Supplies for orphanage

[spotte]

A friend and I are going to Roatan and taking a private tour. We are wanting to take a rolling suitcase, each, off of the ship with supplies to donate to a local orphanage. Will this be possible and will we have any problems doing that? 

[wanman]

You will want to check and see what Customs says. We tried to do that in Cozumel had nearly caused a international incident. 😄. We tried to get off but were stopped by Carnival Security and said we could not do that because we had not declared anything and it was stuff that could be sold for profit. (It was school supplies, books, stuff like that.)

Edited October 24, 2021 by wanman

[j1d1]

We did this on Roatan in January 2019 on the Dream.  We put together a kit of school supplies for kids and wanted to drop them off at a local school.  We also had arranged a local private tour that had agreed to help facilitate this.  I tried to arrange things through Guest Services to do things by the book, but Guest Services really had no idea what to do.  Different crew on a different occasion may have been more helpful in arranging a legal and allowable way of doing this.  I will elect not to go into detail about how we decided to proceed.  What we did may or may not have been allowable, and I do not want to encourage others to do something that may get them in trouble.  I will say that we were successful in delivering the school supplies to the school without incident.

 

I will also add that the actual experience of delivering the supplies didn't feel quite "right."  The children were happy but didn't seem very enthusiastic about the experience.  It felt like a contrived experience created for the entertainment of the "rich Americans."  In retrospect I wonder how much of what we delivered was actually left with the children and how much ended up in the hands of the tour operator (or someone else) to sell.  I have a very strong suspicion that the experience was a scam in a sense.  We were with a very popular and well regarded tour company.  I will not mention who as I have only feelings and no specific proof to offer about the experience.  My wife who is generally pretty trusting walked away with the same feeling as me.  Others who have done this may have had a totally different experience.

 

Ultimately I decided that between the potential legal issues and the sense that the whole thing wasn't on the "up and up," I would not attempt that same type of charity again.  I think there are more "legitimate" ways of giving through organizations that are less likely to get you in trouble and more likely to offer direct assistance to those who need it.  It's been almost three years now, so I haven't done any recent research in those types of organizations but know that they exist.

 

I appreciate any attempt at giving and wanted to offer up my experience and thoughts.  Hopefully you are able to figure out a legal and effective way to be charitable.

[Host Carolyn]

I asked my son who lives on Roatan part time and he said with covid, etc you really can't go to orphanage and schools also off limits. 

[o-state girl]

I've done this a few times.  One time, we had a ridiculous amount of stuff (12 boxes) to donate so we went to guest services and declared it.  I had a letter from the organization that was to receive it (Roatan Children's Fund), so Honduran customs allowed it.  Once we took a couple of backpacks full of stuff and delivered it to the Rotary Club information booth at the cruise port (they accept donations for the Children's Fund).  The last time we wen't we took a private tour with Rony's Tours.  We made around 2 dozen goody bags, and he coordinated with some of the children in one of the poorer neighborhoods.  Our driver and guide took us to a location in the El Suampo neighborhood and we passed out the bags to the kids.  

[travelguy2009]

On 10/27/2021 at 2:02 AM, o-state girl said:

I've done this a few times.  One time, we had a ridiculous amount of stuff (12 boxes) to donate so we went to guest services and declared it.  I had a letter from the organization that was to receive it (Roatan Children's Fund), so Honduran customs allowed it.  Once we took a couple of backpacks full of stuff and delivered it to the Rotary Club information booth at the cruise port (they accept donations for the Children's Fund).  The last time we wen't we took a private tour with Rony's Tours.  We made around 2 dozen goody bags, and he coordinated with some of the children in one of the poorer neighborhoods.  Our driver and guide took us to a location in the El Suampo neighborhood and we passed out the bags to the kids.  

So I am not aware that you had to declare anything to bring school supplies etc to deliver on be a your with Rony. I have been in contact with him about what we are bringing next week, yes it's in a suitcase. So what procedures do we need to follow to be able to get off the ship with it at mahogany bay?

[o-state girl]

I would say that if you are only taking one suitcase off, you should be fine.  The last time we brought donations for our Rony's tour, we had a large duffel bag and just rolled it off without declaring.  It was only the time we brought a  very large amount of donations that we declared them.