Kids Cave Tubing

[jostvandyke]

Has anyone done the Belize X-Stream Kids Cave Tubing through BelizeCruiseExcursions.com? We'll have a 5, 6, 7 and 9 year old with us.

[crusinmama06]

Found a recent thread for ya - just in case no one gets a chance to respond

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=997116

 

When we went to Belize in February, I went on an ATV excursion with the guys from the cave tubing excursion (did that make sense..lol) and we had a great time with them.

 

They picked us up in a bus at the port. And then drove us to the place where they do both the cave tubing and the ATV tour. I asked them all kinds of questions about the cave tubing and how old the children could be. Your kids fall into the age ranges.

 

These guys were from cave-tubing.com and were really entertaining.

http://www.cave-tubing.com/

[jostvandyke]

Thanks for the reply! We really want to go cave tubing but are a little leary because of the kids. Even though they fall in the age ranges, safety is still a concern. That's why I was looking at the one geared more for kids. Maybe I'm just paranoid but that's my job as Mom I guess :o

[crusinmama06]

Thanks for the reply! We really want to go cave tubing but are a little leary because of the kids. Even though they fall in the age ranges, safety is still a concern. That's why I was looking at the one geared more for kids. Maybe I'm just paranoid but that's my job as Mom I guess :o

 

Hey I am right there with ya! Notice I didn't say my kids went on THIS excursion. ;) I was too chicken. I read the reviews before we left. I read:

--cold water

--very dark

--bats

--snakes

--possible fast moving water

--Belize cave death on CCL cruise excursion :eek:

 

That's all I needed to chicken out. :o

 

So don't be embarrassed. I am right there with ya. There are other parents here that have had personal experience with the caves and kids. :)

[Mack2]

We recently did the cave tubing with 4 kids, ages 4, 5, 7, and 10 on the week of Nov. 1st on a cruise aboard the Carnival Legend.

 

We went with Vitalino at cavetubing dot bz.

 

There is a limitation of 8 adults per guide now in Belize due to the accidental drowning last year.

 

We ended up in a group of 4 adults with the children tied next to an adult for the tour.... and the one guide

 

 

Water was low, so the current wasn't fast (I should've taken a picture of the metal pole the gov't used to determine the river height/safety of the tour-thing they used)... I was told in fast currents, the water get's brown.

 

 

My one kid's chief complaint was that he didn't get a "butt massage"

There are some short parts where there is a little bit of a current, and the water gets a little shallow... the guide would call "Butt's UP!" so your butt doesn't get a "massage" from the river stones.

 

As hard as he tried, he didn't get his "massage"

 

 

The water goes from a few inches in some parts (where the guide is walking) to 40ft deep (but we didn't know, it's DARK)

 

 

 

From what we were told, last years accident occurred during high waters (fast current), and the guides were allowed to take 25 people at a time through the caves.

 

Story we heard from our guide was that people got stuck in a corner of the cave (pointed it out to us)... there's a high ceiling, but 25 people got cornered into the area from the current.

 

ANOTHER 25 people rammed into them (guides lost control), and a woman fell out of her tube. Even though she had a life vest on, she was buried under the mass of tubes, and drowned (and then we heard about the hike back to the assembly zone with the body, later)

 

 

edit:

Yeah... the water.. they kept saying that the temperature is "REFRESHING!"

It's 75-ish degrees.

 

It's not crazy cold (I was thinking we're gonna be in 50degree water)... hardest part of the trip is the hike to the thing... and if it's 100 degrees and humid out... 75 is definitely refreshing.

[mudphud]

I don't want to scare you and although I am more of a lurker here I feel the need to respond.

 

DH and I did a cave tubing excursion that we independently booked in May of this year after the drowing accident happened. I wasn't all that alarmed and figured it was a fluke. Just to give you some background, we tend to do "adventure" excursions, ie zipling, snuba, etc. so I figured cave tubing was no big deal and the water would be shallow. We had between 20-25 people on our tour and only one guide. We were not all holding onto each other in the cave and most of my time was spent trying to catch up with guide so I could hear the interesting facts he was giving while in the cave. At one point, while trying to keep connected with DH, I flipped backwards in my tube and although I had a life jacket on, was completely submerged under the water. It's a good thing I'm a strong swimmer and was able to grab my tube back eventually. I was never able to get back into my tube because I later found out that the water was 40 ft deep at that point. The guide never noticed what had happened. It goes without saying that although I'm a strong swimmer, I was scared from that point on.

 

We have 2 kids ages 5 and 8. Prior to this experience, I may have considered taking them along on this excursion had they been cruising with us, but now ABSOLUTELY NOT!!! It was tough enough trying to stay with DH while in the cave, I couldn't imagine trying to keep track of kids!

[jostvandyke]

After a lot of thought, we probably won't do cave tubing with the kids. At least not this cruise. The kids will be cruising with us for many years to come so maybe when they get to be teenagers! Thanks for everyone's input.

[littlelamb814]

I just got back from my cruise today and we went cave tubing in belize. Let me tell you there is so many different guides to book with, for instance there were some people all separate from each other doing it on there own guide was just wandering around. But we booked a group of us on our roll call with Vital Reyes which is cavetubing.bz There was 16 of us including 3 kids 5,7,&8 Vital has everyone link together and the children would be on the side of an adult, all children are to wear a life jacket and optional for the adults. We had 2 guides so once we reached the water they broke us up into 2 groups. One great thing was once we were off on the hike the guides took all the women and kids tubes to carry for them the whole way up, and the best part was our guides will stop along the hike and point things out like certain trees and a termite nest and even had the people who wanted to eat a termite. I was told they had a minty taste..i wouldnt try..lol they vital found a hole in the ground and told us all to be quite he stuck a stick in a pulled out a non poisonous terranchula...sorry cant spell... but i ran lol he put it on his head we took pictures and offered us to hold if we wanted to..i passed once again. but they were great guides always paying attention and making sure we were ok. afterwards we had lunch and sodas or adult beverages all included in the cost of $45 pp and it was well worth it. It is about a 45 min to 1 hour drive to the caves...oh and vital took us through 2 caves when most guides only do 1 cave. And if u were to go and u talk about it on youe roll call and others sign up to go u will have met them at meet and greet and we were all like a big family going.

[addie19]

We have 2 kids ages 5 and 8. Prior to this experience, I may have considered taking them along on this excursion had they been cruising with us, but now ABSOLUTELY NOT!!! It was tough enough trying to stay with DH while in the cave, I couldn't imagine trying to keep track of kids!

 

 

thanks for your story! this affirms my decision to not take our son cave tubing and instead leave him with babysitters.

 

I emailed major tom about kids and here is the response I got (although, this made me feel a bit more comfortable on choosing to bring DS along for the ride):

 

 

----- Original Message -----

To: info@****************

Sent: Friday, December 04, 2009 11:39 PM

Subject: how young to participate?

 

 

I'm curious to know if a 23 month old child would be allowed to participate in the cave tubing tour? He would not be able to ride in his own tube, but do you allow/recommend young children to ride in their parents' laps? How swift are the currents--would it be safe enough to do this? and would there be a charge for him (free or reduced rate)?

 

Thanks!

----------------

Hello,

 

We have taken babies in parent's lap many times; while we did not charge before, we do now - reduced kiddie's rate of $25 because we apply a single guide to such a parent, for total safety.

 

I do NOT know if a new rule on size may kick in when the new year arrives (48 inch minimum), as park authorities have not yet informed us; when are you arriving in Belize???

 

Major Tom

[crusinmama06]

That's an interesting response from Major Tom. So the park authorities are going to step in and put a 48" height requirement? That's good to know. I'll be on the lookout for that. :) Thanks!