Coral breeze reliable?

[lil nemo]

We just returned 3-13-07 and our snorkel group was about 12 people. So small group! really nice personal attention!!

[slokie]

We were in Belize a week ago and had booked the Captain Your Own Boat Tour with Coral Breeze who use Hammerhead. It was excellent and I would book with Coral Breeze again.

You get your own rigid inflatable boat with 40HP engine. My wife and I and my cousin and his wife along with one other couple were the only three boats along with the lead boat with guides. The guides were young but very knowledgable and willing to talk about any subject you wished. I operated the boat with my wife in front with the camera. We saw a number of crocoliles and a few howler monkeys and well as other bird life. We ended up 25 miles up the Belize river according to one of our tour guides (there were three)

This tour was one of the highlights of our cruise as we were participants in what was happening and not just not sitting with a bunch of othe people listening to someone speak.

I dealt with Mark Malkasian at Coral Breeze and he was very amicable and when we got back from the tour which was 5 hours he was at the pier and seriously interested in what we thought of the tour and asking for suggestions in what could be improved

[judyzoo]

I just posted this reply to another thread, but repeat it here, as it seems to apply here also:

 

I reserved with Coral Breeze (for a tour to Altun Ha). They provided plenty of information about when and where to meet and the details of the tour, and they confirmed a few days before the cruise left, as promised. When I got there I was the only person who had signed up, so they found another, similar tour for me with a guide from something like the Belize Cruise Tours Taxi Association, at the same price and using my existing deposit. So, the bad is that Coral Breeze didn't have enough reservations, and the good is that they took the effort to try to accommodate me.

 

P.S. They do tell you up front that you'll be dealing with Hammerhead, so that's no surprise.

[Trigger69]

Just returned from our cruise last week. We did the Shark/Ray tour with Hammerhead via Coral Breeze. The tour was very enjoyable, but did get off to a rocky start. We ended up sitting in a hot boat for approx. 45 minutes waiting for another ship to finish tendering in. We were not even offered beverages (which are included) until after we finally left for Caye Caulker. I had to get off the boat and go buy some water for myself and my family to cool down. Normally I would not make an issue out of the wait, but it was well after the time the tour was to start. I don't believe the other ship was late, just that the Coral Breeze did a poor job with the planning. We would have not had an issue walking the port for an hour and shopping if we knew. The tour was very enjoyable when we did get going though, and I would recommend, though service seemed a little better in the past.

[exp1orer]

coral breeze is pretty organized but if they try to put you with Hammerhead water sports. RUN AWAY!

 

here's why.

Just got back from Belize on Carnival. Booked a diving excursion with Coral Breeze. I will say that dealing with Coral Breeze was very professional and very organized. However they put us with a Operator called Hammerhead Water Sports and they were just Terrible, unsafe and disorganized. Below is a copy of the letter that I sent to Mark. Mark did respond and offered to refund our groups deposits. Would I use Coral breeze again? maybe. Would I use Hammerhead watersports again? NEVER!!!!!!!!!!!! In the letter I didn't even mention that several of their tanks weren't full or that they didn't have enough equipment and had to pull the boat up to a competitor to borrow a BCD and fins. letter below....

 

 

Tour: Barrier Reef Two-Tank Scuba Diving

Tour Date: July 14, 2009 (8:00 a.m.)

Carnival Glory

 

Dear Coral Breeze Tours,

 

 

This was the worst run excursion I have ever booked! My dealings with Coral Breeze were fine but Hammerhead is a JOKE!!!! They are dangerous and disorganized! My wife almost broke her finger getting back into that rickety boat with the movable dive ladder. luckily it was only tissue damage that will heal but it was swollen for days after. Also the dive group never asked for our dive cards! it didn't matter to them if we were certified or not. It was only my wife and I's 3rd dive ever and we (as new divers are not supposed to go below ft. and our guide took us to 80 ft. and sent us up to the surface on our own!!!!! to top it all off some of the people in our group didn't even get to do the excursion that they paid for! There was no one to take them on the manatee watch so they were left out and just spent time on the beach. Moreover the guy running the show at hammerhead was an english guy with a bad attitude. we were trying to discern who was taking us diving and who was taking them on the manatee thing and his words were "the more time we spend talking about it the less time you have to go diving" in a very condecending manner. The Manatee people should get a refund and if you care what people say about you, will never use hammerhead again. everyone in our group are cruise Critic members and you better belive that we will be letting people know about our experience.

Edited July 22, 2009 by exp1orer

[Fila]

We are using Hammerhead Water Sports via Coral Breeze while in Belize on August 6th. I hope what you have experienced was just a bad day for the company and not the normal.

 

It is my hope that Coral Breeze is making it right with you by offering some kind of refund. What you experienced is bad for business.

 

I will post my experience when I return and hopefully pictures. Although I am only going for the Caye Caulker walk about and not their scuba or snorkeling.

 

Please post any responses that you received from Coral Breeze.

[exp1orer]

Mark did offer to refund our deposits ($45.00 for 2 people) which is probably what they make out of the deal. No word yet on a refund for the couple that didn't get to do the Manatee tour.

[jdbmga]

My family of 4 was with exp1orer on the scuba excursion, everything he said is true. We were refunded our $90 deposit but we paid $450 for the dive (for 4 people) and still do not believe it was worth that much. I commend CB for refunding us our deposit (probably their commission) but I believe they should do something about have Hammerhead reimburse us in addition to the $90. Hammerhead was quite anxious to take our $ and then disappear, no where to be found after the excursion was over.

Edited July 23, 2009 by jdbmga

[slynch2]

Coral Breeze is absolutely wonderful! Me and my 3 kids did the snorkel excursion. Mark was more than willing to answer questions and responded quickly, and the guides were OUTSTANDING!! Highly recommend them

Edited March 11, 2016 by slynch2

[mrsfuzzmo]

Hi SLCBoys,

Can't wait to see your pictures... If we take a tour through CB Tours can we just go to the beach or do we have to snorkel at the reef? What was the shopping like at caulker caye? Was the beach nice and were there beach loungers and did they cost money? Thanks

 

We booked the "Island Escape" which is just basically the boat ride to and from Caye Caulker with an on island time of about 3 hrs. I'm guessing we will be on a boat with the snorkeling tour, but then dropped off at the caye while the tour heads out to snorkel.

 

I thought it was a great deal, and we have had no issues dealing with them. We leave in 20 days, so I'll let you know how it goes when we return!