Rony's Tours Reviews

It's a new year....and a new cruise season. Be sure to check our previous reviews, as well as our past cutomers comments on Cruise Critic and Trip Advisor.

Here are a few reviews from recent guests. Each tour is different but we try to make each one memorable. Please be sure to send us your reviews when you return home, and please post your thoughts on Cruise Critic and Trip Advisor.

Hey Rony!
Thanks for the great tour that you gave Scott, me and our friends Neal and Kerri last week. It was better than we could have imagined. Roatan was our favorite stop on the cruise. Your island is simply beautiful, and the people are so kind and friendly. We appreciated your knowledge, professionalism, humor and willingness to answer all of our many questions. We can't wait until we can come back and see you again. We'll give you some notice so that you can whip us up some iguana stew!
Thanks again!
Sincerely,
Melanie Bruner


Rony;
Thanks for a wonderful time when my wife and I visited Roatan on Friday, Dec. 4. After seeing, we can understand why you are so proud of where you come from. The island is beautiful and the beach at Half-Moon Bay was amazing. I was able to snorkel right from the dock, and she was able to swim as much as she wanted too. The monkey stop was also great fun.
Michael, our driver, was great. He really showed us the island and took great care of us. My wife especially appreiated him stopping and letting us shop for coffee. She made a pot of Cafe de Oro this morning and loved it.
Michael and Lorie Stone
Columbia, South Carolina

Our trip back home was good (except to find snow here at home) and our cruise was great. All 3 of us agree that our tour with you was the highlight of our 7-day cruise. Thank you so much for being our guide around Roatan. the other lady who was with us was Gwynn's cousin who we don't get to see very often since she lives in Texas and we live in Ohio. His cousin has e-mailed us several times since we have been home to tell us she can't stop talking about Roatan to all of her friends in Texas and tells them they must get to Roatan before the island changes any more.

Please know that of all the tour guides we have ever had on all of the islands we've ever visited on a cruise, you ae the best we have ever had. You are a very special person. You have the personality, the professional quality and the humor to make anyone who uses you as a tour guide a great day.
I have recommended you several times on Cruise Critic and will continue to recommend you on the cruise website to anyone looking for a guide for Roatan.
Gwynn and I both hope to get back to Roatan within the next year or two and will be sure to contact you again as a guide.
Keep up the great work you do and keep that great sense of humor you have. You have it all together to build a great tour company, Rony, and I am so happy that we have met you.
Dianne


Hi Rony! We had a nice trip back, no problems. However we were not happy leaving the warm weather!
We wanted to let you know that Roatan was our favorite port during the cruise. Michael was such a great tour guide! We learned so much about your country and saw so many interesting things. We especially appreciated Michael showing us Half Moon Bay even though it wasn't on the agenda. The restaurant was so delicious and we loved the snorkeling. What a beautiful place!
Sara and Dave Wollgast :-)

Rony-
Thanks so much for your welcome home email. We arrived safely back home to Wisconsin late Saturday night. I want to thank you and Felix again for the wonderful day we spent on your island. Felix took such great care of us, he made our visit truly memorable!
We wished that we could have stayed longer since the Carnival Dream never pulled out of port until Wednesday morning. We will definitely be back, Roatan is very beautiful and Felix was wonderful host. I will post my review of our cruise on CruiseCritic.com in the next few days, and will highly recommend your touring company to everyone. If you want to read my review my name on Cruise Critic is Suzieqk.
If you and your family or Felix and his family ever visit the US and find yourselves in Wisconsin, we would be honored to show you our state and how we live.
Thank you again for your hospitality, we learned a lot about your beautiful country.
Jim and Sue Kurovsky

Rony's tours, a day in paradise
My wife and I, plus another couple, off the Carnival Valor had read about Rony's tours, and decided to go with him the day we were on Roatan. We're glad we did. Rony meet us just outside the gates of the Carnival dock, as his instructions directed. We found him to be very polite, humorous, and very knowledgeable about Roatan. We had done a lot of reading about all of the ports we would be stopping, so had some ideas of where we wanted to go. We started the day off zip lining at South Shore . Quite exhilarating! We can't compare to the other zip lines companies, but the views were great and we felt very safe.
Next we wanted to do some off shore snorkeling and Rony suggested we try West Bay Beach at BananaRama area. He lead us to the beach area that had a few small boats that rent out by the hour. We negotiated with one of the operators for the four of us ( he started at $25 pp for the hour, we ended up with $16 pp for the hour, plus tip). This ended up being the best of the snorkeling we had done on any of the other two ports (Grand Cayman & Belize), we snorkeled. The guide took us out to the local snorkel area, about five minutes away, toward an opening in the reef, marked by a bouy. We found large numbers of fish, and a then a vertical wall of about 20 foot, with clear visibility to the bottom. It was fantastic!
Afterwards, we showered off at the beach shower, Rony then asked if we wanted to eat there, but we wanted to try something less "touristy" and more 'local'. Rony asked if we wanted to try his sister's restaurant. We weren't sure want to expect, but this turned out to be one of the highlights of our week. His sister was in Canada that week, so the restaurant, 'Taste of Paradise', was being managed by his mom. This was a great experience. I had conch, first time for me, and it was great, and very inexpensive (about $8). We talked with his mom for a while and got great insights from her perspective, to the life on the island. We only wish we had more time to spend, but we were only in port for seven hours and needed to get back to the ship. A very good day in paradise! If anyone has questions, you can e-mail me, Cal, at: h2odad96@aol.com


