Almost missed the ship- Coral Breeze

[snedecor]

Well, we’re back from our Belizian adventure. The Grand was 1.5 hours late to Belize, due to late departure and strong headwinds the entire trip down. We dropped anchor about 2:30, and the captain graciously extended the time on Belize to 7:00, rather than 6:30. We managed to get on the first tender to shore, thanks to Belinda hustling the tender tickets. We got to the port about 3:45, and there were 18 of us who had signed for Coral Breeze. Oddly enough, there were no Coral Breeze signs, only a few locals who would whisper “Coral Breeze…” and point. We finally found a lady and who would turn out to be our guide, Eddie. 11 of us were on the first tender, so we had a bus load. Eddie assured us we’d have time for the tour, so we bundled up our stuff and headed off to Eddie’s white van, which oddly, had a 2000 Texas inspection sticker. Eddie set off through Belize city, pointing out the sights. As most us realized how long it was taking to get to the dropoff point, we quizzed Eddie more strongly about the timing. He said we’d have to “hustle”. We all dressed in the van, put on our water shoes, and made ready to hit the ground running. This was after 6 miles of gravel (large gravel) road, taken at about 40 mph.

 

We finally got to the facility, and we all hustled to get our tubes, but Eddie seemed to be taking his time. We finally set out, and this was a leisurely 45 minute walk trimmed to about 19 minutes! No stopping to hear the birds, no stopping to gawk at beautiful trees and plants, just huffing and puffing down the trail. As my heart and lungs were about to burst, we heard water splashing and we were at the river. No jumping off cliffs for us, just a shallow stream. We got in our tubes, and about ½ of us drug butt. Since I draw more draft than most, I ended up hunching along on hands and feet until the water got deeper. I’m not sure if this was the rainy season or not, but if so, they must have had a drought, because as the water got deep, it got “still”, and so we had to paddle to get through the caves. Great, wearing out my leg muscles on the way up, and wearing out my arm muscles on the way back. At least I wasn’t at the back of the pack, as I was on the hike. The caves were interesting, but because we were rushed, we just faced backward and paddled through, looking upwards with our lights at the caves. We passed some interesting formations (nothing like our Texas caves), a beautiful waterfall, and a cave entrance with a ladder, but we kept on going. Periodically, the water would get shallow with a gravel bottom, and to avoid hunching forward on hands and feet, I just got out and walked. I would estimate that I walked about a fourth of the way.

 

As the cave was ending, a few formations had been highlighted by lights, and were very pretty. We exited the river at this point, because, Eddie said, the rest of the river part would have taken another 30 minutes. At this point it was 5:45, and I was getting nervous (as was Eddie). As we were hiking up a trail, Eddie explained that this was not the normal exit, but was private property, so be very nice. We came up on some buildings, some type of Juguar themed park, and the proprietor did not want to let us pass. Eddie begged and pleaded, and we in the back were starting to take up a collection for a bribe, but Eddie prevailed, and they let us through. We ran up a ¼ mile hill and emerged, panting and sweating at our entry point! Hooray! We piled into the van and set off at a breakneck pace down the 6-mile gravel road. Belinda and I were praying. I was praying for the tires, and Belinda was praying for the engine. We made that 6-mile dirt road in 7 minutes! Pulling onto the tarmac, Eddie gunned the engine and we set out for Belize City. It was about 6:15, and the last tender left at 7:00 PM. The adults in the group got very quiet, with only the children oblivious to our situation, laughing and joking. By the way, these set of children were extremely well behaved, and were a credit to their parents, who I believe were from the Seattle area. We passed trucks, cars, bicycles, and seemed to be going about 70 (speed limit was 45 and 55 mph).

