X-Stream or CaveTubing.com

[hamlettm]

First off, let me say that I LOVED all your pics. I felt like I was reliving the experience all over again.

 

We had a somewhat different experience on our Cave Tubing Excursion a couple of years ago. We used X-Stream Cave Tubing Co., booked on-line. They had a representative easily findable when we got off the tenders. As we had a bit of wait for other passengers, we had time to buy our "I Survived Cave Tubing in Belize" T-shirts before the tour. Our bus had AC, but wasn't nice like yours..........more like a beat up school bus.........but it got us there. We drove through Belize City a little. Not sure if this was a mini tour, or just the way to get where we were headed. In any case, our driver provided running commentary on what we were seeing in the City, and later in the countryside we were passing through.

 

From looking at your pictures (again, great photos) I can see a big difference in the depth of the river from when we were on it. We had deeper water, and a pretty fast current in a lot of places. We free floated. Our group was about 12 people. Black tubes, but plumper than yours, I think. We only had a couple of "Butts Up" moments during the whole ride. The current took me away a couple of times, twice I had to push off the walls, and once I floated into a prickly bush once we got out of the caves. Great source of amusement for my family group.

 

Some tours include a chicken/rice meal, but ours didn't. There was a cooler of fresh cut-up fruits for us to pick into, after the tour.

 

It seems like the depth and current of the river dictates how much fun the tour is. Not sure if there is a season that is better for Cave Tubing, or if it depends on the weather of the week. We were there in late October.

 

Your review was very interesting and informative. Wish more people would give a blow-by-blow review of their tours. Thanks for taking the time to post for all of us!

 

The cave-tubing.com people do NOT give you free food, drinks, etc. You have to wait until your back at the end of the tubing to PURCHASE food from them, which stinks. =(

 

If the water would have been deeper and FASTER it would have been fun. To me it was more like we were sitting still and only being pushed or pulled by the guides. Also being able to go down by our self would have been GREAT!

 

I'm glad you liked the review and pics, thanks for posting your info as well.

[MrTexTJ]

Hamlett---Wow. Your review is something I can relate to. We were there March 18th. We went with Major Tom. We used similar old-school equipment--tire tubes-life jackets. When we were in the caves, another group, being pulled by a guide was passing us, splashing us with cold water. I told the guide to stop splashing and questioned what was the rush. He said time is money... I looked at the tubes, and they were Cave-tubing.com. Anyway, our guide with Major Tom did not rush, and as you can imagine, it started to get a little boring. I was in the very back of the chain and couldn't hear all the details of the caves he was explaining. We were able to break our chain as soon as we got out of the cave, so we had a long time to float around on the way to the exit. We weren't expecting as much as you, and as a matter of fact, the little problems like grounding out on rocks just added to our memories of the trip. We thought the big yellow tubes, with matching helmets was a little too Disney like. We were able to change in the restroom at the site...I would not have liked riding in a bus all wet. However, we went ziplining after the tubing which I think my wife enjoyed more than the tubing. I don't think we would cave-tube again, but at least we checked it off our list.....lol.

[hamlettm]

Hamlett---Wow. Your review is something I can relate to. We were there March 18th. We went with Major Tom. We used similar old-school equipment--tire tubes-life jackets. When we were in the caves, another group, being pulled by a guide was passing us, splashing us with cold water. I told the guide to stop splashing and questioned what was the rush. He said time is money... I looked at the tubes, and they were Cave-tubing.com. Anyway, our guide with Major Tom did not rush, and as you can imagine, it started to get a little boring. I was in the very back of the chain and couldn't hear all the details of the caves he was explaining. We were able to break our chain as soon as we got out of the cave, so we had a long time to float around on the way to the exit. We weren't expecting as much as you, and as a matter of fact, the little problems like grounding out on rocks just added to our memories of the trip. We thought the big yellow tubes, with matching helmets was a little too Disney like. We were able to change in the restroom at the site...I would not have liked riding in a bus all wet. However, we went ziplining after the tubing which I think my wife enjoyed more than the tubing. I don't think we would cave-tube again, but at least we checked it off our list.....lol.