We just returned from a cruise a couple of weeks ago. Roatan was the stop we were least excited about. I do NOT like to participate in the ship excursions because of the large group experience. My young family wanted to do a zip line, and ride horses on the beach. We heard about Rony through a message board, and decided to take a personalized tour from him. For a very reasonable rate, Rony drove us wherever we wanted to go. We were able to see much more of the island than we would have through a canned tour. His commentary was enlightening. I highly recommend taking a tour from Rony. I was a little leery of booking with somebody I had never met, but after a few minutes Rony will not be a stranger.
Brad Laures
Superintendent
Lisbon Community School District
319-455-2075

Hello Rony:
It's hard to believe that a week has already gone by since we visited your beautiful island! Tony was a fantastic tour guide! Thank you and Tony very much for a wonderful tour. Our family enjoyed each and every stop we made. We all enjoyed the monkeys, one of the highlights and many good jokes to be made when one crawled inside of my shirt!
The beach was also beautiful. Our son's enjoyed snorkling and finding the different sea life they saw. My wife also enjoyed the massage she received from Cynthia. I wish our cruise stayed in your island longer because it would have been nice to explore a little more.
I have attached some pictures from our trip and will definitely leave a good word on the Cruise Critic website regarding your tours!
Thanks again and hope to visit your beautiful island again some day in the future.
Ken, Deb, Kenny, Scott, Mom and George
Nov 24, 09

Hello Rony:
Trip home was OK - spent a couple of days visiting friends in Florida before driving back to North Carolina.
Thank you for a wonderful day - we really enjoyed seeing your home Country of Roatan and definitely want to go back (hopefully for longer than 5 hours).
Now we have to get back to the real World!
We wish you well for your future and, who knows, we may see you again............when you are Mayor of Roatan!!
When I get a chance, and time, to get on the various web sites, I will be sure to recommend your business.
Good luck and best wishes,
Harold & Linda
Nov 20, 09

Dear Rony,

We can not even begin to express how thankful we were to have met our guide, Francisco, on our recent trip to Roatan. The island is more beautiful than we could have ever imagined. Francisco was polite, knowledgeable, and went above and beyond to make our visit special. My fiance' and I were able to do all that we wanted- and much more. Because of our private tour of the island with Francisco, we felt like we were royalty. He introduced us to many local people, including some business owners. He also made sure that we received excellent treatment at every location, and even gave us personalized tours of all of the areas we wanted to visit. We were able to visit the iguana farm, where Francisco escorted us to meet the monkey, Paco. He also took pictures of us all day at several spots, including in front of Fantasy Island. As he drove us around, he explained the rich history of the island and of the mainland Honduras. We had an unforgettable trip to a local school, where we interacted with 5th and 6th grade students. We learned about your leaders and the even the flag. We were able to buy fresh mango in the local market, walk along secluded beaches, glimpse the dolphin show, see amazing overlooks, shop, and we even touched some sleeping grass. Francisco made the island feel like home, and we are both absolutely in love with Roatan. He made special arrangements for us to zipline, which was an added treat. We also received incredible service from our guides, Frank and Tyron, at South Shore. Please share this review with Francisco, and tell him that we had an amazing time and after our day together, we consider him family! We both would love to hear from him so feel free to pass on our email address. Anyhow, I am so glad we took a personal tour with your company and would be more than happy to share our experience with anyone looking for a reference!

Becky Smith and Ben Ross
Wyandotte, Michigan

We just had a tour with Rony on July 31st 2009. There were 4 adults and 2 children. We all enjoyed our tour very much. Rony was very friendly and informative. He built a tour on what we wanted and suggested things along the way. It was just the tour we wanted. We are very pleased we had the chance to tour the island with Rony. We would recommend him to everyone.
Thanks, Tonya


Rony, thanks much for a wonderful tour of Roatan. The references on Cruise Critic that lead us to you all proved true and we appreciate the great service and will definitely call on you again next time in Roatan. After the cruise we asked our group of 12 what was their favorite stop and they said Roatan, no doubt because of the ease of getting around and doing fun things with your help as well as the many great things Roatan as to offer. I hope more cruise ships make Roatan a stop (and that we have more time on island too!) so that this nice place can be shared with others, and I hope that it is done in such a way as to preserve and improve upon its beauty, support a healthy community there, and assure the sustainability of its environment in the process.
Wishing you all the best,
Joe Stagner
El Dorado Hills, CA, USA
Date of Visit: July 29, 2009 "


