Good tour companies to use for Mayan ruins?

[cos24]

On a cruise but would like to go to a ruin independently. Thanks in advance!

[crewsweeper]

Which set of ruins? How much time in port?

 

King David and Viator have tours to Altun Ha that are reasonably done within the typical cruise port day.  Tours to Xunantunich or Lamanai are further away and with any traffic delays you could run the risk of missing the last tender.

 

[cos24]

1 hour ago, crewsweeper said:

Which set of ruins? How much time in port?

 

King David and Viator have tours to Altun Ha that are reasonably done within the typical cruise port day.  Tours to Xunantunich or Lamanai are further away and with any traffic delays you could run the risk of missing the last tender.

 

Thank you. Sorry, we’re there from 7 AM until 6 PM. Which tour operator do you recommend to go to Xunantunich?

 

I am assuming Caracol is out of the question.

[crewsweeper]

King David has a public tour for up to 14 people and can do private tours.  No designated lunch stop but could probably stop somewhere.

Shore Excursioner has a city tour and Xunantunich with lunch but need about 6 hours (you'll most likely have 8+ given tender times).  No idea of limits on numbers.

[ABQrobin]

I wouldn't go independent in Belize for any of the ruins past Altun Ha.  They are a long distance and if you get back late the ship will not wait for you.  When we did Xunantunich thru our ship we got back barely in time, but since it was thru the ship it was fine.  Lamanai was the same way, we got back to the pier and the line for tenders was over 30 minutes long.... but we had gone thru the ship so no issues.  If you do independent and arrive after that "last tender" time, no guarantees.  We've been to Belize 7 times now and our ship is always pulling up anchor right at the time they state.  

[RCmommy]

On 12/6/2022 at 1:17 PM, ABQrobin said:

I wouldn't go independent in Belize for any of the ruins past Altun Ha.  They are a long distance and if you get back late the ship will not wait for you.  When we did Xunantunich thru our ship we got back barely in time, but since it was thru the ship it was fine.  Lamanai was the same way, we got back to the pier and the line for tenders was over 30 minutes long.... but we had gone thru the ship so no issues.  If you do independent and arrive after that "last tender" time, no guarantees.  We've been to Belize 7 times now and our ship is always pulling up anchor right at the time they state.  

Based on your comment, which independent would you recommend for 

Altun Ha?  Only looking for ruins, possibly lunch and maybe a little of the city. No tubing or zip lining.  

[byrdbrain55]

On 1/14/2023 at 4:29 PM, RCmommy said:

Based on your comment, which independent would you recommend for 

Altun Ha?  Only looking for ruins, possibly lunch and maybe a little of the city. No tubing or zip lining.  

We used King David (AlTourNative Belize Tours) to go to Altun Ha.  If you are on one of the first tenders off the ship, you will most likely make it out to the site before all the tour buses.  They stopped for lunch at a restaurant on the way back.  We did a combo tour with Altun Ha and the Howler Monkey Sanctuary.  It was very cool.

[starvenger]

On 4/11/2023 at 6:11 PM, byrdbrain55 said:

We used King David (AlTourNative Belize Tours) to go to Altun Ha.  If you are on one of the first tenders off the ship, you will most likely make it out to the site before all the tour buses.  They stopped for lunch at a restaurant on the way back.  We did a combo tour with Altun Ha and the Howler Monkey Sanctuary.  It was very cool.

I've booked King David to go to Altun Ha based on the recommendations here. Hoping this will be good!

[byrdbrain55]

3 hours ago, starvenger said:

I've booked King David to go to Altun Ha based on the recommendations here. Hoping this will be good!

Make sure you are on one of the first tenders off the ship!  You will probably have to be up early to get tender tickets.  We were probably the second group of people at Altun Ha in the morning and I got great photos of the site with no people in them.  The buses were just showing up as we were leaving.  I have used them twice and they were great both times.

[starvenger]

Yeah I'm trying to figure out the best strategy for that. Just go to where the cruise excursion folks are gathering and grab a ticket?

[Cuckoo7]

We did this one last year...  URL says cave-tubing, but it's not.  Short sightseeing, then the ruins, then a lunch at a local restaurant on the way back.

 

https://shoreexcursioneer.com/belize/altun-ha-mayan-ruins-city-sightseeing-cave-tubing.html

 

We weren't the first tender off and had to wait for another couple.  Never felt rushed, though, and we were back with plenty of time to spare.  I think they have a "back to cruise ship" guarantee.

Edited October 6, 2023 by Cuckoo7

[starvenger]

So a very late update to this. We got on the second tender but the process was maddeningly slow.

 

Regardless, the tour guide was patiently waiting for us at the terminal and the tour was very good. Our guide (I believe his name was Vel) was excellent and got us to parts of the ruins that the bigger tours were skipping. Lunch was included for us, at a local place that seemed to just have "Diner" on the sign. Very simple food (stewed chicken, rice and beans, coleslaw) but very flavourful. Probably not something you'd normally get, but it really hit the spot for us.

 

At the end of the day, big thumbs up for King David tours. Might try them for a Xunantunich tour next time we're in Belize.

[Sohail Afzal]

Try belizetourbase comany. I had a great experience with them