Anyone ever miss their ship?

Would like to book an independent cave tubing excursion, but TA highly recommends only using the cruise line excursions in Belize, due to unforeseen problems (van breaking down, etc.). Anyone ever have any problems?

This post is currently floating around on the NCL message boards: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=136382

It applies to specifically to Roatan, and not Belize, but I personally am going to be using the ship excursions in both ports. I'd actually be more worried about Belize than Roatan, since you have to tender in at Belize. Also, there has been some discussion on this board about problems with a strike in Belize -- I think I'm just going to feel much safer if I have the backing of the ship in this port.

We were there last week. We booked off the ship with Coral Breeze. It was the highlight of my vacation. They were very conscious of getting us back in plenty of time. We did the snorkel trip to shark ray alley. Wow... awesome. I got to pet stingrays!

I would like to address this question/concern since it specifically asks the single most asked question for guests arriving in Belize.

I understand comfort zones and the concern about getting back to the ship on time. I think I can speak for ALL tour operators in Belize when I say getting our guests back to the ship on time is not only highly monitored and high priority, but it's a matter of business survival. IF this was to EVER happen, not only would that operator be out of business, I would venture to think most independent operators in Belize would feel the impact because an Urban Legend would be a reality. So you can understand, how this could never happen, let me explain how things work in Belize:

Communication!!! Of course anyone can ask the question "What if" a van or boat broke down? I ask the same question back, what if a bus or boat broke down carrying guests on a ship sold tour? The answer would be the same whether you booked with the ship or an independent operator. A back-up vehicle would be called in, and the Port Agent would be notified to communicate with the ship. In most cases, the replacement vehicle would be returning to the port in time anyway, so there would be no ship delay in departing. But do you honestly believe the ship will leave KNOWING there are say 20 people on their way back and will be there in a few minutes. This information is only to explain the contingency plans if they should be needed.

A travel agent who says "book with the ship" is only covering their behind. If they recommend using an independent, who would you blame if something didn't go right?...I don't mean missing a ship since that can't happen...I mean just anything. We have many, many travel agents who book our tours with confidence because they experienced it for themselves, or researched the reputation. I know other operators have the same arrangements with agents. It's not the agents money or vacation, so of course they are going to tell you what they "think" is the right thing to do.

Anyone who has ever emailed me and asked about this issue, knows I am quite passionate about it. Of course the cruise lines want you to buy their tour so dropping the little fear hint about missing the ship aids in their sales. All I can say is that literally thousands of people each week use independent operators in Belize and I challenge anyone to find an incident where an operator caused a guest to miss a ship. I know from being on the inside that there are too many contingency and back-up plans in place to allow this to happen.

I fully respect everyone's opinion and position when selecting their activities for their vacation. This information is not meant to discount anyone's thoughts or opinions. I simply want to make sure everyone has the facts. Do yourself a favor...do your research and book an excursion that you are comfortable with. It is a known fact that you will get a more personal and less expensive tour with an independent operator. I just want you to know that you can feel comfortable that you will be returned to the ship on time.

I hope this provides some insight for tours in Belize. Thank you for listening.

Hi Paul!

Maybe you can answer a question for me about booking a cave tubing tour. Although it's only 37 miles from the pier, I've heard it takes anywhere from 1 hour to 1 1/2 hours to get to the park. What if ANY tour operator had a van break down, do you try to help each other out taking passengers in your van or is the tour operator on his own getting another van out to the stranded passengers? I've always wondered this.

The trip, if you went directly there, is about 55 minutes. The last few miles are on a very bumpy road which has to be taken slowly. After leaving the city, you ride on the Western Highway which is a two lane road (not a highway like an interstate you see in the US). If the ride takes an hour and a half like you mentioned, that may be because a guide/operator does a quick city tour on the way out of the city.

For anyone that has been Cave Tubing off a cruise ship, you will remember there are lots of people and vehicles at the site as well as coming and going on the road. Cell phones are carried by everyone operating tours. Some operators have extra vans not being used on any given day. IF there was a breakdown, that operator could easily have an extra van brought in. In most cases though, the guests would be brought back by extra space on other vans. Most of the operators work together to ensure visitors of Belize have a positive experience. How a situation is handled would depend on what was going on that day. But the bottom line is, everyone would be returned safely and on time to the ship.

I'm hoping that I didn't leave anyone with the wrong impression about my feelings about Belize. Just a little background: our 1st cruise was in Jan. 2004. I had read many posts about people not liking Belize, or being afraid, and that it was better just to stay on the ship, so that is what we had planned to do.

