The Roatan All In One Tour! Western Caribbean Shore Excursion
- Pierce Harmon
- Jan 16
- 5 min read
Updated: Jan 19
Our Thanksgiving cruise tradition brought us to Roatan, Honduras, last year, where my grandparents and I explored the island on the Roatan All In One Tour. This Roatan shore excursion offered a perfect blend of culture, history, and shopping for a memorable day.
What's Included in This Roatan Shore Excursion?
We booked our All In One Tour through the ship, which meant finding, booking, and leaving for our excursion was as easy as walking off the ship and heading to the excursion departure area located just to the right of the pier. There were plenty of helpful tour guides with signs that directed us to the correct waiting area for our excursion under a covered patio with numbered gates. We then boarded a short bus with around 15 other cruisers, and set off with our bi-lingual tour guide Adonis who shared interesting historical facts about the island and buildings we passed by, humorous stories about growing up in Roatan, and explained what life is like on Roatan. Over the next few hours, we got to visit a Mayan Coconut Oil and Chocolate factory, a small shopping complex built out of a dry docked boat, a Rum factory built at the highest point of the island with beautiful panoramic views, Coxen hole, and the West End Village for shopping, dining, and relaxing along Half Moon Bay. With free samples of the Coconut Oil, Chocolate, and Rum Cake served along the way, each stop will give you something special to remember your adventures in Roatan!
Should You Take This Tour?
I had a great time on Royal Caribbean’s All In One Tour and highly recommend it if your goal is to get a taste of the culture and history of Roatan while doing some shopping. If you are looking for an exciting adventure to keep the kids entertained, this is probably not the excursion for you. This is more than a city tour and will expose you to a wide variety of activities on Roatan that don’t require signing a safety waiver. Keep reading for a detailed breakdown of everything this tour has to offer!
Who is This Tour For?
Solo Cruisers | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
Groups | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
Young Kids | ⭐ |
Teens | ⭐⭐⭐ |
Adults | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
Seniors | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
Excursion Category
Culture | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
Adventure | ⭐ |
Relaxation | ⭐⭐⭐ |
Shopping | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
Getting Started: Booking and Boarding the Tour
First off, I have been on a lot of cruises and by extension a lot of city tours. It can be hard for a tour guide to bring the city to life when you’re sitting in a bus driving to the next stop, but our tour guide Adonis made the bus ride one of the highlights of the tour. From joking around with us, showing us the different Roatan currency and why each bill displays a certain historical figure, and sharing his personal experiences of living and dating both on Roatan and Mainland Honduras, he was really able to connect with us. I personally enjoy learning about the history and culture of the places I visit, and he was able to share information with us in a way that was fun and engaging. That made the drive to our first stop, the chocolate and coconut oil factory, go by in a flash!
Stop 1: Coconut Oil and Chocolate Factory
Stepping out of the bus, we saw a beautiful coconut grove and a large, white building. Inside, a cool, air-conditioned storefront awaited us with folding chairs for a fascinating demonstration of Mesoamerican coconut oil production. The entire process is painted on the walls, and it was really interesting to actually touch the coconut at each stage of the process where it goes from a green volleyball sized fruit, to the husked brown bowling ball, and finally into a clear aromatic oil. While the presenter claimed coconut oil can cure everything from high blood pressure to cancer (take that with a grain of salt), it worked wonders on my skin! We then went to the second presentation at the opposite side of the room where a similar presentation was given about the history of Mesoamerican chocolate from its initial discovery to American companies finding out they could turn it into the milk chocolate we all obsess over! We were then given 15 or so minutes to look around, purchase any coconut oil or chocolate we wanted, and use their nice restrooms before getting back on the bus.
Stop 2: The Drydocked Ship Shops
Our second stop was a small shopping complex built out of a drydocked ship. It was a novel experience, but the shops inside weren’t anything unusual compared to normal port shopping. There were shirts, hats, magnets, sunglasses, shot glasses, and the normal souvenirs you would expect to find that mostly promoted Roatan. All of the vendors were very nice and it was fun to explore the inside of the ship, but we only spent around 30 minutes here.
Stop 3: Roatan Rum Company
Driving up the mountain through historic parts of the island like Coxen hole, we eventually arrived at the Roatan Rum Company where we were offered a delicious free Rum Cake sample! My grandparents and I didn’t buy anything else, but we were delighted to step onto a circular balcony off the back of the store that gave a panoramic view of the entire island! Coming from the Las Vegas desert, it was amazing to see the endless jungle canopy extend all the way to the ocean with a smattering of houses and hotels peaking through the trees! I would recommend this excursion for the view alone even if it was cloudy the day I visited!
Stop 4: West End Village
Finally, we drove down the mountain to the West End Village where we were given an hour to walk down the row of shops and restaurants across from the beach. This area had the best selection of products at very reasonable prices and is where I would recommend doing most of your shopping. There are jewelry stores with native and imported gemstones, clothing stores, souvenir shops, and even a convenience store with Latin soda and snacks that I highly recommend you try! I ended up buying a pair of earrings for my girlfriend, some hats, and a nice button up beach shirt that would have been twice as expensive if I bought it back home. Towards the end of the shopping area we saw a pier leading to the IPanema Beach Bar and Grill as well as a Fine French Bakery & Café. We didn’t have time to sit and eat at the grill, but we walked upstairs to the French Bakery and I had one of the most delicious chocolate croissants and chocolate macarons I have ever eaten. I never would have guessed that a bakery on stilts off the coast of Roatan, Honduras would be my favorite French Bakery, but I am very happy to have been wrong! Waiting for the bus on the way back we went inside another souvenir shop and met a woman who moved from Wisconsin to Roatan when she retired, and she told us that it was the best decision of her life. Living the island lifestyle really helped her to slow down and appreciate the little things that make life great, and having gotten a taste of that during my All In One Tour I would say I agree with her!
When we got back to the pier we decided to look in some of the stores and were shocked at how expensive everything was. If you are worried about the price of the excursion but know you are going to want to shop when you get to Roatan, know that better and cheaper shopping at West End Village and the Boat Mall is only a fun filled tour away!
Comments