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Harvest Caye- very disappointed.

Joannel1958

By Joannel1958,
in Norwegian Cruise Line

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MagnoliaBlossom

MagnoliaBlossom

Posted
Posted

I find the course sand issue odd. Not all beaches have fine, white sand. The sand in Costa Maya is courser than Cozumel and Progresso is courser still. Back when I actually did the beach thing, I always brought water shows to the rough ones. I try to always advise others in reviews or on roll calls.

 

OSheehans was open when we returned to the ship, and I thnk the grill by the pool was too. There are times when the buffet is in swap over and very little of it is open, so maybe that is what the OP encountered.

 

I guess part of my dislike of HC is that it isn't genuine. I don't want my ports of call to look like Disneyland. I want to see real people, running their own little puperias, cantinas and businesses.

 

I als think some of people's problem is that during the big run up to HCs opening, NCL did not make it clear that HC was not their private island and that UBP would not be available on the island. And, no fault toNCL, many people did not realize how far the island is to the mainland. While releases did say there would be access to the mainland, many people did not realize that it was not t Belize City and private excursions would not be a possibility.

 

It's another example of inadequate information and assumption, so people thought they would have one experience and it wasn't that at all. Homework, homework, homework.

 

I will say again, it is a beautiful place and many people loved it. I loved the port day special n the spa. Win-win for everyone. It's a cruise - be happy, people!

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snymthr

snymthr

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I am soooo glad we went in September. We did the cave tubing and zip lining in the jungle. It was an hour drive inland and got to see the country while hearing all about Belize from our tour guide. This stop was the highlight of the trip for me.

 

Sorry to hear about your experience,

 

 

Hi, Could you recommend your cave tubing vendor or was it through Norwegian? Thank you!

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Still Dreaming

Still Dreaming

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We loved HC. We were getting away to relax and that is exactly what we did. We did not feel the need to order drinks or food for the 4 hours we sat by the ocean, not that we wouldn't we just were not hungry or thirsty for alcohol! I carried off a mug of water that the ships bartender filled for me.

 

I totally agree with Magnoliablossum! There are very few powder white sand beaches on the islands. I was so surprised when I walked down the beach and into the ocean. It was not as course as I thought it was going to be with all the complaints and the sand stayed cool the whole time we were there. In Hawaii we had to have shoes on or you would burn your feet!

We did the electric boats, fun but wouldn't be something I would do again.

 

We moved to different chairs all the time, following the shade, so there definitely was tons of empty chairs.

 

As for the pier, I didn't feel it was any longer or shorter then a lot of the other islands, what was nice is that it is covered.

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ClevelandCruisin

ClevelandCruisin

Posted
Posted

Going to HC next year since we missed it last time and ended up in Belize City.

 

Love reading everyone's opinions on everything, which doesn't detour me from anything since you're on vacation and it's better than Cleveland!

 

Thanks for the input on restrooms, I have crohn's disease and usually need one more than others.

 

Happy traveling!

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Thrilled2012

Thrilled2012

Posted
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Hi, Could you recommend your cave tubing vendor or was it through Norwegian? Thank you!

 

I know you weren't asking me but we used Butts Up Cavetubing (google them) and they were fantastic! We did cavetubing and ziplining for far less than what NCL charged for the same excursion that went to the same place. But we got to go tubing through an additional 2 caves, we didn't have to carry our own tubes, and my 4 year old was able to go with us with no problems (he was not old enough for the NCL excursion). And the included tamale lunch was yummy. This company was very professional, informative and wonderful to work with.

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snymthr

snymthr

Posted
Posted
I know you weren't asking me but we used Butts Up Cavetubing (google them) and they were fantastic! We did cavetubing and ziplining for far less than what NCL charged for the same excursion that went to the same place. But we got to go tubing through an additional 2 caves, we didn't have to carry our own tubes, and my 4 year old was able to go with us with no problems (he was not old enough for the NCL excursion). And the included tamale lunch was yummy. This company was very professional, informative and wonderful to work with.

 

 

Great...Thank you. I'll look them up.

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sanger727

sanger727

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Great...Thank you. I'll look them up.

