lamanai- use independent vs ship tour

[konthego]

have 10 adults who want to do the Lamanai tour. I prefer independent tours vs ship sponsored ones-smaller groups and cheaper. would like some feedback on both tours in late july tour. thanks

[Mike2131]

have 10 adults who want to do the Lamanai tour. I prefer independent tours vs ship sponsored ones-smaller groups and cheaper. would like some feedback on both tours in late july tour. thanks

 

We took this tour in December (through Princess) and it was excellent. The cruise was entertaining with some interesting wildlife sightings, the included lunch was tasty, the small on-site museum was nice, and the ruins were impressive. The jungle setting and 2 very vocal (and active) groups of howler monkeys added to the Indiana Jones atmosphere.

Whether you book through the ship or independently, I definitely can recommend this excursion.

[arby70]

before you book your excursion. I read some articles about the unrest in Belize right now (links from a poster on the Carnival board). I guess the teachers there have walked out and there has been some rioting and disruption of telecommunications there (lots of armed guards, etc.). One can't let themselves get caught up in being too afraid to enjoy a port, but one will have to make sure to use caution. Perhaps a ship sponsored excursion, although costing more, might be something to look at though. It's what I'll be doing there. Just thought you might like to know this situation; not trying to scare you off. Enjoy your cruise!!!:)

[wrightathome]

Konthego,

We toured Lamanai last year while staying in Belize. A fantastic trip. We were there in June and in is very warm in the jungle. If you are interested we have many photos of our Lamanai experience at http://www.boilermaker.smugmug.com. We went with a wonderful guide, Daniel, who owns Tanisha Tours. His web site is http://www.tanishatours.com. Don't know if he will do a cruise pickup, but I highly recommend him if he would.

Enjoy,

Joy

[Zeno]

My thoughts on this:

Last year we took the Lamanai excursion through NCL. It is an ALL day excursion. We returned on time to catch the 2nd last tender. For me going through NCL just relieved me of any anxiety about getting back to the docks on time. Also our excursion through NCL was only a few bucks more than the private company excursions I checked out. Normally we prefer to arrange our own excursions but in this situation (tender port, all day excursion, area we were not familiar with) we felt that the extra piece of mind was worth a few additional bucks.

[tigerlilycruiser12]

Zeno

 

thanks

I will book through the ship. I will not have to worry about being delayed getting back.

 

marie

[Mike2131]

Zeno

 

thanks

I will book through the ship. I will not have to worry about being delayed getting back.

 

marie

 

Hi Marie:

Lamanai/New River is indeed a long excursion. We made the last tender back from the dock in Belize. Enjoy Lamanai!

[boatbunny]

Just back from Belize last week, we did not witness any of the unrest that has been described, just as an fyi.

 

But, I would strongly recommend booking this lengthy excursion through the cruise ship. We had friends who booked the cave tubing excursion through an outside company and they ran into some delays. They did make it back in enough time to catch the last tender, but they commented that the anxiety they experienced worrying about getting back in enough time was a gray cloud over their whole day. And Lamanai is not only a long day, but you are traveling quite a distance from the port on 2 different means of transportation.

 

We booked an excursion to Xcaret in Cozumel through the cruise ship and I am glad we did. We made it back to the ship 15 mins before it sailed, but none of us were worrying because we knew they would hold the ship for us if we weren't back on time.

 

I do book excursions outside of the cruise ship but I follow a couple of rules, if the excursion is taking us quite a distance from the port, I book through the ship (in case of transportation breakdowns, etc), if the excursion is lengthy and is expected to return within an hour of sailing, I book through the ship. It takes a lot of stress off the day and I find I can truly enjoy the day without having that nagging feeling in the back of my mind.

 

The difference in price is worth the piece of mind, and a whole lot cheaper than a hotel and transportation to catch back up to the ship if the excursion gets back too late!

[BobbieSu]

I agree with those who have answered already. On this excursion take the ships tour. It was only about a $10 savings to go independent when I was checking, which did not seem enough to me when the trip was all day and relieved me of the stress of wondering if I would get an early tender out as well as be back in time to catch that last tender. Our tour group was what would fit on our air conditioned bus: about 38 people. I did not feel lost in the crowd at all. We returned on the second to last tender and that was close enough for me.

 

An acquaintance on our same ship, RCCL's Explorer, was with a tour group which made independent tour arrangements to all the ruin sites on the cruise. They did not see as much, or spend as much time either on the river or at the ruins as we did, simply because they did not have the luxury of time.

 

I also highly recommend this trip. It was fantastic in every sense of the word!!!

 

Su

[cacky]

We were there in January. We booked through the RCCL line shore excursions The river ride was great, as was the luncheon, museum and ruins. Our tour guide was wonderful. Highly recommend this excursions. No problem getting back to the ship on time.

[blast]

Three reasons why the independent tour is better than the ship tour.

1. You're in an ac van with less people

   
   

2. Your tour will be more personalized because the numbers are less

   
   

3. You will have more time for your activities because you will depart from the tourist village a bit sooner (you do not have to wait until a tour bus is fill).

   
   

The company that we have used in Belize during our past trips is

www.seabelize.com, they got us back pretty soon with time left for shopping and enough time to make the last tender. Their tour guides are very knowledgeable, I found out about them after I read a message that was posted by Monty who also went on a tour with them in the past.

 

Blast

:)