Tendering question/cave tubing/excursions?

[chellencrette]

I am new to this site but absolutely love it. Alot of good information found!! We will be cruising on the Carnival Miracle 8/7/05 and I am trying to decide on things to do. On a previous cruise I have always booked excursions through the ship, but from reading here I am leaning more towards independent tours. Can someone please tell me what you are talking about when you say we will need a tender ticket? :confused: I spoke with Carnival and they assured me the only place we would have to tender is in Grand Cayman, but I read here tender also in Belize? They also told me that I didn't need a ticket, first come, first served basically.

 

Also, I have a good idea of what to do at the other ports:

 

Grand Cayman: booked with NativWays Rays, Reef, and Rum Tour

 

Cost Maya: trying to book with Ivan for Chachobban Mayan Ruins (tried to send an email to reserve my spot and it keeps telling me failure (either the message is too long or mailbox full) Any suggestions??? Don't want the tour to get filled up!

 

Cozumel: Dolphin Royal Swim

 

My dilema is I don't know what to do in Belize!!?? Can anyone help me? What is this cave tubing all about? Are the beaches in Belize like the ones at the other ports......turqoise water, white sand?

 

Any help would be much appreciated!!!:)

[Susky]

Yes, you tender in Belize. I'm going cave tubing (through coralbreeze.com) and I plan to make a real attempt to get onto the early tenders, without a tender ticket.

[bearette]

Sometimes to make things go smoother you have to get a tender ticket (they will announce where) if you want to be one of the first off the ship. After the first few tenders have gone there isn't anyone waiting and you can just get on and off the tenders with out any problems. They just use the tender tickets for the rush that happens when they first allow passengers to get off the ship.

[chellencrette]

Thanks for replying. Sounds like I shouldn't have any problems.....I hope.:)

 

 

I still need help in deciding on an excursion in Belize. I'm not sure about the cave tubing. Maybe just looking for a beach in Belize to sit back and relax. Anyone been to the beaches in Belize?

[clackey]

Thanks for replying. Sounds like I shouldn't have any problems.....I hope.:)

 

 

I still need help in deciding on an excursion in Belize. I'm not sure about the cave tubing. Maybe just looking for a beach in Belize to sit back and relax. Anyone been to the beaches in Belize?

Hola,

 

If you are looking for a beach, as compared to beaches in the other ports, I am afraid you are out of luck. There are no walk to beaches that I know of, (and please correct me if I am wrong). However you can book a trip to one of the islands. They have some gorgeous beachs and can be booked through the cruiseline or at the tender dock. My brother-in-law booked a snorkel trip at the TD and was taken to a beautiful little island where they snorkeled for a couple of hours and then were returned to the cruise ship, all for the grand price of $40 pp.

[danyelle]

You can do TONS in belize

 

Cynthia Haylock! (of E&C Tour & Taxi Svce)

 

She'll customize a trip specific to your needs, just tell her what you want.

 

Zoo, City Tours, Altun Ha, Snorkeling, Cave Tubing, Baboon Sanctuary, Bird Watching, or just a drive to the beach and back...

 

By the way, Cucumber beach is the greatest...

 

Email: cynthiahaylock@yahoo.com

 

cellphone: 011 501 602 0459

 

phone: 011 501 202 0079

 

My family used her in Belize and raved about her

[southernlagirl]

On the Miracle they are now giving out different colored stickers for Carnival excursions. And number stickers for everybody else. We got off without either. Because we had conformation of an early tour off of carnival.

[slineberry528]

check out coralbreezelimited.com

We are booked through them for our tour. We are on the Valor in July

[DebbieN]

Just off the Miracle today..........and here is the one thing everyone fails to mention.......there is a 2 hour time difference!! We arrived in Belize around 8:00 ship time, which is actually 6:00am Belize time. We had breakfast and headed off the boat at around 9:00am SHIP TIME. We went on the cavetubing tour (Wet and Wild) and were to check in at 8:00am Belize time, which is actually 10:00am ship time. We got to the hut around 7:00am and had an hour to kill. Be forewarned, NOTHING is open at this time, so plan leaving the boat accordingly. It is really an easy process, but the time difference can be confusing. You will stay on ship time, not Belize time. AND.......you will have plenty of time to spare after any tours.

