Bodden Tours OR Diana and Cinthia

[beckym]

Someone wrote to say she did not use Diana, and were relieved to find out in advance.

 

No offense taken, Maxamuus. I wish I HAD seen the "one" negative review, as the writer's experience was so similar to what ours turned out to be.

Had I seen that, it would have made for a much nicer shore day in Roatan, asI'd have used the guide recommended by the majority of CCers.

 

Again, if peole have a great time, no matter with whom, i'm happy for them. We all want to enjoy our trips! That is the point of researching the best tour guide, no?

 

Someone wrote that Diana emailed her at home after the trip, to say "thanks" for using her. Funny, i never received even an apology , in person or by email,which would have gone some way to alleviate my "ripped off" feeling. Sure, we had a rate reducitoin, Big deal. Money is time--and there was never a way to get the TOIME back. It's pretty odd , and also validating, when you have the driver beingapologetic for the way your day has turned out.

 

In conclusion...CAVEAT EMPTOR

[shakespeare]

I had emailed both Diana and Victor for quotes and information and I felt Victor was the better choice and booked with him. Diana sent me an email asking me to confirm the booking (that I never made). I emailed her back saying we had made other plans, but thank you, etc., etc.

 

When we got to the spot to meet Victor, there was a woman holding up a board with my name on it We started walking with her towards her van and a gentlemen followed and told the woman he had our name on his list... I asked if he was Victor and explained to the woman hat he is the person I booked. She tried to insist that I had booked with her....stating that she wouldn't know my name if I hadn't. I told her I had only asked for information and had informed her that we made other plans She had a bit of an attitude...Victor waited patiently and then we were off on his tour. Apparently, there is a lot of competition between guides and Victor said this isn't the first time it happened....so that is why he checks when she is holding up a name that is on his list. I personnally would not use the services of someone who feels that shanghaing a group is the way to do business!

 

We had an excellent tour with Victor....he is very personable and took us wherever we wanted to go. He dropped one couple off for horsebacking riding...and dropped a few off that were doing the zip line. Living in Florida, we've seeen our shares of iguanas, so did not go to the farm. We did go to his home to see "Coki" the monkey...that was a lot of fun...never got to hold a monkey before:D If I go back to Roatan on another cruise, I would definitely use Victor.

 

Liz

[Preds]

We used Victor last month. His cousin Orsey was our guide. Orsey was great, spoke good english, and gave us losts of information as we drove the island to the Jungle Canopy Zip, the Orphanage in the West Bank, Victor's house (the baby monkeys were great), and finally some quick shopping near the port. We also met Victor and his family at their house.

 

I wouldn't hesitate to use Victor again in the future. He's organized, personable, and reasonable in price IMO. I wish we could find an operator like him in all ports!

[J & G]

After reading exhaustive numbers of reviews for months, we booked with Victor Bodden. We did not choose Diana and Cynthia based on more than one review saying that the customers had asked to be taken to one canopy zipline and, instead, were taken to another. We wanted to be sure that went to South Shore Canopy Tour rather than one of the others, even though it apparently is on the other end of the island from the iguana farm and some other popular attractions.

 

Victor assigned us to a guide named "Tex" (so named because of his love for American country music). His English was flawless, his van (he owns it) was spotless, and he was a very careful driver (not true of some of the tour companies we saw). He took us just where we asked to go and we had a fabulous time! He even got in the water with us and snorkeled! What a fabulous day!

 

Because of our great tour, we want to return to Roatan on a land-based vacation soon! It is a wonderful place with delightful people who actually seem to genuinely like Americans. See you soon, Tex!

[margincall]

We went with diane and cinthia last november-cinthia met us at the gate and introduced us to an absolutely wonderful guide named lena--if you have a choice ask for her(nothing against diane or cinthia themselves-just that lena was great)she helped us get great bargains in an out of the way shop,took us to a wonderful restaurant at the waters edge and was just so knowledgeable about the island and a great person.

when there was a traffic jam that might delay us she knew how to get around it while other tourists looked stuck.

at the end of the day we also met diane who was glad to meet us since we had corresponded by e mail for months

[jimmy ripp]

Looking to beach/ snorkle and spa day. can anyone give me their opinion of which (or other location) we should choose ? No kids, Just Mom and Dad. Thanks.

[BabySis]

Looking to beach/ snorkle and spa day. can anyone give me their opinion of which (or other location) we should choose ? No kids, Just Mom and Dad. Thanks.

Check out the Fins & Flippers thread.... it is FABULOUS for a beach day... don't know about snorkeling, although they offer equipment and there were lots of people snorkeling the day we were there in January.

