Victor Bodden Pros and Cons

We booked the sun-n-fun tour with Victor Bodden based on all the positive reviews here. The other two people who were supposed to be with us didn't show up so it ended up just being two of us.

 

I personally would not do this again. Our tour guide barely spoke the whole day, and when he did we couldn't hear him because the windows of the car were open and he didn't speak loud enough. If we asked a question he answered it in a half hearted way, but he didn't volunteer any information and was obviously just trying to get the day over with.

 

Seeing the island was nice, the monkeys were cool, and the beach was good, but not great. We enjoyed the day, but we enjoyed it in spite of our tour guide - he certainly didn't add anything to our day.

 

I guess it's just the luck of the draw as to what tour guide you get, but it seems to me that they must not screen them very well.

 

That being said, the island was beautiful and I wouldn't hesitate to go back. I just wouldn't use Victor Bodden again.

What did Victor say about your experience? His livelihood depends on good employees and happy guests...but he can't fix it if he doesn't know it's broken.

Gina

We are in the process of booking the Fun n Sun Tour and I am curious about lunch. I am assuming we have to bring $$ for food and drinks - how much do you recommend? Cash or credit card? If cash, is US currency accepted?

The reviews all look great and it honestly makes me feel better that people seem to feel that Victor Bodden would be disappointed to find out someone did not have a great time and would take steps to correct the situation.

Soo looking forward to this!

Thanks everyone! We just got back today and had a blast in Roatan with a VB tour!

 

 

Upon going back down, we stopped for some shopping at an indoor store that had 30% off discounts. We then visited West End (more food/shopping, free beaches: he said West Bay had nicer beaches but it was $10 per person to get in).

 

We had lunch at Half Moon, followed by a quick swim and lay out in the cove near their restaurant. We loved the food (blackened fish, homemade coconut bread... YUM) and were pleased that it was a secluded area (other Americans/cruise travelers there with VB guides: must be an agreement they have together). Fair prices, we loved that it wasn't crowded.

 

 

I was so anxious about this, but I would book again (especially if we could have Cardi!). Thanks again for all the info, everyone!

 

 

Chrissy

 

Sailing on Caribbean Princess, March 8-15, 2014

I am so pleased you had a grand time. I agree Half Moon Bay Resort is a nice spot for lunch, and the snorkeling is not bad..I saw a herd of lobster out there one day.

Just in case others are confused.. all the beaches on the island are free, the challenge becomes access, some of them are payable to get through a resort to the beach. Last March there was still free access to West Bay Beach on a small walk-able road between Bananarama and Paradise Beach Club, or a far more fun way to get to West Bay Beach would be the water taxi from West End.

Qchell US dollars are widely accepted on the island. Prices vary depending on what food choice is made. Figure $25 per person and you should go back to the ship with money in hand after tip. I enjoy the fish sandwich at Foster's, I think it was $7 last March. If you want lobster, that will cost a pretty penny more. :)

As I posted in another forum, we have used Victor Bodden 3 other times. We lucked out and got Ann on our first tour and have requested her ever since. The past 2 tours, we paid 80.00 for the two of us and went to Bananarama both times. It is well worth it to me to have a driver on standby to take us back to the ship or on a short tour, if we choose. Ann is quiet, but she and my wife really hit it off. We did the Zip and Dip the first time and it was pretty cool. Not really a jungle, but fun for a first time.

I agree with the person who said you should let Victor know if you had a bad tour. He has always been super responsive.

As far as the long walk from the port to the "NON-CARNIVAL PAYING EXCURSIONS", that is a lot of BS. It is a bit of a walk and Carnival does that to try to get people to book excursions with them. I love Carnival, but have never paid that extra 75% overhead to use a Carnival excursion. I like to think of it as a defiant march for the small operators. They can, however, drop you back off right at the port. Just sayin'.:cool:

We had booked with Victor back when he was a small operation. We booked an island tour, but the day was very rainy, and so a lot of what he had planned to show us was washed out. However, he was very pleasant to deal with, and so we booked with him again on our next trip to Roatan. By then, his operation had really grown, and our experience with the guide Victor personally recommended was considerably less than expected. I did express our dissatisfaction to Victor, who said he would look into our issues, but he never got back to me. For that reason, I will not use him again, nor recommend him again.

Just got back from our Western Caribbean tour on Carnival. We had 3 choices. The carnival beach, which some of the people said was beautiful and they very much enjoyed. 2nd, a excursion off of the island. But the what i wanted to do was see the island and west bay. After much research and talking to people it came down to this being the most beautiful island and west bay snorkling being the best option to do and see the island. That being said, my only option was rony or Victor and i chose Victor and was assigned Big AL. I just want to say we had a wonderful day. It was unfortunatly our short day of the 4 islands and we did more that i expected and had plenty of time at each. We Drove through several of the towns and got some history and much more from Al, we went to the iguana park, West Bay and snorkled until i couldn't snorkle any more, several scenic spots. (Along with Monkey buisness) which our 3 18 year olds loved. And just want to point out that Al not only made us feel safe, he seemed to know half of the people on the island which made us feel safe. What i loved most was the pride that Al had for his island or Roatan. That is something you probably will not get on a carnival excursion.

Thanks Big Al!:D