Bannister Island Belize

[jackdiamond]

I would greatly appreciate the impressions of anyone who has visited the above. I am particularly interested if there is an excursion on the Radiance, or if this Island can be visited without booking an excursion.

Thank you.

[alexw]

I enjoyed it. It is a very beautful place. They have a volleyball net, a few little shops, and a gorgeous beach. The water is calm with relatively no waves. WARNING: bring water shoes as there are thousands of sea shells as you wade in the ocean. The deeper you go out, the less shells; but they hurt like hell in the shallow areas! Enjoy

[jackdiamond]

I enjoyed it. It is a very beautful place. They have a volleyball net, a few little shops, and a gorgeous beach. The water is calm with relatively no waves. WARNING: bring water shoes as there are thousands of sea shells as you wade in the ocean. The deeper you go out, the less shells; but they hurt like hell in the shallow areas! Enjoy

Thank you. Were you able to visit same on your own? If you took an excursion, I would be interested in any details since I cannot find anything on the Royal site for the Oct. 9, Radiance cruise.

[dtiger]

I've been there twice. It's okay but as the previous poster said you'll want water shoes. There's a barrier in the water you can't go past which makes it more like a big swimming pool.

[Mango Tango]

We loved Bannister Island and would go back there again.

[CruisinManiac]

We took a ships tour through Carnival (the ship tenders, and we left directly from the ship in a speed boat.) The beach is beautiful and one of the highlights of that cruise.

 

It had been my understanding that cruiselines have contracts with Bannister island and you could not book outside a ships tour. However, since you say RCCL is not offering this tour, I did a Google and found the following tour company that does off a BI beach break. Check it out.

http://www.coralbreezetours.com/Belize/manatees/cruise/tour/current_category.15/Product.150/tours_add.html?t_product=150

[bajathree]

Was just at Bannister last week off Liberty. We did the ship excursion which eliminated tendering into port first as they pick you up directly from the ship. It's a nice clean place....people are VERY nice and friendly. That being said I am not sure it's worth visiting again....the company that picks you up from the ship was less than good, the boat they picked us up in was terrible and overcrowded....many complaints. Belize is not my favorite stop and in future this will be thought of as a ship day. BTW....you can go on your own thru Coral Breeze but you will have to tender to shore first.

[momofmab]

We did a tour on our own last week through EcoTours - $25 to the island and they picked us up after three hours. You can also do a reef snorkel with them for an additional $25. You do have to tender to the port first, but the port was pretty nice (clean restrooms!), with lots of good shopping. From the port, it was about 15 minutes to the island.

[alexw]

Thank you. Were you able to visit same on your own? If you took an excursion, I would be interested in any details since I cannot find anything on the Royal site for the Oct. 9, Radiance cruise.

 

Sorry, I did this excusrion with Carnival. They picked us up and dropped us off at the ship. We also had the option to explore Belize if we didnt want to go directly back to the ship. Going into Belize they have a large gate seperating you from the locals (really the beggers). It can be scary for some people but i didnt have a problem with it at all(im a big city boy, ive already seen it all). On Carnival, I believe we had unlimited rum punch too. I remember being fairly intoxicated. It was a beautiful day:D I'd do it again in a heartbeat!