cavetubing with kids

[pyritz]

Hi everyone. First we have to say thank you for all the helpful posts. We are going on the Miracle in February and have been reading cruise critic for a couple of months and have learned a lot.

 

We are wondering about the cave tubing excursion through Carnival in Belize. We are wondering about our 8 year olds and 10 year old. Will they be able to do it? The information on Carnival says 8 and up, but how long of a hike is it. Is it a very strenuous hike?

 

Also it recommends wearing a closed shoe, is that a running shoe or water shoe?

 

Thank you for your help.

[Bunkie103]

We did our cave tubing with Coral Breeze whom I would highly recommend. The hike was not terribly strenuous, but remember you will be carring your tube! We bought water shoes in Walmart and walked in them. They were closed toe mesh thingies....not something you would normally take a hike in, but we got by. If your 8 year old is nervous and/or not comfortable in the dark you might want to re-think this idea. They do give you a miners type lamp to strap on your head and the tubes will link together by the person behind putting their feet up into your tube. If there are two parents you could sandwich the kids between you and should do fine. I hear the Carnival tour has many people and few guides, and for that reason we went private. There were 11 of us and a guide so he was able to watch out for us! We laughed all the way back to the ship and then stopped at the Wet Lizard for a Beliken beer! Enjoy! :D

[baybreezin78]

the hike is not bad..you have to cross a stream and it can be a little slippery, that was the hardest part of the hike. There were kids on our tour and they didn't seem to have much trouble. You will enjoy it!!!

[lmonty]

Well--our experience wasn't so good when we did the cave tubing..It had rained the night before and there had been trees down over the river and when the guide saw that there were trees down he had said do not go near the trees --well it was impossible to not go toward them because of the strong current even the guide got sucked under the trees. It was very scary I was holding on to my 11 year old for dear life trying to keep her above water because the current was sucking us under the trees there were some locals on top of the trees trying to save our family of 4 and other people that had been sucked over to it...The current was so strong..If it weren't for those wonderful locals I don't know what would have happened.. But this I am sure was just a fluke..It was fun until then..The cave was dark and did have yucky spiders on the walls that was interesting.... So I don't know if I would bring an 8 year old though....

But like I said it was a great excursion except for that part..We really enjoyed hiking through an actual rain forest... Our guide showed us all kinds of trees and their purpose (like medicines they make with them)..We got lots of great pictures..Oh and the meal afterwards was very good...

Hope this helps...

[myobus11]

we were recently(march '06) on carnival valor.myself(active 49m),my wife(35f) and daughter (15f) we booked through a private company gotten through cc,can let you know who if u want...company gets excellent marks...guides VERY helpful wife and daughter were so-so about doing this i insisted. thewalk is not easy(45 minutes carrying your tube and also not like walking along a level trail) finally!!!u arrive and get in water..i guess depending on season how the water flows...in march there were times our guide had us walk or he pulled us through shallow areas .also ther is a lot of paddleing u have to do ...our guide actually turned backwards and pulled us through the whole trip. not meaning to discourage u but there is a lot of work involved booking through private company helps in that you have smaller groups and more personable service on our trip this is something that i insisted we did however if we go back would i do it again?????? dont get me wrong there are nice times floating the river through the caves but unfortunately not what u r expecting especially with the walk up... feel free to ask any questions i will give u any info i can just i was gung-ho about this adventure and just wasnt what i expected...SORRY myobus11@aol.com

[Forchunut1]

We did the cave tubing in Belize in November and we all had a great time. However, it isn't a Disney ride that's for sure. There was one area where we all got sucked into a current that banged us all into the wall of the cave in the dark. One of our friends was almost sucked under water when this happened. Two in our group ended up with scrapes on their arms from hitting the wall of the cave.

 

We really enjoyed the trip and would recommend it to others, but you should know that it isn't just a "walk in the park" if you are taking children.