It was a slightly later start today with the ship not arriving in Honduras until 11am Eastern. After our usual breakfast at the Windjammer buffet, we headed down to the gangway to start our day in Roatan.
We wandered through the port shops to the exit so we could locate our tour. We arranged the Daniel Johnson Monkey & Sloth Hangout with a small island tour. Our driver Kevin met us outside the port entrance and we began the tour. We chose a private tour today so it was just us and Kevin. The price was reasonable and we’re always the last people to get back into the vehicle when we are in group tours so it made sense to have a car for ourselves.
There were 2 other ships in port today so it was quite busy. Kevin said we were starting with the rum factory and chocolate factory stops before heading to the sanctuary so that we weren’t competing with the other tourists.
The rum factory was about 15 min away at the top of a lookout. We got to taste 5 different locally distilled rums. Our favorite was the dark chocolate! They also made and sold rum cakes so of course we had to test those out too.
Next stop was the Roatan Chocolate Factory which was right on the beach. They hand roasted and ground cocoa beans to make their chocolate which contained all natural ingredients and no preservatives, which is then hand poured into bars. The guy giving us the demo mentioned their 5 employees make approximately 1000 bars a day. And like the rum, they had samples for every bar of chocolate.
We walked along the beach and browsed the local tourist shops on our way back to where Kevin parked the car. Eduardo tried bargaining with the shop keepers but his magic may be wearing off. He only managed to talk them down $1, but time was running out so he caved and made his purchase.
Our next stop was the main event: the monkey and sloth sanctuary. Kevin brought us up to the check-in area and we paid the entrance fee. Our sanctuary guide Gabriel brought us to the first stop, the sloths. All the animals are named after famous people or the characters they play. We clasped our hands together and Gabriel placed Olivia Benson’s arms onto our shoulders and rested her body into our hands. She just quietly moved her head back and forth checking things out. And surprisingly sloths don’t smell bad. In fact, they didn’t smell like anything. I was photographer for most of the encounter while Eduardo tried to get in the best spots and poses with his new friend. I briefly held a second sloth while we both had our photos taken. It happened so fast for me that I didn’t catch this sloths name.
The next stop was the monkeys. We removed everything from our pockets, took off our hats and walked into the enclosure. I think the private tour thing paid off for us here because we were the only ones in the enclosure while the groups near us packed into the other enclosures. We pretty much had two monkeys, Jwow and Mike, to ourselves, or should I say they had us to themselves. Within seconds of entering the enclosure, both leaped from the walls and onto my head. They quickly frisked me checking my shirt pocket and shorts pockets for stuff they could steal but found nothing. They really loved climbing all over me…not sure why. I didn’t take my glasses off but should have. I had to always keep one hand on them so they weren’t ripped off my head.
Gabriel had sunflower seeds for them and dropped a few into Eduardo’s hair which caused Mike and Jwow to jump all over Eduardo. We spent the next 10 minutes getting jumped on, hair pulled and crawled on. It was pretty fun.
The last area of the sanctuary was the Macau enclosure. We ended up joining one of the bigger group tours for this one. Gabriel placed two of the birds on Eduardo’s arms. He panicked a little when he thought they were biting him. But we got the photo, which of course is the most important thing.
We were at the sanctuary for about an hour then Kevin took us for the rest of our tour. We saw a little more of the island before ending up at a resort for a couple hours. Included in the tour was the use of the beach, chairs and umbrellas. We ended up buying a couple drinks and split a quesadilla. It was only a cheese and chicken quesadilla but it was one of the best we’ve ever eaten. Tons of cheese and moist chicken. And Eduardo redeemed himself in the discount department. When the waitress brought the bill, he asked her in Spanish what the discount would be. She took the bill away and came back 5 min later after adding a 50% discount! So instead of lunch costing $31, we only paid $16.50.
After a quick walk on the beach, we found Kevin and he drove us back to the ship about 2 hours before we set sail. It was a very enjoyable day.
We had dinner in the main dining room as usual. Eduardo had the lamb and I had spaghetti. The main courses were really good. They had coconut shrimp available for appetizers which we both had. Unfortunately, they didn’t taste like coconut at all. During our short cruise out of LA in February, they had the same shrimps and we commented then they had no coconut taste at all. I think it’s time for Royal Caribbean to switch up their recipe. This seems like a good topic for the post-cruise survey they always hound us to complete.
This evening’s entertainment started at 7pm at the ice rink at Studio B…yes there is an ice rink on the ship! It’s about a third the size of a regular hockey rink. The Ice Games Ice Show had a Monopoly theme where the squares on the board were the different ship venues. It was a bit of an odd theme choice but the skating and the performance was excellent. I’m not sure if it was soft ice or the ship movement but several of the cast didn’t land their jumps.
At 8:15pm, we went to the Amber Theatre for “A Night with Adele” performed by Amy Jo Slater. She’s had several parts in Broadway musicals and seems to be a professional cruise entertainer having travelled to over 70 countries. I’m not a hardcore Adele fan but I think, at times, if I had closed my eyes while Amy Jo was singing, I would have a hard time telling her apart from the real Adele.
After the show we went back to the Royal Promenade for, what was becoming our routine, a snack and some people watching before heading to the room for bed.
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