Xunantunich vs Lamanai ?

[WasabiPeanut]

Okay, I've done a good bit of reading here on the boards and so far I haven't been able to find anything posted wherein someone has compared these two sites. My fiance and I are going on Carnival Elation in October and we're trying to decide which of these two we'd like to go see while we're in Belize.

 

Any input of any sort, even if it's third-party information, or if we can just get a good enough discussion going to compare and contrast facts from different individuals who have been to each site would be helpful.

 

Thanks very much in advance!

 

- Jason

[CaribbeanBound]

We highly recommend Lamanai.

 

This will be one of your favorite ports IF you book an excursion. You'll hate the place if you do not. This fact has been chronicled time and again. Do yourself a favor and book an excursion! The two most popular excursions are the Cave Tubing and the Lamanai Ruins / Jungle River Cruise. Both get rave reviews. Our selection of the Lamanai tour was no exception. More in a minute.

 

We arrived into Belize a couple hours late to the consternation of those passengers who had booked private tours. On the way to our stop we sighted a mini paradise --- a small sandy island with a grass shack, a pier, and a few palm trees --- out in the middle of the ocean. We also spotted a group of 10 to 12 huge rays off the port side. We anchored well off-shore and required an 18-minute tender ride to get ashore. Tenders were provided by local Belize vessels of all makes and sizes. (We did not feel safe in our two-level wooden tender, but there were no incidents of any kind to report). We sat downstairs between 2 fans and a wall thankfully lined with lifejackets. Our tender held around 80 passengers. We were the first group off the ship. Priority went to passengers with excursions bought through Celebrity. All other passengers needed to secure tender tickets and wait in the Theater for their number to be called. Hint: if you are not on a ship excursion, get in line to get your tender tickets at least 1/2-hour before the announced time. Tickets are passed out early.

 

Once at the Belize pier we were greeted with a nice Welcome sign. There are only a handful of shops at the pier. I am guessing there were about 90 folks on this tour. We were herded onto 1 of 3 air conditioned buses. Whatever bus you get becomes your tour group, and included a guide that not only narrated the bus tour and answered our questions but also drove our boat on the jungle cruise and lead our excursion of the ruins. Our experienced guide was Vel, and he was breaking in a very pretty young guide-in-training that joined us for the duration of the tour. Our guides were very friendly, knowledgeable, and proud of their country.

 

Belize is a poor country with great natural and historical assets. One idiot on the bus asked "Why are there bars on the windows of houses?" during an otherwise interesting Q&A about the country. (Answer: they have a crime problem related to a "crack" problem). The housing and habitat reminded us a lot of Waimanalo on Oahu (sans the bars). We learned a lot about the city and country on our 1.25 hour bus tour over a paved 2-lane road to the boat dock. [side note: from visible signage along the road it appears Pepsi "controls" the less populated part of the country while Coca-Cola "owns" Belize City itself]. Each bus unloaded their groups into a large thatched roof building sporting restrooms and a couple of artisans. Within a few minutes we were loaded onto covered boats with comfortable seats and two powerful outboard motors.

 

We snaked South down the river to the Lamanai Ruin site. Our guide plying us with information and pointing out numerous birds (including King Fisher, Blue Herrin, Vultures, and Snow Egrets), baby crocodiles, and a huge green iguana, as well as various flora and fauna. We also found the huge termite nests in the trees to be of interest to all. One of the 3 boats experienced engine trouble which slowed us down a bit, but that boat was never abandoned. Our boat held back each time to make sure they were not stranded.

 

Once we arrived at Lamanai, we ate a hearty lunch of Mayan chicken, rice, coleslaw, coconut tarts, and bottled Pepsi and water. We started our tour in a small museum with interesting Mayan artifacts and continued on by foot through an impressive jungle featuring vines, "Jurassic Park"-sized palm fronds, medicinal trees, and Howler Monkeys. We spent about 1.5 hours exploring 3 large Mayan temples and the remains of a small Mayan town. Our guides provided an enormous amount of insight and kept us moving at a reasonable clip.

 

We returned to the boats, sped back up the river, and returned to the buses just before nightfall. We arrived back at the docks about an hour after the final tender was suppose to leave for the ship. Our guides, to their credit, had made the decision to give us the full tour --- not an abridged tour --- even though we had arrived late. After all, we were paying the full price of the tour and they weren't going to let us get anything less. It was clear, back in Lamanai, that we were not going to make the tender cutoff time. This began to cause great distress among some tour passengers. Just remember, that if you are on a Celebrity-sponsored tour, there are "no worries!" They were not going to strand 5% of their passengers in Belize. Sure enough, we were met at the pier with a nice large boat that easily and comfortably sped all of us back to the ship, which was beautifully illuminated out on the sea. Our only loss was an inability to shop for souvenirs at the pier as they were all closed. We arrived after first-seating dinner had begun and arrangements were made to seat first-seating diners in the second dinner seating.

 

Bottom line: take this tour.

 

Complete details:

http://www.lavasurfer.com/info/westerncaribbean.html

[BobbieSu]

Hi Wasabipeanut

 

I had the same dilemma, which ruin to visit. Dang I agonized over it. It is so hard to tell from home which one will be the most significant, the one with the most interesting sites, the one no one will want to miss, the one you personally would like the most.

 

The tours were about the same cost, the bus ride was about the same length, they both included the lunch.

 

From what I read Xunantunich seemed to be more significant and I absolutely loved the looks of the little hand cranked ferry that apparently is still needed to get you across the river.

 

In the end I chose Lamanai because it also gave me the jungle river cruise. I felt like we received two tours for the price of one. And the review Caribbeanbound gave speaks for me (except we weren't late. We were with RCCL and our tour guide was fantastic, just a real treat to have). I brought cash (US was fine) for the vendors at the boat dock because I knew this would be the only chance to buy and I brought home some beautiful wood bowls. I treasure them.

 

After I had gone through the great decision and paid for the tour I happened to talk to my sister who had gone to Belize on a land tour a few years prior. She asked if we were going to see anything and when I said Lamanai she said "good", that had been her favorite. They had taken the time to see as many ruins as they could and the trip to Lamanai was the one her family still talks about. I asked her what the difference between Lamanai and Xunantunich was and she said that Xunantunich was easier to get to and so had received more attention over the years and was more open and less jungle (due to the effort to clear it). But that was what we liked about Lamanai----the jungle. The whole atmosphere spoke of a lost civilization.

 

While I believe the high temple at Xunantunich is taller, the high temple at Lamanai at 33 meters was plenty tall for me. My feeling after having been was that it didn't really matter which ruin you went to, Altun Ha, Lamanai, Xunantunich, or Cahal Pech. Each would have been worth the effort to see and explore.

 

So my advice is Yes, GO!

 

Su

[m-cruiser]

I am too right now trying to decide between the 2 tours listed here. Has anybody actually been to these 2 ruins sites? The jungle boat trip sounds fun, but I feel like there might be more history and ruins to be seen at Xumantunich so I'm leaning towards that. Does anyone have any experiences or suggestions that they would like to share? :rolleyes: