Major Tom Cave Tubing Question

[Kimkg]

We are are a group of 12 scheduled with Major Tom next week. Our ship arrives in Belize at 7am. Major Tom said to take the first tender off the boat. Is that really necessary? Does he really start that early or will we just be standing around waiting? It's very early for a group with several teenagers, so I just don't want to drag them out there if it isn't necessary:) If you've done this can you tell me what time they actually start??? Thanks so much!!

[debster818]

We are doing this in April and was wondering the same thing? Are you ziplining also?

[1stcruiser1]

The tour will start when everyone who has signed up for it is there, but I don't know how long he will wait for someone if they are late.

Last year we left on the second tender and once we got there we walked to the bus right away. If this is something that you don't want to miss try to get your tender sticker early.

[hamlettm]

We are are a group of 12 scheduled with Major Tom next week. Our ship arrives in Belize at 7am. Major Tom said to take the first tender off the boat. Is that really necessary? Does he really start that early or will we just be standing around waiting? It's very early for a group with several teenagers, so I just don't want to drag them out there if it isn't necessary:) If you've done this can you tell me what time they actually start??? Thanks so much!!

 

When your in Belize the cruise ship has to dock in the ocean about 10 miles out. Carnival gives you a number and CALLS YOU when you can get off the ship. If you have to be on the FIRST tender expect to be up around 6am! You will have to get ready, eat and meet at the back of the ship early enough to get a STICKER for position #1. Once you have a sticker you sit in the room until Carnival staff call you to get off the ship. Once your off it takes about 25 mins to get to shore and off the tender. Then your going to have an hour drive to the river.

 

I would HIGHLY suggest you pay the extra money and go tubing with the ship excursion, read my review here to see why - http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1173073

[MrTexTJ]

Did this 12 days ago. Here's how it went:

I had an issue with the instructions stating: "get on the first tender". He should have said "Try to get on the first tender".

I got up early to stand in line on the ship to sign up to get on the first tender boat to shore which was leaving at 9:00 AM. This process was not good (stressed everyone out), but I got my wife and I on the first tender.

When we got to shore, there was Major Tom with a sign. He brought us to someone who checked us off a list. The group was very small this day- only about 10 people. One family who signed up did not get on the first tender. We waited for tender #2, then #3, and Major Tom said only one more and we'll be off...the family was on #4. This put us about an hour and a half behind schedule. However, MT's team seems to be able to adjust and not stress out on the time. We were assigned Alberta as our guide- very informative and friendly.

We left the dock around 11:00 am. The good thing is we got to the caves after most groups finished. We were the ONLY ones on the ziplines after the cave-tubing. We got back to catch the next to last tender going back to the ship. If you have any other questions, I will try to answer them.. Oh wait......I just happened to make a video of our experience...check it out if you like...

[debster818]

Did this 12 days ago. Here's how it went:

I had an issue with the instructions stating: "get on the first tender". He should have said "Try to get on the first tender".

I got up early to stand in line on the ship to sign up to get on the first tender boat to shore which was leaving at 9:00 AM. This process was not good (stressed everyone out), but I got my wife and I on the first tender.

When we got to shore, there was Major Tom with a sign. He brought us to someone who checked us off a list. The group was very small this day- only about 10 people. One family who signed up did not get on the first tender. We waited for tender #2, then #3, and Major Tom said only one more and we'll be off...the family was on #4. This put us about an hour and a half behind schedule. However, MT's team seems to be able to adjust and not stress out on the time. We were assigned Alberta as our guide- very informative and friendly.

We left the dock around 11:00 am. The good thing is we got to the caves after most groups finished. We were the ONLY ones on the ziplines after the cave-tubing. We got back to catch the next to last tender going back to the ship. If you have any other questions, I will try to answer them.. Oh wait......I just happened to make a video of our experience...check it out if you like...

Cool video!!!! Looked like fun. What would you recommend we wear on our feet for tubing. Can you change out of your wet tubing clothes before zipping? Did you wear your swimsuit on the bus to cave tubing or did you wear regular clothes? How in the world were you able to take this video? We are doing this April 22nd. Any dos and don'ts? How were the bugs? Thanks.

[Kimkg]

We are doing this in April and was wondering the same thing? Are you ziplining also?

