Major Tom - 3 Cave System???

[lawtyger]

Hi,

 

We've read good things about cave tubing with Major Tom who apparently does a "3 Cave System." We have cave tubed once before in 2004 with X-Treme and had an enjoyable tubing trip through 2 caves (we were told one was 1/2 miles and one was 3/4 miles) which X-Treme describes as a 1 cave system. This time, we will likely being doing the zip-line / cave tubing combo and are leaning with going with Major Tom.

 

I just want to clear up any confusion in my head about the 1, 2, or 3 "cave system" versus cave tubing through 1, 2, or 3 "caves." The more "caves" the better :D

 

If you have cave tubed or done the zip-line / cave tubing combo with Major Tom, can you tell me how many caves you actually cave tubed though?

 

We have comfort level with X-Treme because we've been there, done that. But we have also developed a comfort level with possibly trying Major Tom because of the positive review by Cruise Critic members. Hence, more caves would certainly help make up our minds.

 

Thanks for your help or any information you can provide!

[lawtyger]

Given the large number of people saying they used Major Tom, I'm surprised no one has responded with their experience.

 

Again, if you have cave tubed or done the zip-line / cave tubing combo with Major Tom, can you tell me how many caves you actually cave tubed though?

 

I'm ready to book, but holding off to hear what people who actually went with Major Tom say regarding the above question.

[thesawch]

Email Major Tom yourself and ask him.he does differant amount of caves depending on your time frame you have in port.he will get back to very fast at night as long as your email acount won't bounce his emails off.he is the most respected tour operator in the belize area.

[lawtyger]

That's the thing. . . I have e-mailed Major Tom. I initially e-mailed him Saturday at 5:00 and he responded by 7:00. However, in his response he mentioned the "3 Cave System" reference I'm asking about. Thus, in order to get clarification about what this means and how many caves we would go through based on the time in port I gave him, I e-mailed him back at 9:00 on Saturday asking about the 3 Cave System.

 

As so now, I haven't heard back from him. Hence, I was hoping to maybe get some idea about this "3 Cave System" from people that have gone with him.

 

My wife and I are ready to book either with Major Tom or Coral Breeze, and others in our roll call may be interested too. I guess I should just e-mail him back, but I sort of hate having to follow-up again to a question I asked 48 hours ago. If I haven't heard back by tonight, I'll try again tomorrow.

 

P.S. - And yes, I have monitored my spam folder.

[PKG1965]

We went with Major Tom last year and it was awesome. If I remember correctly, it was 3 caves total. I believe one was real short and one was real long and dark . . . . There were approximately 8 guides to our 18 people. Carnival was there at the exact same time. They had approximately 50 people and 2 guides. Carnival actually took our pictures thinking we were with their group, and we were able to purchase them (great photos) back on the ship. Major Tom is of Mayan descent and has a knowledge base of the country, etc. that is just beyond belief. We are going to Belize again this year, and I must say, I wish we were going back with Major Tom. As of now, we haven't decided what we are going to do . . .maybe snorkeling. BTW, he will respond to your e-mails. Unfortunately their systems are sporadic and may take a couple of days to respond. Hope that helps.

[lawtyger]

If I remember correctly, it was 3 caves total. I believe one was real short and one was real long and dark . . . .

 

Thanks, that was helpful information. We have decided to book with Major Tom and will do so tonight.

 

One question for you though based on your quote above. . . while you say you think you did 3 caves total, it sounds like you only describe 2 ("one was real short and one was real long and dark"). Just didn't know if the long and dark one you considered cave 2 and cave 3.

 

When we went with X-Treme in 2004, I clearly remember going through 2 caves and recall being told that one of the caves was 1/2 mile and one was 3/4 mile. If we can just add a third cave, albeit even if it is short, it will just make the excursion a little different for us which would be nice.

[thesawch]

Major Tom will get back to you.He does get a lot of emails so don't be afraid to email a few times to get your answer.Remember you are the customer.Tell him the guy from Canada with the broken foot last week said to say hello to him.The sawch

[lawtyger]

Major Tom will get back to you.

 

Just clarify, he has since gotten back to me. Went ahead and e-mailed him again last night and he responded winthin 30 minutes. We will be booking with him tonight, but if others still want to share their experience regarding the number of caves (or anything else) I'm all ears :)

[asoowal]

There was 1 dry cave we walked through and 2 wet caves that we tubed through. 2/2/08 NCL Sun, Major Tom's guides, Keith, Kyle & George. Minor Tom "held up" the bus at Amigo's during the beans & rice beer stop. Major Tom met us at the pier.