The day before in Roatan, we had bad weather, and the semi-submersible part of our excursion was cancelled. We decided to go ahead and go to Altun-Ha (using the ship's excursion), since at that point in time we didn't know how to schedule any other excursions. I wasn't about to pay $.75 per minute trying to locate something from the internet, and didn't feel comfortable just getting off the ship and going with someone waiting at the pier. We ended up loving Belize, and I can't wait to go back.

If I was going to be doing the cave-tubing excursion, where so many other groups are headed, I might feel more comfortable using an independent provider. My DH doesn't enjoy the water, so that isn't in our plans. We are planning on going on the Lamanai/River excursion. Given the length of the tour, and that fact that it doesn't appear to generate nearly as much business as the cave tubing excursion, I'm just much more comfortable going with a ship excursion.

I would, however, encourage everyone to get off the ship at Belize. It ended up being our favorite port on our 1st cruise, and I would have been very sorry to have missed it.

Just wanted to thank Paul for the info!! It definately puts my mind at ease.

Connie

Mine too, thanks Paul!:)

Paul,

I was wondering if you could with the times? I'm arriving on the Splendour of the Seas which according to the schedule arrives at 7:00 am. I know we have to tender in and stuff. I'm confirmed on the Xtreme Cave Tubing which shows a meeting time of 6:50 am. Are these both the same times?

Thanks,

Pat

Pat,

I'm not sure how X-stream handles their times, so I don't want to confuse that. With no information about your tour date, it is hard to answer. I can tell you that you depart from Texas in the Central Time Zone. If you are in port BEFORE April 3rd (Daylight Savings Time start), you will be on the same time as Belize. If it is after April 3rd, you will be one hour ahead of Belize Time. This is because when Central Time "Springs ahead", Belize does not adjust their clocks. From what you stated about the times, my guess is that your tour is after April 3rd.

Hope this helps.

Hey Paul! First of all I think it's great that you're on this board. Shows me a real dedication to knowing your customers and interest in their feedback. Anyway, we are having a terrible time deciding between Shark Ray and Cave Tubing, and will most likely go with you either way (you've got some fantastic reviews out here!)

I know you're going to say advance reservations are the best, but, would we have a good chance of booking with you at the pier for either tour if we just can't decide until we get there? This is driving us CRAZY!

Paul, thanks for your great answer. We are booked with your Shark/Ray Alley excursion on the 30th and were excited before reading your post. I always wondered if other operators would help out if there were a boat or a vehicle breakdown. I am glad to hear that all of you look out for each other. I feel even MORE excited now, (If that is possible!) and am NOT worried in the least about missing the ship.

See you on the 30th!

Michelle

Help! I'm not sure what to do. I really do trust that ALL of the tour operators make getting passengers back to the ship high priority. But, I'm worried that I may be cutting it too close. We are on the Miracle sailing out of Tampa on 5/29.

Marvin at Wet n Wild has been very responsive but I'm not sure he put me at ease :) Here is the email I sent him:

I'm a little confused about the time change since we will be arriving after daylight savings time has gone into effect. I've heard that Belize does not change their clocks so does this mean that if my ship is scheduled to dock at 7:30, it will be 5:30 your time? My ship is scheduled to depart at 4:30 (I'm assuming this is still Eastern DLS time), so that would be 2:30 your time?

Here is his response:

The ship docks at 6:30am Belize time.

The tour leaves at 8:30 am and returns between 1:30 and 2:00pm.

This then gives enough time for you to catch yoru ship at 4:30pm

I still think that if my ship is on Eastern DLS time, we will be two hours behind Belize so if we get back at 2:00, that will be 4:00 ship time, leaving only 1/2 hour to tender back out to the ship. Am I freaking out for nothing?

I bet you will feel better if you post this question to someone who has recently sailed on Miracle. A lot of the ships change their ship time to local time.

I was freaked out regarding time too since we'll be sailing the Glory (eastern time) after daylight saving time - I couldn't confirm anywhere that ship's time was actually two hours ahead of Belize but that's what I surmised. Also, 4:30 p.m., may be your departure time but it's usually at least 30 minutes or more before that time that the last tender departs. So...for us, I stopped stressing out...we're doing a morning Carnival tour to Goff's Caye. Based on all of the research I did on this boat, that seems to be best for us. The boat picks us up at the ship and will bring us back around 12:30 or so. We'll have lunch on the ship and then tender into the pier and check out the shops, etc. Then just take a tender back to the ship later in the afternoon. For us, we feel we have the best of all worlds and most importantly, no stresses or hassles. This is the one time that I decided to take a ship's tour. Typically, have no problems booking excursions through independent operators. I know people do it all of the time on Belize but again, for us, it just works out better.