What is the MUST do?

[missync]

I have read a lot of stuff on here but what is the absolute MUST do or see in Belize? I'm not looking to spend a ton of money though...

THANKS!!!! :D

[cruisergrandma]

We loved the cave tubing and we loved the zoo.

[World Gallery]

I have read a lot of stuff on here but what is the absolute MUST do or see in Belize? I'm not looking to spend a ton of money though...

THANKS!!!! :D

 

This is the biggest problem with Belize. The things I consider "must sees" will cost a lot. There is not way around it because you have to drive at least one hour to get there. For us, those must sees are cave tubing and Lamanai ruins, mostly because these things are unique to Belize. The ruins is a long bus trip of at least an hour then a boat ride along the river for about 45 minutes, so that makes it an expensive tour. Both of these tours will cost over $100 per person. Ziplining is another popular thing but again, it is expensive and a long drive.

I cannot think of one single thing in Belize that is worth doing that doesn't cost about $100 person.

[funfamilyof6]

This is the biggest problem with Belize. The things I consider "must sees" will cost a lot. There is not way around it because you have to drive at least one hour to get there. For us, those must sees are cave tubing and Lamanai ruins, mostly because these things are unique to Belize. The ruins is a long bus trip of at least an hour then a boat ride along the river for about 45 minutes, so that makes it an expensive tour. Both of these tours will cost over $100 per person. Ziplining is another popular thing but again, it is expensive and a long drive.

I cannot think of one single thing in Belize that is worth doing that doesn't cost about $100 person.

 

You can easily do cavetubing (the most popular tour in Belize) for around $40-$45 pp if you go private and this would include lunch. It is more expensive if you choose to go directly through the cruiseline.

[funfamilyof6]

I have read a lot of stuff on here but what is the absolute MUST do or see in Belize? I'm not looking to spend a ton of money though...

THANKS!!!! :D

 

From what I have read here on Cruise Critic the 3 most popular choices 1. Cavetubing (cave-tubing dot com will carry your tube to the cave for you and includes lunch for $45), 2. Altun Ha (many recommend Nacho and Cynthia but they are expensive) 3. Snorkeling (many people have recommended coralbreezetours).

 

Since I have not done any of these myself yet, I am not able to tell you which would be the best. Personally, I narrowed out the snorkeling since we can easily do this at another port.

 

Have fun in whatever you decide to do, I'm sure you will have a great time. :)

[World Gallery]

You can easily do cavetubing (the most popular tour in Belize) for around $40-$45 pp if you go private and this would include lunch. It is more expensive if you choose to go directly through the cruiseline.

 

Who do you use to get such a great price? I have a friend going to Belize in June. We never went with the cruise line, both times were private and it was over $100 per person. We were a group of 10 on a private tour. I thought I had researched all options. I have never seen anything close to $45 per person with lunch.

The cruise line was closer to about $160 per person so we did save.

[greenscooter]

Coral Breeze snorkeling with the rays/sharks and caye caulker cost $65pp with lunch and "water in a bag" included and well worth the price. True, you can snorkel anywhere in the caribbean; but, I doubt there is many places you can actually get in the water and swim with lots of nurse sharks all around you. You ride on a boat about 30 minutes, snorkel on a beautiful reef (one section does have a strong current), then, go get in waist deep water with sharks and stingrays. James is a fantastic guide and will educate you about Belize. After that, you go to Caye Caulker and eat lunch (very good) and walk around the small caye (no cars, only bikes & golf carts). There were only 9 of us on this tour and we all had a fantastic day! We were back in plenty of time to catch a tender back to the ship.