 

If your port of call is Harvest Caye you won't be able to use private vendors for excursions. At this point NCL still controls transportation to/from the mainland and only their excursions are available for harvest Caye. You'll have to be porting at Belize city to use a private vendor.

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slhopper

slhopper

Posted
Posted
that STINKS about there being limited food on the ship.

 

we are stopping here on our New Year's cruise. the plan was to get off for a few hours in the morning, then come back for free lunch on the ship and hang by the uncrowded pool..

 

My husband and I are on the Pearl's NY cruise too. We went to Harvest Caye in January and do not plan to leave the ship when we go back. Not complaining, just found nothing of interest to us personally there. The pool is gorgeous, so if you are a pool person definitely check it out!

 

I hope not too many people stay on board, we are looking forward to an empty ship! :)

 

Oh, as to beach chairs, unless you are on one of the BIG ships, there are plenty of loungers at the beach. We were on the Dawn and I dont think half of them were in use.

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margie1221

margie1221

Posted
Posted

Thanks for your review of HC - I have one question and one comment...

 

Q: I thought I read that there are sand fleas on the beach at HC - did you find this to be true?

 

C: Feeling blessed to afford a winter cruise that takes me to any beach where it isn't snowing with a wind chill factor below zero! Thanks for the heads up on the coarse sand tho...

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

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abbyar

abbyar

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We loved HC when we were there in November. Yes the beach is a little coarse but it's more of an active island than beach day - that's why they built the pool, right? My kids enjoyed the zip lining and ropes course and our oldest loved loved parasailing - they went so high they could see schools of dolphins and parts of Panama. It was a cool day but we loved it.

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abbyar

abbyar

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Thanks for your review of HC - I have one question and one comment...

 

Q: I thought I read that there are sand fleas on the beach at HC - did you find this to be true?

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

 

We did not experience any sand fleas during our day in November.

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tdrb

tdrb

Posted
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I'm confused by some of the responses. On NCL Getaway, we will not be able to hire a private excursion such as Butts Up cave tubing, correct? An earlier thread indicated that they did just that.

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Thrilled2012

Thrilled2012

Posted
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I'm sorry if I added to the confusion. A poster asked earlier in this thread about independent vendors for cavetubing/ziplining and I responded about Butts Up. But I figured that poster was docking in Belize City since they were asking about it, as other lines/ships still dock there. If you are docking at HC I don't believe it is possible. Sorry

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Joannel1958

Joannel1958

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My husband and I are on the Pearl's NY cruise too. We went to Harvest Caye in January and do not plan to leave the ship when we go back. Not complaining, just found nothing of interest to us personally there. The pool is gorgeous, so if you are a pool person definitely check it out!

 

I hope not too many people stay on board, we are looking forward to an empty ship! :)

 

Oh, as to beach chairs, unless you are on one of the BIG ships, there are plenty of loungers at the beach. We were on the Dawn and I dont think half of them were in use.

We were on the getaway so yes it was one of the bigger ships.

 

Sent from my SM-G930V using Forums mobile app

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razor7_us

razor7_us

Posted
Posted (edited)
We loved HC when we were there in November. Yes the beach is a little coarse but it's more of an active island than beach day - that's why they built the pool, right? My kids enjoyed the zip lining and ropes course and our oldest loved loved parasailing - they went so high they could see schools of dolphins and parts of Panama. It was a cool day but we loved it.

 

They must have been space shuttle high considering Panama is over 800 miles away.

Edited by razor7_us
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SquishTheWhale

SquishTheWhale

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I can't wait to visit HC. Those who live near lovely beaches in a hot climate or have easy regular access to the Caribbean are probably a little blasé about visiting tropical Islands- you should try living in the UK for a while (we do have some gorgeous beaches, but normally not the climate to go with them)! Just being on a beach in the sunshine is paradise to me- I don't give two figs how course the sand is. If I feel like paying for food and drink on the island I will, if I don't want to I will walk back to the ship for lunch seeing as I possess legs to do this. I can see how the loungers could become crowded with a megaship in port so we will just get off nice and early to snag a good spot and an umbrella. I can't wait!

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