20251225 Thursday, December 25, 2025 Christmas in Roatan, Honduras

20251225 Thursday, December 25, 2025 Christmas in Roatan, Honduras

The ship approached Roatan through periodic downbursts of rain.  The Regal Princess was tied up at the head of the cruise ship docks in Mahogany Bay as the Sun Princess backed into the outside berth.  There are two major cruise ship ports in Roatan. The Mahogany Bay one is used primarily by Carnival cruise lines.  The Regal Princess sailed out of Galveston.  Since the ships were arranged bow to stern, it was not possible to do a side by side comparison of the sizes.  The Sun Princess is appreciably larger but doesn’t dwarf the Regal by any means. 

We have learned that the key to making the buffet dining experience tolerable is to get there early before the main crowds show up.  We easily found tables in the American Diner section, behind the Eatery.  The breakfast food items were no different than what is in the Eatery, but it was easy to get served and there was even silverware settings on the tables.  

We headed off the ship in a mass exodus once the gangways were opened.  There is a sizable outdoors shopping mall complex that is part of the cruise terminal with lots of jewelry stores, high end retail stores, restaurants and bars.  John and Iram did find a micro museum that had some displays on the history and cultural heritage of Roatan.  

We had booked an excursion through Viator that combined a mini-zoo featuring local species including sloths, tucans and monkeys, an ATV off road drive through the jungle, and time at a private beach resort.  We had to walk through  the entire cruise terminal complex to the exit from the port complex where private tour operators could pick up passengers.  The port must charge extra for tour operators to come inside the port complex, or there may be some maritime security issues that prevent pick up inside the terminal complex.  It was not hard to figure out where to go because the tour operator emailed maps and we just followed a huge line of cruise ship passengers all headed to the same place.  

The tour operator picked us up in a mini-bus that probably seated 24 with fold up center seats that we didn’t use.  There were the 10 in our group plus a family of 4 from the Regal Princess.  

We were fortunate that the rain had stopped by the time we disembarked the ship, but as we drove from the cruise port through Roatan, the skies opened up periodically, drenching everything in a downpour.  It took about 20 minutes to get to the Mayan Eden zoo attraction.  The main highways in Roatan are nicely paved with concrete, but as you get off the main roads, they become gravel and dirt quickly.  The bus driver demonstrated great skill in handling the bus through the muddy and rut strewn narrow road leading into the parking lot.  

We had a private guide for our group and they handed out umbrellas for everyone. Fortunately, the rain stopped just as we were getting out of the bus. 

The Mayan Eden is a very busy and popular attraction.  It’s pretty small for a zoo, but remarkably intimate.  It was amazing that we each got to take photos of a Macaw on our arm, capuchin monkey and kinkaju feeding out of our palms, and even photos with a three toed sloth.  While it was a bit run down and the pathways were irregular and slippery in places, it was a very enjoyable and interesting place to visit.

Our next stop was the ATV adventure.  As we got out of the bus, the sky opened up again as we ran to the cover of a tin roof over a bunch of tables where we signed waivers and were fitted with helmets and goggles. The so-called ATV’s were not really ATV’s.  They were side by side go karts with big balloon tires.  They did not have 4 wheel drive, so they could easily get stuck in the mud or get high centered on rocks, but they were a blast to drive in the muddy and rutted trails they had running through the jungle.  We were drenched with mud and muddy water as we splashed across streams and mud holes playing follow the leader.  Unfortunately, John and Iram’s buggy ended up with a broken steering mechanism, so they had to get it swapped out, shortening their ride, and although we thought we would get a chance to swap drivers halfway through, that was not the case.  We ended up returning to the loading area after about 45 minutes covered in mud.

  
They fortunately had banks of overhead hose nozzles we could use to shower off most of the mud.  We ended up a whole lot wetter than we might have imagined as we piled back into the bus to go to the private beach resort on the north side of the island.  

This was called Pristine Beach resort, and was within a complex of condominiums with a golf course and private beach.  There was a nice swimming pool with a bar and restaurant overlooking the beach. The beach itself was white sand but heavily fortified as evidenced by geotextile poking up in places from the sand and sand bags randomly scattered in the water.  There was mostly a large bed of sea grass beyond the sand.  They had a floating play structure that cost $5 per person to play on.  Ben and Janet mostly just swam enough to get most of the mud out of our swim suits and rash guards, and then hit the showers and freshwater pool to rinse off.  The kids did swim out to the play structure and had a fun time.

The rain had stopped for about an hour while we were at the beach resort.  Then it started raining heavily again, but fortunately, that was about the time we needed to head back to the ship anyways. 

After getting cleaned up, we all got together for dinner to swap stories and pictures from the day.  Tom’s parents had purchased matching “Merry Cruisemas” T-shirts and hats for everyone to wear for Christmas dinner.  The menu did have complimentary lobster, which everyone except Price had indulged in.  Several of us also had the Prime Rib to make it a surf and turf dinner, while others indulged in the Christmas turkey and salmon entrees.  There was also an English Christmas pudding on the dessert menu.  We had a trivia question about Christmas pudding, so we were eager to give it a try.  They did not flambé the pudding though, so it was kind of like a fruit cake drizzled with vanilla sauce.

We were looking forward to seeing the Production Show called Stage Struck in the Princess Arena, and had even lined up early for good seats, but the second show got canceled because one of the dancer’s had gotten injured during the first show. We are hoping they will be able to restage it during the last sea day as we head back to Fort Lauderdale after Cozumel.

Tomorrow we arrive at Cozumel, where we have signed up for an excursion to see the ruins at Tulum and swim in a cenote.  The weather forecast should be much better for that adventure.