Last fall, I wrote about how I booked an overwater bungalow in Roatan for $155. The low price was due to a $200 on-board credit I got from my “free” cruise on Carnival (see this post). The original price of $355 includes transportation to Turquoise Bay Dive Resort, open bar, food, and the overwater bungalow for the day.
This week, my daughter and I finally made it to Roatan to experience this new-to-us experience!
Turquoise Bay Dive Resort
After our cruise ship docked at Mahogany Bay, Roatan, getting to Turquoise Bay was easy. We had excursion tickets from Carnival in our room. A tour guide led us to a small bus for the ~30-minute ride to the resort.
On our day in Roatan, two cruise ships were in port. While there are only 10 overwater bungalows, the cruise ships also sell this excursion as an all-inclusive beach day without the bungalows. So, there were a few dozen day-trippers on the beach. Despite that, the beach was not crowded at all.
In addition to normal beach loungers, the resort had a few hammocks scattered throughout the beach.
The resort also had three sets of swings in the shallow part of the water. Super cute!
The water was warm, clear and shallow.
I didn’t see any young kids there that day, but there is a small playground and kids area.
Overwater Bungalow
A boardwalk from the beach leads to 10 overwater bungalows and a bar.
We were assigned to the very first bungalow, which was nice because it was a little more private:
When we arrived, a tray of fruits, nuts and cheese was already waiting for us as well as towels, a bottle of champagne and water.
The cabana has a double lounger under the thatched roof.
Our dining table was partially shaded, and our overwater hammock was in the sun.
Even though we arrived at around 10 a.m., our servers immediately brought us a “snack” of nachos and chicken wings with fries. My daughter and I ordered virgin strawberry daiquiris.
Our waiter also took our lunch order and asked what time we’d like to be served lunch. I ordered shrimp and chicken, and my daughter had steak and shrimp. The meal included two side dishes of our choice. For dessert, our server brought us chocolate cake and cheesecake. Basically, we were served a ton of food and unlimited drinks.
Our bungalow had a ladder where we could enter the water. We could see tons of fish, tiny ones and a few bigger ones. The fish steered clear of us once we got into the water.
We both swam in the water below our bungalow. The water is fairly clear, as we could see the bottom of our feet easily. However, it looks a big darker because the floor is lined with sea grass. I’m not sure how deep it was, but we couldn’t touch the bottom. The resort had pool noodles we could use to float. It was so relaxing!
There were a couple of drawbacks to the overwater bungalows. They did not have WiFi or outlets. This was a phone-free day for us. Also, we had to walk back to the beach to use the restroom, but that wasn’t really a big deal. My biggest complaint was that our time there was too short! Our total time at the resort was less than 5 hours.
Overall Thoughts
My daughter and I loved our overwater bungalow at Turquoise Bay Dive Resort in Roatan. I have no illusions that our experience even comes close to an overnight overwater bungalow in Bora Bora or the Maldives.
However, we felt pampered in the bungalow, and it was pretty thrilling to watch the fish swim under us and around us. The water was perfect for swimming, and the service from our waiter was excellent. Plus, Roatan is much closer than Bora Bora and we paid a lot less for our cruise excursion.
I recommend this overwater bungalow excursion to anyone celebrating a special occasion or for no reason other than to be pampered and relaxed. In fact, I may look into a land vacation in Roatan for the future.
Author: Nancy
Nancy lives near Dallas, Texas, with her husband and three kids. Her favorite vacations include the beach, cruising and everything Disney.
This looks amazing! Worthy of a splurge IMO.
It was really cool and a special treat for us!