[mjmagee]

We were in Roatan a week ago on the Carnival Legend. We had emailed Cinthia and Diana about a tour. There were four of us. We had Larry, Diana's husband as our guide. We had an air-conditioned minivan, very clean. He took us east to see the wrecks and views. Then we went west and to the iguana farm and butterfly preserve, at his suggestion. We loved them both. Larry was a great guide. Very knowledgeable, friendly, funny. We ended with a swim at Bananarama Beach. It was a great day. We paid $25 per person plus tip and admission to the iguana farm ($5) and butterfly place ($7). It was well worth it and much less than we would have paid for a Carnival tour. I highly recommend the services of Cinthia and Diana. Marilyn

[NCTribeFan]

Thanks. I had originally emailed and said I want an island tour, iguana farm and zipline. Then I decided maybe I didn't want to zipline after all. :eek:

 

Then I decided I wanted to go to Fins and Flippers. Then I decided I really should see some of the island since it's my first visit.

 

So I emailed them back and told them I'd changed my mind and just wanted to do the West End tour and a beach. There will be only DD & I, so I'm not sure what it will cost. I was also told that we would have a female driver to make us feel comfortable.

 

Just got a response and it will be $30 pp since there are only two of us, plus whatever entry fees for other stops that we may wish to make.

[NCTribeFan]

When we checked in on Saturday, 5/17, we were informed that our itinerary was changed. They had switched days for Belize and Roatan.

 

I assumed that all tour operators have access to port information and would be aware that we were arriving in Roatan on Tuesday rather than Wednesday and, sure enough, there were Diana & Cinthia with signs when we disembarked.

 

I went over what we wanted to do - we did NOT want to zip line - and were introduced to Anna, who would be our driver.

 

Yes, we had to walk to where the cars were parked, but it was NOT a 10 minute walk. It was more like 3 minutes. She had a 4-door pickup, which a little tight getting into the back (I have long legs), but was fine once we were in, and the A/C worked well enough.

 

We went to the Iguana Farm, and Anna gave us some info about the island on the way. Then she asked if we wanted to continue on the east end or head to the west end. We decided on West, and asked to stop at a souvenir shop on the way.

 

As we approached West Bay, she asked if we would be OK with Fosters Beach Resort, as it had a $5 entry fee per person, but that they would give us a drink coupon, and they had food available, so we agreed.

 

It was a lovely location, with good drinks, food and swimming. I would return tomorrow, if I could!

 

She waited the 3 hours or so that we spent there, then we headed back to port.

 

It was a very nice day and I wouldn't hesitate to use their services again.

[CFitzRN]

I think that I am one of those reviews. I had planned (with Cynthia's help/advice) to go to the south shore zipline, iguana farm, and west end beach. None of this ended up happening when Diana became our driver for the day. I have copied my original post. In case I gave the wrong impression, I was not upset with pirates....I was upset/disappointed with Diana's service, or should I say...lack of..:rolleyes: My family will be returning to roatan this fall and NO we will not use this company again!!!

 

 

Hey we went with Cynthia/Diane last month and went zipping at Pirates. We had a good day but there was a LOT of room for improvement. Let me start by saying we were a family of 7, ages 10-65. We had planned to do a zip tour, see the iguinna farm (sorry my spelling leaves a lot to be desired), and spend the remaining time snorking/sitting on the beach. I was assured by Cynthia/Diane that there would be plenty of time to do this. Our group was at the front of the pack when everyone starting getting off the ship, I like to get every minute in port I can!!! Found Diane, but no car... So we began to walk to where the cars were located, this took about 10 minutes weaving though traffic and locals. Then we found out that there were about 50 cars parked bumper to bumper side to side, so we had to wait about 30 minutes for Diane to get the van. This should have been a sign for me to get another driver but I reassured myself that everything would be O.K. Now Diane finally pulls around...but not with the 8 person van that we were suppose to get..but with a 7 person van... She says "sorry" Cynthia must have made a mistake...O.K. one of the kids can sit in my lap. So onward we go, Diane recommends Pirates for ziping, I ask is it close enough to our other stops? Diane says "yes" calls Pirates, then she tells us that there will be no wait when we get there. The drive was long and SLOW..cars are passing us...silently I wonder how many are going to the pirates zipline. Finally, we make it pirates, and you guessed it...we had to wait. The tour itself was great..my DH (37), sis-in law (30), DS's (10,11) and me (38) had a great time. There we zips and bridges, we had two guides for the five of us. Both guides were fun and we enjoyed joking around with them. One of the guides was wearing a pirate suit so we kept asking him what bet did he loose to have to wear it. But I must warn you, we had PLENTY of time to get to know our guides because it was usually 5 to 15 minutes between lines. I think there were some older people in the group ahead of us that just needed extra time/help. Now if you add up all this time...it took not the 45 minutes we were told..but close to 2 hours. When we were done we jumped back in the van and had to rethink the rest of our day. Diane... to put it nicely was not a great help in this area. We asked her if there was a beach nearby where we could snorkle. Originally, we had not planned to zip with the pirates, diane just told us we would enjoy them more than the group I had planned to use. So now we were not close to the beach we had planned to stop at. She named three different beaches. I asked her to please take us to the nearest beach were we could snorkle. She kept saying "I don't want to decide for you". By now my husband is quietly suggesting that we tie a rock to her foot, so maybe we might actually see a beach before the day is over. My kids are unhappy because there just is not enough time left to go to the beach and see the iguannas. And I am just sitting there looking at the printed itinerary that I had planned with Cynthia many months earlier, nothing was going as planned....but I stayed positive. We ended up at half Moon Bay (if I remember right) Diane was talking about different places, We couldn't seem to make her understand that we truely did not care what the beach was called....we just wanted to stop at the nearest one where we could snorkle. Anyway, I am sorry if I sound negative. The day was nice but could have been much better. I would suggest that if you choose to go with the Pirates, (it was great) do not plan on a lot more. That way you won't feel let down. As for using Cynthia/Diane I honestly cannot give them a thumbs up or a thumbs down. They were nice people, they just did not meet my expectations. If I am ever in Roatan again I think we will rent scooters through Captain Ron.

