Which mayan ruin?

[corgigrl]

Cruising on the Navigator of the Seas in June and want to do one of the cruise ship tours to see one of the ruins. I've done some research, but it is hard to decide! My choices are, Altun Ha with a 2 hour river cruise for $75, Xunatunich with lunch included for $89, and Lamanai with a 90 minute river cruise for $109. They are all about 6 to 7 hours long. Anyone been to any of these? What would you do? Any thoughts?

[GJM]

We went to Altun Ha but did the "Tale of Two Cities" excursion it was only suppose to be 4 1/2 hours ended up being longer then that. We took a bus tour thru the city and then went to the ruins. This tour was $49

 

I heard someone taking about the river tour and how they say you will see different animals, the didn't see any.

[#1TravelMom]

We did Lamanai with an independent tour operator. It was INCREDIBLE! If you've never visited ruins - these are spectacular. One of the few sights where you can still climb to the top of the pyramid. It is a long day, but very much worth it.

[birdie2]

We absolutely loved the Lamanai excursion (including river cruise). See my review under the Excursion Reviews for Belize here: http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/shore-excursions/excursion/3603#25705.

 

We spoke with others who did the Altun Ha on our Princess cruise and they said it was "okay". We chose Lamanai after reading reviews of both and found there were many, many exceptional reviews for Lamanai excursion, and we agree! We were glad we chose this excursion. It is a full day, with no time for shopping. Check out all the Belize excursion reviews to get more information.

[corgigrl]

Thanks for the replies and suggestions. I certainly don't expect to see all the wildlife on the river cruise portion that the tour description lists, or any at all for that matter! Been there, done that before. We are actually leaning toward Xunatunich because it includes lunch and DOSEN'T have a river cruise (on a presumably open air, unairconditioned boat).

 

We've seen jungles before, and ruins as well, just not Mayan ruins. Anyone been to Xuantunich?

[Dibleyboy]

Thanks for the replies and suggestions. I certainly don't expect to see all the wildlife on the river cruise portion that the tour description lists, or any at all for that matter! Been there, done that before. We are actually leaning toward Xunatunich because it includes lunch and DOSEN'T have a river cruise (on a presumably open air, unairconditioned boat).

 

 

 

We've seen jungles before, and ruins as well, just not Mayan ruins. Anyone been to Xuantunich?

 

 

I am going there next week so I can let you know when we return.

 

 

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[corgigrl]

I am going there next week so I can let you know when we return.

 

 

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I'd love to hear what you think of it, good and/or bad. Enjoy your cruise!

[MTdreaming]

We did Altun Ha and River Wallace.. we saw dolphins leaping and playing, large iguana, birds, an alligator or two etc on the river portion. The movement of the boat kept the air temp comfortable.. and our boat was covered, which not all are. The ruins were nice and could be climbed - I did not climb due to recent neck surgery.. just a bit too nervous as it was fused yet. I would recommend it.

[ondebyou]

We did the Xunantunich Ruins during our last visit to Belize, and it was not disappointing! the ride in the a/c'd bus is a little long, but the guides(2) will be talking most of the way there and back, which was very interesting and informative.

The site is awesome! we did get to climb to the top of the temple( El Castillo) which provided a fantastic view and photo op. Upon return, we had time to browse for a few minutes before tendering back to the ship.

Edited May 2, 2014 by ondebyou

[JimAOk1945]

In 2011 we did the Lamanai and River excursion on our Christmas cruise on Mariner of the Seas. We booked directly through the RC cruiseline. With the travel time and excursion time combined it was a long day but well worth it.

 

It was a good thing I booked it through the cruise line. Our bus got stuck in traffic on the way back and we were about 45 minutes late getting back to the ship.

 

Very glad we hadn't booked with a private company. I'm not sure the ship would have waited for us.

 

My wife took a lot of pictures. If you would like to see the slide show that she made, you can click on the link below. The slide show will play as soon as the page opens, but you can also go through the pictures by clicking on the thumbnails one at a time.

 

Here is the link http://nancysoasis.com/belize/belize.html

 

Happy cruising!

[Dibleyboy]

We just returned yesterday from our cruise and we loved the Xunatunich ruins. Spectacular. Be warned you will need to be moderately fit just to climb to the ruin site and the even more so to climb the pyramid. Very interesting and informative.

 

 

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[gofeo]

Lamanai river is the best. Done it twice, 3 yrs apart.