Confused about Shark Ray Alley and Caye Caulker.

[singjenn]

Hey y'all! I was hoping y'all could help me. I was looking at Belize as a port. We have been there before but we didn't go outside the gate and only spent maybe an hour on land. Just a few days ago I heard about Shark Ray Alley. It looked/sounded wonderful.

 

I'm confused about where it's at though. Someone sadi it was Caye Caulker, but That's not what I'm finding. I also saw that it was an hour boat ride from land. Is that true? I didn't see that Carnival even offered an excursion to Shark Ray Alley?

 

And what is the deal with people saying there are issues? Is there a chance Carnival might not go to Belize if we book this cruise? I'm confused! Help! Thanks!

[CINDYSUE]

Read in another post that Carinval was not going to Belize. Had to do with third parties tendering passangers to shore and them wanting more money out of Carnival and Carnival saying no way.

[SeaPA1]

Hey y'all! I was hoping y'all could help me. I was looking at Belize as a port. We have been there before but we didn't go outside the gate and only spent maybe an hour on land. Just a few days ago I heard about Shark Ray Alley. It looked/sounded wonderful.

 

I'm confused about where it's at though. Someone sadi it was Caye Caulker, but That's not what I'm finding. I also saw that it was an hour boat ride from land. Is that true? I didn't see that Carnival even offered an excursion to Shark Ray Alley?

 

And what is the deal with people saying there are issues? Is there a chance Carnival might not go to Belize if we book this cruise? I'm confused! Help! Thanks!

 

The cruiseships anchor off the coast of the mainland, out from Belize City; passengers are then taken by tender to land, in Belize City.

 

Northeast of Belize City (out into the ocean) there are a number of islands. One of these islands is Caye Caulker, which is 45 minutes to an hour by boat. A little further in the same direction is the larger, more well-known island of Ambergris Caye.

 

Shark Ray Alley is a scuba/snorkeling site that is located north of Caye Caulker, south of Ambergris Caye. It is very highly regarded as a great spot for snorkeling/diving, due to the large number of rays, sharks (especially docile nursesharks), and other fish life.

 

A lot of the tour operators take you out from Belize City, go to snorkel at SRA, then stop at Caye Caulker afterards, where you can roam the island for awhile, have a good cheap lunch, and a couple of cold Belikin beers.

 

As was mentioned by CindySue, Carnival is currently in a spat with the operators of the tender boats, with the issue revolving solely around money. The tender operators want an increase to offset their rising costs (fuel is very expensive there), and Carnival doesn't want to pay them any more than they've been paying for awhile now. As a result, Carnival has skipped Belize with a number of its' ships recently.

[singjenn]

As was mentioned by CindySue, Carnival is currently in a spat with the operators of the tender boats, with the issue revolving solely around money. The tender operators want an increase to offset their rising costs (fuel is very expensive there), and Carnival doesn't want to pay them any more than they've been paying for awhile now. As a result, Carnival has skipped Belize with a number of its' ships recently.

 

 

Really??? Well shoot . Can they just skip it and not tell anyone, or have they been telling people? If I had booked the cruise with Belize and I found out that they were skipping it, I wil be very ill with Carnival for not telling me. How long is this supposed to go on?

 

Are there any other places you can snorkel/swim with sharks?

[Will in sunny FL]

If you have an interest in Caye Caulker, snorkeling & also swimming with the Rays & Sharks, we'd suggest that you look up the Coral Breeze Tours site for all of their info about their trip there.

We do go with them twice each year & always have a great time. Their tour also includes a local lunch on Caye Caulker which is not to be missed !

Enjoy Belize.

Bill in FL

[2 cruzen]

We also went with Coral Breezes and had a wonderful time. Guides were great - brought creatures up from the bottom I would have never seen - little starfish - great relaxed day.

 

This whole thing with Carnival kind of annoys me and I don't get annoyed real easily and try to "go with the flow" but we are taking our kids and they are all looking forward to cave tubing - which is in Belize. We are spending thousands to go on this trip and I for one don't care if it costs me another $12.00 - can't even buy 2 drinks for that. Maybe if we all sent Carnival an email saying here's my $2.00 or tell them how you feel, it would resolve things a little sooner. We aren't going until April and I do hope it is settled by then!

[karen327]

We will be on a NCL ship, other ships scheduled to be in Belize that day are Carnival. Would be great to have less crowded water to snorkel in. (But that is a little selfish to say though). lol