 

I would highly recommend Wet and Wild for cavetubing. When I get back home Wednesday, I will post a Miracle review and some other things that we did.

 

YOU'RE GONNA LOVE IT!!!!!! I was sad leaving the ship this morning.

 

Any questions? Ask away while everything is still fresh.

Debbie

[konthego]

Not sure where the Miracle sailed from but I am on the Valor in 20 days out of Miami and it puts its clock back 1 hour the night before belize.This puts the ship time 1 hour ahead of Belize time. Each Ship and Cruie line does their time changes differently.

[DebbieN]

Miracle sails from Tampa. We NEVER changed our watches/clocks the entire week.

[PETRA4U]

go to : http://www.regtour.com

 

Reggie is absolutely awesome. My DH was born deaf (severely hearng impaired)

He loves to tube at hotels/waterparks but the any thing else is off limits to him.

He is so very scared and I don't blame him. He never gets his face wet etc..

and he is married to a water baby. Go figure.

 

so I showed him the tubing, although apprehensive he agreed to go with me.

we had 25 people on this tour with reggie. Reggie was awesome. He personally took my husband with him and made him his right hand person. Never left him

and made sure he was very comfortable. Keep in mind, his 2 hearing aids are over $1,000 each and we need to keep them dry and they had to stay in his pants pockets on the tour bus. So DH had to read lips.

 

Reggie made sure he understood everything. also, I am still very heavy although I have lost over 100 lbs this past year. Plus diabetic. He had one of his tour guides carry my tube to help me and made sure I had lots of water for the walk through the jungle to the top of the river where we got in.

 

this man is great and makes your tour very personable. Everyone in our group stated that this was the highlite of the cruise with them.

 

So check out Reggie's tours and tell him the Lingerie lady, LV, sent you.

He is also great with the kids.! We had 2 extra teenagers along last minute.

He even accommodated them.!

Enjoy !

:)

[chellencrette]

Thanks to everyone for the information. Our trip is a month away and I can't wait!!! Reading the threads here makes it even harder to have to wait! :) I'm still unsure of what to do in Belize. Here's the question....can anyone tell me what I would experience while cave tubing....what do you see, etc.??? I read a couple threads somewhere about snakes and I am petrified (sp?) of snakes, so that was an automatic turnoff for me! Also, how dark does it get? I'm not sure what to expect if I do give in and decide on cave tubing. I know alot of people do it and say it's the best experience of the cruise, but I guess I'm not at all familiar with it so it doesn't appeal to me that much?? I also don't know if I want to plan a long excursion for this day or take a day to relax on the beach. Please help!!

[DebbieN]

We didn't see any snakes. We did see bats though. They were in a cave we walked into on our hike. You didn't have to go in if you didn't want to. We stepped about 10 feet in, that's all. A couple were flying around, but nowhere near us.

I don't want to tell you what you will see, it will be no fun that way, but no snakes for sure. My son did eat a termite, kinda gross, but.......that's boys for you!

The caves aren't that dark, you will have a flashlight and your tour guide will have a really bright flashlight.

I thought it was well worth it, but it is the whole day. The caves are a 30-40 mile drive, the hike is about 40 minutes and you are in the caves (we did 3 caves) about 1 hour to 1 1/2 hours. If you are remotely interested, I would go for it. Save the beach for another stop.

 

Debbie

[clackey]

Save the beach for another stop.

 

Debbie

I second the cave tubing. There are not many places where you can do it, but there are several great beach stops. You owe it to yourself to tube if you have never done it. If you go to Cozumel, try Chankanaab or Paradise Beach. Both are great.

