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Banana Coast Trujillo

abcs4578

By abcs4578,
in Norwegian Cruise Line

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Rudyard

Rudyard

Posted
Posted
Just checked out Victor Bodden tours for Banana Coast. They have a couple that look interesting. Just search for Victor Bodden and on the website you'll see a link for Banana Coast tours.

 

The boat tour looks interesting. Nice price too.

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cod

cod

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Someone on our Jewel roll call site just notified us that Victor Bodden is offering 3 tours in Trujillo in time for the Jewels first arrival. As of now, you can sign up for a snorkeling tour, or a lagoon/mangrove boat tour...each $35pp. There will be one more..Best of Trujillo Tour which they say they are getting ready to offer. The site I found said they will have a kiosk/assembly area on the dock and that anyone wanting to go on one of their tours should be there 1-1/2 hours after the ships scheduled time of arrival. You can sign up in advance but you do not pay until you get there and then only cash.

 

I'm glad there will be more options than just the NCL tours.

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danfiveoh

danfiveoh

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Are any of these local independent tour operators insured and certified? Or are they just mom and pop businesses trying to get a piece of the pie. The guides and equipment that they will use for these tours are they safe? I would love for you to tell me more Caribbean George.

 

I'm not sure your going to find "insured and certified" tours in Honduras unless you stick with the cruise line tours. They are backed by the cruise line.

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jingle5616

jingle5616

Posted
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I booked Victors Snorkeling tour for 11/5/14. I'll be sure to leave a short review here for everyone interested when I return. I've used Victors tour services before in Roatan and it was very good service both times, so hopefully it will be in Trujillo as well. Hopefully CC will add a Banana Coast section in the ports of call area (hint, Hint, HINT!):D

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Rudyard

Rudyard

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Hopefully CC will add a Banana Coast section in the ports of call area (hint, Hint, HINT!):D

 

I plan to leave a review as well. Would be great to have it's own section as a lot of people will be headed there in the future.

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Adam Coulter

Adam Coulter

Posted
Posted
I booked Victors Snorkeling tour for 11/5/14. I'll be sure to leave a short review here for everyone interested when I return. I've used Victors tour services before in Roatan and it was very good service both times, so hopefully it will be in Trujillo as well. Hopefully CC will add a Banana Coast section in the ports of call area (hint, Hint, HINT!):D

 

 

Funnily enough... I am going to be in Trujillo on Oct 15/16 to do exactly that! Any hints tips advice etc. would be gratefully accepted. There should be a full review out by late Oct/early Nov.

 

 

 

Adam Coulter, Editor, Cruise Critic UK

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randk1

randk1

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Posted

We are a family of 4 adults on Norwegian Jewel out of Houston Oct 11. We are interested in the fishing excursion offered in Trujillo by Victor Bodden tours. We have used Bodden tours in Roatan several times with great success. The fishing boat would hold 1-2 more adults, if there were someone interested. Two hour minimum, $90 per hour for the group, not per person.

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themiamicruiser

themiamicruiser

Posted
Posted

Hey everyone thanks for all the great information, its been hard finding anything about Trujillo online, there isn’t much out there. My group of 12 and I just booked an all inclusive I found in one of the links above which sounds pretty comprehensive especially compared to the few other tours I could find..

Transport, unlimited beers and alcohol, lunch, beach chair and a private beach for 75 bucks seems right up my ally. I did something similar in Roatan at Pirates Bay and it turned out great.

Ill write up a follow up when I get back Saturday, hope to have something by Monday !

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The Mister

The Mister

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Posted (edited)
Banana Coast Tours has great tours available. You need to go to their website and see all that they have to offer! http://www.bananacoasttours.net/

Yep. For this season (and probably the foreseeable future), they are the exclusive provider of excursions in the Banana Coast area available through NCL / HAL. Of course, as with most other ports, there are also a number of independent tour operators.

Edited by The Mister
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dabatex

dabatex

Posted
Posted
Hey everyone thanks for all the great information, its been hard finding anything about Trujillo online, there isn’t much out there. My group of 12 and I just booked an all inclusive I found in one of the links above which sounds pretty comprehensive especially compared to the few other tours I could find..

Transport, unlimited beers and alcohol, lunch, beach chair and a private beach for 75 bucks seems right up my ally. I did something similar in Roatan at Pirates Bay and it turned out great.

Ill write up a follow up when I get back Saturday, hope to have something by Monday !

Do you have the name of the all inclusive? We will be sailing from Houston on 25OCT14.

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home-mom

home-mom

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Posted
I just received an email from Tranquillity Bay Beach Resort. They had an amazing day with the passengers from NCL Jewel! I can't wait to spend some time when we are there in December :)

 

I saw that on their Facebook page as well, can't wait to try them in November!

