Laughing Bird Cay

[aslevy]

Has anyone done the Shore Excursioneer tour from Harvest Caye to Laughing Bird Cay? I normally prefer booking non-cruise line excursions, but for some reasons I am a little concerned about having enough time to take the ferry to Placencia,  do the snorkeling excursion, and then ferry back. Would appreciate feedback from anyone who has done this tour? Our Harvest Caye port times are 8-4. 

[karen11g]

We're looking at this too - our port times are 10-5. I'm also concerned that Shore Excursioneer is a middle man - I'd rather book directly with a reputable local operator, but am having a hard time finding recommendations.

 

Does anyone have any? Thanks.

[ninamb1973]

I'm wondering the same for our cruise in a few weeks. How did it work out for you.

Thanks!

[aslevy]

Our cruise is not until March - but am hoping someone who has recently cruised will report back!

 

[ninamb1973]

So I made arrangements to do a private snorkeling tour with a local company, Placencia Adventure Tours. I expressed my same concerns and the owner sent me a very reassuring email response. He said he operates daily from the ferry pier and knows the ferry captain and schedule well. He guarantees he would get us back to the ferry on time so we don't miss our ship out. We are going to give them a try because he sounds like he knows what he's doing and they have excellent reviews. Another company I was looking into was Go Sea Belize. They are a little cheaper, but weren't able to offer fish for the lunch portion of the tour. Both companies seem very knowledgeable and reputable. We are going the first week of January. I will let you know how it goes.

 

 

[aslevy]

21 hours ago, ninamb1973 said:

So I made arrangements to do a private snorkeling tour with a local company, Placencia Adventure Tours. I expressed my same concerns and the owner sent me a very reassuring email response. He said he operates daily from the ferry pier and knows the ferry captain and schedule well. He guarantees he would get us back to the ferry on time so we don't miss our ship out. We are going to give them a try because he sounds like he knows what he's doing and they have excellent reviews. Another company I was looking into was Go Sea Belize. They are a little cheaper, but weren't able to offer fish for the lunch portion of the tour. Both companies seem very knowledgeable and reputable. We are going the first week of January. I will let you know how it goes.

 

 

Thank you - please do post back and let us know how it goes! And thank you for the leads on the tour companies. I've sent inquiries to Go Sea Belize, Placencia Adventure Tours and Placencia Wildside Tours. I heard back from Go Sea right away. Their standard tour is from 9-5, which would not work for our docking time in Harvest Caye, so I am looking into pricing for a private tour. We have one less hour in Harvest Caye (8-4) than you do, so I am not sure if it will work for us. 

Edited December 14, 2018 by aslevy

[ninamb1973]

At first Go Sea Belize gave me set times that were pushing our schedule a bit. That's when I asked if they offer a private tour which they were willing to do. Pricing went from $90 to $130 per person for the private tour. (Might be more or less depending on how many are in your group) I figure with a private tour you are able to control the timing better. Leave when you need to kind of thing. Both tour companies typically took at least a full day to respond. I'm guessing because they are out on tours all day. At first I was like WTH? But got used to it as I was always pleased with their responses.

 

Let me know if I can help with anything else. Otherwise I'll get back to you after our cruise in a couple of weeks.

[ninamb1973]

We did the snorkel tour with Placencia Wildside Adventures and it was a perfect day. We purchased out ferry tickets as soon as we boarded the ship. The NCL rep kinda tried talking me out of it saying they have nothing but problems with this ferry and people are missing their cruise ships. I figured it's a tactic to keep us on Harvest Caye so we would spend a bunch of money there. I wasn't buying it. The earliest ferry they offer is at 10am (boarding at 9:45 ship time). Local Belize time is one hour ahead ship time so definitely keep that in mind. We got off the boat first thing and went straight to the marina (15 minute walk). When we arrived the ferry crew said they were trying to fill up the ferry and get us out asap. We ended up leaving the marina at 9:00 ship time. We arrived in Placencia at 9:30. Our snorkel guide was there to meet us and understood our concerns for getting back to the ferry on time so we could make all aboard time. We had an amazing day snorkeling. I can give you more details on that if you want. They had us back at the ferry marina by 3:00 ship time and we were back on Harvest Caye by 4:00 ship time with a half hour to kill before boarding. Both the ferry crew and tour crew completely understood how important timing was. There was one lady on our snorkel boat who said she tried purchasing ferry tickets the first night of the cruise and NCL told her the ferry was sold out. Luckily she was able to purchase at the marina.

