Anyone Done a Carnival Cave Tubing Excursion

[luvtovaca]

We realize it is more $$ than the private tours, but accept that trade off for the (possibly false) peace of mind that we won't miss the ship...That being said, what was your experience if you did this through Carnival, positive or negative and what are the major differences from the private tours?

[larryo]

We just got back from Belize on the Valor this last Sunday. Although we did not use carnival for our cave tubing I can share what we observed and heard from our cruise mates who did.

The carnival trip cost significantly more, did not use local guides, did not provide water or a meal, spent less time in the water and the rain forest and took a much shorter tube trip. They also had a photographer along which slowed the process down as they posed everyone for photos and they do not use local tour guides so very few dollars flow into the local economy.

 

We booked with cavetubing.biz. the cost was fifty dollars, we were met at the terminal and given bottled water in stay hydrated in preperation for the 45 minute walk from the enterance of the park to the start of the tubing. Along the walk they pointed out various plants and trees and we went inside a cave also. They had all new equipment and our guides, Axel and Harrison, were excellant. At the end of the tour we were taken to the owners house were is wife and sister in law served us a meal that included beverages. their motto is "twice the fun for half the cost". they got us back to the port with enough time to visit the local craft mart.

 

I would highly recommend.

[tkere]

I am going on the Dream 3/5 and booked the Carnival cave tubing for $79 a person. I originally booked locally but was worried about the tenders, etc and changed my tour to go with Carnival. I will let you know when I get back how it is.

 

I don't think I want to eat at any ones private home after a tour, so that would not be for me even though I have had a Hepatitis A vaccine! Somethings are not worth the risk.

[luvtovaca]

Thanks! I will look forward to your review. Have a great cruise!

[World Gallery]

We have done cabe tubing both ways, with Carnival and on our own with Nacho and Cynthia.

With Carnival:

- Huge amount of people

- Less attention

- The water wasn't moving much at all so we had to paddle the whole way, which can be difficult since you are trying to use your hands to go around the big round tube.

- Overall, slow process, too many people

 

Private tour with Nacho and Cynthia:

- They linked our tubes together and pulled us through most of the way (So much easier and more enjoyable than having to paddle the whole way.)

- Way more attention (and therefore, I feel safer because nobody is going to get lost in the mob of people.)

- We could actually hear the tour through the "forest part" of the tour because we had 10 people as opposed to about 75 on a tour

- There was no way Nacho was going to let us run late and miss the ship!!

[ccbmom]

I'm currently signed up with Carnival and am now concerned I should look elsewhere. I do like that Carnival has helmets. The others don't seem to. I'm going to be with 2 seniors and 1 child -- there is no way we're going to be able to paddle ourselves. WE need a tour that will push us. However, I don't want to have to walk further back into the jungle just to get more river time. What to do, what to do!

 

I'm not sure I understand how all the different tours tie you together. I've emailed cave tubing . com to ask. I also don't want to get stuck waiting around for people doing zip lines and ATV tours.

[DAP2]

CCBMom-

 

I have having the same quandry but I didn't get a reply from cave-tubing.com. :( They are my 1st choice if I don't do Carnival.

 

One thing about Carnival is it seems organinzed with no waiting around before the tour or after for other excursions.

 

Please post if you hear back.

[World Gallery]

Being pulled through does require a much lower ratio of people to guides and I would ask specifically about the people/tour guide ratio. Having to paddle our way through was very difficult so I highly suggest people find this info about beforehand.

About helmets - for our tour, I can't see why a helmet would been necessary at all. For us, it would have been way more of a bother. Now, both times that we went, the water was barely moving so maybe if there was a lot of rain and the water was moving rapidly, it would be necessary.

 

In my opinion, cave tubing is more fun (and safer) when there is a low ratio between people and tour guides (the most important factor for us personally). We had two tour guides in the water with our group of 10. One guide pulled the 4 adults and the other guide, the 6 children. I think that making a "train" with more than about 6 to 7 people would be difficult.

[newcruiser08820]

We realize it is more $$ than the private tours, but accept that trade off for the (possibly false) peace of mind that we won't miss the ship...That being said, what was your experience if you did this through Carnival, positive or negative and what are the major differences from the private tours?

 

Going back and forward between Carnival tour and outside one. I am staying on the ship with my 4 years old son and my husband taking 11 years old tubing. Read tons of positive reviews about private tours but still leaning toward booking Carnival tour for the my peace of mind and his. Anyone been recently on the Carnival cave tubing? How crowded was it?

[OhhWell]

Helmet - I wouldn't want one.

 

Local food - Don't eat then; this will bring you closer to the ship booked excursion experience. You probably have more to worry about from your fellow passengers in the buffet line on the ship. You know, the ones that just went to the bathroom, didn't wash and didn't use the sanitizer...

 

Anyhow, the two times we went, we did not use the cruise booked cave tubing BUT we talked to a family that did while waiting for tenders and again after comming back. We went with cave-tubing.com but I am sure that many of the other local providers are excelent as well.

 

Let em explain the difference in length of tubing. You hike the SAME distance through the forest with cruise and outside companies. The difference is that when you get to the end of the second cave, the cruise booked tour gets out, climbs some stairs and hikes back to the bus. With Cave-tubing.com, we just stayed on the river and rode the tubes through the rainforest back to the bus. We hiked LESS than with the cruise booked tour.

 

There are some small advantages to the cruise booked experience. At least on carnival, the passengers that booked their excursion were givn priority on the tenders. They knew they were going to make their trip departure and that led to a little stress for me. Fortunately, the company we went with already had a manifest with our names on it and would not leave without us. they had 3 busses at their disposal and even drove one family that was very late in the owner's personal car to catch up with the bus.

 

They did everything to make sure we not only got back on time but had a couple hours to shop etc. The local food they provided us was amazing. We didn't have to wait around at all for any other groups to join up. It was co-ordinated perfectly both times we went. The 5 minutes we stopped to let the ATV group out at the cave-tubing.com pavillion was also an excellent opportunity to pick up a couple Biliken beers!

 

The family that went with the cruise booked excursion had said that it went very smooth but it was also very impersonal. They enjoyed the cave tubeing of course. They said their guides could have really cared less about them and that's about what I saw on the river as well. OUr guides were telling us about the rock formations and wildlife while manuvering us around the obsticals while their guides we just floating along in tubes and yelling at their customers to push off the walls and rocks.

 

The reaon for this is easy to understand once you know. The cruise companies have changed from hiring local companies to using a jamaican company that contracts locals at a VERY low wage. The local companies that still operate use local labor as well but pay a good wage (For Belize). Where do you think that the enthusiastic and competent local guides will work?

 

So anyway. Sorry for the book. To sum it up, the cruise booked cave tubing is adequite but you really do pay more for less experience. It does have the little bit extra security blanket feel though.

[war_eagle99]

I would never want to be stuck in those huge groups from the cruise booked excursions. We booked independent and had probably 20 people max. We got to the river first and even did an additional cave system. As we were getting out of the water some of the ship tours were just getting there... it looked like pure chaos.

 

Very rarely will we book an excursion through the ship

[ginjam70]

I think we booked with Carnival on our very first cruise and needless to say that it was the first and last time booking with the cruise line. If you book local or with an agency, you pay half and get way better service, smaller groups, etc.