Bannister Island?

[minidriver]

For some reason, the search function is not working for me, so please bear with me if this has been answered before.

 

We will be in Belize City in late Feb and had planned to go cave tubing. Unfortunately, I have developed some health issues and am having problems walking. I am worried about the trek through the jungle, as I can't really step up and over anything much higher than a few inches.

 

I was looking at NCL's shore excursions, and saw that there is a beach break at Bannister Island. Has anyone done this excursion? If so, may I ask a few questions?

 

Is the tender easy to get in and out of? Like . . . could I do it if I had some assistance from my husband?

 

At the island, I would be very interested in snorkeling from shore. I figure, once I'm in the water, I can just float about! Is the snorkeling area fairly near to where the tender drops people off? Or would I need to walk across the island? Maybe with a cane?

 

Thanks in advance for any advice that you can give.

[CENTEX CRUISER]

We were there last March. I don't think you would have much of a problem with the tender, and on the island, everything is close by..

 

 

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

[so_excited_to_cruise]

We were there last March. I don't think you would have much of a problem with the tender, and on the island, everything is close by..

 

 

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

 

So how did you get to Banister Island? Did you book through the cruise ship or go out on your own?

[minidriver]

Oh, this looks lovely, and very east to get around. Thanks!

[CENTEX CRUISER]

We booked through the ship..They tendered us to town , then water taxi to bannister, and dropped us off directly to ship after the tour..

So how did you get to Banister Island? Did you book through the cruise ship or go out on your own?

[CENTEX CRUISER]

A couple more photos..

 

 

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

 

 

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

[cheshyrkat]

I went to Bannister on my last CCL cruise. We boarded the tender from the ship and they took us directly to the island. The tender might or might not be problematic to you. If the water is rough, there can be a bit of motion getting from ship to tender and back. Regardless, there is usually some sort of step down to get on the tender and a step up getting back off the tender and there is always someone to hold your hand to help you balance making that transfer. Bannister was a beautiful little spit of sand and I remember the whole thing being sandy, but it was hard packed and not hard to negotiate. The water surrounding the island is clear and beautiful. There is one area that they didn't want us swimming in, but I think it was because that was where there was a deeper channel that might have been used by motorized boats. Even if you did choose to walk across the island, it isn't that far at all.

[rjm11]

NCL tenders right from the ship to the island, so it's very easy, and there's lots of assistance for getting onto the tenders if one needs it. But do know that the snorkeling right at Bannister isn't really anything special- the water is lovely, but there isn't coral there, and it's mostly just sea grass and such- maybe a few fish and rocks. We did see some lovely big starfish.

 

there is also a bar area that serves drinks and food- and I recall the prices being quite reasonable. I think we had an order of nachos, some fries, a coke, and a water, and it was around $10. Nice to get a snack after swimming.

 

There were also kayaks and floats, you could use for free.

[Sarapdot]

Question...can I get to Bannister Island without booking an excursion??

[rjm11]

I don't think so... there were some reports of people getting locals to take them over years ago, but I don't think it's a great idea. You can however, book this outside of the cruiselines- we are using Coral Breeze as our tour operator- they offer a combo with snorkeling/Bannister Island/and manatee watch. We chose to do this this year rather than the cruise ship one because of the added on snorkeling part because as I mentioned the snorkeling right at Bannister isn't great.

 

The downside with an independent operator like Coral Breeze is you have to tender into the tourism village, then board a second boat to go out to the reef and island- the cruise line will take you directly to the island, so it's a little easier.

[Sarapdot]

I'll be on the magic and my concern was us not making it to port due to weather or tender issues. I've had bed experiences in the past where we missed a port and lost our money.

[rjm11]

If you book through the cruiseline and don't make the port it will of course be refunded 100%. I believe Coral Breeze's policy was to keep the downpayment- which was around $10 per person if I recall. So if you're worried about that, then book with your ship.