 

Hey Covo, it seems a few people were actually let down by the cave tubing excursion. I simply thought it would be a fast and wild ride through some scary caves and I was wrong as you know. I agree the hard hats were not needed, but those yellow tubes sure did seem more comfortable and they didn't have to scream "BUTTS UP" every 5 seconds. =) The rock grounding would not have been that bad if it didn't happen every 30 seconds, but we spent most of the trip stuck. Also if we would have been allowed to break the chain or not have one at all it would have been awesome.

 

I agree with you about doing it again, I won't do it again even if YOU pay, but we are glad we can cross that off our list as well. Thanks for your post, let's hope it helps other people thinking of cave tubing. :)

[Carol999]

I 100 % agree wih you. Luckily I was fortunate enough to go with charliecavetubing.com , we were a group of four. I felt sorry for you guys in those large groups . We got to hear extra interesting details having such a small group, and we got changed on the grounds. That stone enema though I could have done without. Wearing the hardhats and even the life jackets were so over kill in saftety that people looked dumb with them. We just put our jackets on our laps. We also managed to walk through the jungle without hoardes around us..I was shocked to see the trains of people when we got to the waters edge.

[Carol999]

oops forgot to say..thank you for all those great pictures...loved reliving the day

[hamlettm]

I 100 % agree wih you. Luckily I was fortunate enough to go with charliecavetubing.com , we were a group of four. I felt sorry for you guys in those large groups . We got to hear extra interesting details having such a small group, and we got changed on the grounds. That stone enema though I could have done without. Wearing the hardhats and even the life jackets were so over kill in saftety that people looked dumb with them. We just put our jackets on our laps. We also managed to walk through the jungle without hoardes around us..I was shocked to see the trains of people when we got to the waters edge.

 

A group of 4 sounds nice, bet that was fun! lol about the stone enema, they called ours the "ball crushers"

 

oops forgot to say..thank you for all those great pictures...loved reliving the day

 

Your very welcome, thanks for your post. :D

[MrTexTJ]

Our guide said that this time of the year is relatively dry- little rain. Even though the stream is spring fed, rain will get the flow going and more like you were hoping for. I think he said the rainy season started in May. You might want to give the zipline a try next time. We're both in our early 50's and the zipline was thrilling...but quick. I did a little family video on this experience- I called it "No brakey" because I had an issue not braking in time to keep from crashing into the zipline guy. I actually have a picture of the cave-tubing.com group passing us, but I didn't put it in the video. Anyway, here is a link if you're interested.

[hamlettm]

I wanted to post a few other reviews that shared our same experience just so people get the idea we are not the only ones with these issues.

 

OK, but did not meet my expectations

By: CanadaDerek

 

Positives:

-Caves were awesome

-Cheaper than a cruise ship excursion

-Most of the staff were friendly

 

Negatives:

-biggest negative was having to listen to Richard (I think that was his name) drone on and on while taking the bus ride to the caves. He was very confrontational, not very friendly, and overtly sexist. I cringed at so many of the things he said on the bus ride to the caves. He seemed to be the person in charge of our tour and he wanted everyone to know it.

-Don't expect to float lazily down the river under your own power. The current is very slow in some portions, so you get linked in a chain of 5-6 people. This means you have to hold someones feet under your armpits to link together the chain. This ends up being VERY uncomfortable by the time you reach the end of the trip. My feet hurt, and my neck was extremely sore from leaning back in that position.

-Don't expect a wide range of food selection for lunch. There was basically 1 option, so if you don't eat meat, or don't like chicken (on the day we went), then you were out of luck. After being out for 3-4 hours you are starving and end up having no choice. By the way... food is not included in the price.

 

 

 

 

Fun was marred by an incompetent guide

By: MinnesotaTravelbug

 

The main river guide was great, but we were subjected to the incompetence of a helper guide who nearly broke my knee when he lost control of our tubes and my knee became the fulcrum against a rock, with tubes on both sides of me being pushed by the current. He failed to point out the interesting features that the other guide shared with their rafts. The cave experience was OK, but will be a disappointment if you have ever done US caves, such as Lewis & Clark caverns. The water temp was on the cool side.

 

 

 

 

Beware, cavetubing.com

By: stucolleenfan

 

I read all the positive reviews and was looking forward to a great day. I have been cave tubing in Belize twice previously and this company did not measure up. We were loaded up into an old bus that reeked of mothballs. My armrest repeatedly fell off. The driver of the bus was great (Evan) He drove very carefully over bumpy roads. The guide during our ride was wonderful (Speedo). He was funny and entertaining. I had hoped for a small group, however, there were about 40 of us and it meant for somewhat crowded conditions going through the caves and on the river rapids. The equipment was old and worn (life jackets faded and dirty). The headlamp I was first given was broken. The tubes are old tire tubes (o.k. but other companies had new -looking orange tubes). My biggest problem came during the rapids portion of our excursion when our guide lost control of the four tubes linked together and we crashed into a partly submerged tree and rocks. I very nearly capsized and received a scraped and bruised leg. (I still have a two inch bruise 2 weeks later) It left me shaken. The others were not injured. The guide was apologetic and also Yhoni apologized. On the ride home - the fumes of the mothballs on the bus made my husband and I nauseaus. Also, we did not appreciate the constant self-promotion as to how their company was better than the rest and to please write good reviews online when we returned home.

Although I enjoyed to cavetubing experience, I would not go back to cavetubing.com.

 

 

 

 

Nice but they lie.

By:fscottcathy1

 

One October 23 2009, my family of 4 had booked with cave-tubing.com. We were on Carnival Legend and thought this would be fun to do for the day. As soon as we got off the ship, the other "vendors" were trying to get our business and I said we had already booked with cavetubing.com. They had told me they believed the cave tubing was closed that day due to all the rain they had received. We we saw the guides from cavetubing.com I immediately asked if the cave tubing was closed that day. They were reallty nice and said they did not know and we will have to keep and open mind. The only way to find out was to make the one hour bus ride to the river to find out. We did that and found out it was closed. We did the ATV's through the rain forest which we enjoyed very much and the guides were so nice and did everything they could to make it an enjoyable day since the major part of it we would not be able to do. After speaking with others, everyone who had booked with Carnival knew before getting off the ship that excursion had been cancelled. So they tricked us and told us they did not know it was closed only to get us an hour away from the ship where there was nothing else to do but the ATVs. Guides were nice but I wish they would have been honest and told us it was closed and then we could have make our decision to do the ATVs only or plan something else.

 

 

 

 

Cave Tubing/ATV

By: luv2tap

 

Save your money. We signed up for a cave tubing and ATV excursion through Yhony at Cavetubing.com "Master of the Caves". I did some research before we left, and this company got some good reviews except one that said they didn't have enough equipment for everybody. I e-mailed Yhony to make sure there would be enough equipment for our party of 8 and he assured me that there would be no problem. Well, there was a problem. Only 2 of us got our own ATV's. The other 6 had to double up. The worst part was that there were so many people riding (21), that all we did was sit. People ahead of us were constantly getting stuck in the mud until a guide would come to help them out. We would go about 10-20 feet and then stop for 5-10 minutes until the person in front started moving again. It was just one big slow line of 21 people barely moving. It was ridiculous. Then they bussed us to the caves. It was ok, but very very dark and actually a little boring. We didn't realize that everybody was required to hook up like a train. By the time we got to the end of the river, our armpits were sore from the person's shoes behind them. Before we could head back to town, we had to wait another 45 minutes for the bus to go back and pick up the other people that did the longer cave tubing only, not the ATV's, which left us no time to do anything else in Belize. We were already feeling really ripped off, but the straw that broke the camels back was when we approached town, they said they would only accept cash. The website said that they were so confident with their excursion that you didn't have to pay until the end, but they never said that it had to be cash only. We had brought very little cash with us since we were riding ATV's and tubing down a river. They made the entire bus stop at a bank so 3 families that didn't bring enough cash could get their money from an ATM. The ATM wouldn't give enough money for my husband, so he had to go into the bank, but they wouldn't give him any cash since he didn't have any photo ID (only his Visa and ship card). He then went back to the ATM to get what he could. We were still short about $50 which is what we spent on refreshments at their establishment waiting for the other group, and a tip which we had already given them. It was humiliating. All this was unfolding in front of the entire bus. The website, the reservation, nor any of the correspondance I had with them ever said cash only. When I got back to the ship my confirmation was the only document that said "with us you pay cash until the tour is over", but it was buried and not up front. Even if I had seen that, it wasn't clear that cash was the only accepted form of payment. Unfortunately, their desire to line their pockets with overbooking, left us with a sour taste of cavetubing.com and our experience in Belize.