 

We might zipline, we haven't decided for sure yet on that. I know my group will really be griping if we get off the ship first thing and then sit around for an hour before we take off on the bus. When are you going in April? We will be there next week.

[hamlettm]

Cool video!!!! Looked like fun. What would you recommend we wear on our feet for tubing. Can you change out of your wet tubing clothes before zipping? Did you wear your swimsuit on the bus to cave tubing or did you wear regular clothes? How in the world were you able to take this video? We are doing this April 22nd. Any dos and don'ts? How were the bugs? Thanks.

 

For tubing you need some water shoes, you can get them online or on the ship. They cost $19.99 on board the ship. Here is a link - http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=water+shoes&x=0&y=0

 

Just wear your normal clothing on the bus, they allow you to use the changing room/bathroom before you go tubing. After you change you put your stuff back on the bus.

 

As far as the video camera I suggest this, it's what I use - http://reviews.cnet.com/digital-camcorders/flip-video-minohd-second/4505-6500_7-33776069.html?tag=mncol;lst

 

No bugs when we went you should be fine, I didn't even see one.

[debster818]

We might zipline, we haven't decided for sure yet on that. I know my group will really be griping if we get off the ship first thing and then sit around for an hour before we take off on the bus. When are you going in April? We will be there next week.

We are cruising on April 18th out of Tampa on the Legend. Cavetubing and Zipping will be on April 22nd. Let us know how your excursion went.

[MrTexTJ]

Cool video!!!! Looked like fun. What would you recommend we wear on our feet for tubing. Can you change out of your wet tubing clothes before zipping? Did you wear your swimsuit on the bus to cave tubing or did you wear regular clothes? How in the world were you able to take this video? We are doing this April 22nd. Any dos and don'ts? How were the bugs? Thanks.

Debster--we brought water shoes from home. They almost require water shoes. Two girls tried to wear tennis shoes, but they ended up renting water shoes at the caves--about $2. We were able to change in the large restroom before going ziplining. Some did, some didn't (I did). For the video, I used a Canon SD750 digital camera in a waterproof housing. I bought an 8 GB card which would hold about an hour of video. It really did well scuba diving the next day in Cozumel. One possible do or don't is the lunch. We were running late as I explained and if you didn't sign up or purchase the lunch ($6) you couldn't eat until we got back to the ship around 5:00 pm. We both got the lunch, but had to eat on the bus...was not very enjoyable. This should not happen if everything is running smoothly. Also about half the group did not do the zipline. They had to wait for the rest of us to be brought back to the ship. No bugs....

Have a great time!

[lmt425]

Did this 12 days ago. Here's how it went:

I had an issue with the instructions stating: "get on the first tender". He should have said "Try to get on the first tender".

I got up early to stand in line on the ship to sign up to get on the first tender boat to shore which was leaving at 9:00 AM. This process was not good (stressed everyone out), but I got my wife and I on the first tender.

When we got to shore, there was Major Tom with a sign. He brought us to someone who checked us off a list. The group was very small this day- only about 10 people. One family who signed up did not get on the first tender. We waited for tender #2, then #3, and Major Tom said only one more and we'll be off...the family was on #4. This put us about an hour and a half behind schedule. However, MT's team seems to be able to adjust and not stress out on the time. We were assigned Alberta as our guide- very informative and friendly.

We left the dock around 11:00 am. The good thing is we got to the caves after most groups finished. We were the ONLY ones on the ziplines after the cave-tubing. We got back to catch the next to last tender going back to the ship. If you have any other questions, I will try to answer them.. Oh wait......I just happened to make a video of our experience...check it out if you like...

 

 

What a difference a week makes. We were there in Wed March 24. Instead of one half empty bus, we had two full buses. So there were several dozen people with Major/Minor Tom's group. There were at least 4 ships in Belize that day so there were hundreds of people trying to cave tube at the same time. The water was low so it was butts-up nearly the entire time. Our guides were nice and I tried the cashew wine on the bus. However, because it was so busy in Belize, we did not get to do the ziplining that we paid for. We paid our trip in full before getting to Belize so we did not get our money back right away like the other people. In fact, I am still in contact with Major Tom trying to get our $100 refund (I know, it was only 8 days ago--but he said we would have the money in our paypal account by the time we got home).