[miamimommie]

We went to bannister 2 years ago. It was lovely. The day we went they couldn't take credit cards and we didn't have cash so we were kind of stranded without food for the duration of the excursion.

[mitsugirly]

We were just at Bannister Island last month.

 

If you want a FULL (and I do mena full) review, I will post the link. It is FULL of pictures. :D

 

You can find it here and it starts and post #250 http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1755846&page=7

[Sarapdot]

We were just at Bannister Island last month.

 

If you want a FULL (and I do mena full) review, I will post the link. It is FULL of pictures. :D

 

You can find it here and it starts and post #250 http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1755846&page=7

 

Ooh thanks!!

[mitsugirly]

Ooh thanks!!

 

You're very welcome. Enjoy and I hope you have a wonderful time. :)

[goldies155]

I don't think so... there were some reports of people getting locals to take them over years ago, but I don't think it's a great idea. You can however, book this outside of the cruiselines- we are using Coral Breeze as our tour operator- they offer a combo with snorkeling/Bannister Island/and manatee watch. We chose to do this this year rather than the cruise ship one because of the added on snorkeling part because as I mentioned the snorkeling right at Bannister isn't great.

 

The downside with an independent operator like Coral Breeze is you have to tender into the tourism village, then board a second boat to go out to the reef and island- the cruise line will take you directly to the island, so it's a little easier.

 

We were booked with Coral Breeze for our upcoming Legend cruise. We received an e-mail cancelling the trip to Bannister Island saying when a Carnival ship is in port Bannister Island is off limits for non-ship excursions.

[TravlGrl]

I've got a follow-up question rather than starting a new thread. We're on Liberty in 2 weeks and had planned to go to Bannister Island, booked through Coral Breezes. However, I just went to book it and they're not offering any tours on Feb 18. We were interested in the Bannister Island/manatee watch/snorkeling excursion, not just the Beach Break offered by RCCL. Can anyone give us any pointers on which other tour companies also book Bannister Island or if it's possible to just do this on our own?

[jimcb900f]

Just returned from cruise aboard RCI Liberty of the Seas on 3/7. We booked the Bannister Island excursion through RCI and it was terrible. It was a beautiful day weather wise and the ride to the island was nice but it all ended there. There were not enough beach chairs for even half the people on the island. The people working the bar provided slow service and while i cant say they were mean..i certainly cant say they were nice. The bar ran out of water, ice, beer, and food. The one blender they had quit working too. So many people wanted to leave early on the 4:00 boat that it was severely overcrowded. RCI reimbursed all who complained for half the cost of the excursion after investigating everyone's claims. So basically we paid $46 for a nice 15 minute boat ride.

 

The bathroom facilities smelled awful and the floats that were provided were in horrible condition. Overall it was a very poor experience.

[TravlGrl]

Just returned from cruise aboard RCI Liberty of the Seas on 3/7. We booked the Bannister Island excursion through RCI and it was terrible. It was a beautiful day weather wise and the ride to the island was nice but it all ended there. There were not enough beach chairs for even half the people on the island. The people working the bar provided slow service and while i cant say they were mean..i certainly cant say they were nice. The bar ran out of water, ice, beer, and food. The one blender they had quit working too. So many people wanted to leave early on the 4:00 boat that it was severely overcrowded. RCI reimbursed all who complained for half the cost of the excursion after investigating everyone's claims. So basically we paid $46 for a nice 15 minute boat ride.

 

The bathroom facilities smelled awful and the floats that were provided were in horrible condition. Overall it was a very poor experience.

I'm glad I'm not the only one! We ended up booking w/RCCL also while sailing Liberty of the Seas in February. Live and learn. Here's the review I posted on TripAdvisor --

 

They packed us in to the point that there weren't enough lounge chairs for everyone, and families were scurrying through the sand in a race to get chairs. How unfortunate!