[Dawn125408]

Wow - did they change that much from when we went two years ago?? We had a great time with that company. Water was deeper in October, and we felt safer "linked" than just floating along by yourself. Some people alone were stuck at side of river-bank, some were stuck in the caves in the dark. Read on CC a few months ago that some lady slipped out of tube in cave and drowned on the Carnival excursion, so they cancelled it for a while. The "whiskey" was actually pecan wine. I'm not much of a drinker either, but did taste it. Very sweet. There were 6 of us - ages 62 down to 11 - and everyone loved it. Not sure about the place where you change out of your wet clothes, because everyone changed before getting back on the bus when we went. Sounds like maybe they had an exceptionally large grou that day. We are going back in September and plan on doing it again.

[lmt425]

We had a very similar experience to yours with cavetubing dot com, and I posted our experience on another thread in the Belize board.

 

 

I wonder when you and hamlettm went cave tubing. I went last week as well (Wednesday March 24) and there were way too many people. I think they should have a cap on how many people they let into the river system. I believe there were 4 ships that day. I did not go with cave-tubing .com but instead with Major Tom. I wonder if anyone had a good experience tubing and not just with certain providers. The river is low so butts-up the whole time. And with, literally, hundreds of people trying to filter through these caves at once I felt like I was back home stuck in traffic.

 

The whole scene at Jaguar Paw felt like chaos--even though we did move so slowly.

 

Also, because there were so many people, we did not get to do our zipline--which would have been way better than the cave tubing. I appreciated Major/Minor Tom cancelling it to ensure we would return to the pier in time but was Very disappointed we could not do it. Actually, the group that booked through Royal Caribbean line jumped us at the zipline. I don't know why, but I was kind of mad about that. If they were Behind us then we still would get to our ship without being left behind-whatever. Note: we paid in full before getting to Belize and have not been reimbursed yet. I am in contact with the company and Major Tom said that he forwarded my information to ...someone? and to keep in touch on if I have heard anything or not. I'll be back to let everyone know how that goes.

[hamlettm]

I wonder when you and hamlettm went cave tubing. I went last week as well (Wednesday March 24) and there were way too many people. I think they should have a cap on how many people they let into the river system. I believe there were 4 ships that day. I did not go with cave-tubing .com but instead with Major Tom. I wonder if anyone had a good experience tubing and not just with certain providers. The river is low so butts-up the whole time. And with, literally, hundreds of people trying to filter through these caves at once I felt like I was back home stuck in traffic.

 

The whole scene at Jaguar Paw felt like chaos--even though we did move so slowly.

 

Also, because there were so many people, we did not get to do our zipline--which would have been way better than the cave tubing. I appreciated Major/Minor Tom cancelling it to ensure we would return to the pier in time but was Very disappointed we could not do it. Actually, the group that booked through Royal Caribbean line jumped us at the zipline. I don't know why, but I was kind of mad about that. If they were Behind us then we still would get to our ship without being left behind-whatever. Note: we paid in full before getting to Belize and have not been reimbursed yet. I am in contact with the company and Major Tom said that he forwarded my information to ...someone? and to keep in touch on if I have heard anything or not. I'll be back to let everyone know how that goes.

