Shopping in Roatan

Is Roatan a good place for shopping and souvenirs? What are your thoughts?

Not really, though the do push the Cameo Factory in the West End. My mom took a cab out there and said that they were pretty, but she could get them cheaper in the US (she's a big jewelrey tv person.)

Roatan is basically undeveloped for tourism at this point, compaired with places like St. Thomas or Cayman. Roatan is more a place for beaches/snorkeling (Tabayana) or nature (Gumblimba park/zip line canopy tours). It is a beautiful, lush. hilly paradise and we loved our trip to the park to play with the monkeys. Our guide told us how excited the people were to build a relationship with the cruise lines and bring in more tourism.

We went from Cozumel to Roatan and it was a completely different experience. There is a tent with about 10 booths about 500 steps from the pier where you will dock. Most booths were not staffed when we disembarked at 9 AM. There is also an indoor flea market across the street that we went into at 9 AM to check prices. It's definitely a place where you should barter. As we wandered the main street, a lot of people had set up tables in their yards with essentially the same things that we saw in the flea market. (It's mass produced somewhere.) I asked a woman if the pottery was made on Roatan and she said it wasn't but it WAS made in Honduras not China. We bought nice pottery and some of the wooden items (an ice bucket and a few bowls). The prices for exactly the same things varied. We had an excursion to go to and waited until about 3 PM to shop and got what we thought were fair prices. Most vendors were willing to come down as much as 20%. I found that if I made a fair offer and one vendor wouldn't take it, another would. Wait until later in the day.

I really loved Roatan. It was beautiful. The local people were great.

I loved Roatan and its people, but they don't have much in the way of shopping. It is a very poor country.

Quick question???

Is there any little stores/shops in the port area? Travelling with a senior and I don't want to go too far from the ship..

Thanks

Quick question???

Is there any little stores/shops in the port area? Travelling with a senior and I don't want to go too far from the ship..

Thanks

Just a five minute walk from the pier. See the prior comments.

There were some beautiful carved wooden boxes in Roatan, but other than those that I could see as I was walking back onto the ship, I would rather do something other than shopping there. It is such a beautiful place and very different the other places we stopped. We went to Foster's and the beach looked like something out of a Corona commercial. Even the taxi ride was very interesting.

The Cameo Factory, The Silver store in the 5th St. Mall?, and Zuba Ding Ding in Coxen Hole. I found alot little souvenior stores in West End.

We walked into the small village next to the port and found a pottery store where I picked up some really nice pieces.

My favorite souvenier was a branch from a plumeria tree, which grow wild everywhere. I've picked some up from Hawaii, too. Just plant in soil, they are very easy to grow.

Did some shopping not to far from the shop. They had some interesting

hand-made items.

A branch from a plumeria tree? They let you bring that back into the US?! I've always wanted to bring back plants since I love tropicals, but it's not allowed.

We were just in Roatan last week. There is a large flea market type tent set up on the pier, and they are doing lots of construction there. I would assume that they are building a more permanent place to shop. There is a street that goes right and left just after coming off the pier. Left seems to be mostly residential, but if you go right, you will run into lots of shopping. People have little shops set up in their yards, but it seems to be mostly the same stuff that we saw at every other port. I bought my daughter a bracelet there, and saw the exact same one in Merida two days later. And cheaper.

The only exception would be the carved wood pieces. They have some gorgeous wooden trunks and other wooden things that were unique. I am going to save up and ship one of those trunks home the next time I visit Roatan! They were beautiful.

Here's a picture I took from the ship of the port in Coxen Hole:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v149/adamsmom/Voyager%20Cruise%202008/IMG_0146.jpg

The larger white tent has lots of vendors set up for shopping. Only ship passengers are allowed into the area inside the fence that runs along the street.

The wooden trunks are similar to this table carved from mahogany:

http://www.dargate.com/232_auction/232_images/1087.jpg

Yaba Ding Ding is recommended by the cruise line, and they have some more unique souvenir items, but they are a little more pricey:

http://www.yabadingding.com/

Wow, that table is beautiful......... that is the type of souvenir I would love, but can't imagine how you would haul it to and off the ship ........

Thanks for the info, shopping is the highlight of all my cruises:D

Many of the places say they will ship for you, but I would be afraid to do that. I would be more likely to get a cab and haul it to a FedEx place or something and ship it myself if I couldn't get it home with me.

Do they have cheap T-shirts? My daughter loves these. Yes, she knows they shrink but she loves wearing them around the house.

Yes there are T shirts and other typical soveniers. T's at Yabba ding ding were $10, but they were $5 from the little street vendors. I bought some cute bracelets for $1 to take back to my bunko group. Also at Yabba ding ding my husband bought cigars : $5-6 and I got a cute little box for about $6.

Yes there are T shirts and other typical soveniers. T's at Yabba ding ding were $10, but they were $5 from the little street vendors. I bought some cute bracelets for $1 to take back to my bunko group. Also at Yabba ding ding my husband bought cigars : $5-6 and I got a cute little box for about $6.

So do the street vendors pretty much carry the same things as Yabba ding ding ?

Thanks!

So do the street vendors pretty much carry the same things as Yabba ding ding ?

Thanks!

Was just there last week and recommend Yabba Ding Ding. Beutiful stuff, the owner supports local womens groups. She will not budge on prices but she also had the cheapist we saw anywhere. In fact after going there it is the only stor I would bother with next time. She is origanlly from San Francisco and is a very nice lady.

Brenda

So do the street vendors pretty much carry the same things as Yabba ding ding ?

Thanks!

The quality of the t-shirts you can buy from Yabba ding dings is better than the cheapy t-shirts you get from the vendors. I bought some beautiful tye-dyed shirts and fabric there that have held up quite well. They are worth the extra money. The vendors t-shirts are fine also- just not the same quality. I have some of both and am still wearing them a year later:)

Was just there last week and recommend Yabba Ding Ding. Beutiful stuff, the owner supports local womens groups. She will not budge on prices but she also had the cheapist we saw anywhere. In fact after going there it is the only stor I would bother with next time. She is origanlly from San Francisco and is a very nice lady.

Brenda

When we were in Roatan in November of 2005, our young guide took us to Yabba Ding Ding as one of the local sites, explaining that the business contributes to his school, which was just down the street from the store. We picked up a jaguar bowl there. FYI, "yabba ding ding" apparently is the local term for archeological items found/picked up from the ground.

On the way back, my wife needed to rest briefly, so some very nice local gentlemen who had a small non-professional souvenir stand outside their house offered her a seat in the shade. We had a very pleasant 45 minute chat with them--they were former cruise line employees who settled there--and we purchased two fair-sized pieces of jade (bird-shaped necklace pendants, as they had holes for a thong to pass through) and a potshard--a handle from a terra cotta bowl. The gentlemen explained that the development up in the hills is uncovering lots of such things and they are left for the picking up after the bulldozers pass by. For these and a wooden ring we paid $40 USD and were eminently satisfied with the transaction.:)