cave tubing help?

[momofdanda33]

I was hoping all you experts could help me. There is 6 of us wanting to do the cave tubing. 2 adults and 4 kids (12-17). Everyone seems to have good and bad things to say about each tour company. My question is they are all about the same in price but yhony`s price is cheapest. should we go with him or spend the extra money and go with a different company? With 6 of us the price really adds up. Thanks, Amy

[cellgirl99]

Honestly all tours are about the same as well as tour companies. They pick you up from the pier, all drive to the same place & you do the same things as any other tour. It's good you've done your research on the various companies. I'd say go for it.

[cruisinhs]

I believe the only difference is that the tour you are quoting doesn't include lunch. I think they stop for lunch, but you pay for that in addition. I know that some of the others include lunch in the price. We went with Wet n Wild and lunch/drink was included in the price of the cave tubing.

[addicted to cruising]

Ive heard great things about Yhony. Im booked with Reggie at Regtours. I would agree that lunch seems to be the only price difference of $5.00.

[tinkerbelldee]

We just got back and had a great time with Wet and Wild. They met us right off the tender and had us in the road in no time. Our guide was awesome and the lunch on the way back to Belize City was very good and at a great time. After driving, hiking, and tubing we were all starving. We placed our order on the way to the caves, so we sat down, got our drinks and had our food in 10 minutes.

Definately worth it to me. I would have been starving if we waited to get back to the city to eat.

[ICCmom]

I, too, did much research prior to booking our cave tubing with Coral Breeze during our Elation cruise the week of 4/3. We (husband and 11-year-old daughter) were extremely pleased with our selection of Coral Breezes, and with our tour guide, Ivar, and his father who was our driver. We were a group of 7, we stopped at the restaurant (Amigos) on the way to the river for a quick beer, then had a great experience overall with the trip. Ivar related lots of history, showed us maps and pictures, was attentive to 2 other children in our group, and made the trip both fun and educational. We walked through a dry cave in the forest, then walked further along the river than the other tours did before we entered the river, thus giving us a longer trip in the tubes, including one more cave than other groups did.

 

The lunch at Amigos after tubing was a traditional Belizean one, and was practically waiting on plates at the table when we arrived! No issues with time getting back to the pier or anything else. All in all, it was a great choice and once-in-a-lifetime experience. Only wish the water level was higher - but none of the tour operators can control that one!

[thunder_lin]

We booked with Yhony & he was great. Our's did not include lunch but we did stop at the store on the way back to the pier to purchase some beers and munchies. We had brought some granola bars & fruit with us. I believe the lunch provided is a boxed BBQ chicken lunch that's waiting for you when you finish. At the little hut at the end I saw a bunch of boxed lunches on the counter. This must have been for the tours that included lunch. It smelled good but I'm just a little cautious with the food I eat in area's I'm not familiar with.

Hey, a $30.00 saving is $30.00 you can spend elsewhere.

[Teeara]

Can you also tell us what ships you were on since docking times differ. From the research on the boards it looks like Princess has the tightest time frame, but I am curious about RCCL's Explorer of the Seas.

 

Thanks for the reviews, everyone! I am cutting and pasting all of them into a larger document then splitting them down into docs for each tour operator to help me come to a decision sometime in the future.

 

Theresa

[pookie9922]

We were on the same Wet N Wild tour as Tinkerbelle and also had a great time! Just to add, our guide's name was Junior. He did a wonderful job and even towed 4 or 5 of us in the tubes when we were having a hard time keeping up. And I think we only had 12 of us on the tour and he did an excellent job of getting us in front of and away from the loud group of 50+.

I also wanted to emphasize how good the food was. We were pretty darn hungry but it would have been just as wonderful anytime.

Marvin, the owner, met us at the pier and I think we waited about 20 minutes for all the couples to arrive and we were off.

[tinkerbelldee]

Hi Angela;

 

Do you have any good cave pics? Our disposable didn't do so well. If you would like to share you can e-mail me at dbenyi@snet.net

 

Thanks!