 

The Police check-point loomed in the headlights, with about a 3-vehicle wait. Prayer time again…..Please Lord, let them not find drugs or guns etc. in the vehicles ahead. Prayer answered, and the bored policeman waved us through. Closing in on Belize City, Eddie gave a sigh of relief and pointed out a Pricess tour, the airboat tour, just loading buses. If we could beat them, we would not be left. Entering Belize City, we meandered through the narrow and definitely not rectangular gridded streets, passing when we could. We finally made almost a U-turn, and ended up at the security back door to the port area. Belinda couldn’t find her ship card, so we emptied our bag until it fell out, and we were let through. Clutching our bag’s contents, and not having time to put them back in the bag, we ran through the empty shops until we spied the tender. Looking at our watches: 6:53, oh well, we were 7 minutes early, we could have dilly-dallied a little bit longer! We got on the tender, and yelled and danced (I think one of us kissed the tender!). About 3 minutes after 7:00, the airboat tour boarded. A lady on that tour said the driver was constantly getting calls on his cell phone, asking for his progress. The way back was uneventful, after the adventure we had just been on. I determined to be the last passenger on the ship, so I waited until all were off, and got in line to be checked in. As my card “bonged”, I said to the attendant, “Last Passenger!” He glanced at the screen and said , no, 2 left. The crew behind me said, “Two left?!” About 10 minutes, we heard the request over the PA system for two passengers to call the purser’s office. I never found out if they truly got left, or just misplaced on boarding. We went directly to Movies under the Stars, back to normal shipboard life, our adventure over.

 

Coral Breezes should not have let us take this excursion. We were denied the value of the tour, were rushed, and hustled, and pushed through, and were scared to be left in Belize without passports and credit cards. Paul was not present at this trip, perhaps he would have used a little judgement and cancelled the tour. We all gave Eddie tips, but not because the tour was good, but because he got us back in time not be left behind. The ship-board cave tubing tour was cancelled, and the 7 people who had pre-booked, but missed the earliest tenders did not go either. We 11 were the “lucky” ones who had an adventure of a lifetime, and for that, I guess we can be thankful.

[snedecor]

Paul has read my post here, and has privately e-mailed a response to me, apologizing for the scare we had, and giving me some reassurance that even if we had missed the tender, that a private boat could have been used to get us to the ship before it left.

 

This is something that I didn't know, and I don't think that any who read the forums know. Perhaps someone who is knowledgable, such as Paul, could elaborate on what would be done if the last tender is missed. Certainly the cruise lines do all they can to warn people off independent tours, stating that cruise line will not wait for people on independent tours.

 

I stand by my contention that the local people who were there (Paul was not there, in his defense) should have cancelled the tour. However, Paul seems to be sorry for our adventure and I still think his tour company is a reputable one.

 

Tarver Snedecor

[Coral Breeze]

I would like to respond to this post to help defuse what happened on this day.

The Grand Princess arrived late. We had guests with plans to do a tour in Belize. A quick calculation of time, and we can pull this off for them. I think it was pretty well known, but maybe not well communicated, that things would be tight. I think the “we will have to hustle” comment was an attempt to communicate this.

Anyone who has ever taken a tour with an independent operator in Belize knows the planning of time is well managed. The strange itinerary of the Grand Princess arriving at 1pm and leaving at 6:30pm creates a logistical challenge as it is. Then when it arrives 1½ hours late, well you can just imagine. It was suggested that we should have just cancelled the tour. But then, I would be responding to someone who reported we cancelled their tour and were left with nothing to do. Anyone could have simply told us they were not comfortable with going (and a few did) and their decision would be understood.

Cruisecritic.com is a great place to gather and communicate information. I tell many people that we have a great motivation to perform well every time because our demise is only a bad review away. Everyone is entitled to their opinions and that is the way it should be. But what is fair is fair. We live and breathe port times every day. On this day there was some hustling and other factors that applied. But in the end, everyone returned on time. “Almost missed the ship” is a very strong statement. I know this because about 90% of the emails we receive with questions have the question “Will we miss our ship?” My concern is that this incident where we returned BEFORE the last tender departed and still had to wait on other tours to return (including a ship’s tour), will put the hint of doubt in the mind of folks looking for a better and less expensive tour with independent operators in Belize. I will say what I have posted several time to questions about missing the ship….it simply can’t happen and I challenge anyone to find a case where it has. This fact alone stands as the reason that no one should be concerned about booking with independent operators.

Please don’t take my response as anything other than my attempt to reassure everyone that Belize Tour Operators will not allow you to miss your ship. Returning you on time is as much our priority as it is yours.

There are a few posts out here that cover this topic:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=138442

[zydecocruiser]

Paul has read my post here, and has privately e-mailed a response to me, apologizing for the scare we had, and giving me some reassurance that even if we had missed the tender, that a private boat could have been used to get us to the ship before it left.