 

You may want to figure out how many ships are supposed to be in port that day. If there are at least three ships then you may want to skip the cave tubing. There are so many people trying to get through tht caves at the same time that it felt chaotic. Also the cave tubing wasn't that great because the water was low...if the water is up then it is probably better (as other reviews suggest). I have heard nothing but good things about the zipline though...wish we could have done that. :(

 

I am glad that they cancelled the zipline, otherwise we probably would not have gotten to the tender on time. There was at LEAST an hours wait line to get harnessed up. Also the group that booked the zipline with Royal Caribbean jumped in line in front of us for some reason, making it longer and making it even less of a chance for us to get back to the ship in time.

[MrTexTJ]

What a difference a week makes. We were there in Wed March 24. Instead of one half empty bus, we had two full buses. So there were several dozen people with Major/Minor Tom's group. There were at least 4 ships in Belize that day so there were hundreds of people trying to cave tube at the same time. The water was low so it was butts-up nearly the entire time. Our guides were nice and I tried the cashew wine on the bus. However, because it was so busy in Belize, we did not get to do the ziplining that we paid for. We paid our trip in full before getting to Belize so we did not get our money back right away like the other people. In fact, I am still in contact with Major Tom trying to get our $100 refund (I know, it was only 8 days ago--but he said we would have the money in our paypal account by the time we got home).

 

You may want to figure out how many ships are supposed to be in port that day. If there are at least three ships then you may want to skip the cave tubing. There are so many people trying to get through tht caves at the same time that it felt chaotic. Also the cave tubing wasn't that great because the water was low...if the water is up then it is probably better (as other reviews suggest). I have heard nothing but good things about the zipline though...wish we could have done that. :(

 

I am glad that they cancelled the zipline, otherwise we probably would not have gotten to the tender on time. There was at LEAST an hours wait line to get harnessed up. Also the group that booked the zipline with Royal Caribbean jumped in line in front of us for some reason, making it longer and making it even less of a chance for us to get back to the ship in time.

Wow..I'm glad we did not have the crowds like you had. We only had our ship in port the day we were there. Skipping the cave-tubing when multiple ships are in is good advice. Pre-paying is something to consider. Major Tom gives you the option to pay in advance or pay when you get there. We chose to pay there...just in case something happened and had to cancel. This seemed safe, but I don't know if we were late getting off the ship, he would have waited. Sorry you didn't get to zipline....it was fun.

[debster818]

There will only be 2 ships in port the day we are there for the tubing and ziplining. So, I think that is good.

[lmt425]

There will only be 2 ships in port the day we are there for the tubing and ziplining. So, I think that is good.

 

 

yeah i hope so (as long as it isn't oasis of the seas!) like i said, with the 4 ships it was just crazy and not very fun. hopefully you will have tons more fun, even if the water is still low.

 

note: i did receive my refund today for the missed zipline.

[debster818]

Not the oasis of the sea!! Another carnival.

[MrTexTJ]

yeah i hope so (as long as it isn't oasis of the seas!) like i said, with the 4 ships it was just crazy and not very fun. hopefully you will have tons more fun, even if the water is still low.

 

note: i did receive my refund today for the missed zipline.

 

Good to know about your refund...he seems like a good honest person.

This discussion about the number of cruise ships brings up a good point about planning your cruise. We have only gone on 2 cruises, so are by no means experts. But taking advice this board really helps to avoid pitfalls.

If you have researched to know what excursions you want to go on an how crowds could effect your experience, you could book your cruise based on the number of ships in the particular port. I know most people book based on when school is out, available time off work, etc., but if you're flexible, this is a good consideration. In reading posts, a site which shows the ships in a particular port was given-here's the site with Belize:

http://cruisett.com/ports.php?PortID=62&date=20

I did study this site and saw that 6 ships were planned to be in Cozumel when we were there mid March. I booked a scuba diving excursion through the cruise line because I was afraid with so many people, something could go wrong. I think I made the right decision. As a matter of fact, when reviewing the pictures I took, I counted 7 ships in port that day...

Anyway Debster have a great time and I hope the weather is perfect and don't forget to keep "butts up" while tubing.;)