Why Carnival no longer offers cave tubing?

[aaj2muva]

I could have sworn last year that Carnival offered cave tubing as an excursion in Belize. Any idea why they stopped? Did something happen? We're thinking about booking an external compay (cave-tubing.com) but were wondering if there was some safety concern that caused Carnival to make the change.

 

Amanda

[kthy66]

Yes they did but there was a death last year which is why they stopped it.

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=2836

 

 

I did the cave tubing through the company you mentioned last year and they are very conscientious and safety minded and we had a blast. I wouldn't hesitate to do it again.

[zstell]

We've done the cave tubing before w/an independent tour company and it was awesome! There was the terrible incident last year, but the person that drowned could not swim.

 

We are taking our kids in February and have no concerns. If you aren't a swimmer, they offer life jackets. This was one of our all time favorite excursions. Just make sure you get on one of the first tenders, it's a bit of a ride to shore and a good bit of a bus ride to the caves. We had plenty of time and can't wait to do it again.

[pjpurple6]

I don't think it matter if the person couldn't swim, the strong current from the heavy rain was what caused the tragedy.. Carnival should of canceled the tour where a few of the private tours did cancel on account of safety issues.

 

I did the tubing years ago there, and the water level was not high, so it was a lot of fun to do the tubing.

[SueLuvs2Cruise]

I am scheduled on the Valor for 11/22 and I will be cave tubing on Thanksgiving Day with Major Tom ......... http://www.cavc-tubing.net I read the reviews and write-ups for both sites the dot com and dot net and I liked the fact that Major Tom guarantees nothing more than a 8 to 1 ratio for riders to guide.

[MDSue]

From all I've read, cave tubing has become so popular that the tours were overcrowded and not as safely run as some of the smaller more reputable local companies.

On the Carnival excursion from what I read, there were many people in individual tubes floating through the caves in higher than usual water. They were not linked together as some of the other tours do. The high water and lack of safety measures may have contributed to the fatality, causing Carnival to discontinue this tour.

If you choose to go [it still seems to be very popular], I would book with a reputable company. When we were in Belize, I noticed many booths offering tube rentals. I'd be cautious about choosing the right company.

[Mack2]

I was on the Cave tubing tour the first week of November aboard the Carnival Legend... We used cavetubing.bz with Vitalino.

 

 

I did ask them about the accident last year... They said that the Carnival tour had linked groups of 25 people together with 1 guide. Water was high, and brown with a swift current.

Near the exit of the last cave, one bunch of 25 people got caught in a corner of the cave... and another tour of 25 washed into them. The lady who drowned fell out of her tube and got caught underneath the 50 people.

 

 

Since then, the Belize gov't has put restrictions on the amount of people per guide (8 per guide), and if the river is high, there is NO tubing.

 

Carnival isn't offering the tour... but it may be due to the fact that there is still ongoing litigation.

 

edit:

 

We were in two groups that day.

 

My group had the 3 kids, though... next to the parents... so we were a group of 7. The other group was 4 adults.

[travelgma]

We went on the Glory to Belize in 2008 and took the Carnival Cave Tubing Excursion. There were more than 25-30 people in the group and very little instruction was given by the two guides. My husbands headlamp did not work and there were several others. We imitated the small groups who put their feet on the tube in front. The current was swift and the rocks pointed. We hear one tube punture. It was very frightening and that part was not at all fun. The independent tours were small groups that were led by a guide in front and back. Because the group was so large, the Carnival guides were nowhere to be seen and didn't help those who needed it. Also, one of the men had all of his money(shouldn't have taken it with him) taken from the rickety wooden lockers. It could have been a great experience as the place, the rain forest and the river were beautiful.

[StartrainDD]

Check out our experience in the Booking Directly Through Jungle Paws? thread. (It is actually called Jaguar Paw).

 

We felt VERY safe the entire time. Also, if the water is high, they have another cave system on their own property and are able to offer a safe adventure when the other providers are shut down.

[Patneeds2cruise]

I could have sworn last year that Carnival offered cave tubing as an excursion in Belize. Any idea why they stopped? Did something happen? We're thinking about booking an external compay (cave-tubing.com) but were wondering if there was some safety concern that caused Carnival to make the change.

 

Amanda

 

 

There was a death on that excursion in 2008. We were there. My DH and I (and 6 other cruisers we met through CC) booked with cave-tubing dot com. It was in September of 2008 on our Glory cruise. We were just behind the Carnival sponsored excursion because we had done the ATV part of the excursion first and the river second. We floated into the cave after they had pulled the woman's body up on the rocks. It was a very sad thing to see! It is true that Carnival did not link up their people, pretty much just threw them out there to fend for themselves. We were told that both the woman and her husband hit the sides of the cave and were thrown off of their tubes. The water was very high and fast due to heavy rains the night before. The current caused their life jackets to come off. The man was able to make it to the rocks but the woman did not. By the time they found her, she had drowned.

 

We had about 30 people in our group. Our guides had us all linked together - 4 rows of 6-8 - and one guide on all 4 sides of the group. There was a lot of chaos and panic going on all around us and ahead of us but our group was very calm and basically having a wonderful time. When we came into the second cave, they pulled us to the side and made sure we were secure and then one of our guides went over to see if he could help since they are trained in life-saving and CPR. He promptly came back to our group and said that it was too late. We quietly left the cave. Later that night we got a letter under our cabin door from Carnival telling what had happened.

 

I was very glad that we had chosen to go with Yhony. You can't go wrong with cave-tubing dot com. They are very professional and safety conscious. We never felt scared or unsafe at any time but did notice that some of the other groups did not take the same safety precautions that Yhony's guys did. Our guides had to help out several people whose guides were nowhere to be seen. Now I have absolutely nothing against Carnival and have taken a lot of their excursions and probably will continue to do so. To be honest, the reason we went with the private company was because they were much cheaper than Carnival and offered other options along with the cave tubing. We had a great time with Yhony and would not hesitate to go with them again. My advice is get on the internet and do your homework. Check these companies' web sites out before you book with them. Especially their payment and cancellation policies. Don't hesitate to email and ask questions. Yhony and I corresponded several times before and after the trip. Very nice people and a first-class operation. Stay on these boards and read people's reviews. That's how I learned about Yhonny and cave-tubing dot com.

Pat

[Ready4cruisin]

I just returned from a cruise on carnival Glory in which we stopped in Belize. I booked a cave tubing adventure through coral breeze tours. There were 6 people in our group and we had an amazingly great time! Ivar was our guide and he was extremly knowledgable about belize, the jungle and the caves. He linked all 6 of us together and At times when he could touch he guided us excactly where we needed to go. When he couldn't touch the water was calmer and he would paddle us in the right direction. I still saw many other tours that just let their guest "free flow" down the river.

Cave tubing is definatly a tour that I would do again,...I agree with the ones that say do your research. I recommend coral breeze tours from my personnal experience but I did see some other companies that seemed to be as safety conscience as this one too.

[Jt4428]

We were on the Liberty the beginning of November. We had no plans in Belize. Upon getting on the ship, we met a family who had booked Major Tom independent of the cruise excursion. They highly recommended his company. And much cheaper than what Royal Caribbean was offering. I went on-line on the ship the night before and booked it. I have to say, what professionals! There was a 7 to 1 ratio of tubers to guides. They linked us all together. I made a comment to our guide "Norman" how hard he worked to guide us through certain portions of the caves. He made sure we never separated from him or the rest of our group. I highly recommend them. You can't forget that you're in a strange place and never know what can happen. Major Tom's guides really took care of us.