__________________

 

I think the key is to get off the ship as soon as humanly possible. My crew (7 of us also) were the first to step off the ship. We went with Bodden and his driver was ready to hit to road at 8 (6 am local time). We got to the pirates ziplining before anyone from the ship. We were finished in 40 minutes (and it was really fun). As we were finishing up, a hoard of people were coming. So we quickly left for Victor's home to visit his animals, and it was the hit of the day with my kids. Then we went snorkeling at Half Moon Bay and that was great too. I would highly recommend Bodden tours.

 

pictures (toward the end) or Roatan: http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=...localeid=en_US

[Onlycruisin13]

We were in Roatan on July 15 and had a great tour with LENA! She is wonderful and a great guide. We were taken all over the island and then we went to Half Moon Bay for some snorkeling, which was really good. Lena took us to the iguana farm and we enjoyed seeing all the animals. She lives just down the road from the farm and we dropped by to see her mother and sons, which was really cute. She took us to a nice, but crowded shop that offered special discounts for her guests and even pushed to the front of the line so we could be on our way. She knows everyone it seemed on the island. We would definitely book with Lena and Diana and Cynthia again. We were on the Carnival Glory and they have been switching days without telling passengers and Diana and Cynthia were prepared for this, so it was not a problem. I did notify them in advance in case it happened, which it did.

[margincall]

We had Lena too and she was great-probably went to same shop that we did and got some great deals

and she took us to a great restaurant

[patticaryl]

Last year, our family booked with Diana and Cynthia and had Larry for our driver. We had such a great time, we have decided to book our trip next month with them again. They took such great care of us the whole day, and we chose what we wanted to do. Roatan is the BEST!!!

[sk84fungirl]

We just returned from the Carnival Glory on Saturday, 8/30. We arrived in Roatan and 10 and was off the ship about 30 minutes to an hour later. Cinthia was standing across the street from the gate when we arrived. Our driver was Ella Jackson. The cost per person was $25 per person. Some folks negotiated prices with taxis for $10 and $15. Not sure what they did or how long they had the taxi.

 

Ella was awesome. There were three in our party including my mother who does not get around well. Ella went to get her van and came to the gate to pick us up. We were with her for about 6 hours. I believe the only part of the island we did not visit was the EAST. Hope I have all of this correct...:o

 

I'm sure my names are a little off. Anyway, we had lunch at a restaurant on the Cove where folks were walking out and snorkeling right there. The water was so clear you could look down and see the fish over the rail of the restaurant. Ella was extremely knowledgeable and very patient with my mother. She would always get the van so that we would not have to walk far. We then went to another part of the island where the roads were winding but the views were breathtaking! The island is so narrow that there are locations where you can see both sides simultaneously. Just awesome!

 

I would love to go back to this island. It is beautiful. I also recommend Diana and Cinthia as there services were awesome. They ensured that we stayed abreast of the time and was back to the ship by 4:00. Diana and Cinthia stayed in touch with Ella the entire time to ensure things were going well for us.

 

It was the best day of the cruise. It really was.

 

I was so focused on disconnecting from my life stateside that I did not journal at all. So trying to remember the details might be a tad challenging! ;)