Has anyone done the cave tubing in Belize?

[janpdel]

Taking a cruise on Legend in June. Was interested in the cave tubing excursion through the ship. Has anyone done this and was it fun?

[golfadj]

We did it several years ago thru cave tubing and it was great fun. Go to the port of calls page for more info.

[redskin80]

Yes we also did this with a ship exursion and we enjoyed ourselves. the water was low so we had to walk a couple of times but that was ok. We also got a chance to eat a local bar which put on a great local fare for us.

[x98bjv]

We did it through the ship and, while it was fun, I wouldn't book through the ship again. I'm kind of a worry-wart to begin with, but once we got in the water, nobody was looking out for us. Many people got stuck in nooks and crannies inside the cave and no one was there to help them out. So I couldn't just sit back and enjoy the ride. I saw a group of tubers who booked with a private excursion and they were well looked after. I'd go that route.

[zstell]

I haven't done this through the ship, but have with an independent company. I agree that the ship excursion we saw was a much larger group and didn't have the personalized experience that we did.

 

I LOVED the excursion and our guide was awesome. We are taking our sons on the Triumph next month and chose the itinerary so we could take them cave tubing.

[trvllover]

I did this last September with cavetubingdotcom. They were awesome! It was a wonderful experience! I will call on them again the next time I am in Belize.

 

HAVE FUN! :D

[HMC RET]

We went with cavetubing dot com also and it was a blast. We were well taken care of. The weather was hot that day and the water was nice and cool, made it relaxing. We also did the ATV excursin with them and then a had lunch. we would definitly do it again with them. We went in July of last year

[micbooth]

Gone cave tubing with Reggie the two times I have gone to Belize. Very small group with two guides to make sure no one gets left behind in the caves. Just a note, remember if you book a private excursion, if you don't make it back to port in time the ship will leave you. The only reason I am telling you this is because although Reggie guarantees you back in port in time, there is always a chance of mechanical error. We had a bus break down on the way back (it is a long ride) and we made it back to the ship as the anchor was being pulled up. Luckily a ship excursion was running late and we made the last tender in because it was being held for them. So now I am very cautious who we take. Reggie is great though.

 

Mick

[Cruzman]

Yes, three times! would recommend regtour.com or cavetubing.com. I had read that Carnival no longer offers this tour due to a tragic accident that happened last year on the cruise sponsored tour.

[hoopsielv]

Yes! We went with Major Tom and his son. There were 10 of us with 3 guides. They were very experienced and there was never a time that I didn't feel safe. It's an amazing time and I would do it again in a heartbeat! I found him due to recommendations on the Belize part of this board. Then we emailed and booked on our own. :)

[RadChick]

I did it with Yhony (cave-tubing dot com) and it was AWESOME!!!!

[NCTribeFan]

Went with Major Tom. It was great.

 

Find the Belize Port of Call board and do some reading there to get ideas of the differences/similarities of independent excursion operators.

[trvllover]

We went with cavetubing dot com also and it was a blast. We were well taken care of. The weather was hot that day and the water was nice and cool, made it relaxing. We also did the ATV excursin with them and then a had lunch. we would definitly do it again with them. We went in July of last year

 

I agree! The ATV adventure was fun too! I would definitely do both the cave tubing and the ATV adventure! :)

[pinkbugs471]

I have done the cave tubing twice with the Yhonny and Timmy.( cavetubing .com) It is great fun.:)

[JinxyB]

Yes, I highly recommend it. We went through Shoretrips.com and thought it was great. You go on a little hike through the rainforest and learn about some of the local plants, etc. I never felt unsafe and our guides were constantly looking out for us. We were also in a little convoy of tubes with our legs hooked on to the tube in front of us so we were never floating off by ourselves. I do recommend wearing water shoes/or some type of shoe that can get wet. Bring a change of clothes. It did get a little cold when it started raining, but it was a lot of fun! We returned to the port in plenty of time to wait for for a tender.

[vacruizer]

Great excursion but go with one of the independent operators. We used Yhony at cave-tubing dot com. Wonderful day and very safety conscious.

 

I strongly believe the ship tour is absolutely unsafe. There were hundreds of people just dumped into the river with no guides, many did not have working headlamps and no life vests. While most of the river is shallow, the water can be over 90 feet deep in the caves and it's very dark in there. Our guides had to stop and assist quite a few people stuck with the ship's tour. We were chained together in groups - I wasn't sure about this at first but once I saw how the currents ran and what the tour was like I was glad they did it this way. The ship tours do not do this. I remember mentioning to my DH that someone could drown in the caves and the ship tour would have no idea anyone was even missing.