 

 

Or even after it had left. People missed the ship on my March 20 Valor cruise in at least two of the four ports, including Belize and Roatan - none from Coral Breeze and we didn't even tender in Roatan. After the ship was under way, a private boat would come flying up to the Valor and fly away with a few less people on board. I'm not sure what the exact procedure is, and can't recommend it, but I think it would be exciting. I might have to try sometime.

[alabama_cruisin]

Hey Paul.

I was worried about Coral Breeze and private excursions, and this post has actually been a good reflection on you in my eyes. I will be coming in on the sun in October, and I now will definately be booking my excursion with you (with the shark/rays). I think you really care about the passengers of your tour, and I am looking forward to seeing some of your beautiful Belize.:)

[clackey]

Hola amigos,

 

You should rejoice and be of good cheer for you had something that most people never have. You had an adventure. Life is too short to go traipsing along on a wide concrete path. Sometimes you need to go, OFF ROAD, so to speak. That's right, bite the bullet and damn the torpedos. Now you can tell your grandkids about the time you nearly got stranded in Central America with a pair of shorts and wet shoes. I Envy you. I really do. So many people are afraid of getting left at the pier. To that I say, "Big Deal". It is an adventure. If you get left behind you can start a new thread about being LEFT BEHIND. You will become famous.

 

I am sorry for going off on a tangent. Sometimes, especially when I am taking my glaucoma medicine, I tend to get off to the side. But you should charish this trip. It will probably never happen again.

 

Next trip. Eat a shrimp for me.:D

Clackey

[charyoung]

Last August, me, dw, and 15yo daughter took an excursion to the Lamanai ruins with a local tour company Belize shore excurcions. We were the only three and our driver. It was about a 45 minute van ride to the boat drop off and another 45 minutes by boat. I was upfront and asked him about the time schedule. He said they always allow time for road or boat emergencies and stay ahead of the cruise ship tours. Well, we had a wonderful time. The ruins are not to be missed, but we took a little longer there, tahn we should have and still had the boat and van ride back. By the time we got off the boat, we had about an hour and a half to get back. I know my wife was getting anxious as she always likes to get something in port to talk home. Well, about halfway to Belize City, we had a blow out! Not to worry the guide said. We are in front of the tour buses! The tire prooved to be more of a problem than a simple change, so I got out to help. After about 15 minutes, the tour bus passed. We Knew we were going to miss the ship! The guide said if we missed it, he would drive us to Cancun (our next stop, but still a long drive). This relieved us a bit. Okay, tire changed, and maybe 33 minutes till last tender. We got back on road and the the guide realized he left his cell phone under the hood! We stopped to look and it was gone. I was stupid enough to say, do you want to turn aroud. He said yes, company phone. Now were driving down the road slowly, with all of us looking to find the cel phone with time just ticking away! It seemed like forever, but actually took only about minutes, but we found it! After that, to say haul ass is an understatement! BUT we got back in time! See I told you, the guide said. People were lined up for the last tender and DW and daughter got to run in one shop and buy stuff real fast! Besides the ruins being so impressive, this was One great time that we will always remember!

[jaycee200]

Great story Charyoung! :)

 

And Clackey... you crack me up! ... and are a 100% right :)

[clackey]

Great story Charyoung! :)

 

And Clackey... you crack me up! ... and are a 100% right :)

 

Thanks jaycee,

 

It's good to have someone side with me once in a great while. Have you seen the thread on thongs? Check it out. We have about 90 people cranked up about morals and such. I may have to run out and buy a thong.:D

 

Later dude,

Clackey

[Deb in Cali]

Snedecor,

 

"Almost only counts in handgrenades and horseshoes". I will bet that you will be talking about this adventure for a much longer time period in your life than if it had been a routine excursion. :D Once your heartrate returns to normal you will be able to see it for the adventure that it was.

 

One of my favorite lifetime events was running out of gas in Mexico. We were while down there to see the Baja 1000 and thought that we had enough gas to get us back into the U.S. We "almost" made it. I can't remember much about the race, but I can vividly remember that part of the trip. LOL. I don't think I ever told my parents about that. :rolleyes: Hmmm, now that 30 years have passed perhaps it is time.....