[chellencrette]

Just off the Miracle today..........and here is the one thing everyone fails to mention.......there is a 2 hour time difference!! We arrived in Belize around 8:00 ship time, which is actually 6:00am Belize time. We had breakfast and headed off the boat at around 9:00am SHIP TIME. We went on the cavetubing tour (Wet and Wild) and were to check in at 8:00am Belize time, which is actually 10:00am ship time. We got to the hut around 7:00am and had an hour to kill. Be forewarned, NOTHING is open at this time, so plan leaving the boat accordingly. It is really an easy process, but the time difference can be confusing. You will stay on ship time, not Belize time. AND.......you will have plenty of time to spare after any tours.

 

I would highly recommend Wet and Wild for cavetubing. When I get back home Wednesday, I will post a Miracle review and some other things that we did.

 

YOU'RE GONNA LOVE IT!!!!!! I was sad leaving the ship this morning.

 

Any questions? Ask away while everything is still fresh.

Debbie

 

Okay, everyone has convinced me to give cave tubing a try. I have been reading up and everyone has used different tour guides and given them all good reviews. So, I'm sure whichever I pick will be great. My question is...I understand that cave-tubing does it for $45.00 per person, but you have to have at least 5 in your group. There are only 2 of us, so does anyone know how much it would be for less than 5?

[clackey]

Hola again,

 

We used Wet& Wild for our tour but I have seen great reviews for Yhony, Reggie and others. All of the major tour companies have a Class "A" act or they don't have clientele very long. And don't worry about the number of people with you. They may have others from 2 or 3 ships on Your tour. Enjoy!

[cutnsew]

question is...I understand that cave-tubing does it for $45.00 per person, but you have to have at least 5 in your group. There are only 2 of us, so does anyone know how much it would be for less than 5?

 

I would email Yhony at cave tubing. He will try and hook you up with a few other people to make your group of 5 for you. We are booked with him in October.:)

[tonyrobin]

Does Reggie's tour include lunch at an extra cost like Yhoni's? Which one is less crowded? Thanks everyone!

[redwings1958]

Reggies tour DOES NOT include lunch.

We went with Wet N Wild and his price INCLUDES lunch.

Marvin also restricts his groups to no more than 18; we only had 12 in ours

[Trainacomin]

You can add lunch to Reggie's for $5 making it only a $50 tour compared to Wet N Wild's $60.

[tonyrobin]

You can add lunch to Reggie's for $5 making it only a $50 tour compared to Wet N Wild's $60.

Thanks thats what I wanted to know. Now I am trying to decide whether to do Yhoni's or Reggie's. Any suggestions?

[Eburgfamily]

On our July 3rd Miracle cruise 20 of us went cave tubing through cave-tubing.com. While Yanni was not our guide, he met us at Terminal 1 just like he said he would, we were all able to get on the first tender off the boat. Yanni then introduced us to our guides Junior and Jimmy. Junior and Jimmy were fabulous. For the one hour trip to the caves he talked all about Belize and Belize City, and was able to relate to all of us b/c he has visited the States before. The bus was nice and air conditoned and they had coolers of bottled water for us.

 

While hiking to the caves Junior and Jimmy took time to show us the interesting plants and flowers along the trail.

 

We ended up doing an extra 2 caves more than the people booked through Carnival and when we met up with them they were all disorganized and some of them looked worried out of their mind b/c they had no guide within a 100 feet of them.

 

Our experience was wonderful, we tipped Junior and Jimmy graciously. For half the price of Carnival we got and experience worth double.

 

I highly reccomend Cave-tubing.com. Yanni is a great tour operator and our tour guides Junior and Jimmy were one of a kind.

[NDGal]

HI:

 

 

We're sailing on the Valor Nov. 27, and we booked our cave tubing in Belize with Reggie Tours, because we heard so many good things about him. This is our first cruise, so we were alittle leery about booking an excursion outside the Carnival excursions, but he wrote me a nice e-mail assuring me they have never missed a boat back, and he gave me alot of helpful information-it's just me and my husband on this cruise. Sounds like a great time!

 

Anyone else onboard the Valor, November 27th?

[slineberry528]

We were on the Valor on July 10. We loved the ship. The shows and food were great. Have a great cruise.