 

As we were leaving the cave area on our nice, new motorcoach style bus, my DH looked over at the old school busses the ship tour was using and pointed out that the tires on every one of them were completely bald. :eek:

 

Sadly, a woman did die a year or so ago on Carnival tour and Carnival stopped offering the tour for quite a while. I think they have re-instated it and hopefully are doing things MUCH differently.

[staceyvols]

We did this excursion thru the local company, it was fun but I only due ship excursions now because of it. It's at least an hour drive to the site. About half way there, we had to turn around because the driver realized we didn't have enough gas. So that put us behind. The tubing was great. They give you a little time afterwards to dry off, they provided fruit and drinks, etc. There was a time difference between ship and local time. We kept reminding the driver who kept telling us we had plenty of time. Finally we got the guy to realize the time difference. We were with a large family with lots of teenagers so by the time we rounded them up, we were in a hurry. I was really nervous on the drive back because he was going so fast. Like someone else mentioned, the only reason we made it on the ship, is the tenders were backed up because of ship tours coming back late.

 

I know ship tours are a lot more, but it's worth the peace of mind that I won't miss the ship.

[gill_boo]

We booked direct with Jaguar Paw, which also offers zip lining and other stuff. The good thing is they bring you all the way into their resort by car, which means a much shorter walk up to the cave entrance. I didn't do the tubing, but my husband and step kids did and they said it was great.

[jayscore]

Yes, we did the tubing also, but, you might want to consider what time of year you go. We went last April, and the water was low. We found out that you are better off going during "rainy" season,(whenever that is), so you don't have to be dragged by the foot, or walk part of the way.

If the water was higher, it would have been a great experience!:rolleyes:

[mandms40]

We did cave tubing with Reggie, we had two guides with us for 8 people, and it was a blast, we had plenty of time when we got back to even have my 11 yr. old daughters hair braided(will never do that again). Her head got so sunburned.

 

The only thing that would of made this trip complete, was if I had a bud lite in my hand as were were floating down the river. And when they say Butt Up, you better do it!

 

Sandy

[dkb363]

Low water just means more "Butts Up". We also used Yhony and loved it. Both times back in time to have a drink at the port. Much smaller groups private vs. ship.

[path145]

We booked direct with Jaguar Paw, which also offers zip lining and other stuff. The good thing is they bring you all the way into their resort by car, which means a much shorter walk up to the cave entrance. I didn't do the tubing, but my husband and step kids did and they said it was great.

 

I've heard good things about Jaguar Paw. I'll get to find out first hand in about 3 wks. My boyfriend and I are going to do the zip lining and tubing.

[TravelToLive]

Cave tubing is a "MUST DO" just make sure to go with a private guide instead of the cruise ship. We were in Belize recently on a family cruise, my Aunt wanted to book everything through the cruise line, while the rest of the family went with with Dennis Perez of Explore Belize Caves.com. The river is cool and the sites are amazing! I been spelunking in Mammoth Caves and tubing down rivers from Pennsylvania to Grenada, but this captures the best of both. This is one of the best tours in the Caribbean. Not only did we get a private tour with just the few members of our family instead of half the cruise ship, but we got to travel through two caves instead of only one that the cruise ship tour goes through. Oh and did I mention that it was half the price of the ship tour $45 per person instead of $90. So we got double the tour for half the price. Everyone had a wonderfull time. I can't recomend Dennis and Cave tubing highly enough

[Lizzzys]

We have booked through Major Tom (cave-tubing dot net) for our upcoming trip in May. I tried to reach the folks from cave-tubing dot com unsuccessfully 4 times and finally gave up. I checked on tripadvisor and Major Tom has a great reputation (rated #2 out of 20 tour companies) so I'm feeling more relieved.

[catsy57]

Would you consider this tour "safe" for a 19 yr old and a 14 yr old on their own? I would like to do the Lamanai tour in Belize, but I'm not sure if my teenaged daughters would be interested in that tour. I think they might like this tour (it does sound awesome, but I am not a water person), so I don't know if I should suggest this as a possible alternative. It seems many people are recommending not using the ship's tour (we will be on the NCL Spirit at the end of March), but instead using independent contractors. I'm just not convinced that I should let my girls off on their own in a foreign country. What do you all think? Am I being over-protective?