In Roatan we arranged for a private guide with Rony's Independent Tours: http://ronystours.com/
Rony used to work on a cruiseship -- his English is perfect; he is charming, flexible, knowledgeable; and put together an inexpensive, perfect day for us. We really felt like we'd had a good taste of th is wonderful is land. Be sure to visit West Bay (his website offers a l is t of options to choose from to put together your personalized tour). West Bay reminds me of what I imagine the Florida Keys were like 50 years ago -- simple, beautiful, dirt roads, cool bars and restaurants -- a lot of fun. Even a Tiki Bar built on a catamaran that floats in the bay. The craft shop there had nicer things and better prices than any of the others we stopped at. We also visited the orphanage on the island (we brought some little toys for all the kids). I'd skip the monkey place -- kind of sad, aggressive monkeys in a cage you can walk into. Wanted to see the cameo factory but it was closed -- saw some stuff made there -- really interesting and impressive! Had a great lunch at a place right on the water ... it was the only port of call that left me thinking that we would like to go back and spend a week! Rony is very responsive by email and was waiting right where he said he would be -- compare his prices to a Carnival excursion.... can’t beat it! And -- you get to spend the day with someone who grew up on Roatan, and knows lots of cool spots and history.
Nancy.

Rony contacted me immediately after I sent a request via the website, he answered all my questions and was very accommodating for my request for our upcoming trip to Roatan.  I would recommend him to be your guide while visiting Roatan.  We are looking forward to our trip to Roatan in September and we know it is going to be a great trip because wonderful service from Rony's tours.

April Baggett

We just came back from Roatan on the Voyager. Several groups on our cruise critic group were booking tours with Victor Bodden but the tour descriptions seemed pre determined. I contacted Rony Bennett of Rony's tour after reading posts here and viewing his web site. The website had a lot of information about the island, Rony's biography, suggested tours and places of interest. Rony grew up on Roatan and worked 4 years on Celebrity Ships. He was noticed by the cruise director for his easy interaction with the guests and was promoted to the Activities staff.

I emailed Rony, got prompt replies and explained that not only did we not know whether we would be 2 or 4 people, but that I we wanted to wait till we got there to decide what interested us. "No problem" was the reply.

Rony was there to meet us at the pier, (even though we slept in and didn't get to the pier until 10.30), we discussed our options and included, shopping (wife's suggestion), East End villages (my suggestion), great seafood lunch (everyone's idea) and ending at a quiet picture perfect beach. Rony turned out to be a great guide, took us to shops that were clean, and staffed by very friendly clerks and had high quality well priced gifts. The island is beautiful, we had several great picture stops, and best of all we never ran into crowds. The east end is undiscovered and somewhat primitive but you get to see what Roatan is like for the locals before the condo's arrive in a few years. My suggestion for lunch in Oakridge turned out to be a dud. but Rony saved the day with a great restaurant in West Bay. We ended the day with an hour or so swim at a beautiful beach. Rony was always available, absolutely trustworthy, very personable, funny, and everyone on the island seemed to greet him by name. Be sure to ask him about the pet iguana 'Speedy'. 

Our friends on the other tours enjoyed their time but were jealous when we described the personal attention we received and the flexibility of Rony to accommodate our interests as the day progressed.

Mike Sparks

We spent an excellent day with Michael on February 23rd. His command of English was excellent and he was willing to tell us all about Honduras and Roatan and answered our many questions. I have posted in a couple of threads on the Cruise Critic web site. Here are some of the photos that we took. We enjoyed our lunch at Bertie's.

Michael was terrific and we are glad that we booked your tour and will recommend it to anyone.

John and Brenda Grady
Merrimack, New Hampshire
USA
Feb 23, 09

We just returned form a cruise on Feb.22 - March 1 on the Norwegian Pearl.

After reading all the reviews here I decided to book a tour in Roatan with Rony. For some reason Victor Bodden did not appeal to me, maybe because I did not want to go his house and play with monkeys!

It turned out to be a great choice. Rony is a wonderful, pleasant and knowledgeable guide. After emailing him, I was surprised to receive a phone call from him from the Honduras to confirm our tour. Then on the arranged day and time he was waiting for us at the pier and the 4 of us began our tour in a nice clean car with A/C.

He accommodated all our wishes and suggestions and we all had a delicious lunch at Half Moon Cabins overlooking the sea.

We went to a local school to distribute some pens and Rony told us that this was the school he had attended so it held special memories for him.

I had emailed him about going to the Mayan Princess Resort at the end of the day and when we got there we found out that he had pre-booked us for entry into the resort. It began to rain unfortunately, but no problem - Rony opened the trunk and took out several large umbrellas! We never got wet!

All the while Rony told us some funny stories - ask him about his nickname in school and above all you must hear the story about how he "accidently" ate his friend's pet iguana for dinner!!

Rony has already emailed us to say hi and to find out how our trip home was. We all highly recommend spending the day in Roatan with this terrific guide and we hope to see him again should a future cruise bring us back to Roatan.

Celina

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