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Belize Private Island Beach Break

marcyjane

By marcyjane,
in Belize

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PreciousCruiser

PreciousCruiser

Posted
Posted

I assume the private island mentioned here is Bannister Island? NCL offers a Beach Break excursion and when I inquired, NCL said it is Bannister Island. I usually do excursions on my own, but was thinking about doing this one through the ship because you go straight from the ship to the Island and back, rather than tender from the ship to the port, then take an excursion with a tour company to the island, then back to the port, then tender back to the ship. NCL's cost is $44 pp (food on your own). I guess one negative of doing it through the ship would be that you don't get to tour any part of the port (for shopping, etc.). But I believe the island has a gift shop (might be pricey though?).

 

Any thoughts on that from anyone??? :confused:

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carolv712

carolv712

Posted
Posted

I just did the Bannister Island "Private Island " excursion. I did it with Royal and was very very disappointed.

 

The Carnival Excursion left from their ship and went directly to the Island. The Royal people had to tender to the port, board the ship and then go past our ship to the Island. So it took over an hour to just get there.

 

When we arrived the "Manager" came on the boat and said the good news was we arrived and the bad news was they were over sold and that until Carnival left - we had no chairs or floats available to us. He then told us to be back at the boat dock at 1:30pm we didn't arrive until 11:30. We argued and then he said 3:30 and people said it was too late because the last tender was 4:00. So we compromised at 2:30.

 

Carnival did not leave until 1:30. After walking around for 45 minutes looking for a place to sit I went to find the manager and ask for some help. I had a recent knee replacement and could not sit on the ground, I'd really have a difficult time getting up again.

 

He totally blew me off and said to sit on the sand, even seeing me with my cane. I finally went back to the tender boats and sat there until the Carnival people needed their boat to leave.

 

The manager later came back and apologized for his bad attitude, but it was too little too late.

They also had jelly fish in the water, which wasn't their fault but contributed to the over crowding problem.

 

The beaches in Roatan were much nicer and cleaner. I would not reccommend this excursion, especially if there are 2 or more ships in port.

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wineandbeach

wineandbeach

Posted
Posted

When did you do the Royal Excursion? The website says that it goes directly from the ship to the island. Was your excursion supposed to do this or maybe different ships do different things. My kids (in thier 20's) are going next week. They were planning on just staying on the ship but now they have asked me to research things for them to do. The Bannister Island trip was one of the choices but not having to tender was a big plus. They are the only ship in port that day so that should help.

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carolv712

carolv712

Posted
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We were on the Mariner of the Seas the week starting Decemember 18 so I beleive it would have been the 22nd of December. As I stated the RCCL Mariner passengers had to tender to the dock. We picked up the boat to the private Island there. The Carnival passengers were picked up and dropped off directly at their ship.

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monicajay

monicajay

Posted
Posted
I just did the Bannister Island "Private Island " excursion. I did it with Royal and was very very disappointed.

 

The Carnival Excursion left from their ship and went directly to the Island. The Royal people had to tender to the port, board the ship and then go past our ship to the Island. So it took over an hour to just get there.

 

When we arrived the "Manager" came on the boat and said the good news was we arrived and the bad news was they were over sold and that until Carnival left - we had no chairs or floats available to us. He then told us to be back at the boat dock at 1:30pm we didn't arrive until 11:30. We argued and then he said 3:30 and people said it was too late because the last tender was 4:00. So we compromised at 2:30.

 

Carnival did not leave until 1:30. After walking around for 45 minutes looking for a place to sit I went to find the manager and ask for some help. I had a recent knee replacement and could not sit on the ground, I'd really have a difficult time getting up again.

 

He totally blew me off and said to sit on the sand, even seeing me with my cane. I finally went back to the tender boats and sat there until the Carnival people needed their boat to leave.

 

The manager later came back and apologized for his bad attitude, but it was too little too late.

They also had jelly fish in the water, which wasn't their fault but contributed to the over crowding problem.

 

The beaches in Roatan were much nicer and cleaner. I would not reccommend this excursion, especially if there are 2 or more ships in port.

 

Sounds terrible!

 

Did you complain to Royal after?

What was their response?

 

I would want at least a partial refund if I was supposed to get a chair and didn't.