 

Thanks for sharing, we went last week. I agree about the butts-up the entire time (for people who don't know they ask you to put your butt way up and lay flat on the tube so it wont drag on the rocks) it really bothered my back and made the entire trip bad. I also agree with the problem of all the people, it was like a giant heard of cattle being pushed to the end. But they don't mind, just more cash for them.

[LJLB6]

Dawn, our group was huge, and it was difficult to stay linked with our feet because of the extreme crowding in the cave. If our group was smaller---like 6 to 8 people--I think it would have been easier to maneuver and stay joined together. We came through one narrow area where we were literally wedged in between two groups. It was a struggle to keep our feet tucked under the arms of the person in the front--was getting jostled from both sides on top of trying to keep our butts in the air.

 

I didn't like the cashew wine---I expected something you would sip but it tasted more like something you would put in a shot glass and drink in one gulp. They had it available for $10 a bottle, but we passed.

[debster818]

I wonder when you and hamlettm went cave tubing. I went last week as well (Wednesday March 24) and there were way too many people. I think they should have a cap on how many people they let into the river system. I believe there were 4 ships that day. I did not go with cave-tubing .com but instead with Major Tom. I wonder if anyone had a good experience tubing and not just with certain providers. The river is low so butts-up the whole time. And with, literally, hundreds of people trying to filter through these caves at once I felt like I was back home stuck in traffic.

 

The whole scene at Jaguar Paw felt like chaos--even though we did move so slowly.

 

Also, because there were so many people, we did not get to do our zipline--which would have been way better than the cave tubing. I appreciated Major/Minor Tom cancelling it to ensure we would return to the pier in time but was Very disappointed we could not do it. Actually, the group that booked through Royal Caribbean line jumped us at the zipline. I don't know why, but I was kind of mad about that. If they were Behind us then we still would get to our ship without being left behind-whatever. Note: we paid in full before getting to Belize and have not been reimbursed yet. I am in contact with the company and Major Tom said that he forwarded my information to ...someone? and to keep in touch on if I have heard anything or not. I'll be back to let everyone know how that goes.

We are doing the combo on April 22. I hope the water will be higher. Also, I am now wondering if we should cancel the tubing because what we REALLY want to do is the zipline? There are only 2 ships in port that day, so I think that will make it better.

[maggieworkman]

I'm hoping you went during dry season and that the water will be higher when we go in early June. Can anyone comment about the water level in early June???

 

How do you know the orange tubes were from the Carnival excursion? Aren't there other private guides? I was thinking of booking through Carnival just so we wouldn't be left behind, but if they have better tubes too, I will definitely book through Carnival.

 

Also, I think I would have felt safer going through those dark caves connected up. I wouldn't want my kids floating by themselves in the dark! I'd be petrified the whole time that one of us was stuck or lost.

 

Maggie

[hamlettm]

I'm hoping you went during dry season and that the water will be higher when we go in early June. Can anyone comment about the water level in early June???

 

How do you know the orange tubes were from the Carnival excursion? Aren't there other private guides? I was thinking of booking through Carnival just so we wouldn't be left behind, but if they have better tubes too, I will definitely book through Carnival.

 

Also, I think I would have felt safer going through those dark caves connected up. I wouldn't want my kids floating by themselves in the dark! I'd be petrified the whole time that one of us was stuck or lost.

 

Maggie

 

A few of the organizations use the orange tubes, call Carnival and ask if they will be using them when you go.

 

It's ok to be connected with 4 or 6 people, but we had 10 - 15 and two trains. If you can connect and disconnect when you want that's great, but to have your legs and feet tucked under another mans arms (you dont know) the entire time is not so much fun, lol.

[lmt425]

I wonder when you and hamlettm went cave tubing. I went last week as well (Wednesday March 24) and there were way too many people. I think they should have a cap on how many people they let into the river system. I believe there were 4 ships that day. I did not go with cave-tubing .com but instead with Major Tom. I wonder if anyone had a good experience tubing and not just with certain providers. The river is low so butts-up the whole time. And with, literally, hundreds of people trying to filter through these caves at once I felt like I was back home stuck in traffic.

