island tour, which was fantastic, and had our driver Hector take us to West bay for the afternoon. LOVED it. Gorgeous beach, best beach of the entire cruise. Lovely water, trees, sand, everything. We walked down the beach and ended up sitting in front of Henry Morgan resort.

 

We stopped at the Mahogany bay beach afterwards, just before getting back on the ship to see it, and it is nothing spectacular. Strictly manmade, and fairly average looking. Water wasn't nearly as nice, either. Take an island tour with Victor Bodden's tours, and have them take you to West Bay. It will be the best day of your cruise!

Barbaraanne: Is there a place to get food at West Bay with the Bodden tour?

Interested in your comments re: West End Bay vs Tabyana. If we wanted to go there privately would we get a taxi? Cost? (I assume that is how you returned to the ship after Victor dropped you there folloiwng your private excursion?)

Are there hammocks and shade? Snorkeling from beach?

thanks!!

We also used Victor Bodden when we were there two weeks ago and Hector was our driver. We made two stops with him, one for snorekling and the other was a beach on west end, both wonderful. Hector asked what we liked to do and he know just where to take us, our kids loved both places. We had lunch at the beach, our table in the sand had swings for chairs!! Food was good, reasonably priced, as were the drinks. We went back a little early to check out Mahogony, it was nice but not as nice as where Hector took us. Great Job Victor Bodden and Hector.

Just my opinion, but we hated Mahogany Beach. We were there on a crowded day - two big ships in port, but we found it to be loud and crowded and full of drunks (and we are not shy around a cocktail ourselves, but this was out of hand). West Bay was really a nice place - we visited Foster's resort there. I haven't seen Tabayana, but it would have to be better than Mahogany Beach, especiallly if you have little ones.

Just my opinion, but we hated Mahogany Beach. We were there on a crowded day - two big ships in port, but we found it to be loud and crowded and full of drunks .

Not just your opinion, that is what many locals in many locations feel about cruisers in general. Just look at how many buy beer and umbrella drinks at 10:00 am

Can we take a cab to Tabyana Beach on our own? If so what would be the cost and how far is it? Do not want to do a tour. TY

I can't speak for Tabyana, but we took a cab to Half Moon Bay, which I think is a bit farther, for $20.00 per person, round trip. There were hundreds of cabs for hire at the Mahogany Bay facility.

I'm glad you posted this question because I'm trying to decide the same thing. I'm thinking we might do the Tabayana Beach Break thru Carnival. I like the idea of being close to the pier for Mahogany Bay, but I'm not big on the crowdedness.....course I suppose Tabayana could be crowded too.....lol

Decisions, decisions!

I visited both beaches last week and would go to Tabanya again any time A very nice beach with a "scenic bus ride" through a poor third world country at no extra charge. The roads are very narrow and a little crowded in the villages. The trip over the mountain to the beach was a little scary for some. If you choose to snorkle go around the orange bouys on either end of the beach. It gets deeper with large coral heads and lots of fish. The food was poor with hot dogs, chicken strips and burgers on the menu. Some of our group went next door to the resort on the right for lunch and reported that the service was lousy and the food was awful.

Did you have any problem with sand fleas while at Tabanya Beach?

We did Tabyanna, which was great 1/2 hr ride from port, and talked to someone who did roatan beach, the cons for roatan were, snorkeling wasn't good there, so I"m betting not good scuba diving either.

At Tabyanna, there were a lot of activities, kayaking, snuba, snorkeling, and scuba, & lunch was available for a fee, but plenty of cold drinks, water, iced tea & lemonade were included. It was a great beach, But Roatan is free, within walking distance of the ship, with a chair lift to get you over there, when you arrive in port, you will see the beach. We heard the chair lift was $ 8.00 for the whole day, so I think if you want to catch some rays & then shop a little, Roatan beach is a good choice, Roatan is a short day, so we lost about 1& 1/2 hrs driving to the beach and back, etc. Just my thoughts!

At Tabyanna, we never saw or felt one!

We are also trying to decide on where to go in Roatan? Any other insights would be helpful. Thanks.