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carolv712

carolv712

Posted
Posted

Yes

Royal gave me a total refund with no hassle they were really concerned and said they were elevating the concern to the Florida office. Others that also complained only got a partial refund I found out later. It was the managers attitude that upset me. I had been there previously and it was not the best but acceptable. This time it was awful.

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Oldgoat61

Oldgoat61

Posted
Posted

My wife and I did a snorkeling excursion to Goffs Cay in 2010. It was our first time snorkeling, and enjoyed getting into the warm water, but there wasn't much to see. Not knowing how much time we had on the cay, I would have explored more than I did.

IMOH I would choose another snorkeling option if they have one....Roatan was great though! I would do Roatan again in a heartbeat.

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familycruzr

familycruzr

Posted
Posted

This is the only port I'm worried about. We've been to Cozumel and Cayman several times, so we plan to do our own beach outing in both ports. In Roatan, I know I want to go to Tabyana Beach (not sure if I spelled that correctly.) We've never been to Belize, so we don't want to stay on the ship. We talked about cave tubing and decided against it. I wanted to do the land rover excursion, but my husband doesn't. I told him that the beach break at Bannister Cay has gotten mixed reviews, but he wants to take our chances with the beach. We're sailing with Carnival, so maybe we will get there early enough to get chairs or floats.

 

I'm also hoping that we get back early enough to take a tender ashore for a quick visit.

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Runaway Parent

Runaway Parent

Posted
Posted

We've not done the Beach Break on Bannister Island, but this is the same beach you visit after doing snorkeling at the reef. It's fine when the main attraction is snorkeling, but I definitely wouldn't do this as only a beach break. I agree with an earlier poster about Roatan- beautiful beach. We also love going to Isla Pasion in Cozumel.

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croaziera

croaziera

Posted
Posted

We did this excursion January 2009 and they took us straight from the Carnival Glory to the island. We are doing this again on January 26, 2012 and they are taking us from the Carnival Legend at 8:45 and returning us at 12:45pm. Since Belize City has no beaches, this is the only option for us since we have two children. The other option was to stay on the ship that day. The price for 2 adults and 2 children is $133.80 so it is not cheap, but Belize City does not offer anything that interests us.

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Purrfect73

Purrfect73

Posted
Posted

My family and I went on this beach break and it wasn't that great. They take you off the ship on a tender and while everyone else goes to Belize they take you on a nice boat ride about 30 minutes to a private island. This island is tiny and covered with shells, so beware and bring shoes. The area to go swimming or snorkeling is small and the water is not very nice, you cannot see the bottom. They charge for food and drinks, so bring money. We did one in Honduras and the water was so crystal clear you could see the bottom of the sea 40 ft out. Back to the Belize beach break, they have 4-6 women's toilets and ship after ship kept dropping people off. They have volleyball, and offer beach chairs that hurt your back. Overall, I would not recommend this to anyone, especially at a 44 dollar price tag!

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Aviendah

Aviendah

Posted
Posted

We just went to Bannister Island and I would have to say we had a much different experience. Of course we were with Carnival so perhaps that explains it. Beaches at Belize appear to be very limited which is why we chose Bannister. Our children wanted a beach day and they enjoyed playing in the water and discovering the island during our time. We also wanted to avoid the long tender into port; our excursion took us straight to Bannister. I agree that a ship excursion isn't always the best option, but in Belize, it made sense for our family.

 

I think another thing to note is that we were there very early so we were the first on the island and got to choose our beach chairs. We truly enjoyed our visit but understand that there is not much to do at Bannister. If you want some cool tropical trees, shells, kayaking, sand and water, you'll enjoy this location. If you're looking for an active excursion, this is not the location for you.

 

Review: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1548960&page=3

 

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Aviendah

Aviendah

Posted
Posted
This is the only port I'm worried about. We've been to Cozumel and Cayman several times, so we plan to do our own beach outing in both ports. In Roatan, I know I want to go to Tabyana Beach (not sure if I spelled that correctly.)

 

This is exactly the reason we chose to go to Bannister and we enjoyed our visit.

 

Try Maya Key at Roatan if you like a beautiful tropical setting. We LOVED this excursion!! I have photos in my signature link for the Valor cruise. We debated on Tabyana as well but wanted a more peaceful relaxed location. Maya Key was perfect for us.

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