Lessons Learned in Belize and at Lamanai

[spoonful]

Not sure if this is considered a review and will get removed but here are some things i learned.

 

Getting off the boat:

 

I just came off of RCCL and used and independent tour operator because i didn't want to be "with the massess" on and RCCL tour. We were scheduled to dock at 7am ship time. We were supposed to meet the tour group at 720am Belize time with an assmption that the ship time would be 1hr earlier (docking at 6am) but not till the day before did we learn the ship reset clocks so ship and belize time were the same. meeting at 720 was not plausible but we new we had to get off as soon as we could. though the night before we could not get guest relations to verify the night before, the next morning they were more than happy to let us on the first tender without paper confirmation of our excursion even though the first two are reserved for RCCL people only. We could have left as early as 745am but didnt get on the tender until 845am. by the time it filled up and left, we didn't arrive to the belize port until 930. We didn't leave early because one person in our group was very late getting ready. I was FUMMING mad over this. Our tour guides were supposed to be waiting with signs but we were so late that they weren't there. we asked some other guides and they pointed us in the right direction. we paid the money and were in the van by 10am ish. LATE!!!

 

Belize City:

Many people say it is horrbile and i wouldn't go so far but i can understand that for many americans unaccustomed to developing countries it may be intimidating. My family is from the jamaica and, if i didn't know better, i would have thought i was in Mo'Bay or Ocho Rios. as we left the cruise port to get in our van for the tour and drive out of the city, we got a great little view of the city. this is not a tourist city like Nassau. there is some little shopping but otherwise it is a regular place where people live. It is probably best for those uncomfortable to stay in the cruise shopping villiage or not venture far from there because there are many police on the outside of the village but you get much better shopping prices outside because there is no bargining in the cruise shoppling area. only standard prices.

 

Belize countryside:

We saw the flat land between the marsh and rain forrest of the ruins and the city on the coast. again, it looked very much like jamaican country to me. there are a few stands on the side of the road selling homemade wine or fresh cocconut. these stands and any other business outside the cruise area will accept US dollars but can not return change in US dollars. this took about 1 hour. arrived around 11am

 

The New River:

our day was sunny so wear sunscreen! the day was hot for us so the breeze felt great but i can see if it were overcast that the breeze would have been chilly. about 45 mins, arrived just before noon.

 

Ruin:

Lots o' walking so wear good shoes. the jungle canopy traps humidity so you will sweat while standing in the shade. the very large ruin that you can climb is deceptively difficult. Do not underestimate it and allow ample time to decend as the steep incline makes this mentally tough. easiest to come down on your but. we only had time for about 1 hour here including eating. back on the river at 1pm. return trip got us in belize city 2hrs later.

[Pirate's Cutie]

Thanks so much for your comments. You included many details that will be helpful for those of us traveling to Belize soon. Much appreciated:)

[spoonful]

Thanks. My lessons learned is that i should have left my slow friend on the boat so that we could have been on time and not made the other on our tour late as well. but i am not angry:) i just let her know i wouldn't be traveling with her again unless she fully apolgized (she did) and accepts that i will not wait for her again.

[Pirate's Cutie]

Thanks. My lessons learned is that i should have left my slow friend on the boat so that we could have been on time and not made the other on our tour late as well. but i am not angry:) i just let her know i wouldn't be traveling with her again unless she fully apolgized (she did) and accepts that i will not wait for her again.

 

They say you don't really know someone until you travel with them! We once had a disasterous vacation with another couple. We found out too late that we were totally at odds in terms of priorities and energy levels. All they wanted to do was eat 24/7 and sit around a pool and they'd get quite huffy each time we went off to explore and actually experience the place we'd taken the trouble to fly to. We're cruising with our (grown) children in a few weeks and already warned them that if they don't get up on time they will find us gone for the day.

[cjhbeh]

Thanks for your detailed review of Belize. Did the ship time continue to stay on local time at your other stops? Everything I've read and a call to RCCL confirmed that the ship will remain on EST. Apparently this is not true.

[bonwel]

I am trying to decide if I should book this tour with rccl or a private tour group. I usually prefer to book something on my own but am concerned about meeting up with the private tour group because of the tender issue.

I don't want to be totally stressed while on vacation and I know if I were in your shoes I would have lost it!

The price appears to be about the same for the canopy & rappelling tour. Has anyone taken this tour with rccl? If so, was the group so large that it was not enjoyable?

Thanks!

[spoonful]

for my two ports, cozumel and belize, they changed ship time from EST to CST to match the time at the ports of call. so, when we had our stops, ship time and port time were the same. This was helpful but my tour organizer assumed differently so we had to educate.

 

as far as timing goes, i did have some worries because the consequences for timing issues were pretty horrible but the data (reviews and testimonials from this and other travel sites) just didn't support the fears. i try to be data driven. Try as i might, i just couldn't find any reports of people missing their cruise due to this or any of the well documented private tours.

 

we passed other cruise tours and they were large groups of people. we were the only people at most of the points during the visit and had a pretty great tour because of the easy interaction with the tour guides. to be honest, i was booked on the rccl version of this tour until i talked with a co-worker who took the carnival tour to alta huna last may. he says the tour was very large and slow moving and he couldn't hear anything the guide said. he said they ate hamburgers and hot dogs for lunch. ugh.

[carads]

On our cruise 2 weeks ago to 4 ports the only Carnival tour we booked was Altun Ha & River Wallace because of the logistics. In the other 3 ports we did private excursions. Our group was 39 people including 2 guides on a bus and we could hear the guides fine. We also stopped at a small riverside resort for lunch of chicken, rice and black beans, cole slaw and fried plantains. Although we usually book private tours sometimes it is less stressful for us to book through the cruise line for the the tours that go a considerable distance from the port. We have cruised with Carnival, Royal and Norwegian and use the same strategy with all three. On our upcoming February cruise all of our excursions are booked privately.

[Bellfree Bat]

I am trying to decide if I should book this tour with rccl or a private tour group. I usually prefer to book something on my own but am concerned about meeting up with the private tour group because of the tender issue.

I don't want to be totally stressed while on vacation and I know if I were in your shoes I would have lost it!

The price appears to be about the same for the canopy & rappelling tour. Has anyone taken this tour with rccl? If so, was the group so large that it was not enjoyable?

Thanks!

 

We booked the "Raiders of the Lost Mayan Cave" tour through RCCL. While it was a full bus, we were broken down to 8 per group with 2 guides for each group. You might want to check it out...I had a blast!