[firstmate41]

Just clarify, he has since gotten back to me. Went ahead and e-mailed him again last night and he responded winthin 30 minutes. We will be booking with him tonight, but if others still want to share their experience regarding the number of caves (or anything else) I'm all ears :)

Just came back from our cruise and used Major Tom....He and his son took our group of 6 people to the caves and they were just great! He picked us up at the pier with no problem and we headed up to the caves which took about 45 minutes. The park was beautiful and we hiked through the jungle for about 40 minutes with Minor Tom sharing his knowledge about the various plant and animal life. We even got to taste termites ( for those that wanted to!) The knowledge and passion that was shared by these two guides was awesome...The caves were beautiful...We learned so much about the Mayan culture that day. Truly impressive...The lunch at the local restaturant was delicious...They also stopped at a local grocery so I could buy some vanilla....I really enjoyed this

tour. They were first class all the way.... I don't think you will be disappointed

[asoowal]

It is easier if you pay in advance for your excursion online with your cc. If you want to pay Major Tom in person BRING CASH. CC acceptance is an extra 9% fee, or if they can stop at an ATM for you it is an extra 2%, and not worth your time to go to the ATM.

[danklcsw]

Thanks, that was helpful information. We have decided to book with Major Tom and will do so tonight.

 

One question for you though based on your quote above. . . while you say you think you did 3 caves total, it sounds like you only describe 2 ("one was real short and one was real long and dark"). Just didn't know if the long and dark one you considered cave 2 and cave 3.

 

When we went with X-Treme in 2004, I clearly remember going through 2 caves and recall being told that one of the caves was 1/2 mile and one was 3/4 mile. If we can just add a third cave, albeit even if it is short, it will just make the excursion a little different for us which would be nice.

 

Thanks for your pursuit of this. I and my DW are also interested in a Zip line and cave tour with Major Tom or another. Do you know if the zip line part comes first or after the cave tour and how long is the Zip line part? We were worried that when you did the combination that one or the other ended up being shorter?

 

Thanks

[lawtyger]

It is our understanding that we won't know which we will do first, it all depends on when we get to the park which depends on how long it takes others in our group to get off the ship. It is also our understanding that neither excursion is shortened.

[dzsportmom]

How do you reach Captain/Major Tom. Does he have a website, or email address. We will be in Belize in 3 weeks, and are interested in a Zip, Tube combo.

[garrett619]

How do you reach Captain/Major Tom. Does he have a website, or email address. We will be in Belize in 3 weeks, and are interested in a Zip, Tube combo.

 

his site is cave-tubing dot net

I also believe you can get there with

belizecavetubing dot net

[TwinMom7]

We have 16 doing the cave tubing with Major Tom - 6 weeks from today. I emailed him before Christmas with questions and he actually called me at my office. What a nice man!!!!! Since then, he has emailed me on several occasions, just following up with our plans.

 

Anyway, we are all booked and looking very forward to our day in Belize and our cave tubing adventure with Major Tom.

[brzymom]

We just returned from Belize--we were there last Thursday. Major Tom met us at the ship and escorted us to a "waiting" spot for the rest of the group. We did cave tubing. A larger group did both-they left first on 2 buses. This is just my opinion, but we did the zipline the day before in Roatan--these are two fairly physical activities, am not sure how much you would enjoy doing both in one day! Our guide was Michael and he was awesome. Told us so much about his country on the way to the caves and was diligent about safety and keeping the group together. We also met Minor Tom at the exit of the caves. Other tours were there and we noticed they did not keep their groups together, were lax on safety. Michael made sure we all got right over to and saw the waterfall inside the caves-other groups glided by near the opposite wall. I'd say it was 2 caves and that third is barely a cave--seemed like you were in and then out. Everyone associated with Major Tom was courteous and professional and there was was no "tip pitch" or "tip cup" to be seen. My group of 15 each tossed in a few dollars and tipped Michael at the end. He was genuinely surprised and very pleased. Folks on the ship tried to tell us they were paying what we were, $45, but the excursion was listed for $93!! Carnival also filmed our group at the caves even though we were on our own. Carnival did put us on the first group of tenders, just after their own excursions and definitly before the rest of the people waiting. Some say you need bug spray, we had it, but didn't need it. Enjoy!! This was prety unique and enjoyed by all. The walk through the rainforest is not near as long as they say (45 min-it was actually only about 20 min) and not strenuous--somehow my impression was it would be uphill, if it was, it was barely noticed.:)

[gardensam]

six of us are going on the Valor March 16. How did you contact Major Tom? Did you reserve in advance ?

[sag1804]

Well I will be in Belize next week. I got an email from Major Tom and I look forward to possibly hearing from him again. You can email me sag1804@yahoo.com and let me know any details I need to know. We have a group of 19-26 of us. It is going to be awesome. Not all may want to do this but a bunch will want to and I will come back and tell you how it is. Can't wait to see it, experience it, and enjoy it. Take care.:cool:

[brzymom]

Actually I just "googled" Major Tom cave tubing and it came right up--but it is cave_tubing.net.

 

You do not need to pay in advance. We paid cash the day of. If you have changes in your total number, let him know if you can as he has the buses waiting, etc.

 

I found out about him on these boards, and if we hadn't already booked the ziplining in Roatan through Carnival, I would have done through recommendation as well. The price differences are amazing and it can be a substantial savings.

 

One thing to beware of (was not an issue with Major Tom) that in some cases when you book on your own you are using the same operators that the cruise line uses--and they will be back next week and you won't--so they get preferential treatment or times. For the amount of money we saved where this happened to us, we just dealt with it. Enojy!!

[dakwriter]

Okay, I'll be the odd person out here. My DH & I did the 3 caves with Major Tom in November. The jungle hike and tubing were okay. It was the transport to and from the site that was the problem. Major Tom used 2 vans on our trip and we were jammed in so tightly with absolutely no knee room that we were in physical pain all the way there and back. In addition, no air conditioning or even moving air reached our part of the van at all, so it was very very hot. Major Tom and his guides are polite and knowledgeable, but the uncomfortable transport alone is one reason I will never recommend booking with him. A school bus such as some other tour operators use would have been preferable. Sorry to burst some bubbles of those expecting a perfect tour, but this is not it.

[dec2007w3boys]

Okay, I'll be the odd person out here. My DH & I did the 3 caves with Major Tom in November. The jungle hike and tubing were okay. It was the transport to and from the site that was the problem. Major Tom used 2 vans on our trip and we were jammed in so tightly with absolutely no knee room that we were in physical pain all the way there and back. In addition, no air conditioning or even moving air reached our part of the van at all, so it was very very hot. Major Tom and his guides are polite and knowledgeable, but the uncomfortable transport alone is one reason I will never recommend booking with him. A school bus such as some other tour operators use would have been preferable. Sorry to burst some bubbles of those expecting a perfect tour, but this is not it.

Hmmm, this is not what we experienced at all. Major Tom had a small white bus that probably held 18 or so people and then he took a white van that held 9 of us. We were all comfortable as can be and the air worked fine. I am sorry it wasn't the same for you. :(

[driftwood]

. . . is a fairly new and immaculately clean Toyota van that can hold fourteen passengers, and the air conditioner was working well, as it had to, because the ambient temperature never fell below 84º F. Belize is hot as hell from dawn to dusk and that is one fact you will quickly discover. Take that water with you, and keep drinking it--you will become dehydrated faster than you can imagine, and all of a sudden you can become very weak.

 

The "buses" are almost universally Blue Birds--yes, like your kids' school bus--and equally spacious and comfortable. They are purchased for durability and capacity, just as your local school board purchases them, and have no other redeeming social value.

[Chief93]

The "buses" are almost universally Blue Birds--yes, like your kids' school bus--and equally spacious and comfortable. They are purchased for durability and capacity, just as your local school board purchases them, and have no other redeeming social value.

 

I paid my way through college repairing the seats on Blue Birds, I was sure I would never, ever want to step foot in one again! I guess I was wrong. I just booked with Major Tom!

[driftwood]

I know you won't regret booking with Major Tom--he is a college education in himself--we certainly were glad we had done so! After I wrote the post you quoted I thought perhaps I should have mentioned that they are painted white instead of the universal yellow and black of United States school buses; but then I thought, I don't suppose the color makes them that much more comfortable to ride in. Same bus!