 

The whole scene at Jaguar Paw felt like chaos--even though we did move so slowly.

 

Also, because there were so many people, we did not get to do our zipline--which would have been way better than the cave tubing. I appreciated Major/Minor Tom cancelling it to ensure we would return to the pier in time but was Very disappointed we could not do it. Actually, the group that booked through Royal Caribbean line jumped us at the zipline. I don't know why, but I was kind of mad about that. If they were Behind us then we still would get to our ship without being left behind-whatever. Note: we paid in full before getting to Belize and have not been reimbursed yet. I am in contact with the company and Major Tom said that he forwarded my information to ...someone? and to keep in touch on if I have heard anything or not. I'll be back to let everyone know how that goes.

 

 

 

I received my refund via paypal today.

[maggieworkman]

It's ok to be connected with 4 or 6 people, but we had 10 - 15 and two trains. If you can connect and disconnect when you want that's great, but to have your legs and feet tucked under another mans arms (you dont know) the entire time is not so much fun, lol.

 

Yeah. My plan is to have my feet under DH's arms. My DH can be the one to deal with the strangers!!! Hopefully I can get the kids behind me with my mom bringing up the rear.

 

Maggie

[hamlettm]

Yeah. My plan is to have my feet under DH's arms. My DH can be the one to deal with the strangers!!! Hopefully I can get the kids behind me with my mom bringing up the rear.

 

Maggie

 

Good luck Maggie, let us know how things go when your back! Remember to try and stay in FRONT when walking though the rain forest so you can hear everything. :)

[Carol999]

Our guide (Charlie)said rainy season starts in June, so hopefully you will have a better water level. The black tubes would be fine if the water level was higher too. Go with Charlie's cavetubing..and tell him you want a small group no bigger than 4. Im pretty sure he will accomodate you

[burm]

Can anyone recommend the company that had the GOOD tubes?

[hamlettm]

Sorry guys, Cruise Critic removed my review and now they won't allow me to edit my post to fix the images for the review. :mad:

[Fourseventeen]

screw that idea of having some strangers dirty feet on me...ill pass! Thats why I used X-stream...the guide didnt make us do that and if he asked me to I would have said no thanks.

The tubes we got were from Jaguar Paw...we didnt have any problems with any of our tubes in the group.

[repogirl49]

Have narrowed it down to these two companies, would love to hear any input (good or bad-especially bad) you might have from your trip with either of these guys..Not trying to start a bash here, just want to make a good decision and have a great trip. Maybe their both credible and trustworthy companies and either is a good choice, that would be a nice outcome..Thanks in advance for any help deciding, we will be going in just a few weeks now so need to get this booked and behind us..

 

Thanks, RJ

RJ; I haven't done an excursion with them yet although I am already booked for March 2011. I booked X-stream thru Island Marketing cost is $50.00 per person with includes bottled water and lunch. They reguir a $10.00 per person deposit and balance paid during tour. I emailed them on Saturday and received confirmation with all the info today. I have used Island Marketing 7 times before and have always like the tour guide's. Hope this helps. Julie G.

[tess51]

We just finished cave tubing a week ago, using Reggie's tours. Water was low in a couple of spots and we were dragged through those areas by our guide. Had a small party of four locked together so it was great. Saw much larger parties struggling to stay together. Had a guide telling us all about Belize for the hour ride from the port and then a different guide in the caves. Great time. Several of us had old shoes and just left them at the changing area.

[northernpike]

Just got back from a cave tubing trip with Nacho and Cynthia. They were fantastic as our party of 6 had VIP treatment. Great tour of Belize in a comfortable van, our own guide through the cave and river, and big buffet lunch. We also did the ziplining and made it back to the ship with time to spare. We saw many huge groups on the river that looked chaotic. Whoever you book with, make sure you are in a small group.