Tendering in Belize, How bad?

[vmom]

I have tendered before, so I do have an idea of what tendering is like, however...I read on the Cozumel boards that tendering in Belize is alot harder and time consuming than tendering at the other ports such as Grand Cayman. When we tendered in the past, the ship wasn't that far out and we used large tender boats that held alot of people or the lifeboats. I read that in Belize, the ship is further out and the boats that are used for tendering are alot smaller.

 

What is everyone's experience with this?

 

I wondered if I should pick an excursion that picks up at the ship or go with a private one.

[Zeno]

I have tendered before, so I do have an idea of what tendering is like, however...I read on the Cozumel boards that tendering in Belize is alot harder and time consuming than tendering at the other ports such as Grand Cayman. When we tendered in the past, the ship wasn't that far out and we used large tender boats that held alot of people or the lifeboats. I read that in Belize, the ship is further out and the boats that are used for tendering are alot smaller.

 

What is everyone's experience with this?

 

I wondered if I should pick an excursion that picks up at the ship or go with a private one.

 

The ships are further out BUT tendering is actually easier in Belize than Grand Cayman (at least in our experience) and takes about the same amount of time. The tenders are very high speed and most are huge. I found the tenders in Grand Cayman were smaller. The Belizean tenders load up quite fast because the seas are usually calmer in Belize (ships are at anchor INSIDE a barrier reef). Also the tender dock in Belize is bigger than Grand Cayman. Although the actual ride was longer, getting on and off the tenders was accomplished more quickly in Belize, so we felt the actual elapsed time was not much different.

[LHT28]

We also found tendering in Belize to be quick and efficent.

While loading up one boat another is waiting or sometimes the ship will have two gangways open

[RizzoLee]

I actually found GC much faster than Belize-but both times we had 8am shore excursions, so we some of the first down at the gangway in order to keep our times (we didn't 'dock' til 8am). Both of the excursions were through Carnival as well.

 

On the way back, again, GC was faster. It was about a 5 minute tender, compared to 25 minutes in Belize. We had rough seas when in Belize though, so they could have had to go slower. Line up was about the same, however, in GC it didn't matter-we had spent the day in Carlos N'Charlie's in GC, so everything was good. :D But expensive!!!

[hcat]

I am wondering if we will have to tender twice-- we booked a very early morning excusion for a carriage ride & snorkelling in the aftrenoon--wonder if we will meet on shore for the second trip or just tender twice??? Is there any food available in the tourist village area?

[cruznut1111]

I am wondering if we will have to tender twice-- we booked a very early morning excusion for a carriage ride & snorkelling in the aftrenoon--wonder if we will meet on shore for the second trip or just tender twice??? Is there any food available in the tourist village area?

 

I didn't get to spend any real time here two weeks ago when we changed boats, but it looked very nice, large and interesting. Perhaps 2 or 3 restaurants and lots of shops.

[RizzoLee]

I am wondering if we will have to tender twice-- we booked a very early morning excusion for a carriage ride & snorkelling in the aftrenoon--wonder if we will meet on shore for the second trip or just tender twice??? Is there any food available in the tourist village area?

 

Yup-there's a little food court where you can get food and cold drinks (and beer) right off the pier in the tourist village. :)

[hcat]

what types of stores & are any air conditioned?

[RizzoLee]

what types of stores & are any air conditioned?

 

From what I remember, all were air conditioned. The actual mall wasn't (it's basically open air with a roof), but the stores themselves were.

 

A lot were your typical souvenir stores (there's also a flea market down the street, if you know where to find it), a lot of jewellery stores, that type of thing. We didn't really go to shop, we were on a tour and only had about an hour to shop when all was said and done. :D There is enough shopping to keep you busy for awhile though-we just picked some stores to visit on the way back to the pier.

[waterlily]

I agree. The tender boats are smaller, but they are fast. The ride is about 20 minutes. We had no problems getting to shore on time for our 8:30 excursion or for the return trip.

[cusyl]

The tender boats in Belize are the largest in any port. I was very impressed with the process there.

[Katmarha]

Our entire Belize tender/excusion was one of the worse experiences in my life. Our tender cut in the wake of another speeding boat and everyone was tossed around the boat, it was extremely dangerous.

 

Once we we arrived on shore, there was no guide or sign for our tour - about 1/2 of the people on the tour were wandering around aimlessly. Be aware - there are a lot of independents that will lead you to believe they are with the ships!!!!! We finally found a NCL rep who told us the wrong directions and we got the run around 2x's!!!!! The third time when I found the NCL rep I told them that I was going back to the ship because there were no excursion reps to be found. - She finally found our tour and gathered all the lost people together.

 

Then our bus was involved in a minor traffic accident. (Because we were in a hurry and running late). We banged up a very nice Ford pick up truck in town. It probably was the nicest vehicle we saw our entire trip and now it has some real bad scratches and dents on it.

 

Our tour guide gave more personal commentary about our government then information about the city tour and the Maya history. It was really bad.

 

Then after our tour was done we were dropped off and instead of being walked back to the dock area, we were told, make a left, make a right and make a left and ignore all the punks in the area!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[hcat]

thanks for info on tendering & the tourist area--we will try to tender just once each way & avoid the lines, sevcurity delays etc that go along with it-- we'll shop, eat etc...& then go on our second tour...just a pain to carry our snorkel gear all day but prefer our own I am not a big fan of tendering to begin with!

[cruiser from georgia]

We took a tour this past Tuesday in Belize. We booked the private island beach break through Carnival. It was fantastic b/c we were able to hop right off with our tour group. The weather was super windy & the water super choppy!! It made for a fun boat ride though!! We met on the ship and boarded the tender boat together. It was very big, seated about 75 and was soooo fast! The staff on the tender boat was very very sweet and full of tid bits!! The ride was wild, but I felt 100% safe and it was sooo fun!! (and Bannister Caye ROCKS!)