[aslevy]

On 1/4/2019 at 10:43 AM, ninamb1973 said:

We did the snorkel tour with Placencia Wildside Adventures and it was a perfect day. We purchased out ferry tickets as soon as we boarded the ship. The NCL rep kinda tried talking me out of it saying they have nothing but problems with this ferry and people are missing their cruise ships. I figured it's a tactic to keep us on Harvest Caye so we would spend a bunch of money there. I wasn't buying it. The earliest ferry they offer is at 10am (boarding at 9:45 ship time). Local Belize time is one hour ahead ship time so definitely keep that in mind. We got off the boat first thing and went straight to the marina (15 minute walk). When we arrived the ferry crew said they were trying to fill up the ferry and get us out asap. We ended up leaving the marina at 9:00 ship time. We arrived in Placencia at 9:30. Our snorkel guide was there to meet us and understood our concerns for getting back to the ferry on time so we could make all aboard time. We had an amazing day snorkeling. I can give you more details on that if you want. They had us back at the ferry marina by 3:00 ship time and we were back on Harvest Caye by 4:00 ship time with a half hour to kill before boarding. Both the ferry crew and tour crew completely understood how important timing was. There was one lady on our snorkel boat who said she tried purchasing ferry tickets the first night of the cruise and NCL told her the ferry was sold out. Luckily she was able to purchase at the marina.

Thank you for reporting back on your experience! Ugh - I am so on the fence about this. We actually have one less hour in port than you (8-4 vs. 8-5), which I worry will make a lot of difference. 

 

I am a little confused about the difference between Belize time and ship time. Belize is an hour ahead of the ship? (so if it's 10:00 AM in Belize, it's 9:00 AM ship time?) Is the ferry on Belize time or ship time? So you are boarding a 10:00 AM ferry (Belize time ), but it's only 9:00 ship time? 

 

I would be interested to hear more about the snorkeling. We are traveling with our 2 kids, 10 and 7. Both are very strong swimmers and have snorkeled before. Do you think they would enjoy it? How choppy was the boat ride? 

 

Go Sea Belize is quoting me $110 for a private tour, where as PCA is quoting me $65 for the same tour you did. It's a pretty big price difference when you have 4 people. Still, I think I'd feel better if it was a private tour ($200 is not worth missing the boat over)

 

I agree it sounds like NCL is a fear mongering a bit. If we do this, I'll definitely get our ferry tickets right away. 

[ninamb1973]

The time change is very confusing. We got off the ship first thing when we got to Harvest Caye, 8:00 ship time. Headed straight for the marina. Ferry crew got us out at 9:00 ship time. We were on Placencia by 9:30 so 8:30 local time. The ferry crew was anxious to get us out asap because they knew people had excursion plans. My advice is to do what we did (get to the marina asap) and stick to ship time at all times. Ferry crew is very aware of the time change and very adamant about getting you back to your ship on time. The guy I talked to said when they first started running the ferry they had a few problems getting people back in time. They learned their lesson. 

 

Snorkeling was the best we've ever experienced. We swam with nurse sharks, turtles and 1 ray at Silk Caye. They also took us to the reef and saw some beautiful fish and coral. And the little island they take you to was gorgeous! That was the Silk Caye tour. Now originally we were supposed to have a private tour for $150 a person but the seas were choppy that day so they opted to take my party of 4 (2 adults,13 and 15 year old boy) with another group of cruisers on a larger boat that went faster and allowed for more time. They dropped off the other group at Laughing Bird Caye (also a beautiful island) for the day, then took my party on the private snorkeling to Silk Caye, reef and the little island for lunch. Then at the end if the day we picked up the other group and headed for the ferry back to Harvest Caye. The other group said they had a great snorkeling experience. Not sure what they paid.

Seas were choppy that day, but there's no controlling that.

I loved Placencia Wildside because they seemed most understanding to my time concerns. Probably sent them 20 emails prior to our trip and they were very patient with me. Just let whoever know exactly when you're in port and express your concerns about timing. We figure the last thing they need is for someone to miss their ship. This is their main form of income and don't want to mess it up for themselves. Let me know if you have any other questions. 

[TheBenStarr]

We are just off the Breakaway and booked a snorkeling tour with Splash Dive Center, which is highly rated with the local guides.  They told us to book the 9am water taxi to Placencia, returning on the 3:30pm.  The ship runs on "Ship Time" which, during our visit, was an hour ahead of local time in Placencia.  The main excursion desk on the ship did not want to sell us tickets on the water taxi, but our concierge in The Haven was happy to do it.  He booked us on the 10:00am (which the Placencia folks refer to as the 9am), and the "last" ferry at 3:15pm (or 2:15 local time).  There is always a 3:30 ferry, but they don't sell tickets on it because they want you to be at the pier by 3:15 to make sure you don't miss the LAST ferry at 3:30.  $20 round trip per person.

