Shark Ray Alley- Princess excursion or independent

[texbecca]

Hi,

My partner and I will visit Belize on the Ruby Princess Mar 1 2023. We are planning our excursions and are very interested in snorkeling at Hol Chan, especially visiting Shark Ray Alley. Princess offers an excursion that visits Cay Caulkner and Shark Ray Alley. My only concern is that the group may be too large. I just spoke to a rep at Princess and she said that they can book up to 50 people on this excursion. That being said, at this late date NO ONE has booked this excursion. She said she would guess that the group will end up being around 20 people but of course there are no guarantees. Have any of you used a fantastic independent tour that would offer a similar experience but with a guarantee of a smaller group?

[crewsweeper]

Look into Coral Breeze.  Smaller group and they know where to go.  Pre-booking of excursions this far out are usually slow.  Most will start looking at excursions and ship excursions after the holidays.

[Birdnutty]

We did a ships's tour with Celebrity, and honestly, I would do it again.  Yes, the boat was full - probably about 50 people.  But I did not feel like we were in a stampede, and when snorkelling there was plenty of room to move around without being beaten up by someone's fins.  Shark ray alley was busy - more because there were so many tour operators there.  If the private tour operators can get you there between crowds, that would be the best reason to go private.  (I almost always go private).  I didn't check out the private excursion this time because we had so much OBC to use up.  But I  will definitely look up Coral Breeze next time.

[JT1962]

See if you can find out if the Princess tour leaves directly from the ship or you still have to take a tender to the dock and leave from there. SOMETIMES the snorkeling excursions leave directly from the ship, which is a big advantage from having to take the tender in, then transfer to another boat for the tour. You should be able to find YouTube videos or other reviews of the excursion that will let you know if it left directly from the ship.

[mitsugirly]

We have done this tour twice now and on our own. Easy to book with a local vendor (online prior to going) and you will get a more personal tour and it will be cheaper.