My question to help us decide is Starfish vs Roundezvoud Caye?

[Jetswdo]

For anyone that did either one through Royal Caribbean recently:

Were you able to avoid the regular tender dropoff pick up spot, and be taken directly for the snorkel excursion?

We are very experienced snorkelers and would want maximum time to do this, less time on the island- One of the islands, I forget which one, some people complained that it was too much time on the island, vs. snorkeling on the reef?

So I'm trying to get as much information so we can decide which would be better for us: RC BEG6--Stafish vs BE31 Rendezvous-----Thank, Anita

[Badgertr]

If leaving from the ship directly is important to you, book on the ship. That way you can ask the excursion desk people directly.

[Jetswdo]

We like to have our excursions pre booked, especially at a tender port. Yes we will double check once on board regarding these two excursions-- Hopefully neither will be sold out when we get on board the ship. If we have a choice we would prefer to avoid the tender line up spot in Belize. So this is why I am trying to find out from persons who have taken either of these two excursions. Thanks.

[zqvol]

For anyone that did either one through Royal Caribbean recently:

Were you able to avoid the regular tender dropoff pick up spot, and be taken directly for the snorkel excursion?

We are very experienced snorkelers and would want maximum time to do this, less time on the island- One of the islands, I forget which one, some people complained that it was too much time on the island, vs. snorkeling on the reef?

So I'm trying to get as much information so we can decide which would be better for us: RC BEG6--Stafish vs BE31 Rendezvous-----Thank, Anita

 

You don't really have any control over how much time you get in the water on any snorkel excursion. You are pretty much in a herd of people and the tour guides keep a close eye on you. Our experience is that you are not even allowed to get very far from the group. We have done the Starfish tour twice and only had one stop to snorkel, mos tof the time ( about 2.5 hours) was on the island, and there is no snorkeling from the island.

 

Typically you get about 45 minutes in the water at each spot and that assumes that you are first off the boat and last back on.

 

If you really want good snorkeling on your own you should plan on doing it at Roatan if that is on your itinerary.

Edited June 5, 2016 by zqvol

[Jetswdo]

Let me try this again. I have the other ports taken care of. Those are not tender ports.

Because Belize is a tender port, I have found those ports a pain in the you know what if booking things outside of the cruise line. Once we nearly missed a fantastic snorkel experience on one of the islands due to tender taking an hour longer than we thought it would. Lesson learned.

 

We have been on several cruises- generally do snorkeling on our own, not through the cruise lines--

 

This time for Belize we will need to book a snorkel tour from the ship. So we are trying to figure out the best one for us.

 

The snorkeling is supposed to be pretty good with the starfish island one. I know that on Carnival, this tour was done right from the ship and back- I want to know if it is the same with with Royal Carribean. We don't mind it being guided for the snorkel part- we will be doing a lot of snorkeling on our own in Roatan and Cozumel. I'd like to know the difference between Rendezvous Island vs. Starfish excursion. Is there generally more snorkel time on one, vs the other? Do both excursions leave right from the ship and back?

I'm hoping that someone can just answer my questions. Thanks, Anita

Edited June 9, 2016 by Jetswdo

[zqvol]

Let me try this again. I have the other ports taken care of. Those are not tender ports.

Because Belize is a tender port, I have found those ports a pain in the you know what if booking things outside of the cruise line. Once we nearly missed a fantastic snorkel experience on one of the islands due to tender taking an hour longer than we thought it would. Lesson learned.

 

We have been on several cruises- generally do snorkeling on our own, not through the cruise lines--

 

This time for Belize we will need to book a snorkel tour from the ship. So we are trying to figure out the best one for us.

 

The snorkeling is supposed to be pretty good with the starfish island one. I know that on Carnival, this tour was done right from the ship and back- I want to know if it is the same with with Royal Carribean. We don't mind it being guided for the snorkel part- we will be doing a lot of snorkeling on our own in Roatan and Cozumel. I'd like to know the difference between Rendezvous Island vs. Starfish excursion. Is there generally more snorkel time on one, vs the other? Do both excursions leave right from the ship and back?

I'm hoping that someone can just answer my questions. Thanks, Anita

 

The Starfish excursion will leave directly from the ship.

[Jetswdo]

I am also now checking out Coral Breezes--- I really would prefer just sticking with R.C. Starfish snorkel, but it seems like there is very little snorkel time? and we really don't want to spend a lot of time just sitting around the island if we can avoid it-- The Coral Breezes new Caulker Cay, sharks and Coral Gardens has an hour and a half of snorkeling- and seems to really work with the cruise ships to allow enough time to comfortably ride tender to get to meeting point on time. Not too happy about uncomfortable boat as some people described-- but I would put up with it if the rest is that much better.

I'm hoping that an experienced snorkeler who has done the starfish excursion through R.C. in the last year or two can convince me that I'm wrong regarding the snorkel experience with them. Being able to leave directly from the ship is a big selling point, but not if the snorkel time, really isn't very good.

[45401210]

We like to have our excursions pre booked, especially at a tender port. Yes we will double check once on board regarding these two excursions-- Hopefully neither will be sold out when we get on board the ship. If we have a choice we would prefer to avoid the tender line up spot in Belize. So this is why I am trying to find out from persons who have taken either of these two excursions. Thanks.

 

Couldn't find a better thread to post this question. We are sailing on RC in August and looks like we are the only ship in port while in Belize. We want to book on our own for cave tubing but concerned about the tender ticket process. Does anyone have experience with this process on how to obtain a tender ticket for our group of 10.