[cruisekim]

This is my first time posting a message and had to do it only because I feel that cruisecritic had a direct hand in making our cruise the most memorable! We just got back today. :( We researched every port before we left through the message boards. For belize we used Wet N' Wild Cave tubing and LOVED LOVED LOVED it. Our dinner table on the ship all used different companies, one being the cruise line, and we seemed to have the best time by far. First off Marvin met us off the pier and quickly escorted the 2 of us to his tour office where we were introduced to Carlos and Charlie- our tour guides. As luck would have it we were the only 2 on the tour, so we go our own personalized tour, GREAT!! Carlos drove the hour to the caves while Charlie narrated and educated us about the interesting facts of Belize. Charlie knew more about Belize than I could ever hope to know about any one country. Any question we asked, he knew the answer to!! He told us about the cashew plant and informed us that the nut actually grows on a fruit (I had no idea it grew on a fruit) so he pulled over near the caves and he and Carlos found two near the tree and we all ate them. Pretty cool. When we arrived at the Caves there were 4-5 large tour buses from the cruise ship passengers (each carrying 50 or so people) there. We went to the clean bathrooms and changed then got our tubes and head lamps, charlie stayed behind to order lunch so it would be ready when we were done and Carlos and my boyfriend and I were off. We quickly passed several cruise ship groups and Carlos started the info tour on the jungle- so much to learn and see. He asked if we wanted to do cave 4 (cruise ship's tour started only cave 3) and jump off the cliffs there into the water and start our tour there. I think there was only 1 other group of 3 that got to do cave 4 so that was pretty neat. All 3 of us linked tubes and carlos had grabbed and large flashlight prior so we could get a good look at the caves since it can get pretty dark in there. We passed 2 groups ( of about 20 each) in cave 3 and continued on our way. A couple stragglers from the cruise group actually left their group and started with ours since they couldn't hear their guide or see much. Carlos welcomed them and kept us all together. When we finished our tour we changed and dried off and went to the hut where we had homemade food waiting for us. I'm a pretty picky eater and this food is probably some of the best "home cooking" that I have ever had which was good because I was starving. After lunch we got back into the car and headed home, I slept most of the way (full stomach :) and Charlie continued with his tour info on the way home with my boyfriend. They got us back to the pier in plenty of time. I would HIGHLY recommend Wet N' Wild!!! I feel I have pretty high standards when it comes to customer service and this tour far surpassed my expectations!! It was worth every penny of the $60, since the cave tubing tour through the ship was $100 and their lunch was apparently some hole in the wall restaurant with sub par food, not as memorable as our experience. Sorry for the length but I can not express in so few words how this tour was the highlight of our whole trip!!!!

[djk]

We will be cruising on the Carnival Elation in July and would like to do the cave tubing with our boys, ages 10 and 14. I read on the carnival website the minimum age for July goes up to 12. Does anyone have any information about this? Also, what is the cost throught Carnival?

[mcgraiha]

I also just returned from our cruise yesterday from the Carnival Elation. We were in Belize last Thursday and used Wet-n-Wild for cave tubing. i was all prepared to write a long, fantastic review and then i read cruisekim's review and all i can do is echo everything she said!! Our group was myself (27yo), my husband (28yo), my mom (57yo) and my dad (58yo). It was just the 4 of us total on the trip and Charlie was our guide also. He was incredible!! I put in our ages because i know some might be concerned about the walk or level of activity but i believe it's doable for almost anyone! Charlie kept us together as a group and we felt far superior to the people who had come in on the tour buses and kept getting separated from others or who were unable to hear. plus, we got to jump off the cliff and swim a little first which other tours didn't get to do. Charlie was obviously very proud of the Belizean history and it was fascinating to learn about the area. it was easily our favorite part of our whole trip (and we loved all of it). and the lunch afterwards was DELICIOUS. even with all the yummy food on the cruise, this was my favorite meal. the trip costs $93 thru Carnival and we only paid $60 and we got a longer time to tube. We returned about 1 1/2 hours before the last tender. and for those who were wondering (like i was before the cruise), the Elation does change it's time to fit Belizean time. the night before we docked, we changed our clocks back one hour. Thanks Charlie and Marvin!!

[COSMOM]

Does anyone have a website address for Wet 'n Wild? I don't know why, but can't seem to find it.

[cruisinhs]

www.ecotoursbelize.com

[cruisekim]

To answer the age question, I think it goes up because the water levels go up as well, I don't know how strick they are with the ages on the ship but I don't know that the private tour groups are picky, as long as you feel like you child is a good swimmer or they are willing to wear the life jackets provided I think they'd be fine. The water can be fast moving at points but the water level at these points is only about knee deep. The cost through Carnival was $99. Just a little tip, but they may try to scare you into using the cruise ship because you won't be left behind and the ship will wait for you. We had a gentleman on our ship who does tours for a living and was explaining to us that a cruise ship will not leave a passenger in a third world country (which apparently Belize is) but that they will leave you in mexico and the carribean but they will not leave you in Belize- that's just what he told us and we took it for what it's worth and went through Wet N' Wild and had us back in plenty of time, they are well versed with cruise ships since they are their #1 customer, they WILL get you back in time.