[MarkASparks]

Coral Breeze snorkeling with the rays/sharks and caye caulker cost $65pp with lunch and "water in a bag" included and well worth the price. True, you can snorkel anywhere in the caribbean; but, I doubt there is many places you can actually get in the water and swim with lots of nurse sharks all around you. You ride on a boat about 30 minutes, snorkel on a beautiful reef (one section does have a strong current), then, go get in waist deep water with sharks and stingrays. James is a fantastic guide and will educate you about Belize. After that, you go to Caye Caulker and eat lunch (very good) and walk around the small caye (no cars, only bikes & golf carts). There were only 9 of us on this tour and we all had a fantastic day! We were back in plenty of time to catch a tender back to the ship.

 

 

I had planned on using viv tours for the cave tubing but after reading about the rays/sharks and caye caulker excursion I may do it instead.

 

According to this website this tour is $75.00 per adult, is this the same place you booked yours for $65.00?

 

http://www.coralbreezetours.com/current_category.15/Product.2/tours_add.html?t_product=2

 

 

Thanks!

 

mark

[crazy1here]

This is the biggest problem with Belize. The things I consider "must sees" will cost a lot. There is not way around it because you have to drive at least one hour to get there. For us, those must sees are cave tubing and Lamanai ruins, mostly because these things are unique to Belize. The ruins is a long bus trip of at least an hour then a boat ride along the river for about 45 minutes, so that makes it an expensive tour. Both of these tours will cost over $100 per person. Ziplining is another popular thing but again, it is expensive and a long drive.

I cannot think of one single thing in Belize that is worth doing that doesn't cost about $100 person.

 

I did that ruins tour last week. It was about 75$pp from Island Marketing.

[greenscooter]

Yes, sorry about that: Maybe we did pay $75 with lunch; but, it was still a fantastic, memorable day.

[crazy1here]

Yes, sorry about that: Maybe we did pay $75 with lunch; but, it was still a fantastic, memorable day.

 

No dispute about that here either. Its crazy hot and humid tho...but pretty awesome.

[sam4691]

Does anyone know about how deep the water is for the cave tubing?

[Armedaneian]

True, you can snorkel anywhere in the caribbean; but, I doubt there is many places you can actually get in the water and swim with lots of nurse sharks all around you.

 

A lot of tour guides in Belize offer swimming with Nurse Sharks... there are also other places in the Caribbean where you can swim with "real" sharks. :cool:

 

Be careful, there are a wide range of opinions on this board about Coral Breeze. Typically, those with little snorkeling experience to compare it with, love this trip. Those who have snorkeled a lot, hate it. If you are actually on "The Coral Breeze" you will be required to take a life-vest with you and must follow single file behind the guide. Sometimes though, they subcontract tours to Hammerhead Sports. There, you may be given a little slack and allowed to snorkel freely. Both spend about 45 minutes at the reef and 45 minutes on the grass flats with the sharks.

 

If you want to snorkel freely and spend more time on the reef, take a water taxi to Caye Caulker and find a tour from there. :)

[greenscooter]

Just for clarification, I too read all the mixed reviews about Coral Breeze Tours before booking with them. Granted, my husband (who is a diver and went diving with REAL sharks in SXM) did this tour for my benefit since I don't dive; but, we both had a great day. Given the choice, we would have preferred snorkeling on our own instead of the single-file line the tour guides want; but, we are respectful of the fact that we are visitors in somebody else's homeland. IMO coral breeze tour operators main concern is protecting the reef and I applaud them for that and will continue to recommend them to others. Too often we see first time snorkelers standing, kicking, and touching the reefs and when nothing is said, we don't recommend these snorkel tours to others. I do, however, agree with the previous poster about reading several reviews before choosing a tour. Happy Cruising!

[funfamilyof6]

Who do you use to get such a great price? I have a friend going to Belize in June. We never went with the cruise line, both times were private and it was over $100 per person. We were a group of 10 on a private tour. I thought I had researched all options. I have never seen anything close to $45 per person with lunch.

The cruise line was closer to about $160 per person so we did save.

 

From what I have read here on Cruise Critic the 3 most popular choices 1. Cavetubing (cave-tubing dot com will carry your tube to the cave for you and includes lunch for $45), 2. Altun Ha (many recommend Nacho and Cynthia but they are expensive) 3. Snorkeling (many people have recommended coralbreezetours).