 

Belize is not known for beaches, yet we'd read Bannister Island had nice sand and a beach. I have no idea what people are comparing it to, but simply put, the beach here isn't nice. It's not terrible, but it's certainly not nice. It's really spongy once you get in the water, and there are so many people that there is no ability to relax with kids screaming all over the place. The swim area is roped off to a designated space, so if a person tries to escape to a quieter spot, there's no swimming allowed. This is a TINY island, so not really anywhere to go but your lounge chair. We sucked it up and made the most of it by plugging in our iPods to drown out the noise of so many people sitting so close to us.

 

The menu here is not a Belizean or Caribbean menu. It's an American menu -- cheeseburgers and hamburgers. They did not have any fish, so we were told to ignore the fish items on the menu. We are vegetarians, and our only options were french fries and chips/salsa (from a can!). I was really looking forward to some authentic Belizean food, not American food, and especially not burgers.

 

This wasn't a wasted excursion because now we can inform others what it's like on Bannister Island. It's just not worth spending the day here. Don't plan on Belize being a beach port; it just isn't.

[TravlGrl]

We were there last March. I don't think you would have much of a problem with the tender, and on the island, everything is close by..

 

 

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

I love this picture by the way! :)

 

However, Bannister Island looked NOTHING like this last month. This picture looks like a completely different place. :cool: There were no palapas in the water at all, none, nada, and even the beach in this picture is a lot larger and prettier than the current reality there. There were some random benches in the water, so it appears all of the palapas had blown off, I'm guessing. I'm guessing storms over the past year have really disrupted the beauty of the island, and maybe it caused the loss of so many chairs for guests. :confused:

[mitsugirly]

I love this picture by the way!

 

However, Bannister Island looked NOTHING like this last month. This picture looks like a completely different place. There were no palapas in the water at all, none, nada, and even the beach in this picture is a lot larger and prettier than the current reality there. There were some random benches in the water, so it appears all of the palapas had blown off, I'm guessing. I'm guessing storms over the past year have really disrupted the beauty of the island, and maybe it caused the loss of so many chairs for guests.

 

We were just there at the end of December and there were plenty of chairs and places to sit. All of the palapas where there except the 1 in the water. Where the picture above was taken is the huge deck that goes out over the water that you can sit at. So, it's looking down the beach area, which of course made it look bigger.

 

Here's some of my pictures and you can still see the palapas (except the one that was missing that's normally in the water had just the chairs in it now). Maybe it depends on when you go there or how many cruise ships are in port that day? But as you can tell by my pictures that day, there were plenty of chairs.

 

 

 

 

 

This is the same as what use to be out in the water, but these are just on the sand now in various places:

 

 

[mitsugirly]

This is a close up of the palapa over the deck area in the water (which is what is in the picture that the other poster had taken)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now while we did enjoy our day here, it was definitely not the greastest beach we've been to by far... However, I'm glad that we went, we can say that we've been there and that we'll never go back.

 

On of our issues was that the bathrooms had no running water. So, those that are going, go prepared with some sanitizer for your hands.

[mitsugirly]

The one and only reason I would ever "recommend" this island to anyone is for the starfish there. There are A LOT. If you have never seen or held a starfish, this is your opportunity. They are abundant there! The experience my daughter had being able to see all of these starfish were worth the day to me. It's just unbelievable how many are in the water there (especially right there in front of that deck/palapa that hangs over the water).

 

 

 

 

 

 

[TravlGrl]

Your pics are great! It just didn't look anything like that in February. I wonder what happened to the palapas and, more importantly, the chairs. We were luckily on the first tender and got a couple of chairs under a palm tree, but it was sad to see families in subsequent tenders RUNNING to get them because they were few and far between. It was such a bummer experience. We had medium expectations, but those weren't even met.

 

This goes to show that it really depends on when you go, and how many people there are. Nevertheless, as long as I'm with my DH, I'm happy no matter where I am.