Request advice on Belize excursions

[Jackrjc]

This will be our first time on a cruise (Carnival Legend 03-10 Feb 08) and first time in Belize. We are looking at taking one of these excursons, Altun Ha & Belize City Tour, Altun Ha Mayan Site & River Wallace, or the Land Rover & Cave Expedition. I think we will do a canopy tour in Roatan so we did not consider the Lost World Canopy Tour in Belize. Would appreciate any comments on the above excursions.

[mamajules]

We were just in Belize on the Glory. We did an independent tour to Altun Ha and loved it! Although the ruins aren't extensive like some others, they were impressive and very pretty. Our guide was extremely knowledgeable, and gave us a detailed and personal tour of the ruins. There were only 6 in our group. I have seen comments from people on the boards that they liked the River Wallace/ Altun Ha tour. We saw a large group coming in to the ruins from the cruise ship tours as we were leaving. We booked independently simply because we wanted a little more time to shop and a bit better price.

 

My son did the Roatan Jungle Canopy in Roatan and said it was incredible. We stopped there on our tour with Victor Bodden.

[shunga]

We were just in Belize on the Glory. We did an independent tour to Altun Ha and loved it! Although the ruins aren't extensive like some others, they were impressive and very pretty. Our guide was extremely knowledgeable, and gave us a detailed and personal tour of the ruins. There were only 6 in our group. I have seen comments from people on the boards that they liked the River Wallace/ Altun Ha tour. We saw a large group coming in to the ruins from the cruise ship tours as we were leaving. We booked independently simply because we wanted a little more time to shop and a bit better price.

 

My son did the Roatan Jungle Canopy in Roatan and said it was incredible. We stopped there on our tour with Victor Bodden.

Who did you you book with in Belize? How much?

[nsj]

what is ship time? Is it generally different from the time at port?

[mamajules]

I will try replying again. I thought I had replied but may have had my post removed for listing the company and/or price (although it was in reply to a direct question) or there was a glitch with my computer. Anyway, we booked with Belize Cruise Excursions - just the name with dot com after it - they do the X-treme cave tubing and other tours - Island Marketing is the parent company. I booked online and received a reply back fairly quickly (a small deposit was required). When we got to the tender area we found the guy with the Belize Cruise Excursions sign and he led us to their office where we made our full payment (check the website for pricing). Since we were early - we shopped a bit and met back at the office at the appointed time. Our guide Javier was wonderful and very knowledgeable. He is very proud of his heritage and loves sharing it. He gave such wonderful insights at the ruins. We got back in plenty of time to do a bit more shopping and grab a bite to eat before catching the tender back to the ship (4 hour tour altogether).

 

As to ship time vs. island time - ship's time is the time zone that you depart from (ex - Port Canaveral was on Eastern Daylight Time) - the ship stays on that time throughout the cruise. Depending on your ports, the islands are in a different time zone (and some don't observe daylight savings time). For example, Belize was two hours behind ship time - so 8:00 a.m. ship's time was 6:00 a.m. Belize time. Just remember to always keep your watch on ship's time and you'll be fine.

[Irishlinny]

And just an FYI, as of Nov 4, when Daylight Savings Time ends in the US, Belize will be an hour behind Eastern Standard time...:D

[nsj]

Thanks, that is good to know so I can let tours know as i book them prior to my trip. So arriving at 8am in Belize or 1pm in Roatan may mean something different to them. Thanks Again.