 

All the local tour operators know the ferry captain and communicate with him directly regarding the schedule for the day.  They assured us over and over that they'd get us back before the last ferry.

 

The first ferry departed with every single seat full.  They were still selling some tickets when we got to the Harvest Caye marina, but it's probaby worth trying to get your tickets as early on the cruise as possible.  If one shore excursion person won't sell it to you, try another one later.  Don't get bogged down with the times of the ferries, just be sure you book on the first ferry, and you'll automatically be booked on the "last" one, which isn't really the last one.

 

I booked a Silk Cayes excursion for $120pp including lunch (no booze).  We got off the water taxi and directly onto the Splash Dive Center boat at the same pier, along with a few other NCL guests, plus some folks who had taken the ferry and decided at the last minute to tag along with us, as well as a few local tourists who were staying in Placencia.  We headed out across choppy water for Silk Cayes (45-60 minutes), but stopped after about 20 minutes and the guide said we were going to change to Laughing Bird Caye, which was closer and would have us in the water for longer.  (I wanted to go there in the first place, so I was happy about the change, and everyone else seemed okay with it.)

 

We did an initial snorkel, which was pretty great (though the snorkeling on Roatan was exceedingly better), and then had a delicious lunch.  Everyone else went back into the water for a second snorkel, but my goal was to hang out on a deserted island, so I hung up the hammock I had brought and spent that hour relaxing and watching the pelicans dive into the water.  When the rest of the group joined us, they said that I'd had the right idea, as the second snorkel was about the same as the first, but some quality beach time on this rare, remote, deserted caye was priceless.

 

We got a little antsy waiting for the boat to return with the portion of the group who were diving, and they were late.  When they finally arrived, our guide was arguing with the boat captain, who was trying to explain that he was having engine trouble.  Everyone was nervous that we wouldn't get back in time, until a speedboat pulled up alongside us, we all transferred to the speed boat, and were treated to a thrilling, bumpy, wet ride back into Placencia, where we had a good 20 minutes to drink some rum punch before the last 3:30 ferry returned us to Harvest Caye.  (And we were only charged $95 per person, rather than $120, which is the cost of the Laughing Bird Caye trip.)

 

These companies would go broke if they weren't getting cruise ship passengers back to the pier on time for the ferry.  So if you're booking with a mainstream company, don't be scared.  Get the heck off of Disneyland-like Harvest Caye with its muddy water and artificially-created, coarse-sand beach, and get yourself to paradise for the afternoon!

Edited January 17, 2019 by TheBenStarr

[ninamb1973]

I agree. Pretty sure a lot of the tour operators and ferry operators business comes from cruise passengers needing to make it back to their ship on time. They don't want to screw it up for themselves. And shame on NCL for not being helpful with the ferry. Locals run this ferry and without NCL's cooperation they might be losing money. 

Edited January 17, 2019 by ninamb1973

[aslevy]

Thanks @TheBenStarr for sharing your experience! Ugh - I really want to do this. I agree that it is not in the tour operators' interest at all to have people miss their departure time. My main concern is that our time in port is an hour less (8-4). Do you think that hour makes a difference in terms of the excursion (e.g., too short to enjoy it?). I would much rather get off manufactured Harvest Caye. It's a shame NCL is fear mongering and making it difficult for people to enjoy Placencia and heaven forbid not spend all their $$ with the cruise line. 

[ninamb1973]

5 hours ago, aslevy said:

Thanks @TheBenStarr for sharing your experience! Ugh - I really want to do this. I agree that it is not in the tour operators' interest at all to have people miss their departure time. My main concern is that our time in port is an hour less (8-4). Do you think that hour makes a difference in terms of the excursion (e.g., too short to enjoy it?). I would much rather get off manufactured Harvest Caye. It's a shame NCL is fear mongering and making it difficult for people to enjoy Placencia and heaven forbid not spend all their $$ with the cruise line. 

Contact Placencia Wildside Adventures via email. They will tell you if it's possible to do this excursion. Chances are you won't be the only ones leaving Harvest Caye.The 9 people that were on our snorkeling trip were from our cruise ship. The 100 or so people on our one ferry were from our cruise ship. As far as snorkeling goes you might have to skip the lunch or only do one of the two stops. They want your business and I'm sure they will be willing to make it work. Contact the tour company.

[LBumb]

Great info