[Kjsnbrd]

Was there any problem adjusting to Daylight Savings Time in Belize. I think we may do the Wet N Wild time- We are cruising on the Miracle. :)

[Sportkim]

We just returned from the Glory and went cave tubing with Reggie from Reg tours. We had a great time and Reggie is a wonderful host. We paid an extra $5.00 and got a traditional Belizian lunch after our tubing. One of the most exciting parts of our tour was the last 15 minutes of our ride to the river. Those of you who have been there will know what I am referring to. I am sure that whoever you go with will be good. Enjoy. :)

[keba]

We just got back from going on Carnival Elation and my hubbie and 2 sons went with Yhony (cave-tubing.com). He was great in getting back to me by e-mail and reassuring me that they would make it back to the ship on time (I took my 5 & 7 yr old to Goff's Caye...............beautiful...great for kid swimming!). I didn't want 1/2 of our family left behind in Belize!

 

I got back to Belize around 3pm. I couldn't find them anywhere. We hung around for an hour before taking the tender back to the ship. When we got back to the ship....they were able to check and could tell my hubby and 2 sons had already checked back on the ship! All that worrying for nothing:-)

By the way..........my 2 older sons are 17 and 11..........and they both did great! They were glad they weren't with the huge groups from the ship. The lunch was $5 each........and it was not a box lunch. They had chicken, rice, salad, punch and dessert. They all loved it!

They know that people have to get back to the ship on time....that is how they make a living. They are very hospitable.

I went to Goff's Caye with a group from the dock. They only charged me $45 (didn't charge for the kids). We didn't snorkel from the boat. We just stayed on the island the whole time and swam and snorkeled there. Belize is a beautiful area.......and we would love to go back there again!

[djk]

Ok, I just checked out their website. It looks great! I'm a little concern about the 15' cliff dive. Do you have to do that? Is it up to the individual? We are a pretty adventurous group...but I'm not sure I want to do that!

 

thanks,

djk

[rosiesunshine]

We went with two of Yhony's guides who were outstanding, Juni and Timmy. Juni was the more experienced one and is obviously a very intelligent young man. He didn't give us some canned explanation of the caves, Belize, etc.; he was able to discuss and explain political, economic, environmental, etc. issues. We had such a fun day!! After the hour long van ride during which Juni answered questions, told us about the country and countryside, etc. we arrived at the parking lot. After a beautiful hike on a slightly rolling path through the jungle we were all happy to jump (or walk) into the beautiful clear water. We could see into a cave immediately upstream from our takeoff spot. The two guides split us into two groups (there were only nine of us all together!) and we hooked our feet under the tube in front of us as we toured the caves. It was more like a series of caves or one long winding cave with offshoots. We were in the caves for about an hour and floating through the jungle for a half hour or so. It was so beautiful. I can't imagine that any of the more expensive tours could possibly be any better than this one. Yhony, keep up the good work and good luck!!

 

Rosemary

[djk]

Thanks Rosemary, but is it really a 15' cliff dive into the water? Is there another way into the water?

 

djk

[cruisinone]

I was on the Paardice last Febuary 2004 we had to pick up a stranded fisherman and drop him off in Cozumel on the way to Belize. We arived late in Belize the next day all shore excursions longer than 4 hours were canceled Carnival refunded money plus gave everyone on board 5o dollars. When we got to Cayman Ilands weather was bad no tendering spent another day at sea. Carnival gave us each another 50 dollars. I booked my excursions through Canival and got a full refund I dont know if people who booked private excursions got refunds from the private companys. I dont want to take that chance and will always pay alittle more and book through Carnival You never know what is going to happen we didnt expect this.

Ps Im going back to Belize and Cayman Ilands May 22 2005 on the Miricale to go cave tubing and Stingray city which i missed Booking tours whith carnival just in case

 

 

Imagination 1998

Facination 2000

paradice 2004:)

[lstiblier]

We have booked both with the ship and private- on private tours you are not charged if ship cannot make port for any reason- some may require a cc # to confirm you will be there to cut down on no-shows- on some we did not pay until the end of the excursion-

[bjkTX]

DS doesn't swim and is concerned about going tubing - should she be?