Cruise Ship Family Chocolate Factory, Sloths & Monkeys, Beach, Transportation

The guide was awesome, you can tell he enjoyed his job, had great conversation, he was informative, educational and made the trip fun and went off the schedule to do something, like we ask to go to the beach he obliged us. We didn’t use the ship excursions and went out on our own , it was cheaper and frankly I think better and more personal. I will use 5 star again when we make our way back to Roatán in the next year or so.

Great directions from the cruise port straight outside of the gates to check in and then meet our guide Neil. Great private tour with just our family of 4. Actual tour name was: Roatan Sloth, Monkeys, Chocolate Factory plus Beach Club We went off to the Sloth and Monkey portion of the day. Neil dropped us off at the front door of the Eco park and went to park the car and we got assigned to one of their tour guides. We ended up with a group of about 10. You start out the tour with an overview of the history and culture of the island which probably lasted 15 minutes. After that we went up to the Sloth area and their keepers told us about the sloths and then let each of hold one and they were just absolutely adorable and I think everyone wanted to bring one home. Next we went to the monkey enclosures and they were just absolutely hysterical. They ran and jumped on us and would walk across your arm to the next person. Our guide had some sunflower seeds that he would put on your head or in your pocked to ensure each person got some personal monkey interaction. We also got a great photo op with a gorgeous macaw. Be aware that the Eco park guides encourage tips separate from your FiveStar guide. Next up was a stop at the chocolate factory, which was more like a little chocolate convenient store. The chocolate samples were great and we would have been tempted to buy some but we knew we were headed to the beach for a couple of hours and it would have melted. The market place was cool and I loved getting some funky earrings made of recycled materials. We requested to skip the rum stop as we don't drink and Neil made that adjustment no issues and no guilt trip at all. Last stop was the beach break. In hindsight I wish we would have done a tour without the beach break. Nothing bad really just wasn't what I was expecting. It was just a very small beach strip in front of a restaurant and there were TONS of tour boats anchored in the water so you were just chilling in the water sandwiched with tour boats very close to you on either side. Tried to order dessert at the restaurant but they were out of the 3 desserts listed on their menu the day we were there. The sand was powdery and the water crystal clear though so beautiful area. Neil just hung out and waited on us to tell him when we were ready to head back to the ship. He kept up a great narrative about the island as we drove around and stopped and got a photo of us at the Roatan sign and had us back to the ship in plenty of time.

Neal was our guide for the day and he was amazing!! So informative with island information, great sense of humor, and an awesome driver (I get car sick very quickly and did not at all with him). Would highly recommend this company core touring Roatan! Especially Neal, he made our trip!!