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  • 4 weeks later...
Wannahavefun4

Wannahavefun4

Posted
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We just got back from our cruise and we had a blast everywhere but on The Banana Coast. We had a horrible experience snorkeling. There was not much to see with the private company we went with. We also did not see any starfish as promised. We spent $140 dollars for about a two hour boat ride. The beaches that were not next to the port were covered in trash (probably from the tropical storm). We complained abd were offered 5 dollars a person back, which was an insult in my opinion. I would definitely stay with the ships excursion until they build up this destination a little more. We did however have a great time in Cozumel and Belize. If you go to Belize go with butts up cave tubing and ask for France. He's an excellent tour guide. We also had a great Tim in Cozumel at Mr. Sanchos!!

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danfiveoh

danfiveoh

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Posted
We just got back from our cruise and we had a blast everywhere but on The Banana Coast. We had a horrible experience snorkeling. There was not much to see with the private company we went with. We also did not see any starfish as promised. We spent $140 dollars for about a two hour boat ride. The beaches that were not next to the port were covered in trash (probably from the tropical storm). We complained abd were offered 5 dollars a person back, which was an insult in my opinion. I would definitely stay with the ships excursion until they build up this destination a little more. We did however have a great time in Cozumel and Belize. If you go to Belize go with butts up cave tubing and ask for France. He's an excellent tour guide. We also had a great Tim in Cozumel at Mr. Sanchos!!

 

Gotta disagree. We were on the same cruise but had a different experience. While there was some seaweed and small debris on the beach, I didn't see trash. Here is what I wrote on another thread:

Back from the Jewel so thought I would post some info. We've done over 30 cruises and have been all over the Caribbean and I have to say that Trujillo was a very nice change from the more commercialized ports. The ship tender system was really backed up due to the fact that the channel into the dock in only wide enough for one tender at a time, so our inbound tender had to sit for an outbound tender. This backs up the entire process. We were in no hurry so it didn't bother me but I did speak with a couple on the way back that only had 2 hours at the resort they booked due to being late getting tendered in.

On arrival to the port area there is a very nice, new shopping area with clean restrooms. About 20 yards away, there are taxis and buses lined up at a nice transportation center. No trams in sight and several of the buses had "city tour" signs on them so my guess is there are still no trams. Near the cabs, there is an English speaking man who arranges the cabs. There is also an undeveloped beach right there so a very easy walk. I asked how much to take 2 of us into town and he wanted to sell me a tour for $10 each. I said that I just wanted to go to the center of town and he said it would be $5 each. I told him I would pay $5 for both of us and he motioned for a cab. The driver did not speak English but we had no problem, he took us straight to the town square, about a 7-8 minute drive. The port area is fenced in and when we left, guards checked his ID and wrote down his cab number. When we arrived at the town square, the high school band was in uniform and was playing in the street. There were local crafts for sale all over and it had the feel of a street fair with a lot of locals greeting us and local dancers performing. Very friendly vibe everywhere we went, I highly recommend going into the town.

We sampled a local beer, made a few purchases and walked about 2 blocks to the beach. The area is not developed yet but there is construction going on, so it will be soon. We walked back toward the port and found a place under construction that had beach loungers to rent for $5. They were selling beer for $2 out of a cooler so we camped there for a couple of hours. There was a full restaurant/bar next door that other cruisers told us was very good but we were content on our loungers. The beach is fine, more of a natural beach than the pristine sand you find at some ports. There are small rocks as you enter the water but once you get past them, the sand bottom is firm. From there, it was about a 10 minute walk back to the port.

On a final note, there are Police everywhere. While in town, we had a beer in a restaurant and the owner spoke English. I asked about all of the Police and she said that the town has very little crime but there is a lot of drug trade outside of the town. They bring in extra Police on ship days to secure all of the roads and to make the passengers feel safe. I do have to say that we felt very safe and it was clear how appreciative the locals are to have cruise passengers in their town. We were approached numerous times by people simply thanking us for being there.

Overall, we had a great time in Trujillo and this is an easy port to do your own thing.

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Levanah

Levanah

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We were off the Norwegian Jewel a week ago on its third trip to Trujillo. For us, it was honestly the best day of the cruise. We did enjoy two Mayan ruins excursions from Cozumel and Belize but it was the low key, authentic feeling of the day at Trujillo and the local people that won us over. We were late off the ship due to a previous day's storm that made it necessary to do some dredging into the channel in order for the tenders to make their way in. Instead of the open air trams which were to tour us around, we had air conditioned busses. Our guides Shirley and Zunni were wonderful hosts and eager to please. We were all very curious about the town and its people as were the locals about us. Everyone had broad smiles greeting us including the ample number of police scattered about town. A group of Garifuna were at the shore to greet us with traditional drumming and dance and were there, too, at the end of the daywhen we boarded the last tender of the day back to the Jewel.

 

At present, this port is largely undeveloped. No Diamonds International. Few of the trappings of a typical, well-developed Caribbean cruise tourist destination. We hope it will remain this way. We also know that it is very likely destined to change forever in some positive ways and some not so positive. We feel very fortunate to have been able to visit Trujillo this early on and will remember the warmth and authenticity of the people.

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