 

Since I have not done any of these myself yet, I am not able to tell you which would be the best. Personally, I narrowed out the snorkeling since we can easily do this at another port.

 

Have fun in whatever you decide to do, I'm sure you will have a great time. :)

 

You can easily do cavetubing (the most popular tour in Belize) for around $40-$45 pp if you go private and this would include lunch. It is more expensive if you choose to go directly through the cruiseline.

 

The answer to your question is highlighted in my thread (cave-tubing dot com) . This is the one I will be using this summer because they carry your tubes for you to the caves but there were other tour guides that this tour at this price. The one I am going with got very good reviews here on cruise critic. Sorry I could give you the link to the site....I don't think CC allows this.

 

 

 

All tour prices are in US dollars.

 

 

We accept cash or credit card (Visa or Master Card).

 

Cave Tubing TourAdults:$45

Special rate for groups of 10 or more

Children under 10 years: ONLY$25

 

 

 

includes:

• <LI class=regtext>Transportation to and from the Caves Branch Archaeological Reserve <LI class=regtext>Life vests <LI class=regtext>Tube and head lamp <LI class=regtext>Helemet <LI class=regtext>Tour guide <LI class=regtext>National park fees
  
• Refreshments
  

[cruise_crazy68]

We find everything in Belize expensive or a hassle to arrange starting to think this would be a good extra ship day for us!

[funfamilyof6]

We find everything in Belize expensive or a hassle to arrange starting to think this would be a good extra ship day for us!

 

The bad thing about Belize is that everything is too far or a hassle to get to from the port. If we wanted another sea day, Belize would be the day we would certainly pick!

[World Gallery]

The bad thing about Belize is that everything is too far or a hassle to get to from the port. If we wanted another sea day, Belize would be the day we would certainly pick!

 

I whole-heartedly agree with this. As much as I have tried to put a positive spin on Belize (because we live and sail out of New Orleans and most ships have stops in Belize), I simply have come to realize that this is not a good port stop and we will stay on the ship next time. We have tried just about everything and it is not worth the huge hassle it takes nor the expense (because of the distance).

[mitsugirly]

We did the cavetubing with .bz and had a wonderful time. The guides told us about the islands on the way while pointing out interesting things that it made the trip not seem so long.

 

The cavetubing experience itself was wonderful. The hike in the jungle/rain forest was very informative and you got to "try" things that are on the island (like plants that hydrate you and termites that you could live off of for 2 days if stranded on in the forest). We got to hold a tarantula. It was a wonderful day.

 

Then they took us for a great belize home cooked meal. It was WONDERFUL!! The best $45 we spent.

 

Here's a link to my review with a link at the bottom of the review to pictures we took that day: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=30667696&postcount=44

[Armedaneian]

Is the cave tubing done on an island? :confused:

[mitsugirly]

Is the cave tubing done on an island? :confused:

 

yes

[kruisingkouple]

We just returned from our cruise the first week in June and we used Nacho and Cynthia (NCQADVENTURETOURS.COM) for zip lining and cave tubing in Belize. We had a really great time and my MIL broke the record for the oldest person to zip line (74). She loved it and can't wait to go again. The day was first class all the way! The tubes for cave tubing are very comfortable with a bottom and headrest. Nacho and Cynthia's knowledge of Belize is amazing and he will entertain you both to and from the zip line and cave tubing destination. They are very accommodating and make sure to keep an eye on the time so you get back to the dock on time. Everyone in our family, from 15 to 74 can't stop talking about what a GREAT time we had with Nacho and Cynthia in Belize and can't wait to go back again.Make sure to provide Nacho with a phone number when making your reservations as he personally calls everyone to confirm.:D:D:D:D

P.S. We used a large company for the same excursion previously and had a HORRIBLE experience, so we HIGHLY recommend the personal attention of Nacho and Cynthia.