Lost World Canopy Tour

[sandiego1]

Just did this excursion w/ Bak-a-Bush through HAL. It was awesome! price was $99pp. You take a bus to a remote location where there is a cave w/ a collapsed ceiling. They have 5 traverse lines set up over the very dense forest and you zip from 1 to the other. It was a bit scary, but thrilling! The 1st one is 100' long. THe 2nd was 505' long and 450' up! Kinda tough to jump off for that one. But there is no other way out once you've done the first traverse. There are platforms at each end of the traverse lines where a "catcher" is waiting for you.

 

The staff was very professional and safety conscious. They never unhooked your clips to the 2 traverse lines (duplicate for safety reasons) until the hooked your separate safety clip to their safety line at the platform. Same thing for when they hooked you to the traverses. They didn't unhook your safety line until you were properly connected to both traverse lines.

 

2 complaints - was told by HAL that it was 1.25 hr bus ride to site. It was actually 2 hrs on a very uncomfortable bus (kinda like an old school bus). The bus had no bathroom and mediocre air conditioning. There was 1 bathroom break about 20 minutes before we got to the cave.

 

2nd issue - NO food. Not a morsel. We were gone from 9:30 AM and not back on the ship until 5:05PM. Over 7 hrs! We smuggled sandwiches out (ordered from room service the night before, stored in ziplocs in our refrig) but I know it was against customs to bring non-enclosed food off the ship. I also had packaged crackers, Cheerios (small boxes from the Lido) and chocolates. I was a hero on the bus giving away my extra food. People were so thrilled to be eating crackers! I met the Captain of the Veendam at several receptions and he asked me about the excursion. It was something he's been wanting to do and is considering it the next time his family was on the ship. He said that 7.5 hrs w/o food was barbaric so maybe the tour will change in the future.

[Kit-n=Dash]

This is something that my husband and I want to do on our cruise; however, I have an intense fear of snakes. Did you see any? Is there a possibility that you would? Thanks!

[sandiego1]

didn't see any and glad I didn't. We were trying to decide on the zip line vs. the cave tubing tours so I read a lot about both on the Internet.

 

I did read something on Cruisecritic about someone getting a snake bite on the cave tubing tour while in the water. Don't know if it's true or not, but it was enough for me to choose the zip line instead.

 

Since it's the jungle, I would imagine that there is a possibility of seeing a snake. But w/ so many people around, the snakes would most likely avoid the noise and commotion.

 

The zip line was awesome. Don't miss it because of the possibility of seeing a snake. Having one bite you, that's another story!

 

One reason I love visiting Hawaii - NO snakes!! I love all of the islands there. Each one is different and there's a ton to do/see.